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Show I TAYI I An li I: A JTm, m, A Adventure M By George Agnew Chamberlain ixOmCTlCe HL Cop7r1gbt,TliBohh.HorTltlOoD)pn "" - B I : I : HI PART IV Continued. H' 12 Ml Five minutes Inter, his cnb wns car- K tying, In the perrons of Mr. Morgum. i above mentioned, nh"d anotticr, ttio pn- K rcntlnt pivots of very tight-vested In M terests to the tuno of twelvo billion B dollars. It niny bo thought Hint It wuh B, Slim Hervcy'g Intention to wnft this BW precious pnlr to Rome bosky retrent, H cover tlicin with leaves, anil hold them B for ransom, but such wns not the case. H Ho desired nothing from these two HJJ potentates among a nice of lucre HJJ giants beyond whnt might come to lilui HJj through his ever-open speaking slot. HH This Is nil ho heard: HJH "Lcwisfadcr Is getting kind of j HH "That's what I been think In'." HH "When?" HH "What nbout Friday, when tho Hun- HH Vcrs-IlnlKcovll report comes out?" HH "Good Ideal Friday It Is." HH. Not nnother word, but, ns It hnp- HH pened, It Wns enough to stnrt Mr. Ran- HHJ riolpli honking uptown the moment ho HH had dropped his laconic fares at their ft next hoard meeting. No ono had to HI tell li I tn who Lcwlsfnder was; he had HH been to collego with that financier's HH son, nml If thcro V'us ono thing above HH till others thnt said offspring was good- HH ut, It was blowing his father's horn. HH' Umisfnilor was thta and Lowlsfndcr HH was that, but principally and especial- HH ly he wns tho central rock In tho money HH mnelstroui known to tho stock market HH' as "Amnl. I. S. & C," which had only HH lately dared to swell Its portentous HH belly In the company of the most de- HHr vdoped nnd vicious snurlans of tho HHj llnanclnl world. HHJ, All tho way uptown, Mr. Randolph's HHj faro was concentrated In tho nearest HHJ approach to a frown of which It wus HH rapahle. Ho was not, however, weigh HH ing tlio Btibstnnco of what he had heard HH this way und thnt, for tho slmplo rea- HHj son that tho moment tho ono word, HH "Lowlsfndcr," had reached his cars, ho HH bad seen tho great light and grasped HHj his hunch beyond any thought of look HHJ hig hack. That pnrt of It was settled ; HHJ what worried him now was tho amount HHJ of ways rind means In bin pocket. Ry HHJ thinking very hard, ho added up his HHJ rapltal without bringing It forth to tho HHJ light of day. The exact Bum was sir HHJ ty-elght dollars nnd fifty cents. HHJ,. No sooner had ho passed tho test In HH' mental mlthmctlc than ho drew up n HHJ Httfe b) ond tho front door of tho Rock- HHJ t club. IIo Btnrtcd to louvo his cnb, HHJ paused, considered, nnd then dcllbcr HHJ atcly lowered tho flag. An ho entered HHJ tho lobby of tho club, four scandalized HHJ fronts leaped to bar his way. They HHJ asked hltn a variety of biting ques- HHJ tlons: Did ho think It was a night HHJ lunch wagon? Which chambermaid HK was ho calling en 7 Wns ho looking for HHJ Mills hotel ? HHJ' "Herbert I" roared Mr. Ilnndolph. HHJ The functionary named, head door HHJ man for tho Itockct club since first It HHJ started, on Its appropriately meteoric HHJ career, leaped from his dignified seat HHJ en tho somnolent side Fines nnd stared HHJ wide eyed vat tho servllo apparition HHJ that had dared shout tho open sesama HHJ to that Invlolato portal. HHJ I "Mr, Randolph I" liu gasped nt last, HHJ and the stunned fronts started to slluk HHJ HHJ "Hold on, then) I" said Mr, Randolph, HHJ snd divested hlmwlf of cap to one, HHJ -ivercoat to u not her, gloves to the third, HH "Good Idea I Friday rt Is," HJ and naked the fourth for a light, "Her HR bert," hfl- continued, In modulated Htt tones, "tho cab outside la waiting for HH Mr. It. II. Ilnndolph. It may bo thcro Kf for somo tlmcv IJavo an eyo kept on r it- HJE "Yes, Mr. Ilnndolph. Ill sco to It, HJI Sir. Randolph. George, Mr. Randolph's HjF tetters." HH "Never mind tho lotters," counter Hf nanded tho oft-named' one-, and pro HW ceeded to thread his way to n certain HJn araall room strategically placed well HJ wit