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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ccf7db --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68140 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68140) diff --git a/old/68140-0.txt b/old/68140-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9cb1552..0000000 --- a/old/68140-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5436 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Nick Carter Stories No. 154, August -21, 1915; The Mask Of Death; or, Nick Carter’s Curious Case., by Nick -Carter - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Nick Carter Stories No. 154, August 21, 1915; The Mask Of Death; - or, Nick Carter’s Curious Case. - -Author: Nick Carter - -Editor: Chickering Carter - -Release Date: May 21, 2022 [eBook #68140] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David Edwards, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern - Illinois University Digital Library) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO. 154, -AUGUST 21, 1915; THE MASK OF DEATH; OR, NICK CARTER’S CURIOUS -CASE. *** - - - - - - NICK CARTER STORIES - - _Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post - Office, by_ STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Ave., New York. Copyright, - 1915, by_ STREET & SMITH. _O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors._ - - - Terms to NICK CARTER STORIES Mail Subscribers. - - (_Postage Free._) - - Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each. - - 3 months 65c. - 4 months 85c. - 6 months $1.25 - One year $2.50 - 2 copies one year 4.00 - 1 copy two years 4.00 - -=How to Send Money=--By post-office or express money order, registered - letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by - currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter. - -=Receipts=--Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change of - number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly - credited, and should let us know at once. - - =No. 154.= NEW YORK, August 21, 1915. =Price Five Cents.= - - THE MASK OF DEATH; - - Or, NICK CARTER’S CURIOUS CASE. - - Edited by CHICKERING CARTER. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -A MYSTERIOUS ROBBERY. - - -“Nick Carter will solve the mystery. No crime is too deep for him. He’ll -ferret out the truth and run down the rascals. He will recover your lost -treasures, too, Mr. Strickland, one and all of them, take my word for -it. If there is one man on earth who can accomplish it, Nick Carter is -that one man. So pull yourself together, sir, and face this calamity man -fashion. Carter already is on his way here, and he soon will fathom this -outrageous and----” - -Nick Carter did not wait to hear more. He pushed open the door through -which he had heard the above remarks, observing that it was ajar, and he -entered without ceremony the apartments of the man to whom they had been -addressed. - -They denoted that he was on the threshold of an extraordinary case, one -shrouded in mystery and involving a great loss, and the scene within -seemed to warrant all that he had overheard. - -The entrance hall through which he had passed led into a beautifully -furnished parlor overlooking Fifth Avenue. It was one of the front rooms -of an apartment occupying the entire second floor of the spacious and -magnificent old Vanhausen mansion, turned to other than strictly private -residential uses since the encroachment of commercial interests upon -that part of the fashionable New York thoroughfare. - -A slender, strikingly pretty girl of eighteen sat weeping in one of the -richly upholstered armchairs. Her fair face was of an artless, winsome -type, evincing girlish innocence and that sweet and sensitive nature -which none can resist. A light complexion and glistening golden hair, -crowning a shapely and perfectly poised head, told plainly that she was -of German extraction. - -One of her two companions was a man turned sixty. He was pacing to and -fro in a state of abject distress and violent agitation. His short, -corpulent figure was shaking as if his every nerve had become a -writhing, red-hot wire in his palpitating flesh. His round, florid face -was streaming with perspiration. His hair, a tawny mop on a large, -intellectual head, was in indescribable disorder. He was wringing his -hands and moaning as if his heart was broken. - -The only other person present when Nick entered with his chief -assistant, Chick Carter, was a tall, clean-cut man in the twenties, one -Arthur Gordon, a successful broker and popular society man with whom -Nick was well acquainted, and to whose urgent telephone request he then -was responding. - -“Ah, here is Mr. Carter now,” he exclaimed, when the two detectives -entered. “Thank goodness, Nick, you could come immediately. We’re up -against it good and hard, a terrible robbery.” - -“H’m, is that so?” - -“You know Mr. Rudolph Strickland by name and reputation, I’m sure. This -is his niece, Wilhelmina Strickland, from Boston. Now, do, Mr. -Strickland, compose yourself, that Mr. Carter may lose no time in -sifting this matter to the bottom.” - -There was, indeed, as Gordon had implied, little need of an introduction -to Mr. Rudolph Strickland. His name was a familiar one in the best -circles of New York society. He numbered among his friends and -acquaintances nearly all of the distinguished artists, musicians, and -literary people of any note, who were frequent visitors to his spacious -apartments to admire his superb collection of art treasures, or hear his -master hand manipulate his famous Stradivarius violin. - -He was in no sense a society man, nevertheless, being a somewhat -reserved and eccentric German, with a passion for music, literature, and -art, treasures of which he had collected from all parts of Europe, -where he was a recognized connoisseur, critic, and man of letters. - -Age had begun to undermine his health, however, and for nearly five -years he had occupied his present quarters on the second floor of the -old Vanhausen mansion, richly furnished and containing most of the fine -collection upon which he had expended a considerable part of his -fortune. He was a bachelor and lived entirely alone, save when -encroached upon by the woman who cared for his apartments, or by his -artistic and literary friends. - -A glance around the parlor, while he responded to Arthur Gordon’s -introduction and afterward presented Chick, gave Nick a hint at the -character of the robbery. Several empty picture frames, from each of -which the canvas had been removed, were lying on the floor and leaning -against the walls; while vacant places on the mantel and in or on the -several costly glass cabinets told the tale of depredation. - -“Gordon is right,” said he, as to the young man’s advice. “You must be -calm, Mr. Strickland, or valuable time may be lost.” - -“Lost! What is loss of time compared with the loss I have suffered?” -cried the old German, wringing his hands and desperately running his -fingers through his thick growth of hair. “I am heartbroken. I am in -despair. My beloved Murillo. My Titian. My Meissonier and Corot. My -priceless Correggio, and two originals by Helleu. My antique, engraved -gems. My costly collection of jade. My----” - -“Hush! You will make yourself ill, Uncle Rudolph!” cried Wilhelmina, -rising and clasping his arm with her dainty hands. “Do please try----” - -“Ah, I am ill already. It is a loss to make angels weep,” Mr. Strickland -went on, in pathetic agitation. “It is gone--that, too, is gone! My -life, my soul, my best treasure on earth! My precious Stradivarius! Oh, -Mr. Carter----” - -Nick checked him by placing both hands on the old man’s shoulders, -holding him firmly while he confronted him and said, with intense and -impressive earnestness: - -“Stop, sir, and listen to me. You have met with a great loss, but grief -and lamentation will not bring back your stolen treasures. That now is -what you most wish. That can be accomplished only by calm consideration -of the circumstances, followed by speedy and energetic efforts to trace -the crooks and recover their plunder. I feel sure that I can do both, -but I will undertake it only on one condition, that you sit down and -compose yourself while I look into the matter. Courage, Mr. Strickland! -Your treasures are not hopelessly lost. They have not been destroyed by -fire. They still exist--and I shall find them and restore them to you.” - -Nick spoke with more assurance than he really felt, but the -circumstances seemed to warrant his confident prediction, and it was not -without effect, combined with his strong, personal influence. - -Mr. Strickland pulled himself together, clasping both hands of the -detective and saying fervently, but much more calmly: - -“God bless you! God bless you for that encouragement. I will try to be -composed. I really will try, Mr. Carter.” - -“Capital!” Nick said approvingly, urging him to a chair. “I now think I -shall accomplish something. Tell me, Arthur, what you know of this -matter. Never mind at present what has been stolen. State merely the -circumstances.” - -“That may be quickly done, Nick,” Gordon replied. “Miss Strickland, who -resides in Boston and to whom I am engaged, is visiting my parents for a -few days. We called here at five o’clock this afternoon, and her uncle -consented to go with us to dinner. We left here about six o’clock and -returned just before nine. During that brief interval these rooms were -entered and robbed of treasures enough to fill a wagon, and the value of -which can hardly be estimated. How the job was done is a mystery. There -is not the slightest evidence showing where the thieves entered, or how -they removed the property. It could not have been carried out -through----” - -“One moment,” Nick interposed. “Does Mr. Strickland occupy this entire -floor?” - -“He does.” - -“Are you sure the door was closed and locked when you went out?” - -“Yes, absolutely.” - -“Who occupies the floor below?” - -“Madame Denise, a fashionable milliner. Her rooms were open when we -returned. Several girls were busy in the workroom. Madame Denise was in -her display room in the front of the house. The door has a large -plate-glass panel and is within a few feet of the street door.” - -“You have questioned her, I infer?” Nick put in. - -“Yes, certainly. I went down and questioned her after telephoning to -you. She had only a few customers this evening, but was in the front -room all the while. She is positive that no persons have visited these -rooms, or left them, by means of the stairs and the street door. Such a -quantity of plunder could not possibly have been taken out that way -without her observing it.” - -“Is there a rear door from the house?” Nick inquired. - -“Yes,” Gordon quickly nodded. “It leads to a small paved area between -the back of this and the adjoining dwelling and the side wall of the -Carroll Building. I have learned positively, however, that no persons -have been in or out of the rear door.” - -“From whom?” - -“From the janitor. He is thoroughly trustworthy. He lives in a rear room -on the ground floor. He has been there all of the evening, and the door -of his room has not been closed. No person could have passed through the -hall without his having seen or heard him. He is absolutely sure there -have been no intruders.” - -“By Jove, it does appear a bit mysterious,” Chick remarked. - -“Plainly enough the plunder must have been taken out in some direction,” -Nick replied. “Who occupies the upper floor of the house?” - -“Victor Gilbert, the well-known photographer. He is the only tenant on -that floor. His integrity is beyond question.” - -“Very true,” Nick allowed. “I know him personally.” - -“His rooms were closed at six o’clock and have not since been occupied, -so far as I can learn,” Gordon went on. “I have telephoned to him, -telling him of the robbery, and he now is on his way here, that we may -visit his rooms. It does not seem possible, however, that the robbery -can have been committed from above.” - -“Nor from below, Arthur, if all you have stated is correct,” Nick said, -a bit dryly. “Is it possible to reach the back windows of this apartment -from those of the Carroll Building?” - -“No, no; it is quite impossible,” Gordon protested. “The distance is -more than twenty feet. Besides, Nick, there is no evidence that the -windows of this flat have been opened. All of them were securely locked -and----” - -“I will inspect them presently,” Nick interrupted. “It is very evident, -at least, that robbers have been here, and I know their knavery was not -accomplished by any supernatural means. Who knew of Mr. Strickland’s -intention to dine with you and be absent from his apartments this -evening?” - -“Nobody knew it, Mr. Carter,” Miss Strickland cried, with girlish -earnestness. “We did not know it ourselves until after we came here. We -then persuaded Uncle Rudolph to go with us.” - -“Were any other persons present?” - -“No, sir, only we three. No one could have overheard us.” - -“Mina is right,” put in Gordon. “No person could have known that Mr. -Strickland would be absent this evening. It was entirely unpremeditated. -The crime could not have been planned from any knowledge of our -intention.” - -“Do you keep any servants, Mr. Strickland?” Nick inquired, turning to -him. - -He had overcome his agitation, his terrible distress immediately -following his discovery of the crime, made hardly an hour before. He -appeared to derive much hope and encouragement from what Nick had said -to him, and from the fact that an investigation by the famous detective -already was in progress. - -Arthur Gordon had, in fact, telephoned immediately to Nick for -assistance after making the superficial investigation mentioned, and -finding the robbery so shrouded in mystery as, he felt sure, to -completely baffle the ordinary police. It was about ten o’clock when the -two detectives arrived upon the scene. - -“No, I keep no servants,” said Mr. Strickland, replying to Nick’s -question. “As you may infer, Mr. Carter, I have always been very careful -to protect my treasures. My lost Stradivarius alone is worth forty -thousand dollars. I would not have parted with it for ten times that -sum. The door of my apartments is a very strong one, and it is provided -with two heavy locks, which act automatically. My windows have patent -fastenings, and they are always closed and securely locked when I am -absent. This evening was no exception.” - -“But who takes care of your rooms?” Nick inquired. “Do you look after -them yourself?” - -“Oh, no, not the care and cleaning of them,” said Mr. Strickland. “I -employ a woman from the adjoining house, that occupied by Mr. Gerald -Vaughn and his sister, both of whom are friends of mine. I pay their -housekeeper, Mrs. Amelia West, to come in each day to make my bed and -put my sleeping room in order, and to come once a week to sweep and dust -all of my rooms.” - -“I see,” Nick remarked, with a nod. - -“She has been doing so for nearly three months,” Mr. Strickland added. -“Alas! I now must find another. I am more than sorry to lose her.” - -“What is the trouble?” Nick questioned. “Has she been discharged by Mr. -Vaughn?” - -“Oh, no!” Mr. Strickland shook his head sadly. “Mrs. West died quite -suddenly yesterday morning.” - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -A VAIN SEARCH. - - -Nick Carter ended his interrogations quite abruptly. - -“I will look around for myself in search of evidence,” he remarked, -turning to Arthur Gordon. “You had better remain here with Mr. -Strickland and his niece. If I require anything, or wish to add to my -inquiries, I will call you. I shall return in a few minutes.” - -“Go ahead,” Gordon nodded. “The case is in your hands.” - -Nick Carter glanced at Chick and led the way into an adjoining front -room. - -It was a handsomely furnished music room. An expensive piano occupied -one corner. Racks of music, a viola, with many articles of like -significance, evinced the refinement and musical genius of the owner. -Mr. Rudolph Strickland had, in fact, an international reputation as a -violinist. - -“Well, chief, the rascals have left the piano, at least,” Chick dryly -observed, noting also in this room convincing evidence of the visit of -the thieves. - -“Yes, so I see,” Nick replied, more seriously. - -“What do you make of it?” - -“A remarkable job has been done here, if all that Gordon stated is -correct. I think, Chick, you had better set about confirming it, while I -look farther.” - -“You mean?” - -“Go down and talk with Madame Denise and the janitor. You can measure -them better than Gordon. Have a look at the area back of the house and -see what possibilities it presents for getting away with such a quantity -of plunder. Find out whether a wagon, or a conveyance of any kind, has -been standing in the avenue, the side street on which the Carroll -Building fronts, or in any locality available for such a job.” - -“I understand,” Chick nodded. - -“Step to the door of the next house, also, and question Mr. Vaughn and -his sister. It’s barely possible that one of them may have seen or heard -the thieves, without having suspected what was going on in here. Find -out, at all events, then rejoin me.” - -Chick hastened to follow these instructions. A brief talk with Madame -Denise and the janitor, one James Donald, convinced him that both were -honest and could add nothing to what they already had stated. - -An inspection of the area mentioned was equally convincing. It was only -a narrow, paved space back of the Vanhausen dwelling and that adjoining -it, which occupied a corner lot on the side street on which the Carroll -Building faced. - -There was no exit to the street, and Chick saw plainly that crooks not -only could not have removed their booty from the rear door of the -building, but also that they would have found it impossible to ascend to -the back windows of Mr. Strickland’s apartments, which were more than -twenty feet from the ground. A long ladder would have been necessary, -and their movements in the quietude of the inclosed area would surely -have been heard by the janitor. - -“Nothing was done out here,” thought Chick, turning to retrace his steps -to the front of the house. “That’s dead open and shut. The stuff must -have been taken out of the front door, despite the assertion of Madame -Denise to the contrary.” - -Investigation outside, nevertheless, seemed to confirm the statement of -the milliner. Chick could not learn that any suspicious conveyance had -been seen in the neighborhood. Both the avenue and side street were -brightly lighted. Pedestrians were constantly passing. It seemed -impossible that crooks could have committed such a crime without being -detected. There would not have been greater risk in attempting it in -broad daylight. - -More deeply puzzled, now, as to how it could by any means have been -accomplished, Chick went to question the occupants of the corner house. -It was an attractive brownstone dwelling of three stories, its side wall -adjoining that of the Vanhausen residence, with no passageway between -them. A light in the front hall denoted that the Vaughns had not -retired. - -A large wreath tied with purple ribbon hung on the knob of the door, a -token that the shadow of death had fallen upon the house. But this did -not deter Chick from ringing the bell, in accord with Nick’s -instructions. - -It was answered almost immediately by a slender, serious-looking man -about thirty, clad in a black suit. He was of dark complexion, with wavy -black hair and a peculiarly clear and pallid skin, accentuated somewhat -by a flowing black mustache. He gazed inquiringly at Chick, who bowed -politely and said: - -“I wish to see Mr. Vaughn. Is he at home?” - -“I am Mr. Vaughn. What can I do for you?” - -The reply was agreeably made, but with a gravity Chick was quick to -observe and attributed to the death of one of the household. - -“I am sorry to trouble you at such a time,” he rejoined. “My name is -Carter. I am a detective. The apartments of your neighbor, Mr. -Strickland, have been robbed this evening, and I----” - -“Robbed!” Mr. Vaughn exclaimed, interrupting with a quick display of -surprise and consternation. “Dear me, is it possible? Robbed of what, -Mr. Carter?” - -“Of several very valuable paintings, many of his art treasures, and his -almost priceless Stradivarius, together with----” - -“Oh, oh, that is dreadful!” Mr. Vaughn again interposed. “Strickland is -such a fine old gentleman. I am sorry for him, more than sorry for him. -Come in, Mr. Carter. Can I be of any assistance?” - -Chick accepted the invitation and stepped into the hall. Through the -open door of an adjoining parlor, dimly lighted by the rays from the -hall lamp, he could see a closed casket on a bier, also numerous boxes -of flowers, evidently prepared for removal the following day. - -Observing his furtive glance in that direction, Mr. Vaughn said gravely, -while he considerately closed the door of the room: - -“My aunt, who long has been the housekeeper for my sister and myself, -died suddenly of heart failure yesterday morning. She is to be taken to -Springfield to-morrow for burial. Step into the library, Mr. Carter. -Clarissa will be terribly shocked by Mr. Strickland’s misfortune. She is -really fond of the old gentleman, and often runs in to see him and hear -him play on his rare old Strad. Stolen--that is too bad! It will be a -terrible loss to him.” - -“I agree with you,” Chick replied. “He appears heartbroken.” - -“No wonder. This is my sister, Miss Vaughn, Mr. Carter.” - -Chick had entered an attractively furnished library, where a handsome, -dark girl, in the twenties, sat reading a book. She laid it aside at -once and arose to acknowledge the introduction, though with manifest -wonderment as to the visitor’s mission. - -Gerald Vaughn hastened to inform her, however, evoking repeated -expressions of surprise and sympathy, and Chick then said: - -“I came here only to ask whether you have heard any disturbance outside -this evening. We wish to find out, if possible, how the thieves entered -Mr. Strickland’s apartments and got away with such a quantity of plunder -without being seen or heard. It really is very mysterious.” - -“Decidedly so, Mr. Carter,” Vaughn agreed. “But we have heard nothing -unusual, not a sound suggestive of anything wrong.” - -“We have been here alone, too, since dinner,” put in Clarissa, gazing -with demure, dark eyes at the face of the detective. “Both of us have -been reading, and it has seemed unusually quiet. If there had been any -noise outside, Gerald, dear, we surely ought to have heard it.” - -“It seems so, indeed, Clarissa.” - -“I have not heard a sound that I can recall.” - -“Nor have I, Mr. Carter, I assure you.” - -“The circumstances are such, too, that I am unusually sensitive,” Miss -Vaughn added. “The sudden death of my Aunt Amelia has made me very -nervous. I think we should send a message of sympathy, Gerald, to Mr. -Strickland. He was very kind to us yesterday, when he heard of our -bereavement.” - -“I think so, too,” Vaughn said quickly. “I had better step over there, -perhaps, and see him personally.” - -“That will be even better, Gerald.” - -“Is there any objection, Mr. Carter, to my doing so?” - -“Not the slightest,” said Chick. “You may go with me, if you wish, since -there is no information you can give me.” - -“None whatever, Mr. Carter, I regret to say,” Vaughn replied. “I hope -you will command me, however, if I can be of any assistance. You don’t -mind being alone here, Clarissa, for a few minutes?” - -“No, indeed. I will sit here till you return.” - -“I have closed the parlor door.” - -“Very well. Good evening, Mr. Carter. I do hope you will recover Mr. -Strickland’s property. Tell him, Gerald, how deeply grieved I am over -his misfortune.” - -“I will, Clarissa. Now, Mr. Carter, I am ready to go with you.” - -Chick saw nothing to be gained by further inquiries. He accepted the -slender, shapely hand of the young woman, tendered while she was -speaking, noting that there were tears in the sad and somber eyes with -which she regarded him, forcing a faint, momentary smile to her finely -curved lips. - -Gerald Vaughn, too, was equally impressive. There was something about -both that lifted them above the ordinary, those indefinable qualities -which denote class and character, and which alone serve to avert -distrust and suspicion. - -Chick bowed and said a word of apology for having intruded, then -accompanied Gerald Vaughn from the house. - -Nick Carter was in the meantime proceeding with the investigations in -the Strickland apartment, but only with negative results. - -Adjoining the two front rooms was a third, partly furnished for a dining -room and connecting with a spacious library. Back of these were two -bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen, evidently but little used. A -window in the kitchen and in one of the bedrooms, also a small -ground-glass window in the bathroom, overlooked the area back of the -house. - -Nick found that the first two were closed and securely locked, but that -in the bathroom was open a few inches for ventilation. It was only about -two feet square, and Nick looked in vain for any evidence denoting that -a person had entered through it. - -Gazing out, he could see the gloomy area below, also the dark wall of -the Carroll Building some twenty feet away, much too far for access to -have been gained from any of its windows, all of which were those of -business offices of one kind or another. - -Looking up, all that could be seen were the gloomy walls of the several -buildings and a portion of the star-studded sky. - -“By Jove, the rascals have cleverly covered their tracks,” Nick muttered -a bit grimly after these futile observations. “It was the work of no -ordinary crooks. I should need daylight, I reckon, in order to pick up a -thread worth following.” - -He was laboring at some disadvantage by means of the incandescent lamps -only, and he returned in a few minutes to the front parlor. - -“Are those back windows as you found them, Arthur, when you returned -with Mr. Strickland?” he inquired, when Gordon started up to meet him. - -“Yes, precisely,” he replied. “What have you learned?” - -“Very little thus far,” said Nick. “I see that the bathroom window is -open a few inches, Mr. Strickland. Are you in the habit of leaving it -open?” - -“Yes, Mr. Carter, I am,” was the reply. “But the bathroom door is always -locked. The window, moreover, is hardly large enough to admit a man, nor -could it be easily reached from the outside. I don’t see how the thieves -could possibly have entered it.” - -“Crooks devise means which no honest man would think of,” Nick replied. -“It is my opinion that----” - -He did not finish the remark, for Chick returned at that moment in -company with Gerald Vaughn, and introductions and a brief discussion of -the crime immediately followed. It was soon interrupted by the arrival -of the photographer, however, who occupied the entire upper floor of the -remodeled house. - -“We will go up at once, Mr. Gilbert,” said Nick, after their greeting. -“Come with us, Chick. Gordon will wait here with Mr. Vaughn.” - -The photographer hastened to lead the way through the hall and up the -stairs, switching on the light in his reception room, his studio, and in -the extensive rear room containing the cameras and other paraphernalia -required in his business. - -“There appears to be nothing wrong,” he remarked, as the detectives -followed him to the rear room. “Everything is just as I left it at six -o’clock, Mr. Carter, as far as I can see.” - -“I will look a little farther, Gilbert, with your permission,” Nick -replied. - -“Certainly. Go as far as you like.” - -Nick then began a careful inspection of the three back windows, all of -which were found to be securely locked. None bore any evidence of having -been recently opened. The floor near them bore no trace of earth, or -dirt, denoting the recent presence of intruders. - -So far as could be seen, in fact, even by the keen-eyed detective, -everything in the rooms of Mr. Victor Gilbert was, as he had stated, -precisely as he had left it. - -“Is there a way to the roof?” Nick inquired, glancing up at a slightly -sloping, twelve-foot skylight nearly in the middle of the ceiling. - -“Yes. There is a ladder and a scuttle in my dark room,” said the -photographer. - -“Let’s go up there,” Nick said shortly. “I see that the roof is a flat -one, or nearly so, and I wish to cover all of the ground.” - -Mr. Gilbert again led the way. - -One after another they mounted the ladder and crawled through the narrow -scuttle. A stretch of slightly sloping, tar-and-pebble roof, the huge -skylight aglow with light from below, the two chimneys with which the -house was provided, the lower roof of that adjoining it, the gloomy side -wall of the lofty Carroll Building, the black intervening abyss, the -glare from the brightly lighted streets in other directions--only these -and the purple dome of the starry sky met their searching gaze. - -A fierce gust of wind caused the photographer to retreat toward the -scuttle. - -“By gracious, Carter, I’d rather venture up here by daylight, and in -calm weather,” he shouted. “Go as far as you like, you two, but I am -ducking back on the ladder.” - -“I guess, Gilbert, daylight will be necessary for a further -investigation,” Nick replied. - -“That’s right, too,” Chick agreed. “It don’t seem possible that the job -could have been done from here. The rascals would have been blown away -with their plunder.” - -“It is much more windy than early in the evening,” Nick rejoined. “We’ll -wait till morning to seek further.” - -“That’s good judgment, Nick, in my opinion.” - -“Go ahead. I’ll follow you.” - -Both crawled through the scuttle and picked their way down the steep -ladder, and five minutes later found them again in the Strickland -apartment. - -The elderly German still was moaning over the loss of his costly -treasures. He looked up with anxious eyes when the detectives entered, -saying quickly: - -“Don’t keep me in suspense. What have you learned, Mr. Carter?” - -Nick smiled faintly and shook his head. - -“You must not expect too much of us, Mr. Strickland,” he replied kindly. -“Such problems as this are not solved in a moment. Most of our -discoveries thus far are of a negative character.” - -“The police----” - -“Could not possibly accomplish more than we,” Nick interrupted. -“Immediate publicity, too, might result in a disadvantage. You must -leave the case entirely to me and wait patiently until morning. We will -return at an early hour to continue our work.” - -“I shall remain here with uncle to-night, Arthur,” said Wilhelmina, -turning to her lover. - -“That will be wise, Mina, I think,” Gordon readily agreed. “But I will -return to see you in the morning, Nick.” - -“Very good,” nodded the detective. “You may expect us about seven -o’clock.” - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE FACE OF A CROOK. - - -“There are only six hundred Stradivarius violins known to be in -existence. Their value varies from three to ten thousand dollars, but in -a few cases these figures are greatly exceeded. Two are said to be worth -no less than fifty thousand dollars each. One is the famous Emperor -Stradivarius. It is two hundred years old, and the only one comparable -with it is that left by Paganini to the city of Genoa. A sum running -into five figures sterling was offered for it.” - -“Gee! That sure is some fiddle, chief,” declared Patsy Garvan -sententiously. - -Nick Carter was having an early breakfast with Chick and his junior -assistant before returning to the Strickland apartment on the morning -following the robbery. They had nearly finished, when Nick, after a -general discussion of the crime, made the foregoing comments concerning -that rare make of violin that had been stolen from the elderly German. - -“Some fiddle, Patsy, is right,” Chick agreed, laughing over his coffee. - -“All Strads are very valuable, and many have had a strange and eventful -history. Some have been repeatedly stolen, and at times have passed from -one uninformed person to another at ridiculously low prices. I recall -that one was accepted by a Geneva blacksmith from a traveler who had not -money enough to pay for shoeing his horse. It hung for years on a wall -in the blacksmith’s house, till a collector of violins happened to see -and purchase it. Upon cleaning off the dirt and grime he found the Strad -mark on it. He had acquired for a paltry sum an instrument worth -thousands of dollars.” - -“That was tough luck for the poor blacksmith, chief.” - -“Not at all,” said Nick. “For the violin collector was as square as a -brick. He returned and paid the blacksmith all that the instrument was -worth.” - -“Good on his head!” said Patsy. “He was one man in a thousand.” - -“Make it ten thousand, Patsy,” Chick said dryly. - -“The Strad stolen from Strickland is of great value, no doubt, and -possibly worth what he has stated,” Nick continued. “With the rare old -masters he mentioned, together with his antique gems, his collection of -jade and the other missing treasures, his loss runs up over a hundred -thousand dollars. He will have a complete list for us this morning. -We’ll get a move on, now, if you are ready.” - -Followed by both, Nick led the way to his library. His chauffeur, Danny -Maloney, had not yet arrived with his touring car, but all three were -engaged in putting on their outside garments when the doorbell rang, and -Patsy glanced from one of the screened windows. - -An erect, muscular, dark-featured man was standing on the front steps, -awaiting the coming of Joseph, the detective’s butler. - -“It’s Detective Conroy, of headquarters,” said Patsy. - -“What sent him here before seven o’clock?” Nick remarked. “He must have -something on his mind.” - -“A case, perhaps, on which he wants to employ us, or ask your advice,” -Chick suggested. - -“I shall take on no case until after I have sifted this robbery to the -bottom,” Nick said decidedly. “I promised to recover Strickland’s stolen -treasures, and I’m going to do it.” - -“That’s the stuff, chief,” nodded Patsy. “Let’s make good, or bu’st a -tire.” - -Joseph ushered in the headquarters man at that moment, and Conroy said -at once, with a look of surprise at all: - -“Great guns! I hardly expected to find you out of bed, Nick, to say -nothing of all hands being ready to leave the house. Something doing, -eh?” - -“Yes,” Nick bowed. “What’s on your mind, Conroy?” - -“It’s in my pocket, Nick, rather than on my mind,” said Conroy, smiling. -“I have an early appointment at headquarters, but thought I’d take a -chance of seeing you for a few moments, as I was passing your house on -my way. Have a look at this.” - -He drew from his pocket while speaking a small photograph, not more than -three inches square, which evidently had been snapped with a kodak, or a -small camera, when the subject was ignorant of the fact. For he was -walking at the time, a man clad in clerical robes, and his face was -somewhat shaded from the sun by the broad brim of a black felt hat. - -It showed quite distinctly, nevertheless, that he was a man about thirty -years old. The smoothly shaved features were of an almost effeminate -cast. The square jaw and thin lips denoted firmness, however, with -bulldog nerve, tenacity, and determination. His figure evidently was of -medium build and in no respect specially distinctive. - -Nick took a large reading glass from his desk and viewed the picture -quite intently. - -“Who is he, Conroy?” he inquired. - -“He is without exception, bar none, Nick, the most accomplished, most -versatile and original, and for those reasons by far the most dangerous -crook now at large in this wicked world,” said Detective Conroy -forcibly. “That face is a libel on his character. He looks more like a -saint than a thief. That is because, perhaps, it was taken while he was -posing as a priest in Berlin, where he swindled an Austrian duchess out -of jewels worth sixty thousand dollars and got safely away with them. He -has a record of which the devil himself would be proud. That’s the only -photograph of him known to be in existence. That’s Mortimer Deland.” - -Nick knew him by name and reputation, and had read of his knavish -exploits in Europe, where most of his evil work had been done; a series -of crimes covering a period of nearly ten years, but accomplished with -craft and elusiveness that had enabled him to avoid arrest and baffle -the trained police of nearly every European country. - -Mortimer Deland was, in fact, almost a myth and mystery, so little was -known of him aside from the extraordinary crimes that had made his name -notorious abroad, and comparatively well known to the police of America. - -Nick viewed the photograph with considerable interest, therefore, and -then handed it to Chick and Patsy for inspection. - -“Where did you get it, Conroy?” he inquired. - -“It was sent to me by Jenks, of Scotland Yard,” replied the headquarters -man. “It was snapped by an English woman who was in Berlin when the -robbery of the Austrian duchess was committed.” - -“There is no doubt about it, you think?” - -“Not the slightest. Jenks is absolutely sure that the woman made no -mistake and is thoroughly reliable. Here is a copy of Deland’s writing, -merely the fictitious name he inscribed on a hotel register. Both this -and the photograph are entirely reliable.” - -“Make a tracery copy of the writing, Patsy,” Nick directed, handing him -the scrap of paper Conroy had taken from his notebook. “We may find it -useful, perhaps, sooner or later. Mortimer Deland, eh? If all I have -read of him is true, Conroy, it will be a feather in the cap of the man -who rounds up the rascal.” - -“I thought you might wish to see the photograph.” - -“Very much,” Nick nodded. “I’ll fix the face in my mind, though the -print is too small to be of much value. The writing may prove useful, -however.” - -“I had another reason for dropping in to show them to you.” - -“What is that?” - -“Jenks wrote me that Mortimer Deland is probably in this country, if not -in New York City.” - -“On what does he base that belief?” - -“First, on the fact that there has been a complete cessation of Deland’s -knavish work abroad for more than six months. That is a very long and -unusual period for him to be idle. Scarce a month has gone by for six or -eight years Nick in which he has not committed a crime of some kind, -easily identified as his because of their peculiarly original and crafty -character. There is no mistaking his work.” - -“And the other reason?” questioned Nick. - -“Because, though it was not suspected at the time, it now is known that -Deland fled from Vienna about six months ago and went to England. He is -known to have been in London with a notorious English crook and -adventuress named Fannie Coyle, and that they bought passage for Boston -more than four months ago. Boston would be poor picking for a man of -Mortimer Deland’s knavish aspirations, and it’s long odds that he was -heading for New York, or one of the big Western cities. Be that as it -may, Nick, his whereabouts now is unknown.” - -“Fannie Coyle still is missing from England, I infer?” - -“Yes.” - -“When did you hear from Jenks?” - -“Only two days ago. This photograph, or one like it, was given to him -about ten days ago. He has clinched the points mentioned since then.” - -“Did he give you any information about Deland himself, his early life, -or his family?” - -“Nothing is known about him,” said Conroy, shaking his head. “The name -probably is an alias. He is said to have as many others as he has hairs -in his head. If he is half as clever as the foreign police assert----” - -“Here is Danny, chief, with the car,” put in Patsy, turning from the -window. - -“We must be off, Conroy,” said Nick, returning the photograph. “I’m glad -you came in, however, and I will keep Deland in mind. Let me know if you -hear anything more about him.” - -“I will, Nick, surely,” Conroy nodded, while he accompanied the three -detectives from the house and proceeded on his way to police -headquarters. - -Ten minutes later Nick’s touring car rounded a corner of Fifth Avenue -and stopped in front of the Vanhausen building. - -The inclosed black wagon of an undertaker was standing in front of the -Vaughn residence, also a hack, at the open door of which the driver was -waiting. - -The casket had been brought out and placed in the great, somber wagon, -the rear door of which still was open. The undertaker’s assistant was -bringing out the last of the numerous boxes of flowers, which nearly -filled the wagon. - -Preceded by the undertaker, just as Nick and Chick alighted from the -touring car, Gerald Vaughn emerged from the house with Clarissa and -closed the door. - -“They are just leaving for Springfield with the body,” Chick remarked in -an undertone to Nick. - -Gerald Vaughn observed them and bowed gravely, while he descended the -steps with his sister, who was heavily veiled. He placed her in the -carriage, then turned and said a few words to the undertaker, afterward -approaching the detectives, who were but a few feet away. - -“Good morning, gentlemen,” he said, bowing and smiling faintly. “I have -seen Mr. Strickland for a few moments this morning. He is much more -composed than he was last night. I wish I might do more than merely wish -you speedy success.” - -“Many thanks,” Chick replied. - -“We shall do all that we can with the case,” Nick added. - -Vaughn bowed again, then turned away and entered the waiting carriage. -The door closed with a bang. The hackman mounted to his box, caught up -the reins, then drove rapidly away. - -The undertaker’s wagon already had departed. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -WHAT DAYLIGHT REVEALED. - - -Nick Carter found Mr. Rudolph Strickland and his niece awaiting him, but -Arthur Gordon had not yet arrived. - -“I have talked with him by telephone, Mr. Carter, and he now is on his -way here,” said Wilhelmina, after their greeting. - -“There is nothing he can do to aid us,” Nick replied. “We shall set at -work at once, and you must remain here with Mr. Strickland. Find out, -Patsy, whether the photographer on the floor above has arrived. He -promised to come down early this morning.” - -Patsy hastened from the parlor in which they had been received, while -Nick and Chick at once proceeded to the rear rooms. - -“We’ll begin with the bathroom,” said Nick, leading the way. “Daylight -may reveal more than I was able to discover last night. Ah, by Jove, I -thought so.” - -He had entered the bathroom and raised the lower section of the small, -ground-glass window. A glance at the stone sill outside, which he then -began to inspect with a powerful lens, evoked his last more forcible -remark. - -“It’s what I do not find,” Nick replied. “Notice the lack of dust on the -upper surface of this stone. All that remains of the thin layer which -ordinarily would be there is a small quantity next to each casing. The -lens shows, too, that it has been rubbed in each direction, as if with -a piece of cloth, or a garment.” - -“Plainly enough,” Chick agreed. “It would be indiscernible, -nevertheless, except in a bright light.” - -“That was the difficulty last evening. We had not light enough.” - -“You now suspect----” - -“More than suspect,” Nick interrupted. “I now am convinced that one of -the crooks, at least, entered through this window.” - -“But how could he have reached it? There certainly was no ladder used, -or the janitor must have heard him. Nor is there any other window from -which the rascal could have reached this one.” - -“If not from below, Chick, he must have come from above.” - -“From the photographer’s room?” - -“Or from the roof.” - -“Either would be possible,” Chick allowed. “But we discovered no -evidence of it. Besides, Strickland stated that the bathroom door was -locked, and Gordon found it so when they entered.” - -“That would have been no barrier to a crook clever enough to pull off a -job of this kind. He would have pushed out the key and--stop a bit! We -may find evidence of it.” - -Turning back, Nick removed the key from the bathroom door to examine it -with his lens. He quickly found what he was seeking. - -“Here we have it,” he added. “The end projecting beyond the tongue has -been gripped with a pair of nippers. Notice the marks they left on it. -The rascal unlocked the door by turning the key with the nippers, -relocking it by the same means before he left the flat.” - -“You think he went out through this window.” - -“I do. The chances are ten to one, if he had left by way of the front -door, that Madame Denise would have seen him.” - -“He is some athlete, by Jove, if he climbed a rope to the roof, or even -to the photographer’s window,” Chick declared. - -“He had confederates who aided him,” Nick replied. “He could not have -got away with such a quantity of plunder without assistance.” - -“Surely not.” - -“Let’s have a look at the bedroom window.” - -Nick led the way into the room where, still using his lens, he began a -thorough inspection of the window lock, the sashes and panes, and -finally the interior sill and the outside stonework. - -All that he found of any significance were a few tiny particles on the -sill, hardly discernible without a lens, but which, when viewed through -it, appeared to be short, yellow bristles, or hairs. - -Quick to detect their true character and significance, however, Nick -said, quite abruptly: - -“I am right, by Jove, in that a rope was used. Here are particles of -hemp on the sill. A rope, or a hemp cord of smaller size, was drawn in -through this window.” - -“But why did the rascal use this window, Nick, after entering through -that in the bathroom?” Chick questioned. - -Nick leaned out and gazed upward. - -“I have it,” he replied. “A rope evidently was used for removing the -plunder through this window, which is much larger than that in the -bathroom. It was not lowered to the rear area, however, for there is no -exit to the street. Nor was it drawn up to the quarters of Gilbert, the -photographer, or we would have found evidence of it last night. It must -have been drawn up to the roof, therefore, and then transferred by some -means to another building, or----” - -“What’s up?” Chick cried, interrupting. - -Nick had drawn back into the room with an abruptness that startled his -assistant, even more than the altered expression on his strong, -clean-cut face. - -“I think, Chick, we’ve been fooled.” - -“Fooled? What the deuce do you mean?” - -“I mean----” - -Nick did not remain to say what he meant. Instead, with a sharper light -leaping up in his eyes, he strode hurriedly to the front parlor, in -which Mr. Strickland and Wilhelmina then were seated. - -“You told me last evening, Mr. Strickland, that Gerald Vaughn and his -sister are old friends of yours. How long have you known them?” he -asked, pausing in the middle of the room. - -“Why, only since they have lived next door, Mr. Carter,” was the reply, -with a look of surprise. - -“How long is that?” - -“About four months, as near as I can remember.” - -“They do not own the corner house, then?” - -“Oh, no. It is owned by Colonel Morgan Barker, who has been living -abroad with his wife and two daughters for nearly a year. Their children -are studying music in Berlin. The Vaughns met them, and, as they were -about to visit New York for a few months, they arranged with Colonel -Barker to occupy his furnished house during their stay here.” - -“Who is Colonel Barker’s agent in New York?” - -“Mr. John Archer, I believe, who has an office in Broadway. Mr. Vaughn -brought a letter to him from Colonel Barker, directing him to let him -occupy the house, and----” - -“And turn, unless I am much mistaken, as crafty a trick as one often -hears of,” Nick interrupted, with more austerity than he ordinarily -displayed. “Come with me, Chick, and--ah, here is Patsy. What do you -say? Has the photographer arrived?” - -“Mr. Gilbert has just gone up, chief,” said Patsy, who had entered while -Nick was speaking. - -“Come, then, both of you,” said Nick, without further explanations. - -He hurried from the room, followed by both Chick and Patsy, and led the -way to the top floor. The photographer had just unlocked the door of his -studio. - -“Good morning, Gilbert,” Nick greeted him familiarly. “I want to visit -your roof once more.” - -“Certainly, Nick, as many times as you wish. Go ahead. You know the -way.” - -Nick already was on his way to the rear room, where he quickly mounted -the ladder and opened the scuttle leading to the roof. One after another -the three detectives climbed out. - -It presented in the bright morning sunlight a much different appearance -from that of the night before. There was much less danger of a slip and -a fall to the pavements far below. Nick at once approached the rear edge -of it, at a point directly over the window of the bedroom in the -Strickland flat. Some of the gravel near the edge had been brushed away. -Crouching to gaze over, Nick made a discovery that immediately confirmed -his increasing suspicions. - -In the upper surface of the timber forming the edge of the roof were -four holes, somewhat less than a foot apart, and which evidently had -been recently made with four large screws. - -“Here we have it,” Nick cried, when Chick and Patsy approached. “There -has been a rigging of some kind screwed to this timber.” - -“Gee! that’s as plain as twice two, chief,” said Patsy. - -“Notice that it is directly in line with the chimney, which is less than -eight feet from the edge of the roof. If I am not mistaken--no, I am -right,” Nick broke off; then added confidently, rising to inspect the -chimney. “Here are splinters of wood on some of the bricks, also -particles evidently rubbed from a rope. Here in the gravel beyond the -chimney, too, are indications that the end of a piece of joist rested.” - -“You think, then----” - -“The evidence speaks for itself,” Nick interposed. “A long piece of -joist made fast to the chimney was run out over an ordinary sawhorse, I -judge, which was fastened to a strip of board securely strewed to the -edge of the roof. A rope from the outer end of the joist, or a rigging -of some kind, enabled one of the crooks to descend to the windows of the -Strickland flat.” - -“But it would have hung opposite the bedroom window,” said Chick, gazing -down. - -“He could easily have swung himself to the bathroom window.” - -“Gee! it would have been some stunt, chief, in the wind and darkness,” -said Patsy. - -“We are up against rascals capable of more desperate deeds than that,” -Nick declared. “I think we now can learn where they came from and what -more they did. Come with me.” - -Quickly crossing the roof, Nick approached the edge overlooking the roof -of the corner residence. The latter was only five feet below, with no -space between them, and he immediately dropped over the edge, followed -by Chick and Patsy. - -Nearly in the middle of the roof was a square skylight, to which all -three hastened, and through which Nick peered intently. He could see -only part of the upper hall some eight feet below and the closed doors -of two adjoining rooms. - -“By Jove, we are on the right track,” Chick remarked. “This skylight has -been recently opened.” - -He pointed to some blurred finger marks in the dust on the panes and -sashes, and Nick drew a knife from his pocket with which to force open -the slightly sloping window. - -“I’m so sure I am right that we will not stand on ceremony,” he said, a -bit grimly. “The birds have flown. The house probably is deserted. The -plunder we are seeking has been carried away under our very noses.” - -“You don’t mean in that undertaker’s wagon, chief?” cried Patsy. - -“That’s precisely what I mean.” - -“Gee whiz! The death of the housekeeper then----” - -“There has been no death,” Nick interrupted, all the while at work -trying to pry open the skylight. “The whole business is a craftily -planned job, from the time Gerald Vaughn, so called, met Colonel Barker -in Berlin, if he really did meet him there, and learned that this house -was to be vacant for several months. We’ll soon find out whether I am -right and--ah, now it gives. Lend a hand, Chick, and we can raise it.” - -Nick had contrived to partly remove the hook that secured the skylight, -and it then proved easy to raise the latter. - -“Close it after us, Patsy, and return by the way we came,” Nick -directed. “Say nothing about what we have found and are doing. Go down -to the front door of this house and wait for me to admit you.” - -“I’m wise, chief,” said Patsy. “I’ll nail any one who attempts to -leave.” - -“There is no one in the house,” Nick repeated. “I’m sure of that. Come -with me, Chick.” - -He turned with the last and dropped down to the upper hall, Chick -quickly following him. - -“We’ll cover the ground as we go,” he added. “These rooms, Chick, to -begin with.” - -They found in the first one they entered the evidence confirming Nick’s -deductions and suspicions--a piece of joist about ten feet long, a -sawhorse fixed on a baseboard, that had been secured to the upper edge -of the roof, a coil of rope, a block and tackle, a broad wicker basket -nearly three feet long, to each end handle of which was tied a long hemp -cord. - -“Great guns, this does settle it!” Chick exclaimed. “What kind of a -rigging is it? What use had they for this huge basket?” - -A brief inspection of the several articles enabled Nick to hit upon the -truth. - -“It’s perfectly plain, Chick,” he replied. “That basket was hung from -the end of the joist and lowered to Strickland’s bedroom window. That -was done after one of the crooks had descended and entered through the -bathroom. He probably was the only one in Strickland’s flat. Notice the -long cord on each end of the basket.” - -“What do you make of them?” - -“One was used to draw the suspended basket to a window of this house, -the other to draw it back again to that in Strickland’s bedroom. The -crook in that apartment loaded the basket with portions of the plunder, -as speedily as he could transfer it to the bedroom, and his confederate -then drew it to a window of this house and unloaded it. There is no -telling how many times that was repeated. Another confederate was -probably at work on the roof, from which he could easily have guided the -basket and in other ways assisted the thief in the flat below. That’s -how it was done, Chick, as sure as fate.” - -“By Jove, I believe you are right.” - -“This rigging tells the story.” - -“But why the alleged death of the housekeeper, the casket, the flowers, -the----” - -“It may be explained with a breath,” Nick interrupted. “Vaughn evidently -is an exceedingly clever crook, also the two women who have been living -here with him. They became friendly with Strickland only to learn his -habits and the feasibility of this job. It was planned for last evening, -and the rascals would have found a way to lure him from the flat, even -if his niece and Arthur Gordon had not saved them the trouble.” - -“No doubt,” Chick quickly allowed. - -“They foresaw that they could not remove the plunder in any ordinary -way, so they devised this method to bring it to this house.” Nick -continued. “They knew, too, that the crime would soon be discovered; so -soon, in fact, that it would be hazardous to attempt getting away with -their booty from this house on the same night.” - -“So they faked the death of the housekeeper, in order to avert suspicion -and a consequent search of the house,” Chick remarked. “Is that your -view of it?” - -“Exactly,” Nick nodded. “They reasoned rightly that crooks would not be -suspected of operating from a house in which a death had occurred and -the corpse still was lying. The wreath on the door, the casket in the -parlor, the boxes presumably containing flowers--these have completely -fooled us, Chick, partly because of Strickland’s statement that the -Vaughns were friends of his. I supposed, of course, that they were old -residents here. If he had told me what he stated this morning, I would -at once have suspected something wrong.” - -“Certainly,” said Chick. “I see the point.” - -“But the casket and boxes contained, instead of a corpse and supposed -floral tokens, the very plunder we were seeking,” Nick added, with -ominous grimness. “The rascals got away with it this morning and under -our very eyes. The whole business was more cunning and crafty than we -often run up against.” - -“There is no denying that Nick, for fair.” - -“Let’s look farther. We’ll see what more we can find. It will be little -enough, I imagine. The rascals have cleaned out their own belongings, no -doubt, and have no intention of returning. They realized that a daylight -investigation would surely expose their game.” - -Nick’s prediction proved to be correct. Several of the bedrooms on the -floor below were in shocking disorder. Beds had been left unmade. -Wardrobe closets were empty. Bureau drawers contained nothing but the -dust and rubbish left by the miscreants. There appeared to be not the -slightest clew to their true identity. - -Nick glanced sharply through the several rooms, then hastened down to -the ground floor. There the dining room and kitchen were in -corresponding disorder. Soiled dishes and the remnants of breakfast -stood on the table. - -“We’ll have a look in the library,” said Nick, leading the way. “There -is Patsy at the front door. You had better admit him.” - -Chick hastened to do so. - -Nick entered the library. - -A sheet of paper was propped up conspicuously against a book on the -table. It contained several pen-written lines. - -Nick took up the sheet and read them: - - “MY DEAR CARTER: You solve the problem tardily. You arrive a little - too late. There will be nothing for you in attempting to run down - the writer. He is in a class of his own--and much your superior. - Take a tip from me, therefore, and drop this matter. Don’t dig - deeper into it, or you’ll surely tread on a rattlesnake. A word to - the wise should be sufficient, or this warning from - - GERALD VAUGHN.” - -Nick Carter’s face underwent a quick change. He had made a discovery -which Gerald Vaughn had not for a moment anticipated. He recognized the -writing, or felt reasonably sure that he did. - -It was identical with the fine, clean-cut hand exhibited by Detective -Conroy that morning--the writing of Mortimer Deland. