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^X 1 rap^ tooHoofoo4tooHooHoo4f A GIR OFGRIT. V. BY*MAJ0R ARTHUR GRIFFITHS. 0 Gommohtt iooo% o B. F. Hcmw & Co. By the time I reached the Strathallan road it was broad daylight. I fotnAl long load of detached villa houses, each in its own garden, many with stables adjoining. I figured it out, as 1 walked up aud down this road twice, that one of these cottages was just suited for the purpose of sequestrating Captain Wood, 31 he could be got to it. lie could be driven straight into Hie stable yard the cab would be no more soon when the coach house door closed behind him, and no one, neither the neighbors nor the police, would be a bit the wiser as to what mischief was being worked inside. It took mo just two hours to examine the entrance gates of every villa house with stables in that road. In three of them there were the new tracks of wheels marked plainly in the thick lying summer dust. I could not dis cover which were the most recent, but carefully noted the numbers of these houses, meaning to put a watch upon them all. I called up the boy Joseph Vialls, a very smart young squire, too, from the office in Norfolk street, as soon as I could get a telegram through. By the tune he arrived I had narrowed my investigations to a single point for further observation. The day had so far advanced that the business of life was well begun. I saw the blinds drawn up in two of the houbes, the front doors opened, the women helps busy shaking the mats and washing down the stoops. Pres ently some of the young folks ran out into the gardens, and I could see the family gatherings round the breakfast tables, from which on the early morn ing air came the smell of hot coffee and English breakfast bacon, with the temptation of Tantalus for a starving man who had been out all night. All this while the third house remained closed, hermetically sealed. It was closed up, tight shuttered, not a sign of life in it. When I reached my lodg ings in Norfolk street I was pretty well washed out. But I turned in for an hour and at 10 a. m. woke much refreshed. As I dressed with care I pondered deeply over this business and the course that I should adopt. My tirst and most urgent duty was to secure the release of Mr. Wood, always supposing that my gentleman was the person actually carried off in the cab At present 1 had no certainty of this, only a bit more than strong suspicion. Yet if I could ascertain that he had not returned home I should be justi fied in taking surmise for fact. First I went to Clarges street. The man there remembered me, but looked strangely when I inquired for Cap tain Wood. "You have not heard the news, then?" he said. "What In thunder is. there to hear more than I have to tell you?" I asked, nettled at thinking some one was be fore me "Why, that the captain has met with an accident. He slipped up somehow last night or early this morning and hurt himself badly." "Who told you that storyv ,1" Do you believe it':*' "I believe the captain''! own hand writing." "What did he say exactly?' I vtas quite Tai-cn aback, as you may sup pose, but did not want to show it too much. "Here, read it for voursclf. It's not all his own, of course, and you will un derstand wbv Bat that's h's name at ihe bottom there sure enough,-" It was written on good gray note pa per in a fair running hand, and it said Savon, I've romo to grief dr.vjrg home. Horso slipped upon tie curb, and I tvas thiown ojt of the cab Some kind people picl cd ne up and jrc tukirg ,jood care of nac But 1 S'IK I be able to i"ove hard or foot for soc.e da/s. Send me by bearer poitmantcr i of thirgsshirts, dress ing gown, dittoes. chccVbook, letters, papers aad the 1 est ours, \V. A. WOOD. 17A Laburnum Street, llanow Road. "And sent them? How?" "By the cab that brought the letter." "Why didn't you go with tbem your self 7' "I thought o( it eertamlj, and I wish 1 had." "You may well wish that. And now, If you will be guided by me, you'll go and and out 17A Laburnum street right away, if there's any such place at all." "Oh, but there is. It's in the direct- ory." "Is that so? Well, if you come across Mr. Wood there I'll run you for next president of the United States. You've got just the face for a postage stamp." "What in the name of conscience d'ye mean? What's 'appened to him, then?" "It's my opinion that Captain Wood has fallen among thieves, brigands, worseruffians, who'll hold him to-ran som for blackmail, rob, murder him, God knows what, unless some of us can circumvent their blackguard ma neuvers. And I am going to try. I don't believe in cab accidents and La burnum streets. You may, so you'd better go and judge for yourself." But he was not going to find him in Laburnum street. I was pretty sure of that, but it was right to look there on the off chance that this story was true. For myself I was more than ever persuaded of foul play, and 1 consider ed I was bound to lay the whole matter before the London police. jl was not very well received at Scot land Yard. They told me to get proper credentials, a certificate from the American consul. 