Produced by Al Haines THE OWL TAXI BY HULBERT FOOTNER AUTHOR OF "The Deaves Affair," "The Substitute Millionaire," "The Fur Bringers," "Thieves' Wit," "The Woman from Outside," etc. A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Published by arrangement with George H. Doran Company COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO G. M. F. WHO FILLED THE TANK THREE TIMES A DAY AND KEPT THE CHILDREN MODERATELY QUIET. CONTENTS CHAPTER I The Transfer II Greg's First Fare III Greg's Second Fare IV In the House on Ninth Street V The Taxi Yard VI Greg's Rival VII The Undertaker VIII The Hold-up IX The Flivver as a Post-Office X Amy's Story XI The Ride Home XII What the Little Black Book Contained XIII De Socotra Hires T7011 Again XIV Through the Streets XV Nina XVI The "Psychopathic Sanitarium" XVII The Young Man with the Little Black Moustache XVIII Blossom's Report XIX The Abduction XX Exit Senor Saunders XXI Up-stairs and Down XXII Nemesis XXIII Conclusion THE OWL TAXI CHAPTER I THE TRANSFER At eleven o'clock of a moist night in December, Gregory Parr was making his way far westward on Twenty-third Street. At his right hand stretched that famous old row of dignified dwellings with pilasters and little front yards, and ahead of him was Tenth Avenue, the stronghold of the Irish. The wet pavements glistened under the street lamps, and the smell of influenza was in the air. The street was deserted except for a cross-town car at long intervals, hurling itself blithely through the night on a flat wheel. Greg was on his way to the Brevard Line pier at the foot of the street to take passage on the great _Savoia_, premier steamship of her day and on this particular trip the "Christmas ship." The _Savoia_ ran as true to the hour as a railway train, and was scheduled to leave at one A.M. in order to make the best rail connections. There was no reason why Greg should have walked to the pier except that at the last moment his heart was loath to leave little old New York, and even the least interesting of her streets called to him. As he walked he communed with himself somewhat after this fashion: "Lord! I didn't know the old burg meant so much to me till I made up my mind to leave it! After all maybe I'm a fool to pull up stakes here. I know the folks on this side; their ways are my ways. I speak New York. Perhaps in London I'll be like a fish in the grass." But his baggage was on the pier and he had paid a deposit on his ticket. It never occurred to him that he could still change his mind. On such trifles do the weightiest human decisions turn!