I'LL TAKE THAT BET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 66, 18 March 1907, Page 6

I'LL TAKE THAT BET.

B 7 SHEPPARD STEVENS.

fJeoS !t I 5 sboWn tbat the in *« frequently gets more than his wager calls for. ' b

TO BE COMPLETED IN FTVE INSTALMENTS.

CHAPTER L . STAHTIXG THE BALL A-ROLLING. ' IT is more than probable that if Tony |Van Aniringe and Evan Austin had Snot dined so well that evening, the events which I am about to chronlp de would never have taken place. 1 JS* *!" 9 uestion of their evening's wK* arose - they decided with ° ut hesitation on seeing BeUew in "Raffles," botoiavmg an openly expressed preference .for a play where something hap?w£+t 8 - a ° ainst one of those "Shaw or Ibsen things that are all talk." It was on therr way home from the old Grand Opera House, where Bellew was playiiifii W *t return engagement, that they ten into a discussion as to the actual cleverness of Raffles.

1-don't agree with : you, Tony. It is easy enough to create a set of circumstances in a book or on the stage which give your hero the appearance of tremendous cleverness, yet if he were to do the same things in real life, where he did not have the centre of the stage, so to speak, nobody would credit him with more than ordinary common sense. Any man with average coolness of brain can get out of the situations in which Raffles finds himself, if he only keeps his head." "If-he only keeps his head," objected his friend warmly, "but the whole question lies in that insignificant 'if.' In ninety-nine cases o.ut of a hundred a man no sooner commits a crime than his sense of guilt upsets his judgment and he acts .with about the brain capacity of a bug. .He gives himself away by his own foolishness."

"Well, I don't make any pretensions to more than average brain, but I'll bet Raffles never faced a situation that I couldn't have got out of as readily as he did." J Austin flung away his cigarette and reached for a fresh one from his friend's proffered case with the air of having definitely settled the matter under discussion. .

"Oh, peek-a-boo, Evan! You may feel sure that you are the real article, the surest thing that ever ran over the coursej but I'd be willing to put money on would lose your head completely and be chasing yourself in circles ten Tirinutes after you knew that an officer was on your track. And it would take him just about another ten' to nab you, you having kindly blazed a trail for him with hands pointing, and "tbis way to the thief painted beneath so that even a blind bobby need not miss you,' . Van Amringe spoke derisively.

'"And I am equally willing to bet that I could get away as clean as you please/ - ' boastfully declared the other.

"Well, since we have no way of testing the matter, there isn't any use in discussing, it, but I stick to ruy opinion," retorted Tony obstinately.

"YeSj we can prove it after a fashion. For instance, I'll bet you I can snatch some valuable of yours, here,, on the open street, with people passing, and you can set an officer directly on my heels'aiid 111 escape him. I'll go further; if I lose the bet, I'll not only put up the hundred gracefully, but I'll agree to stay in qnod twenty-four hours before you need feel called upon to explain and let mc out."

"I take the bet," cried Tony promptly. "When is the trial to be? Here and now?" i

'"Oh, no, that wouldn't be fair to mc, for you would be on guard and ready. We'll say any time within a week, and if I fai lto carry out any part of the agreement before twelve o'clock nest Thursday night, I forfeit the hundred. There is one stipulation which I makej Tiowever; you are not to try to catch mc yourself, but must put an officer on my track." '•"All right, my misguided friend, and I hope you are fully prepared for the tventy-four hours' gaol experience, for I assure you you will get all that is coming to you. Don't count on my being softhearted and letting you off that part of the bargain," warned Tony. "Don't waste your sympathy. You recall the directions for cooking a hare? First catch it." The tone was overconfident. '"2sever .mind, Austin, think of the use to which you can put your experience," rejoined his friend comfortingly. "After that twenty-four hours you will be qualified, according to modern methods, to write a book entitled, 'Some Terrible Abuses of Our Modem Gaol System,' which will be one of the six best sellers and- yield you fame and fortune." "No, Tony, my son, my trouble is to decide which particular worthy charity shall have the hundred I take from you. I could not keep it myself; it will be too eas y—]jjj e taking a rattle from a baby." Some, time longer they continued to chaff each other on the foolishness of hoping to win this wager, before the talk drifted : into other channels. They had continued up Broadway and were nearing Twenty-Sixth-street, "when, with a sudden j dexterous movement, Austin snatched the scarf-pin from his friend's neck, and with somewhat hurried pace crossed fthe street- springing forward at the warning clang of an automobile bell, but assuming as unhurried a step as his overpowering inclination to run would permit him, when he reached the pavement on the other side. Tony'Varf Amringe sent an uncomprehending; gaze after his friend's retreating figure. His hand involuntarily flew to his denuded scarf, but it was an appreciable moment before he realised what had takiin place. He bad so fully assured himself that Austin's' attempt was to be made at some future time, that he was completely off guard. It was with a distinct effort that he rallied himself, recalling at the same time his friend's stipulation—that he, Tony, was not to attempt the capture, but was to set an officer on the trail.

