The greatest of parks has its bright sides, many-faceted as the
Kohinoor, croquet grounds for the old, benches for the parlorless
tenement young, shaded arbors for the love possessed, pagodas for
picknickers, May poles for the youngsters, roller-skating on the Mall,
rowing on the lakes. Just as a jewel catches the light from only one
direction at a time, however, this emerald of the city has also its
shadows.
Already Why-Not Pape had realized this of his adopted range; knew that,
despite the scattering of such policemen as could be spared from
pavement-beats outside and the greater number of electric lights upon
whose surveillance the City Fathers appeared to place their chief
dependence, serious crimes occasionally occurred in Gotham's great,
green heart. Even during his short stay he had noted in the daily news
tales and tales of outlawry that would have called out posses in
Montana--of women held up afoot or in taxis, of men relieved of their
valuables at gun-point, of children kidnapped for ransom, of a region of
caves occupied by bandits, of footloose pickpockets and mashers.
An inclusive thought of the possibilities of the region in the dead dark
of a moonless night was what had started him after the bent, black
figure scuttling into the fast-dropping gloom ahead. She had repulsed
him even more ungratefully than she had the dog--as scornfully as though
there were no Metropolitan Grand Opera House at Thirty-ninth Street and
Broadway, as though her Parian pallor had not turned the hue of the
ardor with which, a few nights ago, his lips had pressed her hand. But,
whether her denial of him was from whim or necessity, he could not
permit her to cross the park unguarded at that hour.
And surely there was enough else that was strange about this, their
third encounter, to have overcome the prideful hesitation of the most
ill-treated man. Hours back, in mid-afternoon, he had seen her in the
witch-like disguise of an old herb-hunter, trying to locate some
particular spot without arousing the suspicions either of passers-by or
of the authorities. Her quest had kept her long past the most
fashionable dinner hour. Doubtless she had waited until dusk before
beginning the actual digging with her trowel in order to decrease the
chances of interfering in what must be a violation of the most sacred
park regulations.
The sagacity of the Belgian dog in bringing his bucket of bones to be
buried where the burying was easy suggested that he had met up and made
friends with her before in a like past proceeding. Now that she was
headed in the general direction of her Fifth Avenue home, why didn't she
go to one of the nearer exits, hail a taxi or take a street-car around?
Granting some reason why she preferred to walk, why not by the foot-path
along Traverse Road, only a few rods below? That would have brought her
out of the park almost opposite the Sturgis home.
But she was not keeping to any of the paths; seemed rather to avoid them
as she hurried due east across the meadow known as "The Green."
Casting off speculation as unprofitable for the nonce, Why-Not Pape kept
after her, trailing with care lest she realize that her biped protector
had more doggedness than the rebuked canine. It wasn't an extremely
romantic way of "Seeing Nellie Home," but certainly had speed and
mystery. Perhaps, at that, romance would end the evening, as it did in
books, plays, pictures!
When about halfway across the park, the girl changed her course
southward toward the truck road. Pape, hoping that she meant to take the
beaten track the latter part of her strange retreat, increased his pace
in order to cut in ahead of her. Not that he intended to force an
interview upon her in her present mood--he had too much consideration
for himself to invite another command which he must break. He wished
merely to conceal the bulk of himself in the first convenient shadow,
there to wait until she had passed, then again to follow at a distance
discreet, but sufficiently close to enable him to be of service in case
of need.
By running the last hundred yards, he realized this scheme; reached the
traverse first; lowered himself over the stone abutment; dropped to the
flagging at the bottom of the cut. The road he knew to be one of four
which cross-line Central Park as unostentatiously as possible to
accommodate the heavy vehicular traffic from East Side to West and back
again. Much as he resented every reminder of the fallacy of Polkadot's
pet illusion and his own--that this was a bit of home--he appreciated
that Father Knickerbocker, even for the sake of giving his rich and poor
this vast melting pot, could not have asked "business" to drive around
an oblong extending from Fifty-ninth to One-hundred-tenth Streets. It
was something to rejoice over that, while utility was served, the
roadways were sunk so deep that the scenic effect of the whole was
scarcely marred.
