Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, August 29, 1922, Page 2

1 3K HE 8 I8 Ko L synopsis CHAPTER 1.—During the helght of the New Orleans carnival season Jachin Fell, wealthy though semewhat mysterious cit- 1izen, Dr. Ansley, are discussing 2 series of robberies by an individual known as the Midnight Masquer, who, iavariably attired as.an aviator, has long detied the. police. Joseph Maillard, wealthy banker, is giving a ball that night, at which the er has threatened fo appear amd | rob the guests. Fell and Ansley, on their | ‘way to the.affair, meet a girl dressed as Colambine, seemingly known to Fell, but m‘l.j.ked' who accompanies them.to the bal Sih CHAPTER IL-Lucle néle; ‘Tecent. Iy the ‘ward of Her uncley Joseph Mails lard, is the Columbine. ¥ 7. CHAPTER I1IL—In his library Joseph Maillard and a group '0f friends are held up and robbed by the Midnight Masquer. CHAPTER 1V.—Lucie Lédanols, the last of .&n old family, is in straitened circum- stances. Joseph Maillard’s bandling of her funds has been unfortunate. Fell is an old‘friend of her parents and deeply interested in the girl. Henry Gramont, really the prince de Gramont, son of | a French father and an American mother, out who spurns the title of prince, Is enamored of Lucie and believes himself i & not unfavored suitor. “CHAPTBR V.—Gramont's chauffeur, Hammond, sergeant in the American army in France, and there known to | Gramont. lives with him. He was the original Midnight Masquer, and Gramont, for a particular purpose, after discover- ing "Hammond’s activities, assumes the role.. Where Hammond had been a rob- ber for financial gain, Gramont, of course, 18 not. He arranges to return the “loot” to those whom he has robbed. Thé jewels and money, in individual pack- ages, are got ready for delivery next day to-their original owners. That night they are sfolen from Gramont's auto. CHAPTER VL—Ben Cacberre, an in- dividual of unsavory character, appears to’ be assoclated with Jachin Fell. He has a peculiar interview with one Mem- phis Izzy Gumberts, notorious influential croek, in which there is significant refer- exte_to -a mysterious “bosa.” CHAPTER VIL—Lucie summons Gra- mont to her home and shows him the packages from his auto. He admits he is: the "Midnight Masquer, but convinces her that' he had no thought ot robbery. He, refuses, however, to explain his pur- rfil:el “The packages are returned eir owners. . JAPTER _VIIL—/Tnac evening_Fell, Gramont, and Dr. Ansley, at the Krewe of. Comus ball, are. accosted by an fn- | tokicated masked individual whom they | recognize as Bob -Malllard. He invites | them to_a convivial party in a private room. They refuse, and Gramont leaves the bullding. Joseph -Malllard seeks his | ®om, fearing public_scandal as a result of | Bob's’ condition. With Fell and Ansley they find the. room where the revels are going on. Entering they discover an in- @fvidusT: attired as.an aviator, in the act robbing the intoxicated vouths. In | struggie that ensies Maillard is shot | d killed. The *Masquer” escapes. CHAPTER IX.—Gramont, with Ham- mond, visits Terrebonne, a wild section of the country, to inspect Lucle Ledanois’ | lahd, which he belleves contains ofl. = He firids indlcations of apparently almost un- | believable quantities of the stuff. While stooping over a pool of water which | clearly shows traces of oil on its sur- | face, Gramont hears his name spoken. CHAPTER X.—He cannot see the speakers, but the conversation ends singu- | Iarly abruptly. Gramont does not Investi- | gate. Hammond finds a dead man in some woods and is charged by Ben Ca- cherrs and two other men with murder. | Gramont can do nothing, The men_take | Hammond to the town of Houma. Later Gramont finds a bloodstained knife where he had heard the voices. He then realizes that Cacherre was one of the men talk- ing, and Is the murderer. CTHAPTER XI.—Believing himse]¢ alone, Gramont investigates buildings on the adjoining farm, which he kacws belongs to Memphis [zzy Gumberts. He finds evidence of automobile stealing on a stupendous scale and lezrns from a man who discovers him and whom he outwits, that the place is also the headquarters of the underground lottery game and that Jachin Fell is the mysterious *'boss.” CHAPTER XTIL.