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diff --git a/old/68328-0.txt b/old/68328-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7e048c6..0000000 --- a/old/68328-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5318 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Nick Carter Stories No 156, September -4, 1915: Blood Will Tell, 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 156, September 4, 1915: Blood Will Tell - or Nick Carter's Play in Politics - -Author: Nick Carter - -Editor: Chickering Carter - -Release Date: June 16, 2022 [eBook #68328] - -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 156, -SEPTEMBER 4, 1915: BLOOD WILL TELL *** - - - - - - 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. 156.= NEW YORK, September 4, 1915. =Price Five Cents.= - - - - - BLOOD WILL TELL; - - Or, NICK CARTER’S PLAY IN POLITICS. - - Edited by CHICKERING CARTER. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE WOMAN FOUND DEAD. - - -The telephone communication was from Arthur Gordon, the prominent New -York banker and broker, then a candidate for election to Congress on the -Fusion reform ticket--a communication so sensational in character and so -imbued with alarm and anxiety on the part of the speaker, that it evoked -only the following terse, decided response from Nick Carter, to whom the -frantic appeal had been made: - -“I will go right up there, Mr. Gordon. I will be there in ten minutes.” - -“What’s the trouble?” - -The inquiry came from Chick Carter, the celebrated detective’s chief -assistant, when Nick arose from his swivel chair and hurriedly closed -his roll-top desk. - -“A murder has been committed, or said to have been,” he replied. - -“A murder--where?” - -“Columbus Avenue,” Nick said tersely. “Arthur Gordon is under arrest for -the crime. The woman’s body was found by--but we’ll get the details -later. You had better go with me. Luckily Danny is at the door with the -touring car. We will lose no time.” - -Both detectives were leaving Nick’s Madison Avenue residence when the -last was said, hurriedly putting on their overcoats while entering his -powerful motor car. In another moment both were seated in the tonneau -and speeding north through the crisp air of the October morning. It then -was nine o’clock. - -Nick had hurriedly given Danny, his chauffeur, the Columbus Avenue -address of the house in which the murder was said to have been -committed, and he remarked, a bit grimly to Chick, while they settled -back on the cushioned seat: - -“By Jove, it’s strange how Gordon repeatedly gets into trouble.” - -“I should say so.” - -“He certainly is up against it good and hard. It’s less than a year -since we pulled him out of that scrape in which he was suspected of -having killed his stenographer--that double-dyed rascal, Mortimer -Deland, who fooled him so completely in female attire.” - -“Yes, I remember,” Chick nodded. “But what is he now up against? What -did he tell you?” - -“I did not wait to learn many of the details,” Nick replied. “He has -just been arrested by a plain-clothes man and a policeman. The latter -was sent to his house by Detective Phelan, who evidently had learned -enough to warrant his arrest.” - -“Great guns! is it possible?” - -“Gordon yielded submissively, of course, and was allowed to telephone to -me.” - -“Was he at his home in the Bronx?” - -“No. He has been living with his parents in Riverside Drive during his -present political campaign. His wife and her uncle, Rudolph Strickland, -are with them. It is more convenient for Gordon to be in town while -making his political fight, than at his Bronx residence.” - -“By Jove, this comes at a bad time for him, Nick, if there really is any -serious evidence against him,” Chick said gravely. - -“A bad time, indeed.” - -“We are almost on the eve of election. Gordon has put up a splendid -fight against Madison, his Congressional opponent on the Democratic -ticket. His election, though the possibility was ridiculed at first, now -is conceded in many quarters, and it looks to me like a cinch--unless -this affair turns the tide of public opinion,” Chick added, more -seriously. - -“That suggests something,” Nick replied. - -“You mean?” - -“That this affair may be a frame-up, a dastardly scheme designed to have -just the effect you mentioned. In other words, Chick, to throw Gordon -down at the last moment and so insure Jack Madison’s election.” - -“But Madison would not do such a beastly trick as that, nor even connive -at it.” - -“Don’t be so sure of it,” Nick said dryly. “Men with political -ambitions, some men, at least, are capable of infernally wicked work. -Madison is very anxious to carry this election, and so is the party -machine. There is much depending on it.” - -“That’s very true,” Chick allowed. “But I cannot believe Madison capable -of such knavery, to say nothing of murder. Who is the victim?” - -“Matilda Lancey.” - -“The deuce you say! Her reputation is infernally bad in circles where -she is well known.” - -Both detectives had seen her occasionally and were aware of her shady -reputation. She was a frequenter of the theaters, the best hotels and -the fast restaurants, with a capacity for wine that made her, in one -respect at least, a desirable patron, though in public she never went -beyond certain discreet points. - -Tilly Lancey, in fact, as she was familiarly known, enjoyed friendly -relations with a small legion of fast society chaps and men about town, -and was equally distinguished for her striking beauty, her fine figure, -her costly jewels, and beautiful gowns. That she had met her death at -the hands of a man of Arthur Gordon’s type seemed utterly incredible. - -“Tilly Lancey, eh?” Chick muttered audibly. “So she has come to the end -of her career. It has been hinted by some of the mud-slinging stump -speakers, Nick, that Madison has been quite as friendly with Miss Lancey -as the law allows, in view of the fact that he has a wife and family.” - -“Still another reason, perhaps, why my suggestion has feet to stand on,” -Nick replied. “There is nothing in speculating upon it, however, before -we have learned just what has been done and what evidence has been -found. Let her go lively, Danny.” - -There was little occasion for the last. Danny then was running nearly at -top speed up Fifth Avenue, guiding the flying car with the eye and hands -of an expert. - -Policemen on the crossings stared amazedly till they caught a glimpse at -the face of the famous detective, and, when instantly recognized, they -made no attempt to stop him. They knew that only an emergency case would -take him at that high speed through the most fashionable New York -thoroughfare. - -Less than ten minutes had passed when Danny swerved to the curbing near -the home of Miss Matilda Lancey. A taxicab was standing directly in -front of the house. - -It was a brownstone dwelling occupying a corner lot, one of a block of -five, the house having three flats accessible through a single front -door and entrance hall. - -A policeman was standing on the steps. He was talking with a slender man -in a plaid business suit, a man with an intellectual, or professional -type of countenance, with wavy hair, a pointed beard, and gold-bowed -spectacles. He had a wad of “copy paper” and pencil in his hand, and he -turned quickly when Nick and Chick ascended the steps, asking politely: - -“Do you object to my going in with you, Mr. Carter? I am a city news -man. I will be very discreet as to the story I turn in, or will be -governed entirely by your wishes. I happened to be passing and saw -Officer Gilroy on the steps. He told me a murder has been committed.” - -“How did you happen to recognize me?” Nick inquired, pausing briefly and -eying the man a bit sharply. - -“I did not recognize you,” smiled the other. “Gilroy mentioned your name -when your car stopped at the curbing.” - -“Well, I don’t know myself just what has been done here,” said Nick. “I -prefer not to grant your request immediately. You may wait here until I -have looked things over, if you like, and if I then have anything to -give you for publication, I will inform you.” - -“Very well, sir. Thank you for that.” - -“Which flat, Gilroy?” - -“The first one, Mr. Carter,” said the policeman. “Detective Phelan is in -there. Wait in the vestibule, Mr. Hawley, if you like,” he added to the -reporter. “Mr. Carter will not forget you.” - -Nick heard these added remarks, including the reporter’s name, while he -entered the house with Chick. He noticed that there were several drops -of dry blood on the polished, uncarpeted floor near the door of the -first flat. - -A polished stairway led up to the second floor. There were three women -in mourning gowns seated on the upper stairs; with pale and awed gaze -they turned upon the two detectives. - -Nick found the door of the first flat ajar, and he entered without -knocking. A large dark man about fifty years old was seated in one of -the armchairs in the handsomely furnished front parlor, but he at once -arose when the two detectives entered. - -“I have been waiting for you, Nick,” said he, after a word in hearty -greeting. “Gordon telephoned to me after his arrest, stating that you -were coming here at his request, and asking me not to disturb things -before you arrived. I have done very little in that line, so I decided -to wait for you. That’s equivalent to admitting, you see, that I realize -your head to be longer than mine.” - -“Thanks, Phelan,” said Nick, smiling faintly. - -“I’m thinking, however, that this job won’t require a very long head,” -Phelan quickly added. “The truth sticks out all over it.” - -“Involving Arthur Gordon?” - -“I feel so sure of it that I sent a policeman, Jim Kennedy, to arrest -him.” - -“As convincing as that, is it?” - -“That’s what, Nick, and there’s no telling what a man might do who has -done a job of this kind. I thought I’d better get him without delay.” - -Nick glanced around the room, noting a few drops of blood on the thick -Wilton carpet, a scattered trail leading through a broad, curtained -doorway into an adjoining room. One curtain of the portière was partly -torn from its pins and was hanging awry from its walnut rod. - -“Step in there and have a look,” said Phelan. “Nothing can be done for -the woman, so I’ve not called a physician. She was dead and gone long -ago.” - -Nick drew aside the portière and entered the adjoining room. It -evidently had been used for a living room, or a library. In the middle -of it stood a table covered with newspapers, books, and magazines. - -A desk between two windows overlooking the side street, the roller -shades of which still were drawn down, had been broken open and some of -its contents were scattered over the floor. - -Against the wall of an adjoining bedroom, accessible from a passageway -leading to a dining room and kitchen, stood a sofa, on which were -several handsome silk pillows. Two of them were bespattered with blood. - -On the floor near one end of the sofa lay the lifeless form of the -woman. She was clad in a handsome evening dress. Her bare neck and -shoulders were covered with blood. Her luxuriant auburn hair was in -disorder, matted with blood that had flowed from several gashes in the -scalp. The skull had been beaten in with a heavy bludgeon of some kind. - -She was lying on her left side, with her head nearly touching the -baseboard of the wall, from which her right hand appeared to have fallen -after a desperate effort to reach it, or to continue doing so. - -In confirmation of this there was a coarse, angular, irregular scrawl on -the wall paper, several words evidently written with a tremulous hand by -the woman, and inscribed with the tip of her forefinger dipped in her -own life’s blood--a scrawl ending abruptly with a direct downward stroke -toward where her right hand was then lying. It was as if she had -expired, or lost consciousness, at least, while making a desperate -effort to write more, enough to tell in full the tragic story. - -The several slanting, irregular words were legible, however, and there -was no mistaking their fateful significance. - -They read: - -“Arthur Gordon did this to get the----” - -That was all save the last downward stroke left by the falling hand. - -Was it enough? - -Was it all that would be required to convict, to send her assassin over -the same dark river? - -These were the first questions that arose in the mind of Nick Carter. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE HEADQUARTERS MAN. - - -Nick Carter took in with a few swift glances those important features of -the scene already mentioned. Instead of immediately beginning a more -careful inspection, however, he turned to the headquarters man and said: - -“Am I to understand, Phelan, that things are about as you found them?” - -“Yes. Nothing has been disturbed, Nick, of any importance.” - -“Was the woman lying in that position?” - -“Yes. I have not touched the body. I saw that writing on the wall, -and----” - -“One moment,” Nick interposed. “Who discovered the crime?” - -“A girl who lives in the second flat. She came down about eight o’clock -to go out to work, and she saw spots of blood on the hall floor near the -door of this flat.” - -“I noticed them when I entered.” - -“She tried the door, and found it locked. It has an automatic lock. She -then rang repeatedly, being acquainted with Miss Lancey, but she could -get no response.” - -“Does this woman live alone here?” - -“Yes, so I am told, except when entertaining her friends.” - -“I see.” - -“The girl then called her mother, and they hunted for Gilroy, who is on -this beat. He entered through the kitchen window, forcing it open, and -he then saw what had occurred. I happened to be in the precinct station -when he telephoned,” added Phelan, pointing to a telephone on a stand in -one corner. “I came here with Kennedy, taking temporary charge of the -case, and I soon found evidence enough to warrant sending him to arrest -Mr. Gordon.” - -“You mean that writing on the wall?” - -“Yes, partly.” - -“What else?” - -“I found this letter in the wastebasket,” said Phelan, taking it from -his pocket. “It must have been written by Gordon, for it is on a letter -sheet bearing his business heading, as does the envelope in which it -came.” - -“Let me see them.” - -“It was mailed at two o’clock yesterday. It contains only a single line -addressed to Miss Lancey, stating that Gordon would call to see her here -at eleven o’clock. That must have been eleven o’clock last evening.” - -Nick glanced at the brief pen-written letter. He was familiar with -Gordon’s writing, and he immediately recognized it. The letter seemed to -corroborate all of Phelan’s statements. - -“Did you think that was evidence enough to warrant arresting Gordon?” -Nick again inquired. - -“I thought it enough for a starter, Nick, at least,” Phelan bluntly -asserted. “I reckon I have not shot very wide of the mark.” - -“Why so?” - -“Because Kennedy has phoned me of other facts.” - -“Namely?” - -“He met Dennis Regan, a detective from the precinct station, just before -he arrived at the Gordon residence,” Phelan proceeded to disclose. “He -told Regan what had occurred and whom he was after. Regan decided he -would not butt in, knowing I was on the case, but he waited in the -grounds south of the house while Kennedy went in to see Gordon.” - -“Well?” - -“While he was out there, pacing up and down the gravel walk, he noticed -that one of the small branches of a clump of shrubbery was partly broken -off and hanging down, as if something had recently been thrown in among -the shrubs, disturbing the dry leaves that had fallen from them.” - -“He went to examine them, I infer.” - -“That’s what. He found under the dry leaves a double-jointed jimmy. It -was parted at the socket each section being about eight inches long, and -both were badly stained with blood.” - -“Quite a remarkable discovery,” Nick observed, with brows knitting -slightly. “Anything more?” - -“Well, as far as that goes, this desk evidently was forced open with -just such a jimmy,” Phelan continued, turning to the desk. “Here are -marks on the wood, showing plainly where the curving, wedge-shaped -point was forced under the top to pry it up and break the lock.” - -“I see,” Nick nodded. “That’s very evident, Phelan, indeed.” - -“The jimmy found by Regan has just that kind of a point.” - -“Still more evidence, eh?” - -“I think so, Nick. It’s a safe bet, too, that this woman’s head was -broken with the same jimmy. The fractures and gashes show plainly that a -bludgeon of that kind was used.” - -“I agree with you,” said Nick, crouching to inspect the several terrible -wounds. “Both the fractures and gashes could have been caused only with -a bludgeon having one or more edges. The jimmy is probably octagonal in -shape.” - -“Very likely. I did not inquire about that.” - -“Well, what followed?” - -“Regan then decided to dip into the case,” Phelan continued. “He went -into the house and found that Kennedy had discovered other evidence.” - -“What kind of evidence?” - -“To begin with, Nick, Gordon refused to say where he was at eleven -o’clock last night. Kennedy then told him about the murder and placed -him under arrest. To make a long story short, for I have not all of the -details, Gordon’s evening suit, which he admits having worn last night, -was found spattered with blood.” - -“H’m, is that so?” - -“There are stains of blood in one pocket of his overcoat, also, as if -the jimmy was disjointed and thrust into it after the murder. You can -see for yourself that the weapon used by the assassin is missing.” - -“Yes, so I have noticed.” - -“In the other pocket of Gordon’s overcoat was a disguise, a false beard -and mustache. They----” - -“One moment,” Nick interrupted. “Gordon saw all of this evidence, I -suppose.” - -“Yes, certainly.” - -“What did he say about it?” - -“Nothing.” - -“Nothing?” - -“He refused positively to make any statements whatever,” Phelan -explained. “He said he would not do so until after he had conferred with -you. Regan then allowed him to telephone to you, and, while waiting for -Gordon to get ready to accompany him, he phoned these facts to me.” - -“Where is Gordon now?” - -“On his way to police headquarters, if not already there,” said Phelan. -“Both Regan and Kennedy went with him.” - -“Taking the evidence mentioned.” - -“Yes, certainly.” - -“And that’s all you know about the case?” - -“Isn’t that enough?” Phelan asked bluntly. “What more would you have? It -tells the story plainly enough.” - -“What story?” inquired Nick tentatively. “What is your theory?” - -“It can be told with a breath,” Phelan declared. “Gordon came here to -get something from this woman. His letter shows that he had an -appointment with her at eleven last night. She refused to give him what -he wanted, evidently something which he knew was in this desk. He came -prepared to get it at any cost.” - -“I follow you,” Nick nodded. - -“When he found that she would not give it up, he killed her with the -jimmy and then broke open the desk with it. Here are stains of blood on -the desk, showing that it was forced after the murder was committed.” - -“That appears probable,” Nick allowed. - -“Gordon probably found what he wanted, and then fled,” Phelan went on. -“The woman afterward revived sufficiently to realize the situation, also -that she was near her end. She must have been too weak to rise, or to -make herself heard. But she dragged herself near enough to the wall to -write these few words on it with the tip of her finger, dipped in the -pool of blood. The smooches of blood on the carpet show plainly that she -dragged herself over the floor. She evidently died, or fainted, before -she could complete what she would have written. That’s my theory, -Carter.” - -“Very good,” said Nick, a bit dryly. “All that seems very logical, -Phelan, and you’re some theorist. I will look around a bit, however, and -see what more I can find.” - -“Go ahead,” Phelan nodded. “The day is young.” - -It then was only half past nine. - -Instead of immediately doing so, however, Nick abruptly changed his -mind. He turned to Chick and said: - -“I first must see Gordon and see what he has to say. His statements may -be of aid in making an investigation. I can run down to headquarters -with my car and be back here in half an hour.” - -“Easily.” - -“Let nothing be disturbed until I return. Admit no one, Phelan, nor give -out anything for publication. Gordon is in a position to be ruined -politically by this affair. I know he is the last man in the world, -however, to have committed such a crime as this.” - -“I agree with you, Nick, to that extent.” - -“And that leads me to think it may be a frame-up, that some one is out -to turn him down. I want his side of the story. I will return within an -hour.” - -“We’ll wait,” nodded Phelan. - -“In the meantime, Chick, have a look at the back door and windows, also -those in the basement, as well as the basement stairs,” Nick then -directed. “Seek evidence, aside from that left by Gilroy, denoting that -others were here last night and that the flat was stealthily entered.” - -“I understand,” said Chick, removing his overcoat. “You go ahead and see -Gordon. I’ll make sure that nothing is tampered with before you return.” - -Nick hastened out by the way he had entered. - -The reporter, Hawley, still was waiting in the vestibule. - -“Well, Mr. Carter, what may I----” he began eagerly. - -“Nothing doing,” Nick interrupted, pausing only for a moment. “The less -you publish at present, the better I shall like it.” - -“You mean----” - -“That’s all I mean, and all I can remain to say. Bear it in mind, Mr. -Hawley, and be governed accordingly.” - -Nick did not wait for an answer, nor to note the effect of his somewhat -curt remarks. He at once ran down the steps and entered his touring car. - -“To police headquarters, Danny, at top speed,” he directed. “We have a -rapid-fire case on our hands.” - -Hawley came out on the steps and gazed after the speeding car. He now -was frowning darkly. There was an anxious gleam and glitter deep down -in the narrowed eyes back of his gold-bowed spectacles. His pointed -beard twitched and quivered perceptibly while he bit his lower lip. - -After a moment, nevertheless, he turned calmly to the policeman and -asked, with curious coolness: - -“Where has he gone?” - -“Give it up,” said Gilroy tersely. “He never tells where he’s going, nor -what he has up his sleeve. Nick Carter isn’t that kind.” - -“He might have said, at least, whether I could enter the flat and----” - -“Rats!” Gilroy growled. “Did you want it written down with a slate and -pencil? He as much as said you couldn’t enter. There’s nothing for you -in waiting.” - -Hawley waited, nevertheless. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -NICK TAKES A CHANCE. - - -Nick Carter found Gordon seated in a detention room at police -headquarters, accompanied by Regan, Kennedy, and the police -commissioner. - -The two officers had arrived with their prisoner several minutes before, -bringing also the evidence mentioned by Phelan. Despite the persuasive -arguments of the commissioner, however, for the two men were personal -friends, Gordon had positively refused to make any statements about the -case, or to discuss the threatening situation in which he was involved. - -He sprang up eagerly, nevertheless, when Nick entered, and a tinge of -color appeared in his pale cheeks. He extended his hand, saying -fervently: - -“Thank Heaven, Carter, that you have arrived. I was just about to -request that I might telephone to you again. I seem to be in a deucedly -bad mess. I can depend only upon you to pull me out of it.” - -“I will try to do so, Gordon, of course,” Nick replied, after a word of -greeting for the others. “Have you told----” - -“I have told nothing,” Gordon interrupted. “Nor will I, Nick, except in -a private interview with you. I then will state all that I know about -this infernal business.” - -“Well, that can be arranged, I think,” Nick replied, turning to the -commissioner. “Have you any objection?” - -“None whatever, Nick,” was the reply. “I know of no man I would rather -have on the case. Go as far as you like.” - -The commissioner at once withdrew with Regan and Kennedy, and Nick took -the chair the former vacated. - -“Now, Gordon, hand me straight goods and be quick about it,” he said -forcibly. “I have been to Tilly Lancey’s flat and know what has been -found there, also what Regan and Kennedy have discovered that appears to -incriminate you. It goes without saying, however, that I don’t take much -stock in it. I must have the whole truth from you, nevertheless, if I am -to pull you out of the fire.” - -“Have you seen----” - -“Don’t delay to question me,” Nick interrupted insistently. “I shall see -all there is to be seen. Merely answer my questions as briefly as -possible. Did you call on Tilly Lancey last evening?” - -“Yes, I did,” Gordon admitted. - -“Did you mail her a letter stating that you would visit her at eleven -o’clock?” - -“Yes.” - -“For what? What relations have you had with a woman of her stamp?” - -“That can be quickly told,” said Gordon. “I was stopped on Fifth Avenue -three days ago by a fashionably dressed woman, closely veiled. She asked -me to give her a few minutes’ conversation, stating that she had -important information for me, something that would have a favorable -bearing upon my election to congress.” - -“You consented?” - -“Yes.” - -“What followed?” - -“She then said that she had in her possession a package of letters -written to her by my political opponent, John Madison, the nature of -which, if made public, would ruin him politically and insure his -defeat.” - -“H’m, I see.” - -“She said that she would allow me to read them, that I might judge for -myself of the effect their publication would have, and to which she -would consent on conditions that she would state after I had read the -letters.” - -“What reply did you make?” Nick questioned. - -“Naturally, being very anxious to carry this election, I questioned her -further,” said Gordon. “She would reveal nothing more definite, however, -unless I would call on her and examine the letters.” - -“Do you mean, Gordon, that she did not then reveal her identity?” Nick -inquired. - -“Oh, no, not that,” Gordon said quickly. “I told her that I would not -consider such a proposition from any unknown woman. She then drew her -veil aside and I recognized her.” - -“Matilda Lancey?” - -“Yes.” - -“You say you recognized her,” said Nick. “How long have you known her?” - -“I never spoke to her before in my life,” Gordon earnestly assured him. -“I long have known her by name and reputation, however, and I at once -decided that I would not consider her proposal.” - -“Quite right, I’m sure.” - -“I told her so, Nick, but she insisted upon my taking her address and -her telephone number, lest I should change my mind,” Gordon went on. -“She said that I could communicate with her, in that case, and that was -all during that meeting.” - -“Well, what more?” - -“I did not then intend to give the matter another thought,” said Gordon. -“I could not keep it out of my mind, however, for I am having a hard -political fight and seeking every possible lever with which to swing the -election my way.” - -“In short, Gordon, you finally decided to call on Tilly Lancey and read -the Madison letters,” said Nick, interrupting. - -“That’s the main point. I did, Nick, and I tried to get her by telephone -yesterday morning,” bowed Gordon. “I was unable to do so, however, and I -then wrote a line to her and dropped it in the mail when I went out to -lunch.” - -“Did you afterward hear from her or try to telephone to her?” - -“No. I took it for granted that she would receive my note and that I -would find her at home at the time mentioned.” - -“Why did you set so late an hour?” - -“Because I had a political appointment which I knew would detain me -until nearly eleven o’clock.” - -“Enough of that, then,” said Nick. “It covers that part of the ground. -At what time did you arrive at her flat?” - -“It was after eleven, nearly half past.” - -“You found her at home?” - -“Yes.” - -“Alone?” - -“Yes, so far as I knew.” - -“What followed?” - -“I had removed my--but I am getting ahead of my story,” Gordon broke -off. “Knowing the reputation of the woman, Nick, and that my face has -become a very familiar one because of the political placards about town, -and apprehending that I might be recognized, if seen going there, and -incur adverse and unjust criticism, I resolved to visit her in -disguise.” - -“I see,” said Nick, without further comments. - -“As I was saying,” Gordon continued, “I removed my disguise in the -vestibule, and Miss Lancey admitted me a moment later. She invited me -into the room back of the front parlor.” - -“I know,” Nick nodded. “What then occurred?” - -“She then came to the point and said plainly that she wanted to sell me -the letters Madison had written to her. She stated that they were of so -compromising a character that, if published, his defeat in the coming -election would be inevitable.” - -“That’s about what I suspected,” Nick remarked. - -“She offered to give them to me and permit me to have them published, -either personally or indirectly, for ten thousand dollars. She did most -of the talking, Nick, and that’s about all that was said.” - -“You mean----” - -“I mean, of course, that I would not resort to such despicable means -even to insure my election,” Gordon interrupted more forcibly. “I told -her so, also what I thought of her and her proposition, and I then left -the house.” - -“Did she accompany you to the door?” - -“No. I departed in haste and disgust, both for her and myself, for -having gone there.” - -“What was she doing when you left?” - -“She was seated on a sofa in the rear parlor. I paused in the vestibule -only to replace my disguise, and I then hastened home. That was the last -I saw of her, or want to see.” - -“I understand.” - -“You can imagine my amazement and consternation, therefore, when I was -arrested this morning for having murdered her, to say nothing of being -confronted with such evidence as has been discovered,” Gordon added. “I -tell you, Nick, nevertheless, that I----” - -“Never mind telling me, Gordon, for time is of value,” Nick again -interposed. “Merely answer my questions. Did you see the package of -letters she claimed to have had?” - -“I did not, Nick. She said they were in her desk.” - -“Was the desk closed?” - -“Yes, and locked. It is a roll top, which locks automatically when the -cover is rolled completely down. I noticed that it was tightly closed.” - -“It was locked, Gordon, all right,” said Nick. “Did you remove your -overcoat while talking with Miss Lancey?” - -“Yes.” - -“Did you put it on before leaving the flat?” - -“No. I put it on after reaching the street. I merely took my disguise -from the pocket and put that on while in the vestibule,” Gordon -thoughtfully explained. “I then hurried out to the street. I may have -walked half a block before putting on my overcoat, for I was feeling a -bit warm and resentful. It irritated me that the woman thought me -capable of such beastly business.” - -“She sized you up from her own standpoint,” Nick remarked. “Can you in -any way account for spots of blood on your suit, your overcoat, and in -one of the pockets of the latter?” - -“No, Nick, most emphatically,” Gordon declared. “I am entirely in the -dark.” - -“Am I to understand, then, that you now have told me all that you know -about the crime, or any circumstances that might have a bearing on it?” -Nick inquired. - -“Yes, absolutely all,” said Gordon. “I know nothing whatever about the -crime itself, Nick, nor have I the slightest suspicion as to who -committed it.” - -“How did you return home?” - -“I took a subway train.” - -“Were you then in disguise?” - -“No. I removed it before arriving at the subway station, and thrust it -into my pocket.” - -“Did you meet any one with whom you are acquainted?” - -“I don’t think so. I noticed no one. I hurried home and went directly to -bed. Really, Nick, that is all I can tell you.” - -“That will answer, then,” said the detective. “Are these the articles -brought from your residence?” - -“Yes.” - -Nick had arisen abruptly and turned to a table near one of the walls. -Lying on it were the disjointed sections of a burglar’s jimmy, one of -which was stained with blood; also Gordon’s evening suit, his overcoat, -and the disguise worn the previous night. - -Nick examined all of them carefully, noting the spots of blood on the -black suit, consisting of several scattered drops on the left sleeve and -left pants leg, as if bespattered from a gushing wound. - -There was only a single spot on the overcoat, however, and that was near -the bloodstained pocket. - -“It’s a mystery to me, Nick, a damnable mystery,” said Gordon, after -waiting for the detective to express an opinion. “This is likely to ruin -my chances of election, to say nothing of----” - -“Say nothing is what you must do,” Nick interrupted. “I will try to -ferret out the truth, Gordon, before the publication of the superficial -facts can do you any harm.” - -“A thousand thanks, Nick,” said Gordon gratefully. “I knew I could -depend on you.” - -“We will confide in the commissioner, however, and I think I can prevail -on him to liberate you and state that your arrest was due to a mistake.” - -“Really? I would be doubly grateful for that.” - -“The commissioner knows you as well as I do, Gordon, and he will realize -that your defeat in the near election may result from holding you under -arrest. That must be prevented, if possible.” - -“I will return home, Nick, and remain there subject to his orders,” said -Gordon, eager to bring it about. “Or he can have an officer go there to -watch me.” - -“I think I can make him see, Gordon, that you are most likely the victim -of a plot, rather than guilty of this crime,” Nick replied. “All this -will necessitate my breaking a record to find absolute evidence in proof -of it, however, and I shall leave you immediately after talking with -him. You keep your mouth closed after that, and be patient till you hear -from me.” - -“I will do both, Nick,” Gordon assured him. - -“I’ll be off, then, after a talk with the commissioner. Come with me. I -also want him to hold these articles subject to my order. I think I may -find a use for them.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -NICK’S CAPITAL WORK. - - -Nick Carter easily won the commissioner to his own views, and he then -returned at top speed to the Columbus Avenue flat. None could have -realized more keenly that time was of value, that the political fate of -his friend and client, to say nothing of his life, even, depended upon -what he could quickly accomplish. - -Nick felt that he was equal to the emergency, however, as well as sure -of his man, and he was shaping his course accordingly. It was precisely -half past ten when he arrived, for the second time, at the home of the -murdered woman. - -Hawley, the reporter, still was waiting for information. Other reporters -had arrived and were blocking the steps. Most of them recognized the -detective and awaited him eagerly. - -“Nothing doing, gentlemen, at present,” said Nick, threading his way -between them. “It’s too early in the game. Wait till I have dug up -something definite.” - -“But I have been told that the Honorable Arthur Gordon has been arrested -on suspicion,” said a persistent one. “Is that true, Mr. Carter?” - -“No, no, quite the contrary,” Nick coolly asserted. “Gordon went down to -headquarters voluntarily, merely to explain certain circumstances that -seemed at that time to have a bearing on the case. That was all a -mistake. Gordon is at liberty and has returned to his residence in -Riverside Drive. If you publish anything to the contrary, you will make -a most egregious blunder.” - -“But he was placed under arrest, wasn’t he?” Hawley demanded -impulsively. - -Nick swung round and eyed him more sharply. There was something about -him he did not fancy, something that in a vague way impressed him that -they had met before, but he then was in too great haste to seriously -consider the fleeting impression. He lingered only for a moment, -replying a bit curtly: - -“No, no, there has been no arrest. Nothing of the kind. No arrests will -be made, in fact, until evidence is found that will warrant it. That’s -all, gentlemen, at present.” - -Nick turned with the last and strode into the hall. - -Hawley gazed after him furtively, with eyes dilating and his pointed -beard twitching nervously. He remained only for a moment longer, then -descended the steps and hurried away. - -Nick found Chick and Phelan patiently waiting for him, though the -former immediately greeted him with anxious inquiry. - -“Well, is it as bad as it looks?” - -“It’s bad enough, Chick,” Nick replied, removing his overcoat and -tossing it on a chair in the front room. - -“I reckoned you’d think so,” said Phelan. - -Nick turned and replied more impressively: - -“That isn’t all I think. I am going to confide in you, Phelan, and tell -you what I have done and why I have done it.” - -Phelan instantly turned more grave. - -“It goes without saying, Nick, that whatever you do or have done will be -for the best,” he replied. “Do you think I made a mistake in having -Gordon arrested so quickly?” - -“It would have been better to have deferred it,” said Nick. “I admit, -nevertheless, that the circumstances seemed to warrant it.” - -“I certainly thought so.” - -“That’s neither here nor there, now, for I have talked with the chief -and had Gordon liberated. I gave the chief my word that I would find -evidence refuting that involving Gordon, and that I would also run down -the real criminals. It now is up to me to make good.” - -“I hope you’ve not bitten off more than you can chew,” said Phelan -inelegantly. - -“I don’t think so.” - -“What did Gordon say for himself?” Chick inquired. - -Nick then told both what Gordon had stated, also his own reasons for the -steps he had taken. - -“Either he did this, or he did not,” he said forcibly in conclusion. “I -feel sure he did not. Who did kill this woman, then, and with what -motive? We now will try to find out.” - -“Gordon’s story certainly is a plausible one,” Chick declared. “It -explains his visit, his letter, and why the disguise was in his pocket. -All were mystifying points, as well as seriously suspicious.” - -“But think what it doesn’t explain,” argued Phelan, still doubtful. “If -others killed this woman after Gordon departed, and if he went directly -home, as stated, how came blood on his garments, even in his overcoat -pocket, as if that gory jimmy had been carried away in it? How came the -jimmy under shrubbery in Gordon’s grounds? It must be the jimmy with -which the woman was killed. Where are the Madison letters, if he didn’t -get them, and why----” - -“Hold your horses, Phelan,” Nick interrupted, then hurriedly searching -the open desk. “Don’t ask so many questions. They cannot be answered in -advance of an investigation. We have only Tilly Lancey’s word for it, -mind you, that a package of Madison’s letters were here, aside from the -fact that some one broke into the desk. They are no longer here, at all -events, for I have searched it thoroughly.” - -“By Jove, this may have been a job to kill two birds with one stone,” -said Chick. - -“What d’ye mean?” Phelan growled. - -“A job not only to get the Madison letters, but also to do it in such a -way to fix the crime upon Gordon and defeat him in the coming election.” - -“Humph!” grunted Phelan. - -“Could you find any evidence, Chick, that others were here last night?” -Nick paused and inquired. - -“Not an atom, Nick.” - -“You searched----” - -“Everywhere,” Chick interrupted. “The only window tampered with is that -through which Gilroy entered this morning. There is not a sign of -anything more. If others were here, they must have been admitted by the -woman herself or----” - -“Stop a moment,” Nick cut in. “Here is a partly written letter addressed -to a woman named Cora, merely an invitation to dine.” - -“That’s Cora Cavendish,” said Phelan. “She has been Tilly Lancey’s -running mate for a year. She’s a bird of the same feather.” - -“Where does she live?” asked Chick. - -“She has apartments in the Nordeck, in Forty-fourth Street. She’s a fly -jade, if ever there was one.” - -“Possibly, then----” - -“Wait!” Nick again interrupted. “Here’s an important point. It convinces -me that I am right.” - -“Right in what?” came from Phelan. - -“That Tilly Lancey did not write these words on the wall.” - -“Great Scott! Is that so? What’s the point?” - -Nick displayed the partly written letter found in the desk, then turned -to the wall on which the incriminating words were inscribed. - -“Notice the capital A in Gordon’s given name,” said he, pointing. “It -has the proper form for the capital. Here, in this letter, are no less -than three of the same capitals, and all of a different shape.” - -“How different?” - -“They are the enlarged form of the small letter, a form which many -persons use when writing that capital,” said Nick. “If it appeared only -once, it might be attributed to chance, but all three show plainly that -Tilly Lancey habitually wrote the capital A in the form of the small -letter. Here is the other form, however, in this writing on the wall. -Don’t expect me to believe that this woman would, under such -circumstances, have changed her habit of writing.” - -“By Jove, that is important,” said Chick, eyes lighting. - -“But why blood on the tip of her forefinger?” Phelan protested. “Isn’t -that enough evidence that she----” - -“It is not reliable evidence,” Nick objected, interrupting. - -“But the size of her finger tip corresponds with the marks on the wall.” - -“That cuts no ice,” Nick again insisted. “Clever crooks, bent upon this -deception, would have dragged the woman near enough to the wall, after -killing her, to grasp her lax hand and finger and forced it to inscribe -the desired words. That is precisely what was done. This inconsistency -in the capital A alone convinces me of that.” - -“I am not so sure of it, Carter, all the same,” Phelan still objected. - -“Well, I am, Phelan, and I was reasonably sure of it from the first,” -said Nick. - -“Why so?” - -“Notice her fractured skull. Such wounds are prohibitive. Tilly Lancey -did not recover consciousness, to say nothing of having revived -sufficiently to write these words. Furthermore, if she had, she would -not have done so.” - -“You mean?” - -“Here is the telephone stand scarce three feet away,” Nick continued. -“With consciousness and reason restored, and sufficient strength to -have dragged herself to the wall and written these words, she would have -taken a simpler method to expose her assailant.” - -“You mean with the telephone.” - -“Certainly. It was directly in front of her. She must have seen it. Even -if she could not rise, she could have tipped over the stand and got hold -of the instrument. In half the time it would have taken her to dip her -finger in blood and write these words, she could have told the whole -story to a telephone operator, or even have called up the police.” - -“By gracious, Nick, that admits of no argument,” said Chick -emphatically. “She surely would have done so. The several circumstances -combined leave no room for a doubt.” - -“I think so, too,” Phelan nodded. “I guess you are right, Carter, after -all. I blundered like a fool in getting after Gordon so quickly.” - -Nick did not reply. - -Crouching beside the corpse of the murdered woman, he took a lens from -his pocket and examined her bloodstained finger tip, her hand and wrist, -the several wounds in her matted hair, and then he surprised both of his -observers by taking out his own handkerchief and dipping it in some of -the partly congealed blood, afterward folding it and replacing it in his -pocket. - -“What’s that for?” Phelan inquired, with brows knit perplexedly. - -“Further study,” Nick tersely replied, rising. “I am going to leave you, -Phelan, to notify the coroner and take the necessary legal steps. Bear -in mind, however, that all this is strictly confidential for the -present. Publication might prove disastrous.” - -“Trust me,” Phelan assured him. “I’m dumb, Nick, till you remove the -seal of silence. You have something else up your sleeve, I infer.” - -“Exactly.” - -“Go ahead, then, and good luck. I’ll look after things here while you -get in your work.” - -“Good enough, Phelan,” said Nick, shaking hands with him. “I’ll -reciprocate in some way when----” - -“Cut that!” Phelan interrupted. “You know I am always at your service. -Go ahead and get in your work.” - -Nick did not delay his departure. He left the house with Chick and -returned to his touring car. - -“Home, Danny,” he directed. “I’ll let him drop me there, Chick, and then -take you to headquarters. I want Gordon’s garments and that bloodstained -jimmie. Tell the commissioner I will be responsible for their safe -return. Bring them to the library.” - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -NICK CARTER’S ANALYSIS. - - -“Yes, it is human blood. There is no question about it. It is human -blood--but not from the veins of Matilda Lancey.” - -These declarations came from Nick Carter about three o’clock that -afternoon. They were addressed to Chick and his junior assistant, Patsy -Garvan. - -All three detectives then were seated at a broad zinc-covered table in -Nick’s finely equipped laboratory, a large rear room in his Madison -Avenue residence. - -Lying on the table were the bloodstained articles belonging to Arthur -Gordon, the disjointed jimmy, and also the handkerchief which Nick had -dipped in the blood of the murdered woman. - -Near by stood a costly microscope, a stand of small test tubes, several -vials containing chemicals, together with numerous other articles which -Nick had been using. - -He replaced on the table one section of the jimmy, while speaking, and -Patsy took it up to gaze at the dark-red stains on it, remarking, with -some surprise: - -“Human blood, chief, but not from the veins of the murdered woman? Gee -whiz! that’s mighty significant. Are you sure of it?” - -“Absolutely sure,” said Nick. - -“You now have tested the blood on each of these articles?” Chick -inquired. - -“Yes.” - -“And the results are convincing?” - -“Decidedly convincing,” said Nick, with a look of satisfaction on his -strong, clean-cut face. “There is no question as to the reliability of a -microscopic examination of particles of blood, if made by a person -thoroughly informed on the subject. I have, as you know, made an -exhaustive study of it.” - -“I am aware of that, Nick, of course.” - -“The blood of no two creatures is precisely alike,” Nick continued. -“Under the microscope, and with proper tests, that of two human beings, -even, presents certain distinct differences, often by a small margin, of -course, but nevertheless clearly distinct.” - -“So I have read,” Chick nodded. - -“It is perfectly easy to tell the blood of a white man from that of a -negro, that of a lower animal from that of a man, or that of one animal -from that of another, as well as to determine the animal from which it -comes. That is because the blood of each crystallizes in invariable -definite forms.” - -“Gee, that’s some study!” Patsy remarked sententiously. - -“The existence of disease is also apparent under the microscope and with -proper tests,” Nick went on. “Science immediately recognizes one from -another. Thin, anæmic blood presents a distinctly different appearance -from the strong, rich blood of a vigorous person. That’s the very point, -in connection with this case, without further elaboration on the -subject.” - -“These bloodstains tell the story, do they?” questioned Patsy. - -“They tell part of it, Patsy, with absolute certainty,” Nick replied. -“The blood on my handkerchief, which we know positively came from -Matilda Lancey, is very rich with red corpuscles, obviously