The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 14, 1906, Page 4

hasn’t douscd his glim, has ed Inspector Val, “there’s t that point.” t next?” asked Mr. low him in and collar just wait here?” repeated Inspector Val stedly. “I'd like to catch you col- g him! Is this a time to talk of and we no further than the the job? Let him alone: £ out the work to-night.” Dufr; him, “do or CHAPTER XIX. How London Bill Took n Pal. the gold 3 Never let the one . Inspector Val was alive to thisfoi- noe of his craft, and an hour later, Storri cautiously emerged from the et neither sign nor sound of and Mr. Duff. Feeling sure exploration had not been ob- S wended homeward to his e next day went to New York, ately on his arrival at that hich he designed to honor with ustom he sprang into a hansom and tes was at a private de- being the one whereat he srocured those spies to set the Harley house—sples long since The head this detective was a coarse-visaged, brandy- lotched man named Slate *Ang observed Mr follow- & s of Storri's errand, “you t to be put mext to a ’'peter-man, hat we call & box-worker?” “I would like to meet the best in the ess,” sald Storri; “one also who is ed with others in his line and be relied upon to the death.” something desperate, eh?” Slater, in a tone of suspicion. 2t T ask whether you have a safe ow or a crib to crack ‘on your own t? I'm a cautious man, concluded, with a harsh like to know what I'm get- of commended,” re- I'll answer freely. one to rob, no safe to break h is, I want to prosecute a r 1, and I think to meet could than a regular detective is known and who would looking yur cautior Storr but only v him whom nd you for irregular thing to do,” re- “but I see no harm.” and asked for party Bill— solid with Bill. That's you go." said Mr. “If seate you Then ad- now I fifteen Norris come man i Mr. Norris drove to a dog- East River, in the vicinity wae called the Albjon floor was a barroom sinister looking charac- sut the room. Mr. Norris he lea across to the whispered a_question, ' ned the barma Norris as thou , Jook- to read seein’ company the level, Dan,” sald Mr appeared to be on terms of e with the barman. “Let me known to Mr. Brown,” he con- roducing Storri ow here's to it. Mr. Brown thinks Bill him wise to a party he's got There's no pinch goes Brown's willing to do on th and Mr. ndsome eplied the barman doubtfully. J and retired through a door He returnec moment Bill would see caller, and stubby thumb in direction m »ozing ken for hold-up peo- i Mr. Norris in a whisper, obeyed the hint tendered s thumb. in he fall- got ny work, and fieet that operat ew nothing fall-guys rdon Bill that formid seated at ble out- table. had just a _door leading to as ajar. Mr. Norris pre- to London Bill, and, this over made few words of wing altogether, leaving is new friend to themsely ppose we drink something,” Bill, in non-committal tones. Storri ordered beer in a bottle, cork un- sched; Storri had heard of knockout nixt and did not care to make hif dvent into upper criminal circles in th victim. London Bill grinned in a way, but made no comment, calling himself. =r room discovered emor withd said said London Bill, after eared and disappeared; ument you want to hand care to talk here,” observed cing suspiciously ~ at the hin touch of his hand. “Let ocutside “That's it “now if we w observed London Bill; s to go plantin’ ourselves e, or any little open- ike that, it's ten to one some om the Central Office would me along and spot us. They're on to my mug; got it in the gallery in fact.” We can't talk here,” said Storri de- idedly Wait Bill, w " suggested London clear had grown errand, “I think He stepped into h a key. “Come “there’s an empty hall hat ought to do us. It's as « said upstairs big rink.” London Bill led the way up the foul, aking stairs. 4nd opened a door on ¢ top floor. It was a room the big- ness of the building, and had been used for dancing. Drawing a couple of wooden chairs to a front window, Stor: guide motioned him to a seat. re we be” he sald; “now what's about?’ orri, nothing backward when ©d that no one was playing eaves- per. began to talk, carefully avoid- his usuzl jerky Russian manng You have been told of Stdrris hic clearness of statement, once had fully perfected the outlines of some enterprise. In fifteen minutes, but only in vaguest way, he laid his proposal before London Bill; the pro- was so framed that the 'peter- man understood no more than that a bank of unusual richness was to be broken into, and his aid was sought. Your share alone,” whispered Storri, “will foot up for a million.” London Bill's little black eyes twinkled like those of a rat. He didn't make reply at once, but looked out of the grimy, cobwebby pane at the sky. The face of London Bill was rough, but not unpleasant, and, though he had killed his man and was a desperate in- dividual if cornered, the only trait ex- pressed was a patient capacity for enterprises that might require days or even weeks in their carrying out. “Don't you think now you're a bit of a come-on?" obsgrved London Bill, swinging around to Storri from his survey of the distant heavens. “Why?" asked Storri, as cool as the other. This is why,” returned London Bill. “Here you butt in; a dead stranger, and a proposition. Suppose I was ‘to declare that you lied,” replied cheerfully, “and no gne with would believe you. They would s at if T intended to ask your help in such work as I have described, I wouldn’t seek an introduction through a detective agency.” “Something in that” said Bill, a gleam of admiration beady gimlet eye. “Well, I never squeal, an’ the question to try you out. Go on an’ tell me what it is an’' where it is; whether I go Into the job or mot, at lcast you've nothin’ to be leary of in me."” Storri, who had been studying Loa- don Bill as hard as ever that crac man was studying him, rebegan in rest. He now laid bare the proposal ja its every corner, and showed Lon- don Bill the plans and maps, Includ- ing the valuable cross-section draw- ing- that displayed-the relation of the Treasury building to street levels. London Bill, who appeared to have gifts as an engineer, bent over the maps and drawings, considering and g distances. t sort of ground is this?’ London 'Bill, laying a finger on ection drawing, where it ted dove color as showing beneath the street: 1t sand?” k v clay,” returned ard and dry.” remarked London of caving.” = Recurring drawings, London sill proceeded: “Itil take two months to dig that tunnel I'll have to dip as 1 go in in order to creep beneath the footstones of the sidewall; then T'll bring the tunnel up on a long slant. - The tunnel should be four feet high and about three wide; the earth I'd throw into the sewer; the water would wash It away. There’s no risk in digging the tunnel, as no one would get an inkling of what's afoot until the last shove, when we made direct for the money. Ou that point let me ask: How long can we count on being undisturbed after we've got to the gold? Now, if it was a bank we'd ‘time the play for Satur- day afternoon after closing hour: that would give us until Monday morning at 9 before they'd tumble.” ‘We can do bétter than that” re- turned Storri. “Saturday, May 28, is the anniversary of the death of a former Secretary of the Treasury, and a spe- cial holiday has been already declared for that day. Monday, May 30, s Dec- oration a general holiday. W sho ave, you see, from Frida 4 o'clock until Tuesday at 10; ilme enough to carry out several fortupr in twenty-pound packages worth $5300 each.” : “How do with the sw. Steam yacht, ticus % ) mouth of the drain to the yacht with a laanch. It's as silent as a bird iy- ing that launch. Oh, I've thought everything out in full; I can get the acht and the Jaunch. The latter will ireight an. even ton every trip. Do you know how much gold money it takes to male a ton?” Half a million dollars,” said Lon- don Bill, with his professional grin. “You partner, I've had to do a deal of yin’ “along the same line as your Prect % returned Storri, disre- garding the pompliment implied by the epiti:et partner; “five hundared thousand dollars. We shall have seven hours aight for three nights in which to freight the gold from the mouth of the aramn to the yacht, . “Four nights,” said London Bill cor- rectively;# iriday, - Saturday, Sunday and mon nigats. 1 can carry tunat tunnei to a place within two hours of the stuff, with the Treasury full of people; no one would catch on. Take my word for it, you can begin getting out the gold the moment it turns dark on Friday night. Let's pray for a storm for those four nights,” “Your argument is right,” observed Storri, ‘tbut there’s a point your over- look. We shall have but three night: Monday and Monday night will be re- quited to take the yacht down the river and into the open ccean. The instant the loss is discovered, they'll know the busin was managed with the yacht; they will recall her as hav- ing been in the river the three or s before. 1 mean to repaint her from black to white the moment we're out of sight from the shore, I shall change her name and have papers ready to match the change, Oh, my friend, you will see that I"—here Storri, who had studiously refrained from his usual = bragging, exultant, staccato style of speech, and aped the plain and commonplace, almost forget himself; he was on the brink of giving his name, which thus far had been withheld. He checked himself in time, and ended soberly by sayjng: “You will see that I have left nothing uncon- sidered.” “Seven hours a night,” ruminated ndon Bill, “and three nights. In con- sidering everything, as you say, have vou figured on how many trips your launch, bearing five hundred thousand dollars a trip, can make between shore launch can make as many as -one irips a night. In three she ought to put more than thirty millions of dollars aboard the vacht. That.region around the drain’s mouth is wholly deserted. By working without lights@there isn't a chance of being detected.” 