The evening world. Newspaper, August 19, 1915, Page 11

“pe World The Eve njng gue! of a New Kind Detective + is Lynde Sad one of the unoccupied tables, and Tarbell ordered for the three, When the liquor Was served, he said: “You don’t need to sop it up inside of you if you, don’t want to; it’s none too . r With this for a caution the two who were warned carefully spilled their portions on the sanded floor, and Sprague ordered cigars, Lge jug- gling them when they came and sub- , stituting three of his own—or rather of Maxwell's, Then he made @ sign to Tarbell and -they began to make a slow tour of the open game-room: (Opprright: 1012, by “Chirien Geribner's Sone.) PRECEDING. CHAPTERS, SYNoPsTS OF in ——- CHAPTER IV. (Continued.) AJ bjeg re gwd are J & pair of roulette wheels were spinning an wis ves onl he Fight. & faro gaine was running, were well filled. Brewster had lately passed an anti-gambling ordinance, and the vice had been temhporarity driven be- yond the corporation limits, Maxwell saw a few men whom he knew, and many who were well known to the Brewster police. Under the archway dividing. the red-and-black wheels from the faro table Sprague whispered in his ear. “T'm lookin; HP demonstrator of sclen- tifle principles hooked bis elbows on the counter rall- ing and laughed gently. me “Our two nervous friends trota the Molly Baldwin,” he predict? e@. “They aro sti: worrying about the loss of their corpse.” And even ag he spoke the two young lessees of the mine came tramping in, their faces sufficiently advertising their anxiew, Maxwell nodded to the file leader of the pair. “Hello, Calthrop,” he sald. “What do you know?” | “Nothing more than we did. We 4 that you'd got back from Cro- marty and thought maybe you could tell uasomethi 4 “Not any! perintendent's brief rejoinder, know the facts Murtrie's body was t Qut of its coffin and carried There were auto tracks on the t the head of Cromarty Gulch aud 6 apa oid oune are fol- OR owhen is that in now?” It ‘was-the younger of the two wha want-. #4 ikon looking around Maxwell felt that Sprague’s eyes were signallin, him, but he could hardly determine why he was moved to tell only part of the truth. “It was taken off at Corona.” The one who answered to the name of Calthrop swore morosely, “It's the Scott Ws @ang, ain't it, Mr. Max- well?” he asked. “I think so, and Harding thinks so. Byt why they should steal only a dead boldly iy beyond’ me—or any of us. The. two young men exchanged a whispered word or two and went out, with the anxiety in their faces - ly» shot) with fresh perplexity, At the door, Higgins turned for another ask- ing. if we pay the freight on it can we e that coffin back, Mr. Maxwell? fe bought it and paid for it.” This time Maxwell caught Sprague's eye and réad the warning tn it. “We'll Mas FRESCO IS HER SKIRTS Ate So SHORT SHE HAS To Pao HER LEGS. AND WHAT & GossiP sue! man whose New York name per’ Givens,” he said. “He has a red face, black hair and eyes, and weighs about one hun- dred and eighty pounds. He may, or +4 be wearing a heavy black , and——" for a is 'T jaxwell looked up with @ puzzled “Say, Calvin desorib- dead man,” 1? Never mind if you should happen to see any cne filling the requirements, just point him out to me. I might overlook him in such a crowd as this, you know.” And then to Tarbell, who had just found them again; “Got that key, Archer?” ‘The ex-cowboy showed the hall-door key cautiously in his palm and ce- turned it to his pocket. Sprague mmiled ahd whispered again. “How about the rooms upstairs? Are they open to inspection, too?” TT shook his head. “N pol games, most of ‘em.’ vertheless, I think we shall have to bave @ look-in,” said the big man quietly. “Can't you arrange it?” “Not without riskin’ a écrap.” “We don't want to start anythin) but we've just naturally got to hay that look-in Archer,” persisted the st. "rhe grave-faced young Tennesseean thrust out his jaw. “What you say goes as she lays,” he returned, and thereupon he showed them the way ‘upstal: Pat stair-head there was a guard, @ bullet-headed ring fighter posing asa waiter, with a square patch of an apron and a napkin phrown over one | arm. “Mr. Maxwell's lookin’ for one of his men,” said Tarbell, realizing