The Girl and The Bill Part 5

At a corner not far from the entrance to Lincoln Park, Poritol and Alcatrante became so apparently excited that they stood, chattering volubly for several minutes. The shadow stopped altogether. He folded his arms and looked out over the lake like any casual wanderer, but now and then he turned his head toward the others. He seemed to be indifferent to what they were saying, though he was near enough to them to catch fragments of their conversation, if he so desired. The South Americans were probably talking in that dialect of Portuguese which their nation has developed.

Meantime Orme also stopped, taking up a position like that of the shadow.

He saw Poritol, with outstretched, questioning hands, his eyes fixed on the face of Alcatrante, who seemed to be delivering orders. The flas.h.i.+ng reflections of light from the minister's spectacles indicated his authoritative nods of the head.

After a time Alcatrante evidently completed his instructions. He removed his hat and bowed formally. Little Poritol echoed the salute and, turning, shot off down a side street, with ridiculously rapid movements of his short legs. Orme inferred that he was bound for the North Clark Street car line. Alcatrante continued along the drive.

When the South Americans separated, the shadow quickly came to life. He hesitated for an instant, as if in doubt which of the two to follow, then decided in favor of Alcatrante, who was moving in leisurely fas.h.i.+on toward the park entrance, his head bowed in thought. Orme found himself wondering what snaky plots were winding through that dark mind.

The procession of three silently entered the park. The shadow was about a hundred feet behind Alcatrante. Orme kept the same distance between himself and the shadow.

The minister was in no hurry. Indifferent to his surroundings he made his way, with no apparent interest in the paths he took. At last he turned into a dark stretch and for the moment was lost to sight in the night.

Suddenly the shadow darted forward. Orme hurried his own pace, and in a moment he heard the sounds of a short, sharp struggle--a scuffling of feet in the gravel, a heavy fall. There was no outcry.

Orme broke into a run. At a point where the path was darkest he checked himself for an instant. A little distance ahead a man lay flat on the ground, and bending over him was a short, stocky figure.

Orme leaped forward and swung his cane. The stick was tough and the blow was hard enough to send a man to earth, but the robber had heard Orme's approach, and looked up from his victim just in time. With a motion indescribably swift, he caught with one hand the descending cane and wrenched it from Orme's grasp. Then he crouched to spring.

At this instant Orme heard footsteps behind him. A turn of the head showed a threatening figure at his back. There had been four men in that procession through the park!

By a quick leap to one side, Orme placed himself for the moment out of danger. His two a.s.sailants, moving too fast to stop, b.u.mped together.

They faced about for another spring at him. And then there was a short scratching sound, and in the hand of the man on the ground flared a match.

"Ha!" exclaimed the prostrate Alcatrante, "I thought so!"

Orme found himself looking into the contorted faces of two j.a.panese.

Discovery was evidently the last thing the hold-up men desired, for they disappeared like a flash, diving through the shrubbery behind them. Orme, dazed and breathing hard, attempted no immediate pursuit. He stepped quickly to Alcatrante and helped him to his feet.

"I am not hurt," said the South American. "When the man threw me to the ground, I feigned that I was stunned. It is wiser not to resist a thug, is it not so?" He brushed the dust from his clothing with his handkerchief. Orme handed him his hat, which had rolled to one side. The minister rubbed it carefully with his coat-sleeve. "See," he laughed, nodding at the ground, "my cane is broken. I must have fallen on it."

"Since you're not hurt," said Orme, "we'd better get after the thieves."

"Bah!" replied Alcatrante. "What is the use? They are already far away--and they got nothing." He laughed. "Is it not always better to avoid notoriety, Mr. Orme?"

"As a rule, no doubt--but in this instance----"

"No," said Alcatrante firmly, "I really must insist that we let the matter drop. As for me, I shall return to my hotel. Perhaps you will walk along with me."

Orme hesitated. "I don't like those thieves to get off without a chase, _senhor_."

"But, my dear Mr. Orme, they did me no harm."

Orme shrugged his shoulders. "You forget that there was one after me as well as one after you."

