Louisiana capitolian., 1880-02-14

rapid gestures, which Varnoe inter-
preted as rapidly, meaning: ~ do not
like this Southern chap; l must know
more about him. He may be spy!"
To which the Major replied, in the
same language7 ''You are mistaken;
he is just what he represents himself
to be-"
"This fellow mistrusts me- thought
Vornoe. 81 must remove that slls-
picion as speedily as possible, if |
wish to succeed in this enterprise"
He treated them all after the in
PRODUCTION, and played Ills assumed
part so we'll before the hour for re-
firing, that the suspicious Burns
himself became an attentive listener
to the entertaining conversation Of
Gus Fabian; the New Orleans gent.
The apartment assigned to the
detective was small square room on
the third floor, back, which COM
municated with another apartment !:
but the door leading to the other
room was locked on the other side,
and dhad a stout boltin Varnoe's room,
us was the case with the door through
which he had entered.
An unobservingperson or unsuspic-
ious one, would have retired with the
assurance that he would be perfectly
secure from intrusion while he slept.
But not so with the ever-vigilant
detective. He saw Pete Burns
telegraph to the Major, while taking
their final drink, to "dose" Fabian,
and Varnoe succeeded in disposiDg
of this last drink in a manner which
completely deceived them all not
one Of them suspecting that the
handkerchief, with which he pretend
ed to wipe his mouth, had a fine
sponge concealed beneath ITS folds,
and which received the "dose" instead
of Varnoe's stomach.
Before he turned off the gas, when
he retired to his room, he carefully
examined the door, for he felt conf
dent that it contained u secret panel
through which Burns intended to
creep after the "dose" had taken
effect, and probably examine his
effects, in order to discover if anything
suspicious could be found among
them.
He was not mistaken. He dis
covered unmistakable indications of
a secret panel, and two hours after he
had retired, and was breathing like
one in a deep sleep, the panel was
noiselessly drawn aside and a faint
light slone into his room.
Still keeping up the semblance Of
sleeping profoundly, he coyertly
watched the movements of the
intruder, and recognized Pete Burns.
He gently removed the ''sleepcr's''
pants, coat, vest, hat and boots. and
passed them noiselcssly through the
orifce, when another person, (the
Major, doubtless) took them from
him. Then Burns passed also through
into the other apartment, when the
panel glided noiselessly back into its
place, leaving Varnoe's room perfectly
dark.
"Cautious, Pete," thought the de-
tective, with an inward chuckle, "yOu
little suspect that l have 'dosed' my
| effects, especially for such prying
fellows as YOURSELF" which was in
deed the truth. Everything calcula.
ted to lead to suspicion as to his real
character, was left at the Globe hotel,
locked in a safe. And everything
about his person, at the Majors sa-
loon, was in conformity with the
character he had assumed.
Now let us see what Pete Burns
found among the effects thus surrep-
tionsly obtaxoed:
A wallet containing ten or fifteen
dollars, a watch and chain Of no par
ticular value, a revolver, notebook
containing items Of various sums
borrowed, ii. e. stolen from different
individuals) mostly in New Orleans,
but in two or three instances in New
York. These New York loans, Of
course, were the latest insertions i'll
the book.
Bnt IL letter found in secret pock-
ct Of the coat, probably was of more
interest to the doubling Pete thar
both money and watch together, fol
it was not his intention to retain an,
of the etfects-merely to examine
them. This letter bore date, tw'
weeks previous, and ran thus:
Dear G,,s-I am no glad that you reached Ne,
York without any msllap. That watch am
chain affair of Col. Hassinger created quite stil
especially when you failed to appear as you ha
promised to do You must keep away from tin
city for good, l fear, as your real character !
more than suspected, and even | am looked upO
with suspicion Write soon again.
Ever your own, ChloilLDk
Half an hour Afterwards his effect
were replaced exactly as they wer
found, and next morning both Pet
and Major greeted him with great cor
diality. The letter evidently quit
hoodwinked Burns, and he now re
garded Gus Fabian as a contrere.
After some conversation and deli
cious breakfast, Burns departed, hav
ing sorae business to attend to, he Oh
served, winking slyly as he went out
Several customers coming in en-
gagged the attention of the host, leav
ing Varnoe at leisure to study on
plans for his future movements. H
wondered whether his Jim and Jil
Benson were identical. He suspecte
not, for this Benson did not appea
like a person who possessed the quail
tiles requisite for successful burglar
he looked more sneak thief, accord
ing to Varnoe's judgment, and h
judged him correctly, as he subst
quently discovered.
While the Major was still benin
the bar, a handsome woman OF abOu