The evening world. Newspaper, October 14, 1922, Page 13

PRD RRR ETE ET Capt. Stuart and Willie Dixon Join the Other Dixons in the Ad.rondacks. THEY TAKE FIREARMS. Furneaux Learns to Run a Motor Boat and Durrane Buys ‘ a Mountain Place. THE STORY TO DATE. ROWN, the butler of the Fifth Avenue mansion of Anthony Van Cortland, finds his em- Ployer dead and twelve guests nconscious around a table where the thirteen had gathered tor a convivial eelebrauon of the Ace Club the night before. A goldfish in a bowl in the foom is floating, dead. A strange odor Pervades the room. Capt. Stuart, an army. officer, calls for Van Cortland to go for a ride n Central Park and discovers the state of affairs After talking with Morrison, the chauffeur; Roberts, the valet; Ma- rie, the maid, and Brown, Capt. Stuart calls Police Headquarters and in a few Minutes a queer-looking little man ap ars at the mansion and introduces imself as Mr. Furneaux of the detec- tive force. After teeta Ae over ve round he orders that Dr. right o, East 83d Street be Arad pt. Stuart, chosen by Furneaux to notity Miss Mary Dixon, Van Cort- Jand’s fiancee, ot his death, performs the disagreeable task, but is impressed by the fact that she shows nc ieep grief. Meantime Willie Dixon, Mary's young brother, one of the unconscious Group, awakes after Furneaux has emp- tied the pockets of all the Ace Club members and taken their fingerprints. Capt. Stuart accompanies Willie Dixon to his home, meets Mary < gain, but learns nothing of ner feelings re- @arding the death of the man she was to marry. He joins Furneaux and Chief of Detectives Winter at sreak- fast, wheze they discuss the case. Discovery is made of a threatenin; typewritten note in which Van Cortland was told he could never marry Maty Dixon. The writer has attempted an Italian dialect. Furneaux's theory is that the mur- derer, after administering a knockout draught to the party and pouring the balance into the gold fish bowl, admin- Nstered a deadly dose to Van Cortland by hypodermic or otherwise and going to a balcony outside the window threw the syringe uf other mstrument into the Central Park shrubbery. He elim- inates all save three of the Ace Club members, Durrane, Kerningham and Baker. The butler tells of a visit by Miss Baker and her father to Van Cortland and a conversation in which the dead man made light of the threatening note. Stuart overhears a conversation in which Montagu Toyn says that Mary Dixon agreed to marry Van Cortland because he saved her father from fail- pure in a deal in rubber stocks. Capt. Crossley, precinct commander causes the arrest of a tramp who has a ring he claims to have found in Central Park opposite the Van Cort- land mansion. Officer Flanagan, who made the arrest, is scratched while ex- amining the ring and dies just as Van Cortland died It is found that the poison that killed Van Cortland and Flanagan has come from an antique ring such as was used in Ithly two or three centuries ago Some of the contents are sent to a toxicologist. Willie Dixon invites Capt. Stuart to stay in the Dixon flat while his father sister are in the Adirondacks and makes it clear that the invitation 1s ex» tended at Mary's suggestion. Mary Dixon adds the fact that Frank Baker's collection comprised a poison fing but she believes him innocent ot Van Cortlafid’s death. A man calling h.. -1f Pau. Forste: visits the Di apartment and is questioned by Furn- eaux and Stuart about the mysterious phone call of the morning. The man i Ms mtagu Toyn and he admits send- ie phone message. ie Stuart is surprised to learn that ieee Dixon has cherished a news- perer clipping showing his decoration y a French general with the croix de guerre. The inquest develops nothing new but the toxicologist reports that the cgntents of the ring were arsenic and belladonna with perhaps an addition of snake poison. Ata dinngr to former Ace Club members Durrane explains the theory that Van Cortlandt’s death was brought about by an outsider CHAPTER XI. An Unexpected Journey. HOUGH Willie Dixon was al- most incoherent with excite- ment, he broke into speech the moment Brown had gone, “Ll say,’ he began, ‘you've hit it! You Iways do. You're a regular wiz, you are!"’ “Why all these second person pro- nouns?" demanded Furneaux. ‘And is that a bottle of otch I see before t sure is. Help yourself.”’ “Well, and what other magic is there in the a “What you've just said bears out Pil Durrane’s notion that some out~ sider got into the room."" “Meaning, I suppose, the room in which van Cortland lay: dead, sur- rounded by his cohort?" Oh, I'm too full of it all to . You tell him, Stuart.’’ “Most certainly,’ said Furneaux gravely. “I'll listen with the utmost respect to any theory Mr, Durrane propounds, fie is a remarkably in- telligent young man 1 wanted to ave a good look at him and certain @thers, so have been hanging around THE The Master Park Avenue an hour or more,’* “I think I had better begin at the beginning," said Stuart. “Fine! I'm a firm believer in first principles. Stuart, using the excellent memory which he had already displayed on more than one occasion, was able to give the detective a nearly verbatim account of the talk at the dinner ta- ble. Furneaux paid the closest attention. It was clear that Baker's bebavior interested him deeply. He followed too cach word of Durrane’s reasoning as to the possible presence in the Fifth Avenue mansion of an unknown Person who, with or without the full connivance of the owner, used the gathering for his own deadly purpose. He made -no comment, except to put his hearers right on one import- ant point. “The wet,stain on the tablecloth at 8.15 A. M. hardly corroborates Mr. Durrane's suggestion as to the way in which the crime might have been staged,” he sald, ‘Please remember that every one in the room was sup- posediy rendered unconscious at or about 2 A. M. One man, at least, was not. One—man—at least. Que diable! Could there have been two? Hardly. That argues an inconceivable com- pact. Yet who was it that stirred Kerningham to put up such a how! about the loss of his handkerchief?" Stuart had not omitted Kerning ham's reference thereto, nor Dur- Tano's apparent check on his friend's outcry, He did not interfere now, because the detective, sipping a weak decoction of whiskey and water, seemed to be thinking aloud. “Kerningham and Montagu Toyn were the cat's paws," he went on slowly. ‘Who was the monkey? Toyn vows he doesn’t know, and I believe him, because he informed me voluntarily to-day that Durrane’s agent paid a stiff price to turn some people named Green out of their house at Paul Smith’s."? * cried Dixon. ‘Why, r plac rat" “Bo I said Furneaux arily. ‘But let us return to our sheep, which we left grazing on the tablecloth. Durrane’s scheme is in- genious, very. It becomes almost plausible in the light of the Paris af fair, when van Cortland doped some innocent Frenchmen, if such beings really exist. Neither of the young men broke in on his reverie. They waited his next sentence eagerly. Judge of thelr disappointment, therefore, when Fur- neaux threw out his arms, yawned, finished the contents of the glass, and said wearily: “Cre nom, Iam tired! T spent four hours to-day learning how to drive a motor Hoat."* And immediately the little detec- tive proposed that Willie Dixon aud Capt. Stuart join Dixon’s father and sister in the Adirondacks, Willie consented eagerly. Stuart demurred “Tt ia eareniataly and ahenhita START TO-DAY (Copyright.) Irregular intervals, spread over a number of years, Nat Flynn paid me fleeting § visits, and I always found a joy in them, for Nat was a curious jumble of good and bad, and there was hardly anything off the beaten track at which he had not tried his hana. I first met him while I was a sick man taking a trip to Australia for the benefit of my health. He was stand- ing on the quay at Melbourne, with this hands in his pockets, when I fell off the gangway. It was getting dark and probably nobody saw me drop except Nat, and there my sands would most pro! have run down had ‘he not jumped. I made him come down into my cabin and we drank whisky while a steward dried bis clothes, I would gleefully have rewarded him with everything of value I had with me, but there was something about Nat Fiynn that warned me not to try the experiment, All I said was, ‘He If evel me a call." “All right," he replied; and a min- ute later Flynn had disappeared, He drifted in one day when I had not seen him for eighteen montis. He looked a little older and a little grim- mer, His skin was tanned to the color of a brick. I gathered from frag- mentary remarks that he had peen in various regions, including thé south Pacific, since his last visit to Liver- pool; but he was unusually uncom- municative for some time until we were settled comfortably In my bach- elor quarters after dinner, with long black cigars and a bottle “I'm an unlucky cuss and ¥ shall de glad when I've finished with wan- dering,” he observed, “Yes, it's me for a quiet life as soon as T can get Tt," he said. "I'd Hke to find a little place somewhere on the south coast, breed those little pink monkeys from Hayti, and forget there over wa. climate worse than this."’ “All my life U've been looking out to make one good haul," he said at bly is my card. come to Liverpool give yo THE EVENING WORLD, HC SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, USE OF | LOUIS TRACY. COPYRIGHT BY EDWARD J: CLODE O beliéve he means to marry Miss Mary Dixon by fair ‘*WE'RE A LONG WAY FROM NEW YORK,’ THIS IS WHAT WE GAIN BY COM- ING SO FAR.’ ANA achieve his shearted warriors who will reo- of the question.’’ WAAC RY A68 Furneaux sighed. “Of course, I am asking you to un- dertake a post of great personal dan- ger, and I have no right to do it.” ognize the enemy a, & land of law A nan cannot set up as @ robber baron of the Middie Ages, even In the wilds of the Adiron ie can set up as an unscrupulous in New York. Gut & told you I was tired. Good-night !"" And he was gone without another e in the game set up @ clairvoyant to keep my But I want you “Don't repeat the key-words of my of ahy chatter It's a most irritating habit You heard what I said, and I admitted I was making too high a demand. “I think you know ical risk would not keep me away ‘Then, what is the obstacle ‘Too late, Stuart saw the net, though had been spread before the very enough to carry the spoke of danger You don't expect me to Van Cortland mystery transferred to the that any phys. teners that the stant consent and to take bi to accompany , Brown and Cath- chortied delightedty, If you want your definite in- The cap's af, woman hater, aiid he wan “Well, as the are so many obvious reasons e hardly worth while dis- plan is yours, p gs ‘lly Lan- Guese Polly her- Hed yan Cort~- ant ov “There ain't » day that wicked nigger put all s cards on the but something 5 ago, as you “’ Flynn went on, e on the Suwarow . It wasn't exactly a plenic. explain, probably, mentioned it before, that I landed after being in an open boat six days with- out anything superfiuous in the of water and supplies, in old silver “I was puzzled fo one time or he had seen some s «bit in my », there seemed “I churned it over for thinking box seamanship that I ned to land on Le definitely off “After that Kiwi anc Though of cour I'd been on a though at first I tious genus man HALF A COAT were very close to her big ti The assistant mar Auckland for couldn't quite (How does this conclusion of story you started yesterday compare with the one you made in your own So this was you had up pronounced her good. It was enough. you know—just line's tears interrupted the “We'll see how sh (Copyright.) RADUALLY the room began to half past five ewlldered as- sistant on the leave it here.’ , sitting in the darke was trying had just discovered had given way. or had faded from found herself pinch mechanically, together with to tell on her. Then she saw the office The assistant was looking around the room, could hardly believe » saw him beckon to her. The room seemed to be swimming around, she got across and followed Mr. Her great moment had ar- » precious hat in the rain and the rmur of approy turned to his waiting manager did not a Into Part opened a door, and as across the threshold th her eyes when * quirements in will not need her ught that was shoulders, a great, glittering gold she would show t Afar off she white-haired gentleman looking a other men looking at hi Goldylocks,"” he position as leading women “Let me see, the name is? sistant manager asked. said Elaine, faintly. Reed, pleas of her faculties as appealing as before With that sixth sense ©: didn’t move, Vaguely she lunches she had gone without tc the scorned, And then she steadied herself by regretted all yes,"’ said Mr. “Well I am sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but there is nothing for you. You see, ertson has just about made up his that somehow « Afar off she ant manager smiled benignly heap on the for ht himself t« Desperately THE END. “red-g0ld hair Illustrated by Frederic Dorr Steele self gave him the once over, Well, well. That sister of mine ts sure some girl, an’ the poor old cap’ thinks his number ts up.” As no further guidance came from the Bureau next morning, Stuart took charge of affairs. Mary Dixon seemed to greet her brother's unforeseen tid- ings with calm acceptance of the un- expected. She asked him to sand Capt. Stuart to tho telephone, and as- sured the prospective guest he need feel no hesitation about joining the Dixon family “The only drawback ts that life is dreadfully quiet here,"’ she went on Not wishing to frighten the giri with vague threats of possible evil, he simply said “That will be vastly agreeable after life in New York, Miss Dixon. Has Willie made it clear that we are bringing another man with us, fn ad- dition to Brown?" “No, he didn't: But that doesn’t matter at all. We have londs of room." “All being well, then, took out for us to-morrow morning.”