one of the windows. Presently,
without looking backward at the captain and charter-man of the
"Restless," the fellow opened a door and stepped out onto the porch.
There he promptly recognized Hank Butts, who stared back at him with
interest.

"I wonder if Lemly is with this fellow?" whispered Halstead to his
employer.

"I'm going beyond that, and wondering what the whole fact of Dalton's
presence here can possibly mean," replied Powell Seaton.

The office door from the corridor opened again. Through the doorway
and across the office floor stepped, with half-mincing gait, a young,
fair-haired man who, very plainly, had devoted much attention to his
attire.

"Where is Mr. Dalton?" demanded this immaculate youth, in a soft,
rather effeminate voice that made Halstead regard him with a look of
disfavor.

"You'll find him out on the porch, I think, Mr. Dawley," answered the
clerk.

"Oh, thank you, I'm sure," replied the soft-voiced one. As though he
were walking on eggs young Mr. Dawley turned, going toward the porch
door.

"Oh, good morning, Dalton, dear fellow," cried the fair-haired dandy,
in the same soft voice, as he came upon Seaton's enemy, who was
walking up and down the porch utterly ignoring Hank Butts.

"Good morning, Dawley," replied Dalton, looking more than a little
bored by the interruption.

"Now, who and what, in the game, is Dalton's Elizabeth-boy friend?"
wondered Hank, eying the latest arrival.

"Have a cigarette, Dawley?" asked Dalton, in a voice almost of
irritation, as he held out his case.

"Charming of you, indeed," declared Dawley, helping himself to a
cigarette and lighting it.

"Look out the tobacco doesn't make you sick, babe," muttered Hank
Butts under his breath.

"Now, my dear Dalton, about the business we were discussing here last
evening----" began the soft-voiced one, but the other broke in on him
with:

"If you don't mind, Dawley, I want to think a bit now."

"Oh, that will be quite all right, I am sure," agreed the soft-voiced
one. "Then I'll just stroll down the street a bit and be back in time
to breakfast with you."

Dalton nodded and the fair-haired fashion plate stepped down into the
path and strolled away.

"All of which tells us," reflected Hank, "that our friend Dalton has
been here at least since yesterday, and that he and the Elizabeth-boy
dude are not very well acquainted."

Butts looked up, almost with a start, to find Dalton close at hand,
scowling