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iff^Fm^\ OUR *& & fi^v Mjj*j tS* i"C*^^f auto had gone dead after striking a great loose paving block. The chauffeur "was busy ing himself getting the machine into ishape again. Resilius Marvel could jbrook necessary delay, but it was his jcharacteristic never to sit placidly by iwith folded hands. He had estimated a stoppage of some continuance, had leaped from the vehicle, and asked for my company with a brief glance. It was a quaint part of the great {city, remembered by old settlers only. lOnce the narrow winding street, ex pending only two blocks, had been res idential. Business had reached and iswuug over and fallen into the des uetude of rag warehouses and storage cellars. Some of the rickety old-fash ioned structures had gone to decay land disuse. We strolled along the istone walk, cracked and irregular, twhile my friend descanted on the gild jed past of those old tottering man sions. It was sudden, startling, tragicthe icry, the'call, the appeal that abruptly irang out upon that dull afternoon air. |The near hum of business activity did ot soften or dash it out. Marvel came a sharp halt and I followed his ex laoiple. Those keen eyes of his gave one comprehensive sweep of what lay opposite us. Mine followed the indi cation of his own, roved across the igray house fronts and rested on the (third story, where every sash was boarded up or out of place. "For the love of heavenoh, some one come into the house!" Those were the words, uttered in weird, thrilling accents. Time, place and the speaker, a fair young girl, har monized with a suggestion of the in tense and dramatic. She was framed Ivividly against the dark background iof the vacant room, one hand support ling her against the rotting window (frame. She wavered as though she Iwould fall over the low reaching case ment into the street. Her face was jwhite as marble, her eyes stricken with Isonie fearful emotion of horror or ex citement. She saw us, and her cry (was meant for us. I noted Resilius Marvel incline that Ishrcwd face of his as though striving |to peer into a mystery, his keen pro fessional instincts at once aroused. He was as a man before whom the end jof a puzzle had been cast, with a chal lenge for expert elucidation. His fea tures instantly assumed a certain jgrimness, as if he discerned menace !in the situation, urgency, perchance peril. "Come," he said simply, quickly, and started to cross the stieet, but a shriek, ringing, far-echoiug, curdling 'half halted him. Together we noted la shai-p turn to the episode, blotting out what had materialized so sudden ly. From behind the wavering girlish form a pair of arms extended. They iwere sinuous, though stalwart, and tfull silken vestments enclosed them. They encircled the shrieking girl and drew her back, one of them muffling her face in the folds of a fleecy, bil lowy scarf that, with the garb of the new actor in the momentary drama, gave an oriental tinge to' the situation. There was blankness then where there had been animation. Travesty, drama or tragedy, the curtain was down and the act ended. I wondered what Marvel would do next. His sure definite leap over the cobblestones en lightened me. He reached the oppo site pavement, made a rush, and as his powerful body came like a battering ram against the closed door guarding the old wreck of a rookery, it Hew from its hinges like a barrier of straw. The dull afternoon light of day pen etrated a long passageway feebly, and beyond was gloom. There was a flash as we reached a shaking, uncertain stairway. My friend had brought out his portable electric tube. I followed It and himself, guided by the shifting focus point that showed splintered treads fast rotting away. We reached a landing. A frail door guurded the second flight. It was unlocked, how ever, and yielded to a touch. At the top of the stairway we came into a huge room. It held the open window space at which the girl, now so mys teriously vanished, had appeared to our vision for the space of a few mo ments. As Marvel passed I saw him stoop. It was to pick up a crumpled piece of paper. Then, his eyes fixed on the floor, he traced a track in the accumulated dust of years, showing where trailing garments had made a broad plain mark. There was an open door at the end of the long room. It led out upon a platform which spanned an alley. Iieading from the platform was a rick ety flight of narrow stairs. As we glanced over the railing we saw a fe male form just leaping from the lower step. As she turned to run down the alley towards the next street she turned slightly. "The same girl," observed Marvel sententiously. "Yes," I