—Back In the clty, Gra- | mont learns of the killing of Joseph Mail- lard. He seeks further evidence against | Fell. Gramont, Fell, and Lucie Ledanols form a_company to bore for ol on the Le- danols place. Fell tells Gramont he “plant- the evidence of oil there and un- ed” folds a_scheme to make a fortune for the girl. Gramont refuses to be a party to | the project. Fell threatens to prove him the murderer of Maillard. which he seems | able to do, and Gramont reluctantly | agress to foln him (Continued from Jast issue) cession of tlie shore. He advanced' again. TInside the reeds he found the oily smear, stil! so faint that he could only detect it at certain angles. Glanc- ing up, he could see a fence at a little distance, evidently, the boundary fence of the Ledanois land; the bushes and trees thinned out here, and on ahead was cleared ground. He saw, through the bushes, glimpses of buildings. Violent disappointment seized him. Was he to lose this discovery, after all?* Was he;to find that the seepage came ffom ground belonging to some one else? Noihe stepped back hastily, barely in tigie(to avoid stumbling into 3 tiny trick] f water; a rivulet that ran down igtps the bayou, a tributary so insignificdfe that it was invisible | ten feet distdhit! And on the surface a faint iridestence. Excitement ‘rising anew within him, Gramont turned and followed this riv- ulet, his eyes aflame with eagerness. It led him for twenty feet, and ceased abruptly, in a bubbling spring that welled .from a patch of low tree-in- closed land. -Gramont felt his feet sinking .in grass, and saw that there was g dip in the ground hereabouts, a swampy little section all to itself. He picked a dry spot and lay down on his face, searching the water with his after moment he lay there, 7. . Procenfly be fonnd. the, ! An Abrupt Crashing of Feet Among | ties, we'll regain the cost of our drill- | | very { upon the man whom he addressed. «rickle of ol agaifi—a o s | faint and slim that even here, on the, surface of the tiny rivulet, it could be| discerned only with great difficulty. A | very thin seepage, concluded Gra- mont; a thin oll, of course. So faint a little thing, to mean so much! f It came from the Ledanois land, no doubt of it. What did that matter, though? His eyes widened with flam- Ing thoughts as he gazed down at the, slender thread of water. No matter at all where this came from—the, main point was proven by it! There| was oil here for the finding, oil down| in the thousands of feet below, oil so| thick and abundant that -itzforced it-, self up through the earth fissures to' iind an outlet! ¢ | “Instead of going down five or six| thousand feet,” he thought,, exultant-| ly, “we may have to go down only as many hundred. But first we must get an option or a lease on all the land roundabout—all we can secure! There| will be a tremendous boom the min- ute this news breaks. If we get those options, we can sell them over again’ at a million per cent profit, and even if we don't strike oil in paying quanti- the Bushes, an Outbreak of Voices, ' Had Sounded Not Far Away. ing! And to think of the years this| has been here, waiting for some | one—" Suddenly he started violently. An | ubrupt crashing of feet among -the bushes, an outbreak of yoices, hnpd sounded not far away—just the other | side of the boundary fence. He'was wakened from his dreams, and started | re rise. Then he relaxed his muscles and lay quiet, astonishment - sejzing him; for he heard his own namie men- tioned In a voice that was strange to him, p it CHAPTER X The voice was strange to Gramont, yet he had a vague recollection of having at some time heard it before. It was a jaunty and impudent voice, self-assured—yet it bore a startled and uneasy note, as though the speaker had just come unaware “Howdy, sheriff!” it said. “Didn't see you in there—what you doin’ so far away from Houma, eh?" “Why, I've been looking over the place around here,” responded an- other voice, which was dry and-grim, “I know you, Ben Chacherre, and I think I'll take you along with me. Just come from New Orleans, did you?” “Me? Take me?’ The. voice of | Chacherre shrilled up suddenly- in alarm. “Look here, sheriff, it wasn't me done it! It was Gramont—" There came silence. Not a sound | broke the_ stillness of the late after- | noon. ik Gramont, listening, lay, Rewildered | and breathless.. Ben Chnbh'ezre'come ! here? Gramont knew nothing of any i tie between Jachin Fell and Cha- ' cherre; he could only-lie in the grass and /wonder .at the man's presence. ‘What. “pltice” was it that the sheriff of Houma had been looking over? And what was 1t that he, Gramont, was supposed to have done? Confused and, wondering, Gramont waited. And, as he waited, he caught a soft sound from the marshy ground beside him—a faint “plop” as though some object hag fallen