the girl behind the cigar counter,
where he next went. An intimate word or two and she was in a flutter.
She sidetracked her chewing gum, completely ignored her other
customers, and helped him select a handful of her choicest sixty-cent
Havanas. When he finally decided to have her send the rest of the box
of fifty up to his room and signed for them, she considered the
transaction a tribute to her beauty rather than to her ability as a
saleswoman. Her admiring eyes followed him clear across the lobby.

Even the blase bell-captain, by virtue of his calling a person of few
enthusiasms and no illusions, edged up to the desk and inquired the
name of the distinguished stranger "from the No'th."

Gray appeared to know exactly what he wanted to do, for he stopped at
the telephone booths, inquired the number of the leading afternoon
newspaper, and put in a call for it. When it came through he asked for
the city editor. He closed the sound-proof door before voicing his
message, then he began, rapidly:

"City editor? Well, I'm from the Ajax Hotel, and I have a tip for you.
I'm one of the room clerks. Listen! Calvin Gray is registered here--got
in last night, on gum shoes.... Gray! _Calvin Gray_! Better shoot a
reporter around and get a story.... You _don't_? Well, other people
know him. He's a character--globe trotter, soldier of fortune,
financier. He's been everywhere and done everything, and you can get a
great story if you've got a man clever enough to make him talk. But he
won't loosen easily.... Oil, I suppose, but--... Sure! Under cover.
Mystery stuff! Another big syndicate probably.... Oh, that's all right.
I'm an old newspaper man myself. Don't mention it."

All American cities, these days, are much the same. Character,
atmosphere, distinctiveness, have been squeezed out in the general
mold. For all Calvin Gray could see, as he made his first acquaintance
with Dallas, he might have been treading the streets of Los Angeles, of
Indianapolis, of Portland, Maine, or of Portland, Oregon. A California
brightness and a Florida warmth to the air, a New England alertness to
the pedestrians, a Manhattan majesty to some of the newer office
buildings, these were the most outstanding of his first impressions.

Into the largest and the newest of these buildings Gray went, a white
tile and stone skyscraper, the entire lower floor of which was devoted
to an impressive banking room. He sent his card in to the president,
and spent per