1 was terribly roiled, but not to waste time I took a cab straight to Great St. Helen's, where of course 1 was perfectly well known. One of the swfcior clerks came to me di rectly. "What can we do for you, Mr. Snuy zer? Want an introduction to the metropolitan police? Why, certainly. Reckon it's no use asking what you're after? Big case?" He was a friend and had often given me information a small way. I thought perhaps ho might help me now, for I'd heard from you they were mostly Americans working this con spiracy, and it was likely enough they'd know at the consulate whether any big "toughs" and "bunko men" were in London just then. "It's something to do with the Me Faught millions," I said. "You've heard, no doubr. of that young English man's luck?" "Why, yes. He was here this very morning, only an hour ago." It was then about 1 o'clock. "Captain Wil liam Aretas Wood they called him. Is he your client?" It hit me like a blow, this news, for I saw at once what it meant. Captain "Tiic woman called luma dreadful don and ti icd to stop htm." Wood could not bo lying injured in a street off the Harrow road and walk ing about Great St. Helen's. I wanted no more proof of foul play. "We are acting for Captain Wood. Case of attempted fraud. They've soon found he's fair game. But what brought him here, if I may ask?" "Some question of legal powers. Granting attorney to representatives in New York, assigning certain proper ties by deed to trustees. Legal busi ness. The law, you know, requires the signature to be given in the presence of the United States consul." "You saw Captain Wood, did you, yourself?" "Why, certainly. A man worth mil lions. He interested us all. Took it quietly enough, though. Rather ordi nary sort of sportsman. Tall enough, but no show about him. For so rich a man he went very plainly dressedon ly a Derby hat and a business suit." "Handsome young man, eh? Tall, fair, holds himself well?" I suggested. "Why, no. Rather mean, I should say. Fair, yes thickset, coarse look ing, but I had no talk with him. He and his friends were in the inner room with the consul himself." "His friends?' I hazarded. "I suppose -o, but he might have found better. There was that Law ford. Jimmy they call him. 1 don't know much about him. No good any way. And there was Colonel McQuay, who ran the Cyclostoma swindle out west, and a little black faced Spanish chap who looked hungry enough to eat him, clothes and all. If you're a friend of Captain Wood's, Snuyzer, I'd warn him against being too thick with that crowd." "Warn him!" 1 said to myself as 1 walked away from the consulate. "If he'd listened to me, he would have never got into this fix." Much as I had been surprised by the i promptitude with which these unscru pulous foes had got him into their toils I I was now amazed with the breadth, the boldness of their schorio It was as clear to me as if I had seen it all in print. To seize, sequestrate, securely hold their prisoner, with heaven knows what added ill usageit might be make avlay with him utterlywhile his double, some cleverly stt up second self, their puppet or confederate, per sonated him, acted for him, making ducks and drakes of his fortune, ac quiring every red cent that was mova ble and within reach, without fear of interference or retribution, provided only they kept fast hold of their prey. How far was it in my power to meet and frustrate these felonious but as tutely planned measures? At least I had one or two thread*, one or two clews, my hand. I believed that I could exactly locate the present place of Captain Wood's detention. I knew the very house or its outbuildings in which he was imprison ed. To get him out must be my next job. If he were once free, much mis chief, the worst certainly, might be prevented. But whether he were im mediately released or not it was of lit tle less importance to follow up his per secutors to ascertain what they were doing and work to counteract and de feat them. Three of them, at least, I had heard of, thanks to my friend at the consu late, two by name and clear identity. The third should be discovered through the other two. My next moves were clearly and im peratively marked out for me. As I passed along the Strand I called in at Norfolk street. No sign from Jo seph, so all was presumably without change in the Strathallan road. Next to Clarges street. Time was getting on. Close on 3 p. m., and nothing done as yet in Mr. Wood's behalf. I was impatient, eager to act for him, and yet I knew I must proceed regularly. The man Savory had returned, and I knew by his face that he had drawn blank in Laburnum street. Of course no Mr. Wood was there. 