5 “Thirty millions!” repeated London Bill, grinning cynically, “and all in five-thousand-dollar sacks! Did it ever oceur to you that it will take some time to carry the gold down to the drain’s mouth? It's close by three- quarters of a mile, that trip is.” “My friend.” retorted Storri, with just a tinge of patronage, “leave that to me. T'll ind a way to send the gold to the drain’s mouth without breeding any backaches, All you are to do is dig the tunnel. and dig it so we can reach the gold.” “That’s simple,” observed London Bill P “I'd Storri London in his only put said ihe was the clay Storri, Bill: io you expect to get awiyv asked London Bill replied sty twent nigh ~vou cross me, or fall down, i N );l" FEIN = =~ \ M = i “T shall dig so as to undermine an end of one of those steel slabs that make the vault’s floor, running my tunnel for the rear end of the vault. The weight of the gold will force down the slab when under- mined. I'll open that vault like M the cover of a chest, only the cover will drop from the bottom instead of from the top. The minute that slab of steel drops six inches the sacks of gold will begin sliding into our tunnel of thelr own accord. You needn't worry about my part of the job; I can take thirty millions out of the vault if you can get them to the mouth of the drain.” “I can get them to the mouth of the drain,” responded Storri confidently, “and another thirty with them. ..e real limit to our operations is the yacht itself. The one I have in mind will carry only one hundred tons, and thirty million in gold makes sixty tons, to say nothing of the ship’s stores and coal.” “What place will you head the boat for when the job's done?” ““That,” said Storri, “I shall leave to be settled in the open Atlantic. The ques- tion now is: Are'you going with me? I've told you that your share is to be a million.” “‘One-thirtieth?” said London Bill, with the ring of complaint in his voice. ‘“‘One-thirtieth,”” returned Storrl with emphasis. ‘“Where else.can you get one million for ten weeks' digging and a six months’ crulse in a yacht? Besides, there will be a dozen others to share, to say nothing of the yacht and what it costs to coal her and buy her stores. Come, now; do you go with me?"” London Bill put out a small, hairy hand and gave Btorri a squeeze of ac- quiescence that was almost a mate for the grip bestowed upon our nobleman by Richard that snow-freighted day in No- vember. “I'm with you, live or dle,” sald Lon- don Bill; “an’ I never weaken, an’' never split on a pal.” Storri and London Bill put in an hour discussing plans. There were to be no more men brought into the affair until late in May. London Bill wouid come to ‘Washington and commence his tunnel work at once. It would be a slow em- ployment and requife care; it was best to have plenty of time. “Because,” explained London Bill, “if these maps an’ drawings ain't accurate to the splinter of an inch, it may throw me abroad In my digging. In that case l'dunead an extra week or so to find my- 2elt.” Storri coincided with the view, but add- ed that the yacht would have to.be manned as early as the middle of May. ““The men needn't know the purpose,” sald Storri, “till the last moment. When it comes to selecting them I shall ask your advice.” “I can give you that to-day,’ said Lon- don Bill, “better than in May. I'll be busy" in my tunnel in May. and won’t have time to come out. Here's what I'll do: I'li call up Dan right now. Dan's an old sail- or, as well as a first-class gun and hold- up man—the gang calls him Steamboat Dan. I'll call Dan, an’ put him into the play. Then when the time comes, Dan will get you the men, an' of the right proper sort. There won't be one of 'em who hasn’'t done a stretch.” “But,” remonstrated Storri uneasily, “are you sure of this Steamboat Dan? “I wouldn’t be lushin' gin in his crib else,” responded London Bill. “No, Dan's as sure as death. Besides, I'm not going to put him wise; I shall only tell him to do whatever you ask, Whenever you show up.” London Bill called Dan, and the trio broadened their confidence in each other with further gin and beer. Dan gave his word for whatever was required; Storri had but to appear and issue his.erders. “You'll be in at the finish, Dany’ Said London