close by on the wet grass. AW the moment he paid no heed to this sound, for again the uncanny silence had fallen. Listening, Gramont fancied ‘that he caught “slow, stealthy tootsteps“-mld the undergrowth, but derided the foney s sheer imagination. His brain i}~ a”couple o ! "here. step over this way! | and followed this toward town for a Houma, he knew, was the seat of the parish or county. This Ben Chacherre appeared to have suddenly and unex- pectedly encountered the sheriff, to his obvious alarm, and the sheriff had for some reason decided- to. arrest bim; so much was clear. Chacherre had nothing to do' with the “place”—did that mean the adja- = cent property, or the Ledanois farm? = In his puzzled bewilderment over this = imbroglio Gramont for the moment | quite: forgot the trickle of oil at his But pow the deep silence became unnatural and sinister. What ha happened? Surely, Ben Chacherre' had not been arrested and taken away in'such silence! Why had the:voices | so abruptly ceased? Vaguely uneasy, | startled by the prolongation ‘of that intense Stillness, Gramont rose to his feet and.peered among the trees, ! The two speakers seemed to have departed; he could descry mobody in sight. A step to ‘one side‘gave Gra- mont a'!view of the land adjoining the Ledanols place. This was cleared of all brugh, and under some immense oaks to the far left he had a glimpse of a large summer cottage, boarded up and,apparently deserted. Nearer at hand, however, he saw other bufld ings, and these drew his attention. He heard the throbbing pound of a motor | at work, and as there; was no power llne along here, the place evidently: had its own electrical plant. He scrutinized the scene before him ap- | pralsingly. | i 1 There were, two hrqq‘a blqldmgs’i here. One seemed ta be larxa&hnrn,i closed, the other was l_:t‘.lon ¢, low | shed ;which was too large ‘to“be a' garage. The door of this was ope'n,j' and before the opening Gramont saw- three men standing in talk; he‘recog- | nized none of them. Two of the: taik-| ers were elad in greasy dveralls, and | the third figuré showed' the flash of a | collar. The sheriff, Ben Chacherres' and , some ‘other man, - thought Gra- mont. He would not have known Cha- | cherre had he encountered him face| to face. To him, the man was a name ; only. A The mention of his own name by Chagherre impelled him to go forward andydemand some explanation. Then it eccurred to him that perhaps he had made a mistake; it would have beej very easy, for he was not certain | that Chacherre had referred to him. | There could be other Gramonts, or other men whose name would have mu¢h the same sound in a Creole, month. ’ | 'd better attéend to my own busi- ness,” thought Gramont,.and turned awiy. He noticed that the motor had cedted its work. ‘“Wohder what rich iy can be down here at his summer lage this time of year? May be only a caretaker, though. I'd better| give all my attention to this oil, and let' other things alone’ He retricéd his stéps . to.the bayou. bdpk and turned ‘back'“fowafd ‘the | hdtse, As he did o, Hammond ap-| peared coming toward him, knife ‘in! hand. L4 ' | “I'm going to cut me a pole and land | fish for supper,” am-| nounced the chauffeur, grinning. “Got thihgs cleaned up fine, cap’n! You won’t know -the old shack.” “Good enough,” - said Gramont. I want to show you something.” ' "He led Hammond to the rivulet and i pointed out the thin film of oil on the | sdrface. “*'There's our golden fortune, ser-| geant! Ofl actually coming out of the | ground! It doesn’t happen very often, | but it does happen and this is one of | the times. I'll not bother to look ypound any farther.” | ““Glory be!” sald Hammond, staring at the rivulet. “Want to hit back for tqwn?’ R . “No; we couldn’t get back until some tlme tonight, and the roads aren’t very good for might work. 'm g_qlpng to get some leases:around here erhaps I can do it right away, and | we'll start back in the morning. Go | jead and get your fish.”