Show 4 H AW aelem wim ma 17 E Q by RUPERT dumert r HUG HUGHE RES 0 RUPERT HUGHES SERVICE CHAPTER I 1 V through the clouds from their ci cigars mingled in the thickening air of the smoking compartment the two americans might have been cast on desert islands in different oceans for all the congress they held their moods seemed as unlike as their persons the one smiled broad chee kedly even on the flat landscape 1 the only thing in germany that is not fat the other saw nothing but seemed leanly intent on an inner panorama of remorse revenge unrequited hate or love or some such acid emotion his very behavior toward his cigar showed that A musician would have said that the plump fellow smoked in luxurious legato the other in a staccato agitator agi tato he puffed ferociously for a while yet a little later his hand must be seeking another match and trembling as he ransacked his pockets he scratched the match with impatience and its shaken illumination threw a little calcium on a face of drawn intensity on such a gaunt and hunted intensity that the fat man feltnor entirely easy of his company in the leather padded cell strange how unlike americans are at home and how me like abroad these two differed in every detail of feature costume and behavior yet the first glance either gave other told both that they were fellow countrymen and their presence on the nord express bound for ostend implied that their common destination was home they seemed to be taking back experiences as different as their souls and bodies one was plump in the most generous stretch of the epithet and complacent with the ale pleasant amant thoughts of a traveler full of agreeable remembrances mem brances yet glad to be return jing ing to still more delightful memories the other was slim to the verge of lankness and some idy was apparently at ferment within him in america at least in the less effete regions they would probably have drifted into comment on the weather or some such topic but being in europe where a general suspicion is the most contagious tag ious of all habits of mind they mewed themselves up uli in them j selves and kept castle feudally with moats full and portcullises portcullis es down the rotund citizen who had been the first to establish himself in the smoking compartment of the corridor idgie car observed the latter comer with while seeming to let his unfocused gaze follow his own smoke noting the taut features and the eyebrows locked wit with h two deep bars he suspected the stranger of contemplating some crime or fleeing its consequence on impulse he picked up tip again i the copy of the Hambur gische tage 1 blatt he had been laboring over till he had grown tired his few works of conversation book german had given him an adumbration of some som e j desperate murder committed in I 1 braunschweig he had gleaned that the guilty wretch had escaped this might be he As he went back over the column even his scant vocabulary show showed ed him that whoever ea else se the stranger might be this man was not that man for the fugitive was everything that this man was not the fugitive was described among several details which were sanskrit to the american as fat burly and austrian with a duel scar that had clipped the lobe off a left ear and made a furrow across the cheek to the nostril with a sigh almost of disappointment the foiled hawkshaw put the paper aside and resumed the study of his vis a vis he took his invoice through opportune clouds clouds of smoke in the first place his man had the I 1 forehead of intelligence ripened with study his jaw was neatly planed and squared yet his chin was weak his lips were compressed till they were thin and pale and his mouth was one in which weaknesses and strengths were at war as indeed j they were throughout the mans catt cati of traits the strangers costume was almost over emphatic in the matter of modesty in chorot thorough gh contrast with his analysts cc costume the fat man wore a a richly tinted ultra cut coat trousers baggy yet sharply creased find and revealing a glimpse of shameless purple between trouser cuffs and yellow shoe tops a white rimmed waistcoat of many colors was draped like a union jack about a rotundity emphasized by a patterned shirt and a flaming silk scarf with a twisted gold skewer in it the stranger was dressed as negligently li as an almost finicky neatness would permit hat coat neck scarf trousers waistcoat stockings shoes all were black yet with no hint of mourning he had the look of a professional person the most striking the only really striking trait of the man was the hand that held or rather clutched the cigar it was a notable hand a hand of skill of cunning the hand of a craftsman perhaps too muscular for a painters it might be a sculptors or a pianists yet the fingernails were trimmed to the quick not gnawed but carefully trimmed and so after much puffing much secret scrutiny and much unworthy curiosity the fat man had decided the matter old boy only that the lean man was an american of education and of middling prosperity and that was as far as he could go the train had gone much farther before a nervous shift of position disclosed on the waistcoat of his subject a little gleaming jewel the next glance revealed it a fraternity pin was it could it be it was the stranger wore the emblem of his own fraternity the dread brotherhood whose little stone meeting