Bill; “an’ for the othegs, pick out a dozen of the flossiest coyes you can find. You'll be bringin’ them o where I'm workin', d've see; an’ the Job will be ripe. “Will it be much of a play?’ asked iggest ever,” said London Bill; “an’ vet, no harder than prickin' a blister. Storri jumped into the cab, which had walted for him at the door, and rattled swiftly away., Within five minutes there- after, a ragged gamin strutted into the Albfon bar. “Be you Steamboat Dan?” chirped the gamin, fixing the eve of a sparrow upon that tapgter. “Well, ¢'ppose T be?" said Dan, not too well pleased with the sparrow-eved. “Then this s for you,” quoth the gamin, thrusting a note across the bar. Dan glanced at the note; next he smote the bar, sccompanying the smiting with soft_curses. 7 “What's the row?’ asked one of the loungers. * “Nothin',” said Dan, his face clearing into a look of easy craft. “Here's a pal of mine gets run over an' fractured by the cable cars, an’' Is took to the hospital. You hold down the bar, Jimmy, while I go look him over.”” The person addressed as Jimmy had no objection to an arrangement that meant free drinks, and once he was fnsialled Dan put on his hat and moved rapidly up the street. A turn or two and a brisk walk of ten minutes found him in Mul- berry Bend. Dan walked more slowly. and was rewarded by the sight of In- spector Val sauntering along half a block ahead. The great thief-taker rounded a corner, and albeit Dan made no effort to overtake him, he was scrupulous to make the same turn. As he came Into the cross-street he glanced about for Inspector Val: that personage was: no- where to be seen. Dan kept on his way, and' before he had journeyed an- other block Inspector Val had caught up with him from the rear, and passed him. Two doors far- ther and Inspector Val entered an Italian restaurant; Dan, after going fifty yards beyond and returning, stepped into the came place. As he lald his hand on the restaurant’s door, he shot a swift look up and down the street. There was no one in view whom he knew, and Dan brought a breath of rellef. - “This bein' a stool ain't no hit with me,” sighed Dai “but will any sport show me how to sidestep it?” As no sport was there to hear the plaint of Dan, the latter must have despaired of a reply before he put the guestion. Once more he cheerfully greeted Inspector Val, and the two withdrew to a private room. “Dan,” snid Inspector Val, when they were seated at a table with a flask of chianti between them, “I needn't tell you that you're still wanted for that trick vou turned in Chicago, or remind vou of the many little things I've overlooked in your case in New York.” “No, Inspector,” replied Dan. sorrow- fufly tasting his cianti, “T'm dead onto ‘em all. What is it? Give it a name.” “Do you know what that black-bearded man wanted in your place?” “No,” sald Dan, “I don't.” ““He ¢eme to meet London Bill, and you floor-managed the play.” ° “But 1 don't know what he wanted of 11, said Dan, a bit staggered. “Well, T know what he wanted of Bill. And 1 knew what he will want of you. 1'll tell you what vou are to do:-and if will mean several spaces. in Jollet, so have a care. Tl put you easy on ome point. Neither vou, nor London Bill, nor any of the pals you'll put into this game about the mid- dle of May, will get the collar. You have my word for that.” “Your -word goes with me, Inspector.” interjected Dan, plainly relieved, and bending- to his chianti as though after all it might not be red poison. “Good; my word goes with you—which is fortunate for you. These are your or- ders: You're to say never a word; and you're to proceed with this as though nothing queer was in the wind. As fast as you know anything, you will find that Tt call for it. whatever this black- bearded narty ; g0 with him as far as he wants to go, and go with your eyes shut. I'll step in and get him when the time comes: he's the one I'm after. Now you understand; say nothing, do whatever tbe black-beard desires: ada when 1 want to see you I'll send. And be careful about London Bill: he's foxy. That was why I let you go by me a mo- ment ago; I didn’t know but Bill was fly enough to tail you here. He'll be gone, however, in a day, or at the most two, ‘;;l‘ldi then you'll have no more risk with “How did you know BEill was goin’ to- morrow? It wasn't settled thirty minutes ago.” “I know it just as T know that you, about May fifteenth, will pick up a dozen or more pals who are whole crooks and half sailors; that you will then'leave on a boat, probably a steam yacht, May twenty-sixth, bound for Washington; and that the job of bin-cracking you will en- gage in is to be pulled off May {wenty- seventh to twenty-ninth inclusive.” “You know more 'n me, inspector,” observed Dan, with