IN DISGUISE.
Two days had passed since my talk with my friend the guard, and
although Brainerd, myself, and others had thoroughly searched Midway
Plaisance, hoping to obtain a glimpse of our quarry or a hint of their
presence, we had been unsuccessful. We found many things in Midway,
but neither Greenback Bob nor his friend Delbras.
'I tell you,' Dave had said on the previous night, when we were
discussing our failure and its probable reasons--'I tell you, Carl,
these men began their business in Midway--I'm sure of it; and I
solemnly believe that you're the fellow that scared them away.'
'I, indeed--how?'
'Simply by springing upon them in that Camp affair. I believe they
spotted you.'
I felt chapfallen, for I was more than half inclined to believe that
Dave's notion was the correct one, and I wondered that I had not
thought of this myself.
'And if they did,' went on Dave, 'it would be the most natural thing
in the world for them to "fold up their tents like the Arabs," etc.
Don't you think so?'
'Granting your first premises,' I conceded grudgingly, 'your second,
of course, are tenable. Perhaps you have an idea where their "tents"
are now spread?'
'Oh, you always try the sarcastic dodge when you are beaten a bit,'
grinned Dave good-humouredly; 'but that's all right. I think we may as
well give the Midway a rest, at any rate.'
'I suppose you have noted that the Woman's Building has had more than
its share of stealing of late?' said I.
''M--no.'
'Well, you should read the papers, and look in at the bureau, once a
day at least. They've had an attack upon the exhibits--failed, I
believe--and a number of pockets picked.'
'Do you suggest the Woman's Building?'
'To-morrow I suggest the vicinity of the Court of Honour and the
Administration Building. It's the Princess Eulalia's day, you
remember; or had you failed to note that?'
'Go on, boy; wound me where I'm weakest,' scoffed Dave.
But I chose to ignore Dave's chaff.
'I suggest that we join the crowd early, and stay with it late.'
'Done!' cried he.
'It's hard to tell where they will elect to work. There will be a
thinning out inside the buildings, but a crowd outside, and such a
crowd as this will be--all with necks craned and attention fixed;
ladies in gay attire, the cream of the city's visitors as well as the
other side; and there will be at least half a dozen false cries of
"There she comes!" and somebody's pocket will suffer at each cry.'
'Right you are!' agreed Dave. 'It'll be a swell crowd, and it's my
opinion that our men will be in the thick of it.'
* * * * *
Early the next morning I went to see if anything had been reported
concerning the diamond robbery, for as yet little had been
accomplished. There was one of the attendants, a young woman, whom I
had felt uncertain about. She was pretty, and I thought artful and
vain; and I had learned from another employé of the Lausch Pavilion
that she had formed the acquaintance of a rather flashily dressed
person wearing much jewellery, and that just before the robbery she
had been seen to receive two or three slyly-delivered _billets-doux_.
The girl was being closely watched, and one of the guards, who was
stationed near, and who was said to have been seen loitering near the
pavilion oftener and longer than was needful, was likewise under close
surveillance.
But this morning there was something to report. It did not come
through any of the men at work upon the case, nor was it in the nature
of a discovery. It was an anonymous letter, and it came through the
United States mail, having been posted in Chicago, at the up-town
post-office.
It was addressed 'To whom it may concern,' at the bureau, and was
brief and to the point.
'If you do not want to waste time,' the letter began, 'turn your
attention to the men in charge of the robbed jewellery exhibit; and if
you also keep an eye upon a certain up-town man who keeps a place
advertised as a "jewellery-store," and with rather a shady
reputation--a man not above doing a little business in uncut gems,
say, in a very quiet way--you may find some of the lost gems between
the two.'
There was no signature, and I saw at a glance that the writing was
carefully disguised.
I was not inclined to treat this document seriously, though I could
see that it had created quite a sensation at the office, and when
asked my opinion concerning it I said:
'If this letter means anything but to mislead, it can mean but one of
two things; either it is written by one of the thieves to draw us away
from the right track, or it is written by someone who belongs to a
gang, and who means, if possible and safe, to sell out his comrades
for all he can get and a promise of safety. I've seen this done.'
'And what is your opinion?'
'I'm more than half inclined to think it is a hoax.'
'As how?'
'It may be the work of a crank or a practical joker,' I replied; and I
thought it possible, though hardly probable.
'If we had advertised this thing,' said the officer slowly, 'I should
think little of this letter, but it has not been made public.'
'It is known,' I reminded him, 'to some three hundred men here in the
grounds, and it has been told to--how many sellers of jewellery up in
the city, not to mention their employés? Half a dozen picked men have
been detailed to work upon the case. I don't think it likely, but
some officer who covets a bit of special work might have thought it
worth while to muddle the job for us; or some revengeful clerk up-town
may be trying to get even with some enemy. However, the thing can't be
ignored, and my advice would be, trace the letter to its author, if
possible.'