1 did not require to be told that. Savory was also satisfied now, a good deal on the evidence of the collie dog which he had taken with him. "Master Willie was nowhere on the premises. Roy will answer for that. I told him to 'go look,' although the wo man of the placeit was a sort of sec- f i ii THE PRINCETON tlNTON:* TH1IBSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1900. ond rate lodging housecalled him a dreadful dog and tried to stop him. Roy's teeth helped him to quest right through the house." "Fine fellow! We'll take 'him with us to look for Mr. Wood. Eh, Roy?" He was like a Christian, that dog, for ho made friends at once, wagged his tail and put his nose in my hand. When Savory added on some gibberish With "ulloolooloo, go .search, Roy," ho first howled and yelped, then ran up and down the hall entry like a mad thing. "Where are we going, sir?" asked Savory, growiug respectful as he rec ognized my authority. "To Scotland Yard straight. They wouldn't listen to me this morning. Now perhaps What have you got there?" "It's a letter, sir, brought by hand half an hour ago for Mr. Wood, mark ed, 'Very immediate.' D'ye see? Rut you wouldn't surely?" This was in alarmed protest as I was about to break the seal. "Wouldn't I, though? Why, it's a question of life and death with Captain Wood. Anything and everything that is likely to help us must be made use of. 1 stand on that, and here goes." But just as I was about to open the letter wo were interrupted by the ar rival of a tall, military looking gentle man, with a fierce face and a very hec toring, overbearing manner. We were standing in the hallway, the man Sa vory and I, for although he knew what my business was ho did not trust me enough to let mo go up stairs. The front door was just ajar, he inside aud 1 still on the stoop, when this high falutin, masterful sort of gentleman came up and said to both of us. "Is this where Captain Wood lives? Look sharp. I want to know." There was a shortness in his tone a^d manner which, being a free born Amer ican, 1 could not stomach at all. He might have been a slave driver talking to black Africans, and I looked at him in a way to wai'n him not to raise my dander. "Come, speak out. Which is the man of the-house? Is Captain Wood in? 1 must see him at once. I am Sir Charles Collingbam." At this Savory bowed low. They are a mean, lickspittle lot, these Britishers, when there's any talk of titles or big toads in their puddles. "Yes, yes, Sir Charles quite so. I know you now. But Captain Wood is not in." "Where shall I find him? I must see him at oifce. It is a matter of duty. Where is he?" "That's just what we want to know," I put in. "It puzzles us entirely. He has got into some mess somewhere, and we can't tell for certain what has happened to him or where to find him." "And who the devil are you, pray?" asked my gentleman insolently. "And what in heaven's name have you to do with Captain Wood? Yon are an Amer ican, I perceive." "Waal, that's so, and what difference does that make? Ain't 1 good enough to know Captain Wood or for you to talk to?" He had pretty well raised my dander this time. "Pshaw! I've nothing to say to you. I don't know you, and I don't want to know you, and you may go to the devil your own road as soon as you please." And without waiting for more he brushed past me, pushing Savory aside and saying "1 must go up to his rooms There are some papers up there I want. Show the way, please," and he ran up stairs. Of course 1 followed. 1 was as much concerned about Captain Wood as he was. Besides, 1 felt it due to my self respect and position as one of your most trusted agents to call this over bearing Britisher to account. The new visitor. General Sir Charles Collinghnm. as I presently beard he was called, was the first in the room, and he went straight to the bureao or escritoire, at which 1 expect Captain Wood did his writing business,. The general fell upon the papers and turn ed them over with much haste and ex citement. Then he turned to Savory and said in the same peremptory tone: "Where is the dispatch box from my office sent here last night? I don't see it. Fetch it, will you?" "But it went to the captain this morning. Sir Charles, with his port manteau and other things." "Great powers! How conid it when you don't know where he is?" "If you will permit me to explain," I here put in, although I wonder I went on, for 1 saw clearly on bis face that he thought me an interfering nonentity al together beneath his contempt But as I told my story his manner changed, his look of utter incredulity and amaze ment gave way to one"M absorbed in terest, and by the time 1 had finished he had thrown himself into the nearest armchair with a loud and prolonged whistle, an evident let off to his dis turbed feelings. Then he sprang to his feet and walk ed up and down the room like mad man, talking to himself aloud: "It's not possible. It's too preposter ous. I cannot, ought not, to believe it. But yet, by the Lord Harry, strange things do happen." Then he pulled up short and faced me as if I were a criminal and a tough/ "1 suppose you are to be trusted? Who and what do you call yourself? You haven't dreamed all this? You weren't drunk last night?" "1 am a water drinker. Sir Charles Collingham.and take it from choice hot, according to my physician's rule," 1 re plied severely. "You, I conclude, from your title, are a British army officer, but 1 do not consider yon are a gentle man to make such aspersions." "Come, come, don't lose your temper. I never doit's a mistakein business, and you haven't told me yet who you are and what you have to do with Cap tain Wood." The shortest way was to give him one of my cards. He was not unac quainted with the name of Saraband ]^M^^4^&im^ rod said so eowfcoously enough. In deed, he becauiv now so civil that, Judging him