he few on the platform, Connery
counted only fourteen passengers on the train. He scrutinized these
without satisfaction; all appeared to have arrived at the train long
before and to have been waiting. Connery got off and went back to the
barrier.

Old Sammy Seaton, the gateman, stood in his iron coop twirling a punch
about his finger. Old Sammy's scheme of sudden wealth--every one has a
plan by which at any moment wealth may arrive--was to recognize and
apprehend some wrongdoer, or some lost or kidnaped person for whom a
great reward would be given. His position at the gate through which
must pass most of the people arriving at the great Coast city, or
wishing to depart from it, certainly was excellent; and by constant and
careful reading of the papers, classifying and memorizing faces, he
prepared himself to take advantage of any opportunity. Indeed, in his
years at the gate, he had succeeded in no less than seven acknowledged
cases in putting the police upon the track of persons "wanted"; these,
however, happened to be worth only minor rewards. Sammy still awaited
his great "strike."

"Any one off on Number Five, Sammy?" Connery questioned carelessly as
he approached. Sammy's schemes involved the following of the comings
and goings of the great as well as of the "wanted."

Old Sammy shook his head. "What're we holding for?" he whispered.
"Ah--for them?"

A couple of station-boys, overloaded with hand-baggage, scurried in
from the street; some one shouted for a trunk-truck, and baggagemen
ran. A group of people, who evidently had come to the station in
covered cars, crowded out to the gate and lined up to pass old Sammy.
The gateman straightened importantly and scrutinized each person
presenting a ticket. Much of the baggage carried by the boys, and also
the trunks rushed by on the trucks, bore foreign hotel and steamship
"stickers." Connery observed the label of the Miyaka Hotel, Kioto,
leaving visible only the "Bombay" of another below it; others
proclaimed "Amoy," "Tonkin," and "Shanghai." This baggage and some of
the people, at least, undoubtedly had just landed from the _Tamba
Maru_. Connery inspected with even greater attention the file at the
gate and watched old Sammy also as each passed him.

The first of the five in line was a girl--a girl about twenty-two or
three, Connery guessed. She was of slightly more than medium height,
slender and erect in figure, and with slim, gloved hands. She