house at new haven was known as the catacombs Cata combs the fatter man made a long battle with hesitance the double hesitance of infringing on the lean mans trouble and of incurring perhaps a heavy responsibility il ity by confessing kinship with a casual stranger laboring under some excitement perhaps some scandal that might defile with pitch whosoever touched him but at last he yielded to the fraternal impulse when greek meets greek then comes the tug of heart he cleared his throat with resolution leaned forward and said 1 I beg your pardon I 1 see that you are a catacomb ye es came the answer with a resentful tang for at yale it is as crass an insult to mention a mans fraternity as to breathe upon the mirror of a womans comans reputation the fat man felt easier he leaned forwarder and said reassuringly dont shoot so am I 1 nol 4 yes what year 1 46 92 my year well ill be so will L I 1 1 I ought to know you then wait dont tell me youre no besl yes you must be jebb old dave jebb my name is hold ont give me a chance let me see jebb looked the plump one up and down also around stared at the flamboyant and commodious costume A broad grin cheered his lonely face he chuckled those outlines them shy little wasp waist those modest waistcoat can belong only and always to big bill gaines goliath we used to call you right david and goliath here we are aga again iril well ill be even more so me too well well this is great got to have a drink on this no thanks with a curious desiccation ic of tone ali ah come along dave got a flask of it in my suitcase none of your foreign smoke choke real old bourbon please dont bill there was an emphasis here that miffed gaines he sputtered like a glowing stove under a spill of cold water As I 1 remember you used to indulge a bit inthe old days hit it up pretty lively now and then the trouble bill not turned you gone and got religion and turned into a demosthenes or or whoever it was that used to drink water gaines voice was full of tears and pleading you done that have you dave nope not at all not a single dam tall i better just taking a little jaunt on the water wagon eh strapped to the seat too bad its powerful dry to meet up like this after lord how many years ago was it seems like 1492 when I 1 entered college well soon be doing the oldest es t living alumnus stunt gaines was roly poly with good feeling eeling f again he pleaded you drop off the sprinkler for just a little nip you can keep one toot foot on the step there was an unimaginable sadness in jebbs eyes and voice a an D unbelievable longing in his tone id like to billy but it if I 1 did god only knows what would happen you see im a oh ch but im glad to meet you billy specially just at this moment im in trouble billy good and plenty 1 I thought you looked a little pale around the gills when you first blew in here I 1 sized you up for a murderer doing a getaway get away jebb smiled an smile ive never killed anybody except legitimately in the line of my profession but im up against it harder than hard games gaines fat hand was instant to his fat wallet im on my way home dave after Eu roping about but heres what they left me save me enough to tip the stewards and go as far as you like its not money billy im full of it he looked about cautiously and bending close murmured ive got ten thou in my belt ten thou and worried lord if I 1 ever saw that much at once I 1 care whether school kept or not what you afraid of burglars pickpockets Pick pockets not a bit im afraid of me little old david J me afraid give it away or throw it at a cat im as likely to as not when im lord but im glad to see you billy for the sake of old sakes sake im going to put my little hand in y yours ours and let you lead me home the matter old boy excuse me a minute till I 1 go see if the child is all right the child but he was gone he returned in a moment along the corridor and began to talk as he took his place again you see its like this gaines broke in one minute dave did you say something about a chee ild yes I 1 left her for a moment to have a smoke ashes scraped acquaintance with another little girl in the same compartment and I 1 left her in charge of the parents As I 1 started to say but the child youre married then your wife with you 1 I have no wife do I 1 condole or congratulate are you sod or grass sod or grass what widower neither ive never married oh excuse mel me and dont go to thinking that either the child mine at au all im just taking her to america sort of wet nurse eh go on stranger your story interests me youve got a strange child and a ransom of ten thou I 1 spotted you for a professional the minute I 1 saw you dave are you one of those lovely kidnapers no im a grave robber when im lucky lucky if close your trap ill tell you ill begin at the beginning when I 1 left yale I 1 took up surgery you always were a great cutup in due course I 1 took my diploma at the college of physicians and surgeons went to johns hopkins then to vienna university and came back to new york perspiring knowledge at every pore have much practice of course at first but got a lot to do in the hospitals and made quite a hit with some experiments of my own sp TO BE CONTINUED DA AIR is b I 1 IS A thrilling serial wherein east meets west its the story of a man who remember and a strange woman who brought him happiness hi 0 laue 0 by RUPERT HUGHES U G H E S |