to be really a person of Importance, I gave him a brief outline pf the plot to which we believed Cap tain Wood had fallen a victim. "You think it is the money, do you? Nothing else?" he asked sharply. "Why, what else could there be?" He hesitated for a moment, but said at last: "I'm not at liberty, to tell you exact ly. They are confidential matters con nected with the service. But there might be reasons to induce designing people to carry off Captain Wood and hide him for a time. He possesses cer tain information of the highest value to Well, I must not foli you. But the disappearance of these papers, of the dispatch box, in short, supports me in that\iew.' "There are public grounds, then, tor instituting a keen search for Captain Wood." "Very much so, indeed, aud we must instantly call in the police. I shall go at once to Scotland Yard and set the de tectives in motion." 'KSness I've been there already, and they only laughed at me." "By George, they will not laugh at me. Why, this might become a cabinet question. If those papers have fallen into the wrong hands, there may be the devil of a row. Wood or no Wood, I must have them back this very day. and 1 can't stop talking here." "One minute, Sir Charles. Myour interest in Captain Wood is hardly sec ond to yours. Anyway they are identi cal. It would be best, I submit, to work together "Quite so. That is very .sensible. Have you any plans? What would you propose?" He was as sweet as milk by this time. "Well, obviously one thing presses urgently. A descent should be made by a posse of police upon that house in the Strathallan road." "In any case there shall be no more delay. Here, you, sir"this was to Savory"bail the first cab. I'm off to Scotland Yard Will you come with me?" "I'd rather meet you, Sir Charles, out yonder, for I suppose you'll go yourself with the police?" "Certainly 1 shall, possibly ahead of them, so au revoir." "Stay, Sir Charles. I had forgotten this letter which came an hour ago. It is addressed to Captain Wood, and it might throw some light on this myste rious affair. To be sure, It is In a wo man's hand, but 1 was just about to open it when you appeared. Do you think 1 dare?" "By all means. Every scrap of intel ligence is of the utmost importance now. I'll do it. I can setJ*- afterward if necessary with Captain Wood." So he broke the seal, opened the let ter and instantly burst into a loud, cheery laugh. "Oho, Miss Frida, so you have not been long in coming to an understand ing with our man of many millions! Read it," he said, and he handed me the letter It was headed "273 Hill street" and was signed "Frida." There were only a few lines- What has become of you? 1 thought we were to Eee you early, before luncheon. I have been simply furious. Now I am frightened. Something roust have happened. It cannot be that you have already forgottenlast night "Reekon 1 know what she means by 'last night,' for I heard their parting at the door of the house in Prince's Gate." "Where no doubt they had been bill ing and cooing," added the general. "But she is entitled to know what has happened. You had better go round by Hill street on your way to Barnes Enough said. I'm off." We soon started. Savory and I, in a second hansom and at the man's sug gestion took the dog. "He'll surely find the captain," said Savory, "if there is any sort of scent," and the dog seemed to understand bis business, for directly we reached Hill street he was the first inside the house and raced up stairs in a businesslike way and evidently quite at home in the place. By and by he came down again, fol lowed by about the brightest, smartest and sweetest young creature *I had seen since my last Sunday walk on Fifth avenue after church. It's not in my line to say what she wore, but 1 think it was a tailor made "Of course you are from Captain Wood? Thin is his dog." garment, and it fitted her like a glove. All 1 could bee were her flashing eyes and the red lips apart as she tackled me sharply. "Of course you are from Captain Wood? This is his dog. What have you to tell me? Quick! Explain. Where is he hira*olf 7" "1 wish, madam, 1 could tell you that for certain, but 1 cannot The fact is the captain is" "Here-! Step in here." She opened the door of room, showed me a chair, then took her stand on the hearthrug, with her arms behind her back, and said: "Let me have the whole story or as much as you know of it Make haste, please." She still stood erect and fearless, showing great mastery over herself, as I told briefly and quickly all 1 knew Except that the color came and went, that her cheek was now crimson, now blanched a creamy white, that her eyes glittered with the tears she still reso-. lutely kept back, this brave child suf fered no sign of emotion to escape her at the peril of her 'over. "Well, what l!ir you done?" she asked imperiously. "What do the po lice say?" I began to explain, "Tut, tut! 1 et us have no excuses, no beating about the bush. You have known this'et me seemore than 12 houis, and yet mymy friend, Captain Wood, is still there where you say they took him." "Where I believe they took him." "This won't do at all, Mr. I don't know who you are or what you call yourselfSnuyzer, au