wonder undisguised. “If 1 didn’t ] wouldn't be telling you what to do. t's all, Dan; have you got your orders straight?" “Stralght as a gun” declared Dan, wiping the last drops of the chiant! from his mouth. “Screw out then,” commanded In- spector Val, “and come only when I send for you.” Two days later, a laborer, clean-shaven and of rather superior exterior, fastened a tape measure to the iron coyer of a manhole that opened into the drain that ran by the side of the treasury building. Tape fastened, the laborer unwound its length along the asphalt for perhaps one hundred feet. Then he began to rewind the tape into its circular box. As'he followed the incoming tape toward the end that was fastened to the manhole cover, winding as he went, he paused for the ghest of a second r:?uuely opposite the little basement doerway in the treas- ury building, where the old watchman stood smoking his pipe on the evening that Storri was told of the gold inside. The old watchman, being on day duty- now, was standing in that same door- way, smoking the self-same pipe. and had his ignorant eve listlessly fixed upon the laborer, busy with his measurements. As the laborer paused abreast of the door, he glanced down at the tape. “The even seventy feet from the center of that manhole,” he murmured, ® as though he thus registered the figures in his mind. And the old watchman, and the pedes- trians hurrying along the pavement, thought the laborer busy with his meas- urements from the manhole to the little treasury door had been at work for the public. 71'hat night, had it not been for the moonless dark of it, you might have seen the same laborer who had been so con- cerned with tape-measures and distances / near the treasury building, a long shallow basket stoutly woven of willow om his arm, making secretly for the mouth of the drain that once witnessed the in- vestigations of Storri. Thé basket con- cealed a short pickax of the sort that miners use, a lttle spade such as chil- “dren | ‘with on the seashore, but very strong. a pinch-bar, or ‘“jimmy,” about two feet long. Besides these sus- piclous implements, there were food, a flask of whisky, another of coffee, and a bicycle lamp, to make up the basket's furniture. The laborer entered the .drain’s mouth, and when beyond chance of observation from without, he paused as aforetime had Storri to light his lamp. As the match illuminated his face, you would have identified the features of London Bill, celebrated safe-blower, box-worker, and ‘peter- man, presently about to begin his first night's work on that thirty-million- dollar job over which he and Storri had shaken hands, Having lighted his lamp, London Bill journeved on his way until the same bend in the great drain that had hidden Storri shut him out from view. London Bill splashingly proceeded to the second tyrn in the drain; from that point he counted the manholes until he stood beneath the one from which you saw him measuring with the tape. As nearly as he might, London Bill, going porthward in the drain, slowly paced off seventy fecet from the manhole: then he halted and drove two large spikes between the bricks that formed the walls, using the pinch-bar to do the driving. On these nails he hung his basket and fixed his Jamp, the latter 20 as to light the opposite wall. Being disencumbered of the basket, London Bill took the tape and agaln made bis measurements, this time more ac- curately than might be done by pacing. London Bill got to 'work, breast- high and where the lamplight fell, on thg wall of the drain nearest the Treas- ury, ang with the point of the pinch- bar began taking out the bricks. Our cracksman worked slowly and surely, laying the bricks in the bottom of ‘the drain so as to form a floor on which to stand. In this way he soon found himself ubove the water, which there- after muttered about the bricks instead of his boots, as was the former uncom- fortable condition. J After three hours of toil the Iast brick was removed; a circular hole four feet in dlameter showed in the wall of the drain. Beyond was the ecarth—gray clay, as Storri had said. Seizing the little spade, London Bill threw a handful into the water; it was instantly dissolved and washed away. “i'here's current enough,” said Lon- don Bill, in a satisfied whisper, “to clear away the dirt as fast as I dig it, which is a chunk of luck my way.” London Bill, being fairly launched upon his great work,. crept into the drain every night and crept forih every morning, and the hours of his creeping were respectively eleven and four. Phrough the day he lay in convenient, non-inquisitive lodgings, which he cared for himself. London Bill did not 80 about the town, having no wish for oommnt', being of the blood- hound inveterate