gn companies.

They had now reached the park entrance. "There is a cab," said
Alcatrante. "You will ride with me as far as your hotel?"

"Thank you, no," said Orme. "I rather need the walk."

Alcatrante smiled persuasively. "Permit me to urge you. If you should be
robbed, my little friend might lose his precious secret. Poor boy!" he
added. "His father was my friend, and I cannot refuse him a service."

The cab had swung around to the curb beside them. Orme had no fear of
robbery on the lighted drive, but since Alcatrante was so insistent he
felt inclined to yield. He might as well ride; so he permitted the
minister to bow him into the cab, and presently they were whirling along
southward. There was a period of silence. Then Alcatrante spoke
meditatively.

"You see how it happened, I suppose," he said. "Those Japanese were
waiting outside your hotel. When Poritol and I came out, one of them
followed us, while the other remained on guard. Then you started on your
stroll, and the man who remained on guard set out after you."

"Yes," said Orme, "but I don't see how the fellow could have known who I
was."

Alcatrante laughed. "Oh, he could have placed you in a number of
different ways. He may have got your description from one of the
servants--or from the clerk. But it is enough that he did know you."

"Well," said Orme, "this is beyond me. That five-dollar bill seems to be
very much desired by different groups of persons."

Alcatrante nodded. "I am not sure," he said slowly, "but that it would
ease young Poritol's mind if you would place the bill in my hands for
safekeeping. Not that he mistrusts you, Mr. Orme, but he imagines that
you may not realize how important it is to him, and you might not guard
it carefully."

"I agreed to keep it until to-morrow," said Orme, quietly. "As for
thieves, my apartment is on the tenth floor, pretty well out of their
reach. The only danger of robbery lies between the cab and the hotel
office.

"I know, I know," chuckled Alcatrante. "It is, of course, as you will. I
was merely thinking of my young friend's peace of mind. I am his
fellow-countryman, you see, and his confidence in me----" he stopped,
with another chuckle. "Singular, is it not, how impressionable are the
young?"

Orme said nothing. He did not enjoy this fencing.

"Look at the lake," Alcatrante suddenly exclaimed. "How beautiful an
expanse of water. It has so much more color than the sea. But you should
see o