man and woman got out, but Maku did
not even seem to glance at them. Orme stepped back to make way for them
on the platform, and as they descended and the conductor rang the bell,
he looked out at the suburban landscape, with its well-lighted,
macadamized streets, its vacant lots, and its occasional houses, which
seemed to be of the better class, as nearly as he could judge in the
uncertain rays of the arc-lamps. He turned to the conductor, who met his
glance with the look of one who thirsts to talk.

"People used to go to parties in carriages and automobiles," said the
conductor, "but now they take the car when they've any distance to go.
It's quicker and handier."

"I should think that _would_ be so, here in the suburbs," said Orme.

"Oh, this ain't the suburbs. We crossed the city limits twenty minutes
ago."

"You don't carry many passengers this time of night."

"That depends. Sometimes we have a crowd. To-night there's hardly anyone.
Nobody else is likely to get on now."

"Why is that?"

"Well, it's only a short way now to the connection with the elevated
road. People who want to go the rest of the way by the elevated, would
walk. And after we pass the elevated there's other car-lines they're more
likely to take, where the cars run frequenter."

"Do you go to the heart of the city?"

"No, we stop at the barns. Say, have you noticed that Jap in there?"

The conductor nodded toward Maku.

"What about him?"

"He was put aboard by a cop. Looks as though somebody had slugged him."

"That's so," commented Orme. "His head is bandaged."

"Judging from the bandage, it must have been a nasty crack," continued
the conductor. "But you wouldn't know he'd been hurt from his face. Say,
you can't tell anything about those Johns from their looks, can you,
now?"

"You certainly can't," replied Orme.

The conductor glanced out. "There's the elevated," he said. "I'll have to
go in and wake that drunk. He gets off here."

Orme watched the conductor go to the man who was sleeping in the corner
and shake him. The man nodded his head vaguely, and settled back into
slumber. Through the open door came the conductor's voice: "Wake
up!"--Shake--"You get off here!"--Shake--"Wake up, there!" But the man
would not awaken.

Maku was sitting but a few feet from the sleeping man. He had not
appeared to notice what was going on, but now, just as the conductor
seemed about to appeal to the motorman for help, the little Japanes