breed that, once embarked upon an enterprise, does nothing, thinks nothing, save sald _enterprise . until it accom- plish it was this dogged, single- rted persistency, coupled with his cun- mf.u!' his desperate courage, that made 1« on Bill the foremost figure of his old but eriminal There was é:“-‘ 3‘&. ‘wfio ln;:‘fit a e ed the club, and, being a ing for moble nearnesses, snob with a lik- Croesus ‘wormed_himself . far as is Jr. had Storri w ing thrifty and bewailing expense, laid up the yacht in a shipyard on the Harlem River. The yacht's name was Zulu Queen. The Zulu Queen measured 110 feet over all, and since she was of unusuat beam her draught was light. In a beam sea the Zulu Queen would all but roll her stacks overbogrd; in a head sea she pounded until one feared for her safety; in smooth water, full steam ahead, she could snap off seventeen knots. She had a twenty-foot launch, equal to fourteen knots, that made no more noise than a sewing machine. Altogether there were worse as well as better boats upon the sea than the Zulu Queen. Croesus Jr., disliking expense, as noted, did not care to keep the Zulu Queen in commission. And yet the rust of retire- ment was eating into her value! A yacht, a horse and a woman, to keep at their best, should be constantly in commis- sion. Croesus Jr. offered the Zulu Queen to Storri for the spring and summer, Storri to foot the bills. This was a saga- clous move on the part of Croesus Jr. and meant to kill a brace of birds with one stone. He would keep the Zulu Queen steamed up at another's cost, thereby avolding the wharf rent as well as the rust of her banishment: also he would please a nobleman. Storri accepted the disinterested offer of the Zulu Queen from Croesus Jr.; that was just before he met London Bill. After meeting that eminent bandit Stor- ri drove to Harlem and gave orders for overhauling the Zulu Queen, as well as for storing her and coalll her to the limit of her lockers and bunkers. She was to be made ready for the crew and cruise by May first. Storrl was armed with the written order of Croesus Jr., and the shipyard people offered no demur, since they charged all bills in true maritime fashion to the Zulu Queen, and neither to Storrl nor yet Croesus Jr., the latter provident young person must finally face the expense—a flnanclal disaster which Croesus Jr. never foresaw, albeit Storri was not so blind. As London Bill plies darksome spade and pick and pinch-bar, the Harlem ship men are furnishing and coaling and storing the Zulu Queen. Storri said nothing of London Bill and the Zulu Queen to the San Reve. He had well nigh given up the club, being willing to postpone all chance of meeting either Mr. Harley or Richard, and was therefore a more frequent visitor to Grant place— a social situation that pleased the San Reve vastly. The SBan Reve used to dog Storri when he left her; and, inasmuch as she never once traced him to the Harley house or its vicinity, her jealousy began to slcep. But the San Reve, while she haunted the steps of Storrl, could not always follow his thoughts, and they went often to the Harleys. Storrl had the Harleys ever on his mind: each day served to intensify his hatred for Mr. Harley, and to render more sultry that passion for Deorothy which was both love and hate. Little by little his lawless imagination suggested methods by which he might have revenge on Mr. Harley and gain possession of Dorothy; and the methods so suggested, like the fngenious cogs of a wheel mashed into that other enterprise of gold which had enlisted the Zulu Queen and London Bill. The thought of revenge on Mr. Harley, and a physical conquest of Dorothy the beautiful, grew and broad- ened and extended itself like some plant of evil in Storri's heart. It worked itself out Into leaf and twig and bud of sinful detail until the execution thereof seemed the thing feasible: with that the face of Storri began to wear a look of crim- inal triumph in anticipation. The San Reve observed this latter phenomenon and read it for a good sign, holding it to be evidence of the con- tentment barn of their happler relations, and also of clearing the skies of stocks. It ke of fair weather in both love and’business, and the San Reve was at considerable care not to disturb Storri with ejther query or comment. “What should be better,”” mused Storri, with that lesr which Satan gave him, ‘“than to carry away the gold of these pig Americans, and the daughter of one of them, on the same night? We should be off the coast of Africa in a fortnight, and were I to. tire of her I could sell her to the Moors. Who would hear of her after that?" Thus did Storri rear his sinful castles in the air: and as he brooded his black designs, smoking his cigars and tossing off