that some sort of an excuse must be offered. And the ring fighter, who knew the railroad superintendent by sight, nodded and ing the "ha mesa HELLO Hiss GossiP ——s, ” sald: cae a oe ee enous: fave gm cients wne te utte | | fie going of the pair Sprague was laugh- giving the first name that came into ing again. ‘Aftor those two young fellows have turned» few more sharp corners ip > rather course. they're steering, they'll learn to take their medic without making faces over it,” he remarked. “Any signa of Arch- ep’ yet?” 4 Maxwell. turned back to the window. ‘es, he's coming. He's pulling up op the other side of plaza— doesn't want to run afoul of these friends of:ours, 1 suppose,” Archer: has @ head on him, all right,.apd I lke him. You want to ewing onto that young fellow, Dick. He'l+make @ good man for -you some day: -Let's go down and join him.” Farvell waited when he saw the boss and his guest coming across the plage, and- when his two fares were etewed jn the roomy tonneau of the big-car he. let;,the clutch in for the the: we ern suburb, The night weg,clear and stariit, but there was no moon. Since the hour was yell his head. To the astonishment of at least two ‘of the three, the bullet-headed guard stood aside and pointed to @ door at the farther end of the upper hall. in there, grunted. “Some- body's been givin’ him th’ knockout drops, an’ they're workin’ over him.” ‘hen he spun around and put a ham- hand flat against Maxwell's chest. il gimme yer wor-rd, Misther Ma: well, that ye haven't got the sheriff's posse at yer back?" “No," said Maxwell, and he managed to say it with a degree of cooiness which he was very far from feeling. “We're all here; ali three of us.” “Aw right; gwan in. But there'll be no ascrappin,’ mind ye. If there does be anny I'll bé~takin’ @ hand meseit.” Sprague took the lead in the silent march to the indicated door, his big bulk looming colossal in the narrow, low-studded haliway. Reaching the door, he turned the knob nolselessly. “Locked,” he muttered, and then he ae bee ne. put his shoulder to it. @ lock gave way with # report like & muffied pistol shot and the door Murtrie to open to them. flew open, ‘he room was lighted by a Sprague gave his directions snap- single incandescent oulb swinging on Pily, as if he were signalling hig foot- ite cord from the ceiling. On a cot ball squad. “Draw that cot @ little which had been dragged out»from its this way—that’s right. place beside the wall lay the chief Archer, stand ‘there a, clerk, barefooted, gagged and securely bound with many wrappings of cotton clothesline, Standing over him, one of them with the lighted match he had been hold- ing to the bare foot soles still biazing, were two others; g red-headed, yei- low-faced ‘man with one eye missing, and @ thick-shouldered athlete aptly prag: description whispered to the superintendent in the t reom’ below. Maxwell sprang forward with an oath when he recognized the m. with the burning match. “Murtrie! he expigded; aud the torturer with the black eyes ons pee face dropped the match-end and grabbed for bis weapon, He was a fraction of a se ond too slow. Tarbell had covered him with @ movement which was too quick for the to follow and was reaching backward for the other gun which Maxwell gave him-—while Sprague, closed the door and set bis back against It. “But we're going to get you out if we have to throw you through the window,” said Sprague quietly. Then to Maxwell: “Help the boy with his shoes, Dick. We're due to have a jail delivery here any minut It took some little time to get the maltreated chief clerk shod and afoot, and even then he was well-nigh crip- pied. it he was gai to the last. “They tbok my gun away from me,” he complained. “If I only had .ome- thing to fight with—Archer, give me ik devil's pistol.” arnings had not been The stair-head guard had seen Sprague shoulder the locked door open, and had sprung @ still alarm. There was hurrying of many feet in the hall, marking the gathering of the gambling house fighting force. While Calmaine was asking for a weapon the crowd in the hall pegan to batter at the door, againkt which Sprague had once more ut his huge bulk, and were calling to Pett midnight the streets were ‘practically, deserted. Beyond the last of the street crossing arc lam,> the weetgraroed te ray Canoe a for- of dwarf pine, a white path- y Fe -4 i among the trees and roughly paralleling the raWroad, t. ong of the shorter turns in the ike they came upon the brilliantly Tightea roadhquee. In appearance it was a modern roadside tavern, ane the imany which owe their sudden reerudescence to the automobile. It ‘was Withdrawn @ little from the high- way{ ant was surrounded by ample stables ‘and shelter sheds opening upon a great square yard with wide carriage gates. Tarbell backed the auto.to%®. stand: among a number of others'tx the yard and a man with a lantern came ostensibly to offer help, but probably to. make sure thas th newcomers were harmless: Ive all right, Jerry,” said Tarbell, hopping out. “Mr. jaxwell and a& friend o' his from the East. Games ” orn’ . % The'man nodded and held his lan- ‘eur so” that Maxwell and his guest haul@-aee to get out of the tonneau, Then ho turned away and left them. Tarbell ted the way to the perch entrance “and on the step explained the sight-seeing process to the one who was supposed to be ‘inexperl- enced, m quick, Maxwell, you and the boy get over on this side. When you're ready turn off that light. Quick! They're going to chal ita) The simple programme was carried out precisely and to the letter. When he rush came tue room was tn Gate o88, and Sprague stepped aside, Thereupon a d& chi men, finding no resistance in the sud- denly released door, piled themselves {n cursing confusion over the barri- cading “Now!” shouted Sprague, and the dash for liberty was made, with the big man in the jead clearing the hall of its stragglers, brushing them aside with his mighty weight or driving them before him like chaff in the fury of his onset, At the stair head there were more coming up from below; Sprague caught the bullet-headed nely ing ‘tts an openvramie, as I tet én to ‘he jig is up—definitely up, Giv- ring fighter around the waist, and you," We told’ Sprawue. “You go into sald the Government man pleas- using him as @ missile, cleared the Yhe'bar and buy. After that you do: antly. And then to Tarbell: “Lord stairway at @ single throw, ‘Come thosé two into a corner, Archer, while we take some of these impediments off of Mr, Calmaine.” When the chief clerk was freed he tried to sit up; tried and would have fallen If Maxwell had not caught him. “They've burned me,” he mumbled; “yat—they didn't make me tell, and they didn't get—the papers.” “Take it easy," sald Maxwell sooth- 1“You'll be all right in a minute " Then, in a fresh access of “They'll pay for this, Harvey, on!" he yelled to those who were be- hind; and @ moment later the un- locked door at the stair foot gave them egress to the open air and to the yard where the automobiles were parked. Quite naturally the din of the battle had precipitated a panic in the un- licensed poadhouse, and the building was disgorging, through doors and windows, and even over the roofs of the shelter sheds, Tarbell drove his two prisoners into the tonneau of the hired car, while Maxwell promptly cranked the moter and Sprague lifted Calmaine bodil¥ to the fr seat. Ten seconds beyond this, wh) the panto was still at its height, the hired car, leading all others in phe town- ward rush, was leaving a dense dust trail to befog its followers, and the capture and rescue were facts ac- complished. With Tarbell at the steering wheel, the car sped silently through t! Western suburb and came into t Sopertod echoing streets of the city. thout asking any questio: the ex-cowboy drove straight to county jail and pulled up at the curb in front of the grim building, with its heavily grilled windows sh as you please. ‘eprague paused for a! single ques- do we find?” he asked, tio ay hit nie of¢young bloods from town, mostly.” waeTarbell’s reply: “Holla- day's got sense enongh to keep his own gang in the quiet and take his fake-off as it comes—trom the bank a the tables and the roulette wheels Sprague made the single question a Mttle more comprehensive, dat maak the poopie 80 more as the places‘if we should want to get out In 2 hurry—how about that?” bell wndicated a hall.door at the side of thie main entrance, adding the however, that it