During his wait close against the shadowed side of the wall, Pape's
thoughts sped along at something the recent pace of his feet. The look
on Jane Lauderdale's face when he had surprised her at her digging just
now was that same look of fear which had haunted him since she had
opened her restored, but emptied heirloom box. The strangeness of her
behavior afterward, the cruelty of her suspicion of him, her denial of
him to-night--all only emphasized that pitiable, terrorized look.
Had her object then and now the sameness of her look? Was she seeking
over the expanse of the park that mysterious, stolen something which
formerly had been contained in a snuff-box? If so, what clew could she
have found that it might be cached beneath the poplars?
Buried treasure! The _motif_ had inspired thrillers since thrills had
been commercialized. But treasure buried in Manhattan's heart? So
improbable was the thought that, except for one thing, he might have
adjudged the eccentric-acting Miss Lauderdale to be mildly mad--the one
thing being that he knew she was sane.
He did not, therefore, waste time doubting the entire defensibility of
his self-selected lady. She had good reason for covering her personality
by the garb and gait of a crone before essaying her hunt; for feigning
to gather herbs while the daylight lasted; even for refusing to
recognize him after that first startled monosyllable which had been the
extent of her half of their interview. In bonnet and black she had every
chance of being considered inside the law in the Irish, mother-loving
eyes of most of the "sparrow cops," although literally well outside.
Dressed as the upper-crust young beauty he first had met three nights
ago, she would have attracted--and deservedly--her "gallery" in no time.
Come to consider, her crooked course home was also logically straight.
Her disguise would have aroused suspicion in a taxi and made her
conspicuous in a streetcar. Since she knew her park, the cross-cut home
was preferable.
As the mystery of Jane and Jane's tactics decreased, however, the
correlative mysteries increased--of the selective robbery, the
lied-about 'phone wires, the park as a cemetery for something literally
"lost" and the direction, or mis-direction of the chief mourner's
search.
A culminative interrogation point to add to his collection was her next
lead. She entered the Traverse quite as his trailing sense had foretold
at a spot where the wall was easily negotiable. There he waited,
assuming that the rest of her route home would be direct and planning,
now that he had been assured of her presence in town, that later in the
evening he would telephone the most direct and forceful plea of which he
was capable for an immediate interview.
But again she upset his calculations.
Instead of following the asphalted footpath that hemmed the cobbles on
one side of the cut, she picked her place and scaled the south wall.
Although the section confronting him was higher, Pape lost no time in
following her example and gained the top to see her dodging past one of
the scattered lights. Darkness had settled. Appreciating how easily he
might lose her in that unfamiliar section of municipal tumble-land, he
decreased the gap between them.
A veritable butte loomed in her path, but this she took like a
mountaineer. To Pape she appeared to be executing some sort of an
obstacle race with herself. In his self-appointed capacity of rear-guard
there was nothing for him but to follow. Being something of a climber
himself, he reached the top just behind her, despite her advantage of a
trail which he had not been able to find. Rounding one of the
bowlder-formed crags that gave picturesqueness to the baby mountain, he
pulled up short.
Jane was standing some few yards ahead, her bent back toward him, a
quaint, distinct silhouette in the reflected light from Fifty-ninth
Street. As she did not once glance over-shoulder, she evidently
considered his pursuit thrown off. She may have paused to steady the
pulses disturbed by her lively climb; perhaps was enjoying the
electrical display which so fascinated him.
Indeed it was worth a long-time look, that fairyland of The Plaza, as
seen through the framing fringe of trees, with its statues and fountains
agleam; the hotel-house of fifty-thousand candles, all lit; the lines of
Fifth Avenue's golden globes stretching indefinitely beyond; on all
sides, far and near, the banked sky-line of bright-blinking, essentially
real palaces of modernity which yet were so much more inconceivable than
Munchausen's wildest dream. And that foreground figure of an old woman
on the crag--it might have been posed as a fanciful conception of the
Past pausing to realize the Present--straining to peer into the Future.
Into this picture, changing and marring it, intruded a man. Up over the
far side of the abutment and straight toward the girl, as though
expected, he came. His appearance was the most distinct shock of the
evening to Pape.
"A rendezvous!" he told himself with sinking heart. "She had to get rid
of me--she had to hurry--in order to keep a rendezvous."
Her irregular course, her disregard of traveled paths, her assault of
this rock heap--everything in the adventure except how she came to be
rooting among the poplars now seemed explained. Mentally he flayed
himself for his stupid assumptions and sense of personal responsibility
for her safety. He turned to descend the way he had come--no need for
her to know what a following fool he had made of himself.
