Page:Arthur Stringer--The House of Intrigue.djvu/62

52 first, close to the end of the car, and ask if I was an American or a Canadian citizen, and what money I carried. My part of the play was to hand over a phony roll, for which he'd give me a duly-prepared official receipt, with the announcement that the money would be returned to me at Windsor, or at Buffalo, as the case happened to be. Then he'd go down the line, gathering in all he could. I was to be both a stick-up and a come-on, of course, for when the others saw me pass over my cash in hand they'd conclude a genuine immigration officer was on the job and a new inland revenue regulation was being put in force. In case anything suspicious happened, I was to throw Bud the high-sign. But if all went well he could stow his gold-braided cap, drop off the Pullman, and repeat the coup on any train that happened to be moving in the opposite direction.

It could be worked only once, Bud explained, but it ought to make good picking while it lasted. In explaining this Bud told me how he'd made almost as good money at the same points, working out a coup of baggage-check switching. He'd check a trunk full of cheap clothes from some Canadian point, go through to the baggage-car at the border, and have the trunk examined and passed. Then