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -SUSPICIONS VERIFIED. - - -Nick Carter knew that he had found one important clew, at least, in the -threatening communication which had been left there by Gerald Vaughn, as -the latter had been known while occupying the Colonel Barker residence. - -The very audacity of it, moreover, was additional evidence of the true -identity of the writer. For it corresponded with many a previous display -of effrontery which had, in connection with his extraordinary crimes, -made the name of Mortimer Deland notorious. - -Nick turned and displayed the letter when Chick and Patsy entered. - -“Do you recognize the hand?” he inquired. - -“By Jove, it looks like that which Conroy showed us,” Chick said -quickly. “I can almost swear to it.” - -“I think so, too.” - -“We can clinch it easily enough, chief,” put in Patsy. “I still have the -tracery I made. We came away in such a hurry, chief, that I did not put -it in your desk.” - -“Let me see it,” said Nick. “I will compare them.” - -It took him only a moment to satisfy himself that he was right. There -were peculiarities in the fine, feminine hand that left him no shadow of -a doubt. - -“It is dead open and shut,” he declared. “Vaughn is none other than -Mortimer Deland. The bizarre character of this crime, moreover, is -directly in line with his work abroad.” - -“That’s true, chief, for fair,” said Patsy. “Who else would have thought -of using a casket, florist’s boxes, and an undertaker’s wagon for -getting away with a big lot of plunder? The job----” - -“Spells Mortimer Deland, Patsy, in capital letters,” Nick interrupted. -“His alleged sister undoubtedly is Fannie Coyle, the English female -crook Conroy mentioned.” - -“Gee! that’s right, too.” - -“The housekeeper said to have died is another confederate,” Nick added. -“She probably is an American woman, however, since such an assistant -would have been required by comparative strangers here.” - -“The undertaker and his assistant, also, must be in league with them,” -Chick argued. - -“Yes, undoubtedly,” Nick agreed. “Otherwise, the two men would have -detected and exposed the fraud. They would have known whether the casket -contained a corpse and the pasteboard boxes a quantity of flowers, or -whether they were packed with other articles. They could not have been -so egregiously deceived, even though they did not open them, and were -employed only to take them to a railway station.” - -“Surely not, Nick, if they have brains,” Chick declared. “That’s the -point I had in mind.” - -“I shall not be surprised if we find the casket still in the house, and -that only the outside box was used for removing the plunder. It would -contain more and could be more easily packed.” - -“Let’s find out,” said Chick. “The casket was on a bier in the parlor -last evening.” - -He led the way while speaking, and again Nick’s prediction proved to be -correct. The casket was found standing on end behind the parlor door. -The standards on which it had rested the previous evening were back of a -sofa. The entire robbery was, as Nick had said, of a bizarre character -and originality of conception that alone proclaimed the identity of the -knave who had designed and directed it. - -“There appears to be nothing for us, now, but to get after the rascals,” -said Chick, a bit impatiently. “They have a start of more than an hour. -We may be able to trace them, nevertheless, if we get a move on and----” - -“We shall be more likely to meet with success, Chick, if we make haste -slowly,” Nick interposed. “There is no telling where they have gone. It -is perfectly safe to assume, nevertheless, that they did not go to a -railway station, as stated. They will not let others handle those boxes, -nor attempt to transport them in any other conveyance than the wagon -with which they are provided.” - -“But it’s an undertaker’s wagon, Nick, and we ought to be able to trace -it,” Chick argued, more forcibly. - -“There are a hundred such wagons on the move this morning, Chick, and it -would be impossible to trace this particular one,” Nick insisted. “There -would be nothing in that.” - -“You may be right.” - -“I know I am right. We must take advantage of the difficulties involving -the rascals themselves, instead of going up against those they have put -in our way.” - -“You mean?” - -“No undertaker is engaged in this robbery,” Nick said confidently. -“Deland and his confederates have contrived in some way to obtain a -casket, the florist’s boxes, and an undertaker’s team. We must find out -where they came from, if possible, and try to discover the identity of -Deland’s male confederates.” - -“The supposed undertaker and his assistant?” - -“Exactly. They probably are local crooks, also the woman who posed as -the housekeeper. If we can identify one of them, even, we shall have -picked up a thread that may lead us to the entire gang.” - -“There is something in that,” Chick admitted. - -“The trunks containing the belongings of the three crooks who have been -living here must have been taken away several days ago, or by night, -perhaps,” Nick went on. “Deland would not have deferred their removal -until this morning.” - -“Surely not.” - -“It is barely possible, of course, that the hackman who was here this -morning was in league with them, but I do not think it probable. We must -hunt him up, therefore, and find out where he took Deland and Fannie -Coyle this morning.” - -“You appear to have no doubt of their identity, Nick?” - -“Not the slightest.” - -“Gee! it looks like a cinch, chief, for fair,” put in Patsy. - -“Bear in mind, too, that we have one unsuspected advantage over this -rascal,” Nick added. - -“What is that?” - -“He doesn’t even dream, of course, that we are informed of his identity. -He undoubtedly has been living here in disguise. He will discard it, -now, and take another alias, confident that no one will recognize him, -or even think of Mortimer Deland as the perpetrator of this robbery.” - -“That’s more than likely, Nick, and we ought to derive some advantage -from it.” - -“I think we shall, Chick, having seen the photograph Conroy brought -round. Feeling thus confident, moreover, Deland is daring enough to go -straight to a first-class hotel with Fannie Coyle, posing in entirely -new characters. It will be well to inspect some of the hotel registers -in search of his writing.” - -“There are possibilities in all that, Nick,” Chick readily admitted. - -“Bear in mind, too, the difficulties involved in disposing of the -plunder from an undertaker’s wagon,” said Nick. “Where would the rascals -take it? Not to a private residence, for the wagon would attract the -attention of the neighbors and give rise to inquiries that might result -in speedy exposure. If taken to an isolated house, the wagon would be -seen going there and investigations might follow. The rascals would not -take those chances.” - -“I agree with you,” Chick nodded. - -“Nor would they trust their load to any railway company, nor to -transportation by others.” - -“Surely not.” - -“How, then, would they dispose of it? Where would they naturally take -it?” - -“That’s the question, Nick.” - -“Gee! it’s some question, too.” - -“They might, of course, drive to some point out of the city, where they -could transfer it undetected to an ordinary wagon, in which it could be -quickly taken to some place of concealment. Or it might be hidden in -some woodland section and afterward removed.” - -“There really seems to be no other safe way of disposing of it,” said -Chick. - -“Don’t be too sure of that,” Nick advised. “Deland is crafty and -ingenious. He may have hit upon an entirely different method, one so -novel and original that it does not occur to us.” - -“Possibly.” - -“Be that as it may, Chick, we will take up the trail as we find it,” -Nick said abruptly. “I will return to Strickland’s apartments and give -him a few instructions, then I’ll be off for a talk with the agent in -charge of this house. He may impart something worth knowing.” - -“It’s worth trying, at least.” - -“You get next to a telephone and a directory, in the meantime, and call -up all of the local undertakers. Find out whether one of them has an -extra wagon and has rented it, or----” - -“I understand,” Chick cut in with a nod. - -“Learn what you can from him, in that case, and be governed -accordingly.” - -“Trust me for that.” - -“While we are thus engaged, Patsy, you get after the cabmen and the -local express drivers. Find out, if possible, who took away----” - -“The crooks’ trunks,” put in Patsy. “I’ve got you, chief, hands down. -You don’t need to tell me what to do in a case of this kind.” - -“Very good,” said Nick. “Telephone to the house any discovery you may -make, providing circumstances prevent you from returning. Otherwise, -we’ll meet there, as usual. That’s all--except to dig in, tooth and -nail, to trace these rascals.” - -It then was nine o’clock. - -Precisely two hours had passed since the departure of Mortimer Deland -and Fannie Coyle--and the undertaker’s wagon filled with the stolen -treasures. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -A MAN OF NERVE. - - -While Nick Carter returned to the Strickland flat to impart such -information and instructions as would serve his purpose, Chick Carter -parted from Patsy on the corner of Fifth Avenue, then hastened home to -use the telephone and directory. - -Instead of calling up the local undertakers, however, Chick decided that -he first would ascertain from police headquarters whether the theft of -such extraordinary articles as a casket and an undertaker’s team had -been reported to the police. He had no great hope of hitting the trail -so quickly--but he was agreeably disappointed. - -“Yes, Chick, sure!” was the reply by a sergeant who responded, and to -whom the detective had mentioned his name. “Both were stolen three days -ago from Michael Hanlon, a Harlem undertaker.” - -“I have seen nothing published about it,” said Chick. - -“The facts have been suppressed pending an investigation.” - -“Do you know any of the details?” - -“No, nothing more. I will get them for you.” - -“I will not trouble you. I will look them up for myself.” - -“Do you know anything about the case?” - -“No more than you,” Chick replied evasively. - -He then hung up the receiver and started for Harlem to interview Michael -Hanlon, and in search for more definite evidence. - -Very little could be found, however, nor could Hanlon impart much -information. He stated that the casket had been stolen from a storeroom -in the basement of his establishment, and the wagon from a stable back -of the building, both occupying a lot adjoining his residence. - -The stable opened upon a side street, however, and the wagon evidently -had been drawn out and taken away with a horse belonging to the thieves, -his own not having been removed from its stall. - -“If it had been, Mr. Carter, I should have heard the rascals,” Hanlon -declared, after imparting the foregoing facts. “I would have heard the -hoofs on the floor.” - -“That probably is the only reason why the crooks brought a horse of -their own and drew out the wagon quietly,” said Chick. - -“Most likely.” - -“The police could find no clew to their identity, eh?” - -“No, sir. The rascals got away clean enough, sir, and I am out the -casket and the wagon, I’m thinking,” Hanlon grumbled bitterly. - -Chick then had nothing to offer him in the way of encouragement, having -found no evidence worthy of note, and he returned to the nearest -elevated station, alighting from the train half an hour later at -Forty-second Street. - -It then was after one o’clock, too late for lunch at home. Chick decided -to take it in one of the excellent hotels in that locality. As he was -about to enter the café, however, one of Nick’s earlier suggestions -occurred to him. - -“There might be something in it,” he muttered. “I’ll go up to the -office, instead, and have a look at the register.” - -He did so--and verified the sagacity of the famous detective. - -Almost the first entry that met Chick’s gaze, inscribed in the same -fine, clean-cut hand of which he had seen specimens that day, was that -of: - -“Charles F. Brooks and wife, Washington, D. C.” - -“Great guns!” thought Chick, surprised in spite of himself. “Have I -really cornered the rats so quickly? If that isn’t Deland’s hand, or -that of Gerald Vaughn, at least, I’ll eat my hat.” - -Instead of plunging over the traces, however, Chick turned to the clerk -and remarked: - -“I see that Mr. and Mrs. Brooks are here, from Washington.” - -“Yes, they arrived this morning,” said the clerk, smiling. - -“Are they frequent visitors?” - -“Well, quite so.” - -“Not strangers, then?” - -“Oh, no; they are here each month, and sometimes more frequently.” - -Chick took a blank card from a tray and wrote a fictitious name on it, -adding that of a leading newspaper. - -“Send this up to their suite, please,” he requested. “They may like to -be mentioned in the society notes.” - -“Yes, certainly,” nodded the clerk. “Front! To 710.” - -“If they are mentioned in the society notes I anticipate, however, I’ll -wager they will not like it,” Chick mentally added. - -The bell hop in blue and brass returned in a very few minutes. - -“You are to come up, sir,” he announced. “This way, sir.” - -Chick followed him to the elevator. - -“They certainly apprehend nothing,” he reasoned. “They may, as Nick -inferred, feel entirely safe from suspicion, or absolutely sure that -their identity and connection with the robbery cannot be established. -I’ll wager, however, that I can take the wind out of their sails. If -they don’t weaken when they see me, or betray some sign of -recognition--well, their nerve will surpass that of a wooden Indian. I’m -dead sure I’m not mistaken. There is no mistaking that writing. They -must be the suspected couple, in spite of the clerk’s statements about -them, or I’m no judge of----” - -Chick had arrived at the door of the suite and his train of thought -ended. - -The page knocked on the door, then bowed and hurried away. - -A voice within called agreeably: - -“Come in!” - -Chick opened the door and was met in the entrance hall by an erect, -slender man in a plaid suit. His face was as fair and smooth as that of -a girl. His skin was peculiarly clear and pale, though his complexion -was dark and his eyes remarkably brilliant. - -Chick had staggered for a moment. The face was like that of Gerald -Vaughn, yet not like it. The flowing, black mustache was gone, and there -was no sign of it, nor of a beard, through this man’s clear, white skin. - -It was, too, like the photographed face of Mortimer Deland, but that was -so small as to preclude positive identification. - -What most amazed Chick, however, was the fact that he was received -without the slightest sign of recognition, without the least betrayal of -perturbation, despite that his visit could not possibly have been -anticipated. - -For all this, nevertheless, Chick instantly came to one positive -conclusion--a correct one. - -“He’s my man!” flashed through his mind. “This is Gerald Vaughn--and -Mortimer Deland. I’ll stake my life on it.” - -While Chick was thus taking his measure, Deland was approaching from an -attractively furnished parlor, bowing and smiling. - -“Walk in, Mr. Alden,” said he, glancing at the card he still retained in -his slender, white hand. “Walk in and have a chair. Let me introduce my -wife, Mrs. Brooks.” - -Chick again was staggered--even more staggered than before. - -The woman who arose to greet him was tall and fair. She was fashionably -clad. Her eyes were blue. Her hair was a deep-auburn hue. Her smile was -captivating. Her teeth were like pearls. - -She bore not the slightest resemblance to Clarissa Vaughn. - -She was not even remotely suggestive of the black-veiled figure that had -left the Barker residence that morning in company with Gerald Vaughn. - -Chick steadied himself. He realized on the instant that he was up -against a man, or couple, fully as crafty, daring, and farsighted as the -letter left for Nick had implied. He realized, too, in view of their -absolute unconcern, that he had perhaps gone a step too far, and that -they might be prepared to foil the best work he could do at that time. - -For the recovery of the stolen Strickland treasures was of even greater -importance to him, in so far as the outcome of the case was concerned, -than the positive identification and arrest of Mortimer Deland and his -companion. - -That this woman was Fannie Coyle, however, Chick felt reasonably -sure--and again he was right. - -“I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Alden, I’m sure,” said the woman, -smiling graciously and extending her hand. - -“Thank you,” said Chick, bowing. - -“Have a chair,” Deland repeated. “Your card states that you are a -newspaper man, a reporter. Why, may I ask, have you favored us with a -call? Am I to be subjected to an interview?” - -“Would you object to it?” Chick inquired tentatively. - -Deland laughed slightly and displayed his teeth. - -“Not at all,” he replied. “I would, in fact, rather like it. It would be -amusing to see my name in print. I’ll be glad to give you any -information I possess, on whatever subject I can enlighten you.” - -“That is very kind, Mr. Vaughn, I’m sure,” said Chick, steadily eying -him. - -“Vaughn?” queried Deland, with brows lifted. - -Fannie Coyle laughed audibly. - -“Pardon. I got my names mixed,” Chick said dryly, observing that he had -evoked no sign of apprehensions. “I’m looking into a case of robbery -committed in Fifth Avenue last night, of which a man named Gerald Vaughn -is suspected.” - -“Ah, I see,” Deland exclaimed pleasantly. “That is why you happened to -call me by that name.” - -“Exactly.” - -“The mistake is quite pardonable, Charles, I’m sure,” remarked the -woman. - -“Yes, indeed,” Deland bowed agreeably. “We know, of course, that Mr. -Alden has not called to interview us about a robbery.” - -“I should think not. That would be absurd.” - -“I leave it to you, Mr. Alden.” - -“On the contrary, Mr. Brooks, that is the only reason why I have -called,” said Chick. - -“Ah, is it possible?” questioned Deland, with unruffled suavity. “Well, -that does surprise me. What information do you expect from me?” - -“Any that you can give me.” - -“But I cannot give you any,” insisted Deland, with a ripple of laughter. -“I know nothing about the case, nor the person you have mentioned. What -led you to infer that I do?” - -Chick abruptly decided on another tack. - -“Only because Vaughn is known to be a resident of Washington,” said he. -“Observing on the hotel register that you dwell in that city, I thought -you might possibly know of him, or have heard of him. If you do not----” - -“Let me assure you at once, Mr. Alden, on that point,” Deland put in -smiling. “I never heard of him.” - -“Nor I, Charles, I’m sure,” observed the woman. - -“Lest you may entertain any erroneous suspicions, Mr. Alden, let me call -up the proprietor of the hotel,” Deland added, rising to go to the -telephone. “He knows me very well. He will vouch for me. He will assure -you that I am entirely veracious and----” - -“Pardon!” Chick checked him with a gesture, rising to go. “Do nothing of -the kind. Your word alone, Mr. Brooks, is quite sufficient. I had not -the slightest idea that you know anything about the robbery. I thought -merely that you might know Vaughn, or have heard of him.” - -“I do not, Mr. Alden, I assure you.” - -“I now am convinced of it, and am sorry I troubled you.” - -“No trouble whatever,” said Deland, extending his hand. “I am, on the -contrary, very pleased we met you. Such episodes really amuse me. I hope -to meet you again, Mr. Alden.” - -“We shall meet again, all right,” Chick said grimly to himself after -departing. “We shall meet again, Mr. Deland, and I’ll then fit bracelets -on your slender, white wrists. Bluff me, eh? Give me the laugh, will -you? I’ll cram all that down your throat a little later. At the same -time, by Jove, I give you credit for more nerve and audacity than any -rascal I have recently met. But I’ll get you, all right, at the proper -time.” - -Chick had only one reason for not arresting Deland then and there. The -attitude of the rascal, together with the assurance he had displayed, -convinced Chick that the stolen property had been disposed of in some -locality felt to be perfectly safe, and that its recovery might be -perverted by the immediate arrest of this couple. - -“I’ll wait a while and watch them,” he said to himself, while returning -to the elevator. “I know that I have given them a fright, despite the -coolness of both, and they surely will make some move that will put me -in right.” - -Apprehending that it might be made immediately, Chick found concealment -under the rise of stairs, from which he could see the door of suite 10. - -He waited and watched for more than an hour, but no one left or visited -the suite, and he then returned to the hotel office and talked with the -proprietor. - -The latter confirmed the statements already made by the clerk, that the -couple had been occasional guests of the house during several months, -and were supposed to be reputable Washington people. Beyond that, -however, he knew nothing about them. - -“Deland is crafty,” thought Chick, after the interview. “He wanted to -establish some place to which he could flee, if necessary, divested of -the disguise he has been wearing in the character of Gerald Vaughn, and -where his pretensions would be backed up in a measure by the hotel -proprietor. That has been his object in coming here occasionally with -Fannie Coyle. - -“But what has become of the dark woman I saw last night? It was she who -left the Barker residence with Deland this morning. By Jove, I have it. -Fannie Coyle was the housekeeper. She has been stopping here since her -pretended death. I’ll have the entire gang, too, before I quit this -trail.” - -Chick continued to wait and watch. Twice he telephoned home to -communicate with Nick or Patsy, but neither of them had returned, and he -decided to continue playing a lone hand. - -That afternoon waned and early evening came, and Chick could see from -the street that the windows of suite 710 were brightly lighted. He felt -reasonably sure that neither of its occupants had departed. - -Returning to the hotel office about seven o’clock, he heard the ringing -of the telephone bell, and then the voice of the clerk addressing a -hallboy, just approaching from a side corridor. - -“It’s 710,” called the clerk. “A taxi is wanted.” - -“Mullen is at the side door, sir,” replied the hallboy. - -“Good enough! Tell him to wait there.” - -“All right, sir.” - -Chick Carter had pricked up his ears, and his eyes were glowing more -brightly. - -“A taxi, eh?” he muttered, heading for the side door. “By the rats, in -710, eh? By Jove, here’s my chance. It’s Mullen for mine.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -PLAYING A LONE HAND. - - -Patsy Garvan, following the instructions Nick Carter had given him, did -not ring a bull’s-eye until four o’clock that afternoon. He then rounded -up the hackman he had been seeking. - -Patsy recognized his face and discovered him standing beside his -carriage in front of a hotel in Forty-fourth Street. - -“You’re the very man I want,” said he, confronting him. “Have a look at -this.” - -Patsy displayed the detective badge under the lap of his vest. Sharply -watching the hackman’s ruddy face, however, he saw at a glance that his -hearer felt no alarm, or consternation, as would have been the case if -he was guilty of anything wrong. His countenance took on a look of mild -surprise, nevertheless, and he surprised Patsy, also, by saying, with a -sort of gruff heartiness: - -“You don’t need to show me that, Garvan.” - -“Ah, you know me, then?” said Patsy. - -“Sure. There are mighty few dicks I don’t know by sight. None in your -class, Garvan, as far as that goes.” - -“Thanks,” smiled Patsy. “What’s your name?” - -“Pat Mulligan.” - -“A namesake of mine, eh?” - -“I reckon so,” grinned Mulligan. “What d’ye want? I know you have not -started a spiel with me for nothing.” - -“This is between us, mind you.” - -“That goes.” - -“You took a couple from a house in Fifth Avenue at seven o’clock this -morning.” - -“Sure. Where the stiff was being taken away.” - -“That’s the place. What do you know about the couple?” - -“Nothing,” said Mulligan, but a curious gleam lighted his eyes. “I went -there on a telephone order.” - -“Where did you take them?” - -“Grand Central Terminal. They had no luggage, so I did not go in with -them. That was the last I saw of them.” - -“Did you see the undertaker’s wagon again?” - -“Not after it left the house,” said Mulligan. “I supposed it was heading -for the station baggage room. I know nothing more about it.” - -“I believe you, Mulligan,” said Patsy. “You know something, -nevertheless, that you have not told me. I can read that in your eyes.” - -“You’ve got keen ones, Garvan, all right,” Mulligan said, with a laugh. -“’Tain’t much.” - -“Come across. What is it?” - -“I’ve seen a woman coming out of that house who don’t stand ace high. -She pretends to be all right, but between you and me, Garvan, she’s as -clever and crooked a jade as you’ll find from Harlem to the Battery. -Harlem--that’s where she hangs out when at home.” - -“What is her name?” questioned Patsy, with increasing interest. - -“Nell Margate.” - -“Any relation to Jim Margate, of Harlem?” - -“She’s his sister.” - -“H’m, is that so?” thought Patsy, who not only knew Jim Margate -personally, but also knew him to be a decidedly bad character. -“Margate’s sister, eh? If you knew Nell Margate to be in that house, -Mulligan, why didn’t you tip some one to the fact?” - -“A dick?” - -“Yes.” - -“Why would I?” said Mulligan, with a deprecatory shake of his head. “It -was no funeral of mine. How could I know why she was there?” - -“A crook is always out for crooked work.” - -“But I’m not hired to catch them, Garvan, like you,” said Mulligan. -“Many a crook has paid me good money. It isn’t up to me to stool-pigeon -for the police. I’ve got to shut my eyes and keep my trap closed, or I -might get mine for not doing it. I wouldn’t have mentioned this, only I -know I might get in wrong from not telling you, since you’ve questioned -me about it.” - -“Is there anything more you can tell me?” asked Patsy. - -“Divil a thing. You’ve got all I can hand you.” - -“When did you see Nell Margate leaving the Barker residence?” - -“Something like a week ago.” - -“Describe her.” - -“She’s a well-built, dark girl, about twenty-five years old,” Mulligan -responded. “She’s a good looker, Garvan, and makes the most of it. Being -clever, too, she gets by with many a stunt. I happen to know all this, -Garvan, because Jim Margate’s place isn’t far from my own.” - -“In one of the outskirts, isn’t it?” - -“Yes, pretty well out. The old man used to run it for a road house. -There’s been nothing doing since he died--that is, nothing on the -surface,” Mulligan pointedly added. - -Patsy knew what he meant--that Margate’s place was the resort of crooks. -He slipped Mulligan a bank note, remarking: - -“Forget it--also what we have said.” - -“Bet you!” - -“So long.” - -Patsy stepped into the hotel and tried to telephone to Nick, but Joseph -told him that he had not returned; also that Chick, though he had -telephoned an hour before, had left no message. - -“Nothing doing,” thought Patsy, returning to the street. “I’ll keep -going, then, on my own hook. Nell Margate, eh? She was the woman Chick -saw last night. Mulligan’s description fits her to the letter.” - -“I guess it’s up to me, by Jove, to have a look at Jim Margate’s place. -It’s no crazy bet that Deland and Nell Margate are there, if not the -whole knavish bunch. I’ll soon find out.” - -Patsy already was acting upon these resolutions. - -Nearly an hour later, or soon after five o’clock, found him stealing -cautiously along a sparsely settled road within half a mile of the -Harlem River, his-features carefully disguised, and his movements those -of one having no definite destination in view. - -Presently, nevertheless, after crossing a number of vacant lots piled -with refuse, and rubbish, Patsy picked his way through the trees and -underbrush still covering a belt of land in that section, and finally -brought up back of an old stable and dwelling fronting on another road, -from which both were somewhat shut in by a few remaining trees. The -surroundings were uninviting, however, and the place somewhat isolated. - -Having shaped a course that precluded observation from the windows of -the old wooden house, Patsy crawled under a fence back of the stable, -and succeeded in finding concealment in an old shed near by, from which -he could see the back door and windows of the dwelling. - -It appeared to be deserted. Most of the faded curtains were drawn down. -The door of the near stable was closed, moreover, denoting that it was -unoccupied. The yard in front of it and the ill-kept grounds surrounding -the house looked desolate and dismal in the waning light of the cloudy -November day. - -“Gee! it don’t look much like business,” muttered Patsy, after a -cautious survey of the place. “I’ve blundered, perhaps, in coming out -here. The rascals may have sought shelter somewhere else. They may have -other headquarters, where--no, by gracious! those are recent hoofprints -in front of the stable. The dirt turned over by the horse’s shoes is -hardly dry. But there are no very recent wheel tracks, judging from--by -Jove, I think I had better have a look in the stable. I’ll never have a -better chance.” - -Patsy invariably acted promptly upon a definite impulse. Stealing from -the shed, he found an open space under the rear of the stable, half -filled with straw and refuse, above which was a trapdoor through the -floor. Crawling up amid the festoons of cobwebs, he raised it cautiously -and found himself directly under a large wagon. - -“There’s no one here,” he murmured, after listening. “That’s a cinch. -I’ll go a step farther.” - -Drawing himself up through the opening, he dropped the trapdoor and -crept from under the wagon. He then discovered in the dim light that it -was--an undertaker’s wagon. - -“Gee whiz! I’ve struck oil, all right,” he said to himself, with a -thrill of satisfaction. “If the plunder is here--no, by gracious, it’s -gone!” - -Patsy had opened the rear door and found that the wagon was empty. - -Further inspection revealed that the brass name plate on each side had -been skillfully altered with a coat of gilding, and that it bore a name -obviously fictitious. - -“By Jove, I’ve got a sure line on the gang, at least,” thought Patsy, -after these investigations. “Under the mask of death, so to put it, they -have succeeded in turning this knavish trick. But where is the plunder? -That’s the question. I’d better sneak out and telephone to the chief, I -guess, and then return and watch this place. I can direct him to it -and----” - -Patsy’s train of thought ended abruptly. - -So suddenly as to preclude any extensive move, the heavy tread of men’s -feet sounded on the wooden run in front of the stable, and a key was -thrust into the padlock of the door. - -Patsy knew that a successful retreat through the trapdoor was utterly -impossible. He sought the nearest place of concealment--a corner back of -a grain chest that stood under the overhang of a rear haymow. He no -sooner had dropped out of sight, than the broad, sliding door was opened -wide enough to admit three men. - -Looking cautiously over the grain chest, Patsy immediately recognized -two of them. - -“Jim Margate and a well-known running mate of his, Bob Pitman, a pair of -desperate blacklegs.” - -The third man was Mortimer Deland. - -He was laughing in a cold, mirthless way, while he followed the two more -roughly clad men into the stable, saying at the same time: - -“Oh, I easily gave him the slip by sneaking down the servants’ stairway. -Fannie and Nell will make a quick get-away later. Leave that to Fan. -They’ll show up here during the evening. Fan will slip out from under -his guns, all right.” - -“Do you think he knew you?” Margate asked, while all three seated -themselves on some empty boxes near the partly open door. - -“Know me! Sure he knew me,” said Deland, still laughing icily. “I -suspected what was coming when he sent up his card. The phony name did -not blind me, not much!” - -“By Jove, either Nick or Chick has seen and interviewed this rascal,” -thought Patsy, easily hearing all that was said. “This must be Deland -himself, who has been posing as Gerald Vaughn.” - -“I sent Nell into the next room, which connects with Fan’s suite, and -then told the bell hop to send him up.” - -“Was he in disguise?” - -“No, nothing doing,” grinned Deland, with teeth gleaming. “He wasn’t -dead sure of us, you know, and he hoped we’d weaken when we saw him. He -don’t know us, Jim.” - -“You don’t suppose he knew me when we lugged out the stuff this morning, -do you?” questioned Margate apprehensively. - -“Or me, Mort?” put in Pitman. - -“The undertaker and his assistant,” thought Patsy. “That was nearly a -cinch before.” - -“Knew you!” exclaimed Deland derisively. “That’s rot! How could he have -known either of you through the disguise I loaned you? No, no, you’re -away, all right.” - -“That listens good to me,” said Pitman. “But these Carters are -infernally sharp dicks. They’ve got eyes like needles.” - -“They’d better watch out, then, lest they lose them,” Deland said, more -seriously, and his voice and countenance evinced a devilish streak in -his nature. “I left Nick Carter a word of warning to that effect this -morning. If he presses me too closely, hang him, he shall feel my teeth. -He don’t dream who I really am and of what I am capable.” - -“Any gink capable of the roof stunt you did last night can do anything,” -said Margate, with an approving scowl. “You’re the real thing, Deland, -and then some, or you couldn’t have framed up such a job as this and -pulled it off.” - -“Child’s play, Jim,” said Deland coldly. “A kid’s stunt. Has Ruff gone -after the wagon?” - -“Sure. He’ll come with it after dark.” - -“We must transfer the stuff as early as possible.” - -“Why early? It strikes me late would be better.” - -“Wagons are not out late where we are going,” said Deland. “Some guy -might take it into his head to watch us. No, no, Jim, the earlier the -better after darkness gathers. There’s no danger of our being seen in -the road back of the last bedroom. It’s going and coming that’s risky, -so the earlier the better.” - -“That’s true, mebbe,” Margate allowed. “I’m not so sure the hiding place -is safe at that. If the newspapers----” - -“There’s nothing in the newspapers,” Deland interrupted. “I’ve made sure -of that. Besides, Ruff has had an eye on the place most of the day. He’d -have reported any investigations.” - -“Sure, as far as that goes.” - -“It’s as safe as a Wall Street bank vault,” Deland confidently added. -“Who would think of looking there for it? It beats taking the risk of -coming straight here this morning, for all we afterward took a chance -with the big, black wagon.” - -“Mebbe so,” Margate again allowed. “We’re banking on your judgment.” - -“I never went wrong in my life,” said Deland. “Look me up across the -water. You’ll find that no blooming inspector ever put darbies on me.” - -“An American detective will do so,” thought Patsy. “I’ll bet my pile on -that.” - -“It will be a good night for the job.” Deland added, gazing out at the -sky. “Cloudy and dark. What more can we ask? We’ll wait here till Ruff -returns with the wagon.” - -“That won’t be long,” said Pitman. “It will be dark in half an hour.’ - -“Gee whiz! there’s no get-away for me,” thought Patsy, wondering where -the rascals were going, though their mission was obvious. “I could not -steal out unheard if I had the feet of a fly. I’ll stick close to these -rats, therefore, and let come what may. If they undertake to shift their -plunder--well, there’ll be something doing, all right. Let me get my -lamps on it, and I’ll hold up the whole bunch single-handed.” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -IN GRUESOME CONFINEMENT. - - -What more Patsy Garvan heard was along much the same lines as that which -he already had heard, but none of it gave him any clew to the -contemplated destination of Deland and his confederates. - -Dusk began to gather within half an hour, and darkness quickly followed. -Margate lighted a small lantern, so hooding it with an empty box that -its rays could not be seen from outside, but in its feeble glow the -three crooks continued to sit and discuss their knavery. Their faces and -figures looked grim and threatening in the dim light cast upon them. - -Presently, still crouching behind the grain chest, Patsy heard the thud -of hoofs and the grinding of wheels in the gravel, and Margate arose at -the same time, saying quickly: - -“Here comes Ruff with the wagon. I told you he’d show up promptly.” - -“Good enough,” cried Deland. “We’ll lose no time in getting away.” - -“I must go to the house for my cap,” growled Margate. - -“Go ahead. That won’t take long, Jim?” - -“Wait till I douse this glim. There would be something doing, all right, -if this dead wagon were seen here?” - -“It has been seen, you rascal, and I can see your finish,” thought -Patsy, with grim satisfaction. - -He had heard the arrival of the wagon, drawn up near the front of the -stable. He heard Ruff greeting Deland and Pitman, when they hastened -out. He saw Margate extinguish the light, then stride out and close the -door, followed by the sharp click of the padlock. - -Patsy stole out from behind the grain chest in the inky darkness, then -crawled under Hanlon’s huge black wagon and found the iron ring in the -trapdoor. - -“It’s the same old way for mine,” he muttered, while he noiselessly -opened the trap. “I’ll not let these rats give me the slip. I’ll find -out where they are going and where they take their plunder, at least, if -I get no chance to hold them up. I’ll get them sooner or later, by -thunder, if it takes a leg.” - -Indulging in these cogitations, Patsy dropped quietly through the -opening, and, without waiting to close it, he crept out through the open -space under the stable, and to a point between it and the old shed near -by. - -He then could see the wagon some ten feet away and headed toward the -street. It was a large covered one, and it stood nearly opposite the -space between the two buildings. The driver had not left his seat. - -Pitman and Mortimer Deland already had climbed in and were seating -themselves on two boxes under the leather top, that occupied by Ruff -being too small for all four. - -Patsy could hear them talking, and he now saw Jim Margate returning from -the house. - -“Gee! they may give me a long chase,” he said to himself, crouching low -in the darkness. “If they drive fast, I may have some difficulty in -keeping up with them, or----” - -He broke off abruptly, crouching lower and peering intently through the -darkness. - -“By Jove, the running gear of the wagon is braced from the end of each -axletree to the center pole,” he added to himself. “The braces form a -sort of platform under the floor of the wagon. There is room enough for -me to lie on them, if I can contrive to get there. The springs will not -give much under the light load to be carried. It will beat walking, by -Jove, and remove the risk of losing sight of the rascals. I’ll do it, by -gracious, unless----” - -Patsy did not stop to consider the alternative. - -He saw Margate climbing into the wagon, while Ruff gathered up the -reins. It was the only opportunity he would have, and well Patsy knew -it, and he did not hesitate for an instant. - -He darted out in the darkness and crawled quickly between the rear -wheels. The voices of the four men drowned the faint sounds he could not -avoid causing. Dropping flat on his back under the middle of the wagon -and parallel with it, Patsy reached up and grasped the center pole with -both hands, then quickly twined his legs around it. - -“Get up!” growled Ruff; and the wagon started. - -As quick as a flash, knowing that any jar of the wagon would be -attributed to running over a rock, Patsy swung himself over the pole and -wormed himself upon the braces front and rear. - -He then found that he had ample room, and that he would not probably be -seen by persons passed on their way, but the position was a trying one, -taxing nerves and muscles to maintain it. - -“I’ll stick, by thunder, let come what may,” he said to himself, -gritting his teeth while the wagon jolted out of the driveway and into -the rough road. “I’ll not be shaken down while I have fingers to cling -with.” - -It proved to be as rough a ride, nevertheless, as Patsy Garvan had ever -experienced. He had to give his entire attention to retaining his -position. He at no time could tell just where he was, or whither he was -going. He knew only that he brought up in a lonely, somewhat wooded -section, after a last mile over the roughest kind of a road, and the -wagon then came to a sudden stop. - -“There’s no show of stealing out,” thought Patsy, with every nerve and -muscle strained and aching. “I must take a chance the rascals will not -see me.” - -The four men already were climbing down from the wagon, Ruff and Jim -Margate in advance. The latter scarce had alighted on the ground, when -Patsy heard him ask, with a fierce growl: - -“What the devil’s that?” - -“What?” snapped Deland, joining him. - -“That white thing under the wagon. It looks like a handkerchief.” - -A handkerchief it was, as a matter of fact, jolted from Patsy’s pocket -just at that fatal moment when the wagon stopped, and fallen to the -ground to betray him. - -“Gee! it’s all off, and I’m caught, dead sure,” flashed through his -mind. “I can’t even pull a gun.” - -Deland had crouched quickly to get the handkerchief, and his gaze fell -upon Patsy. His eyes took on a quick, fiery glow. With invariable -coolness, nevertheless, he whipped out a revolver and said sharply: - -“Not only a handkerchief, Jim, but also its owner.” - -“What d’ye mean?” Margate snarled. - -“See for yourself,” snapped Deland. “Don’t stir till I give you -permission, you spying whelp, or there’ll be holes made in you.” - -“Oh, I’m not going to stir,” Patsy said coolly, thoroughly disgusted -with the unfortunate turn of affairs. “I’m not dead sure that I can -stir, as far as that goes.” - -“You’ll be dead if you do, take my word for it. Drop down on the -ground.” - -Patsy obeyed, falling with a thud when he let go of his support. He -could not have clung on much longer. - -“Get him by the legs, Jim, and pull him out,” Deland commanded. “Watch -that he don’t reach for a gun.” - -“If he does, blast him, I’ll break his head,” Margate snarled, while he -and Pitman seized Patsy’s heels and dragged him from under the wagon. - -“Bring a piece of rope, Ruff,” said Deland, with revolver ready. “Stand -him on his feet, Jim. Do you know him?” - -Patsy saw that resistance would be nothing less than madness. He -suffered the two ruffians to yank him to his feet, and when they did so -his disguise was jostled out of place. - -Margate saw it and jerked it from his face. - -“Perdition!” He recoiled with a gasp. “It’s young Garvan, one of Nick -Carter’s push.” - -Deland came nearer, till the muzzle of his revolver touched Patsy’s -breast. He did not appear to be in the least disturbed by the discovery, -not more than when Chick intruded upon him that morning. His nerves -were, apparently, as stiff as steel. - -“Oh, is that so?” he inquired icily. “Are you sure of it, Jim?” - -“I ought to be, hang him.” - -“We’ll do better than hang him,” said Deland, with an ominous gleam in -his cold eyes. “Garvan, eh? What sent you out here?” - -“I came to see what you rascals were after,” said Patsy curtly. - -“Did you?” sneered Deland. “Well, you shall not be disappointed. You -shall see all that we do--until we depart.” - -“That’s good enough for me.” - -“But after then--you will see nothing!” Deland added, with a merciless -smile. - -Patsy did not deign to reply. - -He glanced sharply around, however, and saw that they were close to the -rear part of an extensive cemetery. A fence of wooden palings divided it -from, the rough, lonely back road. The white stones and monuments, also -several large tombs built into the side of a hill, could be seen through -the semidarkness. - -“Get his weapons and bind his arms securely,” Deland commanded coldly. -“If he has any handcuffs, fasten them on him, also. He shall watch us to -his heart’s content--until we leave him.” - -“Leave him where?” growled Margate. - -“Wait and see.” - -Patsy still was a bit puzzled, but he submitted in grim silence to the -work of the three ruffians, who disarmed and then securely bound him. - -“Now, Margate, a gag,” said Deland. “Make sure that you fix it so -securely that he cannot remove it. He shall occupy cold quarters -to-night--and hereafter!” - -Patsy saw plainly that he was in the hands of a man who had in him all -the makings of a devil. - -Margate took a gag from his pocket and fastened it in Patsy’s mouth. - -“Now, gentlemen, we are ready,” said Deland. “Bring him with us. Let -him see what he may. It’s a pleasure to gratify him. Murderers are well -fed and wined, even, if wanted, before their execution. Bring him -along.” - -He turned with the last and tore off several palings, already loosened, -from the high fence. - -Forced on by the other three ruffians, Patsy was conducted to the door -of one of the tombs, some twenty yards from where the wagon had been -left. - -Deland took a key from his pocket and unlocked the iron door, which -Pitman and Ruff quickly removed and stood against a near bank. - -“Look!” said Deland. “Here is what we came after.” - -He shot the beam of an electric lamp into the tomb. - -Patsy looked and saw--the long, wooden case and the florist’s boxes seen -in the undertaker’s wagon that morning. - -He could not speak, but he glared at the smiling miscreant near by, and -Deland laughed audibly. - -“A safe concealment, Garvan,” he remarked. “Even your famous Nick Carter -will never think of this. Nor will you ever inform him. For, after -removing the plunder for which we had labored--I shall leave you here!” - -Patsy felt a chill run down his spine, and a cold perspiration broke out -all over him. - -“You will not be found,” Deland added, with merciless deliberation. -“There may be no occasion to reopen this tomb for years. Nor can you -escape, or make yourself heard, for we shall bind your feet and leave -you in the box now containing part of our booty. Move lively, mates! The -sooner we are away, now, the better.” - -“Gee! here’s a fine outlook,” thought Patsy, steadying his nerves. “This -miscreant means what he said. Nor will either of these rascals oppose -him. Great guns! it looks tough, for fair!” - -The three ruffians, Deland watching, already were transferring the -pasteboard boxes to the wagon, a task that occupied them only a few -minutes. - -The cover then was removed from the undertaker’s box, which stood on the -floor of the tomb. - -Patsy could only stand and gaze. - -When he returned with his companions for the last time, Margate brought -a screw driver from the wagon. - -“Off with the cover, Jim,” said Deland coldly. “Save the screws so that -we may fasten it on again--with this meddlesome feller under it. I will -teach him to interfere with my business, already sufficiently hazardous. -Make haste. Put the stuff out here on the ground. We four then can take -it to the wagon, after locking the tomb door.” - -The knaves