* “T'll come for you myself in the launch."* About noon Stuart received a call on the telephone, Mr, Philip Durrane would be delighted If he would come to lunch at the Bankers’ Club! “It is very kind of you,” said Stuart, trying to conceal his surprise at the invitation, “but I cannot get away, as Tam leaving New York to- day to visit some friends.”’ “Ah, too bad. Will you return be- fore I leave for the Adirondacks?" “T can't say. When do you start?” “As soon as this unfortunate in quest is over,”* “Well, I may have to come back for that, you know. ‘Tho police seem to look on me as an important wit- ness."* “Then I shall be ou. Goodby, Hope you havé a pleas- ant time, Where are you going?’ But Stuart had expected t question and his at final Rrown awaited tho others in the Grand Central station, Stuart, with y of the army, would the democrs have had the whole party dine to gether on the train, but Dixon, wiser than he tor once, vetoed the notion. them,” said that saplent youth “Let ‘em keep to themselves, Be- es, there’ you."" “Has something beea going on to day, then?” “Mary asked me to warn you that Pop must be kept out of our troubles, 4 we have any, and I've a hunch that wo'll tumble Into heaps, You see, when I went to buy those automatics, 1 found a permit wns necessary, #0 I rang up Mr. Winter and he fixed things for me at the City Hall, i've got licenses for all four of us—you, me, Brown and ,Bepson “Did Winter, suggest such a Taree firine narte? 1 managed to make him understand that guns were a dern expensive out fit, and that two or three wouldn't go anywhere, Ho got the Idea for a while and put a lot of pebbles in a row, from which I gathered that with a couple of hundred ‘woofers’ he could do enonkh murdering to win his way to glory “It was a hard Job to make him grasp the fact that there was a com- mercial side to the transaction, espe- cially as I aid not know what he had to trade with, and he held a, sort of first mortgage on my head anyway, One day, however, he showed mo something that I took to be a pearl worth anything over 0 pounds, and then I began to see daylight “Heaven knows how many the old sinner had. He produced a little straw bag containing about three hundred of them, I held my breath, and cal- culated that they ought to fetch any- thing over ten thousand pounds, but I didn’t indicate #0 to his aibs: “He didn't murmur when I potnted it that there weren't n ly enoveh of the gems, and out ¢ two 1 bags. “He didn't secm anything about the pr in advance. As soon as I gave htir he tip to hand over the pearls and let me take them to the p where white men sell rifles he hid n and n seventeen different ways indicated that he wouldn't trust me as far act © could throw me. 1 explained he old lerer that he was puttin me into a dificult position, but that 1 would have a shot at it if would set me adrift) [ don't tl he al together liked letting me go, but £ put off in of catamaran, an with the aid of a pocket comfy made Fiji, where waited for a trad ng steamer, leaving the catamaran behind handy. “Well you can guess T didn't rest ontented long, knowing there we hree bags of gems waiting for me in exchange tor any 200 pleces ¢ crapiron [ could pick up that looked like guns, and it didn’t take me three months to gather tn what T consid- red would meet the case, And then I had a second stroke of tuck—tum bled right on the very things I want d to bu FINISH MONDAY sure to run into Goodby" cut into ey'll be on parade if we're with things I want to tell “He aid.” “I wonder what the deuce he and Furneaux think may happen!” “I dunno. But I bought eight guns and 600 rounds of ammunition, The guy who sold ‘em to me will be look~ ing in the papers to-morrow for @ sen« sational bank robbery The journey passed without Inch dent, At eight o’clock In the morning the train rumbled into