assented, noting that her hand was held closely across her chest 31nd that she tottered as she ran, evi dently on the verge of collapse from nervous excitement. saw Marvel make a movement to dash after her. Then he saw it was 1 10 late. At the mouth of the alley SvvXMi an automobile, evidently in wait- "S''' The Protector of Finance Tales of Resilius Marvel, Guardian of Bank Treasure By WELDON J. COBB I Copyright, W. O. (chapman ing for the girl. She fairly fell into its seat as she pulled herself up the step, the urgency with which the chauffeur acted telling that she had given him some speedy directions. The machine flitted out of view with a whisk, but not until my companion had applied a glass to his eye with the words: "You are good at figuresremember 21342%." Then sententiously: "Our work is here, if it is really our work," and crossed the platform. A lowered door guarded the structure facing on the next street. It had an "iron handle, and a mere pressure upon this Sent the metal barrier on pulley chains to the ceiling. As we stepped across the grooved threshold of the door, through some delicate adjustment of weight, closed after us. I was not given to exhibitions of surprise or unguarded utterances in the presence of the imperturbable Marvel. What we now faced, how ever, astounded me, and I noted plain ly that he shared my emotions. It was like a step from squalor into splen dor, from gaunt barrenness into the gleam of oriental grandeur. "We had entered a large room heayily hung with tapestries, even to the ceiling, that must have cost a fortune. A heavy velvet carpet made our foot steps noiseless. In the center of the room was a raised dais. In front of this burned a varicolored lamp cover ed with the precious metals and rare and costly jewels. A globe giving out a soft girasole glow flooded the apart ment with a mystic radiance, while the incense-laden air enhanced a cer tain dreamy effect that lulled the sen ses and suggested' the rare inner tem ple of some shrine of the Indus. The dais supported a throne, backed by a wondrous statue carved from ebony or lignumvitae, representing a goddess perfect of frame and feature. All around the room were cushions fashioned of rose silk, and before each was a prayer rug. "A translation to the antipodes," re marked Resilius Marvel, and for all the cautious subjugation of his tone, I traced the faint echo of a scoff. "Let us explore to a practical end. This layout had no legitimate promise In the heart of an American city. It is here with a purposewe will find out what. With the audacity of a man not un used to penetrating where he chose when in the line of duty, my friend led the way across the apartment and pushed aside the heavy drapery at its far end. An antecorridor contin ued the suite. It was as elaborately iurnished as the main apartment we had just traversed. No denizen of the strange place had as yet come into evi dence, but as we entered a third apart ment we came upon a man hastily rearranging a disordered attire. Judging from his flustered manner and the full sleeved silken robe he wore, he was the owner of the pair of arms that we had seen thrust back the girl from the window. Then, too, at his waist the man had stuffed into his belt the fluffy veil or scarf which he had used as a gag to silence that heart-stricken cry: "Oh, some one come into this house!" The man was dark as the ebony statue in the first room we had en tered. Instantly, as the shadow of Marvel fell across his range of* vision, he was erect, his arms folded, his at titude brash and challenging. My friend had kept straight on as if to pass the draperies behind this arbi trary sentinel. Before the apparent entrance to another apartment the lat ter sprang, his arm outstretched. "Banalbanal!" he croaked shrilly "no!" "I say, yes," observer Marvel con temptuously, and he placed his hand across the arm of the man and caught at the rich hanging. The entire drapery was suddenly wrenched out of his reach, the servitor fell to hands and knees muttering some cabalistic jargon and then crept out of the way, and we sawNirvasa. We did not know her then by that name it came later but I was awed and breathless as, like some splendid apparition, a being in the full bloom of lovely womanliness faced us. She stood near a gilt stand on which* rest ed a crystal globe. She was peerless in her dress purely oriental, a seem ing Indian princess. Slightly dark, her face had an indescribable glow, rather that of the richest rose than delicate and clear. Her eyes were deep set, but sparkling, enthralling, inviting. She smiled upon us, divesting her welcome of every tinge of awkward