were at work while he was speaking. - -Patsy saw small but costly old paintings, boxes of gems and jade, the -priceless Strad violin, then in its case--these and many other treasures -Patsy saw brought out and laid upon the ground. - -There was no delay over what followed, no argument about it, no sign of -mercy in the eyes of either of his captors. - -Patsy was rudely thrown to the ground and his legs securely bound. - -Half a minute later he was lying in the box from which the treasures had -been taken. - -He heard the cover replaced, the massive key turned in the grating lock. - -Three minutes later the wagon moved away with the four knaves and its -load of treasures. - -Only Patsy Garvan remained. - -Entombed alive! - -Alone with the dead! - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -IN THE NICK OF TIME. - - -It fell to the lot of Nick Carter, as frequently occurred, to be a sort -of connecting link between his two assistants, so uniting the result of -their work as to form the complete and unbreakable chain that helplessly -shackled the outlaws they were seeking. - -It was after six o’clock when Nick, returning to his Madison Avenue -residence, learned that neither of them had arrived, nor any definite -message been received concerning their movements. - -“Both men have picked up a trail worth following, and are so engaged, or -they would have sent in a report of some kind,” Nick reasoned, taking -the swivel chair at his desk. “They must have accomplished more than I, -in that case, since I was banking quite heavily on what I could learn -from Archer, the real-estate agent, concerning his relations with -Deland. It was bad luck, indeed, that he was out of town on this -particular day. I’ll try his residence. He may have returned by this -time.” - -Nick had been trying in vain, in fact, to get in communication with Mr. -John Archer, who had had charge of the Barker residence during its -owner’s absence. He now found, with much satisfaction, that he had met -with success. - -The servant who answered his telephone call informed him that Mr. Archer -had arrived home and would talk with him in a moment. Scarce more than -that had elapsed when Nick heard the agent’s voice over the wire. - -He at once informed him of what had occurred in the Barker residence, -and he then began to question him. He soon found, however, that Archer -could add but little to what already had been learned; that he had -permitted Deland to occupy the house because of a letter containing -those instructions from its owner, brought to him by Deland, and that he -had not communicated with Colonel Barker in regard to it, believing the -letter to be genuine and Deland entirely trustworthy. - -“Did you recognize Colonel Barker’s writing, or is the letter -typewritten?” Nick inquired. - -“It is typewritten on paper bearing a cut of the Berlin hotel in which -Colonel Barker is living,” was the reply. - -“Did you recognize the signature?” - -“Perfectly, Mr. Carter.” - -“It is a forgery, nevertheless.” - -“That seems almost incredible,” Archer protested. “I am very familiar -with Colonel Barker’s signature. I have had charge, of both of his -places at times during many years.” - -“Has he two places?” - -“Yes.” - -“Where is the other?” - -“It’s the old homestead, out Fordham way,” said Archer. “Colonel Barker -grew up there and still spends part of each summer on the old place. It -is outside of the town and somewhat isolated. Nearly all of his family -are entombed in the old cemetery in that section.” - -“Has Deland, or Vaughn, ever been out there?” Nick inquired. - -“I think not, though we have talked of the place. There is nothing more -I can tell you.” - -“I wish to see that forged letter,” said Nick. “I will call at your -Broadway office to-morrow morning.” - -“Very well.” - -“I then will go with you to the Barker residence.” - -Nick’s face wore a frown when he hung up the receiver. He was thinking, -not of what he had just heard, but of the stolen Strickland treasures. - -“The rascals may have taken them to that old homestead,” he muttered, -gazing intently at his desk. “Still, there would have been that same -danger that the undertaker’s wagon would be seen. The only really -consistent place to which they could have driven it is a graveyard. But -that, on the other hand, in view of its contents, seems utterly absurd -and----” - -Nick stopped short. His eyes suddenly lighted. He was hit with an idea -that had not occurred to him before. - -“Entombed out there!” he muttered. “A tomb! By Jove, that may call the -turn.” - -Nick seized the telephone again and got the Fordham telephone exchange. -He learned after a few inquiries just where the old Barker place was -located, and that the sexton of the cemetery mentioned was one Jason -Dexter. - -“He has a telephone in his house,” said the operator. “I will connect -you with him.” - -“Do so, please,” Nick directed, then waited until he heard the sexton’s -voice. - -“Hello!” - -“Is that you, Mr. Dexter?” - -“Yes.” - -“This is Mr. Vaughn talking--Gerald Vaughn,” said Nick, proceeding in a -roundabout way to get the information he wanted. - -“Oh, yes, I remember you,” Dexter returned. “What can I do for you?” - -“Nothing whatever. I merely want to thank you again for having opened -the Barker tomb for me this morning, and for your kind attentions.” - -“Well, well, that is quite needless, Mr. Vaughn, I assure you. My duties -require no less of me.” - -“I wanted to thank you again, nevertheless, and I feel very grateful. -Good night, sir.” - -Nick did not wait for an answer. He hung up the receiver, shouted to -Joseph, the butler, and then hastened to don a woolen cap and a thick -reefer, into the pockets of which he thrust three revolvers. - -“Have Danny here with the touring car as soon as possible,” he -commanded, when Joseph appeared at the office door. - -The touring car, with Danny Maloney at the wheel, was at the curbing -outside five minutes later. - -Thirty minutes later it stood in front of the small wooden dwelling in -which Jason Dexter resided, a few hundred yards from the old rural -cemetery of which he had charge. One of the front rooms was lighted, -denoting that the sexton still was at home. - -“Put out the headlights, Danny,” Nick directed, while he sprang from the -car. “There is no danger of a collision in this lonely section. The -rascals might see our lights in front of this house, however, if they -were to arrive to transfer their hidden booty. We’ll take a back road, -which I happen to know flanks the farther side of the cemetery.” - -“Out they go, chief,” returned Danny, the glare of the lamps on the -lonely road suddenly vanishing. - -Nick entered the front yard of the house and rang the bell. It was -answered by the sexton himself, a somewhat bowed, gray man well into the -sixties. - -It goes without saying, of course, that he was more than surprised when -Nick entered and introduced himself, telling him what had occurred and -what he suspected. - -It then appeared that Deland had called on the sexton two days before, -stating that he was a relative of Colonel Barker and then was occupying -his Fifth Avenue residence. He further stated that his aunt had died -suddenly that morning, and that he wanted to place her remains in the -Barker tomb for a few days, until arrangements could be made to take her -body to Virginia, her native State, for burial. - -“You suspected nothing wrong, I infer,” said Nick. - -“Certainly not, Mr. Carter. Mr. Vaughn appeared to be a perfect -gentleman,” Dexter assured him, with rather rustic simplicity. “I -consented, of course, supposing he had a family right to use the tomb. I -told him Colonel Barker had a duplicate key, but he said he did not know -where to find it. Colonel Barker is abroad, you know.” - -“Yes, I know that.” - -“I then told Mr. Vaughn that I would open the tomb for him with my key -when he came with the body. He said that was just what he wanted, and I -did so quite early this morning. I do remember, now, that he would not -permit me to aid the undertaker and his assistant in handling the casket -and boxes of flowers, all of which were put in the tomb.” - -“You now know why, of course,” Nick said, a bit dryly. “You would have -detected that the boxes did not contain flowers. Let me see your key to -the tomb.” - -The sexton hastened to get it, and Nick examined it with his lens. - -“Just as I suspected,” he exclaimed, almost immediately. “An impression -was taken of this key while you were at the tomb. It was taken in putty, -or some ingredient containing oil. There are traces of it on one side of -the key.” - -“Well, well, this is most amazing.” - -“Get your hat, Mr. Dexter, and show me where the tomb is located,” Nick -said abruptly. “I have an assistant outside. The crooks undoubtedly will -come to-night to remove their plunder. We can catch them in the act, -and--well, that will be their finish.” - -It did not take them long, all three, to arrive at the door of the -Barker tomb, nor long for the sexton to unlock and remove the iron door. - -Nick shot the beam of his search lamp into its gruesome depths. - -“Great Scott!” cried Danny impulsively. “The treasures are gone, chief.” - -“Not all of them,” said Nick, mystified for a moment. “Here is the box -which must have contained some of them. Unless empty, it----” - -Danny uttered a shriek, and Nick recoiled involuntarily. - -A groan from within the box had fallen with startling effect on the ears -of all. Then came a fierce kicking against the top of it. - -“By gracious!” cried Nick, quick to guess the truth. “The rascals have -been and gone. But they have entombed either Chick or Patsy.” - -He sprang into the tomb, shouting quickly and thumping on the long box: - -“Keep cool! We’ll have you out in half a minute.” - -It was done in less time, in fact. For Nick found that he could thrust -his fingers under one corner of the cover, and, with the strength of a -giant, he tore it off in an instant. - -Patsy Garvan sat up in the box, in the glare of Nick’s searchlight, with -his face wearing a look of relief that words could not possibly -describe. - -“By Heaven!” Nick muttered. “Those curs shall pay dearly for this.” - -“Gee! that was some glad sound, chief, when I heard your voice,” said -Patsy, after he had been liberated and the tomb relocked. “The rascals -got me--but now we’ll get them.” - -“Tell me what occurred,” said Nick. - -Patsy informed him with half a dozen breaths, adding quickly: - -“They have been gone less than ten minutes. They are returning to -Margate’s place. We can reach there by the other road and without being -seen long they arrive.” - -“Come on, then,” said Nick. “That’s the proper move.” - -Their run to the Margate place was made in twelve minutes. The car, with -lights extinguished, was concealed in a near, vacant lot. Returning to -the front of the old house to watch for the wagon, the three detectives -scarce had concealed themselves under a low wall, when a taxicab put in -an appearance and stopped in front of the house. - -“Some of the gang, Patsy,” Nick murmured. “Follow me and we’ll take them -in at once.” - -He strode out just as the chauffeur sprang down from his seat to aid two -women to alight. - -“Stop a moment, chauffeur,” said Nick, reaching for his revolver. “Who -are your passengers and where did you----” - -The chauffeur burst out laughing. - -“Thundering guns!” he cried, removing his disguise. “Is it you, Nick?” - -The chauffeur was Chick Carter, in the coat, hat, and goggles of Mullen, -with whom Chick had easily planned the subterfuge before the coming down -of the two much-wanted women in suite 710. - -Five minutes later, Nell Margate and Fannie Coyle were in irons and -locked in a closet in the house, pending the arrival of the male members -of the gang. - -When that occurred, some twenty minutes later, and the four crooks -alighted from the wagon containing the stolen treasures, four detectives -stepped into the driveway and confronted each, with a revolver ready, if -needed. - -It was not needed, however, for the arrest was easily and quickly made. - -Ten o’clock that evening saw every culprit locked in the Tombs, the -first step toward the punishment awaiting them. - -It appeared later that Nell Margate had discovered the feasibility of -the robbery, that she had communicated with Fannie Coyle, then in -London, and that the latter then had rung Deland into the job, the -latter going to Berlin and cultivating the acquaintance of Colonel -Barker, and successfully laying his plans, as have appeared. - -They were as successfully perverted by Nick Carter and his assistants, -and the gratitude and joy of Mr. Rudolph Strickland, when he saw his -cherished treasures being returned to his house, as Nick had promised, -may be far more easily imagined than described. - -It was a fixed habit of Nick Carter, however--that of keeping a promise. - - -THE END. - - -“The Gordon Elopement; or, Nick Carter’s Three of a Kind,” will be the -title of the long, complete story which you will find in the next issue, -No. 155, of the NICK CARTER STORIES, out August 28th. In this story you -will read of the further adventures of the famous detective with -Mortimer Deland, the international crook. Then, too, you will also find -an installment of the serial now running in this publication, together -with several other interesting articles. - - - - -SNAPSHOT ARTILLERY. - -By BERTRAM LEBHAR. - -(This interesting story was commenced in No. 153 of NICK CARTER STORIES. -Back numbers can always be obtained from your news dealer or the -publishers.) - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -HAWLEY’S CONTRIBUTION. - - -“Thanks, old man,” said the Camera Chap to Carroll, as the boy went off -to deliver this message. “But I hope this defiance of the police won’t -get you into any trouble?” - -“I think not,” the editor replied. “You haven’t committed a murder, or -any crime of a serious nature, have you?” - -“No, indeed,” Hawley assured him. “All I did was to take a snapshot. But -I wasn’t referring to trouble with the authorities. What I meant was -that I hope this won’t get you in bad with the owner of this paper. The -chief of police doesn’t happen to be a friend of his, does he?” - -“No,” replied Carroll grimly. “I assure you that fat bully of a chief is -far from being a friend of mine.” - -“But I said the owner of the paper,” Hawley protested. - -Carroll grinned. “My dear Hawley, the owner of the Oldham _Daily -Bulletin_ sits before you now.” - -The Camera ’Chap stared at him in astonishment. “You?” he cried half -incredulously. - -“Exactly,” chuckled Carroll. “I suppose it looks queer to you to see the -proprietor of the sheet holding down the job of city editor, but I am -only filling this chair during the absence of its regular occupant. My -city editor is laid up with an attack of inflammatory rheumatism, so I -undertook to do his work.” - -Still Hawley appeared incredulous. Two years before, Fred Carroll had -been earning thirty dollars a week as a reporter on the New York -_Sentinel_, and the Camera Chap recalled that he had always been -notoriously hard up in those days. Where on earth could he have got hold -of enough money to buy a newspaper? - -As though reading his thoughts, Carroll said, with a laugh: “I suppose -you’re wondering how I managed to raise the necessary dough to acquire -this progressive, aggressive, and fearlessly independent sheet? No need -to tell you that I didn’t save it out of the measly wages the Sentinel -paid me. The fact is, Hawley, I came into a little change after I got -fired from the _Sentinel_ for getting them into that confounded libel -suit. A wealthy relative of mine over in England cashed in his chips, -and mentioned me in his will to the extent of fifteen thousand. I was -tipped off that this paper was on the market, and could be had at that -figure, so I came here and bought it. There’s the whole story in a -nutshell--or pretty near the whole story.” - -Hawley doubted no longer. He could see now that Carroll wasn’t joking, -and he had never known him to be guilty of falsehood. - -“I’m tickled to death to hear this good news, old chap,” he said, -grabbing his friend’s hand enthusiastically. “Let me offer you my -congratulations, even though they’re tardy. You certainly are a lucky -fellow.” - -A wry smile came to Carroll’s face. “Not quite as lucky as you imagine,” -he said grimly. “Better take back your congratulations, Hawley. It is -true that I’m the owner of a newspaper now, but--you’re likely to meet -me on Park Row hunting for a job in the very near future.” - -“Why, what’s the matter?” the Camera Chap inquired solicitously. “You -don’t mean to say that the paper isn’t a success, old man?” - -Carroll shrugged his broad shoulders. “When I tell you that I had to -hock my watch yesterday in order to pay my board bill, you will -doubtless gather that the Oldham _Daily Bulletin_ isn’t exactly a gold -mine,” he replied dryly. - -“Ye gods!” exclaimed Hawley. “And I always had an idea that newspaper -owners were bloated plutocrats.” - -“Some are,” was the grim reply. “But I guess I’m far from being the only -New York newspaper man who has tried to run a small town daily and made -a fizzle of it.” - -“What seems to be the main trouble?” the Camera Chap inquired. “I should -think that a paper with a motto like yours was bound to be a winner. -Progressive, aggressive, and fearlessly independent--that’s a mighty -fine catch line, Fred. The population of Oldham certainly ought to rally -to the support of a sheet which has such an attractive policy.” - -The owner of the _Bulletin_ shook his head. “Yes, they ought to--but -they don’t. The fact is, Hawley, that, from the standpoint of dollars -and cents, being aggressive and fearlessly independent in a town like -this doesn’t pay. The first thing I did after acquiring control of the -_Bulletin_,” he went on, with a frown, “was to declare war against the -city government. From a financial standpoint, that was a disastrous -mistake.” - -“Why did you do it?” the Camera Chap inquired. - -“Because,” replied Carroll, his frown deepening, “I simply couldn’t -stand for the methods of the gang which is running things in this town. -They’re the rawest, nerviest, crookedest bunch of grafters that ever had -control of a city government. Compared to them, New York’s old Tweed -ring was a bunch of angels. I made up my mind that the _Bulletin_ was -going to sweep them out of office. I announced that intention in an -editorial on my front page the very first day the sheet appeared under -my management.” - -“That sounds interesting,” exclaimed Hawley, an appreciative flash in -his blue eyes. “What was the result?” - -Carroll laughed grimly. “The result was that I lost pretty nearly all my -advertising. It seems that most of the big advertisers of this town are -allied in one way or another with that bunch of grafters at the city -hall. I didn’t know this when I started out to fight the administration. -Although, even if I had known it, it wouldn’t have made any difference,” -he added, his strong under jaw thrust forward aggressively. “I should -have gone ahead just the same, of course.” - -“Bully for you, old man!” exclaimed the Camera Chap. “So those lobsters -tried to put you out of business by withdrawing their advertising, eh?” - -“Yes; and that wasn’t all. That gang of grafters started in to retaliate -by using the powers of the city government against the _Bulletin_. They -stayed up nights thinking of ways to harass me. The police department, -the fire department, and all the departments have received orders to -refuse to give the _Bulletin_ reporters any news. The police arrest the -drivers of my delivery wagons on all sorts of trumped-up charges -whenever they get the chance. The gas, water, and electricity department -is always finding fault with conditions in the Bulletin Building. These -are only a few of the dirty tricks those rascals have resorted to in -their efforts to put me out of business.” - -“And you’ve been fighting back all the time, of course?” inquired Hawley -anxiously. - -Carroll looked at him reproachfully. “I thought you knew me too well to -ask such a superfluous question,” he said in a hurt tone. “Of course, -I’ve been hammering at them just as hard as I know how, and intend to -keep it up while there’s breath left in the _Bulletin_. - -“But I’m afraid it’s a losing fight,” he went on sadly. “I don’t mind -admitting to you, old man, that they’ve got me groggy. Without any -advertising worth speaking of, and with my sources of news crippled, it -looks as if the days of the _Bulletin_ were numbered, and its finish -already in sight.” - -“How about your circulation?” the Camera Chap inquired. “Surely that -must have gained? You don’t mean to say that the people haven’t -supported you in this laudable fight?” - -Carroll shrugged his shoulders. “Not so that you could notice it. It is -true that at first my campaign against the grafters got us a lot of new -readers. But the circulation figures soon dwindled. The population of -Oldham seemed to lose interest in the fight. Besides, I was discredited -at the start.” - -“Discredited! How?” the Camera Chap demanded in astonishment. - -The proprietor of the _Bulletin_ smiled grimly. “There’s a rival sheet -here--the _Chronicle_. It is the administration organ--which means, of -course, that its proprietor is hand and glove with that gang of crooks -at the city hall. The _Chronicle_ happened to learn that I was formerly -a reporter on the New York _Sentinel_, and that I was discharged from -that paper for getting it into a libel suit. That information was pie to -those crooks. The _Chronicle_ published it on its front page in red -type. It gave all the details of that unfortunate libel suit, insinuated -that I had been forced to come to Oldham because no New York newspaper -would hire me after my discharge from the _Sentinel_, and warned the -public not to pay any attention to my ’base and slanderous attacks upon -the virtuous and public-spirited gentlemen who were giving Oldham the -best government it had ever enjoyed.’ Of course, this has hurt me a lot. -The _Chronicle_ keeps it prominently displayed on its front page every -day, and, as I have said, I am pretty much discredited.” - -“That was a dirty trick,” declared Hawley indignantly. “Who is the -proprietor of the _Chronicle_?” - -“A lean old fox named Gale.” - -“Gale!” the Camera Chap repeated, with an inflection of astonishment. -“That’s a queer coincidence. Doesn’t happen to be any relative of the -reporter by the same name on the staff of the New York _Daily News_, -does he, Fred?” - -Carroll grinned. “Yes, Hawley, the proprietor of the Oldham _Chronicle_ -is the father of your old enemy, Gale, of the _News_. I can assure you, -he’s a chip of the young block, too--several chips, in fact.” - -The Camera Chap frowned. “I recall now that somebody once told me that -Gale’s father was the proprietor of a small paper,” he said. “I guess, -Fred, it was the younger Gale who supplied the Oldham _Chronicle_ with -the information about that unfortunate libel suit of yours.” - -“I haven’t the slightest doubt of that,” Carroll answered. “He and I -never did get along together when I was on Park Row. In fact, I had -occasion to punch his head only a few days before I got fired from the -_Sentinel_. I guess he was tickled to death to have a chance to get back -at me.” - -Their conversation was interrupted at this point by a young man whose -face wore a depressed, anxious expression as he stepped up to the -editorial desk. - -“Mr. Carroll,” he said gloomily, “I’m sorry to have to tell you that -we’re going to be badly scooped in the next issue.” - -“How so, Parsons?” the acting city editor demanded sharply. - -“There’s been a big burglary in town,” announced Parsons, who was the -_Bulletin’s_ police reporter. - -“A burglary--where?” Carroll demanded. - -“That’s what I can’t find out, sir. I overheard two detectives talking -about it together at headquarters early this morning, but as soon as -they caught sight of me they dropped the subject in a hurry. I’ve been -scurrying around town all morning in the hope of finding somebody who -could tell me who was robbed, but I haven’t been able to pick up -anything. I tried to get an interview with Chief Hodgins, but he -refused, as usual, to talk to a _Bulletin_ man.” - -“Humph!” Carroll grunted. “And you think the _Chronicle_ has the yarn, -Parsons?” - -“I am quite sure they have, sir,” was the mournful reply. “One of the -detectives admitted to me that Burns, the _Chronicle’s_ police reporter, -had all the details, and a long interview with Chief Hodgins. I’m -awfully sorry, sir. I hope you don’t blame me for falling down on the -yarn.” - -Carroll got up and placed his hand on his reporter’s shoulder. “No, I -don’t blame you at all, old chap. Considering the difficulties under -which you are working, I can’t reasonably hold it against you if you get -scooped occasionally on a police story. Keep pegging away, and don’t get -discouraged. Better spend the rest of the day trying to get a line on -this burglary yarn. You may be fortunate enough to run into somebody who -can give you some information about it. If not--well, I guess we’ll have -to grin and bear it.” - -A chuckle from the Camera Chap caused him to turn to that young man in -indignant astonishment. - -“What’s the matter with you?” Carroll demanded irritably. “I don’t see -anything to be amused about.” - -“Don’t you?” rejoined Hawley, with a grin, taking a plate holder from -his camera and laying it on the desk. “I think you’ll be amused, too, -Fred, when I tell you what I’ve got here. Would you mind handing me a -pad and pencil?” - -“What are you going to do?” Carroll demanded wonderingly, as he handed -over the desired writing implements. - -“I’m going to write a heading for the burglary story which will appear -on the front page of the _Bulletin’s_ next issue,” the Camera Chap -replied. - -“But we haven’t got the burglary story?” Carroll protested, with a -puzzled frown. - -“Pardon me, but I have. It’s here in this plate holder,” declared -Hawley. “I don’t mean to say that we’ve got the details of the -larceny--but we’ve got something just as good--or better. Wait until -I’ve written my heading, and I’ll explain.” - -He wrote rapidly on the pad, and handed the result to Carroll. - -“Writing headings is a little out of my line,” he remarked; “but I think -this will about do.” - -Carroll stared wonderingly at these words. - -“There Was a Burglary in Town Yesterday, and Here’s the Reason Why.” - -“Underneath that heading,” the Camera Chap explained, in response to -Carroll’s inquiring stare, “will go the snapshot which I took at police -headquarters a few minutes ago. It’s a picture of Oldham’s chief of -police, fast asleep at his desk.” - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -A TELLING SHOT. - - -Chief of Police Hodgins let out a bellow of rage the next morning when -his startled gaze rested upon the front page of the Oldham _Daily -Bulletin_. - -The editor of that belligerent sheet had eagerly availed himself of -Hawley’s snapshots and the latter’s suggestion as to how to use them. -Both negatives had turned out excellently, and, although there wasn’t a -great deal of difference between the two poses, Carroll decided to use -them both, so as to make as big a showing as possible. They appeared -side by side at the top of the page, and above them, stretched across -the full width of the page, was the heading which the Camera Chap had -composed. - -Beneath the cuts was an editorial from the pen of Fred Carroll, written -in very short sentences, and with many words capitalized--a style of -editorial which he had copied from the New York _Sentinel_. The first -paragraphs were as follows: - - “The above genuine snapshots tell their own story. They were taken - at police headquarters at two o’clock yesterday afternoon. They - show our chief of police in a thoroughly characteristic pose. A - brief study of these interesting, and genuine photographs will - enable the reader to understand why CRIMINALS regard Oldham as - their HAPPY HUNTING GROUND. - - “Most police officials believe in keeping their eyes open and their - mouths closed while on duty. Our chief of police reverses that - old-fashioned policy. As these snapshots show, he does HIS police - duty with his eyes CLOSED and his mouth WIDE OPEN. Citizens and - property owners may not approve of this original policy, but, no - doubt, BURGLARS, STRONG-ARM MEN, and other CROOKS heartily indorse - it. Of course, they are thoroughly satisfied with our SOMNOLENT - chief of police. - - “Night before last there was a daring burglary, committed in this - town. Bold thieves got away with plunder worth many thousand - dollars. We frankly confess that the _Bulletin_ is not, as yet, in - possession of the full details of that burglary. We tried to find - out about the crime, but were unsuccessful. When a _Bulletin_ - representative called on Chief Hodgins, to ascertain the - particulars, he found him SNORING. The _Bulletin_ representative - was too polite to disturb the chief’s daylight slumbers, so, - instead of interviewing him, he took his picture. That could be - done without WAKING him. Besides, our representative thought that - the taxpayers of Oldham would find these snapshots much more - interesting and illuminating than a mere detailed account of the - burglary.” - -There were several more paragraphs couched in the same strain. Chief -Hodgins read it through to the very end. Then, in a paroxysm of fury, he -tore the paper in small pieces, growling, as he did so, like a terrier -worrying a rat. - -“I’d give a whole lot to have that camera feller here right now,” he -muttered. “Confound these fools for letting him get away! They’re a lot -of boneheads!” - -This criticism of his subordinates was scarcely just, in view of the -fact that the chief himself had led the squad of police which laid in -wait for Hawley outside the Bulletin Building with the intention of -placing that young man under arrest as soon as he stepped out of the -newspaper office. Not having a warrant, they had not dared to force -their way into the editorial rooms, so the chief and his men had -stationed themselves outside, confident that sooner or later the Camera -Chap must come out and fall into their clutches. - -But Carroll, suspecting this ambush, showed Hawley how to make his -escape by means of a window at the rear of the building, and the Camera -Chap was on his motor cycle, dashing up the steep road which led to his -host’s mountain retreat, long before the police became aware of the fact -that they had been outwitted. - -Chief Hodgins was, of course, as much to blame as any of his men for -this fiasco; but as it was some relief to his feelings to abuse his -subordinates for their “gross carelessness,” he did not hesitate to do -so. The chief’s bump of logic and his sense of fairness were so -underdeveloped that they were almost minute quantities. - -Just as he got through with his performance of savagely rending the -offending copy of the _Bulletin_ into small pieces, the telephone on his -desk rang. It was the voice of the mayor which came to him over the -wire. The mayor’s name was Martin Henkle. He was a big, burly man, whose -voice when he was angry was so gruff that in comparison Chief Hodgins’ -manner of speech was sweetly melodious. By that token, his honor was -exceedingly peeved now. - -“Is that you, Hodgins?” he growled over the wire. - -“Yes, Mr. Mayor,” was the meek reply. - -The head of the police department had turned very pale. Mayor Henkle’s -wife was his second cousin, but in spite of this relationship he stood -in great fear of his honor. - -“Huh! Seen this morning’s _Bulletin_ yet?” the latter inquired hoarsely. - -“Yes, sir, I have,” replied the chief, glaring at the fragments of paper -on the floor. “And of all the dastardly outrages that ever---” - -“A fine spectacle you’ve made of yourself!” came the snarling -interruption. “You big, fat-headed boob, I gave you credit for -possessing a little more sense, or I’d never have appointed you. The -whole town is laughing over those pictures. Everybody I met this morning -on my way to the city hall was reading the _Bulletin_. You’ve made a -laughingstock of my administration.” - -“I’m sorry, Mr. Mayor,” said Hodgins humbly. “The fact is, that rascally -photographer took an unfair advantage of me. I wasn’t really asleep, of -course. I had--er--just closed my eyes for a minute, thinking out a -scheme for catching those burglars--I always sit with my eyes closed, -you know, when I’m thinking--and before I knew what was happening, that -fellow sneaked in and took those snapshots.” - -The chief had invented this explanation on the spur of the moment. It -sounded so good to him that he was just congratulating himself upon his -ingenuity when a snort of contempt from the other end of the wire filled -him with consternation. - -“That won’t do,” growled the mayor. “You’ll have to think up a better -one than that, Hodgins, if you want to get away with it. Anybody with a -grain of common sense can tell from those pictures that you were fast -asleep. Men who think with their eyes closed don’t open their mouths, -too. Besides, that fellow took two pictures. You must have been in a -mighty sound sleep, or you’d have heard him come into the room and -nabbed him before he had a chance to take the second.” - -“Well, perhaps I dozed off a little, Mr. Mayor,” the disconcerted -policeman admitted. “I’ll not deny it. You see, I hadn’t had much sleep -the night before, and I haven’t been feeling very well lately. After -all, I guess it ain’t such a terrible crime for a hard-working public -official to take a short nap in his private office.” - -“You should have locked your office door, you big, blundering baboon!” -snarled the mayor. “I’m not kicking so much at your falling asleep at -your desk as I am at your permitting the _Bulletin_ to catch you -napping. The whole town is grinning at you, and, of course, I--being -responsible for your appointment--have got to bear the brunt of it. I -don’t mind being roasted, but I can’t stand being laughed at. - -“And, what’s more, I don’t intend to stand for it!” the mayor went on, a -menace in his tone. “I tell you, Hodgins, you’ve got to square yourself -with the public regarding those pictures if you want to keep your job. I -don’t see how you’re going to do it--there’s no denying the evidence of -the camera--but unless you can swing public sentiment your way, I’ll be -compelled to remove you from office. So you’d better get busy.” - -The chief of police started to protest, but found himself addressing a -“dead” wire. The mayor, after delivering this ultimatum, had abruptly -disconnected. - -For several minutes Chief Hodgins paced the floor of his private office, -a scowl upon his round, fat face. - -“Wish I had that Camera Chap here right now,” he muttered. “I’d twist -his confounded neck. Square myself with the public! How am I going to do -that?” - -Then suddenly his face lighted up. “Guess I’ll go and have a talk with -my friend Gale, of the _Chronicle_,” he mused. “He ought to be able to -help me out of this trouble. When it comes to clever tricks, there ain’t -an editor in the country is equal to that chap. Ten to one he’ll be able -to dope out a way to turn the tables on that miserable rag of a -_Bulletin_.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -GALE SUGGESTS. - - -As Chief Hodgins walked down Main Street toward the _Chronicle_ office, -he became painfully aware that there was a broad grin upon the face of -nearly every person he met. - -Many of the amused persons had copies of the _Bulletin_ in their hands -or protruding from their coat pockets; so that, although he was not a -particularly sensitive man, he was forced to conclude that they were -smiling at his expense. - -Several small boys followed him at a discreet distance, giggling and -jeering. One street urchin, more bold than the rest, came up close -behind him, and gave a graphic imitation of a man snoring. With a snarl -of rage, the head of the Oldham police force wheeled around, with the -intention of making a terrible example of this juvenile tormentor, but -the youngster darted beyond his reach. The chief started to give chase, -but soon abandoned the idea. He was too fat to be much of a sprinter. - -Fortunately the Chronicle Building was not far from police headquarters, -so these painful experiences soon came to an end. Delancey Gale, editor -and publisher of the Oldham _Chronicle_, greeted Chief Hodgins cordially -when the latter stepped into his private office. - -“My dear chief, this is, indeed, a pleasure,” he cried effusively. “Pray -sit down and make yourself comfortable.” - -Mr. Gale was a dapper little old man, with neatly trimmed white -mutton-chop whiskers, and a very prominent Adam’s apple. There was -something about his lean, sharp-featured countenance which made one -think of a fox, although just in what respect he bore a physical -resemblance to that animal it would have been difficult to point out. - -As Chief Hodgins sank into a chair, he became aware of the fact that he -and the editor were not the only occupants of the room. A good-looking -young man whose clothes were of the very latest cut stood near the -window, with his profile toward the policeman. - -“You’ve met my son, of course, chief?” said the editor and publisher of -the _Chronicle_. - -“Sure!” replied Hodgins, with a gracious nod to the young man. “But I -declare I shouldn’t have known him. He’s changed a whole lot since I saw -him last. That was more’n ten years ago, I guess. Doin’ newspaper work -in New York, ain’t you, sir?” - -“He has been,” replied the elder Gale, with a proud look in the -direction of the young man. “For several years, chief, my son has been a -distinguished member of the staff of the New York _Daily News_. But he -has resigned that position to come out here and help me run the -_Chronicle_.” - -“A very sensible idea,” said Hodgins. “But now, Mr. Gale, to get down to -my business. I’m a little rushed for time, so you’ll excuse me for -bein’ brief. Have you--ahem!--seen to-day’s issue of the _Bulletin_?” - -“Of course,” replied the elder Gale, with a deprecating smile. “I -presume you are referring to those disgraceful pictures? They are an -outrage!” - -“They certainly are that,” growled Hodgins. “What would you advise me to -do about them, Mr. Gale--to set myself right in the eyes of the public, -I mean?” - -Again Mr. Gale smiled deprecatingly. “I scarcely think there is any need -to worry about that, chief. It isn’t likely that the public will pay any -attention to anything that appears in our disreputable contemporary, the -_Bulletin_.” - -“They wouldn’t if they had any sense,” said the chief, scowling as he -recalled his recent painful experience on the street. “But--ahem!--the -public seems inclined to pay more attention to those confounded -snapshots than you’d think, and I’ve got to do something to set myself -right. That’s what I’ve come to see you about, Mr. Gale.” - -“I guess that can be easily fixed,” said the editor, “I’ll run an -editorial on the front page of to-morrow’s _Chronicle_, denouncing the -_Bulletin_ for publishing those pictures. I shall refer to it as a -pictorial outrage against decency and a disgrace to journalism.” - -“That’s what it is, all right,” muttered the chief, with an approving -nod; “but will the public look at it that way?” - -“They will when they read in to-morrow’s _Chronicle_ why it was that you -were asleep at your desk,” replied the editor, with a sly smile. “We’ll -explain that our worthy chief of police, after being up all night for -three successive nights in the pursuit of his official duties, was so -tired out that he was unable to keep up any longer. Tired nature -asserted itself, and he fell back in his chair in a state of collapse. -And while he was in this condition--brought about solely by his devotion -to duty and zeal to serve the public--the miscreant photographer of the -_Bulletin_ sneaked in and made capital of the incident. - -“I rather think that will do the trick, chief,” the elder Gale remarked. -“When they read the _Chronicle_ to-morrow morning, the people of Oldham, -instead of smiling at those pictures, will look upon you as a martyr.” - -Chief Hodgins’ face lighted up. “The very thing!” he exclaimed -enthusiastically. “It looks to me as if you’d hit the right idea, Mr. -Gale, and I don’t mind telling you that if you print all that you’ll -come pretty near telling the truth, too.” - -“Have you caught the fellow who took the pictures yet, chief?” the -editor inquired. - -“No; the rascal got away,” Hodgins answered, with a scowl. “My men -learned that he got out of town on a motor cycle, but they can’t find -out where he’s gone. I guess he won’t dare set foot in this town again. -He was certainly the nerviest camera fiend I’ve seen or heard of.” - -The younger Gale pricked up his ears at these words. “Don’t happen to -know his name, do you, chief?” he inquired, with great interest. - -“Yes, I do, too,” Hodgins replied. “One of my detectives managed to find -out that much from one of the printers who works for the _Bulletin_. The -fellow’s name is Hawley, and he works for a New York newspaper.” - -“I thought as much,” exclaimed young Gale, with a frown. “I heard on -Park Row the other day that Hawley, of the _Sentinel_, was taking a -vacation up in the Catskills. Too bad you didn’t catch him, chief, and -send him to jail. I’ve no use for that fellow.” - -“I’ll send him to jail, all right, if I ever manage to lay hands on -him,” declared the policeman, a glint in his eyes. - -“But can you?” the elder Gale queried. “Could you send him to jail, I -mean, for taking those snapshots, even if you were to catch him? After -all, my dear chief, he has violated no law. I was looking up the penal -code a little while ago, and I find there is no statute which covers his -case. I am afraid you couldn’t do anything to him--in a legal way.” - -“Is that so?” exclaimed Hodgins, with a discomfited look. “Well, that’s -certainly news to me, Mr. Gale. I thought for sure there was a law -covering his offense. If there ain’t one, there certainly ought to be.” - -“Say, that gives me an idea,” cried the younger Gale excitedly. “What’s -the matter with getting the city council to pass an ordinance making it -a misdemeanor punishable by six months’ imprisonment for any person to -take a photograph on any street or in any public building of Oldham -without a special permit signed by the chief of police? You fellows -ought to have enough pull with the council to get such a law put through -immediately.” - -“An excellent plan!” declared the elder Gale. “Such an ordinance would -not apply to past offenses, of course, but it would enable you, chief, -to send this young scamp Hawley to prison if he ever comes back to -Oldham and takes any more pictures.” - -“Yes,” cried the younger Gale eagerly, “and you can rest assured that -Hawley will come back to take more pictures. In fact, I’ve got a scheme -to bring him back. Get that ordinance passed by the council, chief, and -I’ll guarantee that you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing Mr. Hawley, -of the _Sentinel_, behind bars. My little scheme is bound to work.” - -He explained this scheme to his father and Chief Hodgins, and both of -them gave it their enthusiastic approval. - -“It’s a pippin!” declared the head of the Oldham police force joyously. -“It’s easy to see, Mr. Gale, that your son is a chip of the old block -when it comes to cleverness. - -“We’ll put that ordinance through right away,” he went on. “I guess -there won’t be any trouble in getting the council to pass it. And then, -when the law’s on the books, we’ll set a little snare for that -confounded Camera Chap. He’s sure to walk right into it.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE TELEGRAM. - - -After his exciting visit to Oldham, the Camera Chap resumed his rest -cure at his friend’s place in the mountains; but he kept in touch with -Carroll by telephone, and these conversations made him yearn for another -excursion into town. - -One morning--to be precise, it was just three days after his trip to -Oldham--Carroll called him up on the telephone and imparted to him an -interesting piece of news. - -“You ought to feel flattered, Hawley, old man,” the proprietor of the -_Bulletin_ chuckled. “They’ve passed an ordinance solely on your -account. Of course, they won’t admit that you were the cause of it, but -I am quite sure that the bill was put through expressly to prevent you -from coming back and taking any more snapshots.” - -“What’s the nature of the ordinance?” the Camera Chap inquired. - -“It is known as the ‘anticamera bill.’ Makes it a misdemeanor to take a -photograph on the streets of Oldham or in any of the public buildings -without a special license from the chief of police.” - -“What’s the penalty?” Hawley inquired, with great interest. - -“A fine of a hundred dollars or six months in the penitentiary, or -both,” Carroll replied. - -“Great Scott!” exclaimed the Camera Chap. “Six months in jail for taking -a picture! Why didn’t they make it hanging while they were about it?” - -“Perhaps they would if they had thought of it,” returned Carroll. “But I -say, old man, be sure to keep away from Oldham; or, if you should have -to come to town for any reason, don’t fail to leave your camera behind -you. Chief Hodgins is just wasting away with yearning for a chance to -get even with you; and you can rest assured that if they catch you -violating the law, it won’t be merely a hundred-dollar fine in your -case--it will be a hundred-dollar fine and six months’ imprisonment.” - -“That would be pleasant,” said the Camera Chap, with a laugh. “Much -obliged for tipping me off, old man. I shall certainly make it a point -to be careful. Any more news?” - -“Nothing worth mentioning. I told you the other day that your old friend -Gale, of the _Daily News_, was in town, helping his old man run the -_Chronicle_, didn’t I?” - -“Yes. What’s he doing? Up to any of his old tricks?” - -“I haven’t been able to get wind of any, but I guess he’s planning some -mischief, all right,” replied Carroll, with a laugh. “I met him on the -street yesterday, and he was so effusive that my suspicions were at once -aroused. He shook me by the hand as though he had always loved me like a -brother; said he hoped that I’d let bygones be bygones and that we’d be -good friends--that there was no reason why fellows should be enemies -just because they were running rival papers. You know the smooth line of -talk that faker can hand out.” - -The Camera Chap laughed. “Yes; and, as you say, he’s generally planning -some mischief when he lays it on as thick as that. Better keep a sharp -lookout, Fred.” - -“You can bet I’m going to,” Carroll assured him. “By the way, he spoke -about you. Asked me whether I’d seen you lately. And he called you ‘good -old Hawley.’” - -“Ye gods!” the Camera Chap exclaimed. “He must be planning my -assassination at the very least.” - -After that telephone conversation Hawley sat for some time on the porch -of his host’s bungalow, and his gaze was concentrated wistfully on the -steep mountain road which led straight to the town of Oldham. - -“Six months in prison for a snapshot!” he mused. “What an adventure! -That would, indeed, be a risk worth running! A fellow who could get away -with a stunt of that sort would have done something really worth while. -And Carroll said that they passed that ordinance especially for my -benefit. It would almost be cowardly to refuse the challenge.” - -A messenger boy on a bicycle rode up to the house and interrupted his -musings at this point. - -“Say, mister, is there anybody here named Hawley?” the youngster -inquired. - -“There certainly is, son,” the Camera Chap replied. “What have you got? -A telegram, eh? Hand it over.” - -As he perused the contents of the yellow envelope, he muttered an -exclamation of mingled joy and astonishment. The telegram was from -Paxton, managing editor of the New York _Sentinel_, and was worded as -follows: - - “Will you run over to Oldham immediately on receipt of this and - photograph city hall, exterior view? Rush print to office. Sorry - interrupt vacation, but picture badly needed. - - PAXTON.” - -“Now, what in the name of all that’s wonderful can he want with a -picture of Oldham’s city hall?” thought the Camera Chap. “It’s certainly -a mighty queer assignment. However, it makes no difference, of course, -what they want it for. The fact that they do want it is good enough for -me. This telegram has arrived just at the psychological moment. I was -hunting for an excuse to go to Oldham, and here’s a good one.” - - -TO BE CONTINUED. - - - - -WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS FOR A FISH STORY? - - -Last spring, while a party of tourists were fishing up North, a -well-known lawyer lost his gold watch from the boat in which he was -sitting. - -Last week he made another visit to the lakes, and during the first day’s -sport caught an eight-pound trout. His astonishment can be imagined when -he found his watch lodged in the throat of the trout. - -The watch was running and the time correct. It being a “stem-winder,” -the supposition is that in masticating his food the fish wound up the -watch daily. - - - - -TREATMENT OF CHILDREN. - - -An absent-minded doctor was called in to see a child two years old -suffering from convulsions. After a careful diagnosis, he prescribed as -follows: - -“Nervous excitement. Avoid all violent emotions; abstain from wines and -spirits; avoid excess at table and other indulgences; travel a good -deal; go frequently to the theater. Beware of reading a certain class of -novels.” - - - - -SMALLEST RACE OF PEOPLE. - - -The inhabitants of the Andaman Islands are the smallest race of people -in the world taken as a whole. The average height of a full-grown -Andaman is three feet, eleven inches, and the average weight less than -seventy pounds. They are very warlike, and, as they throw poisoned -spears with marvelous accuracy, it is not at all strange that travelers -do not care to encounter them. - - - - -HER FATHER HAD NO OBJECTION. - - -“How does your father seem to regard my coming here?” anxiously asked -Adolphus of little Bobby, while Maud was upstairs, getting ready to -present herself. - -“I guess he don’t care nothin’ about it,” replied Bobby carelessly. - -“So he has no objection, eh? But what did he say, my little man?” - -“He said if Maud was a mind to make a fool of herself, why, let her.” - - - - -THE RUSE WORKED. - - -“Bobby is attending to his pianoforte lessons very faithfully of late,” -said the youth’s uncle. - -“Yes,” replied his mother. “I don’t have any trouble with him about that -now.” - -“How did you manage it?” - -“Some of the neighbors complained of the noise his exercises made, and I -told him about it. Now he thinks it’s fun to practice.” - - - - -A HORSE STORY. - - -“Mamma”--sorrel colt gazes anxiously to his dam--“the chestnut filly -wants me to run away with her the next time we go driving together.” - -He looked down shyly. - -“What shall I say?” - -The mare bridled up. - -“Turn to her, my son, and whisper gently: ‘Neigh, neigh, Pauline!’” - -And with a horse laugh they resumed the discussion of their table d’oat. - - - - -BOBBY’S BAD BOX. - - -Mrs. Suburb--“Bobby, I wish you would weed this flower bed.” - -Bobby--whimpering--“If I sit out here in the hot sun, a-pullin’ weeds, -I’ll get all sunburned, and my skin will be so sore I can’t sleep.” - -Mrs. Suburb--“That’s easily remedied. After you get through with the -flower beds you may pull all the plantain weeds out of the lawn and -bring them to me. Plantain leaves are good for sunburn.” - - - - -SHOWING HIS WISDOM. - - -Housekeeper--“I wish to get some borax.” - -New Boy--“Powdered?” - -“I hardly know. I saw in a paper that roaches could be killed with -borax.” - -“Guess you’d better take the other kind, ma’am. It’s ’most as hard as -rocks. Have you a little boy?” - -“Y-e-s?” - -“Well, if I was you, I’d let him do the throwing.” - - - - -BETTER THAN ALARM CLOCKS. - - -Bright Boy--“You don’t have to wake up the girl any more do you?” - -Mother--“No, for a wonder; she has awakened herself every morning for a -week.” - -“I thought she would.” - -“Why so?” - -“All the flies I caught in that fly trap I took upstairs and let out in -her room.” - - - - -THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS. - - -Turtle Snaps on Girl’s Toe. - -Miss Mae Leser, of Gratz, Pa., an eighteen-year-old girl, knows how it -feels to haul a large snapping turtle out of the water with her large -toe. With some other girls, Miss Leser was September Morn-ing in the -silent stream that gambols through the outskirts of Gratz. She gave a -scream when the snapper seized her toe, and the girls who were with her -say she went down into the water before they were able to get to the -rescue. - -When