leisurely fashion, brushed perfunctorily at his rumpled
clothes, and turned his steps toward the double line of plumy
Australian pines which bordered the lane between hotel grounds
and avenue.

Only once did he hesitate in his slouching progress. That was
when he chanced to come alongside one of the cars, in the long
rank, drawn up in the shade. The machine's front seat was
occupied by a giant of a man, all in white silk, a man of
middle age, blonde and bearded, a man who, but for his modern
costume, might well have posed as a Norse Viking.

The splendid breadth of shoulder and depth of chest caught the
wanderer's glance and won his grudging approval. Thence, his
elaborately careless gaze shifted to the car's rear seat where
sat a girl. He noted she was small and dainty and tanned and
dressed in white sport-clothes. Also, that one of her arms
was passed around the shoulder of a big young gold-and-white
collie dog,--a dog that fidgeted uneasily and paid scant heed
to the restraining hand and caressing voice of his mistress.

As the shabby man paused momentarily to scan the car's three
occupants, the girl happened to look toward him. Her look was
brief and impersonal. Yet, for the merest instant, her eyes
met his. And their glances held each other with a momentary
intentness. Then the girl turned again toward the restless
dog, seeking to quiet him. And the man passed on.

Moving with aimless slowness--one is not long in Southern
Florida without acquiring a leisurely gait the lounger left