ness, her attributes of any effort to impress and mystify. One flashing glance froom those intelligent eyes seemed to envelope and consume us. And then, to my sublime astonishment she said, with steely self poise and without a shade of hesitation: "Mr. Resilius Marvel, I am hon- ored." If she had not made the recognition, less speedily would my expert friend have pierced the travesty. If she knew him it was no necromatic pow ershe must be of the class who make it a study to know tfiose whom they select as prey, those whom they fear as masters. THE TOMAHAWK WHITE EAR^H, MINM I had noticed that Marvel's compre hensive glance had swept the room keenly. His eyes were most attract ed by a chart behind the gilt table. It was a complex chart with tracings of suns, moons, crescents and stars upon its surface, heiroglyphic charac ters and tables. "A life chart," observed Marvel, fix ing his glance now on the oracle of the place. "A seance chamber of Mahamat," re plied the lady promptly, but dimming any boastfulness by maintaining that even, complacent smile. "Ah, yes," remarked Marvel"clair voyant." "Mystic," corrected my lady. "You are better informed than the police, then," retorted my friend in cisively. A pretty dismay wrinkled the fore head of the woman. She made an expressive movement with her hands to express helplessness. Then those liquid eyes took to their depths a pretty, pleading power. "It is unfortunate that you accept so much on hearsay," she said softly. "You are the final. I wish I had your good opinion. Will you let me try and gain it?I would have no secrets from you. I am no impostoi. I com from the Himalayas, the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter in verity. I profess to tell no fortunes, but some day, with time given, I may be able to show even Resilius Marvel that there is a coherency and potency to some of my claims." My friend was silent. There was a slight curl of disbelief on his lip as the lady placed her dainty hand on the crystal globe. "I have explored crystal reading," he said finally. "I was more fortunate than one of your clientsan old farm er who lost several thousands between here and his home." Nirvasa shrugged her graceful shoul ders and looked grieved and friend less. Then she swept aside the dra peries behind her. We entered a large square room. Again amazement. old," purred the tones of Nirvasa. "T have the proofs. He is the gold mak er. A wonderful power, but lacking still some ingredient to make Ins knowledge so complete that the touch of a wand would turn clay into bright, shining bullion. To leave his native mountains and breathe this tainted air would mean death. We dare not re move him for any length of time from the artificial air generated in those tanks. I will show you." I watched with interest as the lady tapped on a hinged section of the glass globe, opened it and spoke to the oldest man in the world. He reached out and took up a crucible, placing something within it, and hand ed it to Nirvasa. "It is coal," she said, and Marvel deigned to examine and agree. The man in the globe handed out next a tiny phial. "It is distilled vapor from his sole discovery, the gold rooot of Brahmaputra?' she said further. "Pour it in. Comesee." She moved the retort across a met al plate, turned on an acetylene jet, and surrounded it all with a metal drum. There was a hissing sound. She turned off the gas, with the aid of a pair of tongs immersed the cru cible in a jar of water, and poured out upon a marble slab a jagged nugget. "Accept as a souvenir, Mr. Marvel," she said in ^a low, winning tone. "You will find it of superfine quality." "Doubtless," acceded my friend dry ly. "I see your planthe genuine ar ticles in equipment to cater to your mysteryloving clients, and I suppose, a new religious fad to sustain all the accessories? I am not interested, as I did not come as a seeker after mys tic revelations. I came by an unac customed waythe rear, and I am here to learn the occasion of an almost tragic outburst from the young lady who was removed so suddenly by your servitor." "Oh, yes," smiled Nirvasa, as tran quilly as if the simplest, most or dinary statement in the world had been made. "The young lady was 1 HAVE EXPLORED CRYSTAL READING.'tiE SAID FINALLY. There was a beaten circle all around the rug covering the floor. A man, a Hindu, lightly garbed, thin to the point of attenuation, was slow ly, regularly turning somersaults. In the corner of the room seated before a blackboard was a Sepoy youth. He had a piece of chalk in his hand, and at every overturn of the wiry acrobat he would Chalk a number on the board, obliterating its