The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1940-06-10
DANGEN0'4DEN0IR
GIl0

stepped out of the shadows ana
walked slowly past the house. She
could make out the whiteness Of a
small sign beside the door ana
crept UP to see what it read. 1t
was a Room for Rent" card, the
kind that can be bought in any
print shop for few cents.
Inside the house. she could hear
a radio playing loudly. She guess
ed it was in one Of the back
rooms.
She crept quietly down the steps
and resumed her waiting next
door. her eyes on the front door,
hoping that she might recognize
the faces Of the men when they
emerged 1t was tiresome waiting
there alone, and scary, too.
A drunken man came careening
down the street and Madge shrank
up against the side of the porch
when he paused, not five feet
from her and swsyed back and
forth, while he attempted to light
cigaret. The matches went out as
fast as he could light them, and
finally with a muttered curse, he
threw his oigaret away and she
heard his footsteps fading out in
the distance
Ten minutes more she watched.
and there still was no sign of any
one leaving the house next door.
Her nerves were so jumpy that
she had to do something, so she
started walking down the block,
turning around frequently to see il
there we're any signs of life at the
mysterious house.
She came to an alley, dimly lit,
and decided to explore. She knew
the approximate position of the
house she had been watching. Per-
haps there would be something to
be seen from the back.
There was, and it was almost
her undoing. She barely had time
to slip behind a telephone pole
when she heard the rattle of a
back gate, and man stepped
out into the alley. She was hid
den in the heavy shadow and
could see his face as he paused
to light a cigaret. 1t was Dan.
She flattened herself against the
pole as he walked toward her, and
was bathed in an icy perspiration
when he had gone by, apparently
not noticing her She wondered
why he hadn't heard her heart
pounding against her ribs. To her
it sounded as loud as though some
one were bea ting a drum.
Madge was about to slip from
her hiding place and follow him
when the gate clicked again, so
she stayed where she was until
three men had left the house by
the back door and gone on their
way.
Fortunately for her nerves, they
walked away from her toward the
opposite end of the alley instead
of taking the way Dan had gone.
She couldn't see any of their
faces, and none of their figures
seemed familiar to her although
they doomed up against the light
at the far end of the passageway.
When the alley was clear, she
stepped out and peered over the
top of the gate at the house from
which they had come. 1t was
dark there. Not a light was show
ing.
Despite the scare she had had
when Dan walked so close she was
glad she had come down this way.
1t confirmed her first suspicion,
that this meeting Dan had at
tended was not the open meeting
he intended her TO believe it was.
II he had been meeting with
district leaders. there certainly
would have been no occasion for
them TO keep secret rendez-
vous in such a poor section of the
city. There was no reason why
they couldn't have gathered at
campaign headquarters, or at
hotel or club.
II the meeting had been an hon
est one, why should four men en-
ter a house stealthily with keys
and then creep silently out the
back door?
But for her restlessness. and
her determination to find out as
much as she could, she might have
waited out in front all night and
never known that the meeting had
lasted less than an hour and those
who participated had gone on their
way again.
Plenty To Tell
Madge knew she would have
plenty to tell Vic Waring, now,
when she saw him the following
day. This secret meeting, the mys-
ferrous house where it had been
held. Her certainty that it hadn't
been political meeting at all, at
least not one devoted to discuss
ing the best interests of Forbes
Kendall for whom Dan was pre-
tending to make every effort to
elect mayor of Altonia.
Keeping 10 the shadows, she re-
traced her steps TO where she had
parked Clyde's car. She saw no
one on the street who family re-
sembled any OF the men who had
entered the front Of the Court
street house and left by the rear
door.
Madge was glad when she left
the dingy, rundown district be-
hind and was hurrying toward