the turtle was hauled out on dry land, and had sized up the -situation, he let loose and hastened back to the water. Miss Leser’s toe -is badly bruised. - - -Baby Takes Thrilling Ride. - -After dashing down a steep hillside fifty yards in a gocart, which -overturned twice, and plunging from a six-foot retaining wall, George -Bukalic, aged two, son of Rudolph Bukalic, a Hungarian, of 2003 East -Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., still strapped in the gocart, landed in front -of a trolley car in East Street. The car was stopped in time to avoid -running over the cart, and the baby crawled out from under the wrecked -cart unhurt, except for two slight bruises on the head. - - -With Three Original Members. - -With three survivors, the Hazleton Liberty Band, of Hazleton, Pa., which -was Grant’s headquarters band the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox, -paraded on its fiftieth anniversary of the return home from the Civil -War. - - -Germans Interned at Norfolk Enjoy Life. - -The crews of the German auxiliary cruisers _Eitel Friedrich_ and the -_Kronprinz Wilhelm_, interned at Norfolk, Va., are enjoying life to its -fullest. Besides numerous entertainments accorded to officers and crews, -the men are living a life of luxurious idleness. Their chief vocation at -this time is pleasure--pleasure day and night. - -They spend most of their time in Norfolk in the early hours of the day. -In the afternoon they go to Virginia Beach, Ocean View, and other -near-by resorts. They smoke good cigars, eat the best, and appear to -have plenty of money. Barring a few cases of beri-beri on the -_Kronprinz_, they are a healthy lot. - -The men have been taken into the homes of a number of citizens and -entertained, and special services have been held for them in Protestant -churches. They are made to feel at home. - -They appear on the streets in white uniforms with blue stripes and white -hats. They are as neat as new pins and their conduct is perfect. They -roam the streets arm in arm with American bluejackets, and visit the -best theaters and other public resorts. - -They are beginning to love the great American game. Several hundred of -them attended a baseball game in Portsmouth and rose up and cheered a -player who drove the ball over the fence for a home run. Whether they -understand the game or just followed the Americans who stood up and -cheered, no one but themselves knew. But there is a movement on foot to -organize two baseball teams out of the crews--one on the _Eitel_ and -another on the _Kronprinz_--and some of the men are practicing daily. -They have spent over two hundred dollars for equipment. A short member -of the crew, whom the American sailors call “Buelow,” drove a ball over -the sea wall in a practice game. - - -Rescue Little Fishes for Food of Future. - -A regular life-saving service for fish is the latest conservation kink. -In Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois the State fish commission, with the -coöperation of the United States government, operate fish-saving -expeditions for the benefit of the land-locked fish left in small ponds -along the course of the Mississippi River. - -In the springtime the river rises and spreads out over the country, -filling numerous small channels and hollows. In August the water begins -to recede. The large fish note the warning and escape, but the little -fish remain until the dried-up channel has cut off their means of -escape. Ultimately these small ponds and channels dry up completely and -billions of fish have been lost annually in this way. - -The fish-saving service consists of parties of men who wade out into -these inland ponds, take up the fish in nets, and restore them to the -main body of the river. The fish rescued are about finger length, and -from twenty to forty large tubs of them have been taken in a single day -from a pond not more than half an acre in area. Billions of black bass, -perch, sunfish, and other edible species are in this way added to the -nation’s food resources. - - -“Bedtick Banks” Are Failures. - -“Bedtick banks” have proved a failure to some persons of Uniontown, Pa. -Robbers continue to make successful raids on savings deposited in ticks. -Fifteen hundred dollars was obtained from beneath a mattress in the home -of John Morgan, at Lambert, and six hundred dollars was secured from a -similar hiding place in the home of John Holly, at Continental. - -Since the failure of the First National Bank, depositors have withdrawn -their savings from solvent banks and concealed the sums about their -homes. Nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is said to have -been drawn from banks in that section. Since it has become known that -parties are acting as their own bankers, burglarious gents have -evidently flocked to the region. - - -Shoots Two; Kills Himself. - -Harvey O. Dysinger, aged forty, a rich Hardin County farmer, shot and -fatally injured his wife, killed his daughter, Esther, aged fifteen, and -wounded his son, Herbert, aged sixteen, and committed suicide at his -home one mile north of Forest, Ohio. The only member of the family to -escape unscathed was the youngest child, Kenneth, aged eleven, who was -rescued by Herbert. The latter is not seriously hurt. - -Herbert was awakened at four-thirty in the morning by several shots, and -was just climbing out of bed to investigate when Dysinger entered his -room and fired at him. The bullet wounded him in the head. Dysinger was -also armed with a hatchet. - -Herbert, stunned and bleeding, grappled with his father, and the two -wrestled about the room. Finally the boy disarmed the crazed man, and, -grabbing the gun and hatchet, ran downstairs, where he pulled his -younger brother, Kenneth, from bed. - -While he was gone, Dysinger obtained a revolver, and, lying down on the -bed beside his wife, shot himself through the heart. He is thought to -have become insane. - - -Noted Mission Worker Dies. - -Walter B. Moorcroft, of Paterson, N. J., for twenty years a prominent -mission worker among drunkards and fallen women, died following a stroke -of apoplexy. - -Twenty years ago Moorcroft owned a resort known as “The Hole in the -Wall” in New York. He dropped into the John Street Mission one night, -and what he heard caused him to close the place at ten o’clock. - - -Railroad to Bar Liquor. - -Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad officials have announced that every train on -the entire system will be prohibited from selling liquors. - - -The Only Way. - -“What a lively baby!” said Brannigan. “Have ye had his picture took -yet?” - -“Not yet,” said his proud father. “I’ve tried to, but afther an hour’s -lost labor the photographer advised us to go to a movin’-picture -studio!” - - -Crosses Ocean for “Story.” - -Eliezer Ben Jehuda, editor of the _Haor_, a newspaper published in -Jerusalem, has arrived in New York from Patras. Ship-news reporters who -welcomed him at the pier were beset by mingled emotions when they -learned that the _Haor_ has four editions a year and no extras. - -The _Haor_ means in English, “_The Light_.” Mr. Jehuda has come to New -York on a rush assignment, and he was gravely concerned lest he would -not get his story in for the October edition. - -It was learned there are no vacancies on the editorial, reportorial, or -business staff of the _Haor_. - - -He Poisons Milk to Get One Dollar. - -John Kelly, eleven years old, admitted in the Brooklyn children’s court, -Brooklyn, N. Y., that he had put a quantity of lye in a bottle of milk -for the use of his eighty-one-year-old grandmother, with whom he lived. -“I only wanted to make her sick so she would have to go to bed,” he -explained. “That would give me a chance to go through the house and get -hold of some money. I needed a dollar awful bad.” - -The boy’s parents died when he was an infant, and his grandmother reared -him. - - -Cyclone Plays Odd Pranks. - -A cyclone played queer pranks and did much damage in Dowagiac, Mich. A -water tank at the stove works was blown from its sixty-foot pedestal and -crashed through a near-by factory building. A barn south of the city was -carried several feet away and upturned, leaving two horses standing in -their stalls unhurt. A new cottage was demolished at Indian Lake. The -roof and upper story of a farmhouse was blown off. Trees were uprooted -and cottages damaged at several summer resorts. - - -Woman Finds Way to Lift Bucket in Well. - -The problem of securing a water supply for household uses has been -solved in a novel and up-to-date way by a homesteader woman living near -Fairview, Mont. There is a well on the place. Like most wells in that -section it is a deep one, being one hundred and seventy-five feet down. -The family has no windmill nor even a pump, but draws its water in the -old oaken bucket on a pulley way. In this case the bucket that hangs in -the well is a ten-gallon keg. - -When the husband is at home, he is able to operate the keg by hand, but -his business keeps him in town most of the time, and the large share of -the water hauling devolves upon the wife. She is unable to lift the keg. -She has a twenty-horse-power automobile, however, and this serves the -purpose. When in need of water, she lowers the keg, attaches the well -rope to the roadster, throws in the clutch, and up comes her water -supply while she stands idly by. - - -Burglars Steal Two Fleas. - -They were curious burglars who broke into the home of Herbert Randall, -an artist and curio collector of Hartford, Conn. Passing over a quantity -of silver, they chose their loot from the curios. - -Included in the booty they got were two very special fleas, and the only -ones in the house. The fleas were dressed in red uniforms to represent -soldiers. Mr. Randall bought them from an old lady in Seattle, who made -a living dressing fleas in martial array. They reposed in little boxes -against a background of white cotton, and were usually observed through -a microscope. Mr. Randall has one of the largest and best curio -collections in the State. - - -New Corn Picker Invented. - -The farmers in the great corn belt of the United States are realizing -more and more that the longest and hardest and most expensive job on the -farm these days of modern machinery is husking corn by hand, and, with -this idea in view, an Illinois inventor has lately perfected a corn -picker, which will do away with the husking by hand. - -This machine does not husk the corn clean, because that is not -necessary, but simply puts it in the wagon the easiest and cheapest way -possible, and thereby does away with the big, heavy, and costly corn -husker. - -This inventor’s corn picker is said to resemble the corn binder in -construction and is no heavier or more costly, and is expected to -revolutionize the corn-picking industry, and will be greatly appreciated -by cattle feeders who fatten their cattle on corn and by the corn -farmers in general. - - -Kansas Alfalfa for Army. - -A contract has been made by Major General Aleshire, of the -quartermaster’s department of the United States army with a commission -company of Kansas City, Mo., for the purchase of three thousand tons of -alfalfa to go to the army post at Empire, Panama Canal Zone. The alfalfa -will be delivered at Colon between June 30, 1915, and August 1, 1916. -The contract price is not quite twenty-five dollars a ton. - -This deal will be good news to farmers, for it will go far to show that -alfalfa has gone to the head as prime hay for all purposes in all parts -of the world. Our farmers can cut from four to six tons from every acre -of ordinarily good farming land, and this without plowing, harrowing, -furnishing seed, or paying out money for threshing or fertilizer. - - -Indian Gets Third Burial. - -A strange burial attended by old residents of Wyandotte County took -place at the Indian burial ground on the General Miller Farm in Delaware -Township, near the Leavenworth County line, in Missouri. For the third -time the body of Captain Ne Con He Con, a chief of the Delaware tribe of -Indians, was laid to rest. - -The Indian chief died in 1863 and was buried according to tribal customs -in a grave containing many desirable relics, and a blanket, a silk sash, -and gold braid were scattered over the ground. - -In 1883 the grave was robbed by relic hunters and again the body of the -chief was buried, and the decorations scattered on top the ground. The -third burial was Wednesday. H. F. Heisler, of the Kansas side, Wyandotte -County’s oldest citizen, officiated. The burial was solemnized for the -purpose of maintaining respect for the burial place of the Delawares. - - -Lightning Kills Two Boys. - -Tom Patton, eighteen, and Clyde Ellis, seventeen, were struck and -instantly killed by lightning near Norman, Okla. The boys were running -to a shed to escape a storm. - - -Interesting New Inventions. - -A new burglar alarm designed for outbuildings fires a blank cartridge -when an intruder touches a wire, which can be laid in almost any desired -direction. - -To make a baby enjoy his bath, a cork doll that bobs around on the water -while he splashes has been invented by a New Jersey woman. - -To prevent an automobile spattering mud upon pedestrians, there has been -invented a flexible metal ring to be attached close to a tire. - -Among the space-saving household novelties is a folding washtub, which -may be fastened against collapsing when filled with water. - -In an electric gun invented in England, which seems to be successful, a -projectile is hurled through a tube by the action of electric magnets on -the outside. - -For military purposes a United States army officer has designed an -automobile that will carry fourteen men, with full equipment and three -days’ rations, eight hundred miles on one filling of its fuel tanks. - -Electric-light signals, powerful enough to be seen in the daytime, are -being adopted by several electric railroads in preference to semaphores, -as they save the expense of motor-driven mechanism. - - -Proud of His Ambitious Hen. - -John F. Williamson, of Dalton, Ga., has a hen he wouldn’t swap even for -any hen in the State of Georgia, for she has established a record of -which any hen might be proud. Not satisfied with hatching fifteen -thoroughbred Rhode Island Reds out of fifteen eggs, this fowl, who is a -Plymouth Rock, decided to try the merits of her own particular breed, -and laid eight eggs, while hatching her brood. Mr. Williamson does not -state whether the Plymouth Rock eggs hatched or not, but says the -mystical number “twenty-three” may have prevented the hen from carrying -out her purpose. - - -Man Pays Uncle Sam Twenty Cents. - -The secretary of war has received from Chicago a letter inclosing twenty -cents in stamps, with the statement that the sum is inclosed “for bacon -and eggs.” Mr. Garrison could not recall the transaction, so he turned -the letter over to the treasury department, where the twenty cents was -added to the “conscience fund.” - -It is supposed that a retired soldier ate more than the law allowed, and -that he now compensates the government for his meal. - -The conscience fund, which in reality has a separate existence only on -paper, has been growing since President Madison’s administration, and -the total now is nearly $500,000. - - -Old King of ’Gators is Dead. - -The king alligator of Georgia has been killed at Hutchinson’s pond at -Adel by M. L. Crowley, after the beast had eluded hunters, for -twenty-two years. The alligator measured ten feet four inches and had -thirty-seven notches on its tail, which shows that it was thirty-seven -years old. - -Many have been the attempts to kill the sly old creature, but always, -until now, it has escaped the bullets aimed at it and has scuttled -safely back to its cave. It was the ’gator’s appetite for hogs that -proved its undoing. - -Mr. Crowley, who for twenty-two years has been hunting this beast, tied -the leg of a porker to a tree near Hutchinson’s pond, and hid himself. -The wary old ’gator slid out of the water, through a clump of bushes, -and was just reaching for the bait when Mr. Crowley fired. The bullet -took the beast in a vital spot and killed it instantly. - - -Dies from Woodtick Bite. - -Doctor M. S. McCrillis, a pioneer dentist, of Douglas, Wyo., is dead of -spotted fever, caused by the bite of a woodtick. This is the seventh -death from spotted fever, or woodtick fever, that has occurred in -Wyoming this year. - -Owing to the cold, wet spring woodticks are more numerous and especially -more poisonous than for many years. Hundreds of persons throughout the -State have been or are now ill from the effects of woodtick bites. - - -Robbers Hold Up Fifteen Hobos. - -Two masked men, armed with a revolver and an electric flash light, held -up and robbed fifteen hobos while they were sleeping in a box car in -Wichita, Kan. The robbers got seventy cents and a plug of tobacco from -the fifteen. - -When the hobos were ordered to throw up their hands, one refused, and, -for his obstinacy, was shot. He died in a hospital. He gave his name as -Ben Rider, of Chicago. When the police arrived, the holdup men were -searching other box cars in the railroad yards. - - -Nothing but Water in This Unique Township. - -Hyde County, near Kinston, N. C., has the most unique township in the -United States. It is “Lake Township,” with barely a square inch of dry -land in it and not a single resident. - -The biggest drainage undertaking in the history of the south Atlantic -States will next winter reclaim the bottom of Mattamuskeet Lake, one of -the two largest fresh-water bodies in the south Atlantic group. Gigantic -pumps will drive the water from the lake at the rate of a million -gallons a minute. - -Mattamuskeet Lake is eighteen miles long and seven miles wide, but at -its deepest point is not more than three and one-half feet in depth. The -land of the entire county is of a peaty nature, and this basin was -burned out by a fire before the coming of the white men. Now, even, such -fires sometimes have to be checked by the people. - -Dare County adjoining Hyde, has the largest area of salt water within -its boundaries of any county in the United States; Hyde has the largest -area of fresh water. The other large lake of the south Atlantic group is -Alligator Lake, only a few miles from Mattamuskeet. - -The sixteen pumps to be used in this reclamation work have -one-hundred-and-eight-inch suctions and seventy-two-inch discharges. - -To show the productiveness of this land to be recovered, never yet under -the plow, a small plot adjacent to its shores is now sown in twenty-two -hundred varieties of grain and vegetables, flowers, fruits, and nuts. -Lake Township will be opened to settlement in 1916. - - -Munich Driven to Lemonade. - -Munich, the greatest beer-drinking center of Germany, has been compelled -sharply to curtail the consumption of beer. The amount of beer now -available for public use is only one-third of the ordinary supply. - -A number of the famous beer gardens are now closing at seven o’clock in -the evening, owing to the shortage of beer. Some of these places are -encouraging their guests to call for lemonade as a substitute for beer. - - -Billposters Bar Liquor Ads. - -No advertisements of intoxicating liquors will be placed on the -billboards of the Associated Billposters and Distributors of the United -States and Canada after the close of this year, according to Donald -Ross, president of the association. - -Mr. Ross was a witness for the association, dissolution of which is -being sought by the government on the ground that it is a trust in -violation of the Sherman act. The Billposters and Distributors’ -Protective Company is the oldest and largest of the official licensed -solicitors of the alleged trust. - -“At the last meeting of the poster association,” Mr. Ross said, “the -board of directors voted to prohibit all advertisements of intoxicating -liquors.” - - -Ex-mayor, Once Rich, Begs Dime and Dies. - -Frank A. McGowan, former mayor of Trenton, N. J., died in a hospital in -Hoboken, to which he had been taken after begging a dime from a -policeman. He was reputed to have had at one time a fortune of more than -three million dollars. Cerebral hemorrhage was given as the cause of -death. - - -Shows Curious Potato Vine. - -A potato vine that is bearing potatos on the vine above ground as well -as below it, is the latest thing in freak vines in Bethany, Mo. The -queer vine has been exhibited by Johnson Hogan, of this place, who -found it only recently in his potato patch. At each joint of the vine -there is a well-formed potato, and there was also an unusually large -number of potatos attached to the roots. - - -Metal from ’62 Taken Out of Hand. - -Doctor D. R. Peters, of Mount Sterling, Ill., has removed from one of -the fingers on one hand of J. P. Amonett a small piece of metal that he -had received in the battle of Shiloh in the Civil War in 1862. The metal -has been troubling Amonett lately, and he decided to have it removed. He -said it seemed several times larger than it was. - - -Sleeps One Year and Expires. - -After sleeping almost continuously for one year, Henry Mankey, a trooper -during the Civil War, died in Columbus, Ohio. Physicians say the case is -without parallel in medical annals. Mankey was seventy-four years old. -The long sleep was held to be due to an injury. - - -Champion Woman Swimmer. - -Miss Constance Meyer, champion woman swimmer of Portland, Ore., and one -of the best on the Pacific coast, knew nothing about swimming three -years ago. One day she attempted to cross a stream on horseback. The -horse was unable to carry her across and she slipped into the water and -held to his tail. Fortunately, he got to the shore with her, but Miss -Meyer made up her mind that she must learn to swim. She began at the -Portland Y. W. C. A., and soon became so proficient that she entered -outdoor contests. When the national-championship contests at the San -Francisco Exposition were announced recently, Miss Meyer was sent from -Portland. - -“Learn to swim,” is her advice to every girl. “It is good for your -health and may get you out of danger some time.” - - -Toadstools Kill Two. - -Carlo Muzzareller and Dominic Mulano are dead, and ten other persons are -seriously ill in West Franklin, Ill., as the result of including -toadstools in a picnic luncheon. Little hope is held out for the -recovery of the sick. - - -Many Ill from Rabbit Meat. - -As a result of eating rabbits that had eaten loco weed, several score -persons in Kenna, N. M., and the surrounding farming community were -severely ill. Physicians were at a loss to account for the epidemic till -they learned that every person who was ill had recently eaten rabbit -meat. Rabbits and loco weed are extraordinarily plentiful this year, and -hunters say that thousands of rabbits are locoed. - - -Fifty Thousand Dollars for Each Foot Lost. - -Miss Daisy B. James, who had been a dancer at the Winter Garden in New -York, values each of her lost feet at fifty thousand dollars. - -She filed an action in the New Jersey Supreme Court, in Newark, N. J., -for one hundred thousand dollars against the Lackawanna Railroad. Miss -James was in such haste to board a train in East Orange on June 10th -last that she ran under the closed gates. As the train drew into the -station, the air suction caught her wide taffeta skirts and sucked her -under the cars. Both legs were cut off. - - -Trapping Arizona Monkeys. - -Trapping monkeys is the latest industry to spring into prominence in -Arizona. Several citizens of Parker, Ariz., have formed the Colorado -River Monkey Company, with the intention of trapping and marketing a -colony of several hundred monkeys known to exist in Cunningham Pass, an -almost inaccessible cañon located northeast of this place. - -There was a big gold excitement at the Pass in 1882. Among those who -rushed in was an Italian organ grinder with a pair of monkeys. The -monkeys escaped and have been multiplying ever since, in spite of the -depredations of coyotes and other predatory animals. - - -Never Again for Johnny. - -Johnny Williams, ten-year-old son of John N. Williams, of Big Laurel, -Va., declares that he will never swing on another grapevine until he has -carefully examined both ends. - -A few days ago Johnny was out in the woods with some other boys and they -found a grapevine, which, by cutting it off near the ground, would make -a swing that they could take hold of and swing far out over a deep -ravine. - -Johnny was the most fearless in the bunch, so he grabbed onto the vine -as soon as it was cut loose and swung out over the hollow. The other end -of the vine had not taken hold of the limbs of the tree sufficiently to -hold his weight, and he fell, taking the vine with him. He would have -been dashed to death against the rocks below if he had not landed in the -top of a beech tree. He caught onto a limb and held there until he could -get a better balance, but the worst part was still to come, for the -beech was a very tall one and there was no limbs for sixty feet above -the ground. So there the boy had to sit for five long hours until men -came with ladders and brought him down. - - -Pigeons Break World’s Record. - -Claim of a new world’s record for flight by homing pigeons was made by -the Fort Worth Pigeon Fanciers’ Association. Four birds liberated at New -Orleans, covered the 579 miles to Fort Worth in fourteen hours, -maintaining an average of forty-one miles an hour. - - -Large Mound on Man’s Head. - -Contractor Charles S. Wilcox’s thick “two-story” fedora saved him from -instant death when a carpenter on the fifth floor of a new building, in -Lansing, Mich., dropped a hammer on his head. Wilcox was on the first -floor. The blow made him imitate a merry-go-round, but he finally got -control and kept his balance. At present he is wearing a big mound -beneath his life-saving hat. - - -Can’t Catch Weasel Asleep. - -U. S. Liphart, a farmer near Windsor, Pa., will receive bounty for -trapping a weasel in his trousers. He has forwarded the head of the -animal to the commissioner’s office, together with an affidavit made -before Justice D. A. Heindel. - -Liphart was plowing when he noticed the weasel chasing a chipmunk. He -went to the rescue, and the weasel turned on him and made a dart for his -pantaloon leg, ascending rapidly. When it got as far as the knee, -Liphart seized it and choked the life out of it. - - -Breaks Dentistry Records. - -Mrs. James Seever, of Atchison, Kan., had twenty-five of her teeth -pulled by a dentist, and did not take an anæsthetic. She did not become -nervous or hysterical during the ordeal, and went home unassisted. - - -Vest Will Urge Big Navy. - -The Navy League will send over the country to lecture in behalf of a -greater navy Alexander S. Vest, son of former Senator George Graham -Vest, Missouri, the last surviving member of the Congress of the -Confederate States of America and an intimate friend of Jefferson Davis. - - -Feeding the Two-headed Calf. - -Fed through rubber tubing, the two-headed calf at the country home of -Tom van Swearington, in Shenandoah, Iowa, has been kept alive since its -birth, a fortnight ago, and has strength enough to almost stand alone -now. The freak of nature has attracted a great deal of attention. - - -Animal Horns and Antlers. - -A record of the conditions of the deer, moose, and elk in the zoölogical -park of New York City proves that their formidable-looking horns and -antlers, which are newly acquired each year, are grown within four -months. The old horns are dropped in the spring. The largest elk in the -zoo lost both his antlers last year nine hours apart, on March 21st. By -June 21st, the full-length antler had grown, although it was still soft -or “in the velvet.” - -The dropping of the horn leaves a small circle of skull exposed. Within -a week this is covered with brown skin. Then a round knob appears, -resembling a tomato except in color. It soon begins to lengthen out into -the horns which are to come, the growth sometimes amounting to nearly an -inch in a day. When soft and growing, the horns are full of blood. After -they have reached their full length, they begin to harden. By October -the velvet has been worn off by rubbing against tree trunks and the -horns are hard and smooth. - - -Tragic Dream Comes True. - -Fulfilled premonitions constitute no small part of the lore of the -mountains of southwest Virginia. The following story which was added to -this lore recently was related by an old lady, Mrs. Richard Mullins, of -Haddonfield, Va., whose word is to be relied upon. - -Two men by the name of Fleming, who were cutting timber for a lumber -concern, were boarding at Mrs. Mullin’s. Finally their work was almost -completed and the two men, whose first names were Clinton and Walter, -saw that they could finish the work in another day. - -The following night Mrs. Mullins dreamed that she saw a tree fall on -Walter, crushing him to a shapeless mass. She related the dream next -morning, but the men apparently gave it no consideration and walked to -their work with light hearts. They were working near the house, and -about one o’clock that afternoon Mrs. Mullins was startled by the -screams from Clinton, and she hurried to the place. There she found that -a tree had fallen on Walter and killed him instantly. - - -Shot Through Brain, Lives. - -With a bullet through his brain, physicians say Clay Brewster, aged -fourteen, of Hoisington, Kan., will live. Young Brewster was -accidentally shot in the left eye, three weeks ago, the shot passing -through the cerebrum of the brain and coming out at the top of the head. -The bullet was removed. He has regained consciousness and makes his -wants known by signs, being unable to talk. - - -Kills Rat with Blow of Fist. - -Thomas Dean, a Sunbury, Pa., man, was awakened from sleep by a pain in -his right hand. He found three of his fingers bleeding. Turning his head -on the pillow, he discovered a huge rat sitting on the pillow, and, Dean -said, “apparently grinning in fiendish delight at what he had done to -the hand.” - -With a crushing blow from his fist he struck the rat and sent it against -the side of the room. The rodent fell dead. Dean weighed it and found -its weight to be three pounds. - -As proof of the occurrence, Dean showed the rat’s body, unmarked, to his -friends. Doctors cauterized the wounds. - - -Three-ring Movies Latest Idea. - -“Three-ring movies” are the latest. Three film plays are shown at one -time on three screens. This is at the Grand Central Palace in New York. - -If you don’t care for the comedy on the screen to the left, you can look -at the romantic play in the center screen, or at the thriller on the -screen to the right. - -The chief advantage is that when you go in to see your favorite hero of -the movies, who is billed on the posters outside, or go in to see a -certain comedy, you aren’t compelled to sit waiting through a program of -pictures you don’t care about particularly. It is an arrangement for -busy folk who drop into a movie theater at the noon hour. - - -Wed Editor to Muzzle Her. - -Miss Sadie Velle Fenton, of Denver, Col., Vassar graduate and the -youngest woman editor in the United States, says that she has had to -refuse numerous matrimonial offers from men who proposed mainly for the -reason that they desired to control the editorial policy of her paper, -the Logansport _Times_, published in the Indiana town of that name, and -having the reputation of being the oldest local prohibition paper in -America. - -“I’ve had lots of proposals since I’ve been editing the paper,” said -Miss Fenton, “but they have been from men who wanted to marry me because -they would like to edit the paper. Several of these were from men who -did not believe in my views on prohibition and suffrage, and evidently -thought the quickest way to correct them would be to marry me.” - - -Two-story House Disappears. - -Without warning, a two-story house, occupied by Andrew Lappi and his -family on the site of the Colby mine, near Bessemer, Mich., suddenly -sank into the earth and dropped the depth of the shaft. The family was -away at the time, and, on returning, failed to find their house. A large -stretch of country has been undermined in this vicinity, and several -families are moving to other localities. - - -Costs Extra Cent for Show. - -As soon as proper arrangements are made by the board of control of -Montreal, Canada, for collecting the tax, every patron of a place of -amusement will be obliged to add one cent to the cost of his theater -ticket. The city council gave third reading of the necessary bylaw, -based on the authority secured at the last session of the legislature. - -“The words ‘place of amusement’ shall mean and include theater, a -moving-picture hall, an amusement hall, concert hall, circus, -playground, race course, skating rink, and any other place in the city -where any exhibition or entertainment whatsoever is given and an -entrance fee collected,” explains the ordinance. - -The tax is imposed on each person admitted into any place of amusement, -even if such person is admitted with a complimentary card or ticket. - - -How Much Silver is Wasted. - -A greater amount of pure silver is used each year in this country in -photography and photo-engraving than for any other purpose except the -coinage of the United States. By the methods in general use only about -ten per cent of the silver consumed in these industries is actually -utilized. The remainder is simply wasted in the solutions which are -thrown daily into the sinks to go out through the drain pipes. - -Several schemes for conserving this waste are now being considered. One -consists in saving the solutions in jars and barrels to be refined or -evaporated to regain the silver. Another method, which is really quite -practical, is to utilize the silver wasted in the fixing bath for silver -plating. - -The process is so simple that it can readily be carried on even by an -amateur. The liquid is strained or filtered and placed in a hard-rubber -box. An ordinary galvanic cell is attached by copper wires to a copper -plate in one end of the receptacle. The articles to be plated should be -well cleaned and placed in the solution opposite the copper plate. The -silver will begin to deposit immediately. Fifteen or twenty minutes will -suffice for a thorough plating. In most photographic establishments -enough silver solution is thrown away each day to plate a couple of -dozen spoons or forks. - - -Dog with Only Two Legs Left. - -Carmargo, in Dewey County, Okla., has dogs--big dogs, little dogs, and, -in fact, all kinds of dogs, but one in particular is somewhat of an -oddity. This is a dog that travels on two legs. - -Several months ago a dog belonging to Mr. Storey, section foreman, was -run over by a train and two of his legs cut off. For some time he was -unable to move around, but now has recovered so that he can navigate -quite handily. The two legs on which he is forced to walk are both on -one side. He not only walks, but can also run, and seems to be about as -well able to get around as a dog with four good legs. - - - - -The Nick Carter Stories - -ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS - - -When it comes to detective stories worth while, the =Nick Carter Stories= -contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn -tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest -minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar -all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in -twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of -time so well as those contained in the =Nick Carter Stories=. It proves -conclusively that they are the best. We give herewith a list of some of -the back numbers in print. You can have your news dealer order them, or -they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt -of the price in money or postage stamps. - -730--The Torn Card. - -731--Under Desperation’s Spur. - -732--The Connecting Link. - -733--The Abduction Syndicate. - -738--A Plot Within a Plot. - -739--The Dead Accomplice. - -746--The Secret Entrance. - -747--The Cavern Mystery. - -748--The Disappearing Fortune. - -749--A Voice from the Past. - -752--The Spider’s Web. - -753--The Man With a Crutch. - -754--The Rajah’s Regalia. - -755--Saved from Death. - -756--The Man Inside. - -757--Out for Vengeance. - -758--The Poisons of Exili. - -759--The Antique Vial. - -760--The House of Slumber. - -761--A Double Identity. - -762--“The Mocker’s” Stratagem. - -763--The Man that Came Back. - -764--The Tracks in the Snow. - -765--The Babbington Case. - -766--The Masters of Millions. - -767--The Blue Stain. - -768--The Lost Clew. - -770--The Turn of a Card. - -771--A Message in the Dust. - -772--A Royal Flush. - -774--The Great Buddha Beryl. - -775--The Vanishing Heiress. - -776--The Unfinished Letter. - -777--A Difficult Trail. - -782--A Woman’s Stratagem. - -783--The Cliff Castle Affair. - -784--A Prisoner of the Tomb. - -785--A Resourceful Foe. - -789--The Great Hotel Tragedies. - -795--Zanoni, the Transfigured. - -796--The Lure of Gold. - -797--The Man With a Chest. - -798--A Shadowed Life. - -799--The Secret Agent. - -800--A Plot for a Crown. - -801--The Red Button. - -802--Up Against It. - -803--The Gold Certificate. - -804--Jack Wise’s Hurry Call. - -805--Nick Carter’s Ocean Chase. - -807--Nick Carter’s Advertisement. - -808--The Kregoff Necklace. - -811--Nick Carter and the Nihilists. - -812--Nick Carter and the Convict Gang. - -813--Nick Carter and the Guilty Governor. - -814--The Triangled Coin. - -815--Ninety-nine--and One. - -816--Coin Number 77. - - - - -NEW SERIES - -NICK CARTER STORIES - - -1--The Man from Nowhere. - -2--The Face at the Window. - -3--A Fight for a Million. - -4--Nick Carter’s Land Office. - -5--Nick Carter and the Professor. - -6--Nick Carter as a Mill Hand. - -7--A Single Clew. - -8--The Emerald Snake. - -9--The Currie Outfit. - -10--Nick Carter and the Kidnaped Heiress. - -11--Nick Carter Strikes Oil. - -12--Nick Carter’s Hunt for a Treasure. - -13--A Mystery of the Highway. - -14--The Silent Passenger. - -15--Jack Dreen’s Secret. - -16--Nick Carter’s Pipe Line Case. - -17--Nick Carter and the Gold Thieves. - -18--Nick Carter’s Auto Chase. - -19--The Corrigan Inheritance. - -20--The Keen Eye of Denton. - -21--The Spider’s Parlor. - -22--Nick Carter’s Quick Guess. - -23--Nick Carter and the Murderess. - -24--Nick Carter and the Pay Car. - -25--The Stolen Antique. - -26--The Crook League. - -27--An English Cracksman. - -28--Nick Carter’s Still Hunt. - -29--Nick Carter’s Electric Shock. - -30--Nick Carter and the Stolen Duchess. - -31--The Purple Spot. - -32--The Stolen Groom. - -33--The Inverted Cross. - -34--Nick Carter and Keno McCall. - -35--Nick Carter’s Death Trap. - -36--Nick Carter’s Siamese Puzzle. - -37--The Man Outside. - -38--The Death Chamber. - -39--The Wind and the Wire. - -40--Nick Carter’s Three Cornered Chase. - -41--Dazaar, the Arch-Fiend. - -42--The Queen of the Seven. - -43--Crossed Wires. - -44--A Crimson Clew. - -45--The Third Man. - -46--The Sign of the Dagger. - -47--The Devil Worshipers. - -48--The Cross of Daggers. - -49--At Risk of Life. - -50--The Deeper Game. - -51--The Code Message. - -52--The Last of the Seven. - -53--Ten-Ichi, the Wonderful. - -54--The Secret Order of Associated Crooks. - -55--The Golden Hair Clew. - -56--Back From the Dead. - -57--Through Dark Ways. - -58--When Aces Were Trumps. - -59--The Gambler’s Last Hand. - -60--The Murder at Linden Fells. - -61--A Game for Millions. - -62--Under Cover. - -63--The Last Call. - -64--Mercedes Danton’s Double. - -65--The Millionaire’s Nemesis. - -66--A Princess of the Underworld. - -67--The Crook’s Blind. - -68--The Fatal Hour. - -69--Blood Money. - -70--A Queen of Her Kind. - -71--Isabel Benton’s Trump Card. - -72--A Princess of Hades. - -73--A Prince of Plotters. - -74--The Crook’s Double. - -75--For Life and Honor. - -76--A Compact With Dazaar. - -77--In the Shadow of Dazaar. - -78--The Crime of a Money King. - -79--Birds of Prey. - -80--The Unknown Dead. - -81--The Severed Hand. - -82--The Terrible Game of Millions. - -83--A Dead Man’s Power. - -84--The Secrets of an Old House. - -85--The Wolf Within. - -86--The Yellow Coupon. - -87--In the Toils. - -88--The Stolen Radium. - -89--A Crime in Paradise. - -90--Behind Prison Bars. - -91--The Blind Man’s Daughter. - -92--On the Brink of Ruin. - -93--Letter of Fire. - -94--The $100,000 Kiss. - -95--Outlaws of the Militia. - -96--The Opium-Runners. - -97--In Record Time. - -98--The Wag-Nuk Clew. - -99--The Middle Link. - -100--The Crystal Maze. - -101--A New Serpent in Eden. - -102--The Auburn Sensation. - -103--A Dying Chance. - -104--The Gargoni Girdle. - -105--Twice in Jeopardy. - -106--The Ghost Launch. - -107--Up in the Air. - -108--The Girl Prisoner. - -109--The Red Plague. - -110--The Arson Trust. - -111--The King of the Firebugs. - -112--“Lifter’s” of the Lofts. - -113--French Jimmie and His Forty Thieves. - -114--The Death Plot. - -115--The Evil Formula. - -116--The Blue Button. - -117--The Deadly Parallel. - -118--The Vivisectionists. - -119--The Stolen Brain. - -120--An Uncanny Revenge. - -121--The Call of Death. - -122--The Suicide. - -123--Half a Million Ransom. - -124--The Girl Kidnaper. - -125--The Pirate Yacht. - -126--The Crime of the White Hand. - -127--Found in the Jungle. - -128--Six Men in a Loop. - -129--The Jewels of Wat Chang. - -130--The Crime in the Tower. - -131--The Fatal Message. - -132--Broken Bars. - -133--Won by Magic. - -134--The Secret of Shangore. - -135--Straight to the Goal. - -136--The Man They Held Back. - -137--The Seal of Gijon. - -138--The Traitors of the Tropics. - -139--The Pressing Peril. - -140--The Melting-Pot. - -141--The Duplicate Night. - -142--The Edge of a Crime. - -143--The Sultan’s Pearls. - -144--The Clew of the White Collar. - -145--An Unsolved Mystery. - -146--Paying the Price. - -147--On Death’s Trail. - -148--The Mark of Cain. - -Dated July 17th, 1915. - -149--A Network of Crime. - -Dated July 24th, 1915. - -150--The House of Fear. - -Dated July 31st, 1915. - -151--The Mystery of the Crossed Needles. - -Dated August 7th, 1915. - -152--The Forced Crime. - -Dated August 14th, 1915. - -153--The Doom of Sang Tu. -Dated August 21st, 1915. - -154--The Mask of Death. - -Dated August 28th, 1915. - -155--The Gordon Elopement. - -Dated Sept. 4th, 1915. - -156--Blood Will Tell. - - PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. If you want any back numbers of our - weeklies and cannot procure them from your news dealer, they can be - obtained direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as - money. - - STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Ave., NEW YORK CITY - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO. 154, -AUGUST 21, 1915; THE MASK OF DEATH; OR, NICK CARTER’S CURIOUS -CASE. *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/68140-0.zip b/old/68140-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b50cd98..0000000 --- a/old/68140-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/68140-h.zip b/old/68140-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6849985..0000000 --- a/old/68140-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/68140-h/68140-h.htm b/old/68140-h/68140-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 00d5c25..0000000 --- a/old/68140-h/68140-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5237 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" -"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> - -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> - <head> <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> -<title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mask -of Death, by Nick Carter. -</title> -<style type="text/css"> - -a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - - link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - -a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} - -a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} - -.big {font-size: 170%;} - -.blk {page-break-before:always;page-break-after:always;} - -.cbig250 {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold; -font-size:250%;} - -body{margin-left:4%;margin-right:6%;background:#ffffff;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} - -.blockquot {margin-top:2%;margin-bottom:2%;} - -.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - -.cb {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} - -.fint {text-align:center;text-indent:0%; -margin-top:2em;} - - h1 {margin-top:5%;text-align:center;clear:both; -font-weight:normal;} - - h2 {margin-top:4%;margin-bottom:2%;text-align:center;clear:both; - font-size:100%;font-weight:normal;} - - h3 {margin:4% auto 2% auto;text-align:center;clear:both;} - - hr {width:90%;margin:2em auto 2em auto;clear:both;color:black;} - - hr.full {width: 60%;margin:2% auto 2% auto;border-top:1px solid black; -padding:.1em;border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left:none;border-right:none;} - - img {border:none;} - -.lftspc {margin-left:.25em;} - -.nind {text-indent:0%;} - - p {margin-top:.2em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.2em;text-indent:4%;} - -.pagenum {display:none;} - -.r {text-align:right;margin-right: 5%;} - -small {font-size: 70%;} - -.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-size:100%;} - -table {margin:2% auto;border:none;} - -</style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Nick Carter Stories No. 154, August 21, 1915; The Mask Of Death; or, Nick Carter’s Curious Case., by Nick Carter</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Nick Carter Stories No. 154, August 21, 1915; The Mask Of Death; or, Nick Carter’s Curious Case.</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Nick Carter</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Chickering Carter</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 21, 2022 [eBook #68140]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: David Edwards, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern Illinois University Digital Library)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NICK CARTER STORIES NO. 154, AUGUST 21, 1915; THE MASK OF DEATH; OR, NICK CARTER’S CURIOUS CASE. ***</div> -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="c"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="500" alt="[The -images of the book's cover is unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="cbig250"> -<img src="images/nickcarter.png" -width="500" -alt="NICK CARTER STORIES" /></p> - -<p class="c"><i>Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post -Office, by</i> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>, <i>79-89 Seventh Ave., New York</i>.</p> - -<p class="c"><i>Copyright, 1915, by</i> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>. <i>O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, -Proprietors.</i></p> - -<p class="c">Terms to NICK CARTER STORIES Mail Subscribers.</p> - -<p class="c">(<i>Postage Free.</i>)</p> - -<p class="c">Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.</p> - -<table cellpadding="0" summary="deprecated"> -<tr><td align="left">3 months</td><td align="left">65c.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">4 months</td><td align="left">85c.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">6 months</td><td align="left">$1.25</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">One year</td><td align="left">2.50</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">2 copies one year</td><td align="left">4.00</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left">1 copy two years</td><td align="left">4.00</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="c"><b>How to Send Money</b>—By post-office or express money order, registered -letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by -currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter.</p> - -<p class="c"><b>Receipts</b>—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change of -number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once.</p> - -<p class="c"> -No. 154. <span style="margin-left: 4em; -margin-right:4em;">August 21, 1915.</span> Price Five Cents.<br /> -</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="blk"> -<h1>THE MASK OF DEATH;<br /><small> -Or, NICK CARTER’S CURIOUS CASE.</small></h1> - -<p class="c">Edited by CHICKERING CARTER.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br /> -<small>A MYSTERIOUS ROBBERY.</small></h2> - -<p>“Nick Carter will solve the mystery. No crime is too deep for him. He’ll -ferret out the truth and run down the rascals. He will recover your lost -treasures, too, Mr. Strickland, one and all of them, take my word for -it. If there is one man on earth who can accomplish it, Nick Carter is -that one man. So pull yourself together, sir, and face this calamity man -fashion. Carter already is on his way here, and he soon will fathom this -outrageous and——”</p> - -<p>Nick Carter did not wait to hear more. He pushed open the door through -which he had heard the above remarks, observing that it was ajar, and he -entered without ceremony the apartments of the man to whom they had been -addressed.</p> - -<p>They denoted that he was on the threshold of an extraordinary case, one -shrouded in mystery and involving a great loss, and the scene within -seemed to warrant all that he had overheard.</p> - -<p>The entrance hall through which he had passed led into a beautifully -furnished parlor overlooking Fifth Avenue. It was one of the front rooms -of an apartment occupying the entire second floor of the spacious and -magnificent old Vanhausen mansion, turned to other than strictly private -residential uses since the encroachment of commercial interests upon -that part of the fashionable New York thoroughfare.</p> - -<p>A slender, strikingly pretty girl of eighteen sat weeping in one of the -richly upholstered armchairs. Her fair face was of an artless, winsome -type, evincing girlish innocence and that sweet and sensitive nature -which none can resist. A light complexion and glistening golden hair, -crowning a shapely and perfectly poised head, told plainly that she was -of German extraction.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p><p>One of her two companions was a man turned sixty. He was pacing to and -fro in a state of abject distress and violent agitation. His short, -corpulent figure was shaking as if his every nerve had become a -writhing, red-hot wire in his palpitating flesh. His round, florid face -was streaming with perspiration. His hair, a tawny mop on a large, -intellectual head, was in indescribable disorder. He was wringing his -hands and moaning as if his heart was broken.</p> - -<p>The only other person present when Nick entered with his chief -assistant, Chick Carter, was a tall, clean-cut man in the twenties, one -Arthur Gordon, a successful broker and popular society man with whom -Nick was well acquainted, and to whose urgent telephone request he then -was responding.</p> - -<p>“Ah, here is Mr. Carter now,” he exclaimed, when the two detectives -entered. “Thank goodness, Nick, you could come immediately. We’re up -against it good and hard, a terrible robbery.”</p> - -<p>“H’m, is that so?”</p> - -<p>“You know Mr. Rudolph Strickland by name and reputation, I’m sure. This -is his niece, Wilhelmina Strickland, from Boston. Now, do, Mr. -Strickland, compose yourself, that Mr. Carter may lose no time in -sifting this matter to the bottom.”</p> - -<p>There was, indeed, as Gordon had implied, little need of an introduction -to Mr. Rudolph Strickland. His name was a familiar one in the best -circles of New York society. He numbered among his friends and -acquaintances nearly all of the distinguished artists, musicians, and -literary people of any note, who were frequent visitors to his spacious -apartments to admire his superb collection of art treasures, or hear his -master hand manipulate his famous Stradivarius violin.</p> - -<p>He was in no sense a society man, nevertheless, being a somewhat -reserved and eccentric German, with a passion for music, literature, and -art, treasures of which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> he had collected from all parts of Europe, -where he was a recognized connoisseur, critic, and man of letters.</p> - -<p>Age had begun to undermine his health, however, and for nearly five -years he had occupied his present quarters on the second floor of the -old Vanhausen mansion, richly furnished and containing most of the fine -collection upon which he had expended a considerable part of his -fortune. He was a bachelor and lived entirely alone, save when -encroached upon by the woman who cared for his apartments, or by his -artistic and literary friends.