a tUo depths. e tho edifice trod, far from tho maddening tumult of tho streets. The said apartment nt tho moment of his arrival contained five occupants seated round a circular tablo of convenient height and clothed In pale green, kindest of nil shades to tho eye of man. There wcro no mirrors on tho walls. Mr. Randolph's entry was greeted first with consternation and then with shouts. "Hobby, you old scout I" "Herv, by great bolls of invent." "Randy, from where tho devil J" Tho speakers nroso nnd pump-handled pump-handled Mr. Randolph's arm. "Vo gods, man, whero you been? Strayed In from n fancy dress?" "Never mind the glad rags, fellows," snld Mr. Randolph. "I was Just feeling feel-ing lonely for the sound of chips. Room for another?" "Tho surest thing I You don't know these two dinps, do you? Mr. Seegar, passed on to us from 'Frisco, and Mr. llowlliig-Truo, our lntcst new member. Gentlemen, this Is Mr. Randy Randolph Ran-dolph of New Ilavcn nnd Now York, In dlsgulso but still tho best ever." "Tnblo stakes?" murmured Mr.-Rnn-dolph, as ho took his place, apparently apparent-ly nt random, hut at tha left of the two comparative strangers. "Of course I Same old ante. Bnmc old game. You talk as though you'd been nwny for a month." For n moment, but (or a moment only, Mr, Randolph was dnzod. Was It possible that tho Inst three weeks hndn't been n year? IIo drow out his sixty-eight dollars nnd fifty cents nonchalantly, non-chalantly, ns though thoy were merely tho loose change ho had on his person, per-son, bought fifty In chips, nnd laid tho small henp of what waa left of his cash on tho board. Tho strain on his nerves during tho next half-hour put that of tho flvo days' wait for a hunch on the Strcot to tho blush. There came a moment when all bis chips wcro gono, nnd ho wns forced to see with n full house for his small pllo of change only. "Serves you right, Rnndy," snld Mr. Meln. "For forgetting to pile up tho ready In a tnble-stnko gamo; thero aro two nnd a half million walking the streets " "Oh, stow It I" murmured .Mr. Randolph, Ran-dolph, ns ho counted out his shnrc, amounting to ninety-two dollnrs nnd fifty cents, nnd pushed across tho rest of tho fat pot to tho next best hand. IIo looked up nnd smiled. "Roys," ho remarked frankly, "I'm riding a hunch with four legs. Watch me." Flvo spectators did. but got little excitement of their pnlns. Mr. Randolph Ran-dolph was playing that most dllllcult and uninteresting of poker corollaries u tight gnmo. Mr. Seegnr turned Impatient Im-patient as tho conviction grew upon him that ho had run up ngnlnst tho original hard-shell who novcr drew to less than a pnlr of tens, never bluffed, nnd could surrender thrco kings without with-out 'n sigh to e low straight upsee,n. IIo began to make facetious remarks In connection with the safety-first campaign cam-paign which was then at Its holght. Mr. Randolph nursed his pile through five long hours up to eighteen hundred dollnrs. Then It was that hc suddenly met a raise of two hundred hun-dred on the pnrt of Mr. Soegar, tacked on threo hundred more, . waited for that Individual to throw lu his very good hand, face up, with tho resigned smile of n wlso one, and thou carelessly careless-ly displayed In tho snmo mnnncr, his own three-flush, so bobtalled thnt tho attention of tho S. I'. U. A. should have been called to tho case. Tho roar of laughter that went up from all but Mr. Seegnr was moro full and frco than oven such occnflons usunlly produce. Mr. Meln pounded Mr. Randolph On tho hack. "Hobby, old boy," ho said, "Hint was the eternnleut, putlentcst, nnd deepest-laid deepest-laid trap I've over witnessed In n lifelong life-long pursuit of tho only national pas-tlmol" pas-tlmol" TJie light merely flickered In Mr. Randolph's blue eyes, and he returned to his old Job of sawlnj worn), Not for nothing had ho mad that grandstand grand-stand llourlsh, and his object had been gained. A new seriousness, masked In cold-edged, clnsstc poker smiles, settled set-tled upon tho tnblo as a whole. Tho Idea