that of a -strong, healthy woman.” - -“Tilly Lancey looked it,” Chick observed. - -“The blood on these articles, however, shows a distinct difference,” -said Nick. “There is a decided lack of the red corpuscles. It is thin -and anæmic. It is human blood, nevertheless, and it came from a woman. -The proportion of red corpuscles in the stains on each of these -articles, with the exception of my handkerchief, plainly shows that same -anæmic condition.” - -“In other words, then, the stains on the jimmy and on Gordon’s garments -are not caused by the blood of Tilly Lancey,” said Chick. - -“They are not,” Nick replied. “I am absolutely sure of that. It is -distinctly different from the blood on my handkerchief. That on these -other articles came from a rather frail and delicate woman, very -probably with a tendency to consumption.” - -“Gee whiz! that suggests something to me, chief,” said Patsy, drawing -nearer the table. - -“What is that?” - -“I have frequently seen Tilly Lancey with the woman referred to by -Phelan as her running mate, the woman named Cora Cavendish. She is just -that type, chief, slender and noticeably pale, barring the rouge with -which she hides it.” - -“That is suggestive, indeed, Patsy,” Nick agreed. “But I already -suspected that Cora Cavendish had a hand in this job.” - -“Why so, chief?” - -“Because I now am sure that it was a frame-up, and because the intimacy -between Cora Cavendish and Tilly Lancey, now knowing that the blood on -these articles came from a second woman, probably made the job -possible.” - -“I see.” - -“In other words,” Nick added; “I suspect that Cora Cavendish and one or -more confederates are responsible for the whole business. I’m doubly -sure of it, in fact, if she is that anæmic type of woman.” - -“By Jove, I think you may be right,” said Chick, more earnestly. “But -there are a good many points that I cannot fathom.” - -“To begin with?” inquired Nick. - -“We must assume that Gordon has told the truth, of course, and that he -left Tilly Lancey alive just before midnight.” - -“Certainly.” - -“And that he immediately hastened home?” - -“I have no doubt of it.” - -“How, then, came the blood on his garments?” - -“Bear in mind, Chick, that it is not Tilly Lancey’s blood,” said Nick. -“It is some that was obtained for this job. The crooks knew that human -blood would be required, as tests would surely be made after the crime; -but they overlooked the fact, or were ignorant of it, that tests would -reveal the difference between it and that of their victim.” - -“You now think, I infer, that the blood was drawn from the veins of Cora -Cavendish.” - -“I do,” Nick nodded. “Only a small quantity would have been required. It -could have been easily obtained by an incision in one of the veins of -her arm, and received in a small vial.” - -“But when and how could it have been spattered upon Gordon’s garments, -to say nothing of the smooches in his overcoat pocket?” - -“Easily,” said Nick. - -“Tell me.” - -“Assume, for instance, that several persons comprised the gang. They -laid their plans, paved the way to execute them, and provided themselves -with the blood required.” - -“Well?” - -“Tilly Lancey may have been duped into admitting one of them to her flat -last night, possibly more, and they may have been concealed there during -her interview with Gordon. That could have been craftily accomplished by -Cora Cavendish, if she was out to deceive and murder her intimate -friend.” - -“I admit that much, Nick, of course,” Chick allowed. - -“Tilly Lancey could have been killed, then, and probably was, -immediately after Gordon left the house,” Nick continued. “She was -struck down with a jimmy, which was afterward used to pry open her desk, -and later carried away by her assailants.” - -“But you say the blood on this jimmy is not Tilly Lancey’s blood.” - -“True,” Nick nodded. “This is not the jimmy used for the murder, mind -you, but one precisely like it.” - -“Ah, I see.” - -“The crooks were working along fine lines,” Nick pointed out. “They -wanted a weapon found that would correspond with the wounds inflicted. -So they got two like jimmies, one of which they stained with blood and -concealed after a fashion in Gordon’s grounds. I say after a fashion, -Chick, because they designedly put it where it would soon be -discovered.” - -“Two like jimmies, eh?” said Chick. “You may be right. I think you are, -in fact, or the blood on this one would be that of the murdered woman.” - -“Surely. That’s the very point.” - -“But who stained this one and put it where it was found?” - -“Another of the crooks, one who was waiting outside of the house while -Gordon was there,” said Nick. “He was the one who had the vial of blood, -also the duplicate jimmy. The vial may have been provided with a stopper -like those in the bottles used by a barber, from which a few drops can -be easily shaken.” - -“I see the point.” - -“Gordon, mind you, did not put on his overcoat until after he had walked -about a block,” Nick continued. “It would have been child’s play for the -crook to have followed him, and, while passing him, to have stealthily -dashed a few drops of the blood on his garments.” - -“That’s right, chief, for fair,” cried Patsy. “There would have been -nothing to it.” - -“Gordon was a bit upset, moreover, and he did not afterward notice the -spots on the black cloth, which would have quickly absorbed it.” - -“All that is plain enough,” Chick admitted. “But how about the overcoat -pocket. How was the blood put into that?” - -“It would have been equally easy.” - -“By what means?” - -“Very much the same,” said Nick. “The crook could have continued to -follow him, taking the same seat with him in the subway train. He could -have stealthily soiled his own hand with a few drops of the blood, and -then slipped it for a moment into Gordon’s overcoat pocket. Any sly -fellow might do that.” - -“Very true,” Chick nodded. “There is no denying it.” - -“He then must have followed Gordon home, where he stained the duplicate -jimmy with blood and hid it under the shrubbery. All would have been -very simple and easily accomplished.” - -“I now admit it, Nick,” Chick said thoughtfully. “But what about the -drops of blood in the front room and hall adjoining the flat?” - -“That was Tilly Lancey’s blood,” said Nick. “The crooks who killed her -scattered that trail of blood, that it might indicate that it had -dropped from the hand of her assassin when he left the house. That -naturally would appear to have been Gordon.” - -“I agree with you,” Chick again assented. “You certainly have gone deep -below the surface, Nick, and developed a plausible theory.” - -“Plausible!” exclaimed Patsy, a bit derisively. “Jiminy crickets! that -plausible gag don’t half express it, Chick. It’s a copper-riveted cinch. -There’s nothing else to it.” - -“There is considerable more to it, Patsy,” Nick corrected. “The theory -alone is not enough. It might fall flat on the ears of a jury of -boneheads. It’s not easy to penetrate solid ivory.” - -“That’s right, too,” said Patsy, laughing. - -“We must clinch it, therefore, by learning positively whether Cora -Cavendish had a hand in this crime. We must discover the identity of her -confederates, and round them up in such a way as to fix the crime upon -them.” - -“That’s the proper caper, chief, for fair.” - -“Have you any suspicions, Nick, as to their identity?” Chick inquired. - -“Aside from Cora Cavendish?” - -“Certainly.” - -“Yes.” - -“On what do you base it, and whom have you in mind?” - -“To begin with, Chick, I base it on the probable existence of the -Madison letters, and the fact that they were missing this morning from -Tilly Lancey’s desk. Bear in mind that she told Gordon about them and -invited him to her flat to read them. She may have told Cora Cavendish -about them, also, and if double-crossed by the latter, as I suspect, she -certainly had no apprehension of being murdered when she invited Gordon -to her flat.” - -“Surely not.” - -“It is a safe assumption, then, that the package of letters was in her -desk last evening, as she told him.” - -“True.” - -“That is further confirmed by the fact that the desk was broken open by -her assailants, who probably could not find the key. If the murder of -Tilly Lancey was their only object, they would not have broken open the -desk.” - -“True again,” Chick nodded. - -“There was a package of compromising letters, then, and they now are in -the hands of the woman’s assassins--barring one very possible -contingency.” - -“What is that?” - -“That the man who wrote them, whose reputation they evidently involved, -was back of the whole job in order to get the letters, and to -incriminate Arthur Gordon as to insure his defeat in the coming -election. He now may have the letters.” - -“Jack Madison,” said Chick. - -“Yes.” - -“It seems incredible that he----” - -“Oh, I anticipate your objection,” Nick interrupted. “But as I told you -this morning, Chick, men with political ambitions, some men, I mean, are -capable of any degree of knavery.” - -“That’s right, too, chief,” declared Patsy. - -“Madison is a strong, aggressive, bulldog type of man, and his standing -as a lawyer is far from the best,” Nick added. “He was abroad without -his wife and family for several weeks last year and I happen to know -that Tilly Lancey then was absent from New York. They returned at pretty -near the same time. One must draw one’s own conclusions. Be that as it -may, I suspect Madison of knowing something about this affair, whether -he was responsible for it, or not.” - -“My money goes on that, chief,” said Patsy. “We must get after him.” - -“I intend doing so.” - -“Have you any other suspicions?” - -“One other, Chick.” - -“Namely?” - -“It is rather more than a suspicion,” Nick continued, with brows -drooping. “I felt it vaguely this morning, but I then was in too great -haste to be deeply enough impressed to act upon it, or rightly interpret -it.” - -“When do you mean?” - -“When I returned from police headquarters and found that reporter, -Hawley, still waiting at Tilly Lancey’s door,” said Nick. “I feel sure, -now, that I know why he was there, and how he happened to be there so -far in advance of other genuine reporters.” - -“Genuine?” - -“That’s the word.” - -“You think he is not a reporter.” - -“I would stake my reputation on that,” said Nick, with ominous -intonation. “I eyed the man more closely than when I first saw him, -Chick, and it was then that I vaguely felt that we had met before -to-day. It came over me all of a sudden, a short time ago, just who he -is and where we met him.” - -“A crook?” - -“The worst of crooks,” Nick grimly nodded. “The very man to have devised -such a job as this and to have pulled it off successfully, most likely -with the sanction of Jack Madison. His disguise was perfect, however, or -so nearly that it blinded me for a time. I refer to the rascal who twice -has committed crimes involving Arthur Gordon, and who----” - -“Gee whiz!” exclaimed Patsy, interrupting. “I’m on to your curves, -chief. You mean Mortimer Deland.” - -“None other,” said Nick. - -“By Jove, that alone would clinch the theory you have formed,” said -Chick. “If Deland is in this job, if you really are right----” - -“I know I am right,” Nick interposed. “I ought to have instantly -recalled the eyes of that rascal, at least, as I since have done. It is -nearly a year, however, since we last run him down and sent him to -prison, from which he was afterward brought into court on a -habeas-corpus writ and contrived to escape from the two officers in -charge of him.” - -“I remember,” Chick nodded. “We decided that he had fled to Europe.” - -“That then seemed to be his most likely course,” Nick replied. “It now -is ten to one, however, that he decided to lie low right here, and where -he since has fallen in with Cora Cavendish. He may have learned from her -about the Madison letters, and with her framed up this rascally job.” - -“By Jove, that now seems more than probable,” Chick said, with some -enthusiasm. “You are weaving a net with fine meshes, Nick, for fair. No -fish of Deland’s size could slip through it.” - -“Not if we can get him into it,” supplemented Patsy. - -“We will set about that without more delay,” Nick declared, rising -abruptly. “You slip into a disguise, Patsy, and get after Cora -Cavendish.” - -“Leave her to me, chief.” - -“Find out where she is and what she is doing, and with what man she has -been chiefly friendly of late. It’s ten to one that the man, in whatever -disguise you find him, will be Mortimer Deland.” - -“Shall I arrest him, chief, if sure of his identity?” asked Patsy, -eagerly starting to prepare for his work. - -“No, not immediately,” Nick directed. “We want all of his confederates -and positive evidence against them. Watch him, or the woman, until that -can be obtained.” - -“I’ve got you, chief.” - -“In the meantime, Chick, we will get after Madison and find out with -whom he is having covert relations,” Nick added. “You go to his law -office, Chick, and see what you can learn.” - -“Leave him to me, Nick, in case he is there.” - -“I will go to his residence, to make doubly sure of finding him, and we -then shall have the ground pretty well covered,” Nick declared, as all -three hastened to the library. “You both may be governed by -circumstances, of course, and we will compare notes between now and -midnight--barring that we accomplish something much more to the purpose. -That’s all. We will get a move on at once.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -A PIECE OF PLASTER. - - -It was after four o’clock when Patsy Garvan emerged into Madison Avenue -to begin the work assigned him, starting from home somewhat in advance -of Nick and Chick, and heading immediately for Forty-fourth Street. - -“It’s no dead open-and-shut cinch where to find a blackbird as fly as -Cora Cavendish at this hour of the day,” he said to himself. “She may be -taking in a matinée, or the movies, or having a spin with some gink in a -buzz car. I’ll tackle her apartments in the Nordeck, for a starter, and -if I can learn nothing there, or from the office clerk--well, I’ll cross -that bridge when I get to it. I sure have got to find her by some hook -or crook.” - -Ten minutes brought Patsy to his destination, an apartment house in -Forty-fourth Street, patronized largely by women of the same social -status as his quarry. He entered the office on the street floor, when, -with a thrill of satisfaction, he beheld the very woman he was seeking. - -“Gee, this is going some!” he mentally exclaimed. “There she is, now, -and rigged for the street. I’ll buy a cigar, at least, as a blind for -butting in here.” - -Although in disguise and quite sure that the woman did not know him by -sight, even, Patsy reasoned that any unusual incident might arouse her -misgivings, if she really was engaged in the knavery Nick suspected. - -Patsy sauntered to a cigar case near the clerk’s desk, therefore, and -made his purchase without another glance at the woman. - -Cora Cavendish was emerging from the elevator when Patsy entered. She -was a tall, slender woman close upon thirty, with an abundance of -bleached hair, thin features, a rather pretty face aside from its -paleness, and a certain sinister and crafty expression in her gray eyes. -She was fashionably clad and was drawing on a pair of long, lavender kid -gloves. - -Passing within three feet of Patsy, and wafting to his nostrils a -pronounced aroma of heliotrope sachet, she paused for a moment and said -to the clerk, with a quick and somewhat metallic voice: - -“If Guy Morton shows up and asks for me, Mr. Hardy, tell him I’ll return -in twenty minutes.” - -“All right, Miss Cavendish,” nodded the clerk. “I’ll bear it in mind.” - -“I have a date with him,” Cora added. “But he may tire of waiting and -come looking for me.” - -“Tire of waiting for you--impossible!” Hardy observed, with a grin. - -“Oh, quit your kidding!” retorted the woman, laughing. “You hand him my -message, Hardy, and give him the key to my suite.” - -“I’ll do so, Cora.” - -“Good for you. Tell him to wait, mind you.” - -“No need to tell him that,” Hardy returned, as the woman swept out of -the office. - -Patsy already had left the counter after lighting his cigar, and he -passed out only a few yards behind the woman. - -“Now, by Jove, if she doesn’t take a taxi, I shall have soft walking,” -he said to himself. “Guy Morton, eh? I never heard of him. When I see -him, if so lucky, I may possibly know his face.” - -Patsy’s wish was granted, in that Cora Cavendish did not take a -conveyance. She walked briskly through Forty-fourth Street to Sixth -Avenue, then turned north and increased her pace, gliding with a sort of -sinuous grace through the throng of pedestrians. - -“Gee! she’s in some hurry,” thought Patsy, at a discreet distance behind -her. “If she can go to keep a date with the said Morton and return to -her apartments in twenty minutes, she cannot be going very far. To some -other hotel, perhaps, or some saloon with a side door for the fair sex.” - -Patsy had hit the nail very nearly on the head. A few minutes later he -saw his quarry enter a popular café in one of the side streets, where -she paused and questioned a man seated at a high desk near the door. - -She evidently obtained the information she wanted. For, passing directly -through the place, Cora entered one of the several private dining rooms -in the rear, quickly closing the door. - -It was not done so quickly, however, as to prevent Patsy, who had -immediately stepped into the front saloon, from getting a momentary -glimpse of the interior of the private room. - -He saw that the lace-draped window was partly open, that a man answering -Nick’s description of Hawley was seated at a damask-covered table, and -that on the latter stood a bottle of wine, partly drank, and two -glasses. He also saw, nevertheless, that there was no other occupant of -the room. - -“He’s still waiting for her,” he reasoned. “Waiting for her with an -extra glass. That’s the reporter Nick described, as sure as I’m a foot -high, and probably Deland himself. I’ll mighty soon find out.” - -Patsy turned and found the man at the desk eying him suspiciously, and -he took no chance of a subsequent warning being sent to the suspected -couple, but immediately seized the bull by the horns. Stepping close to -the desk, he displayed his detective badge and said quietly, but in a -way he knew would be effective: - -“I am in Nick Carter’s employ, and I happen to know that you are the man -who runs this place. If you wish to continue running it, you hand me -straight goods and keep your trap closed. Whom has Cora Cavendish gone -in there to meet?” - -The change that came over the man’s face convinced Patsy that he needed -to say nothing more threatening. The mention of Nick Carter’s name had -been enough. The man at once replied, moreover, with lowered voice: - -“I’ll not yip; not on your life. She has joined a man named Morton. He’s -been waiting for her.” - -“How long?” - -“About twenty minutes.” - -“What do you know about him?” - -“Nothing; not a thing. Both come here now and then to lunch, or to buy -wine. I have known the woman for a time, but not the man.” - -“Is either adjoining dining room vacant?” - -“Yes, both of them.” - -“I’ll go into the one on the right,” said Patsy, with a glance at the -several closed doors. “Call that waiter away, so he’ll not be butting in -there.” - -“You mean into your room?” - -“That’s what. Let him serve the couple, if they order anything, but you -make sure that he doesn’t put them wise to me, or to anything else, or -your license will go so high in the air you could not see it with the -Lick telescope.” - -The proprietor actually turned pale, so impressive was Patsy, and he -muttered quickly: - -“You leave it to me. I’ll fix the waiter, all right. Go ahead as soon as -you please.” - -“Gee! I’ve got him well muzzled,” thought Patsy, now seeking the -adjoining dining room. “He looks as if I already had put his place on -the blink. He wouldn’t dare say his soul’s his own. Now, by Jove, I must -get in unheard.” - -Patsy opened and closed the door noiselessly, entering the room. It was -like that occupied by Cora Cavendish and her companion, but the -plastered wall between the two rooms precluded playing the eavesdropper -in that direction. - -Turning to the window, therefore, Patsy began to raise it by slow -degrees until he could lean out cautiously. He then found that the other -window was only four feet away, and through the opening, for it had been -raised several inches for ventilation, he could hear the voices of the -suspected couple. - -One object caught his eye, moreover, that alone served to confirm the -theory Nick had formed. - -Cora Cavendish had taken a chair, but had drawn it away from the table. -She was seated close to the open window. She had removed her long -lavender gloves and her left arm was rested on the window sill, her -fingers toying with the lace draperies. - -Between the filmy curtains Patsy caught sight of her hand and arm, bare -nearly to the elbow. - -On the fleshy part of it, directly over one of the blueish veins, was -nearly a square inch of pink court plaster. - -“By gracious, that clinches it!” thought Patsy. “The chief is right. -That plaster covers the cut from which some blood was taken. Give us -time, now, and we’ll surely deliver the goods.” - -In the meantime, with ears alert, he could hear Cora Cavendish saying a -bit sharply, as if irritated: - -“I cannot be in two places at once, can I? Cut out your kicking and get -down to business. I came here as soon as I could after doing the other -job.” - -“Well, what’s the result?” demanded her companion curtly. “Did you see -him?” - -“Gee! that’s Deland’s voice, all right,” thought Patsy. “He is not -disguising it, now, and there’s no mistaking it.” - -“Sure I saw him,” said Cora, still snappishly. - -“What did he say?” - -“What you’ll not like to hear, Mortie, take it from me.” - -“Use my other name, you fool! I’m not looking for a free ride up the -river.” - -“None can hear us in this place,” said Cora, less petulantly. “I’ll tell -you what he said, Guy. He called me down in good shape, along with all -the rest of us, over my shoulder. He’s up in the air a mile.” - -“He’ll come down,” said Deland, with sinister coldness. - -“Don’t be so sure of it.” - -“I’ll find a way to bring him down, then.” - -“He’s nursing an awful kick.” - -“He’ll kick against a brick wall, Cora, in that case,” Deland said, with -an icy assurance that Patsy readily remembered. “I’ll puncture his tires -so quickly that he’ll turn turtle.” - -“Well, mebbe so,” allowed the woman doubtfully. - -“What more did he say?” Deland continued. “Did you get any part of the -coin?” - -“Not a copper of it,” said Cora curtly. - -“Why was that?” - -“He says that he won’t settle.” - -“Won’t settle!” - -Patsy heard Deland’s teeth meet with a sudden fierce snap. - -“That’s what he said, Guy, and he as good as fired me out of the crib,” -replied Cora inelegantly. “You’ll have to see him yourself if you----” - -“See him--you bet I’ll see him,” Deland broke forth in tones that would -have chilled an ordinary hearer. “I’ll see him, all right, and I’ll lose -no time about it.” - -“What need of rushing things?” - -“Need enough.” - -“Why? Won’t it keep?” - -“No, hang it, nothing keeps when that infernal sleuth takes up a case,” -Deland snarled viciously. “You don’t yet know what has happened.” - -“Sleuth--what sleuth?” Cora’s arm vanished like a flash from Patsy’s -cautious gaze, when she swung round in her chair. “You don’t mean----” - -“You ought to guess what I mean, Cora, and whom.” - -“Not--not Nick Carter?” - -“Yes. May the devil get him--and I’ll help him do so.” - -“What has occurred?” Cora demanded, voice quaking. - -“Carter began an investigation this morning,” Deland now informed her. -“I was there in disguise to learn who was put on the case and what was -suspected. Phelan, the headquarters man, was the first to show up, and -he played dead easy into our hands.” - -“He got after Gordon?” - -“He sent a gun to get him, and I now know that Gordon was arrested and -taken down to headquarters, along with the evidence against him.” - -“Why are you so stewed, then? That ought to be good enough.” - -“So it would be--if it had lasted!” snapped Deland. - -“Lasted--what do you mean?” - -“I mean that Carter showed up at the house a little later and had a look -at things,” Deland explained. “He didn’t know me from a side of leather, -but he refused to let me in or to put me wise to what he suspected. He -flew down to headquarters, instead, and Gordon was liberated.” - -“Is that so?” - -“When Carter returned he told the reporters that there had been no -arrest, and that the whole business in so far as Gordon was concerned -was a mistake.” - -“That looks mighty bad,” said Cora, after a moment. “How do you size it -up?” - -“Hang the cursed dick, Cora, there’s only one way to size it up,” Deland -again replied, with a snarl. “Carter got wise to something, enough to -warrant his taking the chance of liberating Gordon.” - -“That’s evident enough.” - -“I then decided to bolt. I thought he might light on me next. That’s why -I’m stewed and so hot around the collar,” Deland went on, with bitter -ferocity. - -“But this job----” - -“The job must be wound up at once,” snapped Deland, again interrupting. -“We must have that promised coin before Carter can get in his work. -Won’t settle, eh? By heavens, I’ll soon see whether he’ll settle. He’ll -settle, all right, or he’ll hear something drop.” - -“But----” - -“There aren’t any buts to it,” Deland fiercely insisted. “This trick -must be turned and turned at once. Did you leave him at home?” - -“Yes, of course.” - -“I’ll get after him, then, and bring him down to cases. You move lively, -too, and get next to Flynn. Tell him where I have gone and that I may -need help. Send Plugger out there with Daggett and Tobey. Tell them to -nose round till they find out what’s doing. Come on at once. There’s no -time to lose.” - -Patsy Garvan heard the viciously determined rascal push back his chair -from the table with a violence that upset one of the glasses and broke -it. The tinkling of the falling glass easily reached his ears, and in -another moment he heard the couple hurriedly leaving the room. - -“Gee! he’s off with blood in his eye, all right,” thought Patsy. “He -must have been talking about Jack Madison, though it’s no dead-sure -thing. I’ll follow him and find out. Plugger Flynn, eh? So he was in the -job, along with Jim Daggett and Buck Tobey, three fine East Side -blacklegs. Thundering guns! I’m on the hind seat of the wagon, but I -don’t believe they can shake me.” - -The last arose in his mind when, emerging from the private dining room, -he discovered that Deland and Cora Cavendish already were passing into -the street, in which the daylight of the October afternoon was merging -into dusk. - -Seeing that neither of the suspects was looking back, however, Patsy -darted after them and quickly reached the street. - -Deland was springing into a taxicab, and in another moment he was riding -rapidly away, so rapidly that pursuit was out of the question. - -Cora Cavendish paused briefly on the curbing to watch the swiftly -departing car, and then she turned abruptly and hurried away. - -“Hang it! I’ve lost him temporarily, at least, do what I might,” Patsy -muttered. “There’s nothing to it, now. I have only one string to my bow. -I will follow the woman.