was di After met to going,’ in- siae;you make it your job to unlock that door, Archer, and to put the key in your pocket. Now I'm ready, and I want to see it’all.” And they went anroom proved to be'typical of : plainly fdrnished, bi a ntry-house firéplace an As the nicht was clos rage: if it takes every dollar I've got in the world!" Calmaine tried altting up again, found that he could compass it, and reached feebly for his shoes and socks. “The—the proxies are safe—if st doesn't rain,” he quavered, his mind still running on the precious papers of which he had been the bearer. “Get —get me out of this and into an auto and I'll find them for you.. We might might catch Number Six, If we burr help, had Tarbell, with Sprague’ deftly handcuffed the two men whom he had backed into a corner. It was the one-eyed man who first found ch in an outpouring of profanity, jomous and horrible. “You ain't tus out o’ here yet,” he spat, trall- ‘g the deflance out in more of the cursings. Pavapernnnevewereen) STARCH ISN'T SHEA SIGHT | SHE Is DivoRCED . | DON’T BLAME HER HUSBAND .00 You MRS PUNKY 2 SHE WEARS A RED WIG (SN'T IT 1FFLE HOW FEW OF us Girs| iN THIS HOTEL ARE PreTTy AND. STYLISH 2 of the two clear of the auto step as if he had been a featherweight. But when Tarbell would have marched the pair across the sidewalk Sprague called out. “Just one question, Giveng,” he said brusquely. “You know what you're in counterfeiting. But if you'll one question straight we'll forget the Ohio indictment for the present. What did you do with the swag that you lifted a few hours ago?” For five full seconds the black-haired man kept silence. Then he spoke as the spirit moved him. “It's where you won't get it—you a'r them make-believe crooks up at the Molly Baldwin! rasped. “Oho!” Sprague laughed. “So you lanned it to give your side partners this little game the do did you? like you. Tak away, Archer. ‘And—and hurry bat Calmaine, hoarsely. e've almply got to catch Number Six, I tell you.” ‘Thus urged, Tarbell expedited mat- ters with the night Jailer and came running back to take his place behind the steering wheel. “Where now?” he asked, dropping the clutch in; and it was Calmaine who gave the direction. “The Reservation Road east; it's the one we came in over.” Tarbell earily broke all the speed records, to say nothing of speed lim- its, in the race to the eastward over the dry mesa country. Twenty-odd miles from town they met the sheriff's Bais, and there was a momentary alt for explanations. “Camp down right where you are acd we'll go back pretty soon and send a bunch of autos out after you,” was Maxwell's word of encouragement. And then the big car sped on its way toward Cro- marty Gulch, Calmaine seemed to have preserved his sense of locality marvellously. A few hundred yards short of the spot at the guich head where Follansbee's dogs had begun thelr aimless circlings he told Tarbell to pull up. “They are right along here, som where,’ said, getting out to hobble infully ahead of the others whea ‘arbell took off a side-lamp to serve for a lantern, “They had me blind- folded at first, and I didn’t know what they were trying to do with me. When they chucked me into the auto, triéd to make a get-awa: While they were knocking me silly again, I managed to get the papers out of my pocket and fire them into the sage It wes right along here, somo- . It was lying cleverly ce-hidden under a clump of tho greasewood bushes, “Found!” he @nnounced. And then he e the young chief clerk his due meed of commendation, “You's ‘oung my to bet on, Mr, Calmaine. ‘hat we've been able to do, thus far, wouldn't amount tc much !f you hadn't kept your head.” Then he turned quickly to the superintendent. “How do we stand for time, now, Maxwell?” Maxwell held his watch to the light and shook his head dejectedly, “Number Six, the Fast Mail, is due at Corona in five iplanies, the near-b; mpaing.cam er break-neck dash, but ‘bell mi Whee the four of thers leaped from the car and stormed into Allen's office, the y Daily Magazine. Thursday, August 19, One inEvery Summer Hote) «233i, By Maurice Ketton Yes, HRS STARCH HER NAME ts Punt Ae UEe Sees cate Own CLOTHES BY THE WAY THEY HANG _ “THAT 'S HER FIRST MUBBY; WITH MRS TAcK . HER