There were no letters for us that morning, and I left the place soon,
certain that the machinery of the bureau was quite equal to the task
of looking after the anonymous letter, which, after all, did not
occupy a large place in my mind.
Since my talk with my mysterious guard, I had made next day another
effort to see Miss Jenrys. I had waited at the gate at Fifty-seventh
Street for three long and precious morning hours, and then I had
turned away anathematizing myself, and vowing that hereafter I would
attend to my own legitimate business, and not prowl about after an
evasive beauty, who, no doubt, had already purchased a new bag and
forgotten her loss. But in my heart I knew it was not to restore the
bag alone that I so earnestly looked for Miss Jenrys. I had not fallen
in love, not at all; but yet somehow I had a singular anxiety to see
again the face of this sweet blonde, and to hear her mellow, musical
voice, if only in the two words, 'Thank you.'
Even as I turned away after my long and fruitless waiting, I did not
promise myself to forget her, nor altogether to quit the chase. I
hypocritically said, 'Now I will trust a little to chance.' How Dave
would have laughed could he have known my thoughts!
* * * * *
By nine o'clock that morning there were thousands of people thronging
the Court of Honour, drifting out and in under the arches of the
Administration Building, and up and down upon the streets on either
side of it. Everywhere there was a look of expectancy, and no
apparent desire to move on.
As the morning advanced, and the active guards began to stretch ropes
at either side of the entrance through which the procession would
pass, the throng drew together from various directions and massed
themselves, as many of them as could drawing close to the rope
outside; some with the narrow comfortless-looking red chairs seating
themselves with the great rope actually resting upon their knees, to
be hemmed in and pressed upon at once by row after row of crowding,
pushing humanity, while others swarmed boldly between the ropes and
filled the smooth gravelled space reserved for the honoured guests and
the city magnates attendant upon them.
It was a good-humoured crowd, but it held its place until, from the
entrance of the building, a line of guards in full uniform came slowly
out, while from the east a second company came forward, two by two,
and these spreading into a line, single file, and facing about, united
with the others in forming an L, and thus slowly, quietly, but none
the less surely, they advanced, while just as slowly and almost as
composedly the crowd fell back, and outward, until the roped-in space
was cleared, only to partially fill, and to be again cleared, once and
again.
Brainerd and I had separated upon reaching the place, and I had not
seen him since, although I had moved about from point to point almost
ceaselessly.
As eleven o'clock approached the crowd began to grow restless, and
questions to be bandied about from one to another, while guards, as
ignorant for the most part as their questioners, were interviewed
endlessly.
'When is she coming?'
'Is she coming soon?'
'Are you sure she will come here?'
'Is it eleven o'clock?' etc.
It was eleven o'clock when I drew out from the throng that had pressed
within the ropes, only to be slowly driven out again, and passed
through an aisle of fans and parasols, which had been opened and kept
open, the width of three men, shoulder to shoulder, by a constant
passing of its length; and I was skirting one side of the building
slowly and with my eyes searching the crowd of faces, when I heard a
familiar voice near me speaking in impatient tones.
'Law, pa, it's no use! I ain't a-goin' to set on that tottlin' thing
one minit longer--not for all the infanties in Ameriky! What more's a
furrin infanty than a home-born one, anyhow?' There was a stir next
the rope and a break in the wall of humanity about it, and then Mrs.
Camp emerged, her bonnet very much awry, and her husband bringing up
the rear, puffing and worried, with a little red chair hanging from
one shoulder and the faded umbrella clutched in one hand.
They saw me at the same moment.
'Wal,' began the lady, 'I'm glad I ain't the only simpleton in the
world! If here you ain't! I can't get over thinkin' what a ridickerlus
thing it is fur half of Ameriky, a'most, to turn out jest to see a
baby that's brought acrost from where Columbus used to live! Jest as
if a Spanish baby was a-goin' to enjoy sech a crowd as this! One
thing's certain, I ain't goin' to wait; if the pore leetle creetur is
half as tired's I be, it'll want a nap fust thing! Come on, pa!'
A shout of laughter drowned her last words, and after explaining to
Mr. Camp that I was 'looking for a friend,' I got away from the absurd
old woman, who, with her husband at her heels, was marching toward the
lake--'Where there was enough water, maybe, to make a ripple and where
one wouldn't get stepped on if one happened to tumble down.'
As I found myself upon the outskirts of the crowd, someone set up a
cry of 'There she comes!' and there was a movement toward the west end
of the Administration Building.