that they wcro gathered together merely to whllo away an Idle evening faded Into the background, nnd. one by one. Ilko stars coming out at evening time, supper trays began to uinko their nppenrnnce. All but Randolph, they had been toying with poker; now they began to play It. That guntlenmn continued foi tho nonce tho even tonor of bin strJiH ox- cept forn Lenten concession o his tnsldes. Ho ordered placet! on i stnnd at his elbow a largo Jug of lee water and u plnttcr containing four dozon sandwiches. No ndded touch could linvo done moro toward persuading his friendly antagonists that he, Randolph, wns out for thick blood. If any ono of tho flvo had Joyed In tho knowi- I edgo that two slices, thin, of buttered I liryad embracing a sliver of meat had boen iiunicd cternnlly after tho earl of Sandwich on Just such nn epochal occasion as this, ho would probably hnvo seen tho high sign nnd beat It for home and bed. Wight was fast Joining the discard j when the weary Herbert dared to la terrupt. ' "I'lense, Mr. Randolph, the offlcer on the beat says tho grass Is lifting your cab, sir, and ho thought be ought to report anything llko that" "Tell him to undo tho check nnd let It feed Itself dawn again," growled Mr-Randolph. Mr-Randolph. The dny passed; night fell. Now ono nnd then another of tho six devotees de-votees of n science which even In tho youth of this nntton had forestalled all tho wonders of tho submarine, tho lllght of man, and wireless telegraphy withdrew Just long enough to connect with tho Dally Night bank round tho corner or somo other convenient base of supplies and returned to set new money to catch otd. But Mr. Randolph Ran-dolph had no occnslon to do this. Ills henp ( chips nnd cash of the realm rested on too solid n base of Its own. Thero mny bo recorded nn nmuslng diversion from tho serious business to hand. It was ushered In by tho crestfallen crest-fallen Herbert, who confessed thnt nc-tunl nc-tunl physical exhnuitlon lind driven him to forty winks,. during which ttmo n professional purlolncr of motor-car accessories had stopped, spellbound by li ' J "The Officer on the Beat Says tht Grass U Lifting Your Cab, Sir." tho gigantic sum registered ' on Mr. Randolph's tuxlmetar, had promptly stolen the preposterous clock, and wns now on the club utaps offering to settle set-tle with woover wns tho Interested gent on n fifty-fifty basis. Clreat was-the consternation of the enterprising speculator In theft when lis wns confronted by two persons In ono; namely, Mr. R. II. Randolph, lessee of Cnr No. 1803. nnd Mr. It. II. Ran dolph, alias Slim Hcrvcy. the Irntu driver of snld cab. Ilia glib tongue, londed to tho gills with arguments us to how much tho fare would save through tho sudden exit of tho clock from tho ken of mnn, tripped hopelessly hopeless-ly nn this vision of wrath In tho shnpo of n driver In whose Interests tho ticker tick-er had been faithfully slaving. It took Mr. Rnndolnh Just thirty-two precious mlnuteo to force the crestfallen crest-fallen ono to rcplaco and readjust the busy bee of motor readings. When he returned to tho fray upstairs, ho noticed no-ticed n strange phenomenon of poker nge, unmlstuknblo ngc, had settled on tho faces of tho tlvu youths. IIo put his fingers to his own countenance; he could feel the ndded years. Tho game ended, ns do all titanic battles, In absolute silence. Mr. Randolph Ran-dolph sorted, stacked, tabulated his winnings," nnd Bluffed them Into all the pockets on his person. Ho then noted tho houreleven o'clock of a bright Thursday morning und, proceeding to the nearest telephone booth, railed up Mr. Wllllnm Verrles of Venies & Cat, stock brokers, That you. Wllllnm? This Is Rob Randolph. Wllllnm, I've got sixteen thousand dollnrs In my Jeans at the moment of speaking. What's the low-est low-est margin you'll give me to sell Amnl. I. S. & C short for delivery at tomorrow's tomor-row's elu-Jlng?" "Sell Amnl, I. S. & C. short I" gasped Mr. Verrles. "Why, you're- crazy I Ruy, und I'll talk to you." (TO UV. CONTINUED. |