COND HUSBAND N WAY WITH & CIRCUS FREAK HRs FRESCO DID You way «SUCH A FRUMP THe DARK. IF IWAS NER HUSBAND I wauLto Fast Mail had already whistled for the “clear” signal, and the operator was reaching for the cord of his sem- avhore to give “go-by” wigwag. They yelled at him as one man; and @ few seconds later the fast train slid to @ shrieking stop at the station, Maxwell id fe gent Tarbell on to New York with the proxies, but Calmaine pleaded pa- thetically for his chance to finish that which he had in. reclous “I'll be all right as soon as I can 4, get into the slecper and get these in- fernal shoes off,” he protested. “It's my job, Mr. Maxwell; pity’s sake don't make me a@ quitter!” “Let him ‘go," said Sprague earned his chance to stay in —and this tim down.” And so it was d When the fast mail, added passenger, had slid away among the hills to the eastwgrd, the three who remaine( at Corona climbed into the hired auto and Tarbell drove another record race to town, pausing only once, when they reached the Bheriff's roadside camp to take on Harding and as many of his deputies as the car would hold. By Maxwell's direction Tarbell drove first to the railroad head- quarters, where the superintendent and his guest got out. At the office entrance another dusty car was drawn up; and in the upper corridor they found the two young men from the Molly Baldwin mine still seeking for information, Sprague disposed of them, and did it with business- like brevity. he told them crisply. ent in the county jail with one of his accomplices; and when he 1s given the third degree he will’ probably tell all be knows. It’s a weakness he has—not to be able to hold out against | @ bit of rough handling. If you two fellows will make @ clean breast of your part in the swindle to the prose- cuting attorney and promise to play fair with your lessors in the future it is likely that you'll be let off with a fine, and you'll probably be able to bag the remainder of the gang and to re~ cover your lost gold.” The two young men heard, gasped and backed away. When they were gone Maxwell unlocked the door of his business office, snapped on the Mghts, opened his desk and pressed the electric button which summoned Connolly, the night despatcher. “1 thought you'd like to know that caught up With the dead man, he said, when the fat despatcher me in; and then he briefed the ory of the chase, winding up with @ peremptory order to be sent to the division despatcher ac the Copah end of the line not to let the east-bound con- nection get away from the Fast Mail @t the main line junction. When Connolly had gone back to his key Maxwell wheeled upon his guest. » and by all the pitality I ought to take ‘ou home and put you to bed. ll be hanged if you shall close an eye until you've told me how you did all this!” ‘The expert chemist ex-footbal! coach planted himself in the lest of the office chairs and chuckled joyously.” “Gets you, does it?” he said; and then: “I'm not sure that I can explain it so that you will understand, but I'll try. In the first place, it is necessary to go at these little problems with pe tly open mind—the laboratory mind, which is neither prejudiced nor Brepoweenend nor in any Way concerned with anything but the bare facts, Reason, and the proper emphasis to be THE New Guest ? She ts The What t SHE WouLo contrived to break jail and Ket aw: butt Nan hte Chow enBut how. we You able et ka Seomunives yf a have to have his coffin built to order, can be so infernally heavy, tell doe: ment—and then you tell me ahout the shipping him to Kentucky, comes the news of the bizarre holdup in Cromarty Gulch, soning mind, th seems cet gent tty rem "ES, 1918 | & NEXT WEEK'S COMPLETE : Jacqueline of Golden’! ~ ¥ sae Hi ue ° '§ By VICTOR ROUSSBAU _ sang dollar gold brick in it, right now!" ‘Heavens and earth!” gasped the Uatener; but Sprague went on rapidly, “Just here is where your machine. made detective would have missed the emphosis, But the scientist, hav- ing once for and it rene sons placed phasis, never hay occasion to change It. The main thing yet was the stopping of your messe.