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -A BLOW FROM BEHIND. - - -Nick Carter did not hurry to arrive at the suburban residence of Mr. -John Madison. He hardly expected, in fact, to find him at home before -early evening; but he wanted to see him when he did arrive. - -It was close upon six o’clock when Nick entered a gate leading into the -extensive side grounds, and dusk then had deepened into darkness. - -Only a single light was to be seen in the imposing wooden dwelling, and -that shone out faintly through the glass walls of a large conservatory -attached to the house. It came from a window beyond the projecting -hothouse. - -“That don’t look as if many of the family are at home,” thought Nick, -stepping lightly over the gravel walk that wound between the trees of a -park and led to a side door of the house. - -“It may be that only his wife and children are here, though servants are -essential to--humph!” Nick abruptly digressed. “It is barely possible -that he has sent them away, servants and all, if he really is engaged in -the knavery I suspect. Discretion certainly would impel some such step.” - -Nick turned the corner of the conservatory, then saw a brighter beam of -light from under the lowered shade of a library window. He crept near -enough to peer into the room. - -There was only one occupant--the man the detective was seeking. - -Mr. John Madison was seated at a flat, cloth-topped desk in the middle -of the spacious room. It was covered with pamphlets, documents, and -writing materials. A tall library lamp with a pale-green silk shade -stood near by. Its rays lent an unnatural hue to the man’s face, a sort -of ghastly, greenish pallor seen neither in life nor death. - -He was a powerful, imposing man, with broad shoulders and a large head. -He was smoothly shaved, with strong, aggressive features, a square jaw, -and thin lips, heavy brows, and a mop of black hair. - -He sat gazing intently at the top of his desk, but Nick saw at a glance -that his mind was elsewhere. His thin lips were drawn. His heavy brows -hung like frowning battlements over his vacant eyes. His large hands -were gripping the arms of his chair. - -Nick moved on quietly to the side door and touched the electric bell. - -It was not answered for several moments. Then a heavy tread could be -heard in the side hall. - -“No servant ever treads like that,” thought Nick. “He could not hold his -job.” - -The door was opened by Mr. Madison himself. He turned a switch key in -the near casing, and a flood of light filled the side hall and fell on -the figure and face of his visitor. - -Madison recoiled slightly, then instantly caught himself. - -“Why, good evening, Mr. Carter,” said he, with his sonorous voice only a -bit unsteady on the first two words. - -“Good evening, Mr. Madison.” - -“This is a surprise. Walk in,” said the lawyer. “I am glad to see you.” - -Nick entered, smiling and shaking the other’s extended hand. It felt -cold and clammy in that of the detective. - -“I came out this way on business, Mr. Madison, so I dropped in only for -a short call,” Nick observed. “I want to discuss the approaching -election with you, or one feature of it.” - -“Ah! Is that so?” - -“I hardly expected, nevertheless, to find you at this hour,” Nick added. - -“I have not been in town to-day,” Madison replied deliberately. - -“No?” - -“I have not been feeling well. My wife and children are visiting in -Boston for a few days, and I have given the servants a like holiday. -Come into the library. Sit down and help yourself. There are matches in -the tray.” - -Madison placed a box of cigars on the desk while speaking, then resumed -the swivel chair, from which he had arisen to admit his visitor. - -Nick had removed his hat and overcoat and left them in the side hall. He -took a chair directly opposite the burly politician. He had, apparently, -no aggressive intentions. - -The aroma of pinks and heliotrope was wafted from an alcove near by, -from which a door led into the conservatory. The door was open a few -inches, admitting the scent of the flowers. - -“You are not seriously ill, I hope,” Nick remarked, while he accepted a -cigar and lit it. - -“Oh, no!” Madison shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. -“It’s a touch of bronchitis, brought on by too much speaking in -political rallies. That raises the deuce with one’s throat. A day or two -of rest will restore me.” - -“I hope so,” said Nick. - -“You said, I think, that you wish to discuss some feature of the present -campaign. To what did you refer?” - -Nick dropped his burned match into a cuspidor. - -“To the hard fight you and Gordon are making to carry your congressional -district,” he remarked, hooking his thumbs through the armholes of his -vest and blowing a wreath of smoke toward the ceiling. - -“It is a hard fight, Carter, no mistake.” - -“Do you expect to win out?” - -“I hope to, of course.” - -“You will leave no stone unturned, I suppose?” - -“No stone that can be legitimately turned. I shall disturb no other.” - -“That goes without saying.” - -“But why your interest in the fight?” Madison asked deliberately, in -subdued yet sonorous tones. “I was not aware that you ever dipped into -politics beyond casting your vote.” - -“Well, not often,” Nick admitted. “Occasionally, however, I make a play -in politics. This happens to be one of the occasions.” - -There was an indescribably ominous intensity in the steady gaze with -which the eyes of these two men were fixed upon each other. Not for an -instant did either deviate or waver. - -Not for a moment, moreover, was the surrounding silence broken by any -sound save their voices. Yet not once had either been raised above an -ordinary pitch, or tinctured any betrayal of their true feelings. -Invariable suavity and politeness, rather, seemed to imbue them. - -“Why this occasion, Mr. Carter?” Madison questioned. “Why your interest -in this particular fight?” - -“Because of what befell your opponent this morning,” said Nick. - -“Befell Mr. Gordon?” - -“Yes.” - -“What was that?” - -“He was arrested on suspicion of having murdered a woman last night in a -Columbus Avenue flat,” said Nick. - -Madison heard him without a change of countenance. - -“Gordon arrested on such a charge as that? Is it possible?” he replied. - -“It is more than possible. It is a fact.” - -“I have not seen to-day’s papers,” Madison said indifferently. - -“There is no report of it in the papers.” - -“No?” - -“None whatever.” - -“Why is that?” - -“Because I prevented it, Madison, and had Gordon liberated,” said Nick. -“I knew publicity might ruin his chances of election.” - -“You are a Gordon man, then.” - -Madison now spoke with a covert sneer. - -“Well, yes, to be perfectly frank with you,” bowed Nick. “So I -suppressed the newspaper stories, and had Gordon liberated and the -accusation killed. That is the little political play I have made. Aside -from that, however, I had other reasons for making it.” - -“What reasons, Carter?” - -“I do not believe Gordon committed the crime,” said Nick. “I have, in -fact, found positive proof that he did not.” - -“Indeed? Someone, then, must have blundered.” - -The last vestige of color now had left Madison’s face. His strong -features were taking on the haggard look of a long illness. Not once did -his intense eyes leave those of the detective, however, or his powerful -figure relax from its rigid attitude of strained attention. - -“Yes, some one blundered,” Nick agreed, bowing again. “The blunder is -going to prove costly, too, to the persons involved. The victim of the -murder, Madison, was a woman named Matilda Lancey.” - -“Indeed?” Madison’s face hardened perceptibly. “I was acquainted with -her. We used to be friendly in a way.” - -“Used to?” - -“That is what I said. I have not had her to lunch, or in any other way -associated with her, for months.” - -“Your friendship with her ended, I infer.” - -“Yes. That’s about the size of it.” - -“Has she approached you in any designing way since the termination of -your friendliness?” - -“How designing?” Madison demanded, brows drooping. “What do you mean, -Carter?” - -“I mean with threats of blackmail, or anything of that kind.” - -“I don’t recall that she has.” - -“You would be likely to remember it, wouldn’t you?” - -“Certainly,” Madison bluntly admitted. “But there is nothing in that. -How could she blackmail me?” - -“By threatening to publish your compromising letters, Mr. Madison, -which you employed crooks to steal from her, and which last night was -accomplished, resulting in her death at their hands,” Nick now said more -sternly. - -Madison’s teeth met with a snap. He lurched forward in his chair, eyes -blazing, and banged his fist upon the desk. - -“See here, Carter!” he cried, with a volcanic outbreak of rage. “If you -have come here to insult me, or----” - -“Oh, don’t get excited,” Nick interrupted, checking him with a quick, -commanding gesture. “There is nothing in that, Madison, and you ought to -know it. I will tell you with very few words why I have come here. Hear -them like a man, not turn bull in a china shop. You know that neither -bluster nor bluff have any effect upon me.” - -Madison straightened up again and governed his resentment, though it -still glowed in his eyes and caused a vicious twitching of his thin -lips. - -“Out with it, then,” he said harshly. “Why are you here, Carter? What do -you want?” - -“The truth,” said Nick shortly. - -“About what?” - -“The murder of Tilly Lancey.” - -“I know nothing about it.” - -“And I know, Madison, that that is a falsehood,” Nick said sternly. “I -know that she was killed by persons employed by you to commit that -crime, or to recover the letters you have written to her. I know who the -culprits are, some of them, and within six hours I will have them behind -prison bars. One is Cora Cavendish, a disreputable friend of the -murdered woman. Another is Mortimer Deland, a notorious English crook. I -know so much, Madison, in fact, that unless you confess the whole truth -here and now, I will railroad you to the Tombs for safe-keeping -until----” - -“Stop--stop! You have said enough,” Madison interrupted, with a groan. -“I will tell you, Carter, I will confess the whole truth. I am in wrong, -horribly wrong, but I will tell you all. I will----” - -An oath interrupted him--an oath and a blow. - -Both came from a man who had stealthily approached the house, peered in -through the window, stolen in through the open conservatory, all so -noiselessly that he had reached the alcove unheard--and from which he -leaped, and, with a single bound, reached the unsuspecting detective. - -A blackjack in his uplifted hand fell like a flash, fell squarely on the -detective’s head, meeting it with a single sickening thud. - -And Nick Carter pitched forward and rolled out of his chair, crashing to -the floor, as dead to the world as if he had been felled by a -thunderbolt. - -His assailant was Mortimer Deland. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -DRIVEN TO THE WALL. - - -John Madison had sprung to his feet, uttering a cry, vainly attempting -to prevent the lightninglike assault. But it had been made so quickly -and with such vicious determination that Nick himself had received not -the slightest warning of the terrible blow. - -“Good heavens! What have you done? You have killed him!” gasped Madison, -when the detective fell insensible to the floor. - -Deland turned on him like a flash, with features distorted and murder -in his eyes. He whipped out a revolver and thrust its muzzle against the -lawyer’s burly form. - -“Sit down!” he cried, with a wolfish snarl. “Sit down, or I’ll send you -after him. I’m here for business, and you’ll find I mean it.” - -Madison shrank instinctively from the deadly weapon, sinking back on his -chair, as ghastly with fear and dismay as if the hand of death already -had been laid upon him. - -“Sit quiet, now,” snarled Deland, still with terrible ferocity. “If you -stir, hang you, I’ll send a bullet into you.” - -Madison’s only reply was a hopeless groan. - -Deland placed his revolver on the chair from which the detective had -fallen, face down on the floor, with one arm crooked under his battered -head. - -Crouching beside him, with one eye constantly on the lawyer, Deland drew -up Nick’s coat and got his revolver, thrusting it into his own pocket. -Then, fishing out the detective’s handcuffs, he drew Nick’s arms behind -him and locked the iron around his wrists. - -All was accomplished in a very few seconds, and with the brutal energy -and determination of one ready to meet opposition with instant -bloodshed. - -Rising, Deland then dragged Nick a few feet from the desk, to which he -then turned, seizing his revolver and taking the chair from which the -detective had fallen. - -“Killed him, eh?” he now snarled coldly, fixing his glittering eyes on -the ghastly face of the lawyer. “It will be a good thing for you, for -both of us, if I have killed him. That’s the only look in we’ve got. If -I haven’t done it, blast him, I’ll do it later.” - -Madison pulled himself together with an effort and straightened up in -his chair. He already knew how lawless and desperate a knave confronted -him, but his first flush of fear had subsided. - -“Don’t talk of killing, Deland,” he hoarsely protested. “There has been -killing enough--more than enough, God knows!” - -“And God knows, too, that more may be necessary,” Deland returned, with -icy austerity. - -“Why do you say that? Why necessary?” - -“For your own safety and mine,” declared Deland, with merciless -severity. “That’s a clever question to come from you, Madison, after -hearing the accusations of this infernal dick.” - -“But----” - -“Oh, I know what he has been saying and why he said it. I have been -listening outside of the window and in the conservatory. Luckily the -outer door was unlocked and that in the alcove open, so that I could get -in noiselessly. But for that, Madison, it might have been all over but -the shouting--all over for you but paying the price!” - -“I shall pay no price for crimes which you----” - -“Stop right there!” snapped Deland, jerking his chair nearer the table. -“You will pay what I dictate for what has been done.” - -Madison recoiled involuntarily from the fierce, threatening eyes of the -vicious rascal. - -“What you dictate----” - -“What I dictate--yes!” Deland cut in sternly. “I heard what you finally -said to this cursed dick. He had you driven to the wall. You were ready -to throw up your hands, to squeal on your pals, to confess the whole -business. Do you think I would stand for that? Not much, Madison, not -much!” - -“But he knows----” - -“I don’t care what he knows. We must prevent him from making use of it.” - -“Impossible.” - -“Wait and see! Twice this cursed Carter has foiled my cleverly laid -plans, and twice he has sent me to prison. There shall be no third -time--not on your life! I’ve got it in for him good and hard. I will -send him to the devil on greased rollers. I will send you with him, -Madison, if you balk against my demands.” - -“You are quite capable of it, Deland.” - -“You’ll find I am.” - -“What are your demands?” Madison now asked with a growl, apprehending no -immediate violence. “What do you mean by that?” - -“You know what I mean.” - -“On the contrary----” - -“You’ll put over no lawyer’s trick on me,” Deland again interrupted. -“Cora Cavendish has been out here, hasn’t she?” - -“Yes. She was here two hours ago.” - -“Why do you question me, then? She told you what I want.” - -“You mean, Deland, that she delivered your message?” - -“What’s the difference? I sent her out here to get the first installment -you promised us.” - -“So she said.” - -“The situation now has changed, so changed for the worse that I now want -all that you promised us,” Deland added, with sinister vehemence. “I not -only want it, Madison, but I’m going to have it.” - -“No, Deland, you are not,” said Madison, with more firmness than he yet -had displayed. - -“What’s that?” - -Deland’s jaws closed with an audible snap. - -“You heard what I said.” - -There was a moment or two of silence. - -Deland appeared briefly staggered by the altered attitude of the lawyer. - -He was not alone, moreover, in hearing that last semi-defiant remark. - -Nick Carter was reviving. Inured to hard knocks, his head had sustained -much better than either of his companions suspected the blow it had -received. - -Nick heard the remark, however, much as one hears in a dream, or the -voice of one at a distance. It began to bring him to himself, -nevertheless, and with slowly returning consciousness a realization of -his position and of what had occurred. - -With these came, too, a more keen appreciation of the entire situation, -and the cobwebs then cleared from his brain more rapidly. A definite -thought had leaped up in his mind, quickly followed by another and -another. - -“By Jove, I was knocked out. Madison has another visitor. One of his -confederates, one of the gang of crooks, showed up here. It is to him he -is talking.” - -Nick had not stirred--did not stir. - -“I’ll wait for more,” was the thought that followed. “I will hear what -is said. It may be Deland himself. I can rely upon Chick and Patsy.” - -Stretched prostrate on the floor a few feet from the desk, with his face -upturned in the full rays from the lamp, Nick had not ventured to lift -so much as a corner of an eyelid, lest the movement of it might be seen -and rightly interpreted. He continued motionless and silent, as if still -dead to the world, and in another moment the familiar voice of Deland -fell upon his ears and convinced him of his assailant’s identity. - -“Yes, I heard what you said, Madison,” he replied, with sudden ominous -coldness. “I heard what you said--but you do not mean it.” - -“On the contrary, Deland, I do mean it,” declared the lawyer, more -forcibly. - -“That you will not settle with me and my pals for what we have done?” - -“That is precisely what I mean.” - -“By Heaven, then, you shall pay the price in another way!” cried Deland, -with renewed ferocity. “You shall meet the fate which--ha! they are -here, now. We will see--we will see!” - -“You’ll not be alone in seeing,” thought Nick, now comparatively himself -again. - -A low, peculiar whistle had come from within the conservatory. It -brought Deland to his feet on the instant, turning quickly toward the -alcove through which he had entered. - -Three men now emerged from it, following close on the heels of one -another. Though all were well dressed, all were of dark and sinister -aspect, with faces that wore the unmistakable stamp of the crook. - -Nick seized this opportunity for a momentary glance at them, and he -instantly recognized all three as East Side gangsters, as Patsy Garvan -had identified them by the names he had heard mentioned by Deland. - -“Holy smoke!” exclaimed the foremost, with a glance at the motionless -form of the detective. “Is the world coming to an end? How did you get -the big dick, Mortie?” - -“Plugger Flynn, as bad an egg as was ever laid,” thought Nick. - -“I had to get him, Plugger, and get him good,” said Deland, more coolly. -“He had Madison on the run.” - -“He did, eh?” Flynn glared at the lawyer. “Not going to squeal, was he?” - -“That’s what.” - -“Hang him, then. I’ll close his trap so he can’t squeal, as sure as----” - -“You keep your gun in your pocket, Daggett,” snapped Deland, when he saw -the other reaching for a revolver. “There’ll be time enough for that, if -it comes to that kind of a play. But we’ve got him so he’ll not squeal, -and where he’ll be glad to settle. You’ve arrived just in time.” - -“We hiked out here on the run after seeing Cora,” nodded Flynn. - -“She told you----” - -“The whole business, Mortie,” put in a slender, crafty-looking rascal -known as Buck Tobey, chiefly because of his passion for bucking a faro -game. “But how did the dick get wise to so much?” - -“Don’t ask me,” said Deland. “How in thunder do I know?” - -“Does he know about the red liquor? Does he know it came from the skirt, -and that I was the one that sprinkled it on the banker? If he does, by -thunder, and that you three ginks croaked----” - -“Shut up!” snapped Deland. “It now makes no difference what he knows. -We’ll fix him so he can make no use of it.” - -“That’s got to be done,” Plugger Flynn declared, with a growl. - -“And the sooner it’s done, Mortie, the better,” added Daggett, glaring -down at the detective. “It’ll be a good job to wipe out this dick. If -the rest of his push know too much, we’ll croak them, also.” - -“There’ll be time enough for all that,” said Deland, with characteristic -assurance. “I first will finish with this infernal squealer and find out -where he stands.” - -“He’ll settle, by thunder, or we’ll stand him on his head,” snarled -Daggett, jerking a chair toward the desk and sitting down. “Get after -him, Deland. You’ve been doing the talking.