</p> - -<p>A glance around the parlor, while he responded to Arthur Gordon’s -introduction and afterward presented Chick, gave Nick a hint at the -character of the robbery. Several empty picture frames, from each of -which the canvas had been removed, were lying on the floor and leaning -against the walls; while vacant places on the mantel and in or on the -several costly glass cabinets told the tale of depredation.</p> - -<p>“Gordon is right,” said he, as to the young man’s advice. “You must be -calm, Mr. Strickland, or valuable time may be lost.”</p> - -<p>“Lost! What is loss of time compared with the loss I have suffered?” -cried the old German, wringing his hands and desperately running his -fingers through his thick growth of hair. “I am heartbroken. I am in -despair. My beloved Murillo. My Titian. My Meissonier and Corot. My -priceless Correggio, and two originals by Helleu. My antique, engraved -gems. My costly collection of jade. My——”</p> - -<p>“Hush! You will make yourself ill, Uncle Rudolph!” cried Wilhelmina, -rising and clasping his arm with her dainty hands. “Do please try——”</p> - -<p>“Ah, I am ill already. It is a loss to make angels weep,” Mr. Strickland -went on, in pathetic agitation. “It is gone—that, too, is gone! My -life, my soul, my best treasure on earth! My precious Stradivarius! Oh, -Mr. Carter——”</p> - -<p>Nick checked him by placing both hands on the old man’s shoulders, -holding him firmly while he confronted him and said, with intense and -impressive earnestness:</p> - -<p>“Stop, sir, and listen to me. You have met with a great loss, but grief -and lamentation will not bring back your stolen treasures. That now is -what you most wish. That can be accomplished only by calm consideration -of the circumstances, followed by speedy and energetic efforts to trace -the crooks and recover their plunder. I feel sure that I can do both, -but I will undertake it only on one condition, that you sit down and -compose yourself while I look into the matter. Courage, Mr. Strickland! -Your treasures are not hopelessly lost. They have not been destroyed by -fire. They still exist—and I shall find them and restore them to you.”</p> - -<p>Nick spoke with more assurance than he really felt, but the -circumstances seemed to warrant his confident prediction, and it was not -without effect, combined with his strong, personal influence.</p> - -<p>Mr. Strickland pulled himself together, clasping both hands of the -detective and saying fervently, but much more calmly:</p> - -<p>“God bless you! God bless you for that encouragement. I will try to be -composed. I really will try, Mr. Carter.”</p> - -<p>“Capital!” Nick said approvingly, urging him to a chair. “I now think I -shall accomplish something. Tell me, Arthur, what you know of this -matter. Never mind at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> present what has been stolen. State merely the -circumstances.”</p> - -<p>“That may be quickly done, Nick,” Gordon replied. “Miss Strickland, who -resides in Boston and to whom I am engaged, is visiting my parents for a -few days. We called here at five o’clock this afternoon, and her uncle -consented to go with us to dinner. We left here about six o’clock and -returned just before nine. During that brief interval these rooms were -entered and robbed of treasures enough to fill a wagon, and the value of -which can hardly be estimated. How the job was done is a mystery. There -is not the slightest evidence showing where the thieves entered, or how -they removed the property. It could not have been carried out -through——”</p> - -<p>“One moment,” Nick interposed. “Does Mr. Strickland occupy this entire -floor?”</p> - -<p>“He does.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure the door was closed and locked when you went out?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, absolutely.”</p> - -<p>“Who occupies the floor below?”</p> - -<p>“Madame Denise, a fashionable milliner. Her rooms were open when we -returned. Several girls were busy in the workroom. Madame Denise was in -her display room in the front of the house. The door has a large -plate-glass panel and is within a few feet of the street door.”</p> - -<p>“You have questioned her, I infer?” Nick put in.</p> - -<p>“Yes, certainly. I went down and questioned her after telephoning to -you. She had only a few customers this evening, but was in the front -room all the while. She is positive that no persons have visited these -rooms, or left them, by means of the stairs and the street door. Such a -quantity of plunder could not possibly have been taken out that way -without her observing it.”</p> - -<p>“Is there a rear door from the house?” Nick inquired.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Gordon quickly nodded. “It leads to a small paved area between -the back of this and the adjoining dwelling and the side wall of the -Carroll Building. I have learned positively, however, that no persons -have been in or out of the rear door.”</p> - -<p>“From whom?”</p> - -<p>“From the janitor. He is thoroughly trustworthy. He lives in a rear room -on the ground floor. He has been there all of the evening, and the door -of his room has not been closed. No person could have passed through the -hall without his having seen or heard him. He is absolutely sure there -have been no intruders.”</p> - -<p>“By Jove, it does appear a bit mysterious,” Chick remarked.</p> - -<p>“Plainly enough the plunder must have been taken out in some direction,” -Nick replied. “Who occupies the upper floor of the house?”</p> - -<p>“Victor Gilbert, the well-known photographer. He is the only tenant on -that floor. His integrity is beyond question.”</p> - -<p>“Very true,” Nick allowed. “I know him personally.”</p> - -<p>“His rooms were closed at six o’clock and have not since been occupied, -so far as I can learn,” Gordon went on. “I have telephoned to him, -telling him of the robbery, and he now is on his way here, that we may -visit his rooms. It does not seem possible, however, that the robbery -can have been committed from above.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Nor from below, Arthur, if all you have stated is correct,” Nick said, -a bit dryly. “Is it possible to reach the back windows of this apartment -from those of the Carroll Building?”</p> - -<p>“No, no; it is quite impossible,” Gordon protested. “The distance is -more than twenty feet. Besides, Nick, there is no evidence that the -windows of this flat have been opened. All of them were securely locked -and——”</p> - -<p>“I will inspect them presently,” Nick interrupted. “It is very evident, -at least, that robbers have been here, and I know their knavery was not -accomplished by any supernatural means. Who knew of Mr. Strickland’s -intention to dine with you and be absent from his apartments this -evening?”</p> - -<p>“Nobody knew it, Mr. Carter,” Miss Strickland cried, with girlish -earnestness. “We did not know it ourselves until after we came here. We -then persuaded Uncle Rudolph to go with us.”</p> - -<p>“Were any other persons present?”</p> - -<p>“No, sir, only we three. No one could have overheard us.”</p> - -<p>“Mina is right,” put in Gordon. “No person could have known that Mr. -Strickland would be absent this evening. It was entirely unpremeditated. -The crime could not have been planned from any knowledge of our -intention.”</p> - -<p>“Do you keep any servants, Mr. Strickland?” Nick inquired, turning to -him.</p> - -<p>He had overcome his agitation, his terrible distress immediately -following his discovery of the crime, made hardly an hour before. He -appeared to derive much hope and encouragement from what Nick had said -to him, and from the fact that an investigation by the famous detective -already was in progress.</p> - -<p>Arthur Gordon had, in fact, telephoned immediately to Nick for -assistance after making the superficial investigation mentioned, and -finding the robbery so shrouded in mystery as, he felt sure, to -completely baffle the ordinary police. It was about ten o’clock when the -two detectives arrived upon the scene.</p> - -<p>“No, I keep no servants,” said Mr. Strickland, replying to Nick’s -question. “As you may infer, Mr. Carter, I have always been very careful -to protect my treasures. My lost Stradivarius alone is worth forty -thousand dollars. I would not have parted with it for ten times that -sum. The door of my apartments is a very strong one, and it is provided -with two heavy locks, which act automatically. My windows have patent -fastenings, and they are always closed and securely locked when I am -absent. This evening was no exception.”</p> - -<p>“But who takes care of your rooms?” Nick inquired. “Do you look after -them yourself?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, not the care and cleaning of them,” said Mr. Strickland. “I -employ a woman from the adjoining house, that occupied by Mr. Gerald -Vaughn and his sister, both of whom are friends of mine. I pay their -housekeeper, Mrs. Amelia West, to come in each day to make my bed and -put my sleeping room in order, and to come once a week to sweep and dust -all of my rooms.”</p> - -<p>“I see,” Nick remarked, with a nod.</p> - -<p>“She has been doing so for nearly three months,” Mr. Strickland added. -“Alas! I now must find another. I am more than sorry to lose her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“What is the trouble?” Nick questioned. “Has she been discharged by Mr. -Vaughn?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no!” Mr. Strickland shook his head sadly. “Mrs. West died quite -suddenly yesterday morning.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> -<small>A VAIN SEARCH.</small></h2> - -<p>Nick Carter ended his interrogations quite abruptly.</p> - -<p>“I will look around for myself in search of evidence,” he remarked, -turning to Arthur Gordon. “You had better remain here with Mr. -Strickland and his niece. If I require anything, or wish to add to my -inquiries, I will call you. I shall return in a few minutes.”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead,” Gordon nodded. “The case is in your hands.”</p> - -<p>Nick Carter glanced at Chick and led the way into an adjoining front -room.</p> - -<p>It was a handsomely furnished music room. An expensive piano occupied -one corner. Racks of music, a viola, with many articles of like -significance, evinced the refinement and musical genius of the owner. -Mr. Rudolph Strickland had, in fact, an international reputation as a -violinist.</p> - -<p>“Well, chief, the rascals have left the piano, at least,” Chick dryly -observed, noting also in this room convincing evidence of the visit of -the thieves.</p> - -<p>“Yes, so I see,” Nick replied, more seriously.</p> - -<p>“What do you make of it?”</p> - -<p>“A remarkable job has been done here, if all that Gordon stated is -correct. I think, Chick, you had better set about confirming it, while I -look farther.”</p> - -<p>“You mean?”</p> - -<p>“Go down and talk with Madame Denise and the janitor. You can measure -them better than Gordon. Have a look at the area back of the house and -see what possibilities it presents for getting away with such a quantity -of plunder. Find out whether a wagon, or a conveyance of any kind, has -been standing in the avenue, the side street on which the Carroll -Building fronts, or in any locality available for such a job.”</p> - -<p>“I understand,” Chick nodded.</p> - -<p>“Step to the door of the next house, also, and question Mr. Vaughn and -his sister. It’s barely possible that one of them may have seen or heard -the thieves, without having suspected what was going on in here. Find -out, at all events, then rejoin me.”</p> - -<p>Chick hastened to follow these instructions. A brief talk with Madame -Denise and the janitor, one James Donald, convinced him that both were -honest and could add nothing to what they already had stated.</p> - -<p>An inspection of the area mentioned was equally convincing. It was only -a narrow, paved space back of the Vanhausen dwelling and that adjoining -it, which occupied a corner lot on the side street on which the Carroll -Building faced.</p> - -<p>There was no exit to the street, and Chick saw plainly that crooks not -only could not have removed their booty from the rear door of the -building, but also that they would have found it impossible to ascend to -the back windows of Mr. Strickland’s apartments, which were more than -twenty feet from the ground. A long ladder would have been necessary, -and their movements in the quietude of the inclosed area would surely -have been heard by the janitor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Nothing was done out here,” thought Chick, turning to retrace his steps -to the front of the house. “That’s dead open and shut. The stuff must -have been taken out of the front door, despite the assertion of Madame -Denise to the contrary.”</p> - -<p>Investigation outside, nevertheless, seemed to confirm the statement of -the milliner. Chick could not learn that any suspicious conveyance had -been seen in the neighborhood. Both the avenue and side street were -brightly lighted. Pedestrians were constantly passing. It seemed -impossible that crooks could have committed such a crime without being -detected. There would not have been greater risk in attempting it in -broad daylight.</p> - -<p>More deeply puzzled, now, as to how it could by any means have been -accomplished, Chick went to question the occupants of the corner house. -It was an attractive brownstone dwelling of three stories, its side wall -adjoining that of the Vanhausen residence, with no passageway between -them. A light in the front hall denoted that the Vaughns had not -retired.</p> - -<p>A large wreath tied with purple ribbon hung on the knob of the door, a -token that the shadow of death had fallen upon the house. But this did -not deter Chick from ringing the bell, in accord with Nick’s -instructions.</p> - -<p>It was answered almost immediately by a slender, serious-looking man -about thirty, clad in a black suit. He was of dark complexion, with wavy -black hair and a peculiarly clear and pallid skin, accentuated somewhat -by a flowing black mustache. He gazed inquiringly at Chick, who bowed -politely and said:</p> - -<p>“I wish to see Mr. Vaughn. Is he at home?”</p> - -<p>“I am Mr. Vaughn. What can I do for you?”</p> - -<p>The reply was agreeably made, but with a gravity Chick was quick to -observe and attributed to the death of one of the household.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry to trouble you at such a time,” he rejoined. “My name is -Carter. I am a detective. The apartments of your neighbor, Mr. -Strickland, have been robbed this evening, and I——”</p> - -<p>“Robbed!” Mr. Vaughn exclaimed, interrupting with a quick display of -surprise and consternation. “Dear me, is it possible? Robbed of what, -Mr. Carter?”</p> - -<p>“Of several very valuable paintings, many of his art treasures, and his -almost priceless Stradivarius, together with——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, oh, that is dreadful!” Mr. Vaughn again interposed. “Strickland is -such a fine old gentleman. I am sorry for him, more than sorry for him. -Come in, Mr. Carter. Can I be of any assistance?”</p> - -<p>Chick accepted the invitation and stepped into the hall. Through the -open door of an adjoining parlor, dimly lighted by the rays from the -hall lamp, he could see a closed casket on a bier, also numerous boxes -of flowers, evidently prepared for removal the following day.</p> - -<p>Observing his furtive glance in that direction, Mr. Vaughn said gravely, -while he considerately closed the door of the room:</p> - -<p>“My aunt, who long has been the housekeeper for my sister and myself, -died suddenly of heart failure yesterday morning. She is to be taken to -Springfield to-morrow for burial. Step into the library, Mr. Carter. -Clarissa will be terribly shocked by Mr. Strickland’s misfortune. She is -really fond of the old gentleman, and often runs in to see him and hear -him play on his rare old Strad.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> Stolen—that is too bad! It will be a -terrible loss to him.”</p> - -<p>“I agree with you,” Chick replied. “He appears heartbroken.”</p> - -<p>“No wonder. This is my sister, Miss Vaughn, Mr. Carter.”</p> - -<p>Chick had entered an attractively furnished library, where a handsome, -dark girl, in the twenties, sat reading a book. She laid it aside at -once and arose to acknowledge the introduction, though with manifest -wonderment as to the visitor’s mission.</p> - -<p>Gerald Vaughn hastened to inform her, however, evoking repeated -expressions of surprise and sympathy, and Chick then said:</p> - -<p>“I came here only to ask whether you have heard any disturbance outside -this evening. We wish to find out, if possible, how the thieves entered -Mr. Strickland’s apartments and got away with such a quantity of plunder -without being seen or heard. It really is very mysterious.”</p> - -<p>“Decidedly so, Mr. Carter,” Vaughn agreed. “But we have heard nothing -unusual, not a sound suggestive of anything wrong.”</p> - -<p>“We have been here alone, too, since dinner,” put in Clarissa, gazing -with demure, dark eyes at the face of the detective. “Both of us have -been reading, and it has seemed unusually quiet. If there had been any -noise outside, Gerald, dear, we surely ought to have heard it.”</p> - -<p>“It seems so, indeed, Clarissa.”</p> - -<p>“I have not heard a sound that I can recall.”</p> - -<p>“Nor have I, Mr. Carter, I assure you.”</p> - -<p>“The circumstances are such, too, that I am unusually sensitive,” Miss -Vaughn added. “The sudden death of my Aunt Amelia has made me very -nervous. I think we should send a message of sympathy, Gerald, to Mr. -Strickland. He was very kind to us yesterday, when he heard of our -bereavement.”</p> - -<p>“I think so, too,” Vaughn said quickly. “I had better step over there, -perhaps, and see him personally.”</p> - -<p>“That will be even better, Gerald.”</p> - -<p>“Is there any objection, Mr. Carter, to my doing so?”</p> - -<p>“Not the slightest,” said Chick. “You may go with me, if you wish, since -there is no information you can give me.”</p> - -<p>“None whatever, Mr. Carter, I regret to say,” Vaughn replied. “I hope -you will command me, however, if I can be of any assistance. You don’t -mind being alone here, Clarissa, for a few minutes?”</p> - -<p>“No, indeed. I will sit here till you return.”</p> - -<p>“I have closed the parlor door.”</p> - -<p>“Very well. Good evening, Mr. Carter. I do hope you will recover Mr. -Strickland’s property. Tell him, Gerald, how deeply grieved I am over -his misfortune.”</p> - -<p>“I will, Clarissa. Now, Mr. Carter, I am ready to go with you.”</p> - -<p>Chick saw nothing to be gained by further inquiries. He accepted the -slender, shapely hand of the young woman, tendered while she was -speaking, noting that there were tears in the sad and somber eyes with -which she regarded him, forcing a faint, momentary smile to her finely -curved lips.</p> - -<p>Gerald Vaughn, too, was equally impressive. There was something about -both that lifted them above the ordinary, those indefinable qualities -which denote class and char<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>acter, and which alone serve to avert -distrust and suspicion.</p> - -<p>Chick bowed and said a word of apology for having intruded, then -accompanied Gerald Vaughn from the house.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter was in the meantime proceeding with the investigations in -the Strickland apartment, but only with negative results.</p> - -<p>Adjoining the two front rooms was a third, partly furnished for a dining -room and connecting with a spacious library. Back of these were two -bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen, evidently but little used. A -window in the kitchen and in one of the bedrooms, also a small -ground-glass window in the bathroom, overlooked the area back of the -house.</p> - -<p>Nick found that the first two were closed and securely locked, but that -in the bathroom was open a few inches for ventilation. It was only about -two feet square, and Nick looked in vain for any evidence denoting that -a person had entered through it.</p> - -<p>Gazing out, he could see the gloomy area below, also the dark wall of -the Carroll Building some twenty feet away, much too far for access to -have been gained from any of its windows, all of which were those of -business offices of one kind or another.</p> - -<p>Looking up, all that could be seen were the gloomy walls of the several -buildings and a portion of the star-studded sky.</p> - -<p>“By Jove, the rascals have cleverly covered their tracks,” Nick muttered -a bit grimly after these futile observations. “It was the work of no -ordinary crooks. I should need daylight, I reckon, in order to pick up a -thread worth following.”</p> - -<p>He was laboring at some disadvantage by means of the incandescent lamps -only, and he returned in a few minutes to the front parlor.</p> - -<p>“Are those back windows as you found them, Arthur, when you returned -with Mr. Strickland?” he inquired, when Gordon started up to meet him.</p> - -<p>“Yes, precisely,” he replied. “What have you learned?”</p> - -<p>“Very little thus far,” said Nick. “I see that the bathroom window is -open a few inches, Mr. Strickland. Are you in the habit of leaving it -open?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Mr. Carter, I am,” was the reply. “But the bathroom door is always -locked. The window, moreover, is hardly large enough to admit a man, nor -could it be easily reached from the outside. I don’t see how the thieves -could possibly have entered it.”</p> - -<p>“Crooks devise means which no honest man would think of,” Nick replied. -“It is my opinion that——”</p> - -<p>He did not finish the remark, for Chick returned at that moment in -company with Gerald Vaughn, and introductions and a brief discussion of -the crime immediately followed. It was soon interrupted by the arrival -of the photographer, however, who occupied the entire upper floor of the -remodeled house.</p> - -<p>“We will go up at once, Mr. Gilbert,” said Nick, after their greeting. -“Come with us, Chick. Gordon will wait here with Mr. Vaughn.”</p> - -<p>The photographer hastened to lead the way through the hall and up the -stairs, switching on the light in his reception room, his studio, and in -the extensive rear room containing the cameras and other paraphernalia -required in his business.</p> - -<p>“There appears to be nothing wrong,” he remarked, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> the detectives -followed him to the rear room. “Everything is just as I left it at six -o’clock, Mr. Carter, as far as I can see.”</p> - -<p>“I will look a little farther, Gilbert, with your permission,” Nick -replied.</p> - -<p>“Certainly. Go as far as you like.”</p> - -<p>Nick then began a careful inspection of the three back windows, all of -which were found to be securely locked. None bore any evidence of having -been recently opened. The floor near them bore no trace of earth, or -dirt, denoting the recent presence of intruders.</p> - -<p>So far as could be seen, in fact, even by the keen-eyed detective, -everything in the rooms of Mr. Victor Gilbert was, as he had stated, -precisely as he had left it.</p> - -<p>“Is there a way to the roof?” Nick inquired, glancing up at a slightly -sloping, twelve-foot skylight nearly in the middle of the ceiling.</p> - -<p>“Yes. There is a ladder and a scuttle in my dark room,” said the -photographer.</p> - -<p>“Let’s go up there,” Nick said shortly. “I see that the roof is a flat -one, or nearly so, and I wish to cover all of the ground.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Gilbert again led the way.</p> - -<p>One after another they mounted the ladder and crawled through the narrow -scuttle. A stretch of slightly sloping, tar-and-pebble roof, the huge -skylight aglow with light from below, the two chimneys with which the -house was provided, the lower roof of that adjoining it, the gloomy side -wall of the lofty Carroll Building, the black intervening abyss, the -glare from the brightly lighted streets in other directions—only these -and the purple dome of the starry sky met their searching gaze.</p> - -<p>A fierce gust of wind caused the photographer to retreat toward the -scuttle.</p> - -<p>“By gracious, Carter, I’d rather venture up here by daylight, and in -calm weather,” he shouted. “Go as far as you like, you two, but I am -ducking back on the ladder.”</p> - -<p>“I guess, Gilbert, daylight will be necessary for a further -investigation,” Nick replied.</p> - -<p>“That’s right, too,” Chick agreed. “It don’t seem possible that the job -could have been done from here. The rascals would have been blown away -with their plunder.”</p> - -<p>“It is much more windy than early in the evening,” Nick rejoined. “We’ll -wait till morning to seek further.”</p> - -<p>“That’s good judgment, Nick, in my opinion.”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead. I’ll follow you.”</p> - -<p>Both crawled through the scuttle and picked their way down the steep -ladder, and five minutes later found them again in the Strickland -apartment.</p> - -<p>The elderly German still was moaning over the loss of his costly -treasures. He looked up with anxious eyes when the detectives entered, -saying quickly:</p> - -<p>“Don’t keep me in suspense. What have you learned, Mr. Carter?”</p> - -<p>Nick smiled faintly and shook his head.</p> - -<p>“You must not expect too much of us, Mr. Strickland,” he replied kindly. -“Such problems as this are not solved in a moment. Most of our -discoveries thus far are of a negative character.”</p> - -<p>“The police——”</p> - -<p>“Could not possibly accomplish more than we,” Nick interrupted. -“Immediate publicity, too, might result in a disadvantage. You must -leave the case entirely to me and wait patiently until morning. We will -return at an early hour to continue our work.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I shall remain here with uncle to-night, Arthur,” said Wilhelmina, -turning to her lover.</p> - -<p>“That will be wise, Mina, I think,” Gordon readily agreed. “But I will -return to see you in the morning, Nick.”</p> - -<p>“Very good,” nodded the detective. “You may expect us about seven -o’clock.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /><br /> -<small>THE FACE OF A CROOK.</small></h2> - -<p>“There are only six hundred Stradivarius violins known to be in -existence. Their value varies from three to ten thousand dollars, but in -a few cases these figures are greatly exceeded. Two are said to be worth -no less than fifty thousand dollars each. One is the famous Emperor -Stradivarius. It is two hundred years old, and the only one comparable -with it is that left by Paganini to the city of Genoa. A sum running -into five figures sterling was offered for it.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! That sure is some fiddle, chief,” declared Patsy Garvan -sententiously.</p> - -<p>Nick Carter was having an early breakfast with Chick and his junior -assistant before returning to the Strickland apartment on the morning -following the robbery. They had nearly finished, when Nick, after a -general discussion of the crime, made the foregoing comments concerning -that rare make of violin that had been stolen from the elderly German.</p> - -<p>“Some fiddle, Patsy, is right,” Chick agreed, laughing over his coffee.</p> - -<p>“All Strads are very valuable, and many have had a strange and eventful -history. Some have been repeatedly stolen, and at times have passed from -one uninformed person to another at ridiculously low prices. I recall -that one was accepted by a Geneva blacksmith from a traveler who had not -money enough to pay for shoeing his horse. It hung for years on a wall -in the blacksmith’s house, till a collector of violins happened to see -and purchase it. Upon cleaning off the dirt and grime he found the Strad -mark on it. He had acquired for a paltry sum an instrument worth -thousands of dollars.”</p> - -<p>“That was tough luck for the poor blacksmith, chief.”</p> - -<p>“Not at all,” said Nick. “For the violin collector was as square as a -brick. He returned and paid the blacksmith all that the instrument was -worth.”</p> - -<p>“Good on his head!” said Patsy. “He was one man in a thousand.”</p> - -<p>“Make it ten thousand, Patsy,” Chick said dryly.</p> - -<p>“The Strad stolen from Strickland is of great value, no doubt, and -possibly worth what he has stated,” Nick continued. “With the rare old -masters he mentioned, together with his antique gems, his collection of -jade and the other missing treasures, his loss runs up over a hundred -thousand dollars. He will have a complete list for us this morning. -We’ll get a move on, now, if you are ready.”</p> - -<p>Followed by both, Nick led the way to his library. His chauffeur, Danny -Maloney, had not yet arrived with his touring car, but all three were -engaged in putting on their outside garments when the doorbell rang, and -Patsy glanced from one of the screened windows.</p> - -<p>An erect, muscular, dark-featured man was standing on the front steps, -awaiting the coming of Joseph, the detective’s butler.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It’s Detective Conroy, of headquarters,” said Patsy.</p> - -<p>“What sent him here before seven o’clock?” Nick remarked. “He must have -something on his mind.”</p> - -<p>“A case, perhaps, on which he wants to employ us, or ask your advice,” -Chick suggested.</p> - -<p>“I shall take on no case until after I have sifted this robbery to the -bottom,” Nick said decidedly. “I promised to recover Strickland’s stolen -treasures, and I’m going to do it.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the stuff, chief,” nodded Patsy. “Let’s make good, or bu’st a -tire.”</p> - -<p>Joseph ushered in the headquarters man at that moment, and Conroy said -at once, with a look of surprise at all:</p> - -<p>“Great guns! I hardly expected to find you out of bed, Nick, to say -nothing of all hands being ready to leave the house. Something doing, -eh?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Nick bowed. “What’s on your mind, Conroy?”</p> - -<p>“It’s in my pocket, Nick, rather than on my mind,” said Conroy, smiling. -“I have an early appointment at headquarters, but thought I’d take a -chance of seeing you for a few moments, as I was passing your house on -my way. Have a look at this.”</p> - -<p>He drew from his pocket while speaking a small photograph, not more than -three inches square, which evidently had been snapped with a kodak, or a -small camera, when the subject was ignorant of the fact. For he was -walking at the time, a man clad in clerical robes, and his face was -somewhat shaded from the sun by the broad brim of a black felt hat.</p> - -<p>It showed quite distinctly, nevertheless, that he was a man about thirty -years old. The smoothly shaved features were of an almost effeminate -cast. The square jaw and thin lips denoted firmness, however, with -bulldog nerve, tenacity, and determination. His figure evidently was of -medium build and in no respect specially distinctive.</p> - -<p>Nick took a large reading glass from his desk and viewed the picture -quite intently.</p> - -<p>“Who is he, Conroy?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“He is without exception, bar none, Nick, the most accomplished, most -versatile and original, and for those reasons by far the most dangerous -crook now at large in this wicked world,” said Detective Conroy -forcibly. “That face is a libel on his character. He looks more like a -saint than a thief. That is because, perhaps, it was taken while he was -posing as a priest in Berlin, where he swindled an Austrian duchess out -of jewels worth sixty thousand dollars and got safely away with them. He -has a record of which the devil himself would be proud. That’s the only -photograph of him known to be in existence. That’s Mortimer Deland.”</p> - -<p>Nick knew him by name and reputation, and had read of his knavish -exploits in Europe, where most of his evil work had been done; a series -of crimes covering a period of nearly ten years, but accomplished with -craft and elusiveness that had enabled him to avoid arrest and baffle -the trained police of nearly every European country.</p> - -<p>Mortimer Deland was, in fact, almost a myth and mystery, so little was -known of him aside from the extraordinary crimes that had made his name -notorious abroad, and comparatively well known to the police of America.</p> - -<p>Nick viewed the photograph with considerable interest, therefore, and -then handed it to Chick and Patsy for inspection.</p> - -<p>“Where did you get it, Conroy?” he inquired.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It was sent to me by Jenks, of Scotland Yard,” replied the headquarters -man. “It was snapped by an English woman who was in Berlin when the -robbery of the Austrian duchess was committed.”</p> - -<p>“There is no doubt about it, you think?”</p> - -<p>“Not the slightest. Jenks is absolutely sure that the woman made no -mistake and is thoroughly reliable. Here is a copy of Deland’s writing, -merely the fictitious name he inscribed on a hotel register. Both this -and the photograph are entirely reliable.”</p> - -<p>“Make a tracery copy of the writing, Patsy,” Nick directed, handing him -the scrap of paper Conroy had taken from his notebook. “We may find it -useful, perhaps, sooner or later. Mortimer Deland, eh? If all I have -read of him is true, Conroy, it will be a feather in the cap of the man -who rounds up the rascal.”</p> - -<p>“I thought you might wish to see the photograph.”</p> - -<p>“Very much,” Nick nodded. “I’ll fix the face in my mind, though the -print is too small to be of much value. The writing may prove useful, -however.”</p> - -<p>“I had another reason for dropping in to show them to you.”</p> - -<p>“What is that?”</p> - -<p>“Jenks wrote me that Mortimer Deland is probably in this country, if not -in New York City.”</p> - -<p>“On what does he base that belief?”</p> - -<p>“First, on the fact that there has been a complete cessation of Deland’s -knavish work abroad for more than six months. That is a very long and -unusual period for him to be idle. Scarce a month has gone by for six or -eight years Nick in which he has not committed a crime of some kind, -easily identified as his because of their peculiarly original and crafty -character. There is no mistaking his work.”</p> - -<p>“And the other reason?” questioned Nick.</p> - -<p>“Because, though it was not suspected at the time, it now is known that -Deland fled from Vienna about six months ago and went to England. He is -known to have been in London with a notorious English crook and -adventuress named Fannie Coyle, and that they bought passage for Boston -more than four months ago. Boston would be poor picking for a man of -Mortimer Deland’s knavish aspirations, and it’s long odds that he was -heading for New York, or one of the big Western cities. Be that as it -may, Nick, his whereabouts now is unknown.”</p> - -<p>“Fannie Coyle still is missing from England, I infer?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“When did you hear from Jenks?”</p> - -<p>“Only two days ago. This photograph, or one like it, was given to him -about ten days ago. He has clinched the points mentioned since then.”</p> - -<p>“Did he give you any information about Deland himself, his early life, -or his family?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing is known about him,” said Conroy, shaking his head. “The name -probably is an alias. He is said to have as many others as he has hairs -in his head. If he is half as clever as the foreign police assert——”</p> - -<p>“Here is Danny, chief, with the car,” put in Patsy, turning from the -window.</p> - -<p>“We must be off, Conroy,” said Nick, returning the photograph. “I’m glad -you came in, however, and I will keep Deland in mind. Let me know if you -hear anything more about him.”</p> - -<p>“I will, Nick, surely,” Conroy nodded, while he accom<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>panied the three -detectives from the house and proceeded on his way to police -headquarters.</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later Nick’s touring car rounded a corner of Fifth Avenue -and stopped in front of the Vanhausen building.</p> - -<p>The inclosed black wagon of an undertaker was standing in front of the -Vaughn residence, also a hack, at the open door of which the driver was -waiting.</p> - -<p>The casket had been brought out and placed in the great, somber wagon, -the rear door of which still was open. The undertaker’s assistant was -bringing out the last of the numerous boxes of flowers, which nearly -filled the wagon.</p> - -<p>Preceded by the undertaker, just as Nick and Chick alighted from the -touring car, Gerald Vaughn emerged from the house with Clarissa and -closed the door.</p> - -<p>“They are just leaving for Springfield with the body,” Chick remarked in -an undertone to Nick.</p> - -<p>Gerald Vaughn observed them and bowed gravely, while he descended the -steps with his sister, who was heavily veiled. He placed her in the -carriage, then turned and said a few words to the undertaker, afterward -approaching the detectives, who were but a few feet away.</p> - -<p>“Good morning, gentlemen,” he said, bowing and smiling faintly. “I have -seen Mr. Strickland for a few moments this morning. He is much more -composed than he was last night. I wish I might do more than merely wish -you speedy success.”</p> - -<p>“Many thanks,” Chick replied.</p> - -<p>“We shall do all that we can with the case,” Nick added.</p> - -<p>Vaughn bowed again, then turned away and entered the waiting carriage. -The door closed with a bang. The hackman mounted to his box, caught up -the reins, then drove rapidly away.</p> - -<p>The undertaker’s wagon already had departed.</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> -<small>WHAT DAYLIGHT REVEALED.</small></h2> - -<p>Nick Carter found Mr. Rudolph Strickland and his niece awaiting him, but -Arthur Gordon had not yet arrived.</p> - -<p>“I have talked with him by telephone, Mr. Carter, and he now is on his -way here,” said Wilhelmina, after their greeting.</p> - -<p>“There is nothing he can do to aid us,” Nick replied. “We shall set at -work at once, and you must remain here with Mr. Strickland. Find out, -Patsy, whether the photographer on the floor above has arrived. He -promised to come down early this morning.”</p> - -<p>Patsy hastened from the parlor in which they had been received, while -Nick and Chick at once proceeded to the rear rooms.</p> - -<p>“We’ll begin with the bathroom,” said Nick, leading the way. “Daylight -may reveal more than I was able to discover last night. Ah, by Jove, I -thought so.”</p> - -<p>He had entered the bathroom and raised the lower section of the small, -ground-glass window. A glance at the stone sill outside, which he then -began to inspect with a powerful lens, evoked his last more forcible -remark.</p> - -<p>“It’s what I do not find,” Nick replied. “Notice the lack of dust on the -upper surface of this stone. All that remains of the thin layer which -ordinarily would be there is a small quantity next to each casing. The -lens<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> shows, too, that it has been rubbed in each direction, as if with -a piece of cloth, or a garment.”</p> - -<p>“Plainly enough,” Chick agreed. “It would be indiscernible, -nevertheless, except in a bright light.”</p> - -<p>“That was the difficulty last evening. We had not light enough.”</p> - -<p>“You now suspect——”</p> - -<p>“More than suspect,” Nick interrupted. “I now am convinced that one of -the crooks, at least, entered through this window.”</p> - -<p>“But how could he have reached it? There certainly was no ladder used, -or the janitor must have heard him. Nor is there any other window from -which the rascal could have reached this one.”</p> - -<p>“If not from below, Chick, he must have come from above.”</p> - -<p>“From the photographer’s room?”</p> - -<p>“Or from the roof.”</p> - -<p>“Either would be possible,” Chick allowed. “But we discovered no -evidence of it. Besides, Strickland stated that the bathroom door was -locked, and Gordon found it so when they entered.”</p> - -<p>“That would have been no barrier to a crook clever enough to pull off a -job of this kind. He would have pushed out the key and—stop a bit! We -may find evidence of it.”</p> - -<p>Turning back, Nick removed the key from the bathroom door to examine it -with his lens. He quickly found what he was seeking.</p> - -<p>“Here we have it,” he added. “The end projecting beyond the tongue has -been gripped with a pair of nippers. Notice the marks they left on it. -The rascal unlocked the door by turning the key with the nippers, -relocking it by the same means before he left the flat.”</p> - -<p>“You think he went out through this window.”</p> - -<p>“I do. The chances are ten to one, if he had left by way of the front -door, that Madame Denise would have seen him.”</p> - -<p>“He is some athlete, by Jove, if he climbed a rope to the roof, or even -to the photographer’s window,” Chick declared.</p> - -<p>“He had confederates who aided him,” Nick replied. “He could not have -got away with such a quantity of plunder without assistance.”</p> - -<p>“Surely not.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s have a look at the bedroom window.”</p> - -<p>Nick led the way into the room where, still using his lens, he began a -thorough inspection of the window lock, the sashes and panes, and -finally the interior sill and the outside stonework.</p> - -<p>All that he found of any significance were a few tiny particles on the -sill, hardly discernible without a lens, but which, when viewed through -it, appeared to be short, yellow bristles, or hairs.</p> - -<p>Quick to detect their true character and significance, however, Nick -said, quite abruptly:</p> - -<p>“I am right, by Jove, in that a rope was used. Here are particles of -hemp on the sill. A rope, or a hemp cord of smaller size, was drawn in -through this window.”</p> - -<p>“But why did the rascal use this window, Nick, after entering through -that in the bathroom?” Chick questioned.</p> - -<p>Nick leaned out and gazed upward.</p> - -<p>“I have it,” he replied. “A rope evidently was used<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> for removing the -plunder through this window, which is much larger than that in the -bathroom. It was not lowered to the rear area, however, for there is no -exit to the street. Nor was it drawn up to the quarters of Gilbert, the -photographer, or we would have found evidence of it last night. It must -have been drawn up to the roof, therefore, and then transferred by some -means to another building, or——”</p> - -<p>“What’s up?” Chick cried, interrupting.</p> - -<p>Nick had drawn back into the room with an abruptness that startled his -assistant, even more than the altered expression on his strong, -clean-cut face.</p> - -<p>“I think, Chick, we’ve been fooled.”</p> - -<p>“Fooled? What the deuce do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“I mean——”</p> - -<p>Nick did not remain to say what he meant. Instead, with a sharper light -leaping up in his eyes, he strode hurriedly to the front parlor, in -which Mr. Strickland and Wilhelmina then were seated.</p> - -<p>“You told me last evening, Mr. Strickland, that Gerald Vaughn and his -sister are old friends of yours. How long have you known them?” he -asked, pausing in the middle of the room.</p> - -<p>“Why, only since they have lived next door, Mr. Carter,” was the reply, -with a look of surprise.</p> - -<p>“How long is that?”</p> - -<p>“About four months, as near as I can remember.”</p> - -<p>“They do not own the corner house, then?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no. It is owned by Colonel Morgan Barker, who has been living -abroad with his wife and two daughters for nearly a year. Their children -are studying music in Berlin. The Vaughns met them, and, as they were -about to visit New York for a few months, they arranged with Colonel -Barker to occupy his furnished house during their stay here.”</p> - -<p>“Who is Colonel Barker’s agent in New York?”</p> - -<p>“Mr. John Archer, I believe, who has an office in Broadway. Mr. Vaughn -brought a letter to him from Colonel Barker, directing him to let him -occupy the house, and——”</p> - -<p>“And turn, unless I am much mistaken, as crafty a trick as one often -hears of,” Nick interrupted, with more austerity than he ordinarily -displayed. “Come with me, Chick, and—ah, here is Patsy. What do you -say? Has the photographer arrived?”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Gilbert has just gone up, chief,” said Patsy, who had entered while -Nick was speaking.</p> - -<p>“Come, then, both of you,” said Nick, without further explanations.</p> - -<p>He hurried from the room, followed by both Chick and Patsy, and led the -way to the top floor. The photographer had just unlocked the door of his -studio.</p> - -<p>“Good morning, Gilbert,” Nick greeted him familiarly. “I want to visit -your roof once more.”</p> - -<p>“Certainly, Nick, as many times as you wish. Go ahead. You know the -way.”</p> - -<p>Nick already was on his way to the rear room, where he quickly mounted -the ladder and opened the scuttle leading to the roof. One after another -the three detectives climbed out.</p> - -<p>It presented in the bright morning sunlight a much different appearance -from that of the night before. There was much less danger of a slip and -a fall to the pavements far below. Nick at once approached the rear edge -of it, at a point directly over the window of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> bedroom in the -Strickland flat. Some of the gravel near the edge had been brushed away. -Crouching to gaze over, Nick made a discovery that immediately confirmed -his increasing suspicions.</p> - -<p>In the upper surface of the timber forming the edge of the roof were -four holes, somewhat less than a foot apart, and which evidently had -been recently made with four large screws.</p> - -<p>“Here we have it,” Nick cried, when Chick and Patsy approached. “There -has been a rigging of some kind screwed to this timber.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! that’s as plain as twice two, chief,” said Patsy.</p> - -<p>“Notice that it is directly in line with the chimney, which is less than -eight feet from the edge of the roof. If I am not mistaken—no, I am -right,” Nick broke off; then added confidently, rising to inspect the -chimney. “Here are splinters of wood on some of the bricks, also -particles evidently rubbed from a rope. Here in the gravel beyond the -chimney, too, are indications that the end of a piece of joist rested.”</p> - -<p>“You think, then——”</p> - -<p>“The evidence speaks for itself,” Nick interposed. “A long piece of -joist made fast to the chimney was run out over an ordinary sawhorse, I -judge, which was fastened to a strip of board securely strewed to the -edge of the roof. A rope from the outer end of the joist, or a rigging -of some kind, enabled one of the crooks to descend to the windows of the -Strickland flat.”</p> - -<p>“But it would have hung opposite the bedroom window,” said Chick, gazing -down.</p> - -<p>“He could easily have swung himself to the bathroom window.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! it would have been some stunt, chief, in the wind and darkness,” -said Patsy.</p> - -<p>“We are up against rascals capable of more desperate deeds than that,” -Nick declared. “I think we now can learn where they came from and what -more they did. Come with me.”</p> - -<p>Quickly crossing the roof, Nick approached the edge overlooking the roof -of the corner residence. The latter was only five feet below, with no -space between them, and he immediately dropped over the edge, followed -by Chick and Patsy.</p> - -<p>Nearly in the middle of the roof was a square skylight, to which all -three hastened, and through which Nick peered intently. He could see -only part of the upper hall some eight feet below and the closed doors -of two adjoining rooms.</p> - -<p>“By Jove, we are on the right track,” Chick remarked. “This skylight has -been recently opened.”</p> - -<p>He pointed to some blurred finger marks in the dust on the panes and -sashes, and Nick drew a knife from his pocket with which to force open -the slightly sloping window.</p> - -<p>“I’m so sure I am right that we will not stand on ceremony,” he said, a -bit grimly. “The birds have flown. The house probably is deserted. The -plunder we are seeking has been carried away under our very noses.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean in that undertaker’s wagon, chief?” cried Patsy.</p> - -<p>“That’s precisely what I mean.”</p> - -<p>“Gee whiz! The death of the housekeeper then——”</p> - -<p>“There has been no death,” Nick interrupted, all the while at work -trying to pry open the skylight. “The whole business is a craftily -planned job, from the time Gerald<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> Vaughn, so called, met Colonel Barker -in Berlin, if he really did meet him there, and learned that this house -was to be vacant for several months. We’ll soon find out whether I am -right and—ah, now it gives. Lend a hand, Chick, and we can raise it.”</p> - -<p>Nick had contrived to partly remove the hook that secured the skylight, -and it then proved easy to raise the latter.</p> - -<p>“Close it after us, Patsy, and return by the way we came,” Nick -directed. “Say nothing about what we have found and are doing. Go down -to the front door of this house and wait for me to admit you.”</p> - -<p>“I’m wise, chief,” said Patsy. “I’ll nail any one who attempts to -leave.”</p> - -<p>“There is no one in the house,” Nick repeated. “I’m sure of that. Come -with me, Chick.”</p> - -<p>He turned with the last and dropped down to the upper hall, Chick -quickly following him.</p> - -<p>“We’ll cover the ground as we go,” he added. “These rooms, Chick, to -begin with.”</p> - -<p>They found in the first one they entered the evidence confirming Nick’s -deductions and suspicions—a piece of joist about ten feet long, a -sawhorse fixed on a baseboard, that had been secured to the upper edge -of the roof, a coil of rope, a block and tackle, a broad wicker basket -nearly three feet long, to each end handle of which was tied a long hemp -cord.</p> - -<p>“Great guns, this does settle it!” Chick exclaimed. “What kind of a -rigging is it? What use had they for this huge basket?”</p> - -<p>A brief inspection of the several articles enabled Nick to hit upon the -truth.</p> - -<p>“It’s perfectly plain, Chick,” he replied. “That basket was hung from -the end of the joist and lowered to Strickland’s bedroom window. That -was done after one of the crooks had descended and entered through the -bathroom. He probably was the only one in Strickland’s flat. Notice the -long cord on each end of the basket.”</p> - -<p>“What do you make of them?”</p> - -<p>“One was used to draw the suspended basket to a window of this house, -the other to draw it back again to that in Strickland’s bedroom. The -crook in that apartment loaded the basket with portions of the plunder, -as speedily as he could transfer it to the bedroom, and his confederate -then drew it to a window of this house and unloaded it. There is no -telling how many times that was repeated. Another confederate was -probably at work on the roof, from which he could easily have guided the -basket and in other ways assisted the thief in the flat below. That’s -how it was done, Chick, as sure as fate.”</p> - -<p>“By Jove, I believe you are right.”</p> - -<p>“This rigging tells the story.”</p> - -<p>“But why the alleged death of the housekeeper, the casket, the flowers, -the——”</p> - -<p>“It may be explained with a breath,” Nick interrupted. “Vaughn evidently -is an exceedingly clever crook, also the two women who have been living -here with him. They became friendly with Strickland only to learn his -habits and the feasibility of this job. It was planned for last evening, -and the rascals would have found a way to lure him from the flat, even -if his niece and Arthur Gordon had not saved them the trouble.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt,” Chick quickly allowed.</p> - -<p>“They foresaw that they could not remove the plunder in any ordinary -way, so they devised this method to bring<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> it to this house.” Nick -continued. “They knew, too, that the crime would soon be discovered; so -soon, in fact, that it would be hazardous to attempt getting away with -their booty from this house on the same night.”</p> - -<p>“So they faked the death of the housekeeper, in order to avert suspicion -and a consequent search of the house,” Chick remarked. “Is that your -view of it?