- mer to Ford. 1 was convinced that the gold robbery, in which, of course, not only the twa sroena, leemeae, but thy man Murtrie as well, must be impli- cated, was only a side issue, intended either to divert attention from the main thing, or as a double-cross the! on the part of Murtrie, When you a Tarbell described Murtrie for me on the way back to town I had it all, simply because I happened to know the man. He is a counterfelter, whom T have twice run down for the Depart- before ment of Justice, but who, both time: floor of the people who there ately lows want the Short the dickens don’t ‘sameo ‘t pelt fis 7d 4 7 , decently?” such a su one eye nly. “You woulda’ #o sure and hard at Holladay's?” “Juat a bit more reasoning; as yout ing see presently, After we had estab- Lin | lished the fact that Calmaine wasn'ton Y. the train—but arg it out for your- welt. ‘They'd take somewhere he could be kept safe and out of the way until the criminals concerned were all seourely out of the country. And where would they take him if not to the unlawful den out yonder on the pike where Murtrie was best ki nd from wi + RO he ih ar Ro gout he, sea his helpers ‘But hold on,” Maxwell interrupt- ed, “Ll haven't got it entirely ol yet. if Murtrie put up this job wi Calthrop and Higgins"—— Berea shook his head. “You have no imagination, Dick. R MYSELF Miya’ 60 per cent. and Béston joan cet atta, i the: ion, aes Meer 2a | Murtrie came here to do you up in ‘the proxy business—as the Wall Street crowd's resort. He got in \with Calthrop and Higgins and ‘showed them how to beat their game, meaning to put the double-cross on them—as he did—when the time came, He was agg A killing two birds with one stone, but your bi was the big one, I don’t know w sort of o ae ee vet ce with = throp an M Ld can si pose that there ina trusty Sonteder- ate at the Kentucky end of the who is doubtless waiting corpse that will n come.” “Of course!” said the unimaginative one disgustedly, “Just the it's all mighty miraculous to me, how can ag reason out these things hot off the bat, as you do? Why, ti great Jonah! I bad all the oppor- aii tunities you had, and then some, and 'T didn’t mea eg! shee’ fr my t nose at any of the | ‘The big man rose and yawned good one hh yours,” he laughed, oe then, as the telephone bugger went off yi under Maxwell's desk: at Mrs. Maxwell, calling up to ask why in the world you don’t come home. § will ight and let's go. iiyeek mairnale of. ail you ©, HORRORS | Do Loor AT THOSE FRIGHTS IN THEIR BATHING SuITS AREN'T THEY A Scream ! Tell bh biggest mi siceaain ete ee tie , Mould say to-day, since it’s 8 o'clock an swell gl to his ear a axohan few words. with Placed upon each fact as it comes to 4 exohi bat, are the two needful qualities in *™ the other end of the any problem solving—and about the Wing. Whee he cloned his desk and only two,’ made read frown of “You are soaring around about & reflective pusziement was gathering mile oyer my head; but go on,” said Maxwell, “All right, I'll get out the facts in the order in which came to me, First, I saw a dozen my tween his eyes, velyou know too much—too thun- dering much, Calvin, As I aald @ while back, it’s unoanny It was Alice, and she said the very words you sald spe would: ‘Why world don't you come homey Dick’ If you weren't so blooming big. beefy and natured—but, pshaw! who ever heard of a fat wisard? Come on: let's go and hunt a taxt, It's too far to walk.” CHAPTER V. The High Kibosh. MINCE it 1» a Western boast that the West does nothing by halves, the Brewster boxe Town and Country Club owns two houses; @ band- some pink-lava home on one of the quieter business streets of the city, and @ rambling, overgrown bungalow said at the golf links on the north shore ha of the High Line reservoir lake, re- christened in honor of Col. Baldwin’ pretty daughter, “Lake Corona.” On Saturday afternoons, which are bank holidays in the progressive little y, inter-mountain city, the links at Lake Corona are well patronized; and on @ certain Saturday in early Beptem- ber, in the year written down in the annals of the inter-mountain region as “the year of the great railroad war,” one of the players wae the big “muscled athlete who figured for the Brewsterites as an expert soil-tester in the Government service, and whose nicknane in the Timanyoni country was “Scientific