Evening Star Newspaper, June 25, 1924, Page 34

* the Vg RIPPL G RUBY A Thrilling Mystery Story By J. S. FLETCHER Copyrizht, 1624, by G. P. Putnam's Sons. ssented, with a nod. stand—-" and want to, Mr. Holliment,” I in- But I'd be obliged if you'd soverelgn you promised me and let me go. I want to be off. He pulled out money from his Pocket at once, and to my surprise gave me a couple of sovereigns, push- ing t along the desk with a gesture h clearly meant that I was heartily con- sur- that there was Iy dangerous in front and was stexdy enough up and pocketed the tw now knew “I'm much particulars But—the What's it Chank T said oblige vou'll find all there of what's been done. AMr. Holliment? time 1 could see on the alert ng, and for all and when he spoke a still lower tone, “1 said-—you wouldn't under: he answer T te much. I this from ine; a good-looking To be sure—and it was a Him and me—we're in dan- ~'s that broke e here get its mornir £ 1 suggested. »f it, though I ct to hear that he replied. P re than hin it. iat's the thing while anywhere about. Quar- ayne—the man you saw—he'll himself away in a quiet the water, and so shall n we're out of this. Mind you! came in—yes, but I haven't been a hundred yard y! Lying doggo— safe spot up the street. And—we must get out, now!" “How did you get in?" T asked. well get out,” he through that street you may bet! 1 a knife thrust between my here—turn_up that lamp! burning. There's not much ofl in:it, and iUl burn itself out. If we leave : they'll think we're—at —still here. And now, )1 He slipped shop a low him place Within paus, gripping my arm. w e light up outside; to show us had looked at during the afternoon. He pointed to it and to the darkness high_above its final landing. “Way out there—up that stair— through door at top—and into the next house, which is empty.” he But the stair—not safe Rotten!—but it'll bear one ne; I came down it, just now. ko first—when I get to the top T'll whistle—then you come up. Bear well wall—keep your weight that side, sec? All safe, th ion’ to break Mr. Holliment,” I remarked. “Is there tno other way—no back en- tranc “Aye, With’a knife the other side of it!" he said. Come on—it's safe enough. T'm twice your welght!” Suddenly he let go of my arm and I made out that he twisted his hand rourd to his hips. The next instant I heard a click of something metallic. “What's that?" 1 demanded. “Revolver?” he whispered, “not that { thivk 1l be wanted, but—well, here goes! Keep off thal stair till T whistle. He slipped @om my side and van- shed into the shadows: a second later i heard him cautiously stealing up the staircase. The sounds that he made, slight as they were, reminded me of what I had heard in that place earlier in the evening. He must have been light-footed, however, for they were very slight sounds, indeed, and when he reached the first landing they died away altogether—doubtless the dust lay thick as a carpet up as he crossed another land caught a glimpse of him—a beam of light fell across the wall just there from the gas lamp outside He was stealing forward, close to the wall, as he had bade me do, and there v but another flight of the Stair for him to scale before reaching the dark doorw: just beneath the first round of the unceilinged roof: 1 began to nerve myself to follow him. And then, just as T groped for and laid a hand on the worm-eaten balusters at the foot of the stair, and edged away from thtm toward the wall, there came a knocking at the street door, the sound of which set my nerves vibrating like suddenly struck fiddle-strings. CHAPTER IIL My Lady of the Dawn. There wus a certain peculiarity about that knocking. It was not a sum- mons deli ed on a door panel by one insistent fist, but by several—a regular tattoo of not-to-be-denied knuckles. Holliment heard it as well as I, and in the middle of it he raised his voice, hitherto muffied, to something very like a shout. “Come on, man!" he called. “Come on—sharp! Keep to the wall—close! econd or third warn- ing about the wall, and you may be sure that I took good care, even in |that critical moment, not to disre- la loathsome thing | make so inftmate an acquaintance It was one of those walls which feel—if you are really forced to lay¥ hand of them—as if the dust and grime of ages have cumulated on their surfac thick with such accretior hastily rounded its various twistings, through the gloom like a thief, and always fearful |of feeling the ynmistakable rotten fabric of the old stairway suddenly collapse beneath me, I felt festool of cobwebs catching my shoulders, and what may have been live things across my, face and around slinking runaway ting on the door acted as that_shiarpened th every <, for there was something actually murderous, n, and up and up I panting and nerv |gard it. .But the wall in itself was | wherewith to | wracked at the whole thing, 1 joined Holliment on the topmost landing, and at that instant the knocking ceased and just as suddealy as it had ceased, a nmew séund broke on us, like to scare the remaining wits out of our sheads, and that sound came from- the bursting-in of the street door. I have already sald that we had left a lamp burning in the shabby little office, its wick well turned up, and that there was a gas-lamp some- where outside which threw a certai amount of light through the window; dirty though it was, of the lower part of the tower. In these lighta Holliment and I gazing anxlously from our high perch into the depths