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE CLOSED DOOR. - - -Nick Carter needed to hear no more than the significant remarks already -made, nor really needed to have heard them, in fact, to convince him -that his earlier suspicions and deductions, as well as the theory he had -formed concerning the terrible crime were almost absolutely correct. - -Nick now felt reasonably sure, too, since learning that Cora Cavendish -had sent the three crooks out there, that Patsy must have got on her -track before that was done, and he was borrowing no trouble as to the -outcome of his own situation. - -The only point that Nick now wanted to clear up, in fact, was the -precise relations that had existed between Madison and this gang of -thugs, and he knew that he was in a fair way of doing so. - -John Madison had not stirred from the swivel chair in which he was -seated. Nor had he spoken, or even changed countenance, during the -vicious remarks that had passed between the several crooks. He really -appeared indifferent to them, and he now wore the grimly determined -aspect of a man who had made up his mind what to do, and had the nerve, -and stamina to do it. - -Deland was quick to observe all this, and his evil eyes had an uglier -gleam when he resumed his seat at the desk to continue his talk with the -lawyer, while Daggett, Flynn, and Tobey occupied chairs near by. - -“Now, Madison, let’s get right down to cases,” Deland began, whipping -out each word with ominous asperity. “I’ll say what I mean and you do -the same. You are up against one of two things. You’re going to settle -with us, as you agreed to do, or you’re going to be sent up for the -murder of Tilly Lancey. There’s no middle course for you.” - -“H’m, I see,” thought Nick, already sizing up the situation. “No middle -course for him, eh? I’ll lay one out for him, then, unless I’m much -mistaken.” - -Madison did not reply for a moment. He drew up his powerful figure a -little higher in his chair, and bestowed a frowning glance upon each of -the rascals confronting him. His gaze finally settled upon Deland’s evil -face, however, and remained there. - -“I will be sent up for the murder of Tilly Lancey, will I?” he slowly -answered. - -“That’s what you will,” Deland nodded. “That’s one course.” - -“How can I be sent up for a crime that you scoundrels committed?” - -“We’ll swear it onto you, and we have the stuff to fix it so it will -stay. I’ve got the bunch of letters you wrote to her. We’ll chuck them -in for evidence. We’ll frame you up, all right, and in a way that will -let us down dead easy. You can bank on that.” - -“And bank on it good and strong, too,” put in Plugger Flynn, pounding -the desk top with his fingers. - -“You fellows are a fine gang with which to do business,” said Madison, -with manifest contempt in his deep voice. “Either one of you would -double cross his own mother. I ought to have known it in the beginning, -but I was caught by the bait you threw me. The only other course is for -me to settle, you say?” - -“You heard what I said,” snapped Deland. - -“I’ll have my say, now, for a moment,” Madison returned. “You approached -me a week ago, Deland, with a proposition that in a way appealed to me. -You said you could get from Tilly Lancey a number of letters with which -she has threatened me, and also that you could do it in such a way as to -have it publicly appear that my political opponent, Arthur Gordon, had -been trying to buy them and was secretly an intimate friend of that -woman.” - -“Well, come to the point,” said Deland. “We admit all that.” - -“Good enough,” thought Nick, calmly taking it all in. “That admission -will cost you something, Deland, and may save him. I’ll wait and see -which way the cat jumps.” - -“I apprehended defeat in the coming election,” Madison went on -deliberately. “For that reason, only, your proposition appealed to me. I -foresaw that I could, with those letters restored to me and Gordon in a -measure defamed, easily carry the election. I asked you what you would -accept for doing the job? - -“And you agreed to pay it, ten thousand dollars, and told us to go -ahead,” said Deland. - -“True,” Madison darkly nodded. “But I did not agree to bloodshed. You -did not tell me that a murder was to be committed. You did not even hint -that Tilly Lancey’s life was to be taken. Not for a moment, you -double-dyed knave, would I have considered that hideous proposition. You -said----” - -“Never mind what we said,” Deland cut in sharply. “We know what we said -and to what you agreed. We have our own way of doing things, and we have -delivered the goods. It now is up to you to settle. We have put Gordon -in wrong. I have your letters in my pocket. You’re going to settle, too, -or----” - -“Stop right there, Deland,” Madison interrupted, leaning forward to bang -the desk with his fist. “There will be no settlement between you fellows -and me. As I told Cora Cavendish two hours ago, you will not get a -copper from me.” - -“We won’t, eh?” - -Deland’s hand went to his hip pocket. - -“Not one copper!” Madison thundered. “You say I have only one of two -courses. I say, however, that I have a third course, and that’s the -course I will take. There is only one way for me to settle this infamous -business, and that was shown me by this man on the floor. I will confess -the truth, take my medicine for what I have done, and accomplish one -other thing--that of sending you miscreants to the fate you deserve! -That’s the way I’ll settle with you--and the only way!” - -It would be hard to say what might have followed, but for one startling -and utterly unexpected incident. - -Nick Carter sat straight up on the floor and shouted: - -“Good for you, Madison! Stick to that and I’ll pull you out! Against any -man but Gordon--I’d give you my vote!” - -Nick had more than one reason for this sudden outbreak. From where he -was lying on the floor, he could see through the alcove and into the -dimly lighted conservatory. - -He could see Chick Carter and Patsy Garvan crouching there, each with -revolvers drawn. - -Their timely arrival was not due to anything extraordinary. Patsy had -trailed Cora Cavendish to an East Side saloon, and had seen her meet -Flynn and give him Deland’s instructions. Patsy then had followed Flynn, -and later Daggett and Tobey, learning positively in the meantime that -they were to join Deland in Madison’s residence. Seizing an opportunity -to telephone home, also, Patsy found that Chick had returned, and quick -arrangements were made to meet on the Madison place. They had done so -just in time to see the three crooks enter the conservatory--whither -they soon stealthily followed them. - -Before Nick’s ringing words were fairly uttered, Deland and the three -gangsters were on their feet and reaching for their weapons. - -“That door!” snapped Deland, pointing to the alcove. “Close and lock it, -Daggett. Pull down that curtain, Tobey, down to the sill. Not settle, -eh? We’ll settle the hash of both, then, before----” - -“You’re already too late!” Nick shouted. - -He would have added a word or two, but they would have been lost in the -tumult that then began. - -Both Flynn and Daggett had started into the alcove to obey Deland’s -instructions, and each had been met with a crashing blow from Chick and -Patsy, dealt with precision and violence that sent both of them headlong -to the floor. - -Before either could rise, both detectives were in the room and had them -covered, while a third revolver caused Tobey to turn from the window and -throw up his hands. - -Deland had been the first to realize the actual situation, and like a -flash he had darted toward the hall. - -Chick saw him as the rascal passed through the door. - -“After him, Patsy!” he yelled, with a directing glance. “I can handle -these three.” - -Patsy turned and darted into the hall. - -As he came through the doorway, the crash of Deland’s revolver drowned -all other sounds. - -The bullet splintered the door casing over Patsy’s head. - -Bang! - -Another ball whizzed by Patsy’s head. - -The hall was only dimly lighted by the rays that came from the lamp in -the side hall, and for an instant Patsy could not see his quarry. The -flash from his revolver on the second shot revealed him. - -Deland was darting up the main stairway, not daring to wait to open a -door, and evidently bent upon reaching the veranda roof and thence -making his escape. - -Patsy now saw him plainly, and that he again was about to fire, and he -dropped like a flash to his knees. He was not quite quick enough, -however. - -Bang! went the weapon, and the bullet tore through the flesh on Patsy’s -left shoulder. - -He felt the sting and the gush of hot blood. He was up on the instant, -revolver leveled, and was pumping lead up the stairway with the rapidity -of a gatling gun. - -The report of the weapon was mingled with another sound--the crash of a -body at Patsy’s feet. - -Deland had pitched sideways over the baluster rail--with four bullets in -his breast. He was stone dead before he struck the hall floor. - -Patsy Garvan had closed the eternal door on the most vicious crook then -at large. - -All that remains to be told of the strange and stirring case may be told -with few and simple words. The three crooks, and subsequently Cora -Cavendish, were arrested, and later received life sentences for -complicity in the murder of Tilly Lancey. They made no fight against the -evidence Nick Carter had obtained. - -It also appeared that the crime had been framed up by Cora and Deland, -as Nick had suspected, and that not only they, but also Flynn and -Daggett were in the flat when Gordon visited the woman. Nick’s -suspicions and deductions had, in fact, been correct from the start. - -John Madison confessed his part in the affair to the court, and Nick’s -intervention in his behalf resulted in his discharge from custody. He -was ignominiously defeated in the election, however, and he moved West -with his family the following month. - -Arthur Gordon was elected with flying colors, and--well, it would be -vain to attempt to describe his gratitude for Nick Carter and his -assistants. There are sentiments that language cannot express. - -Mortimer Deland was buried, his true name and history with him, save his -criminal history, on the day after he was shot. - - -THE END. - -“A Human Counterfeit; or, Nick Carter and the Crook’s Double,” will be -the title of the long, complete story you will find in the next issue, -No. 157, of the NICK CARTER STORIES, out September 11th. There is an -unusually baffling mystery in this story that requires all of the -cleverness of the great detective to solve. You will also find the usual -installment of the serial now running, together with several other -interesting articles. - - - - -THE DULL BOY SCORED. - - -“Now, my sharp lads!” exclaimed the schoolmaster, “answer me this little -riddle and there’s a holiday for the one who does it: Supposing a gentle -little donkey was tied to a tree with a rope eight yards long, and a -truss of hay was inviting his appetite at a distance of nine yards, how -could he get at it without breaking or gnawing the rope?” - -The hay, the donkey, and the difficulty were mentally seen, but not the -answer to the ancient conundrum. - -“All give it up?” asked the master. - -“Yes, sir,” was answered in a chorus of disappointment. - -Then the schoolmaster, naturally, exclaimed: - -“So did the other little donkey, my lads.” - -“Please, sir, the other day you said I was a dull boy, but may I -answer?” asked a very little fellow, with a sly look. - -“Certainly, Arthur; but you must be quick,” decided the man of -knowledge. - -“Well, then, sir,” the juvenile declared, “when he’d gone eight yards, -he’d be sure to reach the hay by keeping on four feet, and he’d have a -foot over as well as his nose.” - -Then the master bent over his desk without a leg to stand on. - - - - -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 XII. - -THE FRAME-UP. - - -During the two hours in which Hawley had been confined in a cell at -police headquarters, waiting to be taken to court, Gale had suggested to -Chief of Police Hodgins that it would be a good plan to take the -prisoner’s camera to a professional photographer and have the film -developed so as to make the case against the Camera Chap as complete as -possible. - -The chief had agreed that this would be a wise precaution. He had a -friend who ran a portrait studio a few doors from police headquarters, -and he and Gale proceeded to this place. - -Without the slightest suspicion as to its contents, they handed Hawley’s -camera to the photographer and accompanied him into his dark room so as -to be able to swear conscientiously in court, later on, that they had -been present when the film was taken out and developed, and could -positively identify it. - -Great was their astonishment when the camera was opened and out popped a -jack-in-the-box, with its fingers derisively extending from its nose. - -In addition to the cheap film camera--the one which Chief Hodgins now -held as evidence--the Camera Chap had also purchased a toy which is to -be found in every toy shop in the world. - -This article comes in all sizes. The jack-in-the-box which Hawley -selected was small, and fitted snugly inside the cheap film camera after -the roll of film had been removed. - -Before leaving the store, Hawley had taken out his pocketknife and -removed the lid of the jack-in-the-box. Then he stuffed the rest of the -toy inside the camera, compressing the spring so that when the little -trapdoor in the camera was opened Jack would immediately pop out in a -startling manner. - -By the light of the photographer’s ruby lamp, Hodgins and Gale exchanged -glances of blank dismay. - -For a few moments the chief’s emotion was so profound that he was quite -incapable of speech. He stood scowling at the papier-mâché figure, and -from his throat came strange noises as though he were about to have a -fit. - -“It looks as if we’ve been handed a nice, juicy lemon,” exclaimed Gale, -with a grim laugh. “There’s no film there, of course.” - -“Not a bit of film,” replied the photographer to whom this question was -addressed. “This funny little jumping jack occupies all the space where -the film roll should go.” - -Gale turned regretfully to Hodgins. “Guess we don’t get Hawley this -time, chief. I understand now why that stiff was so amused over his -arrest. He didn’t expect that we’d open the camera before we got to -court, and he figured on making us look like a couple of fools there.” - -What Chief Hodgins said in response cannot be printed here. He had -recovered his power of speech by this time, and proceeded to make good -use--or, rather, bad use--of it. - -“Well, at all events,” said Gale soothingly, “you’re lucky to have -discovered this miserable trick here and now, instead of later on in -court. You have at least saved your dignity, chief.” - -“Dignity my eye!” growled Hodgins, refusing to find any comfort in this -reflection. “I wanted that impudent loafer in jail--I’d almost give my -right hand to be able to put him there--and this is a terrible -disappointment. Honest, young feller, it’s enough to make a man feel -discouraged.” - -Then it was that Gale had an inspiration. Taking Hawley’s camera from -the table, he hurried out of the studio, signaling to Hodgins to follow -him. - -When they reached the sidewalk, Gale explained his plan, and the chief -slapped him on the back approvingly. - -“You’re all right, young feller,” he declared warmly. “I see you’ve got -nerve as well as brains. Under ordinary circumstances, of course, I -don’t approve of frame-ups. Honesty’s the best policy--that’s my motto. -But these ain’t ordinary circumstances. That’ darned Camera Chap is a -menace to society. It would be a real calamity to have him at large. -Consequently it is my duty to the public to keep him behind bars; and -when duty calls upon Bill Hodgins, he don’t stop at nothin’. So go -ahead, young feller, and carry out this idea of yours.” - -Gale’s plan, it is perhaps unnecessary to explain, was to manufacture -the evidence necessary to convict the Camera Chap. With this object in -view, he visited a dealer in photographic supplies and had Hawley’s -camera loaded with film. - -Then he proceeded to the city hall and took a snapshot of that edifice, -taking care to stand in exactly the same spot which the Camera Chap had -occupied. - -When the film was developed, Hodgins and Gale had taken their prisoner -to court, both of them highly elated by the thought of the surprise they -were going to spring on Hawley. - -As soon as the film was offered in evidence, the Camera Chap guessed at -once what had been done; but he realized that it would be futile to try -to make the judge believe that he was the victim of a frame-up. He -foresaw that his story would be received with derision, and he looked -upon himself as lost. - -Judge Wall glanced at the negative which Hodgins had handed to him, and -smiled approvingly at that official. - -“I must compliment you, chief, upon the thoroughness with which you have -prepared this case,” he said. “The evidence which you have offered -leaves no possible doubt in the court’s mind as to the guilt of the -defendant.” - -Then his face grew stern as he turned to the Camera Chap. In his most -impressive tone he proceeded to deliver a little speech to that young -man. His honor greatly prided himself upon his ability as an orator, and -he had no intention of missing this rare opportunity to display -eloquence before an audience which included the mayor and several of -the prominent officials of the city government. Besides, he saw two -reporters--one from the _Chronicle_ and one from the _Bulletin_--busily -making notes, and he realized that his words were about to be handed -down to posterity. - -“The city of Oldham,” he began, “has good cause to congratulate itself -upon the wisdom of its city fathers--as that body of public-spirited men -who comprise the city council has been affectionately nicknamed. Never -has that wisdom been more strikingly manifested than by the framing of -the recent ordinance regulating the use of cameras upon our public -highways and within our public buildings.” - -The magistrate paused long enough to enable the reporters to catch up -with him. Then he went on: - -“Like the sword, the revolver, and other deadly weapons, the camera is -an instrument of both good and evil. In the hands of decent men it is a -blessing to humanity. In the hands of the vicious it is a menace to -society.” - -As the magistrate uttered these words, Chief Hodgins was so stirred that -he clapped his hands applaudingly, and had to be reminded by his honor -that such conduct was unseemly in a courtroom. - -“It is possible that the city of Oldham--always progressive--is the -first city in the United States to enact legislation controlling the use -of the camera,” the magistrate continued. “But it can safely be -predicted that other cities will soon follow our example. They will -realize that if it is proper to require licenses for dogs, firearms, -automobiles, and alcohol, there is every reason why cameras should be -licensed, too. For the camera is quite as dangerous as a revolver or a -mad dog--when it is used by such reckless rascals as the prisoner at the -bar.” - -Once more Chief Hodgins started to applaud, but managed to control -himself just in time to escape another reprimand. - -“Your guilt has been fully established,” said his honor to the Camera -Chap. “You are the first offender to be brought up for trial under the -new law, and I am going to make an example of you. I am going to give -you the maximum penalty, to serve as a warning to others of your ilk.” - -The magistrate was just about to pass sentence, when the mayor, in a -whisper, reminded him that he had not yet given the prisoner a chance to -say anything in his defense. The mayor had no desire to befriend the -Camera Chap, but he wished the proceedings to be quite regular. - -Somewhat crestfallen at his blunder, Judge Wall turned to Hawley with a -scowl. - -“Is there anything you wish to say before I pass sentence, young man?” -he snapped. - -Hawley felt so sure that it would be useless for him to declare that the -evidence against him had been manufactured, that he was about to shake -his head in negation, when it occurred to him to ask to be allowed to -examine the film negative which his honor still held in his hand. - -Although the chance was slim, he was in hopes that he might be able to -detect something on this exhibit which would enable him to prove that he -had not taken the snapshot. - -The court had no objection to the defendant’s examining the negative, -and the strip of film was handed to the Camera Chap. - -As he held it up to the light and scrutinized it intently, the gaze of -Gale and Chief Hodgins was fixed searching upon his face. It was rather -an anxious moment for them. - -But sneers curled their lips as they observed the baffled expression -which came to Hawley’s countenance. It was quite evident that he had -found nothing which would enable him to prove that he was the victim of -a frame-up. - -The Camera Chap was just about to hand back the film to the court -officer and prepare to take his medicine, when suddenly Hodgins and Gale -saw him start violently. Then once more he held the negative up to the -light, and, with sudden apprehension, they observed the grim look on his -face give way to a broad grin. - -“Your honor,” the Camera Chap cried excitedly, “you ask if I have -anything to say before you pass sentence upon me. I have a few words to -say now. I wish to point out to your honor that it was two p. m. when I -was placed under arrest, and a quarter past two when I arrived at police -headquarters and was locked in a cell. The police blotter will prove -that.” - -“The chief of police has testified as to the time of your arrest,” said -the magistrate testily. “It was two p. m., as you say. But what has that -to do with the case? I don’t see the significance of that fact.” - -The Camera Chap’s grin broadened. “I think your honor will see the -significance when I point out that this photograph was taken at three p. -m., and, consequently, could not have been taken by me.” - -“What nonsense is this?” his honor snapped. “It will do you no good to -trifle with the court, young man.” - -“I am not trifling with the court,” Hawley replied. “There can’t be any -question about the time this snapshot was taken, your honor. If you will -hold the negative up to the light, as I have done, you will see plainly -that the hands of the clock in the tower of the city hall are pointing -to three o’clock. Evidently the gentlemen responsible for this frame-up -overlooked that small detail. If they had thought of it, it would have -been easy for them to have touched up the negative a bit so as to have -spoiled the face of that clock.” - -The faces of Gale and Chief Hodgins had turned quite pale. Their pallor -increased when Judge Wall examined the negative, and, in a tone of great -astonishment, confirmed the defendant’s statement. - -“The hands of the clock in this picture certainly are pointing to three -o’clock,” his honor declared. “What does it mean, chief?” - -“The clock must have been fast,” suggested Hodgins, in an agitated tone. - -The judge glanced out of the courtroom window, from which the white -clock tower of the city hall was visible. Then he consulted his watch, -and the timepiece on the wall of the courtroom. - -“The city-hall clock is not fast--it is exactly right!” he declared -sharply. “Moreover, I have never heard of that clock being wrong. I -don’t believe it has gained or lost a minute in ten years. I can’t -understand this thing at all, chief.” - -Judge Wall was a friend of Chief Hodgins and the other members of the -political ring which the _Bulletin_ was fighting. He was willing to do a -lot to accommodate these men, but he emphatically drew the line at -sending an innocent man to jail. - -Therefore, when he had heard the Camera Chap’s story, he turned to -Hodgins with a frown. “I am afraid I shall have to throw this case out -of court, chief,” he said. “There are several things about it which I -don’t understand; but, in view of these--ahem--surprising developments, -I am convinced that there is not sufficient evidence to justify me in -convicting this young man. The prisoner is discharged.