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” Nick nodded. “They reasoned rightly that crooks would not be -suspected of operating from a house in which a death had occurred and -the corpse still was lying. The wreath on the door, the casket in the -parlor, the boxes presumably containing flowers—these have completely -fooled us, Chick, partly because of Strickland’s statement that the -Vaughns were friends of his. I supposed, of course, that they were old -residents here. If he had told me what he stated this morning, I would -at once have suspected something wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” said Chick. “I see the point.”</p> - -<p>“But the casket and boxes contained, instead of a corpse and supposed -floral tokens, the very plunder we were seeking,” Nick added, with -ominous grimness. “The rascals got away with it this morning and under -our very eyes. The whole business was more cunning and crafty than we -often run up against.”</p> - -<p>“There is no denying that Nick, for fair.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s look farther. We’ll see what more we can find. It will be little -enough, I imagine. The rascals have cleaned out their own belongings, no -doubt, and have no intention of returning. They realized that a daylight -investigation would surely expose their game.”</p> - -<p>Nick’s prediction proved to be correct. Several of the bedrooms on the -floor below were in shocking disorder. Beds had been left unmade. -Wardrobe closets were empty. Bureau drawers contained nothing but the -dust and rubbish left by the miscreants. There appeared to be not the -slightest clew to their true identity.</p> - -<p>Nick glanced sharply through the several rooms, then hastened down to -the ground floor. There the dining room and kitchen were in -corresponding disorder. Soiled dishes and the remnants of breakfast -stood on the table.</p> - -<p>“We’ll have a look in the library,” said Nick, leading the way. “There -is Patsy at the front door. You had better admit him.”</p> - -<p>Chick hastened to do so.</p> - -<p>Nick entered the library.</p> - -<p>A sheet of paper was propped up conspicuously against a book on the -table. It contained several pen-written lines.</p> - -<p>Nick took up the sheet and read them:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">My Dear Carter</span>: You solve the problem tardily. You arrive a little -too late. There will be nothing for you in attempting to run down -the writer. He is in a class of his own—and much your superior. -Take a tip from me, therefore, and drop this matter. Don’t dig -deeper into it, or you’ll surely tread on a rattlesnake. A word to -the wise should be sufficient, or this warning from</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Gerald Vaughn</span>.”<br /> -</p></div> - -<p>Nick Carter’s face underwent a quick change. He had made a discovery -which Gerald Vaughn had not for a moment anticipated. He recognized the -writing, or felt reasonably sure that he did.</p> - -<p>It was identical with the fine, clean-cut hand exhibited by Detective -Conroy that morning—the writing of Mortimer Deland.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> -<small>SUSPICIONS VERIFIED.</small></h2> - -<p>Nick Carter knew that he had found one important clew, at least, in the -threatening communication which had been left there by Gerald Vaughn, as -the latter had been known while occupying the Colonel Barker residence.</p> - -<p>The very audacity of it, moreover, was additional evidence of the true -identity of the writer. For it corresponded with many a previous display -of effrontery which had, in connection with his extraordinary crimes, -made the name of Mortimer Deland notorious.</p> - -<p>Nick turned and displayed the letter when Chick and Patsy entered.</p> - -<p>“Do you recognize the hand?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“By Jove, it looks like that which Conroy showed us,” Chick said -quickly. “I can almost swear to it.”</p> - -<p>“I think so, too.”</p> - -<p>“We can clinch it easily enough, chief,” put in Patsy. “I still have the -tracery I made. We came away in such a hurry, chief, that I did not put -it in your desk.”</p> - -<p>“Let me see it,” said Nick. “I will compare them.”</p> - -<p>It took him only a moment to satisfy himself that he was right. There -were peculiarities in the fine, feminine hand that left him no shadow of -a doubt.</p> - -<p>“It is dead open and shut,” he declared. “Vaughn is none other than -Mortimer Deland. The bizarre character of this crime, moreover, is -directly in line with his work abroad.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true, chief, for fair,” said Patsy. “Who else would have thought -of using a casket, florist’s boxes, and an undertaker’s wagon for -getting away with a big lot of plunder? The job——”</p> - -<p>“Spells Mortimer Deland, Patsy, in capital letters,” Nick interrupted. -“His alleged sister undoubtedly is Fannie Coyle, the English female -crook Conroy mentioned.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! that’s right, too.”</p> - -<p>“The housekeeper said to have died is another confederate,” Nick added. -“She probably is an American woman, however, since such an assistant -would have been required by comparative strangers here.”</p> - -<p>“The undertaker and his assistant, also, must be in league with them,” -Chick argued.</p> - -<p>“Yes, undoubtedly,” Nick agreed. “Otherwise, the two men would have -detected and exposed the fraud. They would have known whether the casket -contained a corpse and the pasteboard boxes a quantity of flowers, or -whether they were packed with other articles. They could not have been -so egregiously deceived, even though they did not open them, and were -employed only to take them to a railway station.”</p> - -<p>“Surely not, Nick, if they have brains,” Chick declared. “That’s the -point I had in mind.”</p> - -<p>“I shall not be surprised if we find the casket still in the house, and -that only the outside box was used for removing the plunder. It would -contain more and could be more easily packed.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s find out,” said Chick. “The casket was on a bier in the parlor -last evening.”</p> - -<p>He led the way while speaking, and again Nick’s prediction proved to be -correct. The casket was found standing on end behind the parlor door. -The standards on which it had rested the previous evening were back of a -sofa. The entire robbery was, as Nick had said, of a bizarre character -and originality of conception that alone<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> proclaimed the identity of the -knave who had designed and directed it.</p> - -<p>“There appears to be nothing for us, now, but to get after the rascals,” -said Chick, a bit impatiently. “They have a start of more than an hour. -We may be able to trace them, nevertheless, if we get a move on and——”</p> - -<p>“We shall be more likely to meet with success, Chick, if we make haste -slowly,” Nick interposed. “There is no telling where they have gone. It -is perfectly safe to assume, nevertheless, that they did not go to a -railway station, as stated. They will not let others handle those boxes, -nor attempt to transport them in any other conveyance than the wagon -with which they are provided.”</p> - -<p>“But it’s an undertaker’s wagon, Nick, and we ought to be able to trace -it,” Chick argued, more forcibly.</p> - -<p>“There are a hundred such wagons on the move this morning, Chick, and it -would be impossible to trace this particular one,” Nick insisted. “There -would be nothing in that.”</p> - -<p>“You may be right.”</p> - -<p>“I know I am right. We must take advantage of the difficulties involving -the rascals themselves, instead of going up against those they have put -in our way.”</p> - -<p>“You mean?”</p> - -<p>“No undertaker is engaged in this robbery,” Nick said confidently. -“Deland and his confederates have contrived in some way to obtain a -casket, the florist’s boxes, and an undertaker’s team. We must find out -where they came from, if possible, and try to discover the identity of -Deland’s male confederates.”</p> - -<p>“The supposed undertaker and his assistant?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly. They probably are local crooks, also the woman who posed as -the housekeeper. If we can identify one of them, even, we shall have -picked up a thread that may lead us to the entire gang.”</p> - -<p>“There is something in that,” Chick admitted.</p> - -<p>“The trunks containing the belongings of the three crooks who have been -living here must have been taken away several days ago, or by night, -perhaps,” Nick went on. “Deland would not have deferred their removal -until this morning.”</p> - -<p>“Surely not.”</p> - -<p>“It is barely possible, of course, that the hackman who was here this -morning was in league with them, but I do not think it probable. We must -hunt him up, therefore, and find out where he took Deland and Fannie -Coyle this morning.”</p> - -<p>“You appear to have no doubt of their identity, Nick?”</p> - -<p>“Not the slightest.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! it looks like a cinch, chief, for fair,” put in Patsy.</p> - -<p>“Bear in mind, too, that we have one unsuspected advantage over this -rascal,” Nick added.</p> - -<p>“What is that?”</p> - -<p>“He doesn’t even dream, of course, that we are informed of his identity. -He undoubtedly has been living here in disguise. He will discard it, -now, and take another alias, confident that no one will recognize him, -or even think of Mortimer Deland as the perpetrator of this robbery.”</p> - -<p>“That’s more than likely, Nick, and we ought to derive some advantage -from it.”</p> - -<p>“I think we shall, Chick, having seen the photograph Conroy brought -round. Feeling thus confident, moreover,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> Deland is daring enough to go -straight to a first-class hotel with Fannie Coyle, posing in entirely -new characters. It will be well to inspect some of the hotel registers -in search of his writing.”</p> - -<p>“There are possibilities in all that, Nick,” Chick readily admitted.</p> - -<p>“Bear in mind, too, the difficulties involved in disposing of the -plunder from an undertaker’s wagon,” said Nick. “Where would the rascals -take it? Not to a private residence, for the wagon would attract the -attention of the neighbors and give rise to inquiries that might result -in speedy exposure. If taken to an isolated house, the wagon would be -seen going there and investigations might follow. The rascals would not -take those chances.”</p> - -<p>“I agree with you,” Chick nodded.</p> - -<p>“Nor would they trust their load to any railway company, nor to -transportation by others.”</p> - -<p>“Surely not.”</p> - -<p>“How, then, would they dispose of it? Where would they naturally take -it?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the question, Nick.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! it’s some question, too.”</p> - -<p>“They might, of course, drive to some point out of the city, where they -could transfer it undetected to an ordinary wagon, in which it could be -quickly taken to some place of concealment. Or it might be hidden in -some woodland section and afterward removed.”</p> - -<p>“There really seems to be no other safe way of disposing of it,” said -Chick.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be too sure of that,” Nick advised. “Deland is crafty and -ingenious. He may have hit upon an entirely different method, one so -novel and original that it does not occur to us.”</p> - -<p>“Possibly.”</p> - -<p>“Be that as it may, Chick, we will take up the trail as we find it,” -Nick said abruptly. “I will return to Strickland’s apartments and give -him a few instructions, then I’ll be off for a talk with the agent in -charge of this house. He may impart something worth knowing.”</p> - -<p>“It’s worth trying, at least.”</p> - -<p>“You get next to a telephone and a directory, in the meantime, and call -up all of the local undertakers. Find out whether one of them has an -extra wagon and has rented it, or——”</p> - -<p>“I understand,” Chick cut in with a nod.</p> - -<p>“Learn what you can from him, in that case, and be governed -accordingly.”</p> - -<p>“Trust me for that.”</p> - -<p>“While we are thus engaged, Patsy, you get after the cabmen and the -local express drivers. Find out, if possible, who took away——”</p> - -<p>“The crooks’ trunks,” put in Patsy. “I’ve got you, chief, hands down. -You don’t need to tell me what to do in a case of this kind.”</p> - -<p>“Very good,” said Nick. “Telephone to the house any discovery you may -make, providing circumstances prevent you from returning. Otherwise, -we’ll meet there, as usual. That’s all—except to dig in, tooth and -nail, to trace these rascals.”</p> - -<p>It then was nine o’clock.</p> - -<p>Precisely two hours had passed since the departure of Mortimer Deland -and Fannie Coyle—and the undertaker’s wagon filled with the stolen -treasures.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> -<small>A MAN OF NERVE.</small></h2> - -<p>While Nick Carter returned to the Strickland flat to impart such -information and instructions as would serve his purpose, Chick Carter -parted from Patsy on the corner of Fifth Avenue, then hastened home to -use the telephone and directory.</p> - -<p>Instead of calling up the local undertakers, however, Chick decided that -he first would ascertain from police headquarters whether the theft of -such extraordinary articles as a casket and an undertaker’s team had -been reported to the police. He had no great hope of hitting the trail -so quickly—but he was agreeably disappointed.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Chick, sure!” was the reply by a sergeant who responded, and to -whom the detective had mentioned his name. “Both were stolen three days -ago from Michael Hanlon, a Harlem undertaker.”</p> - -<p>“I have seen nothing published about it,” said Chick.</p> - -<p>“The facts have been suppressed pending an investigation.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know any of the details?”</p> - -<p>“No, nothing more. I will get them for you.”</p> - -<p>“I will not trouble you. I will look them up for myself.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know anything about the case?”</p> - -<p>“No more than you,” Chick replied evasively.</p> - -<p>He then hung up the receiver and started for Harlem to interview Michael -Hanlon, and in search for more definite evidence.</p> - -<p>Very little could be found, however, nor could Hanlon impart much -information. He stated that the casket had been stolen from a storeroom -in the basement of his establishment, and the wagon from a stable back -of the building, both occupying a lot adjoining his residence.</p> - -<p>The stable opened upon a side street, however, and the wagon evidently -had been drawn out and taken away with a horse belonging to the thieves, -his own not having been removed from its stall.</p> - -<p>“If it had been, Mr. Carter, I should have heard the rascals,” Hanlon -declared, after imparting the foregoing facts. “I would have heard the -hoofs on the floor.”</p> - -<p>“That probably is the only reason why the crooks brought a horse of -their own and drew out the wagon quietly,” said Chick.</p> - -<p>“Most likely.”</p> - -<p>“The police could find no clew to their identity, eh?”</p> - -<p>“No, sir. The rascals got away clean enough, sir, and I am out the -casket and the wagon, I’m thinking,” Hanlon grumbled bitterly.</p> - -<p>Chick then had nothing to offer him in the way of encouragement, having -found no evidence worthy of note, and he returned to the nearest -elevated station, alighting from the train half an hour later at -Forty-second Street.</p> - -<p>It then was after one o’clock, too late for lunch at home. Chick decided -to take it in one of the excellent hotels in that locality. As he was -about to enter the café, however, one of Nick’s earlier suggestions -occurred to him.</p> - -<p>“There might be something in it,” he muttered. “I’ll go up to the -office, instead, and have a look at the register.”</p> - -<p>He did so—and verified the sagacity of the famous detective.</p> - -<p>Almost the first entry that met Chick’s gaze, inscribed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> in the same -fine, clean-cut hand of which he had seen specimens that day, was that -of:</p> - -<p>“Charles F. Brooks and wife, Washington, D. C.”</p> - -<p>“Great guns!” thought Chick, surprised in spite of himself. “Have I -really cornered the rats so quickly? If that isn’t Deland’s hand, or -that of Gerald Vaughn, at least, I’ll eat my hat.”</p> - -<p>Instead of plunging over the traces, however, Chick turned to the clerk -and remarked:</p> - -<p>“I see that Mr. and Mrs. Brooks are here, from Washington.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, they arrived this morning,” said the clerk, smiling.</p> - -<p>“Are they frequent visitors?”</p> - -<p>“Well, quite so.”</p> - -<p>“Not strangers, then?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no; they are here each month, and sometimes more frequently.”</p> - -<p>Chick took a blank card from a tray and wrote a fictitious name on it, -adding that of a leading newspaper.</p> - -<p>“Send this up to their suite, please,” he requested. “They may like to -be mentioned in the society notes.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, certainly,” nodded the clerk. “Front! To 710.”</p> - -<p>“If they are mentioned in the society notes I anticipate, however, I’ll -wager they will not like it,” Chick mentally added.</p> - -<p>The bell hop in blue and brass returned in a very few minutes.</p> - -<p>“You are to come up, sir,” he announced. “This way, sir.”</p> - -<p>Chick followed him to the elevator.</p> - -<p>“They certainly apprehend nothing,” he reasoned. “They may, as Nick -inferred, feel entirely safe from suspicion, or absolutely sure that -their identity and connection with the robbery cannot be established. -I’ll wager, however, that I can take the wind out of their sails. If -they don’t weaken when they see me, or betray some sign of -recognition—well, their nerve will surpass that of a wooden Indian. I’m -dead sure I’m not mistaken. There is no mistaking that writing. They -must be the suspected couple, in spite of the clerk’s statements about -them, or I’m no judge of——”</p> - -<p>Chick had arrived at the door of the suite and his train of thought -ended.</p> - -<p>The page knocked on the door, then bowed and hurried away.</p> - -<p>A voice within called agreeably:</p> - -<p>“Come in!”</p> - -<p>Chick opened the door and was met in the entrance hall by an erect, -slender man in a plaid suit. His face was as fair and smooth as that of -a girl. His skin was peculiarly clear and pale, though his complexion -was dark and his eyes remarkably brilliant.</p> - -<p>Chick had staggered for a moment. The face was like that of Gerald -Vaughn, yet not like it. The flowing, black mustache was gone, and there -was no sign of it, nor of a beard, through this man’s clear, white skin.</p> - -<p>It was, too, like the photographed face of Mortimer Deland, but that was -so small as to preclude positive identification.</p> - -<p>What most amazed Chick, however, was the fact that he was received -without the slightest sign of recognition, without the least betrayal of -perturbation, despite that his visit could not possibly have been -anticipated.</p> - -<p>For all this, nevertheless, Chick instantly came to one positive -conclusion—a correct one.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> - -<p>“He’s my man!” flashed through his mind. “This is Gerald Vaughn—and -Mortimer Deland. I’ll stake my life on it.”</p> - -<p>While Chick was thus taking his measure, Deland was approaching from an -attractively furnished parlor, bowing and smiling.</p> - -<p>“Walk in, Mr. Alden,” said he, glancing at the card he still retained in -his slender, white hand. “Walk in and have a chair. Let me introduce my -wife, Mrs. Brooks.”</p> - -<p>Chick again was staggered—even more staggered than before.</p> - -<p>The woman who arose to greet him was tall and fair. She was fashionably -clad. Her eyes were blue. Her hair was a deep-auburn hue. Her smile was -captivating. Her teeth were like pearls.</p> - -<p>She bore not the slightest resemblance to Clarissa Vaughn.</p> - -<p>She was not even remotely suggestive of the black-veiled figure that had -left the Barker residence that morning in company with Gerald Vaughn.</p> - -<p>Chick steadied himself. He realized on the instant that he was up -against a man, or couple, fully as crafty, daring, and farsighted as the -letter left for Nick had implied. He realized, too, in view of their -absolute unconcern, that he had perhaps gone a step too far, and that -they might be prepared to foil the best work he could do at that time.</p> - -<p>For the recovery of the stolen Strickland treasures was of even greater -importance to him, in so far as the outcome of the case was concerned, -than the positive identification and arrest of Mortimer Deland and his -companion.</p> - -<p>That this woman was Fannie Coyle, however, Chick felt reasonably -sure—and again he was right.</p> - -<p>“I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Alden, I’m sure,” said the woman, -smiling graciously and extending her hand.</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” said Chick, bowing.</p> - -<p>“Have a chair,” Deland repeated. “Your card states that you are a -newspaper man, a reporter. Why, may I ask, have you favored us with a -call? Am I to be subjected to an interview?”</p> - -<p>“Would you object to it?” Chick inquired tentatively.</p> - -<p>Deland laughed slightly and displayed his teeth.</p> - -<p>“Not at all,” he replied. “I would, in fact, rather like it. It would be -amusing to see my name in print. I’ll be glad to give you any -information I possess, on whatever subject I can enlighten you.”</p> - -<p>“That is very kind, Mr. Vaughn, I’m sure,” said Chick, steadily eying -him.</p> - -<p>“Vaughn?” queried Deland, with brows lifted.</p> - -<p>Fannie Coyle laughed audibly.</p> - -<p>“Pardon. I got my names mixed,” Chick said dryly, observing that he had -evoked no sign of apprehensions. “I’m looking into a case of robbery -committed in Fifth Avenue last night, of which a man named Gerald Vaughn -is suspected.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, I see,” Deland exclaimed pleasantly. “That is why you happened to -call me by that name.”</p> - -<p>“Exactly.”</p> - -<p>“The mistake is quite pardonable, Charles, I’m sure,” remarked the -woman.</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed,” Deland bowed agreeably. “We know, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> course, that Mr. -Alden has not called to interview us about a robbery.”</p> - -<p>“I should think not. That would be absurd.”</p> - -<p>“I leave it to you, Mr. Alden.”</p> - -<p>“On the contrary, Mr. Brooks, that is the only reason why I have -called,” said Chick.</p> - -<p>“Ah, is it possible?” questioned Deland, with unruffled suavity. “Well, -that does surprise me. What information do you expect from me?”</p> - -<p>“Any that you can give me.”</p> - -<p>“But I cannot give you any,” insisted Deland, with a ripple of laughter. -“I know nothing about the case, nor the person you have mentioned. What -led you to infer that I do?”</p> - -<p>Chick abruptly decided on another tack.</p> - -<p>“Only because Vaughn is known to be a resident of Washington,” said he. -“Observing on the hotel register that you dwell in that city, I thought -you might possibly know of him, or have heard of him. If you do not——”</p> - -<p>“Let me assure you at once, Mr. Alden, on that point,” Deland put in -smiling. “I never heard of him.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I, Charles, I’m sure,” observed the woman.</p> - -<p>“Lest you may entertain any erroneous suspicions, Mr. Alden, let me call -up the proprietor of the hotel,” Deland added, rising to go to the -telephone. “He knows me very well. He will vouch for me. He will assure -you that I am entirely veracious and——”</p> - -<p>“Pardon!” Chick checked him with a gesture, rising to go. “Do nothing of -the kind. Your word alone, Mr. Brooks, is quite sufficient. I had not -the slightest idea that you know anything about the robbery. I thought -merely that you might know Vaughn, or have heard of him.”</p> - -<p>“I do not, Mr. Alden, I assure you.”</p> - -<p>“I now am convinced of it, and am sorry I troubled you.”</p> - -<p>“No trouble whatever,” said Deland, extending his hand. “I am, on the -contrary, very pleased we met you. Such episodes really amuse me. I hope -to meet you again, Mr. Alden.”</p> - -<p>“We shall meet again, all right,” Chick said grimly to himself after -departing. “We shall meet again, Mr. Deland, and I’ll then fit bracelets -on your slender, white wrists. Bluff me, eh? Give me the laugh, will -you? I’ll cram all that down your throat a little later. At the same -time, by Jove, I give you credit for more nerve and audacity than any -rascal I have recently met. But I’ll get you, all right, at the proper -time.”</p> - -<p>Chick had only one reason for not arresting Deland then and there. The -attitude of the rascal, together with the assurance he had displayed, -convinced Chick that the stolen property had been disposed of in some -locality felt to be perfectly safe, and that its recovery might be -perverted by the immediate arrest of this couple.</p> - -<p>“I’ll wait a while and watch them,” he said to himself, while returning -to the elevator. “I know that I have given them a fright, despite the -coolness of both, and they surely will make some move that will put me -in right.”</p> - -<p>Apprehending that it might be made immediately, Chick found concealment -under the rise of stairs, from which he could see the door of suite 10.</p> - -<p>He waited and watched for more than an hour, but no one left or visited -the suite, and he then returned to the hotel office and talked with the -proprietor.</p> - -<p>The latter confirmed the statements already made by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> clerk, that the -couple had been occasional guests of the house during several months, -and were supposed to be reputable Washington people. Beyond that, -however, he knew nothing about them.</p> - -<p>“Deland is crafty,” thought Chick, after the interview. “He wanted to -establish some place to which he could flee, if necessary, divested of -the disguise he has been wearing in the character of Gerald Vaughn, and -where his pretensions would be backed up in a measure by the hotel -proprietor. That has been his object in coming here occasionally with -Fannie Coyle.</p> - -<p>“But what has become of the dark woman I saw last night? It was she who -left the Barker residence with Deland this morning. By Jove, I have it. -Fannie Coyle was the housekeeper. She has been stopping here since her -pretended death. I’ll have the entire gang, too, before I quit this -trail.”</p> - -<p>Chick continued to wait and watch. Twice he telephoned home to -communicate with Nick or Patsy, but neither of them had returned, and he -decided to continue playing a lone hand.</p> - -<p>That afternoon waned and early evening came, and Chick could see from -the street that the windows of suite 710 were brightly lighted. He felt -reasonably sure that neither of its occupants had departed.</p> - -<p>Returning to the hotel office about seven o’clock, he heard the ringing -of the telephone bell, and then the voice of the clerk addressing a -hallboy, just approaching from a side corridor.</p> - -<p>“It’s 710,” called the clerk. “A taxi is wanted.”</p> - -<p>“Mullen is at the side door, sir,” replied the hallboy.</p> - -<p>“Good enough! Tell him to wait there.”</p> - -<p>“All right, sir.”</p> - -<p>Chick Carter had pricked up his ears, and his eyes were glowing more -brightly.</p> - -<p>“A taxi, eh?” he muttered, heading for the side door. “By the rats, in -710, eh? By Jove, here’s my chance. It’s Mullen for mine.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> -<small>PLAYING A LONE HAND.</small></h2> - -<p>Patsy Garvan, following the instructions Nick Carter had given him, did -not ring a bull’s-eye until four o’clock that afternoon. He then rounded -up the hackman he had been seeking.</p> - -<p>Patsy recognized his face and discovered him standing beside his -carriage in front of a hotel in Forty-fourth Street.</p> - -<p>“You’re the very man I want,” said he, confronting him. “Have a look at -this.”</p> - -<p>Patsy displayed the detective badge under the lap of his vest. Sharply -watching the hackman’s ruddy face, however, he saw at a glance that his -hearer felt no alarm, or consternation, as would have been the case if -he was guilty of anything wrong. His countenance took on a look of mild -surprise, nevertheless, and he surprised Patsy, also, by saying, with a -sort of gruff heartiness:</p> - -<p>“You don’t need to show me that, Garvan.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, you know me, then?” said Patsy.</p> - -<p>“Sure. There are mighty few dicks I don’t know by sight. None in your -class, Garvan, as far as that goes.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks,” smiled Patsy. “What’s your name?”</p> - -<p>“Pat Mulligan.”</p> - -<p>“A namesake of mine, eh?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I reckon so,” grinned Mulligan. “What d’ye want? I know you have not -started a spiel with me for nothing.”</p> - -<p>“This is between us, mind you.”</p> - -<p>“That goes.”</p> - -<p>“You took a couple from a house in Fifth Avenue at seven o’clock this -morning.”</p> - -<p>“Sure. Where the stiff was being taken away.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the place. What do you know about the couple?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” said Mulligan, but a curious gleam lighted his eyes. “I went -there on a telephone order.”</p> - -<p>“Where did you take them?”</p> - -<p>“Grand Central Terminal. They had no luggage, so I did not go in with -them. That was the last I saw of them.”</p> - -<p>“Did you see the undertaker’s wagon again?”</p> - -<p>“Not after it left the house,” said Mulligan. “I supposed it was heading -for the station baggage room. I know nothing more about it.”</p> - -<p>“I believe you, Mulligan,” said Patsy. “You know something, -nevertheless, that you have not told me. I can read that in your eyes.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve got keen ones, Garvan, all right,” Mulligan said, with a laugh. -“<span class="lftspc">’</span>Tain’t much.”</p> - -<p>“Come across. What is it?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve seen a woman coming out of that house who don’t stand ace high. -She pretends to be all right, but between you and me, Garvan, she’s as -clever and crooked a jade as you’ll find from Harlem to the Battery. -Harlem—that’s where she hangs out when at home.”</p> - -<p>“What is her name?” questioned Patsy, with increasing interest.</p> - -<p>“Nell Margate.”</p> - -<p>“Any relation to Jim Margate, of Harlem?”</p> - -<p>“She’s his sister.”</p> - -<p>“H’m, is that so?” thought Patsy, who not only knew Jim Margate -personally, but also knew him to be a decidedly bad character. -“Margate’s sister, eh? If you knew Nell Margate to be in that house, -Mulligan, why didn’t you tip some one to the fact?”</p> - -<p>“A dick?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Why would I?” said Mulligan, with a deprecatory shake of his head. “It -was no funeral of mine. How could I know why she was there?”</p> - -<p>“A crook is always out for crooked work.”</p> - -<p>“But I’m not hired to catch them, Garvan, like you,” said Mulligan. -“Many a crook has paid me good money. It isn’t up to me to stool-pigeon -for the police. I’ve got to shut my eyes and keep my trap closed, or I -might get mine for not doing it. I wouldn’t have mentioned this, only I -know I might get in wrong from not telling you, since you’ve questioned -me about it.”</p> - -<p>“Is there anything more you can tell me?” asked Patsy.</p> - -<p>“Divil a thing. You’ve got all I can hand you.”</p> - -<p>“When did you see Nell Margate leaving the Barker residence?”</p> - -<p>“Something like a week ago.”</p> - -<p>“Describe her.”</p> - -<p>“She’s a well-built, dark girl, about twenty-five years old,” Mulligan -responded. “She’s a good looker, Garvan, and makes the most of it. Being -clever, too, she gets by with many a stunt. I happen to know all this, -Garvan, because Jim Margate’s place isn’t far from my own.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“In one of the outskirts, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, pretty well out. The old man used to run it for a road house. -There’s been nothing doing since he died—that is, nothing on the -surface,” Mulligan pointedly added.</p> - -<p>Patsy knew what he meant—that Margate’s place was the resort of crooks. -He slipped Mulligan a bank note, remarking:</p> - -<p>“Forget it—also what we have said.”</p> - -<p>“Bet you!”</p> - -<p>“So long.”</p> - -<p>Patsy stepped into the hotel and tried to telephone to Nick, but Joseph -told him that he had not returned; also that Chick, though he had -telephoned an hour before, had left no message.</p> - -<p>“Nothing doing,” thought Patsy, returning to the street. “I’ll keep -going, then, on my own hook. Nell Margate, eh? She was the woman Chick -saw last night. Mulligan’s description fits her to the letter.”</p> - -<p>“I guess it’s up to me, by Jove, to have a look at Jim Margate’s place. -It’s no crazy bet that Deland and Nell Margate are there, if not the -whole knavish bunch. I’ll soon find out.”</p> - -<p>Patsy already was acting upon these resolutions.</p> - -<p>Nearly an hour later, or soon after five o’clock, found him stealing -cautiously along a sparsely settled road within half a mile of the -Harlem River, his-features carefully disguised, and his movements those -of one having no definite destination in view.</p> - -<p>Presently, nevertheless, after crossing a number of vacant lots piled -with refuse, and rubbish, Patsy picked his way through the trees and -underbrush still covering a belt of land in that section, and finally -brought up back of an old stable and dwelling fronting on another road, -from which both were somewhat shut in by a few remaining trees. The -surroundings were uninviting, however, and the place somewhat isolated.</p> - -<p>Having shaped a course that precluded observation from the windows of -the old wooden house, Patsy crawled under a fence back of the stable, -and succeeded in finding concealment in an old shed near by, from which -he could see the back door and windows of the dwelling.</p> - -<p>It appeared to be deserted. Most of the faded curtains were drawn down. -The door of the near stable was closed, moreover, denoting that it was -unoccupied. The yard in front of it and the ill-kept grounds surrounding -the house looked desolate and dismal in the waning light of the cloudy -November day.</p> - -<p>“Gee! it don’t look much like business,” muttered Patsy, after a -cautious survey of the place. “I’ve blundered, perhaps, in coming out -here. The rascals may have sought shelter somewhere else. They may have -other headquarters, where—no, by gracious! those are recent hoofprints -in front of the stable. The dirt turned over by the horse’s shoes is -hardly dry. But there are no very recent wheel tracks, judging from—by -Jove, I think I had better have a look in the stable. I’ll never have a -better chance.”</p> - -<p>Patsy invariably acted promptly upon a definite impulse. Stealing from -the shed, he found an open space under the rear of the stable, half -filled with straw and refuse, above which was a trapdoor through the -floor. Crawling up amid the festoons of cobwebs, he raised it cautiously -and found himself directly under a large wagon.</p> - -<p>“There’s no one here,” he murmured, after listening. “That’s a cinch. -I’ll go a step farther.”</p> - -<p>Drawing himself up through the opening, he dropped<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> the trapdoor and -crept from under the wagon. He then discovered in the dim light that it -was—an undertaker’s wagon.</p> - -<p>“Gee whiz! I’ve struck oil, all right,” he said to himself, with a -thrill of satisfaction. “If the plunder is here—no, by gracious, it’s -gone!”</p> - -<p>Patsy had opened the rear door and found that the wagon was empty.</p> - -<p>Further inspection revealed that the brass name plate on each side had -been skillfully altered with a coat of gilding, and that it bore a name -obviously fictitious.</p> - -<p>“By Jove, I’ve got a sure line on the gang, at least,” thought Patsy, -after these investigations. “Under the mask of death, so to put it, they -have succeeded in turning this knavish trick. But where is the plunder? -That’s the question. I’d better sneak out and telephone to the chief, I -guess, and then return and watch this place. I can direct him to it -and——”</p> - -<p>Patsy’s train of thought ended abruptly.</p> - -<p>So suddenly as to preclude any extensive move, the heavy tread of men’s -feet sounded on the wooden run in front of the stable, and a key was -thrust into the padlock of the door.</p> - -<p>Patsy knew that a successful retreat through the trapdoor was utterly -impossible. He sought the nearest place of concealment—a corner back of -a grain chest that stood under the overhang of a rear haymow. He no -sooner had dropped out of sight, than the broad, sliding door was opened -wide enough to admit three men.</p> - -<p>Looking cautiously over the grain chest, Patsy immediately recognized -two of them.</p> - -<p>“Jim Margate and a well-known running mate of his, Bob Pitman, a pair of -desperate blacklegs.”</p> - -<p>The third man was Mortimer Deland.</p> - -<p>He was laughing in a cold, mirthless way, while he followed the two more -roughly clad men into the stable, saying at the same time:</p> - -<p>“Oh, I easily gave him the slip by sneaking down the servants’ stairway. -Fannie and Nell will make a quick get-away later. Leave that to Fan. -They’ll show up here during the evening. Fan will slip out from under -his guns, all right.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think he knew you?” Margate asked, while all three seated -themselves on some empty boxes near the partly open door.</p> - -<p>“Know me! Sure he knew me,” said Deland, still laughing icily. “I -suspected what was coming when he sent up his card. The phony name did -not blind me, not much!”</p> - -<p>“By Jove, either Nick or Chick has seen and interviewed this rascal,” -thought Patsy, easily hearing all that was said. “This must be Deland -himself, who has been posing as Gerald Vaughn.”</p> - -<p>“I sent Nell into the next room, which connects with Fan’s suite, and -then told the bell hop to send him up.”</p> - -<p>“Was he in disguise?”</p> - -<p>“No, nothing doing,” grinned Deland, with teeth gleaming. “He wasn’t -dead sure of us, you know, and he hoped we’d weaken when we saw him. He -don’t know us, Jim.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t suppose he knew me when we lugged out the stuff this morning, -do you?” questioned Margate apprehensively.</p> - -<p>“Or me, Mort?” put in Pitman.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> - -<p>“The undertaker and his assistant,” thought Patsy. “That was nearly a -cinch before.”</p> - -<p>“Knew you!” exclaimed Deland derisively. “That’s rot! How could he have -known either of you through the disguise I loaned you? No, no, you’re -away, all right.”</p> - -<p>“That listens good to me,” said Pitman. “But these Carters are -infernally sharp dicks. They’ve got eyes like needles.”</p> - -<p>“They’d better watch out, then, lest they lose them,” Deland said, more -seriously, and his voice and countenance evinced a devilish streak in -his nature. “I left Nick Carter a word of warning to that effect this -morning. If he presses me too closely, hang him, he shall feel my teeth. -He don’t dream who I really am and of what I am capable.”</p> - -<p>“Any gink capable of the roof stunt you did last night can do anything,” -said Margate, with an approving scowl. “You’re the real thing, Deland, -and then some, or you couldn’t have framed up such a job as this and -pulled it off.”</p> - -<p>“Child’s play, Jim,” said Deland coldly. “A kid’s stunt. Has Ruff gone -after the wagon?”</p> - -<p>“Sure. He’ll come with it after dark.”</p> - -<p>“We must transfer the stuff as early as possible.”</p> - -<p>“Why early? It strikes me late would be better.”</p> - -<p>“Wagons are not out late where we are going,” said Deland. “Some guy -might take it into his head to watch us. No, no, Jim, the earlier the -better after darkness gathers. There’s no danger of our being seen in -the road back of the last bedroom. It’s going and coming that’s risky, -so the earlier the better.”</p> - -<p>“That’s true, mebbe,” Margate allowed. “I’m not so sure the hiding place -is safe at that. If the newspapers——”</p> - -<p>“There’s nothing in the newspapers,” Deland interrupted. “I’ve made sure -of that. Besides, Ruff has had an eye on the place most of the day. He’d -have reported any investigations.”</p> - -<p>“Sure, as far as that goes.”</p> - -<p>“It’s as safe as a Wall Street bank vault,” Deland confidently added. -“Who would think of looking there for it? It beats taking the risk of -coming straight here this morning, for all we afterward took a chance -with the big, black wagon.”</p> - -<p>“Mebbe so,” Margate again allowed. “We’re banking on your judgment.”</p> - -<p>“I never went wrong in my life,” said Deland. “Look me up across the -water. You’ll find that no blooming inspector ever put darbies on me.”</p> - -<p>“An American detective will do so,” thought Patsy. “I’ll bet my pile on -that.”</p> - -<p>“It will be a good night for the job.” Deland added, gazing out at the -sky. “Cloudy and dark. What more can we ask? We’ll wait here till Ruff -returns with the wagon.”</p> - -<p>“That won’t be long,” said Pitman. “It will be dark in half an hour.’</p> - -<p>“Gee whiz! there’s no get-away for me,” thought Patsy, wondering where -the rascals were going, though their mission was obvious. “I could not -steal out unheard if I had the feet of a fly. I’ll stick close to these -rats, therefore, and let come what may. If they undertake to shift their -plunder—well, there’ll be something doing, all right. Let me get my -lamps on it, and I’ll hold up the whole bunch single-handed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /> -<small>IN GRUESOME CONFINEMENT.</small></h2> - -<p>What more Patsy Garvan heard was along much the same lines as that which -he already had heard, but none of it gave him any clew to the -contemplated destination of Deland and his confederates.</p> - -<p>Dusk began to gather within half an hour, and darkness quickly followed. -Margate lighted a small lantern, so hooding it with an empty box that -its rays could not be seen from outside, but in its feeble glow the -three crooks continued to sit and discuss their knavery. Their faces and -figures looked grim and threatening in the dim light cast upon them.</p> - -<p>Presently, still crouching behind the grain chest, Patsy heard the thud -of hoofs and the grinding of wheels in the gravel, and Margate arose at -the same time, saying quickly:</p> - -<p>“Here comes Ruff with the wagon. I told you he’d show up promptly.”</p> - -<p>“Good enough,” cried Deland. “We’ll lose no time in getting away.”</p> - -<p>“I must go to the house for my cap,” growled Margate.</p> - -<p>“Go ahead. That won’t take long, Jim?”</p> - -<p>“Wait till I douse this glim. There would be something doing, all right, -if this dead wagon were seen here?”</p> - -<p>“It has been seen, you rascal, and I can see your finish,” thought -Patsy, with grim satisfaction.</p> - -<p>He had heard the arrival of the wagon, drawn up near the front of the -stable. He heard Ruff greeting Deland and Pitman, when they hastened -out. He saw Margate extinguish the light, then stride out and close the -door, followed by the sharp click of the padlock.</p> - -<p>Patsy stole out from behind the grain chest in the inky darkness, then -crawled under Hanlon’s huge black wagon and found the iron ring in the -trapdoor.</p> - -<p>“It’s the same old way for mine,” he muttered, while he noiselessly -opened the trap. “I’ll not let these rats give me the slip. I’ll find -out where they are going and where they take their plunder, at least, if -I get no chance to hold them up. I’ll get them sooner or later, by -thunder, if it takes a leg.”</p> - -<p>Indulging in these cogitations, Patsy dropped quietly through the -opening, and, without waiting to close it, he crept out through the open -space under the stable, and to a point between it and the old shed near -by.</p> - -<p>He then could see the wagon some ten feet away and headed toward the -street. It was a large covered one, and it stood nearly opposite the -space between the two buildings. The driver had not left his seat.</p> - -<p>Pitman and Mortimer Deland already had climbed in and were seating -themselves on two boxes under the leather top, that occupied by Ruff -being too small for all four.</p> - -<p>Patsy could hear them talking, and he now saw Jim Margate returning from -the house.</p> - -<p>“Gee! they may give me a long chase,” he said to himself, crouching low -in the darkness. “If they drive fast, I may have some difficulty in -keeping up with them, or——”</p> - -<p>He broke off abruptly, crouching lower and peering intently through the -darkness.</p> - -<p>“By Jove, the running gear of the wagon is braced<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> from the end of each -axletree to the center pole,” he added to himself. “The braces form a -sort of platform under the floor of the wagon. There is room enough for -me to lie on them, if I can contrive to get there. The springs will not -give much under the light load to be carried. It will beat walking, by -Jove, and remove the risk of losing sight of the rascals. I’ll do it, by -gracious, unless——”</p> - -<p>Patsy did not stop to consider the alternative.</p> - -<p>He saw Margate climbing into the wagon, while Ruff gathered up the -reins. It was the only opportunity he would have, and well Patsy knew -it, and he did not hesitate for an instant.</p> - -<p>He darted out in the darkness and crawled quickly between the rear -wheels. The voices of the four men drowned the faint sounds he could not -avoid causing. Dropping flat on his back under the middle of the wagon -and parallel with it, Patsy reached up and grasped the center pole with -both hands, then quickly twined his legs around it.</p> - -<p>“Get up!” growled Ruff; and the wagon started.</p> - -<p>As quick as a flash, knowing that any jar of the wagon would be -attributed to running over a rock, Patsy swung himself over the pole and -wormed himself upon the braces front and rear.</p> - -<p>He then found that he had ample room, and that he would not probably be -seen by persons passed on their way, but the position was a trying one, -taxing nerves and muscles to maintain it.</p> - -<p>“I’ll stick, by thunder, let come what may,” he said to himself, -gritting his teeth while the wagon jolted out of the driveway and into -the rough road. “I’ll not be shaken down while I have fingers to cling -with.”</p> - -<p>It proved to be as rough a ride, nevertheless, as Patsy Garvan had ever -experienced. He had to give his entire attention to retaining his -position. He at no time could tell just where he was, or whither he was -going. He knew only that he brought up in a lonely, somewhat wooded -section, after a last mile over the roughest kind of a road, and the -wagon then came to a sudden stop.</p> - -<p>“There’s no show of stealing out,” thought Patsy, with every nerve and -muscle strained and aching. “I must take a chance the rascals will not -see me.”</p> - -<p>The four men already were climbing down from the wagon, Ruff and Jim -Margate in advance. The latter scarce had alighted on the ground, when -Patsy heard him ask, with a fierce growl:</p> - -<p>“What the devil’s that?”</p> - -<p>“What?” snapped Deland, joining him.</p> - -<p>“That white thing under the wagon. It looks like a handkerchief.”</p> - -<p>A handkerchief it was, as a matter of fact, jolted from Patsy’s pocket -just at that fatal moment when the wagon stopped, and fallen to the -ground to betray him.</p> - -<p>“Gee! it’s all off, and I’m caught, dead sure,” flashed through his -mind. “I can’t even pull a gun.”</p> - -<p>Deland had crouched quickly to get the handkerchief, and his gaze fell -upon Patsy. His eyes took on a quick, fiery glow. With invariable -coolness, nevertheless, he whipped out a revolver and said sharply:</p> - -<p>“Not only a handkerchief, Jim, but also its owner.”</p> - -<p>“What d’ye mean?” Margate snarled.</p> - -<p>“See for yourself,” snapped Deland. “Don’t stir till I give you -permission, you spying whelp, or there’ll be holes made in you.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m not going to stir,” Patsy said coolly, thoroughly disgusted -with the unfortunate turn of affairs. “I’m not dead sure that I can -stir, as far as that goes.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll be dead if you do, take my word for it. Drop down on the -ground.”</p> - -<p>Patsy obeyed, falling with a thud when he let go of his support. He -could not have clung on much longer.</p> - -<p>“Get him by the legs, Jim, and pull him out,” Deland commanded. “Watch -that he don’t reach for a gun.”</p> - -<p>“If he does, blast him, I’ll break his head,” Margate snarled, while he -and Pitman seized Patsy’s heels and dragged him from under the wagon.</p> - -<p>“Bring a piece of rope, Ruff,” said Deland, with revolver ready. “Stand -him on his feet, Jim. Do you know him?”</p> - -<p>Patsy saw that resistance would be nothing less than madness. He -suffered the two ruffians to yank him to his feet, and when they did so -his disguise was jostled out of place.</p> - -<p>Margate saw it and jerked it from his face.</p> - -<p>“Perdition!” He recoiled with a gasp. “It’s young Garvan, one of Nick -Carter’s push.”</p> - -<p>Deland came nearer, till the muzzle of his revolver touched Patsy’s -breast. He did not appear to be in the least disturbed by the discovery, -not more than when Chick intruded upon him that morning. His nerves -were, apparently, as stiff as steel.</p> - -<p>“Oh, is that so?” he inquired icily. “Are you sure of it, Jim?”</p> - -<p>“I ought to be, hang him.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll do better than hang him,” said Deland, with an ominous gleam in -his cold eyes. “Garvan, eh? What sent you out here?”</p> - -<p>“I came to see what you rascals were after,” said Patsy curtly.</p> - -<p>“Did you?” sneered Deland. “Well, you shall not be disappointed. You -shall see all that we do—until we depart.”</p> - -<p>“That’s good enough for me.”</p> - -<p>“But after then—you will see nothing!” Deland added, with a merciless -smile.</p> - -<p>Patsy did not deign to reply.</p> - -<p>He glanced sharply around, however, and saw that they were close to the -rear part of an extensive cemetery. A fence of wooden palings divided it -from, the rough, lonely back road. The white stones and monuments, also -several large tombs built into the side of a hill, could be seen through -the semidarkness.</p> - -<p>“Get his weapons and bind his arms securely,” Deland commanded coldly. -“If he has any handcuffs, fasten them on him, also. He shall watch us to -his heart’s content—until we leave him.”</p> - -<p>“Leave him where?” growled Margate.</p> - -<p>“Wait and see.”</p> - -<p>Patsy still was a bit puzzled, but he submitted in grim silence to the -work of the three ruffians, who disarmed and then securely bound him.</p> - -<p>“Now, Margate, a gag,” said Deland. “Make sure that you fix it so -securely that he cannot remove it. He shall occupy cold quarters -to-night—and hereafter!”</p> - -<p>Patsy saw plainly that he was in the hands of a man who had in him all -the makings of a devil.</p> - -<p>Margate took a gag from his pocket and fastened it in Patsy’s mouth.</p> - -<p>“Now, gentlemen, we are ready,” said Deland. “Bring<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> him with us. Let -him see what he may. It’s a pleasure to gratify him. Murderers are well -fed and wined, even, if wanted, before their execution. Bring him -along.”</p> - -<p>He turned with the last and tore off several palings, already loosened, -from the high fence.</p> - -<p>Forced on by the other three ruffians, Patsy was conducted to the door -of one of the tombs, some twenty yards from where the wagon had been -left.</p> - -<p>Deland took a key from his pocket and unlocked the iron door, which -Pitman and Ruff quickly removed and stood against a near bank.</p> - -<p>“Look!” said Deland. “Here is what we came after.”</p> - -<p>He shot the beam of an electric lamp into the tomb.</p> - -<p>Patsy looked and saw—the long, wooden case and the florist’s boxes seen -in the undertaker’s wagon that morning.