predecessor. There were five figures in the chron icle, and he would name them in a drowsy, sing-song way each time he wrote a record. "Asoll Ben," explained our guide. "He is paying a penance to release the soul of a sinful fatherone hun dred thousand somersaults. It was to have been along the Delhi road, but he joined my party and Is complet ing his eighty odd thousand evolution here on the path to clearing the score. "Abou Hamed," she continued, lift ing a curtain and showing a couch covered with tiger skins upon which lay curled a small dwarfed man. "He is of the highest theosophic circle ^wice returned to earth. "The oldest man in the world Djalmn." She had proceeded like some lectur er exhibiting his menagerie. As she swept aside a final drapery the last and most remarkable disclosure greet ed us. In the center of a room resembling a laboratory was balloon-shaped globe of glass. It was about ten feet high and broad enough to contain inside a chair, a table ad a man. From sev eral Iron tanks there ran rubber pipes to this giant retort. "The oldest man in the world," Nir vasa had saidand it seemed possible. Inside the glass globe, reclining and engrossed in a time-worn tone bound in ivory, was the strangest human being I had ever seen. His skin was like yellow parchment His frame seemed ossified. He had hair and a beard of faded white sweeping to his waist. His hands were like claws, his face beak-Uke. Only his eyes were alivethey gleamed like two sparks of electric fire. "He is Djalma Khi, the alchemist, and nearly one hundred and fifty years quieted and sent home. She is one of those impressionable beings w*ho go easily into hystericsyou had an ex hibition of it." "And something more," replied Mar vin sternly"the number of the auto mobile that conveyed her away from here." I saw Nirvasa wince. For a mo ment her audacity was daunted. But only for a moment. "I do not know her name," she said, "but I can help you further, Mr. Mar vel. She lives at the Glenda'le apart ments." "Thank you," said Ttesilius Marvel, if surprised not showing it, and my lady led us through an intricate va riety of corridors and apartments un til we reached the front of the building and turned us over to a tawny-skinned servitor in costume. Still smiling, still radiantly, beautiful, still unruffled, Nirvasa bowedas from that remark able haunt of mystery. From the manner of the high priest ess of what I considered to be a tem ple of chicanery, and the way in which Marvel treated the proposition, I was satisfied in my own mind that the woman Nirvasa was one of the many clairvoyants and mystics who made it a business to catch the unwary and credulous. We regained our machine without Marvel saying a word. He was silent and thoughtful until we reached the office of the United Bank ers* Protective association. He waved me to a seat, went to a bookcase, se lected a scrapbook, opened it at a certain page, placed the volume before me and went to the telephone. Within five minutes I had perused several old newspaper articles telling of Nirvasa. She was a shrewd adven turess, successful amid oriental occult surroundings. She had been mixed up in several cases where her .clair voyancy had gained the confidence of clients, and she had induced them to invest in worthless stocks and bonds owned by outside confederates. The Oldest Man in the World was really a patriarchal Individual, and had once been one of the living curiosities of a big traveling circus outfit. Nirvasa was a grade above the average for tune teller. She really possessed a **$.*** *i^ fair clairvoyant power. At one city she had established a' cult, had collect ed several thousands of dollars, and then with her combination had faded away. Resilius Marvel came to me just as I had concluded my interesting read ing. He held two pieces of paper in his hands. They were crumpled frag ments 'straightened out, and I knew represented the little wad of paper I had seen him pick up at the window where we had seen the girl. "Look that over," he said. A new zest of inteiest came 'nto the strange case. Torn crosswise, the two fragments comprised a check for $20,- 000, signed "Ainslee Druse," "Garnet Druse." It was drawn on our bank. "Do you know them?" asked Mar vel. "I know the account well," I replied, lost in surprise and augury "I know Ainslee Druse by sight. This isfair ly remarkable." "It gives us plain sailing for a bit,", declared Marvel in his businesslike way. "I have been busy at the tele phone. Nirvasa told the truth the girl we saw, or at least one answering to her description, lives at the Glendale apartments, and her name is Garnet Druse." "That is the sister of