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -GUERRILLA WARFARE. - - -“I suppose you are going to get after those fellows now and send them -both to jail for conspiracy,” said Fred Carroll to Hawley, as he sat -chatting in the _Bulletin_ office half an hour after the Camera Chap’s -triumphant departure from the police court. “You’ve certainly a strong -case against them.” - -“Oh, no! I shan’t bother,” Hawley replied. “I think their disappointment -is punishment enough for them. I had the last laugh, and I’m quite -satisfied. As far as I’m concerned, the case is closed. Of course, -though, it’s possible that the magistrate may deem it his duty to take -up the matter on his own hook.” - -“There’s not much chance of that,” said Carroll, with a laugh. “Wall and -Hodgins are good friends. I guess the judge will be only too glad to let -the matter drop, if you don’t press it. - -“And I’m mighty glad to hear you say you don’t intend to do so, old -man,” the proprietor of the _Bulletin_ declared. “On Melba’s account, I -mean. She hasn’t much use for her cousin; but still, she’d be greatly -distressed, I guess, if he were sent to jail. She’s a very sensitive -girl, and no doubt would feel the disgrace keenly.” - -“If I had any desire to prosecute those fellows--which I haven’t--that -argument would be quite sufficient to stop me,” the Camera Chap -declared. “I wouldn’t for worlds do anything to distress Miss Gale. -She’s one of the nicest girls I’ve ever met. You are, indeed, to be -congratulated, Fred.” - -“Who? Me?” exclaimed Carroll, making a clumsy attempt to appear -bewildered. “What the dickens are you talking about, Frank?” - -Hawley laughed. “Say, do you think I’m blind? Don’t you suppose I got -wise to the situation as soon as I saw you two together to-day? You -might as well ’fess up, old scout.” - -“I suppose I might as well,” the other answered, grinning sheepishly. -“Yes, Frank, you’ve hit it right--though how the deuce you guessed it, -you infernal old wizard, I can’t imagine--Melba and I are secretly -engaged. She’s the finest girl in the world, and----” - -“Why secretly engaged?” the Camera Chap broke in hastily. He had had -experience with fellows in love before, and he knew that once they get -to talking about the fair one’s charms it is mighty hard to get them to -stop. - -“I should think you’d be glad to proclaim your engagement to all the -world,” he added. “Why on earth are you keeping it a secret?” - -“Because Melba insists upon it,” Carroll explained. “You see, poor -little girl, she’s an orphan, and her uncle and cousin are the only kin -she has. She doesn’t want to be turned out of her uncle’s home, and she -has an idea that that’s what would happen if the fact of our engagement -were to become known to that old fox.” - -Hawley nodded. “I see. Does the uncle know that you are even on speaking -terms with her?” - -“Oh, yes! He is aware that we are acquainted. I used to call on her at -the house when I first came to Oldham, until he made it quite clear to -me that my presence there was not desired--by him.” - -“And since then you have kept away?” chuckled Hawley. - -“Sure! I didn’t want to embarrass Melba. Of course, we have been meeting -frequently outside right along; but I don’t think the old man has any -suspicion of that.” - -“Well, why don’t you elope with the girl?” the Camera Chap suggested. -“It seems to me that, under the circumstances, that’s the only thing to -do. If I were in your place, Fred, I’d have married her long ago.” - -Carroll frowned. “You’re talking like an idiot,” he declared -indignantly. “How can I get married when I haven’t a cent to my name? As -I told you the other day, the _Bulletin_ isn’t making enough money to -support even me alone. If I married Melba in my present circumstances -I’d deserve to be sent to State’s prison--or a lunatic asylum.” - -“Well, what’s the matter with giving up the _Bulletin_ and going back to -Park Row?” the Camera Chap suggested, watching his friend’s face -narrowly. “As a reporter, you could at least make enough to support a -wife.” - -To Hawley’s great joy, a grim, fighting look came to Carroll’s face at -these words. - -“Give up the _Bulletin_!” he exclaimed tensely. “Not while there’s a -breath of life left in the old sheet. I’m no quitter, Frank. I thought -you knew me better than that. Those fellows have got me groggy, I must -admit; but they haven’t got me quite down and out yet. When that -happens, I may go back to Park Row and hunt a job as a reporter, but not -before. - -“And even if I wanted to quit,” he went on, with a whimsical smile, “I -couldn’t do it. Melba wouldn’t hear of it. She’s thoroughly in sympathy -with the policy of the _Bulletin_, and she wouldn’t have much use for me -if I were to give up the fight.” - -The Camera Chap grabbed his friend’s hand impulsively. “Old man,” he -cried, “I’m tickled to death to hear you talk like that--although it’s -only what I expected, of course. - -“Tell me, Mr. Editor,” he went on eagerly, “could you use some snapshots -on your front page every issue--good, live snapshots taken on the -streets of Oldham? It seems to me that they would brighten up the sheet -and help circulation.” - -“Of course they would,” Carroll declared regarding Hawley with -astonishment. “I’d be mighty glad to have them. But where could I get -them?” - -The Camera Chap made a mock obeisance. “I should feel highly honored, -sir, if you would appoint me staff photographer of the Oldham -_Bulletin_. The position would be only temporary, of course, and the -salary would be nothing.” - -“You!” exclaimed Carroll, with an incredulous laugh. “You don’t mean to -say that, after the narrow escape you’ve just had, you’d be rash enough -to attempt to take any more pictures on the streets of this town?” - -“Appoint me as your staff photographer,” said the Camera Chap -earnestly, “and I’ll undertake to supply you with at least one good -snapshot for every issue.” - -“Taken on the streets of Oldham?” - -“Yes--in most cases,” Hawley replied. - -Carroll stared at him in astonishment. “What’s the idea, Frank?” he -asked. “How on earth do you expect to get away with it?” - -The Camera Chap chuckled. “Guerrilla warfare, old man,” he said. “It’ll -be the rarest sport I’ve ever had. Guerrilla warfare with a camera.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -A MAD UNDERTAKING. - - -The Camera Chap watched the puzzled face of the _Bulletin’s_ editor as -the latter pondered on his rash proposal. “Do I get the job, Fred?” he -inquired eagerly. “May I consider myself a regular staff photographer of -the Oldham _Daily Bulletin_?” - -“You may not,” Carroll replied emphatically. “You reckless Indian!” he -added, with a laugh. “Do you think for a minute that I’m going to listen -to such a proposition? This stunt that you propose is the wildest idea -that has ever taken shape in that harum-scarum brain of yours. If I -thought that you were tired of liberty and had a feverish longing to -spend the next six months in jail, I might be willing to consider your -offer. But I have no reason to believe that such is the case.” - -Hawley grinned. “I have no desire to go to prison, and no intention of -going there if I can possibly keep out,” he declared. “But really I -don’t see any reason why the venture should have such a disastrous -result.” - -“You don’t, eh?” rejoined Carroll with an ironical laugh. “I suppose if -that chair you are sitting on were a keg of dynamite, you’d see no -particular danger in drumming your heels against its sides. Do you -suppose you could go out taking snapshots on the highways of Oldham in -defiance of the new anticamera law, and keep out of the clutches of the -police? You might possibly get away with the first picture, although -even that is doubtful; but you’d surely be nabbed on your second -attempt.” - -“Why are you so sure of that?” Hadley inquired. - -“Why am I sure of it? Why am I sure that a man who couldn’t swim would -drown if he were to jump overboard from the hurricane deck of a liner in -mid-Atlantic on a dark night? Because, my reckless young friend, my -common sense enables me to foresee clearly what would happen in both -cases. Our friend, Chief Hodgins, would stay awake night and day in -order to take advantage of such a grand opportunity to get even with -you. Every policeman of the Oldham force would have instructions to -bring you in, alive or dead. My esteemed contemporary, the _Chronicle_, -would publish a full description of you, refer to you as ‘the camera -bandit,’ and appeal to all good citizens to aid in your capture. The -whole city of Oldham would be on the watch for you. What chance would -you have?” - -A sparkle came to the eyes of the Camera Chap. “By Jove, Fred, that’s an -alluring picture you’ve painted!” he exclaimed, with great enthusiasm. - -“Alluring?” repeated the other deprecatingly. - -“Yes. I hadn’t figured that it would be quite as exciting as all that. -But I have no doubt the conditions will be just as you’ve pictured -them, and I can see that I’m going to have even more fun than I -expected.” - -“Fun! Do you mean to say that you could get any fun out of a situation -of that sort?” - -“Why, of course,” Hawley replied simply. “Think of the sport of taking -snapshots in the face of such difficulties! Think of the fun of dodging -those fellows! The greater the danger, you know, Fred, the more -fascination there is to the picture game. There’s nothing in taking -snapshots which require no risk.” - -To some men who did not know Frank Hawley, these words might have -sounded suspiciously like bombast; but Carroll knew well that the New -York _Sentinel’s_ star camera man was no braggart, and that what he had -just said simply and truly expressed his viewpoint regarding “the -picture game.” - -“But, apart from the good time I shall have, think what a great thing -this snapshot campaign of mine will be for the _Bulletin_,” the Camera -Chap continued earnestly. “I predict a big boom in your paper’s -circulation, Fred, as soon as I get started. The more I’m denounced by -the police and the _Chronicle_, the more eager people will be to see the -pictures taken by ‘the desperate camera bandit.’ _Bulletins_ will sell -like hot cakes, Fred, and your coffers will be full of real money. For -Miss Melba’s sake, as well as your own, you’ve got to accept my -proposition.” - -In spite of himself, a wistful expression came to Carroll’s face. He -realized the truth of what Hawley said. He had every reason to believe -that snapshots taken under such conditions and published daily on the -front page of the _Bulletin_ would greatly increase the sale of that -paper. - -He had been furnished a striking proof of this a few days earlier when -he had published those snapshots showing Chief of Police Hodgins asleep -at his desk. There had been a big rise in circulation that day. Papers -had sold as fast as the newsboys could hand them out. Everybody in -Oldham had appreciated the joke on the fat chief of police and rushed to -procure copies of those amusing pictures. And the very next day the sale -of the _Bulletin_ had fallen off, showing Carroll conclusively that it -was Hawley’s snapshots alone which had brought about that sudden and all -too transient wave of prosperity. - -Therefore the proprietor of the _Bulletin_ was sorely tempted now by the -Camera Chap’s offer; but, putting his own interests aside, he shook his -head in emphatic negation. - -“I admit that it might help our circulation along, old man,” he began; -“but you see----” - -“It would probably bring you a lot of advertising, too,” Hawley broke -in. “Really, Fred, I shouldn’t be at all surprised if this camera -campaign resulted in a bunch of nice, fat advertising contracts for the -_Bulletin_.” - -“I doubt that,” said Carroll. “It is true that increased advertising -generally follows increased circulation; but it wouldn’t in my case. As -I told you the other day, most of the big advertisers of this town are -connected in some way or other with that bunch of grafters the -_Bulletin_ is fighting, and they wouldn’t advertise in our columns no -matter what figures our circulation books might show.” - -“Maybe they wouldn’t,” the Camera Chap rejoined; “but there are lots of -others who would. I wasn’t thinking about the local advertisers. I have -in mind the big concerns--the breakfast-food people, the purveyors of -potted ham, canned soups, cocoa, and mixed pickles; the manufacturers of -safety razors, automobiles, shaving soaps, ready-made clothing, et -cetera. That’s the kind of advertising we’ll get for your sheet, Fred.” - -Carroll laughed grimly. “Don’t you suppose I’ve been after all those -people already? There’s nothing doing with any of them. I’ve called -personally on those whose advertising offices are in near-by cities, and -spent a small fortune in postage stamps corresponding with the rest. Not -one of them could be made to see that it would be to his advantage to -advertise in the Oldham _Bulletin_.” - -“Of course not,” exclaimed Hawley; “not while your circulation is as low -as it is at present. Naturally, they’ve no desire to throw their money -away. But wait until we’ve boosted the _Bulletin’s_ circulation -sky-high. Then we can talk contracts to them, and I’ll wager they’ll be -ready enough to listen. - -“So, you see, Fred,” he added laughingly, “you really can’t afford to -turn down my application for the position of staff photographer on your -esteemed paper.” - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -A DETERMINED STAND. - - -“Nevertheless, I’m going to turn it down,” Carroll declared firmly. “I -won’t hear of your doing this thing, I’m not going to have it on my -conscience that I was the cause of your being sent to jail. It’s no use -arguing with me, old man; I positively refuse to let you run this risk -on my account.” - -“Very well,” said the Camera Chap quietly. “Of course, I have no desire -to press my services on you if you don’t want them. But I shall go ahead -with this camera campaign, just the same. The pictures will make an -interesting addition to my scrapbook.” - -“You crazy Indian! Surely you don’t mean that?” - -“I certainly do. If you think I’m going to miss all this fun just -because you won’t give me a job on your paper, you’re very much -mistaken. Of course, I should greatly prefer to have the snapshots -published in the _Bulletin_. I really think that they’ll be worth -publishing. But since you can’t see it that way, I suppose I’ll have to -be satisfied with adding them to my private collection.” - -Carroll glanced searchingly at his friend’s face and was convinced of -his earnestness. Then, with a laugh, he extended his big hand. - -“You win, old fellow,” he said. “Since you’re determined to go ahead -anyway, I’d be all kinds of a fool if I were to fail to take advantage -of this opportunity. The chances are about a million to one that you’ll -be nabbed and thrown into jail on your first attempt; but if by a -miracle you should succeed in getting any pictures, I’ll be tickled to -death to use them in the _Bulletin_.” - -“Good boy!” exclaimed Hawley joyously. “That’ll be much more -satisfactory to me than pasting them in my scrapbook. And now that I’m a -full-fledged member of your staff, Fred--beg pardon; I should say -boss--have you any instructions for me? Any particular picture -assignment you wish me to go out and cover?” - -“Oh, no; I shall not give you any assignments. I’ll leave it entirely to -you to select your own subjects. Anything will do. No matter what the -snapshots may be--even if it’s only a picture of an electric-light -pole--the extraordinary circumstances will make it of sufficient value -to be worth a place on our front page.” - -“Very good,” said Hawley; “I am inclined to agree with you that it will -be the best policy to give me a free hand. But I assure you,” he added, -with a chuckle, “I have no intention of snapshotting such uninteresting -subjects as electric-light poles. The kind of pictures I intend to go -after will have a little more life to them than that. In fact, I have an -idea now for a group of snapshots which I think would be of great -interest to the _Bulletin’s_ readers. If I can put it across, I think it -will make even more of a hit than those pictures of the sleeping police -chief.” - -“What’s the idea?” Carroll inquired, with a little more eagerness than -he was desirous of manifesting. - -The Camera Chap drew his chair nearer, and lowered his voice almost to a -whisper: “Do you remember, Fred, that stunt the _Sentinel_ pulled off -several years ago, when we were roasting the New York police department? -I mean those automobiles filled with reporters which the _Sentinel_ sent -out one night to tour the entire city and count the number of cops who -were loafing instead of patrolling their beats?” - -“Do I remember it!” exclaimed Carroll, with a reminiscent chuckle. “I -should say I do! It was just after I joined the _Sentinel_ staff. I was -one of the reporters assigned to the story. I shall never forget that -automobile ride. We rode a hundred blocks, and in all that distance only -encountered one policeman who was conscientiously attending to business. -The exposé the _Sentinel_ published the next day created a whopping big -scandal, and resulted in the biggest shake-up in the history of the New -York police department.” - -“That’s right,” said Hawley. “Well, what’s the matter, Fred, with -pulling off something on those lines right here in Oldham? I’ve got a -hunch that this city isn’t being patrolled any too well during the night -hours. With a lazy, incompetent fathead like Hodgins at the head of the -force, it’s a pretty safe guess that there isn’t much discipline among -the rank and file. A tour of the city by night probably would reveal -some interesting facts about the Oldham police department.” - -Carroll nodded vigorously. “You bet it would. You are quite right in -supposing that the cops of this burg are a pretty punk lot. The great -majority of them got their appointments to the force by political pull, -and--well, as you can readily imagine, they’re not by any means the best -material that could have been found for the job. Yes, your suggestion is -a mighty good one, Hawley, old man. I deserve to be kicked for not -having thought of it myself long ago. An exposé of that sort ought to -sell a lot of _Bulletins_.” - -“Sure it would!” declared the Camera Chap enthusiastically. “I’m glad -you approve. Thought you’d look at it in that light. Guess there’s no -sense in wasting any time,” he added. “I might as well get busy this -very night.” - -The proprietor of the _Bulletin_ looked at him in astonishment. “You get -busy? Why, what is there for you to do, old man! This’ll be a reporter’s -task. Pictures, of course, will be quite out of the question.” - -“Oh, will they, though?” chuckled Hawley. “I don’t agree with you there. -The pictures will be the main feature of this exposé. Of course, we’ll -have a story, too--a couple of columns or so of reading matter to go -with the snapshots--but, with all modesty, I think I can say that it -will be my camera which will give the people of Oldham the most graphic -idea of what the police force is doing while the town slumbers.” - -“Nonsense!” Carroll expostulated. “This will be at night. How can you -take pictures----” - -“How can I?” Hawley interrupted. “What a peculiar question! Surely, my -dear Fred, you must be forgetting all about the existence of a certain -compound called magnesium powder.” - -“What!” cried Carroll, almost rising in his chair. “Man alive! You don’t -mean to say you’d be insane enough to attempt to take snapshots on the -streets of Oldham by flash light?” - -The Camera Chap grinned at his friend’s display of horrified amazement. - -“Oh, yes, I’ll have to use that flash-light powder, of course,” he -answered. “I don’t know of any other way of taking pictures at night; -and we positively must have those snapshots.” - - -TO BE CONTINUED. - - - - -HOW HE PAID HIS PASSAGE. - -W. BERT FOSTER. - - -“Come, now, hustle out o’ here!” - -“I ain’t doin’ any harm.” - -“You git out, I say, an’ don’t ye talk back to me!” - -“Please, mister----” - -“Git!” - -Big Bill Bronson, the dock watchman, raised his heavy hand -threateningly, and the forlorn little chap, whom he had addressed in -such rough tones, climbed painfully out of the box of straw in which he -had taken refuge, as he hoped, for the night. - -“We don’t want no young wharf rats like you round here,” Big Bill -declared. “So, git along with you!” - -It was still early in the evening. Perhaps if Terry Carson had waited -until it had grown darker he might have ensconced himself in the box -unobserved, and spent the night in comparative comfort. But he had been -so tired that he had risked seeking his “lodging” early, with the above -result. - -For days he had tramped the streets of the seaport town, looking for a -job. But nobody seemed to want him, or his services. The past fortnight -had been a terrible experience to young Terry. - -“I warn’t goin’ for to do any harm, sir,” he said, having gotten out of -the box of straw. - -“I dunno whether you was or not,” growled Bill. “There’s too many of the -like o’ you ’round. Come, move on, or I’ll hand ye over to the cop!” - -At this threat, Terry had to give up all hope of his lodging, and moved -painfully away. - -“I just hate this town!” he muttered. “There ain’t no place in it for -me. I wish I could get away from it, so I do.” - -His eyes wandered across the broad docks to the shipping -beyond--tall-masted, deep-sea vessels all. - -“I wish I could get aboard one o’ them boats an’ just sail away from -this mean old place.” - -It was not too dark yet to reveal the decks pretty clearly. The fading -light revealed Terry’s sturdy figure, too. He was a strong, well-built -chap of fifteen. - -“Jiminy crickets! I b’lieve I’ll try it!” he muttered, after an -instant’s silent scrutiny of the individual on the quarter of the -nearest craft; and then, despite the fact that big Bill, the watchman, -shouted after him, he turned away from the great gate, which was the -only entrance by land to the dock, and marched up the narrow gangplank -to the vessel’s deck. - -Captain Josh Carlton, who was pacing the deck with a huge cigar between -his teeth, suddenly became conscious of the presence of somebody beside -himself upon the quarter, by a shrill voice, which piped out: - -“Mister, I say!” - -“Who the dickens are you?” demanded the captain in surprise, gazing down -upon young Terry from his height of six foot four. - -“Terrence Carson.” - -“Well, you little sawed-off, what d’ye want here?” - -Terry drew himself up to his full height. His “stubbedness” was the -tender point. - -“I want to ship,” he declared. - -“You want to ship! Haw, haw, haw!” - -Captain Carlton fairly shook with laughter. - -“Why, your head hardly reaches the rail,” he said, taking the boy by the -arm and twisting him about with his face to the shore. “Now, sonny, -that’s the way ashore. You git!” - -Poor Terry, urged by the captain’s vigorous shove, walked slowly back to -the wharf, and thence to the street. Once outside the gate, he stamped -his ill-shod foot