"No, I don't forget that. But don't you see, Mr. Orme? Those two men were not after our valuables."

"Indeed?"

"Not at all. What they would like is my little friend Poritol's secret."

"But why j.a.panese?" Orme was puzzled.

"Why, indeed? A cunning j.a.panese might as easily have got wind of it as anyone else."

"But why did you say, 'I thought so'?" persisted Orme.

"Did I say that? It must have been because I suspected that only a j.a.panese could be so agile as my a.s.sailant. But all this is immaterial. I should have warned you that Poritol's secret is dangerous. You should not have left your apartments."

"Well, this certainly is a queer kettle of fish," muttered Orme. He was beginning to feel disgusted with the situation. He did not like Alcatrante's oily smoothness, and he wondered whether it would not have been better to hand the bill over to Poritol at the first demand. But it came to his mind that in a certain degree he stood committed to continue the policy he had adopted. He had sought adventure; it was coming to him in full measure.

Together they walked back toward the park entrance. The minister seemingly exerted himself to regain the ground he had lost with Orme. He proved an interesting conversationalist--keen, slightly cynical, but not without an under-note of earnestness.

"You have seen me much abused by your press, Mr. Orme," he said. "That is natural. I have the interests of my own country to protect, and those interests are of necessity sometimes opposed to the interests of other countries. But if your people would be even more patient with us--all we need is time. There is reason for our persistent to-morrow; for we are young, and it is a slow process to realize on our resources. That is why we do not pay our debts more promptly."

Orme said nothing, but he thought of looted South American treasuries, of exiled presidents squandering their official stealings at Paris and Monte Carlo, of concessions sold and sold again to rival foreign companies.

They had now reached the park entrance. "There is a cab," said Alcatrante. "You will ride with me as far as your hotel?"

"Thank you, no," said Orme. "I rather need the walk."

Alcatrante smiled persuasively. "Permit me to urge you. If you should be robbed, my little friend might lose his precious secret. Poor boy!" he added. "His father was my friend, and I cannot refuse him a service."

The cab had swung around to the curb beside them. Orme had no fear of robbery on the lighted drive, but since Alcatrante was so insistent he felt inclined to yield. He might as well ride; so he permitted the minister to bow him into the cab, and presently they were whirling along southward. There was a period of silence. Then Alcatrante spoke meditatively.

"You see how it happened, I suppose," he said. "Those j.a.panese were waiting outside your hotel. When Poritol and I came out, one of them followed us, while the other remained on guard. Then you started on your stroll, and the man who remained on guard set out after you."

"Yes," said Orme, "but I don't see how the fellow could have known who I was."

Alcatrante laughed. "Oh, he could have placed you in a number of different ways. He may have got your description from one of the servants--or from the clerk. But it is enough that he did know you."

"Well," said Orme, "this is beyond me. That five-dollar bill seems to be very much desired by different groups of persons."

Alcatrante nodded. "I am not sure," he said slowly, "but that it would ease young Poritol's mind if you would place the bill in my hands for safekeeping. Not that he mistrusts you, Mr. Orme, but he imagines that you may not realize how important it is to him, and you might not guard it carefully."

"I agreed to keep it until to-morrow," said Orme, quietly. "As for thieves, my apartment is on the tenth floor, pretty well out of their reach. The only danger of robbery lies between the cab and the hotel office.

"I know, I know," chuckled Alcatrante. "It is, of course, as you will. I was merely thinking of my young friend's peace of mind. I am his fellow-countryman, you see, and his confidence in me----" he stopped, with another chuckle. "Singular, is it not, how impressionable are the young?"

Orme said nothing. He did not enjoy this fencing.

"Look at the lake," Alcatrante suddenly exclaimed. "How beautiful an expanse of water. It has so much more color than the sea. But you should see our wonderful harbor of Rio, Mr. Orme. Perhaps some day I shall be permitted to show you its magnificences."

"Who knows?" said Orme. "It would be very pleasant."

"As to the bill," continued Alcatrante quickly, "do you care to give it to me?"

Orme felt himself frowning. "I will keep it till the morning," he said.