American de tective? Ah, well, Mr. Snuyzer, I shall now take thi?. mailer hand. We've got to find Captain Woodat least I have whether you come into the busi ness or not." "I shall be sorry to be left out, miss, but there are others besides us have taken it up now. I've seen a British general, Collingham by name." "Yes, yes I know. Willie'sI mean Captain Wood's chief at the intelli gence. I was just going to send to him. He is a man of great influence and im portance, a man of the world, who knows his way about. He has been told, then? What is he doing?" "Working the police. He will take a mob of them down to where I traced the captain. I am going on to meet them there." "Then 111 go too. Wait heie, please, while 1 put on my hat," and she rang the bell. "When the man comes, tell him to bring my bike around. No I'd better take you with me. Order my pony cart. Say it must be at the door in ten minutes from now." In less than ten minutes she came down stairs dressed for driving and buttoning on her gloves. '**ome, sir," she said busker and sharper than ever. "I cannot easily forgive your previous dilatnnness, but we must try to make up for lost time. Here is the pony cart, and we will take the dog.*' When we reached the Strathallan road, to my deep chagrin tho boy Jo seph was not there, nor was he to be seen anywhere near or far. Now, I could have staked my life on little Jo seph Vialls. He was a London lad who had seen much in his short life on shore and afloat, for although I had picked him off a crossing on account of his quick tongue and bright ways he had been to sea on Thames lighters right round the coast. Now I was training him to our business. He took to it naturally, knew what was ex pected of him and was not the sort to be fooled into quitting his post or going off on fandangoes on his own account. Miss Fairholme turned on me like a tiger when we drove past the house and back still without a sign of Joe. f'Get out of this cart and go and ring the bell," she said fiercely. "The soon er we get inside that house the better. Make haste, please." I hammered at that door and hung on to that bell till I woke all the echoes of that dead-alive suburb. No one came. There was not a sign of life within. Presently the police came up, and the general, who had been cruising about on his bicycle, joined miss outside. They all stopped there, talking to her a bit, and I judge they were hesitating to act, arguing it out with the general, who was very fierce and positive, or dering them about short and sharp, but doing little good till missy took up the running. But she soon sent them fly ing in after me and came with them. One of the constables ran around to the back, whore he found a strip of garden with a low wall lie was over that like a flash and in through the scullery window. Half a minute more and we heard him unchaining the front door. Then we all trooped into the en try and ran through the house, some high, some low, but none of us finding anything. There was not a scrap of furniture nor the signs of any occu pancy that we could see. But miss, she also hunted, halloing on the collie dog with a "Go look, Roy," worry, worry, worry, which drove the beast nearly mad. lie hunted and quested through the house with a short, snapping bark, as if he was rounding up a sheepfold, and it was he, marvelous animal, who led us into the basement, into a sort of cellar be tween the front parlor and the kitchen. Here he raced round and round like a thing possessed, yelping furiously. The place was all black darkness. No win dows, not a glint of daylight. But some one struck a match and lit a bullseye, and we could make out what there was there. One big, long table, a kitchen table with seats on each side, and at the end a strange thing that told its own story. It was a sort of wooden erection something between a scaffold and a bulkhead two great upright timbers, wedged in tight between the ceiling and tho stone floormight have been a support, pillarlike, for the roof or ceiling, but we could see it was meant to make some one fast toa pair of stocks, you might say, or a whipping post And so it had been used, no doubt For there were a long chain and padlock hanging between the uprights just over a low bench that served as a 6eat for whoever was held there a prisoner. This Was where the collie raged about most fiercely, sniffing, scenting, hunting to and fro, always under the encouraging voice of missy, who shout ed, "Lu-lu-ln. good dog find him, then. Where is he? Out with him, Lu-iu." Of course his master had boon there. None of us had a doubt of that, any more than of the plain fact that he w" not there now. We looked at each othei blankly, after a bit. hardly knowing what to do or say next, till miss stamp ed her pretty foot and cried. "Well?" 