determinedly upon the rough pavement. - -“I just will do it!” he declared. “They can’t keep me off their old -vessel, however hard they try. I’m going to sea in the _Calypso_, I am!” - -Thus it happened that, half an hour later, when Captain Carlton left the -_Calypso_ and went uptown to look over the men whom the shipping agent -had gotten together for him, leaving the vessel in sole charge of the -steward, a ragged figure, sneaking along beside the piled-up cases on -the dock, darted across the gangplank and onto the _Calypso’s_ deck. - -Neither the steward nor Bill Bronson, the burly dock watchman, saw him, -for they were conversing very earnestly together forward. Terry was -totally unfamiliar with a ship, having always lived back in the country; -so he made the mistake of entering the cabin for concealment. - -It was a nicely furnished apartment, for Captain Carlton was quite a -fastidious man, and at one end a heavy curtain hung before a small -lavatory. Behind this curtain Terry darted. He had heard Bill say that -the _Calypso_ would sail early the next morning, and he believed that -once the vessel got out of the harbor, she would not be put about for -the sake of landing him again. - -Hardly had he ensconced himself behind this drapery, when he detected -the sound of a footstep softly descending the companion stairs. A moment -later, the steward, a low-browed, snaky-looking Italian, appeared. It -struck Terry at once that the man’s manner seemed odd. He appeared to be -fearful of the presence of some unknown person, and glanced -apprehensively around him as he stepped into the center of the room -under the swinging lamp. - -And what followed made the boy’s suspicions a surety. The Italian had -not entered the cabin during the absence of the captain and officers for -any legitimate purpose. - -Assuring himself, as he supposed, that he was unobserved, the steward -crept softly from door to door, and, opening each, peered into the -several staterooms for the purpose of seeing if any were by chance -occupied. Confident that this was not the case, he went back to the foot -of the companionway and whistled shrilly. - -Evidently this was a signal, for at once a heavy step crossed the deck -and descended to the cabin. Terry, round-eyed with bewilderment at these -proceedings, peered out from behind the curtains and discovered that the -newcomer was none other than the watchman, Bill Bronson. - -“Eet ees alla quiet, Bill,” the steward declared, reassuringly, as big -Bill glanced suspiciously about. “Not a soula here. We ees alla right.” - -Bill growled in reply, and stepped at once to the center of the room, -shoving aside a heavy chart table which stood there. Beneath the table -was a square of matting which seemed but lightly tacked down, for with -one twitch the watchman ripped it off the floor, revealing a trapdoor -beneath. - -“Dere she ees, Bill,” exclaimed the Italian exultantly. - -He stooped and raised the trap hastily. The burly watchman squeezed -himself into the hole with much grunting and profanity, and, having -gotten his head below the level of the floor, began at once to hand out -packages, each wrapped carefully in black enamel cloth. - -“Work quick, Tonio. No tellin’ when them fellers’ll git back. The boat’s -right under the quarter.” - -The steward’s reply was to gather several packages in his arms and -hastily ascend to the deck. - -Terry, meanwhile, had been doing what he called “some tall thinking.” He -knew that something remarkably shady was in progress. He could not guess -what was in the packages, but that it was something valuable he did not -doubt. The treacherous steward and watchman were robbing the _Calypso’s_ -commander, or her owners. - -Quick as a flash, when Antonio had disappeared, Terry darted out from -behind the curtain and slammed down the trapdoor, shooting the strong -bolt at once into place, thus securing the trap firmly. Big Bill was a -prisoner. - -The muffled sounds of the watchman’s voice could not reach the deck, but -Terry reached it almost at a single bound. Antonio’s figure was faintly -visible as he leaned over the rail, tugging at the painter of the small -boat, which had become fouled. The packages had been laid on the deck -while he was thus engaged. - -Terry’s mind worked quickly, and the moment his feet touched the deck he -saw his chance for overcoming the second river pirate. He lowered his -head and charged across the deck like a bolt from a cannon. - -His head caught Antonio just below the waistband, and, although the -shock well-nigh dislocated his neck and sent him flat upon the deck, it -also drove the light body of the astonished steward flying overboard, -where he landed, frog fashion, in the dirty dock water. - -He might have come back and easily overpowered the boy and released his -companion, but Antonio didn’t know that. Never for an instant doubting -that the gigantic Captain Carlton had returned unexpectedly and kicked -him overboard, the steward swam hastily to a neighboring pier and made -good his escape. - -Not so big Bill, however. Captain Carlton and his two officers found -him, almost suffocated, in the secret compartment, while a greatly -demoralized boy stood guard above with a boathook almost as heavy as -himself. - -When Bill had been pulled out of his prison and marched off under a -guard of two blue-coated policemen to a much safer place of durance, -Captain Carlton turned to young Terry. - -“Well, Shorty,” he said jovially, placing his big hands upon the boy’s -shoulders, “so you’re the lad who wanted to ship as an A. B., eh? Got -over it?” - -“No, sir. I came down here intending to hide away till after you had -sailed. I want to get away from this town, so I do.” - -“And you shall. You’ve saved the owners a pretty penny,” he added, -touching the packages strewn about the floor, with his foot; “and I -reckon they won’t begrudge you your passage. I guess he’s paid his fare, -sure enough, ain’t he, boys?” - -And the two inferior officers agreed warmly. However, before that first -trip was over, Terry had made himself so useful to the _Calypso’s_ -commander, that he made many more on the same vessel. In fact, he is -still with the good ship, and is probably one of the youngest second -mates sailing out of the port of Rivermouth. - - - - -WHAT PUNISHMENT BY THE KNOUT MEANS. - - -We read of crimes and cruelties perpetrated in days long, long gone by, -and, with a pitying sigh for the wretched sufferers, we thank Heaven -that the blessed light of civilization illuminates the nineteenth -century. We do not realize that a government, so-called Christian, even -to this day, can wantonly cause such heart-rending sufferings as Russia -metes out to Poland. - -To be exempt from corporal chastisement is one of the privileges of a -Russian nobleman; yet this does not prevent the torture being applied to -Polish political prisoners even when they are of noble blood. - -The subject, albeit a sad one, is not without a certain interest, -particularly when we recall the memory of brave men and braver women who -have yielded up a weary life while undergoing this, the most cruel of -tortures--the knout. - -The knout is a strip of hide, a thing which is steeped in some -preparation, and strongly glazed, as it were, with metal filings. By -this process it becomes both heavy and excessively hard; but before it -hardens care is taken to double down the edges, which are left thin, and -in this way a groove runs the length of the thong. - -The upper part winds around the hand of the executioner; to the other -end a small iron hook is fastened. Falling upon the bare back of the -sufferer, the knout comes down on its concave side, of which the edges -cut like a knife. The thing thus lies in the flesh. - -The executioner does not lift it up, but draws it toward him -horizontally, so that the hook tears off long strips. If the executioner -has not been bribed, the victim loses consciousness after the third -stroke, and sometimes dies under the fifth. - -The scaffold is an inclined plane, to which the man is tied with his -back uncovered. The head and feet are firmly fastened, and the hands, -which are knotted together, go round below the plank, any movement of -the body becoming impossible. - -After receiving the prescribed number of strokes, the poor wretch is -untied, and, on his knees, undergoes the cruel punishment of being -marked. The letters “Vor”--meaning thief or malefactor--are printed in -sharp, pointed letters on a stamp, which the executioner drives into the -forehead, and into both cheeks, and, while the blood runs, a black -mixture, of which gunpowder is an ingredient, is rubbed into the wounds; -they heal, but the bluish scar remains for life. - - - - -QUICK THINKING. - - -An adventure is related by a sportsman which shows that a hunter’s life -may depend upon his attention to small details. With one of his friends, -he was out shooting, when a solitary bull buffalo appeared on the -opposite side of a small stream. The bull was evidently in a state of -great excitement, for, as the hunters drew near, he faced them, tore up -the turf with his horns, and looked down the perpendicular bank, twelve -feet high, as though meditating descent. - -The sportsman’s friend, who carried a little rifle--a single barrel, -which shot a small, spherical ball--had, by the other’s advice, doubled -his charge of powder. - -“Aim at the back of the neck if the buffalo lowers his head,” said the -sportsman to his companion, throwing a hard clod of earth so that it -fell into the water at the foot of the bank. The splash caused the -animal to look down, exposing his neck. The friend fired. The bull -convulsively turned round and fell upon his side. The two men waded -across the stream at a shallow place, and ran to where the prostrate -animal was lying, apparently dead. The marksman, standing in front of -the bull’s head, reveled in the delight of his first buffalo. - -“Never stand at the head of a buffalo, whether dead or alive,” exclaimed -the other, whose experience had taught him to be cautious. “Stand upon -the side, facing the back of the animal, well away from its legs, as I -am standing now.” - -Scarcely had he uttered the words, when the bull sprang to his feet, and -blundered forward straight at his astonished friend, not three feet -distant. He jumped forward to avoid the horns, but tripped and fell upon -his back, right in the path of the savage bull. - -As quick as lightning, the sportsman drew his long hunting knife, and -plunged it behind the buffalo’s shoulder. The animal fell at the blow. -He had received his death stroke. - - - - -MISUNDERSTOOD. - - -While a certain lady was feeding a hungry tramp the other day, she -discovered that he was pocketing her silverware. - -Seizing a poker, she exclaimed: - -“Drop those spoons, you scoundrel, and leave the house; leave it -instantly!” - -“But, madame----” - -“Leave the house, I say! Leave the house!” screamed the infuriated -woman. - -“I go, madame,” said the tramp, “never to return; but before I do, I -would like to say that I did not intend to take your house.” - - * * * * * - - - - -THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS. - - -Sale of Letters is Stopped. - -The sale of more than eight hundred autograph letters, valued at twelve -thousand dollars, advertised to take place at a Philadelphia auction -room, was stopped by order of a common pleas court, following injunction -proceedings by the State of New Hampshire on the ground that the letters -are part of its official archives. - -The collection is said to be of great historic importance, and contain -letters written by George Washington and other revolutionary statesmen -and soldiers. The injunction petition declares that all the letters were -originally in the custody of the first governor of New Hampshire. The -papers disappeared many years ago, and their whereabouts was not -disclosed until May, 1913. - - -Ban on Alcohol in United States Soon, is His Prediction. - -“The greatest good thing that has happened in the world since the -resurrection of Christ was the prohibition proclamation of Czar -Nicholas, of Russia. One hundred and sixty million people went on the -water wagon overnight, and to-day they are all glad of it.” - -This statement was only one of many pointed declarations made by Clinton -N. Howard, of Rochester, N. Y., at one of the closing meetings of the -big Christian Endeavor Convention in Chicago. He addressed delegates -from every part of the country. The convention brought more than ten -thousand to the Chicago Coliseum. - -“We have been applying a small plaster in an effort to cure a big sore,” -said Howard, who is known as the “Little Giant.” Tiny of body, he flung -down the gauntlet in vigorous terms and predicted a dry United States -before long. “We have temporized with John Barleycorn,” he said, “when -he has been convicted a million times. - -“For many months there has been a terrible war on the other side of the -ocean. I venture to predict it will be won by those forces which have -forsworn the use of alcoholic liquor. - -“Three years before the war began the kaiser, addressing a large body of -young men just being graduated into active naval service, said: - -“‘I ask that you hereafter dispense wholly with strong drink. I want my -men to be able to steer my ships straight, and to shoot straight, and -that cannot be done unless a man is sober.’ - -“To-day there is sitting in the presidential chair of the United States -the most princely man who has ever graced that position. He is a good -man, a great man, and I would to God he had the same power right now -that is vested in Czar Nicholas. - -“Alcohol is intrenched on a line which it has held for many years, but -the allied forces of decency, honesty, humanity, economy are slowly but -surely driving it back.” - - -Oldest College Man Dies. - -Reverend Doctor John Fryer Messick, who has the distinction of being the -oldest living college graduate in the United States, died just two days -after his one-hundred-and-second-birthday anniversary. - -Doctor Messick was born in Albany, N. Y., June 28, 1813, and graduated -as valedictorian of the class of 1834 at Rutgers College, New Brunswick, -N. J. He graduated from Rutgers Seminary three years later. - -In 1836, Doctor Messick cast his first vote for Henry Clay, Whig -candidate for President of the United States. He reached his -one-hundredth birthday without any physical defect whatever. - - -Ball Players Dialect Different from Fans. - -Baseball fans used to talk about the same language as the players. But -it’s different now. Whether they did it just to be different or just to -amuse themselves, the present generation of ball players, including many -young gents from our most famous institutions of pure English, have -invented a new line of lingo, by which they converse among themselves. -Here’s the key to a few of the terms now used by all our best players: - -Deceiver--A Pitcher. - -Monkey Suits--Baseball uniforms. - -Uniform--Civilian clothes. - -Dogs--Feet. - -Sneaks--Soft-soled shoes. - -Wolves--Knocking fans. - -Orchard--Ball park. - -Glue--Money. - -Him or He--The manager of the club. - -Agate--Regulation baseball. - -Sullivans--Upper berths. Also tourist sleepers which have cane seats. - -Ducat--A pass to the game. - -Stuff--The curves a pitcher puts on the ball. - -Bludgeon--A bat. - -Work--The act of playing ball. - -Geyser--A spitball pitcher. - -Groceries--Meals. Also used to denote prizes offered by merchants for -early-season feats. - - -At Seventy-two a “Schoolboy.” - -One never gets too old to attend school is a principle strongly -advocated by Joseph Gillet, oldest “schoolboy” in the engineering -courses of the continuation school in Milwaukee, Wis. Mr. Gillet has -just turned seventy-two, but he has the appearance and memory of a man -of fifty. Although he was denied opportunities of learning to a great -extent when he was a boy, he has tried to grasp every opportunity in -adult life. This is the eighth time he has matriculated at a school -which would offer him advancement. - -He was born in Alsace, where he was graduated from the public school at -fourteen. Later he attended a private continuation school for six -months, after which he decided to learn the machinist trade. From 1860 -to 1864 he was an apprentice. Three years later he entered a -marine-engineering school, where he remained six months. Finally, before -leaving France, he tried sea diving. - -When Mr. Gillet landed in Montreal in 1872, he at once entered an -English school. His progress in the language was so rapid that in a -little while he became a teacher in a night school, at the same time -studying steam engineering and drafting. In 1906 he began an electrical -course at Marquette College and continued it for six years. - -“I have always been accustomed to much work,” declared Mr. Gillet, “and -have made it a point to take advantage of it. One can always learn -something new in the mechanical trade. I cannot be idle.” - - -Ground Hogs Invade Indiana Farms. - -Farmers in the western part of Delaware County, Ind., are up in arms -against the ground hog. Hundreds of the pests overrun the farms in that -part of the country. - -Many farms are literally honeycombed with ground-hog holes. It is said -that on one farm not far from Daleville there are as many as five -hundred ground-hog dens. The sport of shooting the animals has replaced -all others, and hunters who fare afield after these weather prophets -seldom go unrewarded. - -Apparently the situation has proved to be of keen interest to the -squirrels, which are seldom hunted now in that vicinity, the hunters -preferring the larger and juicier game, and at the same time conferring -a benefit on the farmers by reducing the number of pests which destroy -so much corn. According to riflemen and others the squirrels, which are -numerous in that part of the country have become positively tame because -they have not been hunted. But the ground hogs have become wary and keep -sentinels posted, which, by their whistling, warn their comrades of the -hunter’s approach. - -The ground hog’s call is a clear, distinct whistle, not greatly unlike -the singing of a canary bird, only much louder and even sweeter in tone. -It is interesting to observe a full-grown ground hog, weighing several -pounds, emitting a melodious warble that might well belong to a -feathered songster. - -Doctor Camdon C. McKinney of Daleville, is perhaps, eastern Indiana’s -greatest “ground-hog expert” and what he does not know about these -little animals and their ways of living is not worth knowing. -Incidentally Doctor McKinney is a crack rifle shot and not only does -fried or roasted ground hog grace his family table as often as he may -desire, but he supplies a few friends in Muncie and elsewhere with this -delicacy on occasion. - -“I like to observe the ground hog in his native habitat almost as well -as I like to eat his succulent flesh,” said Doctor McKinney. “The -farmer’s chief objection to him and the reason that he welcomes hunters -who will destroy the ground hog is because the animals insist on -destroying corn. As soon as the corn fills out and reaches the -roasting-ear stage the ground hogs get busy and devour the ears, either -on the spot where they find them or they drag the corn to their dens and -eat it there at their leisure, the whole family of the particular den -joining in the feast much as the human family does at the same season of -year. - -“Family by family these little animals will fill their dens to -overflowing with the products of the farmer’s toil, and one family will -even assist a neighbor who is a little short of help in the ground-hog -harvest time. Thus it may be seen that a large colony of ground hogs may -cause a great loss in a corn community.] - -“Human beings might well learn from the ground hog the Biblical lesson: -‘It is good for brethren to dwell together in amity.’ Ground hogs do not -fight among themselves, but they stand up for each other through thick -and thin. A personal incident will illustrate this. The other day while -hunting I noticed one of the little animals stick his head cautiously -out of his hole. When he finally ventured entirely out, I shot him, but -I never saw him afterward. No sooner did he fall than his family rushed -out and dragged him back into the den. - -“The only way a hunter can get close enough to one of these animals to -make a good shot is to hide himself not far from a hole and wait for the -ground hog to appear. He first will peer out cautiously, only the end of -his snout and his twinkling eyes being visible. Then withdrawing, -possibly to report to the others of the family that the coast is clear, -he displays a little more of his body at the mouth of the den, and then -again runs back. He does this several times, running back each time, and -on each reappearance displaying a little more of his body. - -“Finally satisfied that there is no enemy in sight, he comes entirely -into view, and, standing upright on his hind legs, cocks his head to one -side, like a rooster that has been out in the rain. It is then that the -hunter’s opportunity has arrived. - -“The ground hog is largely a vegetarian although he does eat bugs, but -prefers grains, roots, and grasses. Unlike the opossum, he will not -touch carrion nor any unwholesome food.” - - -For Good Health Drink Deeply of Adam’s Ale. - -“A gallon a day will keep the doctor away.” - -This is what many physicians say--in one way or another--when asked if -it is a good thing to drink much water. - -Doctors disagree, however, about whether it is a good thing to drink -water with meals, the majority believing that food should not be washed -down with liquids, but should be thoroughly chewed and mixed with -saliva, which is an aid to digestion. But several doctors who were asked -about it asserted that it was good to drink even as much as a quart of -water with meals. - -All of the seven doctors who were interviewed about the benefits of -water drinking agreed that the copious drinking of water was a -preventive of disease, and they had known many cases in which health was -restored by the drinking of water in large quantities. One doctor -advocates the drinking of as much as three gallons of water a day in -very warm weather, reducing the amount when the weather is cooler, but -never drinking less than a gallon a day. - -“Why,” said this physician, “two-thirds of the weight of the body is -water. In a very warm day in August an average man who is at work will -perspire from two to six quarts of water a day. Where is it all coming -from if you don’t drink it? Many poisons generated by the body are -exuded through the pores of the skin in perspiration. Many persons think -they are not perspiring unless they can see beads of water on the skin. -But we perspire at all times, waking and sleeping, and we do not see it -because it evaporates immediately. It is almost impossible to drink too -much water.” - -Another doctor said; “I saw a short article in a newspaper the other -evening quoting an eminent medical authority as saying that all girls -and women who wished to have a good complexion should drink two quarts -of water a day. I would double that and advise them to drink four quarts -a day. Give the body plenty of pure water, inside and outside, a gallon -a day inside, a thorough bathing of the whole body at least once a day, -and plenty of exercise, preferably by outdoor walking, and you can’t -very well be sick. If any one would do that, one-half the doctors would -have to seek some other business. If every woman would do that, the -rouge and complexion powder factories would shut down. There is nothing -so good as plenty of water drunk every day for the complexion.” - -One physician said: “I am not claiming that the drinking of plenty of -water is a preventive of all diseases; that would be misleading and -silly, but I will say this: I have cured several bad