his brandy in silence, the San Reve fat drinking him in with adoring gray- green eyes, pleasing herself by con- jecturing his meditations, and going miles to leeward of the truth. Had the San Reve but guessed them, there might have descended an interruption, and Storri’'s purposes suffered a postponement af once grizzly and grim. Richara, about this time, troubled the club with his presence no oftener than daid Storri—and that was natural enough. He must see so much of Dorothy at either her own house or Bess Marklin's, he was left scanty time for clubs. It is wonderful how love will engage the hours and occupy the faculties of a man. One evening as Richard was coming from the Harley house he met Inspector Val Richard, wrapped in visions where- of the constituent elements were roses and music with starlight over all, was careless of routes, and Inspector Val led him past the Treasury building, across the White Lot between the Monument and the: White House, until they stood at the drain's mouth, of which you have heard so much. The stream was rushing forth a clayey gray. “Do you see?” asked Inspector Val, pointing to the stream. “See what?’ sald Richard, waxing impatient, as a man when roused from loving dreams to consider a question of sewage. “The color,” replied Inspector Val. “That shows our man to be ' indus- triously at his task. No, no explan: tion now; on the 2th of May we'll come again, and the drain itself shall furnish a solution to the puzzle.” CHAPTER XX. How Storrl Foolishly Wrote a Mes- sage. Governor Obstinate being stubbornly and openly for gold, party opinion, dis- liking concealment and skulking my: tery, began to burn the grass of im- perious inquiry about the feet of Sen- ator Hanway. Men could understand a gold-bug or a silver-bug, and either embrace or tolerate him according to the color of thelr convictions. But that monstrous insect of finance, the strad- dle-bug, pleased no one; and since Sen- ator Hanway, whose patriotism was self-interest and who possessed no principle beyond the principle of per- sonal aggrandizement, was on every issue a straddle-bug, finance fi=st of all. our sinuous §tatesman commenced to taste tropblous days. . Senator Gruff urged him to declare for gold. e “You will have two-thirds of the het- ter element with you,” said Senator Gruff, “and by that I mean the richer element.” P Senator Hanway submitted that while the richer or managing ele t was for gold, tue -asses might be for silver. 1f he were nominated following a gold declaration, a silver public might de- feat him at the polls. “But the public,” explained Senator Gruft, disagreeing, “are as sheep; the managers of the party are the wolves, The howl of one wolf In politics is of graver moment than the bleating of many sheep.” e “But the sheep are the more numerous, laughted Senator Hanway, who was amused by what he termed the zoologi- cal figures of Senator Gruff, “What matters that?” sald Senator Gruff. “Wasn't it Virgll who wrote ‘What cares the wolf how many the sheep be'? The wolves, I tell you, win.” Senator Hanway, full of inborn furtivi- ties, still hung in the wind of doubt. “Would it not be wise,” he argued. “to claim the public’s attention with some new unusual proposition? Might not the public, being wholly engaged thereby, forget finance?" ‘Semator Gruff thought this among things possible; at least it might be tried. Something surely imust be done, or Sen- ator Hanway would be compelled to dis- close his attitude on Stlver versus Gold. It was the decision of Senators Hanway and Gruft that the former should bring up_for State discussion the resolution concering that Georglan Bay-Ontario Canal. Credit Magellan was dead and gone, and had been since the ‘bear” fail- ure against Northern Consolidated. But no one in the Senate, no one indeed mot of the osprey pool, had heard of Credit Magellan. Therefore, Senator Hanway could handle the canal resclution as thing by itself. It could be offered as a measure important, not alone nationally but internationally, and to all the world. Senator Hanway would force no vote; but he would be heard, and his Senate friends and allies would be heard. There should arise such a din of statesmanship that the dullest ear in the country must be impressed with the canal as a subject of tremendous consequenrs. The public intelligence might thus be made to center upon the canal. The latter would sub- tract from, even if it did not wholly swallow up in the common regard, that dangerous query of finance. “You may be right,” observed Senator Gruff. He said this dublously, for he wasn't as sure as was Senator Hanway of either a public interest or its direction touching the canal. “It will be a noveity; and the public is as readily caught by a novelty