Ainslee Druse," I volunteered. "If you will give me ten minutes. I may be able to dig up something at the bank." "Go ahead," said Marvel simply. I came back with some real infor mation. The Druses, brother and sis ter, were children of the Hon. Amos Druse, now abroad. We had carried two family accounts. One was in the name of Ainslee Druse, originally $40,- 000, drawn down in solid amounts through sixty Mays, and a last check presented twd%ays previous, thrown out"N. S. P." "Not sufficient funds, eh?" translat ed Marvel. "And the other account?" "Joint checks honored only on de posit of Amos Druse when bearing sig nature of both brother and sister." "Good for the face of that check?" "Yes, and four times over," I re plied. "There is something queer about this affair," I submitted. "The paying teller says the withdrawal of such substantial amounts caused him to notice Ainslee Druse. He knows him slightly in a social way. Says he has been hurried, excited, dopy by turns when he came to draw money of late." "We will go to the Glendale apart ments," announced my friend abruptly. It was only through determined per sistency that Marvel was able to at last prevail upon Miss Garnet Druse, through her maid, to admit us. Every thing bespoke refinement as we en tered a room where sat a frail delicate girl whose face and manner bespoke wistful gentleness that appeared to both of us. Her face was pale, her bosom heaving, her eyes expressed a hunted dread. She had not yet re covered from the great strain of the episode to which we had been a wit ness. "Miss Druse," spoke my friend, "I am Resilius Marvel of the United Bankers' Protective association. This gentleman," and he indicated myself, "is the private secretary of the bank upon which that check is drawn. Our mission is confidential and we ask an explanation that will be entirely help ful to you." For a moment the fair young crea ture gazed at us as if her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth and the life currents turned to ice. Then her head sank upon her arms outstretched on the table before her. She uttered two despairing, heart-rending words: "Save us!" I noted the humane, sympathetic face of my friend soften. He made a quick motion to me which I under stood and I passed into the next room, leaving the two alone. As I stood at the windows looking out into the street I could catch the echo of the tones of Marvellow, persuasive, al most fatherly. Finally, broken, sob bing intonations mingled, the current of words became more steady. At the end of half an hour when my friend rejoined me, I knew that master mind of his had prevailed over the shrink ing, fearsome mood of the beautiful girl, stricken with the weight of some dread secret, and had Conquered the clouded situation. Now it was dear as crystal. Ainslee Druse, sanguine, lightly balanced, invested with liberal wealth for the first time in his life, had stray ed to the seance chamber of the Nir vasa. Her fascination, it appeared, had less to do with his constant visits than her specious influence in making him believe that through a judicious investmenf he could assist The Oldest Man in the World to develop and mature his ability to manufacture gold from waste substances. Nirvasa had evidently secretly given him some sub tle elixir under the guise of a rare In dian wine that had completed his sub jugation. He had revelled in a fool's paradise. His sister had discovered in part his infatuation. She had followed him that day to the home of Nirvasa, to see him give the check to the wom an upon which her name was forged. She had broken in upon them, seized the check, and the end of her wild flight we knew. "Miss Druse will strive to find her brother through friends tonight and send us word tomorrow," explained Marvel. "She has begged me to allow her to make this effort,' which she hopes will succeed, so that no scan dal may result.'* A hurry call reached me at the bank just after the directors' meeting the next morning. It was from Resilius Marvel and requested my immediate presence. I was at tois office in a few minutes. I noticed In his inner office the flutter of a white Handkerchief. My *v *Wtf. friend closed the door as I entered tha room. "It is Miss Druse," he said to me at once. "A new complication has arisen in the case. I hope and believe I have acted in time. I want you to go some where with me." I knew where it was, after he had held a brief consultation with his vis itor. It appeared that Miss Druse had come to his office less than half an hour previous in a great state of ex citement and alarm. She had been unable to find her brother, and a thought had come to her mind