A certain quality of alarm in what he at first had thought her greeting
of the man stopped him. Then forward he sprang, like a fragment blasted
from the rock. He closed the gap between and laid on the collar and
elbow of the lounger who had accosted her a violent grip.
"What shall I do with him--drop him over or run him in?"
More calmly than might have been expected, he turned to the little old
lady of his pursuit, the while holding the fellow precariously near what
might be called, by phantasy of the night-lights, a "precipice."
"You--again?" Whether from dread or relief, Jane shuddered. "Are you
everywhere?"
"Why not?"
His captive ceased squirming to whimper. "Leave me go, officer. I wasn't
meaning no harm to the old girl. Just thought I could help her down onta
a safer footing. Likely you had a mother onct yourself. For her sake,
have a heart."
"He knows I'm not old. He has troubled me before. If you'll hold him a
moment to make sure that he doesn't follow, I--I'd be much obliged."
Jane, seeing her opportunity, took it; was off with the agility of a
Yellowstone doe; gained a trail and disappeared down the side of the
butte.
Pape did more than obey her admonition to hold and make sure. That the
meeting was rendezvous rather than coincidence persisted in his fears.
Odd, otherwise, that she should come straight to the spot where the man
was waiting, as if for her. Even in her complaint that he had troubled
her before she admitted previous meetings. Perhaps his own second
appearance of the evening was forcing both to play parts: had made a
sudden change of plan seem advisable to her; would irritate the man into
an attempt to deal out punishment for the interference. Would the two
meet afterward at some second-choice point? Pape decided to "look in";
by way of a start, dragged his captive under an electric light which
cast a sickly glow over the flattened dome of the butte.
At once he went on guard against the "fightingest" face he ever had
glimpsed, set atop the bull-neck of a figure that approximately matched
his own in height and weight, if not range iron. The fellow's features
were assorted for brutishness, nose flattened as from some past smash,
lips thick, eyes small, ears cauliflower, hair close-clipped. That a
woman of Jane Lauderdale's type should have anything in common with so
typical a "pug" was incogitable.
For a moment, the pale eyes in turn studied him through their narrowed,
close-set shutters, evidently "marking" for later identification. Then,
in an unexpected, forceful shove the inevitable bout began. Had Pape not
already braced himself against just such a move, he must have toppled
off the rocks. As happened, he let go his hold and swung his body into
balance.
"Hell's ashes, you're no cop!"
The aggressor's exclamation was punctuated by two professionally ready
fists. The right one led with a surety that was in itself a warning.
Only by an instinctive duck of his head did Pape limit its damage to a
sting.
A decade or two has passed since Montana, while still carrying
"hardware" for hard cases, learned that differences of opinion may be
settled by the use of more natural weapons; that punishment may be
exacted without calling in the coroner. Even had this metropolitan
fistic opening missed in point of impact, Why-Not Pape would have
offered satisfaction without thought of recourse to the gun nestling
under his left arm-pit.
Nature had been the Westerner's trainer, a silver-tip grizzly his
one-best boxing instructor. With an awkwardly efficient movement, he
advanced upon his more stealthy challenger. His arms carried close that
he might get all possible leverage behind his punches, he waited until
well within reach, then issued a series of short-arm jabs.
The other, evidently trained to the squared circle, depended upon his
far-reaching right, which again he landed before his bear-like opponent
could cover. Beyond an involuntary grunt, however, its effect was nil.
The Pape jaw seemed of hewn oak. In another breath the bear-cuffs began
to fall, swift, strong, confusing.
The New Yorker tried a run-around, for the butte top had not the ring
area to which apparently he was accustomed in his "leather pushing." A
punishing left, delivered from an impossible angle, cut him off. He had
no choice but to walk up to the medicine bottle whose stopper was out.
He feinted, but Pape seemed not to understand what was meant by such
tactics--only hit the harder. He attempted a "one-two"--with his left to
jar Pape's head into position for a crushing right--and met a method of
blocking which appeared to be new to him--not so much blocking, in fact,
as getting a punch home first. One proved enough; carried the "ice" to
the Gothamite; stretched him for a couple of counts of ten. The
silver-tip's pupil had won.
