OCR Text |
Show He Read It Over Several Time. paused at the door, however, to give the situation a final analysis. Muku bad lost something. After hunting for It vainly he had gone to the city directory for information which appeared ap-peared to satisfy him. Then what he lost must have been an address. How would he have been likely to lose it? Orme'a futlguo was so great that he repeated the question to himself several sev-eral times without seeing any meaning mean-ing In It He forced his tired brain back to the first statement. Maku had lost something. Yes, be had lost something. What was It he had lost? Oh, yes, a rnper. It was futile. His brain refused to work. i Maku had lost a paper. A paper? "Ah!" Orme was awake now. "How stupid!" he exclaimed. For he had entirely forgotten the 1 paper which he had taken from the 1 piHket of the unconscious Muku, there 1 on ,the campus! He had thrust It Into his pocket without looking at It, and In thu excitement of bis luter ad- 1 ventures It bad passed utterly from his memory Anotliet moment and he hpd the paper In his hand. His finger shook as be unfolded It, and he felt angry at his weakness. Yes. there It was the address written In an unformed hand. 1 If he had only thought of the paper I before, he would have been saved a deal of trouble would have had more sleep He read It over several times ' "Three forty-one North I'arker street" I so that he would remember It If the I paper should be lost. 1 Tin glad Maku didn't write It In Japanese!" he exclaimed. CHAPTER IX. i Number Three Forty-One. When Orme was aroused by the 1 ringing of his telephone bell the next 1 morning and heard the clerk's voice 1 saying over the wire. "Fight o'clock, 1 sir," It seemed as If he had been 1 asleep but a few minutes. During breakfast he reviewed the events of the preceding evening. Strange and varied though they had t been, his tho'ights chiefly turned to j I the girl herself, and be shaped all his j I plans with the Idea of pleasing her. i The work he had set for himself was to get the envelope and deliver it to I the girl. This plan Involved the finding find-ing of the man who had escaped from I the tree. The searrh was not so nearly blind l as It would have been If Orme had not found that folded slip of paper 1 In Maku'a pocket. The address, three forty one North Parker street." t was unquestionably the destination at which Maku had expcted to meet i friends. 1 To North Parker street, then. Orme I prepsred to go. Much as he longed to I see the girl again, he was glad that t they were not to make this adventure ! together, for the reputation of Norm 1 I I'arker street was unsavory j ( Orme found his way readily i-tim gh. j There was not far to go, and he pre- fern d to walk Hut before be reacted 1 bis distillation he letnetiiberi d th.it ; I. ad ptonilsed Aleatrante rd port!- I to meet them at his apartment at t n , I o'clock j 1 His obligation to the two Sottfi 1 Americans seemd sPrM. now t.i.i'l the bill had passed from hi hais.js 1 and that he knew the rnture of Porl J tol's actions. Nvrih less, he was aj man of his word, and he hurried back to tlm Pere Marquette, for the hour was close to ten. He was Influenced to some extent by the thought that Peritol and Aleatrante, on learning how he had been robbed of the bill, might unwittingly give him a further clue. No one had called for him. Ho ! Hailed till ten minutes past the hour before he concluded that be had fulfilled ful-filled his part of the bargain with them. Though he did not understand it. he attached no especial significance to their failure to appear. Once again he went to North Parker street. Three forty-one proved to be a notion shop. Through the window win-dow he saw a stout woman reading a newspaper behind the counter. When he entered rhe laid the paper aside and arose languidly, as though customers cus-tomers were rather a nuisance than a blessing. She was forty, but not fal. Orme asked to see a set of studs. She drew a box from a show case and spread the assortment before him. He selected a set and paid her, offprint? offpr-int? a ten-dollar bill. She turned to a (.frit register and made change which Included a five-dollar bill. Orme could hardly believe his eyes The bill which she placed In his hand bore the written words: Kcmembcr person you pay this to." He turned It over. In the corner was a familiar set of abbreviations. Tht re was no doubt about It. The bill was the same which had been taken from him. and which he had last seen !n the possession of Maku. What an Insistent pieco of green paper pa-per that marked bill was! It had started him on this remarkable series of adventures. It had Introduced excitable ex-citable little Porltol and the suave Aleatrante to his apnrtment. It had made bltn the victim of the attack by the two Japanese. It had brought the girl Into bis life. And now it came axain Into his possession Just st the moment to prove that he was tin the right track In his senrch for Maku and the man who had the papers. pa-pers. The queerest coincidence was that the bill would never have come Into his possession at all had It not been for bis first meeting with the girl who at that very time was herself her-self starching for It. The rubbing of his hat against the wheel of her car on so little thing as that had hinged the events followed. "This Is strange," Orme addressed tit j woman. "It doesn't hurt It any." said the woman, Indifferently. "I know thnt. Hut It's a curious thing Just the same." The woman raised her shoulders slightly, and began to put awsy the stock she had takrn out for Orme's benefit. "Who paid this to you?" persisted Orme. "How should I remen or? can't keep track of all the persons that i-or.ie In the store during the day." "Hut I should think that anything so queer as this " He ta thut he ou!d g''t nothing from her except by at noying hi r. The woman glared "What you a butherin' about? Why don't you lea w.-i enough slime?" OrtMP smiled. "Tell me rn thing." 1 s:id. "di ou know a Japanese tl ht l.ves hi reabouts?" "Oh." siild the woman. "o you're one of the getilkuien be was tx;nctia , |