as any rustic at a fair. But you might better get to it at once. I had a word from the Anaconda people yesterday; they urge definite utterance on the money question. They say they must know which it Is to be in order to select timber for the delegatlons. It won't do to name silver delegates if you mean in the eleventh hour to declare for gold.” Senator Hanway brought up his Geor- glan Bay-Oriental canal and talked a pro- found hour. Other Senators followed, and the canal held the carpet of debate for three full days. Then it was sent back to the Foreign Committee without a vote. But the object of the discussion had been reached. Canal took the place of money in the people’s mouth, and Senator Hanway, his name gaining favorable place in every paper, particularly in the Dally Tory, became a prodigious person- ality by acclamation. The most besotted of Governor Obstinate’s adherents now conceded the superior strength of Sen- ator Hanway, and two or three States which held their conventions about this time instructed their delegates to vote for him as a unit. Mr. Harley and Sen- ator Gruff, being nearest to Senator Han- way, were jubilant: they complimented and extolled the acumen that substituted canal for finance as a popular shout. “You've got it,” ejaculated Senator Gruff, slapping Senator Hanway on the shoulder with a freedom cherished by . statesmen among themselves; “the ticket is as good as made, with Hanway at the head. Put Frost om for Vice President, and it will be all over but the fireworks.” Senator Hanway was of one mind with Senator Gruff; he could discover no gap in his fences through which defeat might crowd. “It's as it should be, John,< observed Senator Hanway, when one evening he and Mr. Harley were alone in his study. Richard had just left, bearing an elabor- ate interview with Senator Hanway, In which the Georgian Bay-Ontario canal was displayed as the question paramount and precedental to all others, the interview being intended for the next issue of the Dally Tory. “It would be hard, indeed.” continued Senator Hanway, “to be wiped out in politics just as we were wiped out in stocks. I can look on present pauper- ism calmly, enough if it is to be followed by the White Hous: for four years. It would be our turn then to issue German deflances, and use Monroe to milk the .’ assented Mr. Harley, a greedy twinkle in his eye, “a White House should place us on high ground.” Mr. Harley, being thus reminded of the osprey pool, remarked that he received a line that afternoon saying the myste- rious builder of the commer in Northern Consolidated had been discovered in Rob- ert Lance Bayard. The old gray bucca- neer would at once learn the terms upon which they might ransom themselves. “If it be so much as three millions for our share,” said Senator Hanway, “it will cut us both off at the roots. Three mil- lions would take the last bond and the last share of stock in our boxes.” “The offer will be made for a million a man,”’ said Mr. Harley; “but should Mr. Bayard refuse, there’s mo help. He holds us at his mercy.” “Absolutely!” assented Senator Han- way, with a sigh. Then in livelier man- ner: “Still, as I observed, we must console ourselves with a Presidency. That Geor- gian Bay-Ontario Canal was a fortunate thought. My nomination is certain; and the success of the ticket with the peonle seems quite as sure. We must offset a loss in stocks by this mighty profit in politics. “Changing the subject,”” continued Sena- tor Hanway, “young Storms seems to be the accepted lover of Dorothy. I'm grat- ified by_it; he hag mo money, but Mr. Gwynn will act the generous part. What surprises me is the submission of Bar- bara; she was decidedly tragic in her ob- jections ome evening.™ “Yes,” said Mr. Harley, soberly exuit- ant, his conquest of Mrs. Hanway-Harley in the matter of that matrimony being the only battle he had ever won from his domestic Boadicea, “‘yes, Barbara did ob- ject; put it on the ground that Storms was a beggar. Thereupon 1 expounded her own bankruptcy to her, showed her how it was the pot calling the Kettle black, and Barbara, feeling that she hadn’t a leg to stand on, surrendered.” Mr. Harley said nothing of that Storri secret between Dorothy and himselt. “When will you appoint the wedding?" asked Senator Hanway. “Dorothy will attend to that. I take it. Should ghe come for my advice. I shall vote for expedition. Marriage is so much like shooting a rifle that one ought net to hang too long on one’s aim.” Richard received a wire from Mr. Bay- ard calling him to New York. The next day he was closeted with the ticker-king at 30 Broad. “We have never,” said Mr. “declared our respeective shares corner in Northern Consolidated,” Bayard, in the (Concluded Next Sunday.)