weapons had been
issued to us this same day.

I murmured, "Jane! There are the Blakinsons over there. Go join
them. We'll be back presently."

"What are you going to do?" Don demanded.

"Go out and tackle him--shall we? Have a talk. Find out who he is."

"No!" Jane protested.

"Why not? Don't you worry, Jane. Right here in the public
street--and we're both armed. He's only a man."

But was he only a man?

"We'll have a go at it," said Don abruptly. He rose from his seat.
"Come on, Jane, I'll take you to the Blakinsons."

"Hurry it up!" I said. "He's leaving! We'll lose him!"

The fellow seemed about to wander on along the street. Don brought
Jane over to the Blakinsons' table which was at the back of the
restaurant. We left our check with her and dashed for the street.

"Where is he? Do you see him?" Don demanded.

He had gone. But in a moment we saw him, his white cap towering
above the crowd down by the drugstore at the corner.

"Come on, Don! There he is!"

We half ran through the crowd. We caught the fellow as he was
diagonally crossing the street. We rushed up, one on each side of
him, and seized him by the arms.

CHAPTER III

_Tako, the Mysterious_

The fellow towered head and shoulders over Don, and almost that over
me. He stared down at us, his jaw dropping with surprise. My heart
was pounding; to me there was no doubt about it now; this
heavy-featured handsome, but evil face was the face of the
apparition at whom Don had fired as it hung in the air over the Fort
Beach path. But this was a man. His arm, as I clutched it, was
muscularly solid beneath the sleeve of his flannel jacket.

"I say," Don panted. "Just a minute."

With a sweep of his arms the stranger angrily flung off our hold.

"What do you want?"

I saw, within twenty feet of us, a policeman standing in the street
intersection.

"I beg your pardon," Don stammered. We had had no time to plan
anything. I put in:

"We thought you were a friend of ours. This night--so much
excitement--let's get back to the curb."

We drew the man to the sidewalk as a physician's little automobile
with two soldiers in it waded its way slowly through the crowd.

The man laughed. "It is an exciting night. I never have seen Bermuda
like this before."

Swift impressions flooded me. The fellow surely must recognize us as
we did him. He was pretending friendliness. I noticed that though he
seemed not over forty, his close-clipped hair