Turning hurriedly to summon a policeman, he discovered' a blue-uniformed figure coming directly toward him. ~ ''Offiwr— "he began, but before he could Btate Ws case the other interrupted breathlessly:

''Didat that fellow grab something from you, sir? I thought I saw him make a pass at you?" "He did, officer; he snatched my scarfpin. Catch him for mc and I will give yon fifty dollars. Here is my card. Did you get;a good look at him? Would you recognise him again?" "I took notice of him as you passed mc, sir.! I keeps my eye out for his kind, and unless I mistake it was Slick Jimmy Winston, one of the flash gang that waiks among your sort. 11l get Mm thigjtime, you bet. He give mc the slip not;long ago, but he won't do it again," and the big officer started in pursuit, of a certain high hat and. overcoat

which was not yet out of sight and which he thought he could distinguish among the many of like appearance that frequent Broadway at that laour of the night. There being no reason why he should not hurry or even run, he was gaining rapidly on the figure walking briskly ahead of him, when the doors of the Prmcess Theatre and Weber's Music Hall- began almost simultaneously to send forth their nightly crowd of amusement-seekers. Austin was just passing as a scattered few started to trickle out, but when the officer reached the spot it was to be caught in the full rush of the jostling mass then pouring into the street.-

Fearing to* lose his man lie made an attempt to leave the sidewalk, but the pack, of carriages and fretting horses made this impossible, and the worst of it was that the other side of the street seemed little; better than the one he was on, for it -was the hour of crowds. He pushed and fought his way through the press in a manner which called forth many. protests, and would have elicited something more decided had it not been for the blue- uniform.

When he. had at length disentangled himself from the crowd, the object of his pursuit. was almost out of sight; indeed he .could no longer feel that the particular back that he was following was that of. the man he wanted. Having lost eight of him during those minutes of struggle, he realized, in trying to spot him again, how inconspicuous the fellow was by reason of the perfect conventionality of his dress.

Trusting to the fact that he would be able to recognize hkn if he were indeed Slick Jimmy Winston, as he believed, he broke into a quick run and gained rapidly on his man.

• Evan, who had been resisting at every step a desire to look back and see if Tony had succeeded in setting a sleuth* on his heels, was just congratulating himself on his success in escaping and feeling that the game had been too easy to be worth while, when he heard hurrying feet in his rear, and, utterly unable to control the involuntary movement of his head, turned back to catch a fleeting glimpse of the blue-coated Xemesis gaining on him at every step. For the first time, a realization of his position came to him, and the gay braggadocio of his earlier mood dropped from him. in an instant. He faced the humiliation ' and discomfort of that twenty-four hours in gaol which he had been rash enough to add to his penalty for losing the wager, and a chill of disgust ran up his spine.

Tony's jeers were already ringing in his ears, while his imagination, always vivid, was giving him a series of experiences not unlike those which would have been his if he were indeed guilty of a real crime.

Tony's words, "A man no sooner commits a crime than his sense of guilt upsets his judgment and he acts with about the brain capacity of a bug, giving himself away by his own foolishness." came back to him with a quick realisation of their truthfulness.

He found himself forced to shut his teeth hard and hold every nerve in him tense, to keep his rebellious feet from breaking into a run.

He had turned into a side street and was going toward Fifth Avenue when he first became aware of the pursuing officer. When he reached the corner it was to see before him the familiar exterior of a. popular club in which he had maintained his out-of-town membership during all the years of his absence from New York, and which he had much frequented since his return to the city.

This offered him a sure refuge, and he/ was thankfully making his way toward it when a horrible possibility struck him—the officer might follow him in and arrest him there, before all his fellow members. He dared not risk such a contretemps, yet which way was he to turn?

Fortunately for him, at this instant he was lost to his pursuers view by the passing of a number of people, and ■when the policeman again caught sight of him he was just disappearing into a carriage standing before the door of the club. No sooner had the door slammed after him than the vehicle moved off rapidly, leaving. the pasting "bobby" on the curb, shouting after the coachman, who, utterly oblivious, drove on the faster, and, turning a corner, was lost to view. CHAPTER 11. A CLOSE CALL. When Evan Austin, in a moment of complete demoralisation and loss of nerve, opened the door of a carriage standing before his club and stepped into it, it was with the intention of letting himself out on the other side, crossing the street and turning into the first spot which might offer momentary hiding from the officer whom he felt to be close at his heels. The possibility of its containing an occupant never occurred to him until the door slammed behind him, and in his effort to reach the other side of the vehicle he stumbled over a pair of feet. "I beg your pardon," the conventional expression of politeness leaped to his lips involuntarily. At this instant the sudden starting of the horses threw him on the front seat, where he remained, too astonished at the turn affairs had taken to make any movement of escape even if he had desired to do so.

He could not understand the silence of the other occupant. The situation began to develop an element of mystery, which deepened as the flash of the street-lamp revealed that his companion was a woman, and a beautiful one.

Momentarily expecting her to cry out or otherwise protest against his intrusion, he kept his eyes glued fearfully upon her figure, waiting for each revealing flash of light -with inhaled breath, the while his mind, made fertile hy his predicament, was building up some excuse to be offered- when she did realise his presence. He had just decided that a. muttered apology as to having mistaken his carriage would relieve him of his unpleasant position, and, thanks to the swift gait of the horses, set him down far out of reach of his blue-coated pursuer, when a flash of light showed him more clearly than he had yet been able to see, the clear-cut, cameo-like profile. Her head was resting wearily against the dark covering of the carriage cushions and be saw for the first time the reason of her silence—her eyes w&re closed. She looked so pale that a sudden , fright seized Austin. Could she have fainted? Utterly at a. loss what to do, he waited for another flash from the street corner . by which to verify his fears. It came, and this time he saw on her cheek the gleam of a tiny wet streak which announced itself unmistakably as the maTk of a tear. He leaned forward involuntarily, forgetful of self, of his awkward situation, of everything except that his companion was a woman in distress; perhaps ill or fainting. Before he could be guilty .of the mistake; of. speaking,, he. gays her raise, her

handkerchief and with a slightly furtive movement wipe away the tell-tale mark on Ler cheek. Informed from this slight action that she had not fainted, and that she did not desire her grief to be noticed, he -waited until she should see fit to open her" eyes, in the meanwhile congratulating himself that every second ■was taking him farther from pursuit. (To be continued daily.)