'I have my suspicions." began the Bergeant, knocking his bands .together rather jovially, till the dust flew out of his white lisle thread gloves. "It's uot all fair and square. I shall make a re- port to that effect an^awai|,|tt|Jg|C^ Uons." 4rv ^%%i "Pshaw!" interrupted miss. "And meantime Mr. Wood may be murdered. I shall offer a reward of 500 to whoever finds him, but it must be within the next 24 hours." "Now you're talking," I said hearti ly, "and I don't see we gain much by staying here. The cage is empty, and we've got to follow the birds wherev er they've flown." "If you'll excuse mq," said the ser geant, who had got mighty eager when he heard of the reward, "the most proper course, as I see it, is to start from this here house. Whose is it? Who took it? Likewise who put up this upparatus, and why? When those ques tions is answered by the neighbors, bouse agents, tradesmen and such like, we may come to lay our fingers on them as is responsirle for this here business." "You had bettor do all that, then/' said the general, very discontented, "and 1 shall go to New Scotland Yard to the fountain head. There's more in this than you duffers seem to think. We want the best man they've got, a real defective, to take up the case." This was aimed at me. It was un kind, you'll say. But after all how much had I done and. where wa boy Joe? "It's not like him," I was saymg half to myself as we stood together, miss and I, while she was taking the rib bons and with one neat brown shoe on the step was just getting into her cart. "Either he's been caught spyingarid that's not like himor he's hanging on to their heels like bird lime. But What in thunder's that?" I saw sorn^ rough writing in white chalk upon (the CHAPTER VL PASSAt-tS FKOM THE EIARY OF VVILFRIDA rAlTUICt-MP. S. S. Chattahoochee, July IT.Al though still harassed and oppressed fry hideous anxiety, I want, in this m\ first moment of leisure, to set dow clearly and fully the strange events that have occurred since that momora ble evening in Prince's Gate. I bav been in a whirl ever since. But I have torgotten nothing. Every act, everv thought is indelibly fixed in my mem ory from the moment that I realized my losc. Forget! I shall never foiget that aft ernoon when the American detective brought me the news. What an odd creature he was. Very much overdress ed, with a sort of company manne. voice, which didn't disguise his Yan kee accent or tone down his awful Americanisms. I know now that the poor wretch was honest and straight forward, but I could not get over my repugnance to him at first. And so when we got to the very house and drew quite blank I made up my mind that the man was an arrant impostor. Nothing fell out as he said. "His boy would be on the watch." There was no boy. He was quite cer tain of the house into which Willie had been carried. The police broke in. There was no Willie Wood. The whole thing was humbug. I felt convinced of it and said so, only to re gret it directly after. It could not be quite humbug, or, if it was, Roy, derir Willie's lovely dog, was in it, too, for Roy had certainly smelt him out in the cellar where we found the awful appa ratus and things, and I ought to have known that a dog's instinct is always true. But I was very short with Mr. Snuyzer and left him in a huff. It was a mistake, of course, for it was losing a chance. The man might be useful, and after all he was the only one who. whether the right or the wrong one. had any sort of clew. That was good old Sir Charles Collingham's opinion and Colonel Bannister's, the big offi cial, chief constable or assistant com missioner or something whom the gen eral brought with him to Hill street. found them there eloseted with mothc who had heard all about it from them She was rather in a limp condition, dear mother, having quite failed t* take in the situation and unable to say or suggest anything. The colonelhe was rather a cross looking, middle aged man, with square cut short whiskers and a bristling gray mustachetook me sbwrpu W 2 gate, and an arrow fig ured there with the point toward Lon don: 'Oo'Fcd it roller.n ci JOE They were as plain as print, so was their meaning, and I pointed out the words triurnjsfcantly to Miss Fairholme. "1 knew that boy wouldn't fail me. He's got grit, he has. Some day he'll be able to teach me my business" "I wish he would begin soon,*' said miss peevishly. "It's always the same story. Some day, one day, next day. never. And all this time hepoor Cap tain Woods" With that she gave her pony a smart cut with her thong, and the beast, near ly springing through his collar, started off like a mad thing, with the other mad beast of a dog yelping and screeching and jumping up at his muz zle or trying to bite at his heels. The general also gave me a contemptuous good day and, springing on to h'* "bike" like a boy, went off at a real right down scorching pace after the buggy. I expect that is the last I shall see of her, for she never took a card of mine or asked where she could find me again, and I've fully made up my mind that never so long as I live will I hunt after her. When Joe reappears, as 1 tell vou, gentlemen, I most confidently expect he will at any moment and with important news, so that I can pick up fresh threads, I'll do the next job alone. I don't want no highfalutin young duchesses treating one like dirt, for a true born American citizen is as good as any emperor, let alone a pert minx with ever so pretty a face. We shall see. If there was no better rea son than tne wish to humble her, I mean to see the thing right through to the very end. 4* $* 1 w$