Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/117

 Next morning I went to the express office and secured a telescope basket for which Mrs. Watson had given me an order the night before, and which I was to either send or bring to her when opportunity offered. In the meantime, I placed it in my room for safekeeping.

I then made some purchases around town, kept a few business engagements, and visited an occasional friend, after which I spent the day about the city, with little or nothing to do but kill time. I felt that it would be unwise for me to attempt to deliver the telescope basket that evening, as the Government sleuth was within ten feet of me when I took it from the express office, and therefore let it remain in my room.

Before boarding a car for the North Side, I walked about for something over an hour in the effort to locate the detective, but he was nowhere to be seen, so I concluded that for once I was not being watched. Quickly walking over to Clark street, I lost no time in reaching Mrs. Watson's boarding-house, where I remained but a few minutes, securing her promise to take her departure for New York City on the following evening.

Upon arriving at my hotel, I found the "gumshoe" man in conversation with some other person, whom I afterwards learned was also a detective, and had been delegated to assist in trailing me, and, if possible, to capture Mrs. Watson.

I was up bright and early the next morning, although for no apparent purpose, except a natural anxiety to get Mrs. Watson safely away on her journey. I was ill at ease, and time lagged heavily on my hands until nightfall, when I hoped to make final arrangements for Mrs. Watson's departure and at the same time deliver the telescope basket to her.

After dinner that evening, I passed some time in the neighborhood of the hotel office, thinking by that process I would be able to ascertain if I was being trailed, and find out if possible who my pursuers were. I wondered if it could be possible that the sleuths had neglected me for the moment, as I believed they had done on the night before. However, the way seemed clear enough, and as I must get to Mrs. Watson's apartments without further delay and assist in spiriting her out of the city, I decided to make the attempt.

Going to my room, I secured the fateful telescope basket, and descending a stairway from the second floor that led to the basement, I experienced little or no difficulty in reaching the streeet. When I took a car on State Street for the North Side, I was pleased to observe that no one but myself had boarded it at that particular point, and after scrutinizing the passengers closely, became convinced that there were no Secret Service men around.

Everything looked so easy for me, in fact, that I really became quite nervous. I could not understand it. I knew that they wanted Mrs. Watson, and that they hoped to locate her through me. Why, then, should I be permitted to leave my hotel on two different occasions, one evening after the other, without being followed by one or more of these detectives? The entire proceeding appeared mystical in a way.

While thus meditating, the conductor called out the name of a certain street, and as the car was stopping in answer to the signal from one of the passengers, it occurred to me that I, too, might alight at the same place, although still several squares from Mrs. Watson's boarding-house. However clear the coast seemed, I could not separate myself from the idea that somehow, and in a manner entirely unexpected, these "wise men" of Uncle Sam had determined upon some carefully devised plan whereby they hoped to thwart my efforts to conceal the whereabouts of the one they were so anxious to capture.

Stepping off the car, I walked two blocks west to Clark Street and took the first north-bound car. Here, again, if I may judge from surface indications, there was nothing to fear, so I rode to a point exactly one block west of Mrs. Watson's stopping-place. After alighting, I walked east a block, and crossing the street continued ahead until I came to the side entrance of the boarding- Page 111