. ! egaining the 'house, hé saw that ! ammond had indeed cleaned up in | great style, and had the main room | 160king clean as-a pin, with a fire pop- ping on the hearth. He did not pause | hfre, but went to the car, got in, and | started it. He drove back to the road | ¢ rods, turning in at a large and | vrrvy decent-looking farmhouse that | he had observed while passing it on | the way out. | He found the owner., an inteiligent- | appearing Tréole, drlving ‘Ta “#cine | cows for milking, and was a little | stjrtled to realize that the afternoon wdg so late. When he addressed the fariner in French, he received a cor- | 1 il ‘reply, and discovered that this | man owned the land across the road | from the Ledanois place—that his farm, in fact, covered several hundred acres. ! “Who owns the land next to the Ledanois place?” inquired Gramont. *Iisold that off my land a couple of | ¥ears ago,” replied the, other. “A man ! tronr New Orléans’ wanted it for a | summer plas , b Isidore G {Gumberts— b bérts! THe: naie I molt’s mind, and brought the recollec- | tion of a conversation with Hammond. ‘Why, Gumberts was the famous crook of whom Hammond had spoken. “I saw the sheriff a while ago, head- ing up the road,” observed the Creole. “Did you meet him?’ Gramont shook his head: “No, but ! I saw several men at the Gumberts | place. Perhaps he was there—" “Not there, I guess,” and the farm- er laughed. “Those fellows have rent- ed the place from Gumberts, I hear; they’re inventors, and quiet enough men. You're a stranger here?” _Gramont. introdu himself as a (Conutinued in Next iss:e) Plombirg repaired by us stays repairedbecauseour work is thorough and our materials high grade. Prices reasonable. o We have a pipe ma- .= chine that cuts. and = threads from 1 inch to £ 8 inch pipe. . H Roy V. Harker Sanitation Engineer Distribators of Kohler Ware Phone 122 113 3rd St. o e e A - Plumbing | - Heating | Robert J. Rusaell 313 Fourth Street Phones 620-W—620-R A DRS. ! | | Larson & Larson | SPECIALISTS EXAMINING EYES FITTING GLASSES Oftlice, First-Floor 213 Third St - Office Phone 131.. Res. 310 .} e bl A et i e | PHE PIDNEER WANT ADS | BéiNG’ RESULTS * { | It Is Excellent Superlatives would not do. half as muc to convince ou. of thd eucel- ence of our: milk as a trial.. Buy a bottle and youw’ll ask for its daily delivery. 3 BEMIDJI- MINN.*§ [ McKee Furniture | | 't ;]p THIRD STREET ! Gum- t 2 K: f Huffman & O’Leary and Undertaking and Funeral Director. PHONE 222-W RESIDENCE PHONE 222R | FURNITURE AND .UNDERTAKING 0. M. OLSON LICENSED EMBALMER AND FUNERAL DIREC TOR " Day phone 178 i Night phones 332 or 358 ll N ee——— O # “TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 29, 1922 World’s Greatest Features at the . - § ~ State Fair HE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR, opening with the biggest program in history, early Saturday morning, Sept. 2, has assembled the most spectacular entertainment and educational features ever pro- duced in the Middle West. g ; See that greatest of all features — Sig Haugdahl, world’s greatest auto racer, in his new world’s rec- ord car, 20 inches wide and 20 feet long, racing See Lillian Boyer, the Chicago $chool girl, passing (3] from auto to aeroplane, hanging by one foot from a rope ladder, and throwing herself from the plane hanging only by her teeth. - - See the world’s greatest circus stars, featured by two teams of daring aerialists, and Dr. Carver’s won- derful diving horse leaping from a scaffold 40 feet | high into a pool of water eight feet deep. See America’s greatest race horses competing in four - day#’ of fast racing for $22,000 in purses, added money. See “Mystic China,” greatest fireworks spectacle ever . staged in the Northwest, crowning feature of the ' [ outdoor amusement bill ever seen here. See the combined exhibit of 50 state departments and state institutions, one tremendous display occupy- % ing 30,000 square feet of space, the first feature of e itskind ever staged by a state fair. [ See the battle with fireworks staged each evening with battle planes piloted by Lieutenants Brock and Faulkner, as a special feature of the big eve- ning program. . See the greatest livestock show ever assembled in the Northwest, numbering more than 10,000 beasts and birds, and competing for more than $50,000 in Sée the International Art Exhibit presenting to the Northwest for the first and last time a series of great paintings from eastern and European art galleries supplemented by a wonderful exhibit of Minnesota . productions. b i See the biggest machinery show in all the world, cov- ’ ering 80 acres of space, or 3,200,000 square feet, val- ued at many millions dollars, and containing every , new improvement in farm machinery the last | | decade. ooy 4 ; Bands without number; a midway show that is a fair | initself; auto polo; aero-planists battling in mid-air | : at night; livestock worth $2,500,000; eighty acres of machinery; the work of 10,000 school children in-" | terested in club work. These and scores of other . | A & Séptefiber 2109 | } Reduced Rates of Fare and a Third on AllRoads & 12