</p> - -<p>He could not speak, but he glared at the smiling miscreant near by, and -Deland laughed audibly.</p> - -<p>“A safe concealment, Garvan,” he remarked. “Even your famous Nick Carter -will never think of this. Nor will you ever inform him. For, after -removing the plunder for which we had labored—I shall leave you here!”</p> - -<p>Patsy felt a chill run down his spine, and a cold perspiration broke out -all over him.</p> - -<p>“You will not be found,” Deland added, with merciless deliberation. -“There may be no occasion to reopen this tomb for years. Nor can you -escape, or make yourself heard, for we shall bind your feet and leave -you in the box now containing part of our booty. Move lively, mates! The -sooner we are away, now, the better.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! here’s a fine outlook,” thought Patsy, steadying his nerves. “This -miscreant means what he said. Nor will either of these rascals oppose -him. Great guns! it looks tough, for fair!”</p> - -<p>The three ruffians, Deland watching, already were transferring the -pasteboard boxes to the wagon, a task that occupied them only a few -minutes.</p> - -<p>The cover then was removed from the undertaker’s box, which stood on the -floor of the tomb.</p> - -<p>Patsy could only stand and gaze.</p> - -<p>When he returned with his companions for the last time, Margate brought -a screw driver from the wagon.</p> - -<p>“Off with the cover, Jim,” said Deland coldly. “Save the screws so that -we may fasten it on again—with this meddlesome feller under it. I will -teach him to interfere with my business, already sufficiently hazardous. -Make haste. Put the stuff out here on the ground. We four then can take -it to the wagon, after locking the tomb door.”</p> - -<p>The knaves were at work while he was speaking.</p> - -<p>Patsy saw small but costly old paintings, boxes of gems and jade, the -priceless Strad violin, then in its case—these and many other treasures -Patsy saw brought out and laid upon the ground.</p> - -<p>There was no delay over what followed, no argument about it, no sign of -mercy in the eyes of either of his captors.</p> - -<p>Patsy was rudely thrown to the ground and his legs securely bound.</p> - -<p>Half a minute later he was lying in the box from which the treasures had -been taken.</p> - -<p>He heard the cover replaced, the massive key turned in the grating lock.</p> - -<p>Three minutes later the wagon moved away with the four knaves and its -load of treasures.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> - -<p>Only Patsy Garvan remained.</p> - -<p>Entombed alive!</p> - -<p>Alone with the dead!</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /><br /> -<small>IN THE NICK OF TIME.</small></h2> - -<p>It fell to the lot of Nick Carter, as frequently occurred, to be a sort -of connecting link between his two assistants, so uniting the result of -their work as to form the complete and unbreakable chain that helplessly -shackled the outlaws they were seeking.</p> - -<p>It was after six o’clock when Nick, returning to his Madison Avenue -residence, learned that neither of them had arrived, nor any definite -message been received concerning their movements.</p> - -<p>“Both men have picked up a trail worth following, and are so engaged, or -they would have sent in a report of some kind,” Nick reasoned, taking -the swivel chair at his desk. “They must have accomplished more than I, -in that case, since I was banking quite heavily on what I could learn -from Archer, the real-estate agent, concerning his relations with -Deland. It was bad luck, indeed, that he was out of town on this -particular day. I’ll try his residence. He may have returned by this -time.”</p> - -<p>Nick had been trying in vain, in fact, to get in communication with Mr. -John Archer, who had had charge of the Barker residence during its -owner’s absence. He now found, with much satisfaction, that he had met -with success.</p> - -<p>The servant who answered his telephone call informed him that Mr. Archer -had arrived home and would talk with him in a moment. Scarce more than -that had elapsed when Nick heard the agent’s voice over the wire.</p> - -<p>He at once informed him of what had occurred in the Barker residence, -and he then began to question him. He soon found, however, that Archer -could add but little to what already had been learned; that he had -permitted Deland to occupy the house because of a letter containing -those instructions from its owner, brought to him by Deland, and that he -had not communicated with Colonel Barker in regard to it, believing the -letter to be genuine and Deland entirely trustworthy.</p> - -<p>“Did you recognize Colonel Barker’s writing, or is the letter -typewritten?” Nick inquired.</p> - -<p>“It is typewritten on paper bearing a cut of the Berlin hotel in which -Colonel Barker is living,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“Did you recognize the signature?”</p> - -<p>“Perfectly, Mr. Carter.”</p> - -<p>“It is a forgery, nevertheless.”</p> - -<p>“That seems almost incredible,” Archer protested. “I am very familiar -with Colonel Barker’s signature. I have had charge, of both of his -places at times during many years.”</p> - -<p>“Has he two places?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Where is the other?”</p> - -<p>“It’s the old homestead, out Fordham way,” said Archer. “Colonel Barker -grew up there and still spends part of each summer on the old place. It -is outside of the town and somewhat isolated. Nearly all of his family -are entombed in the old cemetery in that section.”</p> - -<p>“Has Deland, or Vaughn, ever been out there?” Nick inquired.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I think not, though we have talked of the place. There is nothing more -I can tell you.”</p> - -<p>“I wish to see that forged letter,” said Nick. “I will call at your -Broadway office to-morrow morning.”</p> - -<p>“Very well.”</p> - -<p>“I then will go with you to the Barker residence.”</p> - -<p>Nick’s face wore a frown when he hung up the receiver. He was thinking, -not of what he had just heard, but of the stolen Strickland treasures.</p> - -<p>“The rascals may have taken them to that old homestead,” he muttered, -gazing intently at his desk. “Still, there would have been that same -danger that the undertaker’s wagon would be seen. The only really -consistent place to which they could have driven it is a graveyard. But -that, on the other hand, in view of its contents, seems utterly absurd -and——”</p> - -<p>Nick stopped short. His eyes suddenly lighted. He was hit with an idea -that had not occurred to him before.</p> - -<p>“Entombed out there!” he muttered. “A tomb! By Jove, that may call the -turn.”</p> - -<p>Nick seized the telephone again and got the Fordham telephone exchange. -He learned after a few inquiries just where the old Barker place was -located, and that the sexton of the cemetery mentioned was one Jason -Dexter.</p> - -<p>“He has a telephone in his house,” said the operator. “I will connect -you with him.”</p> - -<p>“Do so, please,” Nick directed, then waited until he heard the sexton’s -voice.</p> - -<p>“Hello!”</p> - -<p>“Is that you, Mr. Dexter?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“This is Mr. Vaughn talking—Gerald Vaughn,” said Nick, proceeding in a -roundabout way to get the information he wanted.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I remember you,” Dexter returned. “What can I do for you?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing whatever. I merely want to thank you again for having opened -the Barker tomb for me this morning, and for your kind attentions.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well, that is quite needless, Mr. Vaughn, I assure you. My duties -require no less of me.”</p> - -<p>“I wanted to thank you again, nevertheless, and I feel very grateful. -Good night, sir.”</p> - -<p>Nick did not wait for an answer. He hung up the receiver, shouted to -Joseph, the butler, and then hastened to don a woolen cap and a thick -reefer, into the pockets of which he thrust three revolvers.</p> - -<p>“Have Danny here with the touring car as soon as possible,” he -commanded, when Joseph appeared at the office door.</p> - -<p>The touring car, with Danny Maloney at the wheel, was at the curbing -outside five minutes later.</p> - -<p>Thirty minutes later it stood in front of the small wooden dwelling in -which Jason Dexter resided, a few hundred yards from the old rural -cemetery of which he had charge. One of the front rooms was lighted, -denoting that the sexton still was at home.</p> - -<p>“Put out the headlights, Danny,” Nick directed, while he sprang from the -car. “There is no danger of a collision in this lonely section. The -rascals might see our lights in front of this house, however, if they -were to arrive to transfer their hidden booty. We’ll take a back road, -which I happen to know flanks the farther side of the cemetery.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Out they go, chief,” returned Danny, the glare of the lamps on the -lonely road suddenly vanishing.</p> - -<p>Nick entered the front yard of the house and rang the bell. It was -answered by the sexton himself, a somewhat bowed, gray man well into the -sixties.</p> - -<p>It goes without saying, of course, that he was more than surprised when -Nick entered and introduced himself, telling him what had occurred and -what he suspected.</p> - -<p>It then appeared that Deland had called on the sexton two days before, -stating that he was a relative of Colonel Barker and then was occupying -his Fifth Avenue residence. He further stated that his aunt had died -suddenly that morning, and that he wanted to place her remains in the -Barker tomb for a few days, until arrangements could be made to take her -body to Virginia, her native State, for burial.</p> - -<p>“You suspected nothing wrong, I infer,” said Nick.</p> - -<p>“Certainly not, Mr. Carter. Mr. Vaughn appeared to be a perfect -gentleman,” Dexter assured him, with rather rustic simplicity. “I -consented, of course, supposing he had a family right to use the tomb. I -told him Colonel Barker had a duplicate key, but he said he did not know -where to find it. Colonel Barker is abroad, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know that.”</p> - -<p>“I then told Mr. Vaughn that I would open the tomb for him with my key -when he came with the body. He said that was just what he wanted, and I -did so quite early this morning. I do remember, now, that he would not -permit me to aid the undertaker and his assistant in handling the casket -and boxes of flowers, all of which were put in the tomb.”</p> - -<p>“You now know why, of course,” Nick said, a bit dryly. “You would have -detected that the boxes did not contain flowers. Let me see your key to -the tomb.”</p> - -<p>The sexton hastened to get it, and Nick examined it with his lens.</p> - -<p>“Just as I suspected,” he exclaimed, almost immediately. “An impression -was taken of this key while you were at the tomb. It was taken in putty, -or some ingredient containing oil. There are traces of it on one side of -the key.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well, this is most amazing.”</p> - -<p>“Get your hat, Mr. Dexter, and show me where the tomb is located,” Nick -said abruptly. “I have an assistant outside. The crooks undoubtedly will -come to-night to remove their plunder. We can catch them in the act, -and—well, that will be their finish.”</p> - -<p>It did not take them long, all three, to arrive at the door of the -Barker tomb, nor long for the sexton to unlock and remove the iron door.</p> - -<p>Nick shot the beam of his search lamp into its gruesome depths.</p> - -<p>“Great Scott!” cried Danny impulsively. “The treasures are gone, chief.”</p> - -<p>“Not all of them,” said Nick, mystified for a moment. “Here is the box -which must have contained some of them. Unless empty, it——”</p> - -<p>Danny uttered a shriek, and Nick recoiled involuntarily.</p> - -<p>A groan from within the box had fallen with startling effect on the ears -of all. Then came a fierce kicking against the top of it.</p> - -<p>“By gracious!” cried Nick, quick to guess the truth. “The rascals have -been and gone. But they have entombed either Chick or Patsy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>He sprang into the tomb, shouting quickly and thumping on the long box:</p> - -<p>“Keep cool! We’ll have you out in half a minute.”</p> - -<p>It was done in less time, in fact. For Nick found that he could thrust -his fingers under one corner of the cover, and, with the strength of a -giant, he tore it off in an instant.</p> - -<p>Patsy Garvan sat up in the box, in the glare of Nick’s searchlight, with -his face wearing a look of relief that words could not possibly -describe.</p> - -<p>“By Heaven!” Nick muttered. “Those curs shall pay dearly for this.”</p> - -<p>“Gee! that was some glad sound, chief, when I heard your voice,” said -Patsy, after he had been liberated and the tomb relocked. “The rascals -got me—but now we’ll get them.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me what occurred,” said Nick.</p> - -<p>Patsy informed him with half a dozen breaths, adding quickly:</p> - -<p>“They have been gone less than ten minutes. They are returning to -Margate’s place. We can reach there by the other road and without being -seen long they arrive.”</p> - -<p>“Come on, then,” said Nick. “That’s the proper move.”</p> - -<p>Their run to the Margate place was made in twelve minutes. The car, with -lights extinguished, was concealed in a near, vacant lot. Returning to -the front of the old house to watch for the wagon, the three detectives -scarce had concealed themselves under a low wall, when a taxicab put in -an appearance and stopped in front of the house.</p> - -<p>“Some of the gang, Patsy,” Nick murmured. “Follow me and we’ll take them -in at once.”</p> - -<p>He strode out just as the chauffeur sprang down from his seat to aid two -women to alight.</p> - -<p>“Stop a moment, chauffeur,” said Nick, reaching for his revolver. “Who -are your passengers and where did you——”</p> - -<p>The chauffeur burst out laughing.</p> - -<p>“Thundering guns!” he cried, removing his disguise. “Is it you, Nick?”</p> - -<p>The chauffeur was Chick Carter, in the coat, hat, and goggles of Mullen, -with whom Chick had easily planned the subterfuge before the coming down -of the two much-wanted women in suite 710.</p> - -<p>Five minutes later, Nell Margate and Fannie Coyle were in irons and -locked in a closet in the house, pending the arrival of the male members -of the gang.</p> - -<p>When that occurred, some twenty minutes later, and the four crooks -alighted from the wagon containing the stolen treasures, four detectives -stepped into the driveway and confronted each, with a revolver ready, if -needed.</p> - -<p>It was not needed, however, for the arrest was easily and quickly made.</p> - -<p>Ten o’clock that evening saw every culprit locked in the Tombs, the -first step toward the punishment awaiting them.</p> - -<p>It appeared later that Nell Margate had discovered the feasibility of -the robbery, that she had communicated with Fannie Coyle, then in -London, and that the latter then had rung Deland into the job, the -latter going to Berlin and cultivating the acquaintance of Colonel -Barker, and successfully laying his plans, as have appeared.</p> - -<p>They were as successfully perverted by Nick Carter and his assistants, -and the gratitude and joy of Mr. Rudolph Strickland, when he saw his -cherished treasures being<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> returned to his house, as Nick had promised, -may be far more easily imagined than described.</p> - -<p>It was a fixed habit of Nick Carter, however—that of keeping a promise.</p> - -<p class="fint">THE END.</p> - -<p>“The Gordon Elopement; or, Nick Carter’s Three of a Kind,” will be the -title of the long, complete story which you will find in the next issue, -No. 155, of the <span class="smcap">Nick Carter Stories</span>, out August 28th. In this story you -will read of the further adventures of the famous detective with -Mortimer Deland, the international crook. Then, too, you will also find -an installment of the serial now running in this publication, together -with several other interesting articles.</p> - -<hr /> - -<h2><a name="SNAPSHOT_ARTILLERY" id="SNAPSHOT_ARTILLERY"></a>SNAPSHOT ARTILLERY.<br /><br /> -<small>By BERTRAM LEBHAR.</small></h2> - -<p><small>(This interesting story was commenced in No. 153 of <span class="smcap">Nick Carter Stories</span>. -Back numbers can always be obtained from your news dealer or the -publishers.)</small></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IVa" id="CHAPTER_IVa"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> -<small>HAWLEY’S CONTRIBUTION.</small></h2> - -<p>“Thanks, old man,” said the Camera Chap to Carroll, as the boy went off -to deliver this message. “But I hope this defiance of the police won’t -get you into any trouble?”</p> - -<p>“I think not,” the editor replied. “You haven’t committed a murder, or -any crime of a serious nature, have you?”</p> - -<p>“No, indeed,” Hawley assured him. “All I did was to take a snapshot. But -I wasn’t referring to trouble with the authorities. What I meant was -that I hope this won’t get you in bad with the owner of this paper. The -chief of police doesn’t happen to be a friend of his, does he?”</p> - -<p>“No,” replied Carroll grimly. “I assure you that fat bully of a chief is -far from being a friend of mine.”</p> - -<p>“But I said the owner of the paper,” Hawley protested.</p> - -<p>Carroll grinned. “My dear Hawley, the owner of the Oldham <i>Daily -Bulletin</i> sits before you now.”</p> - -<p>The Camera ’Chap stared at him in astonishment. “You?” he cried half -incredulously.</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” chuckled Carroll. “I suppose it looks queer to you to see the -proprietor of the sheet holding down the job of city editor, but I am -only filling this chair during the absence of its regular occupant. My -city editor is laid up with an attack of inflammatory rheumatism, so I -undertook to do his work.”</p> - -<p>Still Hawley appeared incredulous. Two years before, Fred Carroll had -been earning thirty dollars a week as a reporter on the New York -<i>Sentinel</i>, and the Camera Chap recalled that he had always been -notoriously hard up in those days. Where on earth could he have got hold -of enough money to buy a newspaper?</p> - -<p>As though reading his thoughts, Carroll said, with a laugh: “I suppose -you’re wondering how I managed to raise the necessary dough to acquire -this progressive, aggressive, and fearlessly independent sheet? No need -to tell you that I didn’t save it out of the measly wages the Sentinel -paid me. The fact is, Hawley, I came into a lit<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>tle change after I got -fired from the <i>Sentinel</i> for getting them into that confounded libel -suit. A wealthy relative of mine over in England cashed in his chips, -and mentioned me in his will to the extent of fifteen thousand. I was -tipped off that this paper was on the market, and could be had at that -figure, so I came here and bought it. There’s the whole story in a -nutshell—or pretty near the whole story.”</p> - -<p>Hawley doubted no longer. He could see now that Carroll wasn’t joking, -and he had never known him to be guilty of falsehood.</p> - -<p>“I’m tickled to death to hear this good news, old chap,” he said, -grabbing his friend’s hand enthusiastically. “Let me offer you my -congratulations, even though they’re tardy. You certainly are a lucky -fellow.”</p> - -<p>A wry smile came to Carroll’s face. “Not quite as lucky as you imagine,” -he said grimly. “Better take back your congratulations, Hawley. It is -true that I’m the owner of a newspaper now, but—you’re likely to meet -me on Park Row hunting for a job in the very near future.”</p> - -<p>“Why, what’s the matter?” the Camera Chap inquired solicitously. “You -don’t mean to say that the paper isn’t a success, old man?”</p> - -<p>Carroll shrugged his broad shoulders. “When I tell you that I had to -hock my watch yesterday in order to pay my board bill, you will -doubtless gather that the Oldham <i>Daily Bulletin</i> isn’t exactly a gold -mine,” he replied dryly.</p> - -<p>“Ye gods!” exclaimed Hawley. “And I always had an idea that newspaper -owners were bloated plutocrats.”</p> - -<p>“Some are,” was the grim reply. “But I guess I’m far from being the only -New York newspaper man who has tried to run a small town daily and made -a fizzle of it.”</p> - -<p>“What seems to be the main trouble?” the Camera Chap inquired. “I should -think that a paper with a motto like yours was bound to be a winner. -Progressive, aggressive, and fearlessly independent—that’s a mighty -fine catch line, Fred. The population of Oldham certainly ought to rally -to the support of a sheet which has such an attractive policy.”</p> - -<p>The owner of the <i>Bulletin</i> shook his head. “Yes, they ought to—but -they don’t. The fact is, Hawley, that, from the standpoint of dollars -and cents, being aggressive and fearlessly independent in a town like -this doesn’t pay. The first thing I did after acquiring control of the -<i>Bulletin</i>,” he went on, with a frown, “was to declare war against the -city government. From a financial standpoint, that was a disastrous -mistake.”</p> - -<p>“Why did you do it?” the Camera Chap inquired.</p> - -<p>“Because,” replied Carroll, his frown deepening, “I simply couldn’t -stand for the methods of the gang which is running things in this town. -They’re the rawest, nerviest, crookedest bunch of grafters that ever had -control of a city government. Compared to them, New York’s old Tweed -ring was a bunch of angels. I made up my mind that the <i>Bulletin</i> was -going to sweep them out of office. I announced that intention in an -editorial on my front page the very first day the sheet appeared under -my management.”</p> - -<p>“That sounds interesting,” exclaimed Hawley, an appreciative flash in -his blue eyes. “What was the result?”</p> - -<p>Carroll laughed grimly. “The result was that I lost pretty nearly all my -advertising. It seems that most of the big advertisers of this town are -allied in one way or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> another with that bunch of grafters at the city -hall. I didn’t know this when I started out to fight the administration. -Although, even if I had known it, it wouldn’t have made any difference,” -he added, his strong under jaw thrust forward aggressively. “I should -have gone ahead just the same, of course.”</p> - -<p>“Bully for you, old man!” exclaimed the Camera Chap. “So those lobsters -tried to put you out of business by withdrawing their advertising, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; and that wasn’t all. That gang of grafters started in to retaliate -by using the powers of the city government against the <i>Bulletin</i>. They -stayed up nights thinking of ways to harass me. The police department, -the fire department, and all the departments have received orders to -refuse to give the <i>Bulletin</i> reporters any news. The police arrest the -drivers of my delivery wagons on all sorts of trumped-up charges -whenever they get the chance. The gas, water, and electricity department -is always finding fault with conditions in the Bulletin Building. These -are only a few of the dirty tricks those rascals have resorted to in -their efforts to put me out of business.”</p> - -<p>“And you’ve been fighting back all the time, of course?” inquired Hawley -anxiously.</p> - -<p>Carroll looked at him reproachfully. “I thought you knew me too well to -ask such a superfluous question,” he said in a hurt tone. “Of course, -I’ve been hammering at them just as hard as I know how, and intend to -keep it up while there’s breath left in the <i>Bulletin</i>.</p> - -<p>“But I’m afraid it’s a losing fight,” he went on sadly. “I don’t mind -admitting to you, old man, that they’ve got me groggy. Without any -advertising worth speaking of, and with my sources of news crippled, it -looks as if the days of the <i>Bulletin</i> were numbered, and its finish -already in sight.”</p> - -<p>“How about your circulation?” the Camera Chap inquired. “Surely that -must have gained? You don’t mean to say that the people haven’t -supported you in this laudable fight?”</p> - -<p>Carroll shrugged his shoulders. “Not so that you could notice it. It is -true that at first my campaign against the grafters got us a lot of new -readers. But the circulation figures soon dwindled. The population of -Oldham seemed to lose interest in the fight. Besides, I was discredited -at the start.”</p> - -<p>“Discredited! How?” the Camera Chap demanded in astonishment.</p> - -<p>The proprietor of the <i>Bulletin</i> smiled grimly. “There’s a rival sheet -here—the <i>Chronicle</i>. It is the administration organ—which means, of -course, that its proprietor is hand and glove with that gang of crooks -at the city hall. The <i>Chronicle</i> happened to learn that I was formerly -a reporter on the New York <i>Sentinel</i>, and that I was discharged from -that paper for getting it into a libel suit. That information was pie to -those crooks. The <i>Chronicle</i> published it on its front page in red -type. It gave all the details of that unfortunate libel suit, insinuated -that I had been forced to come to Oldham because no New York newspaper -would hire me after my discharge from the <i>Sentinel</i>, and warned the -public not to pay any attention to my ’base and slanderous attacks upon -the virtuous and public-spirited gentlemen who were giving Oldham the -best government it had ever enjoyed.’ Of course, this has hurt me a lot. -The <i>Chronicle</i> keeps it<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> prominently displayed on its front page every -day, and, as I have said, I am pretty much discredited.”</p> - -<p>“That was a dirty trick,” declared Hawley indignantly. “Who is the -proprietor of the <i>Chronicle</i>?”</p> - -<p>“A lean old fox named Gale.”</p> - -<p>“Gale!” the Camera Chap repeated, with an inflection of astonishment. -“That’s a queer coincidence. Doesn’t happen to be any relative of the -reporter by the same name on the staff of the New York <i>Daily News</i>, -does he, Fred?”</p> - -<p>Carroll grinned. “Yes, Hawley, the proprietor of the Oldham <i>Chronicle</i> -is the father of your old enemy, Gale, of the <i>News</i>. I can assure you, -he’s a chip of the young block, too—several chips, in fact.”</p> - -<p>The Camera Chap frowned. “I recall now that somebody once told me that -Gale’s father was the proprietor of a small paper,” he said. “I guess, -Fred, it was the younger Gale who supplied the Oldham <i>Chronicle</i> with -the information about that unfortunate libel suit of yours.”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t the slightest doubt of that,” Carroll answered. “He and I -never did get along together when I was on Park Row. In fact, I had -occasion to punch his head only a few days before I got fired from the -<i>Sentinel</i>. I guess he was tickled to death to have a chance to get back -at me.”</p> - -<p>Their conversation was interrupted at this point by a young man whose -face wore a depressed, anxious expression as he stepped up to the -editorial desk.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Carroll,” he said gloomily, “I’m sorry to have to tell you that -we’re going to be badly scooped in the next issue.”</p> - -<p>“How so, Parsons?” the acting city editor demanded sharply.</p> - -<p>“There’s been a big burglary in town,” announced Parsons, who was the -<i>Bulletin’s</i> police reporter.</p> - -<p>“A burglary—where?” Carroll demanded.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I can’t find out, sir. I overheard two detectives talking -about it together at headquarters early this morning, but as soon as -they caught sight of me they dropped the subject in a hurry. I’ve been -scurrying around town all morning in the hope of finding somebody who -could tell me who was robbed, but I haven’t been able to pick up -anything. I tried to get an interview with Chief Hodgins, but he -refused, as usual, to talk to a <i>Bulletin</i> man.”</p> - -<p>“Humph!” Carroll grunted. “And you think the <i>Chronicle</i> has the yarn, -Parsons?”</p> - -<p>“I am quite sure they have, sir,” was the mournful reply. “One of the -detectives admitted to me that Burns, the <i>Chronicle’s</i> police reporter, -had all the details, and a long interview with Chief Hodgins. I’m -awfully sorry, sir. I hope you don’t blame me for falling down on the -yarn.”</p> - -<p>Carroll got up and placed his hand on his reporter’s shoulder. “No, I -don’t blame you at all, old chap. Considering the difficulties under -which you are working, I can’t reasonably hold it against you if you get -scooped occasionally on a police story. Keep pegging away, and don’t get -discouraged. Better spend the rest of the day trying to get a line on -this burglary yarn. You may be fortunate enough to run into somebody who -can give you some information about it. If not—well, I guess we’ll have -to grin and bear it.”</p> - -<p>A chuckle from the Camera Chap caused him to turn to that young man in -indignant astonishment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with you?” Carroll demanded irritably. “I don’t see -anything to be amused about.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you?” rejoined Hawley, with a grin, taking a plate holder from -his camera and laying it on the desk. “I think you’ll be amused, too, -Fred, when I tell you what I’ve got here. Would you mind handing me a -pad and pencil?”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do?” Carroll demanded wonderingly, as he handed -over the desired writing implements.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to write a heading for the burglary story which will appear -on the front page of the <i>Bulletin’s</i> next issue,” the Camera Chap -replied.</p> - -<p>“But we haven’t got the burglary story?” Carroll protested, with a -puzzled frown.</p> - -<p>“Pardon me, but I have. It’s here in this plate holder,” declared -Hawley. “I don’t mean to say that we’ve got the details of the -larceny—but we’ve got something just as good—or better. Wait until -I’ve written my heading, and I’ll explain.”</p> - -<p>He wrote rapidly on the pad, and handed the result to Carroll.</p> - -<p>“Writing headings is a little out of my line,” he remarked; “but I think -this will about do.”</p> - -<p>Carroll stared wonderingly at these words.</p> - -<p>“There Was a Burglary in Town Yesterday, and Here’s the Reason Why.”</p> - -<p>“Underneath that heading,” the Camera Chap explained, in response to -Carroll’s inquiring stare, “will go the snapshot which I took at police -headquarters a few minutes ago. It’s a picture of Oldham’s chief of -police, fast asleep at his desk.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_Va" id="CHAPTER_Va"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> -<small>A TELLING SHOT.</small></h2> - -<p>Chief of Police Hodgins let out a bellow of rage the next morning when -his startled gaze rested upon the front page of the Oldham <i>Daily -Bulletin</i>.</p> - -<p>The editor of that belligerent sheet had eagerly availed himself of -Hawley’s snapshots and the latter’s suggestion as to how to use them. -Both negatives had turned out excellently, and, although there wasn’t a -great deal of difference between the two poses, Carroll decided to use -them both, so as to make as big a showing as possible. They appeared -side by side at the top of the page, and above them, stretched across -the full width of the page, was the heading which the Camera Chap had -composed.</p> - -<p>Beneath the cuts was an editorial from the pen of Fred Carroll, written -in very short sentences, and with many words capitalized—a style of -editorial which he had copied from the New York <i>Sentinel</i>. The first -paragraphs were as follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>“The above genuine snapshots tell their own story. They were taken -at police headquarters at two o’clock yesterday afternoon. They -show our chief of police in a thoroughly characteristic pose. A -brief study of these interesting, and genuine photographs will -enable the reader to understand why <small>CRIMINALS</small> regard Oldham as -their <small>HAPPY HUNTING GROUND</small>.</p> - -<p>“Most police officials believe in keeping their eyes open and their -mouths closed while on duty. Our chief of police reverses that -old-fashioned policy. As these snapshots show, he does <small>HIS</small> police -duty with his eyes <small>CLOSED</small> and his mouth <small>WIDE OPEN</small>. Citizens and -property<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> owners may not approve of this original policy, but, no -doubt, <small>BURGLARS</small>, <small>STRONG-ARM MEN</small>, and other <small>CROOKS</small> heartily indorse -it. Of course, they are thoroughly satisfied with our <small>SOMNOLENT</small> -chief of police.</p> - -<p>“Night before last there was a daring burglary, committed in this -town. Bold thieves got away with plunder worth many thousand -dollars. We frankly confess that the <i>Bulletin</i> is not, as yet, in -possession of the full details of that burglary. We tried to find -out about the crime, but were unsuccessful. When a <i>Bulletin</i> -representative called on Chief Hodgins, to ascertain the -particulars, he found him <small>SNORING</small>. The <i>Bulletin</i> representative -was too polite to disturb the chief’s daylight slumbers, so, -instead of interviewing him, he took his picture. That could be -done without <small>WAKING</small> him. Besides, our representative thought that -the taxpayers of Oldham would find these snapshots much more -interesting and illuminating than a mere detailed account of the -burglary.”</p></div> - -<p>There were several more paragraphs couched in the same strain. Chief -Hodgins read it through to the very end. Then, in a paroxysm of fury, he -tore the paper in small pieces, growling, as he did so, like a terrier -worrying a rat.</p> - -<p>“I’d give a whole lot to have that camera feller here right now,” he -muttered. “Confound these fools for letting him get away! They’re a lot -of boneheads!”</p> - -<p>This criticism of his subordinates was scarcely just, in view of the -fact that the chief himself had led the squad of police which laid in -wait for Hawley outside the Bulletin Building with the intention of -placing that young man under arrest as soon as he stepped out of the -newspaper office. Not having a warrant, they had not dared to force -their way into the editorial rooms, so the chief and his men had -stationed themselves outside, confident that sooner or later the Camera -Chap must come out and fall into their clutches.</p> - -<p>But Carroll, suspecting this ambush, showed Hawley how to make his -escape by means of a window at the rear of the building, and the Camera -Chap was on his motor cycle, dashing up the steep road which led to his -host’s mountain retreat, long before the police became aware of the fact -that they had been outwitted.</p> - -<p>Chief Hodgins was, of course, as much to blame as any of his men for -this fiasco; but as it was some relief to his feelings to abuse his -subordinates for their “gross carelessness,” he did not hesitate to do -so. The chief’s bump of logic and his sense of fairness were so -underdeveloped that they were almost minute quantities.</p> - -<p>Just as he got through with his performance of savagely rending the -offending copy of the <i>Bulletin</i> into small pieces, the telephone on his -desk rang. It was the voice of the mayor which came to him over the -wire. The mayor’s name was Martin Henkle. He was a big, burly man, whose -voice when he was angry was so gruff that in comparison Chief Hodgins’ -manner of speech was sweetly melodious. By that token, his honor was -exceedingly peeved now.</p> - -<p>“Is that you, Hodgins?” he growled over the wire.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Mr. Mayor,” was the meek reply.</p> - -<p>The head of the police department had turned very pale. Mayor Henkle’s -wife was his second cousin, but in spite of this relationship he stood -in great fear of his honor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Huh! Seen this morning’s <i>Bulletin</i> yet?” the latter inquired hoarsely.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir, I have,” replied the chief, glaring at the fragments of paper -on the floor. “And of all the dastardly outrages that ever—-”</p> - -<p>“A fine spectacle you’ve made of yourself!” came the snarling -interruption. “You big, fat-headed boob, I gave you credit for -possessing a little more sense, or I’d never have appointed you. The -whole town is laughing over those pictures. Everybody I met this morning -on my way to the city hall was reading the <i>Bulletin</i>. You’ve made a -laughingstock of my administration.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry, Mr. Mayor,” said Hodgins humbly. “The fact is, that rascally -photographer took an unfair advantage of me. I wasn’t really asleep, of -course. I had—er—just closed my eyes for a minute, thinking out a -scheme for catching those burglars—I always sit with my eyes closed, -you know, when I’m thinking—and before I knew what was happening, that -fellow sneaked in and took those snapshots.”</p> - -<p>The chief had invented this explanation on the spur of the moment. It -sounded so good to him that he was just congratulating himself upon his -ingenuity when a snort of contempt from the other end of the wire filled -him with consternation.</p> - -<p>“That won’t do,” growled the mayor. “You’ll have to think up a better -one than that, Hodgins, if you want to get away with it. Anybody with a -grain of common sense can tell from those pictures that you were fast -asleep. Men who think with their eyes closed don’t open their mouths, -too. Besides, that fellow took two pictures. You must have been in a -mighty sound sleep, or you’d have heard him come into the room and -nabbed him before he had a chance to take the second.”</p> - -<p>“Well, perhaps I dozed off a little, Mr. Mayor,” the disconcerted -policeman admitted. “I’ll not deny it. You see, I hadn’t had much sleep -the night before, and I haven’t been feeling very well lately. After -all, I guess it ain’t such a terrible crime for a hard-working public -official to take a short nap in his private office.”</p> - -<p>“You should have locked your office door, you big, blundering baboon!” -snarled the mayor. “I’m not kicking so much at your falling asleep at -your desk as I am at your permitting the <i>Bulletin</i> to catch you -napping. The whole town is grinning at you, and, of course, I—being -responsible for your appointment—have got to bear the brunt of it. I -don’t mind being roasted, but I can’t stand being laughed at.</p> - -<p>“And, what’s more, I don’t intend to stand for it!” the mayor went on, a -menace in his tone. “I tell you, Hodgins, you’ve got to square yourself -with the public regarding those pictures if you want to keep your job. I -don’t see how you’re going to do it—there’s no denying the evidence of -the camera—but unless you can swing public sentiment your way, I’ll be -compelled to remove you from office. So you’d better get busy.”</p> - -<p>The chief of police started to protest, but found himself addressing a -“dead” wire. The mayor, after delivering this ultimatum, had abruptly -disconnected.</p> - -<p>For several minutes Chief Hodgins paced the floor of his private office, -a scowl upon his round, fat face.</p> - -<p>“Wish I had that Camera Chap here right now,” he muttered. “I’d twist -his confounded neck. Square myself with the public! How am I going to do -that?”</p> - -<p>Then suddenly his face lighted up. “Guess I’ll go and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> have a talk with -my friend Gale, of the <i>Chronicle</i>,” he mused. “He ought to be able to -help me out of this trouble. When it comes to clever tricks, there ain’t -an editor in the country is equal to that chap. Ten to one he’ll be able -to dope out a way to turn the tables on that miserable rag of a -<i>Bulletin</i>.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIa" id="CHAPTER_VIa"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> -<small>GALE SUGGESTS.</small></h2> - -<p>As Chief Hodgins walked down Main Street toward the <i>Chronicle</i> office, -he became painfully aware that there was a broad grin upon the face of -nearly every person he met.</p> - -<p>Many of the amused persons had copies of the <i>Bulletin</i> in their hands -or protruding from their coat pockets; so that, although he was not a -particularly sensitive man, he was forced to conclude that they were -smiling at his expense.</p> - -<p>Several small boys followed him at a discreet distance, giggling and -jeering. One street urchin, more bold than the rest, came up close -behind him, and gave a graphic imitation of a man snoring. With a snarl -of rage, the head of the Oldham police force wheeled around, with the -intention of making a terrible example of this juvenile tormentor, but -the youngster darted beyond his reach. The chief started to give chase, -but soon abandoned the idea. He was too fat to be much of a sprinter.</p> - -<p>Fortunately the Chronicle Building was not far from police headquarters, -so these painful experiences soon came to an end. Delancey Gale, editor -and publisher of the Oldham <i>Chronicle</i>, greeted Chief Hodgins cordially -when the latter stepped into his private office.</p> - -<p>“My dear chief, this is, indeed, a pleasure,” he cried effusively. “Pray -sit down and make yourself comfortable.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Gale was a dapper little old man, with neatly trimmed white -mutton-chop whiskers, and a very prominent Adam’s apple. There was -something about his lean, sharp-featured countenance which made one -think of a fox, although just in what respect he bore a physical -resemblance to that animal it would have been difficult to point out.</p> - -<p>As Chief Hodgins sank into a chair, he became aware of the fact that he -and the editor were not the only occupants of the room. A good-looking -young man whose clothes were of the very latest cut stood near the -window, with his profile toward the policeman.</p> - -<p>“You’ve met my son, of course, chief?” said the editor and publisher of -the <i>Chronicle</i>.</p> - -<p>“Sure!” replied Hodgins, with a gracious nod to the young man. “But I -declare I shouldn’t have known him. He’s changed a whole lot since I saw -him last. That was more’n ten years ago, I guess. Doin’ newspaper work -in New York, ain’t you, sir?”</p> - -<p>“He has been,” replied the elder Gale, with a proud look in the -direction of the young man. “For several years, chief, my son has been a -distinguished member of the staff of the New York <i>Daily News</i>. But he -has resigned that position to come out here and help me run the -<i>Chronicle</i>.”</p> - -<p>“A very sensible idea,” said Hodgins. “But now, Mr. Gale, to get down to -my business. I’m a little rushed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> for time, so you’ll excuse me for -bein’ brief. Have you—ahem!—seen to-day’s issue of the <i>Bulletin</i>?”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” replied the elder Gale, with a deprecating smile. “I -presume you are referring to those disgraceful pictures? They are an -outrage!”</p> - -<p>“They certainly are that,” growled Hodgins. “What would you advise me to -do about them, Mr. Gale—to set myself right in the eyes of the public, -I mean?”</p> - -<p>Again Mr. Gale smiled deprecatingly. “I scarcely think there is any need -to worry about that, chief. It isn’t likely that the public will pay any -attention to anything that appears in our disreputable contemporary, the -<i>Bulletin</i>.”</p> - -<p>“They wouldn’t if they had any sense,” said the chief, scowling as he -recalled his recent painful experience on the street. “But—ahem!—the -public seems inclined to pay more attention to those confounded -snapshots than you’d think, and I’ve got to do something to set myself -right. That’s what I’ve come to see you about, Mr. Gale.”</p> - -<p>“I guess that can be easily fixed,” said the editor, “I’ll run an -editorial on the front page of to-morrow’s <i>Chronicle</i>, denouncing the -<i>Bulletin</i> for publishing those pictures. I shall refer to it as a -pictorial outrage against decency and a disgrace to journalism.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what it is, all right,” muttered the chief, with an approving -nod; “but will the public look at it that way?”</p> - -<p>“They will when they read in to-morrow’s <i>Chronicle</i> why it was that you -were asleep at your desk,” replied the editor, with a sly smile. “We’ll -explain that our worthy chief of police, after being up all night for -three successive nights in the pursuit of his official duties, was so -tired out that he was unable to keep up any longer. Tired nature -asserted itself, and he fell back in his chair in a state of collapse. -And while he was in this condition—brought about solely by his devotion -to duty and zeal to serve the public—the miscreant photographer of the -<i>Bulletin</i> sneaked in and made capital of the incident.</p> - -<p>“I rather think that will do the trick, chief,” the elder Gale remarked. -“When they read the <i>Chronicle</i> to-morrow morning, the people of Oldham, -instead of smiling at those pictures, will look upon you as a martyr.”</p> - -<p>Chief Hodgins’ face lighted up. “The very thing!” he exclaimed -enthusiastically. “It looks to me as if you’d hit the right idea, Mr. -Gale, and I don’t mind telling you that if you print all that you’ll -come pretty near telling the truth, too.”</p> - -<p>“Have you caught the fellow who took the pictures yet, chief?” the -editor inquired.</p> - -<p>“No; the rascal got away,” Hodgins answered, with a scowl. “My men -learned that he got out of town on a motor cycle, but they can’t find -out where he’s gone. I guess he won’t dare set foot in this town again. -He was certainly the nerviest camera fiend I’ve seen or heard of.”</p> - -<p>The younger Gale pricked up his ears at these words. “Don’t happen to -know his name, do you, chief?” he inquired, with great interest.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I do, too,” Hodgins replied. “One of my detectives managed to find -out that much from one of the printers who works for the <i>Bulletin</i>. The -fellow’s name is Hawley, and he works for a New York newspaper.”</p> - -<p>“I thought as much,” exclaimed young Gale, with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> frown. “I heard on -Park Row the other day that Hawley, of the <i>Sentinel</i>, was taking a -vacation up in the Catskills. Too bad you didn’t catch him, chief, and -send him to jail. I’ve no use for that fellow.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll send him to jail, all right, if I ever manage to lay hands on -him,” declared the policeman, a glint in his eyes.</p> - -<p>“But can you?” the elder Gale queried. “Could you send him to jail, I -mean, for taking those snapshots, even if you were to catch him? After -all, my dear chief, he has violated no law. I was looking up the penal -code a little while ago, and I find there is no statute which covers his -case. I am afraid you couldn’t do anything to him—in a legal way.”</p> - -<p>“Is that so?” exclaimed Hodgins, with a discomfited look. “Well, that’s -certainly news to me, Mr. Gale. I thought for sure there was a law -covering his offense. If there ain’t one, there certainly ought to be.”</p> - -<p>“Say, that gives me an idea,” cried the younger Gale excitedly. “What’s -the matter with getting the city council to pass an ordinance making it -a misdemeanor punishable by six months’ imprisonment for any person to -take a photograph on any street or in any public building of Oldham -without a special permit signed by the chief of police? You fellows -ought to have enough pull with the council to get such a law put through -immediately.”</p> - -<p>“An excellent plan!” declared the elder Gale. “Such an ordinance would -not apply to past offenses, of course, but it would enable you, chief, -to send this young scamp Hawley to prison if he ever comes back to -Oldham and takes any more pictures.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” cried the younger Gale eagerly, “and you can rest assured that -Hawley will come back to take more pictures. In fact, I’ve got a scheme -to bring him back. Get that ordinance passed by the council, chief, and -I’ll guarantee that you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing Mr. Hawley, -of the <i>Sentinel</i>, behind bars. My little scheme is bound to work.”</p> - -<p>He explained this scheme to his father and Chief Hodgins, and both of -them gave it their enthusiastic approval.</p> - -<p>“It’s a pippin!” declared the head of the Oldham police force joyously. -“It’s easy to see, Mr. Gale, that your son is a chip of the old block -when it comes to cleverness.</p> - -<p>“We’ll put that ordinance through right away,” he went on. “I guess -there won’t be any trouble in getting the council to pass it. And then, -when the law’s on the books, we’ll set a little snare for that -confounded Camera Chap. He’s sure to walk right into it.”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIIa" id="CHAPTER_VIIa"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> -<small>THE TELEGRAM.</small></h2> - -<p>After his exciting visit to Oldham, the Camera Chap resumed his rest -cure at his friend’s place in the mountains; but he kept in touch with -Carroll by telephone, and these conversations made him yearn for another -excursion into town.</p> - -<p>One morning—to be precise, it was just three days after his trip to -Oldham—Carroll called him up on the telephone and imparted to him an -interesting piece of news.</p> - -<p>“You ought to feel flattered, Hawley, old man,” the pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>prietor of the -<i>Bulletin</i> chuckled. “They’ve passed an ordinance solely on your -account. Of course, they won’t admit that you were the cause of it, but -I am quite sure that the bill was put through expressly to prevent you -from coming back and taking any more snapshots.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the nature of the ordinance?” the Camera Chap inquired.</p> - -<p>“It is known as the ‘anticamera bill.’ Makes it a misdemeanor to take a -photograph on the streets of Oldham or in any of the public buildings -without a special license from the chief of police.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the penalty?” Hawley inquired, with great interest.</p> - -<p>“A fine of a hundred dollars or six months in the penitentiary, or -both,” Carroll replied.</p> - -<p>“Great Scott!” exclaimed the Camera Chap. “Six months in jail for taking -a picture! Why didn’t they make it hanging while they were about it?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps they would if they had thought of it,” returned Carroll. “But I -say, old man, be sure to keep away from Oldham; or, if you should have -to come to town for any reason, don’t fail to leave your camera behind -you. Chief Hodgins is just wasting away with yearning for a chance to -get even with you; and you can rest assured that if they catch you -violating the law, it won’t be merely a hundred-dollar fine in your -case—it will be a hundred-dollar fine and six months’ imprisonment.”</p> - -<p>“That would be pleasant,” said the Camera Chap, with a laugh. “Much -obliged for tipping me off, old man. I shall certainly make it a point -to be careful. Any more news?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing worth mentioning. I told you the other day that your old friend -Gale, of the <i>Daily News</i>, was in town, helping his old man run the -<i>Chronicle</i>, didn’t I?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. What’s he doing? Up to any of his old tricks?”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t been able to get wind of any, but I guess he’s planning some -mischief, all right,” replied Carroll, with a laugh. “I met him on the -street yesterday, and he was so effusive that my suspicions were at once -aroused. He shook me by the hand as though he had always loved me like a -brother; said he hoped that I’d let bygones be bygones and that we’d be -good friends—that there was no reason why fellows should be enemies -just because they were running rival papers. You know the smooth line of -talk that faker can hand out.”</p> - -<p>The Camera Chap laughed. “Yes; and, as you say, he’s generally planning -some mischief when he lays it on as thick as that. Better keep a sharp -lookout, Fred.”