Short Stories
The man went down the cross street to the next corner,
from the shelter of which he watched the corner he had just
left. He saw the policeman pass by, going straight on up the
street. He paralleled the policeman's course, and from the next
corner again watched him go by; then he returned the way he
had come. He whistled once to the house across the street, and
after a time whistled once again. There was reassurance in the
whistle, just as there had been warning in the previous double
whistle.
He saw a dark bulk outline itself on the roof of the porch
and slowly descend a pillar. Then it came down the steps,
passed through the small iron gate, and went down the side-
walk, taking on the form of a man. He that watched kept on
his own side the street and moved on abreast to the corner,
where he crossed over and joined the other. He was quite
small alongside the man he accosted.
"How'd you make out, Matt?" he asked.
The other grunted indistinctly, and walked on in silence a
few steps.
"I reckon I landed the goods," he said.
Jim chuckled in the darkness, and waited for further infor-
mation The blocks passed by under their feet, and he grew im-
patient.
"Well, how about them goods?" he asked. "What kind of a
haul you make, anyway?"
"I was too busy to figger it out, but it's fat. I can tell you
that much Jim, it's fat. I don't cast to think how fat it is. Wait
till we get to the room."
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