Sprague.” Sprague’s opponent on the links on this particular Baturday afternoon was Stillings, the railroad lawyer; and at the conclusoin of the game, which had been a rather easy walk- over for the big athlete, Stillings of- fered the winner @ seat in bis run- about for the return to Brewater, “Sorry, but I can't go with you this bert,” maid the heavyweight, when he had tipped his caddie struggled into his coat, “Maxwell | coming out to dinner and I promise to wait for him. He thinks he is up for another match game with the big d man, Next you bout your proxy fact—which t have any bearing at the mo- lead man, and how his friends were Then Instantly the rea- laboratory mind, if you prefer, goes to work, with the two foreknown facts—the heavy dead man fact, and the fact that your chief clerk is on that train with his valuable pa- pre lamoring each for ite hearing. n't let me bore you.” “Heavens—you're not bort: me! What next?” cad “Reason, the laboratory brand of it, tells me immediately that your proxy fact has the emphasis. You had told erate resort. Neverthe! were complications, I pretty sure that the hold-ups had taken Imaine and his papers; that this was what the hold-up for, But in order to get track of them Calmaine—other facts must be added, We added them on the trip with the special train; all w led, and few more thrown in for good meas- ‘I don’t see it,” Maxwell objected. “Don't you? When we reached the scene of the hold-up I was already doubting the heavy-dead-man theory; doubting it extremely, Also, my rea- son told me that the robbers, carry- ing some weight which was heavier than any dead person, would not trust to @ team which could be over- taken, if need be, by pursuers on foot. Hence the automobile track that we found. Then we came to the coffin, and half of the mystery vanished at once. If you hadn't been excited and —well, let us say, prepossessed—you would have noticed that there was no smell of disinfectants, that the coffin pillow wasn't dented with the print of a head, that the broken glass was ir lage, filling slowly room emptied two men had let college reminiscences more strictly perso: mt maid: lying 60 the pillow, as it wouldn't leaguers.” have been if the man’s head had been _ Stillings paused with his hand on there when the plate was smashed, the dash of the runabout. | “That so?” that"—— he queried. “More tng A arly "G ” “Nothing actually in sight, as Great Scott,” Maxwell broke in, nut Dick has been getting fresh tips T in hon self-depreciation, “what from the New York headquarters, wae mighty blind bats we are—most of us! The big-money poopie ‘who want your yourself out “Oh, no; 1 was bringing the spe- railroad have keeping pretty clally trained mind to bear, you must quiet since the Mesquite fizsle; pos- remember; the scientifically trained sibly they were afraid you folks mind. You couldn't afford to oulti- vate it; it wouldn't leave room for your business of railroad managing. But I'll cut tt short. I saw that there had been no conpse in the coffin, and that there had been something else might have the evidence on them. Dut now the air seems to be full of lightning again, and nobody, not even President Ford himself, appears to know just where it is going to strike.” The lawyer reached over and re- but if I should be honest, I had quite reason for wishing to Timanyon| after hrough it last July my on I too grown man to own to’ The iparintandent’s taches t a i im it—#omething heavy enough to tarded the spark on the racing en- ¢! leave {ts mark on the silk lining, gines of the little cur, from California, which was torn and solled, Also, I “It's a queer fight,” he commented, what It was; saw, away down in the foot end of the thing, an ingot-ehaped chunk of something that looked like a bar of gold bullion; one piece of the heavy coffin load that had been overlooked {n the hurried emptying. That's wh: T advised you to bring the coffin on your train. There's a ten thou- “I never heard of anything just like it before, Of course we all. know what It means: the Transcontinental needs our five hundred-odd miles of Nevada Short Line to put in with its Jack's Canyon branch for @ short cut to the southern coast. marily, these things are fought out om the