beneath, saw @& confused gang of three, perhaps four, perhaps five, or there may have been six, rush across the space between the burst-in door and the arched doorway between tower and back shop, pretty much as hounds burst in on a pulled-down fox. From what T remember of them, they were probably loafers and street- d to take a_hand place, fellows with well pulled down over their ¢ s, and such like. 1 am not sure that I did not catch the £leam of a knife hete and there they crossed and re-crossed the threads of light. No doubt Holliment saw all that 1 did—but there was one thing that each saw, without any doubt As the mob swept from amidst the piles of old rubbish tnto the tower, a shaft of yvellow light fell right on the face of a Chinaman. And at the sight, and before I could lay a finger on his arm to stop him, Holli- ment whipped out his revolver and fired once, twice, thrice into the mid- dle of our pursuers. Two cries followed on that—one was a sharp yelp of pain, such as any one might let out who is stung by a wasp; the other was more of a rising groan But I am sure that in a raid on th their greasy none of the men fell, and just as I had expected, the discharge of these shots, Instead of checking the pursulit, only accelerated it. For a second we had a vision of upturned faces, in the .next the whole pack made for the old stairway and camg storming up it. I heard the tramf and rush of thelr feet; that was plain enough. But under it,'or over It, or somehow, I heard Holliment laugh, at my shoulders. It was not a nice laugh; something in the sound of it made me more afrald than anything that had happened up to then, and I edged away from him, as, in ‘the very in- stant wherein he laughed, he sud- denly seized my arm in a tight, trembling grip. It was at that iostant, too, that the old stair collapsed. 1 suppose the men were by that time half way up it, storming ahead with shouts of fury. It suddenly went, with a crashing tearing-to-pleces of rotton timher and rusty bolts, and in a mighty cloud of choking dust, and in that instant also, I was conscious that Holliment dragged me through immediately behind stood, in utter dark- , on sound, safe footing. But Holliment, evidently, not minded to allow us to linger: evi- dently, too, he could either sce in the dark, or he knew every inch of the region into which he had led me. Amidst the babel of cries, groans, imprecations that came up. from be- neath the clouds of dust he tightened his grip on my arm and got his lips to_my ear. Come on!” he whispered. “That Jot's settled! Come on!—step out and don't be afrald. Safe enough, now— straight down this floor—then down- stairs—a drink! hope some of ‘em have broken their necks, and I wish they all had! Come on I let him steer me through the darkness, across the floor, refresh- ingly soild after that rotten stair- case, glving myself up to his guid- ness, was Kellogg’s delivers health and wondrous flavor in every crisp, golden-brown flake. Nourishing and delicious with milk or cream, or the fruit you like best. Inner-sealed wastite wrapper —exclusive Kellogg festurs. ance with a sort of feellng that any- thing wa# better than what we had just been through. He paused after going some dozen steps; released my arm, opened 2 door, got me through It, released me again, and suddenly turned on the light of & bull's eye lamp, which, 1 , he had carried all the time pocket. And I saw then that we 8tood at the head of a staircase such as you may see in any house, Its very ordinariness was us welcome as its ‘shabbiness was obvious. Holljment's firag action was to shoot a couple of hewvy bolts acrows the door through which we had Jjust passed; his second to rulse hix dix- gaged hand and draw the cuff of his sleeve across his forchead. Home- in his action construined me Ito follow his example; I found then that my face was sircaming with sweat—big, heavy drops, too—and at the same moment I realized that my tongue not only felt too big for my mouth, but that it was dry and cracked as anclent leather. We looked at each other signif 1y h his head, but I managed to He pointed down the stair and be- £an to descend, motioning me to fol- ow “All right—drink down here, sald shakily, over his shoulder. safe, this. Empty house—my prop- erty, too. Lald doggo down here all day. Come! God alive!'—if that lot had broken in on us before we got up that old stair! Kingdom come by this time for both of us! Rut—safe now. Safe—as safe can be We went down I don't know how —Extra Braking Safcty—insured by 429 squarc inches of braking surface. _THE TREW MOTOR CO. _ Bobbed Hair Is becoming to most women, but it is important to remember that the combing and brushing of leng hair actually stimulate the scalp, while bobbed If hair is bobbed, frequent ing of scalp is lutely necessary and splendid results are obtained by applying a small quantity of Newbro's Pure and clear, without stain or dye, Herpicide may be used with absolute confidence, to stimulate the scalp, prevent dandruff and falling hair and as an aid to hair-health and many flights of stalrs—a great many. We passed several lundings; doors. Some of the doors were Where a door was |contrived to k vernous chamber |80d to note wh .1 itinued in Tomorrow's TOE~HEEL REG U S PATOFF No toes and heels like the ~ toes and heels of Xnter woven Goe and Heel tar.) ¢ Y P My eves about me - Socks EQUAL F O beauty. A single trial will convince you of its merit. 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