the terminus at Paul Smith's Camp, and there stood Mary Dixon waiting to receive them. The sun was shining gloriously, and the mountain air was intoxicating, and the girl looked very young In @ gray sports costume, else Stuart would never ba ured to aay, straight away: You seem so pleased to see us that I'm going to call you Mary. May I?" Mary's face, flushed with exercise already, took on a deeper tint, but she laughed cheerfully “Of course, you may “And am I to call you Alec “That is certainly in the compact. “Good!” put in Wille, “Now all that’s left. is to give the old man ‘Pop’ for it, and the trick can be turned and quitted Mary instantly became very buste n@alike, directing the loading of the daggage on the launch. Then sh@ turned to Capt. Stuart “We are a long way from New York," she-said, “but,” with a grace: ful gesture such as a woodland nymph might use in showing her domain, “this fs what we gain by coming so fan, Our house is round the next poiat. It ts completely shut in. We hardly ever see a soul unless some ony passes in a boat." “Have you no neighbors?” he in« quired. “Yes, some people named Green. We know very fittle of them, ,I believe they lounge in hammocks all the sum mer, read novels, and eat candy."* “How idyllict You will be sorry to lose ther.” “No fear of that, We'll find them slung beneath the trees if we cont: out after breakfast.” “They're goin’, all the sam broke in the boat's pilot, a mahogany colored native whose general title was “Skip,” and was by way of being an old retainer of the family, ‘*They quit by to-night's mail.”* Well, wonders will never cease!" cried the girl “How did all this happen Some feller on the Noo Yoik Stoé\ Exchange has bought ‘em out, lock, tock an’ barrel. I haven't heer’d his name. “The new owner is Mr, Philip Dur rane,” put in her brother. “Oh, Willie, you don’t mean itt** ‘Yes, it's right enough.” Stuart wondered why the pretty face should so suddenly be uded Stuart's eyes @ashed a warning that ‘nothing more should be said at the moment, though the servants were chatting among themselves, be ing Obviously much Interested in thet new surroundings. The launch passed a long, low house and Dixon laughed when they saw a man taking down : couple of hammocks slung by the sid: of a small lawn. “There you are, sis!* he cried “What more proof do you want? ‘In formation’ !s my first name nowa- days." She made no comment. Stuart was certain that the news they brought had disturbed her greatly, The boat lowed up at a rustic landing, which ran out beyond @ roomy boathouse. “All the way across the lake 1 have been wondering what locality this place reminded me of," he said “T know now, It's a miniature replica of Como." “Mother had the same fancy,” said Mary. ‘I was a very small girl when we stayed at the Italian Bellagio, and my recollection of Lake Como Is that it takes a steamer the whole day to go from one end to the other, whereas we can scoot round our lake In @ couple of hours or tess."* “Funny now this Dago stuff keeps turning up," mused Willie Dixon aloud, but none paid heed to him, as the “Skip was making fast Mr. Dixon, senior, came to meet them “Breakfast will be served in ten minutes on the veranda,” said Mary to Stuart. Then she added hurried! “Don't expect to see much of fathery He is not quite himself these daysy Mr. van Cortland's death gave him a great shock, and he imagines that it will affect our fortunes in some tm. furious way.” “My dear girl,” said Stuart, looking at her so intently that her eyes fel my only hope at this moment ts that I may he able to lift some of life's troubles off your young shoulders Please regand me as an elder brothe Lam here to justify the rela ‘I know that ttempt at cheerf ure ‘Al lan't ito As he went to his room he remem bered that for the first time in she said. sald, wit even t of one who might, indeed, 1 by u tragedy, but whose interest in it was of the slightest. Her attitude in re Mance’s death was cer in man nature may be complex tn man," he communed, “but it's a jolly sight more complex in woman, How. here we or here Lam, and my 6 op myself from being any rate, is t fo He did not try to explain what he He felt like 4 man following bounds over an uns wn country, and quickening the lear a high hedge, What lay on the other side he could not even guess, It might be smooth pasture or broken ground. But he wag going over, neck and crop, and be anged to the result (Continued Monday.) hunter's pa