Two or three carriages had drawn up inside the roped-in space, and
several smiling gentlemen with _boutonnières_ upon their immaculate
coats stood in waiting near. I turned the corner to the north, where
the crowd was less dense, and had begun to deliberate upon the wisdom
of moving on, when, straight across my path, half running and
evidently in pursuit of some one, I saw the little brunette. I had
made a quick step in pursuit, when a gloved hand was thrust out before
me. 'Stand back!' was the order. There was a rush from the south end,
a sudden prancing of hoofs upon the gravel, and a carriage drawn by
four fine bay horses came into view around the corner of the Mines
Building.
'Here she comes!' is again the cry. I am pressed back against the
wall, and close beside me the soft-rolling carriage is drawn up; a
gentleman alights, and, waving aside the obsequious footman, assists a
lady to descend. In a moment they are gone, swallowed up by the big
arched entrance, and a murmur runs through the crowd. If not the
'infanty,' they have seen one as fair and as gracious, the first lady
of the White City, the able and beloved president of the Woman's
Board.
When she has passed within I replace my uplifted hat and seek an
egress through the crowd, past the restive four-in-hand and down the
street which leads to Wooded Island, in pursuit of the little
brunette, who had vanished in that direction. And now there seemed a
breaking up of the crowd, strains of music could be heard in the
distance, and rumours of an approaching parade are rife. Wooded
Island, at the south end, seems quite alive with moving forms; and I
saunter over the first bridge, cross the tiny island of the hunters'
camp and Australian squatters' hut, cross a second picturesque
bridge, and begin to examine the faces moving about the
flower-bordered paths, thronging the rhododendron exhibit, and resting
upon the scattered benches.
I pass some time in this way, and have turned my face toward the
mainland once more, when a burst of music, near at hand, draws my eyes
to the opposite bank, where, between the west façade of the great
Manufactures Building and the lagoon, the 'wild riders' led by Buffalo
Bill, prince of show-men, are defiling past, with their fine horses
curvetting and restless under their gorgeous trappings and the weight
of their fantastic and variously costumed riders; their banners are
fluttering and their weapons glisten in the breeze and the sunshine.
There is a grand rush toward the two bridges, and as I hasten on with
the rest I catch a glimpse once more, as she comes down a side-path,
of the elusive brunette.
She is close in the wake of two women, who are running hand in hand,
and I hasten to place myself as near her as possible, but discreetly
in the rear.
And now, from the opposite side of the lagoon, we hear another burst
of music and a cry, 'The princess! the princess!' We cross the first
bridge and dash upon the next, which, being high and arched in the
centre, is at once filled with spectators, while the more venturesome
hurry over and line the banks of the lagoon and the sides of the two
opposite roads, by which, from the east and west, the two cavalcades
will approach--that of the 'Wild West' coming from the east, filing
past the north end of the Electricity Building, and turning opposite
the bridge to file southward, straight down from our coigne of vantage
to the entrance to the Administration Building opposite us.
I had followed the brunette closely, and when she arrived at the end
of the bridge, where the head of the 'Wild West' column was just
turning southward, the crowd upon the sloping south end was dense, and
some hardy spirits were scaling the five-foot pedestals of the great
deer upon either side.
Upon these pedestals, straight-sided and square, there was
'standing-room at the top,' as some wag observed, and I pressed
forward, meaning to mount with the aid of the iron handrail; as I
reached the pedestal on the left, near which the brunette had halted
beside the two women before mentioned, and who I began to think were
in her company, the wag at the top bent down and put out an inviting
hand.
'Help you up, ladies; good view up here, and nobody to make us get
down in this crowd. It's quite easy; just step on that rail.'
One of the two women stepped forward, put out her hand, paused,
measured the distance with her eye, put a foot upon the rail, and
uttered a little squeak.
'O-w! I ca-an't, pos-sibly!'
Without a word the little brunette, at least six inches shorter,
stepped forward, put out her hand, set one foot upon the rail, and
went to the top of the big block with an agility that was amazing in a
woman.
As for me, I had been quite near her, and it almost took away my
breath.
I kept my eyes upon her like one fascinated, until the beautiful
princess, preceded by the white-plumed hussars and escorted by the
mayor and city council, came from the west, and passed us so close
that her charming face, aglow with smiles and bright looks of
interest, was distinctly seen and roundly cheered.
We watched her drive slowly down the avenue formed by open ranks of
her escort, and then the crowd was ready to follow her and surround
the Administration Building, watching wondering--an American throng
attendant upon, and admiring, not royalty alone, but royalty, beauty,
and gracious womanhood combined in one charming whole.
When the cheer which announced the infanta's descent from her carriage
had died away, I turned to see what my brunette, safely bestowed upon
her pedestal, would elect to do next.
I was soon enlightened, for she turned at the first movement of the
crowd about her, and, seating herself upon the edge of the pedestal,
dropped lightly to the ground and walked briskly away.
I followed, of course, determined not to be easily left behind again;
and as I went, my mind was occupied with an entirely new thought. I
had made a discovery, and it might be an important one. I had found
that the brunette, like myself, was in disguise.