Pape did not wait for a second round. He was satisfied that his
knock-out would hold sufficiently long for any of Jane Lauderdale's
purposes or his own. Down in the direction which the girl had taken over
the rocks he scrambled, but could see no sign of her. She had not, then,
stayed to witness the fight, although the whole encounter had taken but
a moment. Whether or not he had saved her an unpleasant scene, he had
lost her. Was it always to be thus--touch and go? He wouldn't have it.
He'd beat her at her own game.
Directly as he could calculate and at his top speed, he set out for the
Arsenal gate; there took a stand on about the spot from which he had
intercepted Jasper at the somewhat less exciting start of this same
chase several evenings ago. Surely she now would make straight for home,
whatever may have been her reason for visiting the butte!
His eyes, searching for a poke-bonneted figure in black, soon were
rewarded. Through the pedestrian gate near which he stood in deep shadow
she came. Watching her chance with the traffic, she darted across the
greased trail of the avenue and, once on the opposite sidewalk, turned
south. Pape continued to pursue along his side of the street, determined
to finish his task of safeguarding her until the front door of her
aunt's house should shut her--only briefly, he hoped--from his sight.
But what spirit of perversity was ruling her? Toward the steps of the
Sturgis brownstone she did not turn; did not give them so much as a
glance. Briskly as before she continued down the avenue until at the
Sixty-third Street corner she again turned east.
Was the house to be gained by some rear entrance from the lower
street--one made advisable by the disguise she wore? From its mid-block
position, this supposition did not seem tenable. Pape decided to take no
chances, except with the traffic. Crossing the street with a rush, he
gained a point a hundred or so feet behind her, then timed his steps
with hers. Due east they walked, at a good pace, but without undue
hurry. She seemed fully reassured. Although she inclined her young face
and bent her young back to the old part, she did not glance back as
though nervous over possible pursuit. The block was lined mostly with
homes--of the near-rich, he judged from the look of them. Of the few
people who passed none gave more than a casual glance at the actively
shuffling "old lady."
They crossed what the street sign told Pape was Madison Avenue; passed
several apartment houses and more residences. Across Park and Lexington,
still due east, the tone of the section fell off. From Third Avenue
onward it went continually "down." Pape kept one eye on the figure he
was following and the other on his surroundings, figuratively speaking.
Both were interesting. This was his first excursion into the far East
Side and he was surprised by the mid-width of Manhattan Isle.
They came to a block lofted with tenements on one side and shadowed by
huge, cylindric gas tanks on the other. Children swarmed the sidewalk
thick as ants over a home-hillock and screamed like Indians on rampage.
Washings left out for overnight drying were strung from one fire-escape
to another of the scaly brick fronts. As though laving the
cross-street's dirty feet, the East River shimmered dimly in the lights
from shore and from passing steam craft. Beyond loomed that isle of
punishment dreams come true--the Blackwell's which politicians would
rename "Welfare."
Thoughts murky as the water at the foot of the hill came to Peter Pape.
Could Jane Lauderdale be seeking the river for surcease from some
disappointment or fear more direful than he had supposed? Why should she
be, with youth, beauty and devotion all her own? And yet, why not?
Others as young, fair and fondly desired had been depressed to such
extent. His heart swelled with protective pity for her. His pulses beat
from more than the speed with which he closed the distance between them
to about twenty feet, that he might be ready for emergency.
They had come to a building which broke the tenement line, a relic
residence of by-gone days. With a sudden turn, the little old lady
undertook the steps. So close was Pape that he pulled the Fedora over
his eyes lest she recognize him. But he need not have feared. She did
not look back. Her attention was focused ahead upon some one who sat on
the small Colonial-type stoop--some one who had been waiting for her.
"Home, dear, at last!" Pape overheard the greeting in a deep, rich
voice. "I couldn't imagine what was keeping you. I almost risked
starting out in search of you. Did you----"
He heard no more. But he saw more than he wished. The some one arose, a
tall, strong, masculine outline against the flickering gas light from
inside the hall; clasped an arm about her shoulders; lowered a fine-cut
profile, crowned by a mass of lightish hair, to her kiss. The pair
entered the house together and closed the door.
Sans preface, the volunteer escort reached the crux of his conclusions.
He had seen his "Nellie" home, yes. And the anticipated romance had come
at evening's end--romance with another man!