the train; they were
on hand, and he shouted to them, commanding them to load the boxes and
start north.
There was a man displaying a badge on the platform--a deputy sheriff who
had his eye out for bootleggers headed toward the driving crews; the
conductor ran to the officer and reported that Latisan had broken the
law relating to the transportation of explosives; the trainman proposed
to shift the responsibility, anticipating that the sheriff might give
official attention to the cargo.
Just then Latisan spied the green toque; the face was concealed because
the head was bowed to enable the toque's wearer to pick her way down the
steps of the coach.
The drive master leaped from the door of the car and his men scrambled
past him to enter.
"About that dynamite----"
Latisan elbowed aside the questioning sheriff, and looked straight past
the officer. "If you go after me on that point you'll have to go after
Craig and the Three C's, too--and I'll put the thing up to the county
attorney myself. Right now I'm busy."
The men were lugging out the boxes. "If anybody gets in your way, boys,
drop a box on his toes," he shouted, starting up the platform.
"Leave it to us, Mr. Latisan," bawled one of the crew.
The drive master had his eyes on the girl who was walking ahead of him.
He could hardly believe that the voicing of his name attracted her
attention. She did not know his name! But she stopped and whirled about
and stared at him.
It was surely the girl of the cafeteria!
She plainly shared Latisan's amazement, but there was in her demeanor
something more than the frank astonishment which was actuating him.
He pulled off his cap and hurried to her and put out his hand. "I saw
you--I mean I saw your hat. I thought it might be you--but I looked for
you in New York--for that hat----" He knew he was making a fool of
himself by his excitement and incoherence. "I have been thinking about
you----" He was able to check himself, for her eyes were showing
surprise of another sort. Her manner suggested to Latisan that she, at
any rate, had not been thinking especially about him during the months.
She had recovered her composure.
"It is not surprising about the hat, Mr.--I believe I heard somebody
call your name--Mr. Latisan?" There was an inflection of polite query,
and he bowed. "My sarcastic friends are very explicit about this hat
serving as my identifier."
"I didn't mean it that way. I don't know anything ab
|