Perkins finished his dinner that evening with a feeling of entire
satisfaction, which made him well disposed toward everybody.
He, admired the excellent service of the Templeton; he hardly
expected such in this Mormon town; and ,the top floor dining
room was quite to his taste. He gave the waiter a liberal tip, and
then, not satisfied with this, he offered him a cigar. As that
worthy pocketed the weed, Perkins caught sight of another cigar
in the waiter's vest, and something about that cigar—its color or
the way it tapered at the end—aroused unpleasant recollections.
" Yes," he said to himself, " I expect that was the biggest
scoop I ever lost." Hardly was the thought framed, when a
gentleman and lady were ushered to a table directly in front of
Perkins. The man's back was turned, but the woman was facing
him.
" Good Heavens! that's jaimeson! " Pirst a desire for revenge
and then a determination to make that man talk came to him and
he hastened from the room. He knew where the waiter's cigar
came from now. Perkins went to his room to think over a plan
of action. Aside from being a fairly good lawyer, politician,
economist, financier, sporting and business man, the successful
newspaper man must have the qualifications of a good detective.
Perkins was above par in his profession, and was not wanting in
the latter requirement. " I've got to play a pretty dark part if I
catch him. He's up to all ordinary rackets," thought Perkins.
" Let ° me see! what are his weak points? He certainly is a good
host, and probably prides himself on his ability to entertain; I'll
test that point first."
But Perkins was a long way off from testing any point yet, for
he must first remake Mr. Jaimeson's acquaintance. With the ordi
nary American this is an easy task, but Mr. Jaimeson evidently
didn't care to enlarge his circle of acquaintances.
Perkins' first move was to shave off his mustache. The eager
ness with which he parted with this dear mustache told him how
really in dead earnest he was. Then he put on a pair of glasses,
which he seldom wore, dressed in his summer clothes, and assum-.
ing a leisurely air, he felt sure that Jaimeson would never recog
nize in him the hustling reporter whom he had repulsed a year
before.
Then Perkins set out to get into Jaimeson's way wherever he
could. That gentleman found him gazing rapturously at the
organ in the Mormon Tabernacle, very eager to impart the infor-
The li)ve Lance
[OCTOBER,