cases of -rheumatism, and many cases of stomach ailments with water alone. In -those cases the patients were in the habit of drinking very little -water. I prescribed a quart of water before breakfast each morning and a -gallon on going to bed at night. It worked a cure in each case. - -“I say this, most emphatically, that a half gallon or a gallon of water -a day will help wash out the toxic poisons that are formed in the body, -and will tend to keep a person in good health and help him resist -disease. - -“There is constantly being accumulated in the body not only waste -matter, resulting from chemical changes taking place in the upkeep of -vital energy, but also the blood takes up toxic poisons from the -intestines. Unless those things are thrown off by the lungs, skin, -kidneys, et cetera, we become lazy, dyspeptic, and uric acid will -accumulate and cause rheumatism, kidney disorders, and other organic -disturbances. Now, such conditions would be much less likely to ensue -were the simple precaution taken of drinking a pint of water often -throughout the day. - -“Especially is this true of persons who take little exercise and who -live indoors, where they breathe impure air. - -“I often prescribe the slow sipping of at least a pint of hot water in -the morning while dressing. This washes out the stomach, stimulates the -circulation in the lungs and skin and promotes the action of the liver. -If a person has a tendency to gout or rheumatism, the water-drinking -habit is especially recommended.” - -One physician was found who recommended the drinking of a quart of water -with each meal, but the majority were opposed to drinking water while -eating. - - -Soldiers in War, 21,770,000. - -A German military authority estimates that 21,770,000 men stand opposed -to each other--12,820,000 on the side of the Allies and 8,950,000 for -Germany, Austria, and Turkey. On the naval side the estimates are as -follows: - - Germany, - Allies. et al. - Line ships 113 56 - Big cruisers 87 17 - Small cruisers 128 56 - Torpedo boats 704 358 - Submarine 179 [A]40 - Miscellaneous 231 239 - - [A] Number of new boats unknown. - -The daily cost of the war to the ten nations now taking part he places -at 169,000,000 marks--$42,250,000--and he estimates that up to -the first of April the total cost of the war was 40,000,000,000 -marks--$10,000,000,000. Italy again excepted, he placed the annual cost -of such a war at $15,000,000,000. - -It would take 60,000,000 of the huge 1,000-mark bank notes to pay this -cost, and these notes, stacked on top of each other, would make a pile -20,000 feet, almost four miles in height. In gold, this same sum would -weigh 24,000,000 kilograms--52,912,800 pounds, whereas the entire gold -production of the entire world during the last five hundred years has -amounted to but 15,000,000 kilograms. - -The daily war costs for the German empire he places at 33,000,000 -marks--$8,250,000, and only forty days of this conflict cost as much as -the whole Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The cost to England, exclusive -of the colonies, is about the same, and three months of this war cost -Great Britain as much as the Boer War, lasting two years and seven -months. France spends a little more daily. - - -Selling Street Cars Popular Bunko Game. - -Government buildings, skyscrapers, and “gold bricks” have been “sold” to -innocent farmers, who, with carpet bag in hand, stand on crowded corners -and view the “wonders” of great cities. - -The days of this kind of crooked work are passed, so police say, but -nevertheless street cars have been “sold” in Chicago and elsewhere in -Illinois, within the last two weeks. - -Adorjan Antal is under arrest in Cleveland, Ohio, on a charge that he -“sold” street cars to foreigners who recently settled in Kane County, -Illinois. - -Report from Columbus says the Ohio governor’s office has honored a -requisition from the governor of Illinois for the return of Antal, alias -Ontal Impre. - - -Wins in Long Name Contest. - -Following the marriage of Anna Staingenskaitiskitage and the receipt of -congratulations from Mae Makoupakosalouskis and William J. -Pappademanakakoopoulous, the Duquoin, Ill., post-office -clerks inaugurated a contest for long names. Demetries -Pappatheothoroukoummountorgeotopoulous, of Moline, Ill., was declared -the winner. - - -At Twenty, She Sees for First Time. - -After living in darkness twenty-five years, a two-minute operation by -Doctor Vard H. Hulen, of San Francisco, enabled Miss Tomsina Carlyle, a -University of California student, to gaze for the first time upon her -mother’s face. - -Miss Carlyle describes her sensations since regaining sight as being -difficult to define or classify. - -“Being blind since birth,” Miss Carlyle said, “has taught me it is the -brain, not the sense of sight, that counts. The speed of moving objects, -particularly on the streets, staggered me for a time, and if I become -frightened at a street corner, I close my eyes and walk forward -rejoicingly in safety.” - - -Cost of Hanging Man Was Seventeen Dollars. - -The first record of warrants ever used by a treasurer of Rush County, -Ind., covering the period from 1822 to 1841, was found in the -treasurer’s office recently. The record showed that it cost the county -only seventeen dollars to hang Edward L. Swanson, the only man who ever -paid the death penalty in Rush County. - -He was convicted of the murder of Elisha Clark in April, 1829, and, -after a motion for a new trial failed, was hanged in May of the same -year. The warrants issued show that five dollars was allowed Beverly R. -Ward for making a coffin for Swanson, two dollar was allowed David -Looney for digging the grave, and ten dollars was paid William L. Bupelt -for “rope, cap, shroud, and gallows for the execution of Edward L. -Swanson.” - - -Twins, Eighty-six, Rocked in Cradle. - -Mrs. J. C. Barrett, of Edmonston, N. Y., and Mrs. Nathan V. Brand, of -Leonardsville, N. Y., who claim the distinction of being the oldest -twins in the State, celebrated their eighty-sixth birthday with some -unusual features. The cradle in which they slept as children has been -preserved, and the invited guests insisted that the twins be rocked in -it in the presence of all, and this was done, adding more merriment to -the occasion. - - -Facts You May Not Know. - -There are eighty thousand exhibitors at the Pacific Exposition, and the -weight of the exhibits averages one ton each. - -The opal is the only gem not successfully counterfeited. - -One dollar to get married, ten cents to go to college, and fifty cents -to graduate are some of the items in the new regulation “governing the -affixing of stamps on certificates concerning human affairs,” which were -recently promulgated in China. - -The population of French Indo-China is about 20,000,000, of whom 20,000 -are Europeans, chiefly French. - -The human family is subject to about 1,200 different kinds of disease -and ailment. - -Motion pictures of insects in flight show that they regulate their speed -by changing the inclination of their wings rather than by altering the -rapidity of their motion. - -All telephone operators in Egypt are required to be able to speak -English, French, Italian, Greek, and Arabic. - -The American mountain sheep are the greatest leapers in the world. - -Women study art with the aid of mirrors. - -Bright people look upon the bright side of life. - -The more you have, the more your fun will cost you. Auction sales -originated in ancient Rome, and were introduced to enable soldiers to -dispose of spoils of war. - -Military training is compulsory on all male citizens between the ages of -twelve and twenty-five in New Zealand. - - -Jailbirds Sing as They Saw Through Bars. - -John Wolfe, undersheriff of Wyandotte County, Kan., was seated in front -of the Wyandotte County Jail the other night when he heard the oft -repeated strains of “Throw Out the Life Line.” The prisoners were -singing. Wolfe crept to a side window and listened. - -“Throw out the life line across the dark wave,” floated out to him, and -between the words came a sharp sound, as of steel scraping against -steel. - -Then there was a pause in the singing. The singers had come to the end -of the song. - -“How are you getting on, Brody?” was the next sound. - -“All right, sing up, sing ‘Rock of Ages.’” - -“Rock of ages, cleft for me,” the chorus began. - -But before that hymn was finished, two deputies and Wolfe stepped into -the cell occupied by Jess Brody. He is under fifteen years’ sentence for -the murder of Nathan Gill. With him were Frank Dusenberry, awaiting his -second trial, charged with the murder of Jennie James, and Herbert -Davidson, held on a statutory charge. In the cell were found ten steel -saws and two knives. A bar had been sawed through. Once out of the cell, -only a window and its soft iron bars remained between the men and the -jail yard. - -In the next cell was Fred Wing, charged with the murder of Mr. and Mrs. -John M. Crist, his father and mother-in-law, and attempted murder of his -wife. A knife was found in his cell. - -There were thirty-nine prisoners in the jail, two others charged with -murder. - - -Big Fish Causes Drowning. - -While attempting to land a big fish, Frank Waterbury, of Reading, Mich., -was drowned in Turner Lake. He was in the same boat with his brother, -and when he hooked the big one, both men stood in one end of the boat -and tried to land the fish. The boat filled with water and sank. The -brother swam ashore. - - -Stolen Bird Returns Home. - -A neighbor of Paul Graham, of No. 3 Bradburn Street, Rochester, N. Y., -saw a canary bird flitting about in a tree within a few doors from the -Graham home. Members of the family were notified and the bird was at -once identified. The bird’s cage was brought out and placed on a lawn -near the house. The bird promptly flew to the ground and entered its -cage. - -Burglars entered the Graham house a few days ago, and, in addition to -taking several articles, took the canary. The police were notified of -the finding of the canary. The canary was carried away in a new brass -cage. How it escaped, of course, is not known, but it evidently was -taken far away. - - -Find American Girl Husky. - -The health department has weighed and measured ten thousand New York -school children who, from July 13, 1914, to April 13, 1915, asked for -working papers. - -The boys of English, Scotch, or Irish stock weighed, on the average, -102.44 pounds. They were the lightest of all in avoirdupois. - -The boys of Italian stock weighed 104.61. - -The native American boys of American-born parents weighed 105.61 pounds. - -The boys of German stock weighed 106.62 pounds. - -Those of Jewish stock weighed 106.92 pounds. - -The Russian, Polish, or Bohemian boys weighed 108.13 pounds. They were -the heaviest of all. - -The composite average weight of the boys of all nationalities, native -and foreign, was 105.71 pounds. - -In the matter of height, the German boys were the tallest, with an -average of 62.39 inches. - -The native American boys of American-born parents averaged 62.38 inches, -the English, Scotch, or Irish, 62.21; the Russian, Polish, or Bohemian, -61.87; the Jewish, 60.93; the Italian, 60.30. - -The composite average height of boys of all nationalities, American and -foreign, was 61.35 inches. - -The girls of native American, English, Scotch, and Irish stocks were -taller and heavier than the boys of those stocks. - -The composite average height of all the girls was less than that of the -boys, but they were a fraction heavier than the boys. The Russian, -Polish, and Bohemian girls were the tallest. The German girls were the -heaviest. - - -No Hair Cut in Fifty Years. - -Caleb Stone, eighty, Middletown, Ill., received his first hair cut and -shave in fifty years. He said a half century ago that he would not -permit his hair to be cut or his beard to be trimmed, and kept his word. -His white locks had grown down to his shoulders and his beard to his -waist. - - -Groping for Gems in the Sea. - -There is plenty of romance and excitement connected with the work of -diving for pearls in the waters of West Australia, but one of the -strangest things about the business is the curious mental condition of -the divers while they are under the water, groping for precious gems, -says an exchange. During a part of his time below, the diver is said to -be bordering on insanity. - -A grudge against or a suspicion of those above is suddenly magnified in -the diver’s imagination, and he signals to be pulled up, resolved on -immediate revenge. When he reaches the top, however, the imaginary -wrongs vanish. - -At a depth of eighty feet the diver cannot see well; he moves painfully -and he breathes hard. At every foot deeper he thinks how slight a mishap -may befoul his life line, and all his thoughts tend to center on his -hazards. - -At such times the inadequacy of his pay appears to him as a huge -grievance, but when he comes to the surface and rests a few minutes, all -is again serene. - - -Man Suffocates in Balloon. - -Asphyxiation inside of a balloon was the perilous plight by Andy Doyle, -of Krug Park, Omaha, who assisted Veo L. Huntley, balloonist, at the -recent celebration in Shenandoah, Iowa. - -Doyle was stationed inside the bag space to watch the progress made in -filling and to call out for more gas from time to time, as was the usual -custom. Because of the strong winds blowing the fumes of the burning -kerosene oil to the ground, he was suffocated. - -Hearing no noise from him, others went inside the bag and dragged him -out. He was revived in a short while. - - -From Mule Driver to Superintendent of Car System. - -“Play straight and keep at it.” - -This is the only formula of success followed by William W. Weatherwax, -who rose from a “mule driver” at one dollar and a half a day to be a -ten-thousand-dollar-a-year street-car superintendent. - -Weatherwax told the story of his remarkable rise to Chicago’s street -railway board of arbitration at a recent session. - -He entered the service of the Chicago City Railways Company as a boy of -twenty. His work was driving horses hitched to cars. His pay was one -dollar and fifty cents a day. He was known as a “mule boy.” - -From that beginning, by steady, persevering work, Weatherwax worked -steadily upward. To-day he is in charge of the operation of the surface -lines of Chicago. - -Asked to account for his success, Weatherwax said he “guessed it just -happened.” - -“I worked hard and played straight--that was all there was to it,” he -said. “I left school when I was thirteen years old. I got a job with a -street-car company at Troy, N. Y., my home town. I started with the -Chicago company in 1886. I have been in its employ ever since.” - -Weatherwax’s progress from the bottom up ran through these stages. -Driver, horse tender, hay-hoist operator in car barn, cable-car -conductor, assistant barn foreman, division superintendent, general -superintendent of transportation. - -To-day he is the operating head of the greatest street-railway system in -the world, with two assistants, thirteen division superintendents, and -thousands of men under his control. - - -What Women are Doing. - -“Woman’s work never ends,” wrote a poet long ago, and his statement is -as true to-day as ever. In addition to the women who work in their -homes, performing manifold household duties and rearing their children, -there are many who engage in the “gainful occupations,” as the census -reports call them. There is hardly an occupation listed in the latest -United States census in which woman is not represented. There are, for -instance, seventy-seven woman lumbermen--raftsmen and wood-choppers--in -the United States. There are 2,550 woman stock herders and raisers, -forty-five quarry operators, thirty-one blacksmiths, fifteen brick and -stone masons, and forty-four longshoremen. Many women have traveled far -up the road to success in their work. Ten women head iron foundries. -There are 325 woman bankers and 1,347 bank cashiers. Nearly a thousand -women are wholesale dealers. One woman is listed as a railroad official. -Three are proprietors of grain elevators. - - -Our Talc and Soapstone. - -The United States produces more talc and soapstone than all the rest of -the world combined. Moreover, according to the United States Geological -Survey, our production has nearly doubled in the last ten years, -increasing from 91,185 short tons, valued at $940,731 in 1904, to -172,296 short tons, valued at $1,865,087, in 1914. - -Of talc alone the United States produced 151,088 tons, and of soapstone -21,208 tons. Talc is a mineral of which soapstone is an impure massive -form. Few people are aware how much we owe to talc and soapstone. It is -one of the softest of minerals. It is so smooth and slippery that it has -become a great panacea for friction in many branches of human industry. -Talc is used in making talcum toilet powder, the tailor uses it to chalk -fabrics for new suits, and talc “slate pencils” and crayons have enabled -many scholars to solve knotty problems. Talc bleaches out cotton cloth, -and in paints we see it everywhere, but its chief use is as a filler in -paper of many kinds. - -There are nine States producing this useful mineral. New York continues -to be the leading producer, yielding more than fifty-seven per cent of -the total production of talc in the United States, and far outranking -all other States excepting Vermont, which has in recent years so greatly -increased its production that in 1914 its output was about three-fourths -that of New York. - -Of soapstone, Virginia holds the greatest supply, and, backed up by -Vermont, it meets the great demand for washtubs, sinks, and fireless -cookers. - - -Florida Camphor Industry. - -The camphor industry in Florida, which may be said to have begun in -1905, has developed so greatly within a single decade it is confidently -expected that within a few years it will be able to supply the demand -for this important gum in this country. The bulk of the camphor now used -here is imported from Japan. A single tract of 1,600 acres of camphor -trees planted in 1908, last year yielded over ten thousand pounds of -camphor gum, in addition to the proportionate supply of oil. - -This tract of land was planted by a celluloid factory, which is -utilizing the gum for its own purposes. Another company last year bought -eighteen square miles of land in the same locality, and is rapidly -planting it in camphor, 1,600 acres having been planted this year. - -Enough seedlings are already on hand to plant nine square miles. Several -methods, and also some new machinery, have been devised for camphor -production in Florida, which will offset the cheap labor of Japan and -insure a sufficient profit. - - -A Clever Invention. - -To combat the cotton-boll weevil, a Mississippian has invented a device -which, suspended from a man’s shoulders, brushes the insects from cotton -plants into a receptacle holding oil. - - -Owes His Life to Rise in Price of Zinc Ore. - -To one-hundred-and-thirty-dollar zinc ore, J. H. Worth, mine and other -property owner of Joplin, Mo., owes his life. Two men, Royal Cardwell -and Samuel Houston, prospectors, had been waiting for nearly a year for -the price of ore to rise. They knew of an old, abandoned drift in a -certain mine, where, if ore prices would go high enough, they might make -some “easy money” by scrapping material that had been left years before. -Their wish was realized last week, when zinc concentrates went to one -hundred and thirty dollars per ton. - -Entering the old drift in question, they found an unconscious man tied -hand and foot and gagged. He was taken to a hospital, and a few minutes -later, when he had recovered his sense, he told a strange story. - -Worth had been accosted in a Joplin hotel by a stranger who said he -wanted to look over some of the former’s mining properties with a view -to obtaining a lease. The stranger’s partner then came up and was -introduced, but Worth does not remember either of their names. The three -entered a taxi and were taken to the old mine first mentioned, and, -after sending the motor back, proceeded to investigate the underground -workings. When they had at last entered the old, abandoned drift, Worth -was seized by the two men, gagged and tied to a mining timber, where he -was left for about an hour. - -When the two men returned, they carried a box which had one end of a -long fuse attached to something inside. They placed the box at the bound -man’s side and stretched the fuse out on the floor of the drift, lighted -the far end, and, as they started away, one of them remarked: - -“The fire will reach the dynamite in an hour, and that will be your -finish.” - -That the dynamite, of which there was about fifty pounds, quite enough -to have caved in the drift, did not explode was from the fact, afterward -discovered, that the men, in walking about, about stepped on the fuse, -cutting it in two against a sharp point of stone, thus stopping the -little spark of destruction. - -Worth had no idea as to the cause of the attack made upon him. - - -New Champion Horseshoer. - -Harry Wilson, a Des Moines, Iowa, horseshoer, defeated Frank McCarty, of -Minneapolis, and Tom Welsh, of Milwaukee, in a shoeing contest. The -winner’s time was five minutes, forty-four seconds. - - -This Lad Makes a Home Run. - -A twelve-inch trout, five-foot rattlesnake, and a big black bear can -afford a whole lot of excitement for one day. According to Robert -Bastian, a sixteen-year-old boy, entirely too much for a tenderfoot. - -Robert was fishing in Roaring Run Creek, near Williamsport, Pa. He had -just hauled out the trout, when he discovered the rattlesnake curled up -beside the big stone. Seizing a club, he started to kill the snake, when -he heard something crashing through the bushes. He jumped aside just in -time to avoid the rush of the bear. - -Without waiting to pick up trout, fishing rod, or lines, he made a home -run of over a mile. Folks in one of the houses he passed on his return -dash say they couldn’t make out whether he was some low-flying bird or a -frightened jack rabbit. - - -Trees Lightning Is Most Apt to Strike. - -What trees are most likely to be struck by lightning? A Swedish forestry -journal called the _Woods_ has made a serious study of this subject, and -the results are both instructive and interesting. The oak, for example, -is about a hundred times more likely to be struck than the beech. Next -to the oak, the trees that are most often struck are the poplars, pear -trees, elms, willows, ash, and the larger kinds of evergreens. - -Those least likely to be struck by lightning are alders, maples, horse -chestnut, and beeches. The last-named seems to be the one that is least -often injured by lightning. A middle position is occupied by lindens, -apple trees, cherry trees, walnut trees, and real chestnuts. The birch -is classified by some as being quite safe from lightning, while others -have a directly opposite view. - -A German botanist, Ernest Stahl, has explained that liability to be -struck by lightning depends on the ease with which the trunks of -different trees get wet. It is a well-known observation that “dry -thunder” is the most dangerous, and it is probable that the wet layer -about the bark of a tree acts as a safeguard. Therefore, it is clear -that in a thunderstorm it is best to avoid trees with a dry bark, and -also trees that have been mutilated in the crown. - -It may also be observed in this connection that the number of people -killed every year for every million inhabitants amounts to 1.8 in -Sweden, 1 in England, 4 in France, and 4.4 in Germany. - - * * * * * - - 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 Kidnapped 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 156, -SEPTEMBER 4, 1915: BLOOD WILL TELL *** - -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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