that had driven her to ccwe downtown ear'y in the morning to visit the saiety de posit vault where the plate/ jewelry and family papers of the estate were kept. Only she and her brother held keys to the section where these val uables were. She had made an appall ing discovery. Family diamonds con tained in a chamois bag to the value of over $100,000, most oi them former ly the property of her dead mother, were missing. Foiled in securing capi tal for his mad scheme of wealth, Ainslee Druse had secured the jewels. They were doubtless by this time in the possession of the conspirators. "I have had two men acting on or ders at the seance studio since last evening," reported Marvel as we spun along toward our destination. "There is my man now," he added as, reach ing the front of the building we had so strangely visited the day previous, a prim, severe-faced individual came to the side of the machine. "We have detained the lady," re ported this ally of Resilius Marvel. "At midnight we saw the crowd had taken alarm and were bent on flight. You left open orders, and I acted on my best judgment." "Very good." "No sign of the young man you de scribed. We were careless about the general crowd, but only one or two of them made off." "Take me to the lady," directed Marvel. We found Nirvasa pacing to and frc* in a room off from the apartment where we had first seen Djalma. She feigned coolness and her wanton smilo gleamed as we entered the apartment Very briefly, ve/y sternly, Marvel de manded a knowledge of the where abouts' of Ainslee Druse. "I do not know," she averred. "His dealings have been with Djalma ex clusively." "Some valuable diamonds are miss- ing," proceeded Marvel. "They must be restoredmust do you under stand? As to your deposit in a local bank, an embargo has been placed upon that until you have accounted for the $40,000 of which you have divested in your latest dupe." "You seem to know a good deal,'* said the woman, with her serpentine smile. "I know enough to detain you at leisure for a long time," stated Mar Tel with sternness. "Come, I wish to see this Djalma Khi." "It is useless." "And why?" "He is dead. In arranging to re move him one of the men tipped a piece of furniture against the glass globe. The supply of gas was cut off. He died within the hour. We stepped into the next room. Nir vasa had spoken the truth. The great glass case lay in brittle ruins on the floor of the room. Two of the servi tors were lifting the poor remains of The Oldest Man In The World into a long cedar box. "I have only one request to make, Mr. Marvel," spoke the woman gravely. "And what is that?" demanded Mar vel. "You jeer at my calling and its ac cessories, but at least this old man was genuine and consistent. I am Hindu enough to respect a sacred pledge, whatever charge you may bring against me, I will stand the penalty. As to the victim of an unfortunate ac cident, poor Djalma, I ask you to let his remains be shipped to a relative of his who is a member of a Hindu colony in the east. They will send his body back to his native land, a fam ily responsibility they treasure and revere." "Perhaps," said Marvel, steadily looking into the woman's eyes"after an inquest." Nirvasa started as if a scorpion had stung her. Dismay, disappointment, defeat were evinced in her features. She bit her lip and trembled with sup pressed rage. "Stand aside," ordered Maryel' to the two servitors. He pushed them away, and I saw him grope within the cedar chest and his hands move ,all about the wasted body of Djalma Khi. "I thought so," he observed quietly, drawing from under the black, silken funeral robe of The Oldest Man In The World a little chamois bag. "When I have verified these jewels," he said to Nirvasa, "and the $40,000 and Ainslee Druse have materialized, you and your mountebank accomplices are free to seek new fields of business activity, and we are quits." We traced Ainslee Druse to a near city, where the seance woman had sent him to get rid of him while she and her fellow birds of ill omen made a swift flitting. She bought her free dom by returning the money she had duped out of the sallow youth, who fully understood his past peril when the efforts of the subtle poison Jflr* vasa had given him departed and bis dulled brain was cleared. The remarkable man, the indomita ble Resilius Marvel, placed hie tomary record of the case of The 014- est Man In The World among the pe cret archives of the United Banke*s* Protective Association, accepted the heartfelt gratitude of Garnet Druse as the one fair element In the gruesomo case, and passed on to new endeavors in his expert professional line of duty 4 3* *r 1 S