</p> - -<p>“You can bet I’m going to,” Carroll assured him. “By the way, he spoke -about you. Asked me whether I’d seen you lately. And he called you ‘good -old Hawley.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“Ye gods!” the Camera Chap exclaimed. “He must be planning my -assassination at the very least.”</p> - -<p>After that telephone conversation Hawley sat for some time on the porch -of his host’s bungalow, and his gaze was concentrated wistfully on the -steep mountain road which led straight to the town of Oldham.</p> - -<p>“Six months in prison for a snapshot!” he mused. “What an adventure! -That would, indeed, be a risk worth running! A fellow who could get away -with a stunt of that sort would have done something really worth while. -And Carroll said that they passed that ordinance especially for my -benefit. It would almost be cowardly to refuse the challenge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>”</p> - -<p>A messenger boy on a bicycle rode up to the house and interrupted his -musings at this point.</p> - -<p>“Say, mister, is there anybody here named Hawley?” the youngster -inquired.</p> - -<p>“There certainly is, son,” the Camera Chap replied. “What have you got? -A telegram, eh? Hand it over.”</p> - -<p>As he perused the contents of the yellow envelope, he muttered an -exclamation of mingled joy and astonishment. The telegram was from -Paxton, managing editor of the New York <i>Sentinel</i>, and was worded as -follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>“Will you run over to Oldham immediately on receipt of this and -photograph city hall, exterior view? Rush print to office. Sorry -interrupt vacation, but picture badly needed.</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Paxton.</span>”<br /> -</p></div> - -<p>“Now, what in the name of all that’s wonderful can he want with a -picture of Oldham’s city hall?” thought the Camera Chap. “It’s certainly -a mighty queer assignment. However, it makes no difference, of course, -what they want it for. The fact that they do want it is good enough for -me. This telegram has arrived just at the psychological moment. I was -hunting for an excuse to go to Oldham, and here’s a good one.”</p> - -<p class="fint">TO BE CONTINUED.</p> - -<hr /> - -<h3>WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS FOR A FISH STORY?</h3> - -<p>Last spring, while a party of tourists were fishing up North, a -well-known lawyer lost his gold watch from the boat in which he was -sitting.</p> - -<p>Last week he made another visit to the lakes, and during the first day’s -sport caught an eight-pound trout. His astonishment can be imagined when -he found his watch lodged in the throat of the trout.</p> - -<p>The watch was running and the time correct. It being a “stem-winder,” -the supposition is that in masticating his food the fish wound up the -watch daily.</p> - -<h3><a name="TREATMENT_OF_CHILDREN" id="TREATMENT_OF_CHILDREN"></a>TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.</h3> - -<p>An absent-minded doctor was called in to see a child two years old -suffering from convulsions. After a careful diagnosis, he prescribed as -follows:</p> - -<p>“Nervous excitement. Avoid all violent emotions; abstain from wines and -spirits; avoid excess at table and other indulgences; travel a good -deal; go frequently to the theater. Beware of reading a certain class of -novels.”</p> - -<h3><a name="SMALLEST_RACE_OF_PEOPLE" id="SMALLEST_RACE_OF_PEOPLE"></a>SMALLEST RACE OF PEOPLE.</h3> - -<p>The inhabitants of the Andaman Islands are the smallest race of people -in the world taken as a whole. The average height of a full-grown -Andaman is three feet, eleven inches, and the average weight less than -seventy pounds. They are very warlike, and, as they throw poisoned -spears with marvelous accuracy, it is not at all strange that travelers -do not care to encounter them.</p> - -<h3><a name="HER_FATHER_HAD_NO_OBJECTION" id="HER_FATHER_HAD_NO_OBJECTION"></a>HER FATHER HAD NO OBJECTION.</h3> - -<p>“How does your father seem to regard my coming here?” anxiously asked -Adolphus of little Bobby, while Maud was upstairs, getting ready to -present herself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I guess he don’t care nothin’ about it,” replied Bobby carelessly.</p> - -<p>“So he has no objection, eh? But what did he say, my little man?”</p> - -<p>“He said if Maud was a mind to make a fool of herself, why, let her.”</p> - -<h3><a name="THE_RUSE_WORKED" id="THE_RUSE_WORKED"></a>THE RUSE WORKED.</h3> - -<p>“Bobby is attending to his pianoforte lessons very faithfully of late,” -said the youth’s uncle.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied his mother. “I don’t have any trouble with him about that -now.”</p> - -<p>“How did you manage it?”</p> - -<p>“Some of the neighbors complained of the noise his exercises made, and I -told him about it. Now he thinks it’s fun to practice.”</p> - -<h3><a name="A_HORSE_STORY" id="A_HORSE_STORY"></a>A HORSE STORY.</h3> - -<p>“Mamma”—sorrel colt gazes anxiously to his dam—“the chestnut filly -wants me to run away with her the next time we go driving together.”</p> - -<p>He looked down shyly.</p> - -<p>“What shall I say?”</p> - -<p>The mare bridled up.</p> - -<p>“Turn to her, my son, and whisper gently: ‘Neigh, neigh, Pauline!’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>And with a horse laugh they resumed the discussion of their table d’oat.</p> - -<h3><a name="BOBBYS_BAD_BOX" id="BOBBYS_BAD_BOX"></a>BOBBY’S BAD BOX.</h3> - -<p>Mrs. Suburb—“Bobby, I wish you would weed this flower bed.”</p> - -<p>Bobby—whimpering—“If I sit out here in the hot sun, a-pullin’ weeds, -I’ll get all sunburned, and my skin will be so sore I can’t sleep.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Suburb—“That’s easily remedied. After you get through with the -flower beds you may pull all the plantain weeds out of the lawn and -bring them to me. Plantain leaves are good for sunburn.”</p> - -<h3><a name="SHOWING_HIS_WISDOM" id="SHOWING_HIS_WISDOM"></a>SHOWING HIS WISDOM.</h3> - -<p>Housekeeper—“I wish to get some borax.”</p> - -<p>New Boy—“Powdered?”</p> - -<p>“I hardly know. I saw in a paper that roaches could be killed with -borax.”</p> - -<p>“Guess you’d better take the other kind, ma’am. It’s ’most as hard as -rocks. Have you a little boy?”</p> - -<p>“Y-e-s?”</p> - -<p>“Well, if I was you, I’d let him do the throwing.”</p> - -<h3><a name="BETTER_THAN_ALARM_CLOCKS" id="BETTER_THAN_ALARM_CLOCKS"></a>BETTER THAN ALARM CLOCKS.</h3> - -<p>Bright Boy—“You don’t have to wake up the girl any more do you?”</p> - -<p>Mother—“No, for a wonder; she has awakened herself every morning for a -week.”</p> - -<p>“I thought she would.”</p> - -<p>“Why so?”</p> - -<p>“All the flies I caught in that fly trap I took upstairs and let out in -her room.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="c"><span class="big">THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.</span></p> - -<h3>Turtle Snaps on Girl’s Toe.</h3> - -<p>Miss Mae Leser, of Gratz, Pa., an eighteen-year-old girl, knows how it -feels to haul a large snapping turtle out of the water with her large -toe. With some other girls, Miss Leser was September Morn-ing in the -silent stream that gambols through the outskirts of Gratz. She gave a -scream when the snapper seized her toe, and the girls who were with her -say she went down into the water before they were able to get to the -rescue.</p> - -<p>When the turtle was hauled out on dry land, and had sized up the -situation, he let loose and hastened back to the water. Miss Leser’s toe -is badly bruised.</p> - -<h3>Baby Takes Thrilling Ride.</h3> - -<p>After dashing down a steep hillside fifty yards in a gocart, which -overturned twice, and plunging from a six-foot retaining wall, George -Bukalic, aged two, son of Rudolph Bukalic, a Hungarian, of 2003 East -Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., still strapped in the gocart, landed in front -of a trolley car in East Street. The car was stopped in time to avoid -running over the cart, and the baby crawled out from under the wrecked -cart unhurt, except for two slight bruises on the head.</p> - -<h3>With Three Original Members.</h3> - -<p>With three survivors, the Hazleton Liberty Band, of Hazleton, Pa., which -was Grant’s headquarters band the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox, -paraded on its fiftieth anniversary of the return home from the Civil -War.</p> - -<h3>Germans Interned at Norfolk Enjoy Life.</h3> - -<p>The crews of the German auxiliary cruisers <i>Eitel Friedrich</i> and the -<i>Kronprinz Wilhelm</i>, interned at Norfolk, Va., are enjoying life to its -fullest. Besides numerous entertainments accorded to officers and crews, -the men are living a life of luxurious idleness. Their chief vocation at -this time is pleasure—pleasure day and night.</p> - -<p>They spend most of their time in Norfolk in the early hours of the day. -In the afternoon they go to Virginia Beach, Ocean View, and other -near-by resorts. They smoke good cigars, eat the best, and appear to -have plenty of money. Barring a few cases of beri-beri on the -<i>Kronprinz</i>, they are a healthy lot.</p> - -<p>The men have been taken into the homes of a number of citizens and -entertained, and special services have been held for them in Protestant -churches. They are made to feel at home.</p> - -<p>They appear on the streets in white uniforms with blue stripes and white -hats. They are as neat as new pins and their conduct is perfect. They -roam the streets arm in arm with American bluejackets, and visit the -best theaters and other public resorts.</p> - -<p>They are beginning to love the great American game. Several hundred of -them attended a baseball game in Portsmouth and rose up and cheered a -player who drove the ball over the fence for a home run. Whether they -understand the game or just followed the Americans who stood up and -cheered, no one but themselves knew. But there is a movement on foot to -organize two baseball<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> teams out of the crews—one on the <i>Eitel</i> and -another on the <i>Kronprinz</i>—and some of the men are practicing daily. -They have spent over two hundred dollars for equipment. A short member -of the crew, whom the American sailors call “Buelow,” drove a ball over -the sea wall in a practice game.</p> - -<h3>Rescue Little Fishes for Food of Future.</h3> - -<p>A regular life-saving service for fish is the latest conservation kink. -In Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois the State fish commission, with the -coöperation of the United States government, operate fish-saving -expeditions for the benefit of the land-locked fish left in small ponds -along the course of the Mississippi River.</p> - -<p>In the springtime the river rises and spreads out over the country, -filling numerous small channels and hollows. In August the water begins -to recede. The large fish note the warning and escape, but the little -fish remain until the dried-up channel has cut off their means of -escape. Ultimately these small ponds and channels dry up completely and -billions of fish have been lost annually in this way.</p> - -<p>The fish-saving service consists of parties of men who wade out into -these inland ponds, take up the fish in nets, and restore them to the -main body of the river. The fish rescued are about finger length, and -from twenty to forty large tubs of them have been taken in a single day -from a pond not more than half an acre in area. Billions of black bass, -perch, sunfish, and other edible species are in this way added to the -nation’s food resources.</p> - -<h3>“Bedtick Banks” Are Failures.</h3> - -<p>“Bedtick banks” have proved a failure to some persons of Uniontown, Pa. -Robbers continue to make successful raids on savings deposited in ticks. -Fifteen hundred dollars was obtained from beneath a mattress in the home -of John Morgan, at Lambert, and six hundred dollars was secured from a -similar hiding place in the home of John Holly, at Continental.</p> - -<p>Since the failure of the First National Bank, depositors have withdrawn -their savings from solvent banks and concealed the sums about their -homes. Nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is said to have -been drawn from banks in that section. Since it has become known that -parties are acting as their own bankers, burglarious gents have -evidently flocked to the region.</p> - -<h3>Shoots Two; Kills Himself.</h3> - -<p>Harvey O. Dysinger, aged forty, a rich Hardin County farmer, shot and -fatally injured his wife, killed his daughter, Esther, aged fifteen, and -wounded his son, Herbert, aged sixteen, and committed suicide at his -home one mile north of Forest, Ohio. The only member of the family to -escape unscathed was the youngest child, Kenneth, aged eleven, who was -rescued by Herbert. The latter is not seriously hurt.</p> - -<p>Herbert was awakened at four-thirty in the morning by several shots, and -was just climbing out of bed to investigate when Dysinger entered his -room and fired at him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> The bullet wounded him in the head. Dysinger was -also armed with a hatchet.</p> - -<p>Herbert, stunned and bleeding, grappled with his father, and the two -wrestled about the room. Finally the boy disarmed the crazed man, and, -grabbing the gun and hatchet, ran downstairs, where he pulled his -younger brother, Kenneth, from bed.</p> - -<p>While he was gone, Dysinger obtained a revolver, and, lying down on the -bed beside his wife, shot himself through the heart. He is thought to -have become insane.</p> - -<h3>Noted Mission Worker Dies.</h3> - -<p>Walter B. Moorcroft, of Paterson, N. J., for twenty years a prominent -mission worker among drunkards and fallen women, died following a stroke -of apoplexy.</p> - -<p>Twenty years ago Moorcroft owned a resort known as “The Hole in the -Wall” in New York. He dropped into the John Street Mission one night, -and what he heard caused him to close the place at ten o’clock.</p> - -<h3>Railroad to Bar Liquor.</h3> - -<p>Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad officials have announced that every train on -the entire system will be prohibited from selling liquors.</p> - -<h3>The Only Way.</h3> - -<p>“What a lively baby!” said Brannigan. “Have ye had his picture took -yet?”</p> - -<p>“Not yet,” said his proud father. “I’ve tried to, but afther an hour’s -lost labor the photographer advised us to go to a movin’-picture -studio!”</p> - -<h3>Crosses Ocean for “Story.”</h3> - -<p>Eliezer Ben Jehuda, editor of the <i>Haor</i>, a newspaper published in -Jerusalem, has arrived in New York from Patras. Ship-news reporters who -welcomed him at the pier were beset by mingled emotions when they -learned that the <i>Haor</i> has four editions a year and no extras.</p> - -<p>The <i>Haor</i> means in English, “<i>The Light</i>.” Mr. Jehuda has come to New -York on a rush assignment, and he was gravely concerned lest he would -not get his story in for the October edition.</p> - -<p>It was learned there are no vacancies on the editorial, reportorial, or -business staff of the <i>Haor</i>.</p> - -<h3>He Poisons Milk to Get One Dollar.</h3> - -<p>John Kelly, eleven years old, admitted in the Brooklyn children’s court, -Brooklyn, N. Y., that he had put a quantity of lye in a bottle of milk -for the use of his eighty-one-year-old grandmother, with whom he lived. -“I only wanted to make her sick so she would have to go to bed,” he -explained. “That would give me a chance to go through the house and get -hold of some money. I needed a dollar awful bad.”</p> - -<p>The boy’s parents died when he was an infant, and his grandmother reared -him.</p> - -<h3>Cyclone Plays Odd Pranks.</h3> - -<p>A cyclone played queer pranks and did much damage in Dowagiac, Mich. A -water tank at the stove works was blown from its sixty-foot pedestal and -crashed through a near-by factory building. A barn south of the city was -carried several feet away and upturned, leaving two horses standing in -their stalls unhurt. A new cottage<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> was demolished at Indian Lake. The -roof and upper story of a farmhouse was blown off. Trees were uprooted -and cottages damaged at several summer resorts.</p> - -<h3>Woman Finds Way to Lift Bucket in Well.</h3> - -<p>The problem of securing a water supply for household uses has been -solved in a novel and up-to-date way by a homesteader woman living near -Fairview, Mont. There is a well on the place. Like most wells in that -section it is a deep one, being one hundred and seventy-five feet down. -The family has no windmill nor even a pump, but draws its water in the -old oaken bucket on a pulley way. In this case the bucket that hangs in -the well is a ten-gallon keg.</p> - -<p>When the husband is at home, he is able to operate the keg by hand, but -his business keeps him in town most of the time, and the large share of -the water hauling devolves upon the wife. She is unable to lift the keg. -She has a twenty-horse-power automobile, however, and this serves the -purpose. When in need of water, she lowers the keg, attaches the well -rope to the roadster, throws in the clutch, and up comes her water -supply while she stands idly by.</p> - -<h3>Burglars Steal Two Fleas.</h3> - -<p>They were curious burglars who broke into the home of Herbert Randall, -an artist and curio collector of Hartford, Conn. Passing over a quantity -of silver, they chose their loot from the curios.</p> - -<p>Included in the booty they got were two very special fleas, and the only -ones in the house. The fleas were dressed in red uniforms to represent -soldiers. Mr. Randall bought them from an old lady in Seattle, who made -a living dressing fleas in martial array. They reposed in little boxes -against a background of white cotton, and were usually observed through -a microscope. Mr. Randall has one of the largest and best curio -collections in the State.</p> - -<h3>New Corn Picker Invented.</h3> - -<p>The farmers in the great corn belt of the United States are realizing -more and more that the longest and hardest and most expensive job on the -farm these days of modern machinery is husking corn by hand, and, with -this idea in view, an Illinois inventor has lately perfected a corn -picker, which will do away with the husking by hand.</p> - -<p>This machine does not husk the corn clean, because that is not -necessary, but simply puts it in the wagon the easiest and cheapest way -possible, and thereby does away with the big, heavy, and costly corn -husker.</p> - -<p>This inventor’s corn picker is said to resemble the corn binder in -construction and is no heavier or more costly, and is expected to -revolutionize the corn-picking industry, and will be greatly appreciated -by cattle feeders who fatten their cattle on corn and by the corn -farmers in general.</p> - -<h3>Kansas Alfalfa for Army.</h3> - -<p>A contract has been made by Major General Aleshire, of the -quartermaster’s department of the United States army with a commission -company of Kansas City, Mo., for the purchase of three thousand tons of -alfalfa to go to the army post at Empire, Panama Canal Zone. The alfalfa -will be delivered at Colon between June 30, 1915, and August 1, 1916. -The contract price is not quite twenty-five dollars a ton.</p> - -<p>This deal will be good news to farmers, for it will go<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> far to show that -alfalfa has gone to the head as prime hay for all purposes in all parts -of the world. Our farmers can cut from four to six tons from every acre -of ordinarily good farming land, and this without plowing, harrowing, -furnishing seed, or paying out money for threshing or fertilizer.</p> - -<h3>Indian Gets Third Burial.</h3> - -<p>A strange burial attended by old residents of Wyandotte County took -place at the Indian burial ground on the General Miller Farm in Delaware -Township, near the Leavenworth County line, in Missouri. For the third -time the body of Captain Ne Con He Con, a chief of the Delaware tribe of -Indians, was laid to rest.</p> - -<p>The Indian chief died in 1863 and was buried according to tribal customs -in a grave containing many desirable relics, and a blanket, a silk sash, -and gold braid were scattered over the ground.</p> - -<p>In 1883 the grave was robbed by relic hunters and again the body of the -chief was buried, and the decorations scattered on top the ground. The -third burial was Wednesday. H. F. Heisler, of the Kansas side, Wyandotte -County’s oldest citizen, officiated. The burial was solemnized for the -purpose of maintaining respect for the burial place of the Delawares.</p> - -<h3>Lightning Kills Two Boys.</h3> - -<p>Tom Patton, eighteen, and Clyde Ellis, seventeen, were struck and -instantly killed by lightning near Norman, Okla. The boys were running -to a shed to escape a storm.</p> - -<h3>Interesting New Inventions.</h3> - -<p>A new burglar alarm designed for outbuildings fires a blank cartridge -when an intruder touches a wire, which can be laid in almost any desired -direction.</p> - -<p>To make a baby enjoy his bath, a cork doll that bobs around on the water -while he splashes has been invented by a New Jersey woman.</p> - -<p>To prevent an automobile spattering mud upon pedestrians, there has been -invented a flexible metal ring to be attached close to a tire.</p> - -<p>Among the space-saving household novelties is a folding washtub, which -may be fastened against collapsing when filled with water.</p> - -<p>In an electric gun invented in England, which seems to be successful, a -projectile is hurled through a tube by the action of electric magnets on -the outside.</p> - -<p>For military purposes a United States army officer has designed an -automobile that will carry fourteen men, with full equipment and three -days’ rations, eight hundred miles on one filling of its fuel tanks.</p> - -<p>Electric-light signals, powerful enough to be seen in the daytime, are -being adopted by several electric railroads in preference to semaphores, -as they save the expense of motor-driven mechanism.</p> - -<h3>Proud of His Ambitious Hen.</h3> - -<p>John F. Williamson, of Dalton, Ga., has a hen he wouldn’t swap even for -any hen in the State of Georgia, for she has established a record of -which any hen might be proud. Not satisfied with hatching fifteen -thoroughbred Rhode Island Reds out of fifteen eggs, this fowl, who is a -Plymouth Rock, decided to try the merits of her own particular breed, -and laid eight eggs, while hatching her brood. Mr. Williamson does not -state whether the Plymouth Rock<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> eggs hatched or not, but says the -mystical number “twenty-three” may have prevented the hen from carrying -out her purpose.</p> - -<h3>Man Pays Uncle Sam Twenty Cents.</h3> - -<p>The secretary of war has received from Chicago a letter inclosing twenty -cents in stamps, with the statement that the sum is inclosed “for bacon -and eggs.” Mr. Garrison could not recall the transaction, so he turned -the letter over to the treasury department, where the twenty cents was -added to the “conscience fund.”</p> - -<p>It is supposed that a retired soldier ate more than the law allowed, and -that he now compensates the government for his meal.</p> - -<p>The conscience fund, which in reality has a separate existence only on -paper, has been growing since President Madison’s administration, and -the total now is nearly $500,000.</p> - -<h3>Old King of ’Gators is Dead.</h3> - -<p>The king alligator of Georgia has been killed at Hutchinson’s pond at -Adel by M. L. Crowley, after the beast had eluded hunters, for -twenty-two years. The alligator measured ten feet four inches and had -thirty-seven notches on its tail, which shows that it was thirty-seven -years old.</p> - -<p>Many have been the attempts to kill the sly old creature, but always, -until now, it has escaped the bullets aimed at it and has scuttled -safely back to its cave. It was the ’gator’s appetite for hogs that -proved its undoing.</p> - -<p>Mr. Crowley, who for twenty-two years has been hunting this beast, tied -the leg of a porker to a tree near Hutchinson’s pond, and hid himself. -The wary old ’gator slid out of the water, through a clump of bushes, -and was just reaching for the bait when Mr. Crowley fired. The bullet -took the beast in a vital spot and killed it instantly.</p> - -<h3>Dies from Woodtick Bite.</h3> - -<p>Doctor M. S. McCrillis, a pioneer dentist, of Douglas, Wyo., is dead of -spotted fever, caused by the bite of a woodtick. This is the seventh -death from spotted fever, or woodtick fever, that has occurred in -Wyoming this year.</p> - -<p>Owing to the cold, wet spring woodticks are more numerous and especially -more poisonous than for many years. Hundreds of persons throughout the -State have been or are now ill from the effects of woodtick bites.</p> - -<h3>Robbers Hold Up Fifteen Hobos.</h3> - -<p>Two masked men, armed with a revolver and an electric flash light, held -up and robbed fifteen hobos while they were sleeping in a box car in -Wichita, Kan. The robbers got seventy cents and a plug of tobacco from -the fifteen.</p> - -<p>When the hobos were ordered to throw up their hands, one refused, and, -for his obstinacy, was shot. He died in a hospital. He gave his name as -Ben Rider, of Chicago. When the police arrived, the holdup men were -searching other box cars in the railroad yards.</p> - -<h3>Nothing but Water in This Unique Township.</h3> - -<p>Hyde County, near Kinston, N. C., has the most unique township in the -United States. It is “Lake Township,” with barely a square inch of dry -land in it and not a single resident.</p> - -<p>The biggest drainage undertaking in the history of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> south Atlantic -States will next winter reclaim the bottom of Mattamuskeet Lake, one of -the two largest fresh-water bodies in the south Atlantic group. Gigantic -pumps will drive the water from the lake at the rate of a million -gallons a minute.</p> - -<p>Mattamuskeet Lake is eighteen miles long and seven miles wide, but at -its deepest point is not more than three and one-half feet in depth. The -land of the entire county is of a peaty nature, and this basin was -burned out by a fire before the coming of the white men. Now, even, such -fires sometimes have to be checked by the people.</p> - -<p>Dare County adjoining Hyde, has the largest area of salt water within -its boundaries of any county in the United States; Hyde has the largest -area of fresh water. The other large lake of the south Atlantic group is -Alligator Lake, only a few miles from Mattamuskeet.</p> - -<p>The sixteen pumps to be used in this reclamation work have -one-hundred-and-eight-inch suctions and seventy-two-inch discharges.</p> - -<p>To show the productiveness of this land to be recovered, never yet under -the plow, a small plot adjacent to its shores is now sown in twenty-two -hundred varieties of grain and vegetables, flowers, fruits, and nuts. -Lake Township will be opened to settlement in 1916.</p> - -<h3>Munich Driven to Lemonade.</h3> - -<p>Munich, the greatest beer-drinking center of Germany, has been compelled -sharply to curtail the consumption of beer. The amount of beer now -available for public use is only one-third of the ordinary supply.</p> - -<p>A number of the famous beer gardens are now closing at seven o’clock in -the evening, owing to the shortage of beer. Some of these places are -encouraging their guests to call for lemonade as a substitute for beer.</p> - -<h3>Billposters Bar Liquor Ads.</h3> - -<p>No advertisements of intoxicating liquors will be placed on the -billboards of the Associated Billposters and Distributors of the United -States and Canada after the close of this year, according to Donald -Ross, president of the association.</p> - -<p>Mr. Ross was a witness for the association, dissolution of which is -being sought by the government on the ground that it is a trust in -violation of the Sherman act. The Billposters and Distributors’ -Protective Company is the oldest and largest of the official licensed -solicitors of the alleged trust.</p> - -<p>“At the last meeting of the poster association,” Mr. Ross said, “the -board of directors voted to prohibit all advertisements of intoxicating -liquors.”</p> - -<h3>Ex-mayor, Once Rich, Begs Dime and Dies.</h3> - -<p>Frank A. McGowan, former mayor of Trenton, N. J., died in a hospital in -Hoboken, to which he had been taken after begging a dime from a -policeman. He was reputed to have had at one time a fortune of more than -three million dollars. Cerebral hemorrhage was given as the cause of -death.</p> - -<h3>Shows Curious Potato Vine.</h3> - -<p>A potato vine that is bearing potatos on the vine above ground as well -as below it, is the latest thing in freak vines in Bethany, Mo. The -queer vine has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> exhibited by Johnson Hogan, of this place, who -found it only recently in his potato patch. At each joint of the vine -there is a well-formed potato, and there was also an unusually large -number of potatos attached to the roots.</p> - -<h3>Metal from ’62 Taken Out of Hand.</h3> - -<p>Doctor D. R. Peters, of Mount Sterling, Ill., has removed from one of -the fingers on one hand of J. P. Amonett a small piece of metal that he -had received in the battle of Shiloh in the Civil War in 1862. The metal -has been troubling Amonett lately, and he decided to have it removed. He -said it seemed several times larger than it was.</p> - -<h3>Sleeps One Year and Expires.</h3> - -<p>After sleeping almost continuously for one year, Henry Mankey, a trooper -during the Civil War, died in Columbus, Ohio. Physicians say the case is -without parallel in medical annals. Mankey was seventy-four years old. -The long sleep was held to be due to an injury.</p> - -<h3>Champion Woman Swimmer.</h3> - -<p>Miss Constance Meyer, champion woman swimmer of Portland, Ore., and one -of the best on the Pacific coast, knew nothing about swimming three -years ago. One day she attempted to cross a stream on horseback. The -horse was unable to carry her across and she slipped into the water and -held to his tail. Fortunately, he got to the shore with her, but Miss -Meyer made up her mind that she must learn to swim. She began at the -Portland Y. W. C. A., and soon became so proficient that she entered -outdoor contests. When the national-championship contests at the San -Francisco Exposition were announced recently, Miss Meyer was sent from -Portland.</p> - -<p>“Learn to swim,” is her advice to every girl. “It is good for your -health and may get you out of danger some time.”</p> - -<h3>Toadstools Kill Two.</h3> - -<p>Carlo Muzzareller and Dominic Mulano are dead, and ten other persons are -seriously ill in West Franklin, Ill., as the result of including -toadstools in a picnic luncheon. Little hope is held out for the -recovery of the sick.</p> - -<h3>Many Ill from Rabbit Meat.</h3> - -<p>As a result of eating rabbits that had eaten loco weed, several score -persons in Kenna, N. M., and the surrounding farming community were -severely ill. Physicians were at a loss to account for the epidemic till -they learned that every person who was ill had recently eaten rabbit -meat. Rabbits and loco weed are extraordinarily plentiful this year, and -hunters say that thousands of rabbits are locoed.</p> - -<h3>Fifty Thousand Dollars for Each Foot Lost.</h3> - -<p>Miss Daisy B. James, who had been a dancer at the Winter Garden in New -York, values each of her lost feet at fifty thousand dollars.</p> - -<p>She filed an action in the New Jersey Supreme Court, in Newark, N. J., -for one hundred thousand dollars against the Lackawanna Railroad. Miss -James was in such haste to board a train in East Orange on June 10th -last that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> she ran under the closed gates. As the train drew into the -station, the air suction caught her wide taffeta skirts and sucked her -under the cars. Both legs were cut off.</p> - -<h3>Trapping Arizona Monkeys.</h3> - -<p>Trapping monkeys is the latest industry to spring into prominence in -Arizona. Several citizens of Parker, Ariz., have formed the Colorado -River Monkey Company, with the intention of trapping and marketing a -colony of several hundred monkeys known to exist in Cunningham Pass, an -almost inaccessible cañon located northeast of this place.</p> - -<p>There was a big gold excitement at the Pass in 1882. Among those who -rushed in was an Italian organ grinder with a pair of monkeys. The -monkeys escaped and have been multiplying ever since, in spite of the -depredations of coyotes and other predatory animals.</p> - -<h3>Never Again for Johnny.</h3> - -<p>Johnny Williams, ten-year-old son of John N. Williams, of Big Laurel, -Va., declares that he will never swing on another grapevine until he has -carefully examined both ends.</p> - -<p>A few days ago Johnny was out in the woods with some other boys and they -found a grapevine, which, by cutting it off near the ground, would make -a swing that they could take hold of and swing far out over a deep -ravine.</p> - -<p>Johnny was the most fearless in the bunch, so he grabbed onto the vine -as soon as it was cut loose and swung out over the hollow. The other end -of the vine had not taken hold of the limbs of the tree sufficiently to -hold his weight, and he fell, taking the vine with him. He would have -been dashed to death against the rocks below if he had not landed in the -top of a beech tree. He caught onto a limb and held there until he could -get a better balance, but the worst part was still to come, for the -beech was a very tall one and there was no limbs for sixty feet above -the ground. So there the boy had to sit for five long hours until men -came with ladders and brought him down.</p> - -<h3>Pigeons Break World’s Record.</h3> - -<p>Claim of a new world’s record for flight by homing pigeons was made by -the Fort Worth Pigeon Fanciers’ Association. Four birds liberated at New -Orleans, covered the 579 miles to Fort Worth in fourteen hours, -maintaining an average of forty-one miles an hour.</p> - -<h3>Large Mound on Man’s Head.</h3> - -<p>Contractor Charles S. Wilcox’s thick “two-story” fedora saved him from -instant death when a carpenter on the fifth floor of a new building, in -Lansing, Mich., dropped a hammer on his head. Wilcox was on the first -floor. The blow made him imitate a merry-go-round, but he finally got -control and kept his balance. At present he is wearing a big mound -beneath his life-saving hat.</p> - -<h3>Can’t Catch Weasel Asleep.</h3> - -<p>U. S. Liphart, a farmer near Windsor, Pa., will receive bounty for -trapping a weasel in his trousers. He has forwarded the head of the -animal to the commissioner’s office, together with an affidavit made -before Justice D. A. Heindel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> - -<p>Liphart was plowing when he noticed the weasel chasing a chipmunk. He -went to the rescue, and the weasel turned on him and made a dart for his -pantaloon leg, ascending rapidly. When it got as far as the knee, -Liphart seized it and choked the life out of it.</p> - -<h3>Breaks Dentistry Records.</h3> - -<p>Mrs. James Seever, of Atchison, Kan., had twenty-five of her teeth -pulled by a dentist, and did not take an anæsthetic. She did not become -nervous or hysterical during the ordeal, and went home unassisted.</p> - -<h3>Vest Will Urge Big Navy.</h3> - -<p>The Navy League will send over the country to lecture in behalf of a -greater navy Alexander S. Vest, son of former Senator George Graham -Vest, Missouri, the last surviving member of the Congress of the -Confederate States of America and an intimate friend of Jefferson Davis.</p> - -<h3>Feeding the Two-headed Calf.</h3> - -<p>Fed through rubber tubing, the two-headed calf at the country home of -Tom van Swearington, in Shenandoah, Iowa, has been kept alive since its -birth, a fortnight ago, and has strength enough to almost stand alone -now. The freak of nature has attracted a great deal of attention.</p> - -<h3>Animal Horns and Antlers.</h3> - -<p>A record of the conditions of the deer, moose, and elk in the zoölogical -park of New York City proves that their formidable-looking horns and -antlers, which are newly acquired each year, are grown within four -months. The old horns are dropped in the spring. The largest elk in the -zoo lost both his antlers last year nine hours apart, on March 21st. By -June 21st, the full-length antler had grown, although it was still soft -or “in the velvet.”</p> - -<p>The dropping of the horn leaves a small circle of skull exposed. Within -a week this is covered with brown skin. Then a round knob appears, -resembling a tomato except in color. It soon begins to lengthen out into -the horns which are to come, the growth sometimes amounting to nearly an -inch in a day. When soft and growing, the horns are full of blood. After -they have reached their full length, they begin to harden. By October -the velvet has been worn off by rubbing against tree trunks and the -horns are hard and smooth.</p> - -<h3>Tragic Dream Comes True.</h3> - -<p>Fulfilled premonitions constitute no small part of the lore of the -mountains of southwest Virginia. The following story which was added to -this lore recently was related by an old lady, Mrs. Richard Mullins, of -Haddonfield, Va., whose word is to be relied upon.</p> - -<p>Two men by the name of Fleming, who were cutting timber for a lumber -concern, were boarding at Mrs. Mullin’s. Finally their work was almost -completed and the two men, whose first names were Clinton and Walter, -saw that they could finish the work in another day.</p> - -<p>The following night Mrs. Mullins dreamed that she saw a tree fall on -Walter, crushing him to a shapeless mass. She related the dream next -morning, but the men apparently gave it no consideration and walked to -their work with light hearts. They were working near the house, and -about one o’clock that afternoon Mrs. Mul<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>lins was startled by the -screams from Clinton, and she hurried to the place. There she found that -a tree had fallen on Walter and killed him instantly.</p> - -<h3>Shot Through Brain, Lives.</h3> - -<p>With a bullet through his brain, physicians say Clay Brewster, aged -fourteen, of Hoisington, Kan., will live. Young Brewster was -accidentally shot in the left eye, three weeks ago, the shot passing -through the cerebrum of the brain and coming out at the top of the head. -The bullet was removed. He has regained consciousness and makes his -wants known by signs, being unable to talk.</p> - -<h3>Kills Rat with Blow of Fist.</h3> - -<p>Thomas Dean, a Sunbury, Pa., man, was awakened from sleep by a pain in -his right hand. He found three of his fingers bleeding. Turning his head -on the pillow, he discovered a huge rat sitting on the pillow, and, Dean -said, “apparently grinning in fiendish delight at what he had done to -the hand.”</p> - -<p>With a crushing blow from his fist he struck the rat and sent it against -the side of the room. The rodent fell dead. Dean weighed it and found -its weight to be three pounds.</p> - -<p>As proof of the occurrence, Dean showed the rat’s body, unmarked, to his -friends. Doctors cauterized the wounds.</p> - -<h3>Three-ring Movies Latest Idea.</h3> - -<p>“Three-ring movies” are the latest. Three film plays are shown at one -time on three screens. This is at the Grand Central Palace in New York.</p> - -<p>If you don’t care for the comedy on the screen to the left, you can look -at the romantic play in the center screen, or at the thriller on the -screen to the right.</p> - -<p>The chief advantage is that when you go in to see your favorite hero of -the movies, who is billed on the posters outside, or go in to see a -certain comedy, you aren’t compelled to sit waiting through a program of -pictures you don’t care about particularly. It is an arrangement for -busy folk who drop into a movie theater at the noon hour.</p> - -<h3>Wed Editor to Muzzle Her.</h3> - -<p>Miss Sadie Velle Fenton, of Denver, Col., Vassar graduate and the -youngest woman editor in the United States, says that she has had to -refuse numerous matrimonial offers from men who proposed mainly for the -reason that they desired to control the editorial policy of her paper, -the Logansport <i>Times</i>, published in the Indiana town of that name, and -having the reputation of being the oldest local prohibition paper in -America.</p> - -<p>“I’ve had lots of proposals since I’ve been editing the paper,” said -Miss Fenton, “but they have been from men who wanted to marry me because -they would like to edit the paper. Several of these were from men who -did not believe in my views on prohibition and suffrage, and evidently -thought the quickest way to correct them would be to marry me.”</p> - -<h3>Two-story House Disappears.</h3> - -<p>Without warning, a two-story house, occupied by Andrew Lappi and his -family on the site of the Colby mine, near Bessemer, Mich., suddenly -sank into the earth<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> and dropped the depth of the shaft. The family was -away at the time, and, on returning, failed to find their house. A large -stretch of country has been undermined in this vicinity, and several -families are moving to other localities.</p> - -<h3>Costs Extra Cent for Show.</h3> - -<p>As soon as proper arrangements are made by the board of control of -Montreal, Canada, for collecting the tax, every patron of a place of -amusement will be obliged to add one cent to the cost of his theater -ticket. The city council gave third reading of the necessary bylaw, -based on the authority secured at the last session of the legislature.</p> - -<p>“The words ‘place of amusement’ shall mean and include theater, a -moving-picture hall, an amusement hall, concert hall, circus, -playground, race course, skating rink, and any other place in the city -where any exhibition or entertainment whatsoever is given and an -entrance fee collected,” explains the ordinance.</p> - -<p>The tax is imposed on each person admitted into any place of amusement, -even if such person is admitted with a complimentary card or ticket.</p> - -<h3>How Much Silver is Wasted.</h3> - -<p>A greater amount of pure silver is used each year in this country in -photography and photo-engraving than for any other purpose except the -coinage of the United States. By the methods in general use only about -ten per cent of the silver consumed in these industries is actually -utilized. The remainder is simply wasted in the solutions which are -thrown daily into the sinks to go out through the drain pipes.</p> - -<p>Several schemes for conserving this waste are now being considered. One -consists in saving the solutions in jars and barrels to be refined or -evaporated to regain the silver. Another method, which is really quite -practical, is to utilize the silver wasted in the fixing bath for silver -plating.</p> - -<p>The process is so simple that it can readily be carried on even by an -amateur. The liquid is strained or filtered and placed in a hard-rubber -box. An ordinary galvanic cell is attached by copper wires to a copper -plate in one end of the receptacle. The articles to be plated should be -well cleaned and placed in the solution opposite the copper plate. The -silver will begin to deposit immediately. Fifteen or twenty minutes will -suffice for a thorough plating. In most photographic establishments -enough silver solution is thrown away each day to plate a couple of -dozen spoons or forks.</p> - -<h3>Dog with Only Two Legs Left.</h3> - -<p>Carmargo, in Dewey County, Okla., has dogs—big dogs, little dogs, and, -in fact, all kinds of dogs, but one in particular is somewhat of an -oddity. This is a dog that travels on two legs.</p> - -<p>Several months ago a dog belonging to Mr. Storey, section foreman, was -run over by a train and two of his legs cut off. For some time he was -unable to move around, but now has recovered so that he can navigate -quite handily. The two legs on which he is forced to walk are both on -one side. He not only walks, but can also run, and seems to be about as -well able to get around as a dog with four good legs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> - -<p class="cbig250">The Nick Carter Stories</p> - -<p class="c">ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY <span style="margin-left: 2em;">BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS</span></p> - -<p>When it comes to detective stories worth while, the <b>Nick Carter Stories</b> -contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn -tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest -minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar -all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in -twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of -time so well as those contained in the <b>Nick Carter Stories</b>. It proves -conclusively that they are the best. We give herewith a list of some of -the back numbers in print. You can have your news dealer order them, or -they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt -of the price in money or postage stamps.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind"> -730—The Torn Card.<br /> -731—Under Desperation’s Spur.<br /> -732—The Connecting Link.<br /> -733—The Abduction Syndicate.<br /> -738—A Plot Within a Plot.<br /> -739—The Dead Accomplice.<br /> -746—The Secret Entrance.<br /> -747—The Cavern Mystery.<br /> -748—The Disappearing Fortune.<br /> -749—A Voice from the Past.<br /> -752—The Spider’s Web.<br /> -753—The Man With a Crutch.<br /> -754—The Rajah’s Regalia.<br /> -755—Saved from Death.<br /> -756—The Man Inside.<br /> -757—Out for Vengeance.<br /> -758—The Poisons of Exili.<br /> -759—The Antique Vial.<br /> -760—The House of Slumber.<br /> -761—A Double Identity.<br /> -762—“The Mocker’s” Stratagem.<br /> -763—The Man that Came Back.<br /> -764—The Tracks in the Snow.<br /> -765—The Babbington Case.<br /> -766—The Masters of Millions.<br /> -767—The Blue Stain.<br /> -768—The Lost Clew.<br /> -770—The Turn of a Card.<br /> -771—A Message in the Dust.<br /> -772—A Royal Flush.<br /> -774—The Great Buddha Beryl.<br /> -775—The Vanishing Heiress.<br /> -776—The Unfinished Letter.<br /> -777—A Difficult Trail.<br /> -782—A Woman’s Stratagem.<br /> -783—The Cliff Castle Affair.<br /> -784—A Prisoner of the Tomb.<br /> -785—A Resourceful Foe.<br /> -789—The Great Hotel Tragedies.<br /> -795—Zanoni, the Transfigured.<br /> -796—The Lure of Gold.<br /> -797—The Man With a Chest.<br /> -798—A Shadowed Life.<br /> -799—The Secret Agent.<br /> -800—A Plot for a Crown.<br /> -801—The Red Button.<br /> -802—Up Against It.<br /> -803—The Gold Certificate.<br /> -804—Jack Wise’s Hurry Call.<br /> -805—Nick Carter’s Ocean Chase.<br /> -807—Nick Carter’s Advertisement.<br /> -808—The Kregoff Necklace.<br /> -811—Nick Carter and the Nihilists.<br /> -812—Nick Carter and the Convict Gang.<br /> -813—Nick Carter and the Guilty Governor.<br /> -814—The Triangled Coin.<br /> -815—Ninety-nine—and One.<br /> -816—Coin Number 77.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="c">NEW SERIES</p> - -<p class="cb">NICK CARTER STORIES</p> - -<p class="nind"> -1—The Man from Nowhere.<br /> -2—The Face at the Window.<br /> -3—A Fight for a Million.<br /> -4—Nick Carter’s Land Office.<br /> -5—Nick Carter and the Professor.<br /> -6—Nick Carter as a Mill Hand.<br /> -7—A Single Clew.<br /> -8—The Emerald Snake.<br /> -9—The Currie Outfit.<br /> -10—Nick Carter and the Kidnaped Heiress.<br /> -11—Nick Carter Strikes Oil.<br /> -12—Nick Carter’s Hunt for a Treasure.<br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>13—A Mystery of the Highway.<br /> -14—The Silent Passenger.<br /> -15—Jack Dreen’s Secret.<br /> -16—Nick Carter’s Pipe Line Case.<br /> -17—Nick Carter and the Gold Thieves.<br /> -18—Nick Carter’s Auto Chase.<br /> -19—The Corrigan Inheritance.<br /> -20—The Keen Eye of Denton.<br /> -21—The Spider’s Parlor.<br /> -22—Nick Carter’s Quick Guess.<br /> -23—Nick Carter and the Murderess.<br /> -24—Nick Carter and the Pay Car.<br /> -25—The Stolen Antique.<br /> -26—The Crook League.<br /> -27—An English Cracksman.<br /> -28—Nick Carter’s Still Hunt.<br /> -29—Nick Carter’s Electric Shock.<br /> -30—Nick Carter and the Stolen Duchess.<br /> -31—The Purple Spot.<br /> -32—The Stolen Groom.<br /> -33—The Inverted Cross.<br /> -34—Nick Carter and Keno McCall.<br /> -35—Nick Carter’s Death Trap.<br /> -36—Nick Carter’s Siamese Puzzle.<br /> -37—The Man Outside.<br /> -38—The Death Chamber.<br /> -39—The Wind and the Wire.<br /> -40—Nick Carter’s Three Cornered Chase.<br /> -41—Dazaar, the Arch-Fiend.<br /> -42—The Queen of the Seven.<br /> -43—Crossed Wires.<br /> -44—A Crimson Clew.<br /> -45—The Third Man.<br /> -46—The Sign of the Dagger.<br /> -47—The Devil Worshipers.<br /> -48—The Cross of Daggers.<br /> -49—At Risk of Life.<br /> -50—The Deeper Game.<br /> -51—The Code Message.<br /> -52—The Last of the Seven.<br /> -53—Ten-Ichi, the Wonderful.<br /> -54—The Secret Order of Associated Crooks.<br /> -55—The Golden Hair Clew.<br /> -56—Back From the Dead.<br /> -57—Through Dark Ways.<br /> -58—When Aces Were Trumps.<br /> -59—The Gambler’s Last Hand.<br /> -60—The Murder at Linden Fells.<br /> -61—A Game for Millions.<br /> -62—Under Cover.<br /> -63—The Last Call.<br /> -64—Mercedes Danton’s Double.<br /> -65—The Millionaire’s Nemesis.<br /> -66—A Princess of the Underworld.<br /> -67—The Crook’s Blind.<br /> -68—The Fatal Hour.<br /> -69—Blood Money.<br /> -70—A Queen of Her Kind.<br /> -71—Isabel Benton’s Trump Card.<br /> -72—A Princess of Hades.<br /> -73—A Prince of Plotters.<br /> -74—The Crook’s Double.<br /> -75—For Life and Honor.<br /> -76—A Compact With Dazaar.<br /> -77—In the Shadow of Dazaar.<br /> -78—The Crime of a Money King.<br /> -79—Birds of Prey.<br /> -80—The Unknown Dead.<br /> -81—The Severed Hand.<br /> -82—The Terrible Game of Millions.<br /> -83—A Dead Man’s Power.<br /> -84—The Secrets of an Old House.<br /> -85—The Wolf Within.<br /> -86—The Yellow Coupon.<br /> -87—In the Toils.<br /> -88—The Stolen Radium.<br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>89—A Crime in Paradise.<br /> -90—Behind Prison Bars.<br /> -91—The Blind Man’s Daughter.<br /> -92—On the Brink of Ruin.<br /> -93—Letter of Fire.<br /> -94—The $100,000 Kiss.<br /> -95—Outlaws of the Militia.<br /> -96—The Opium-Runners.<br /> -97—In Record Time.<br /> -98—The Wag-Nuk Clew.<br /> -99—The Middle Link.<br /> -100—The Crystal Maze.<br /> -101—A New Serpent in Eden.<br /> -102—The Auburn Sensation.<br /> -103—A Dying Chance.<br /> -104—The Gargoni Girdle.<br /> -105—Twice in Jeopardy.<br /> -106—The Ghost Launch.<br /> -107—Up in the Air.<br /> -108—The Girl Prisoner.<br /> -109—The Red Plague.<br /> -110—The Arson Trust.<br /> -111—The King of the Firebugs.<br /> -112—“Lifter’s” of the Lofts.<br /> -113—French Jimmie and His Forty Thieves.<br /> -114—The Death Plot.<br /> -115—The Evil Formula.<br /> -116—The Blue Button.<br /> -117—The Deadly Parallel.<br /> -118—The Vivisectionists.<br /> -119—The Stolen Brain.<br /> -120—An Uncanny Revenge.<br /> -121—The Call of Death.<br /> -122—The Suicide.<br /> -123—Half a Million Ransom.<br /> -124—The Girl Kidnaper.<br /> -125—The Pirate Yacht.<br /> -126—The Crime of the White Hand.<br /> -127—Found in the Jungle.<br /> -128—Six Men in a Loop.<br /> -129—The Jewels of Wat Chang.<br /> -130—The Crime in the Tower.<br /> -131—The Fatal Message.<br /> -132—Broken Bars.<br /> -133—Won by Magic.<br /> -134—The Secret of Shangore.<br /> -135—Straight to the Goal.<br /> -136—The Man They Held Back.<br /> -137—The Seal of Gijon.<br /> -138—The Traitors of the Tropics.<br /> -139—The Pressing Peril.<br /> -140—The Melting-Pot.<br /> -141—The Duplicate Night.<br /> -142—The Edge of a Crime.<br /> -143—The Sultan’s Pearls.<br /> -144—The Clew of the White Collar.<br /> -145—An Unsolved Mystery.<br /> -146—Paying the Price.<br /> -147—On Death’s Trail.<br /> -148—The Mark of Cain.<br /></p> - -<p>    Dated July 17th, 1915.</p> -<p class="nind">149—A Network of Crime.</p> -<p>    Dated July 24th, 1915.</p> -<p class="nind">150—The House of Fear.</p> -<p>    Dated July 31st, 1915.</p> -<p class="nind">151—The Mystery of the Crossed Needles.</p> -<p>    Dated August 7th, 1915.</p> -<p class="nind">152—The Forced Crime.</p> -<p>    Dated August 14th, 1915.</p> -<p class="nind">153—The Doom of Sang Tu.</p> -<p>    Dated August 21st, 1915.</p> -<p class="nind">154—The Mask of Death.</p> -<p>    Dated August 28th, 1915.</p> -<p class="nind">155—The Gordon Elopement.</p> -<p>    Dated Sept. 4th, 1915.</p> -<p class="nind">156—Blood Will Tell.</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> - -<p class="fint">PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. 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