STEPHEN WEBB.
Thomas Browning, in his Milwaukee home, read this letter with satisfaction.
He wrote briefly to his nephew:
"You have done well thus far, and I appreciate your zeal. Get the boy to talking about his father, if you can. Let me hear anything he may say on this subject. As to my motive, I suspect that Mr. Walton may have been an early acquaintance of mine. If so, I may feel disposed to do something for the family."
On his way to the Sherman House, the next morning, Luke witnessed rather an exciting scene, in which his old friend, Tom Brooks, played a prominent part.
There was a Chinese laundry on Milwaukee Avenue kept by a couple of Chinamen who were peaceably disposed if not interfered with. But several boys, headed by Tom Brooks, had repeatedly annoyed the laundrymen, and excited their resentment.
On this particular morning Tom sent a stone crashing through the window of Ah King. The latter had been on the watch, and, provoked beyond self-control, rushed out into the street, wild with rage, and pursued Tom with a flatiron in his hand.
"Help! help! murder!" exclaimed Tom, panic-stricken, running away as fast as his legs would carry him.
But anger, excited by the broken window, lent wings to the Chinaman's feet, and he gained rapidly upon the young aggressor.