glers,
came scuttling forth from unseen places, making a lively run for the
nearest shelter.

Garrison could not retreat. He did not mind the rain, except in so far
as it might discourage Dorothy. But, thinking she might have gone
inside the park, he walked there briskly, looking for some solitary
figure that should by this time be in waiting. He seemed to be
entirely alone. He thought she had not come--and perhaps in the rain
she might not arrive at all.

Back towards the entrance he loitered. A lull in the traffic of the
street had made the place singularly still. He could hear the
raindrops beating on the leaves. Then they ceased as abruptly as they
had commenced.

He turned once more down the dimly lighted path. His heart gave a
quick, joyous leap. Near a bench was a figure--the figure of a woman
whose grace, he fancied, was familiar.

Her back was apparently turned as he drew near. He was about to
whistle, if only to warn her of his coming, when the shrubbery just
ahead and beside the path was abruptly parted and a man with a short,
wrapped club in his hand sprang forth and struck him viciously over the
head.

He was falling, dimly conscious of a horrible blur of lights in his
eyes, as helplessly as if he had been made of paper. A second blow,
before he crumpled on the pavement, blotted out the last remaining
vestige of emotion. He lay there in a limp, awkward heap.

The female figure had turned, and now came striding to the place with a
step too long for a woman. There was no word spoken. Together the two
lifted Garrison's unconscious form, carried it quickly to the
shrubbery, fumbled about it for a minute or two, struck a match that
was shielded from the view of any possible passer-by, and then, still
in silence, hastily quitted the park and vanished in one of the
glistening side streets, where the rain was reflecting the lamps.

CHAPTER XIV

A PACKAGE OF DEATH

A low, distant rumble of thunder denoted a new gathering of storm.
Five minutes passed, and then the lightning flashed across the
firmament directly overhead. A crash like the splitting of the heavens
followed, and the rain came down as if it poured through the slit.

The violence lasted hardly more than five minutes, after which the
downpour abated a little of its fury. But a steadier, quieter
precipitation continued, with the swiftly moving center of disturbance
already far across the sky.

The rain in his face, and