Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1889-05-11

a wonderful revelation TO his excited
mind.
These smugRlers, the renciled sent
ence ran, are supposed to have haunt
down the coast. Lee Kirby and Will
lam Page, noted dcsperadres. are act
i've members of the band. 1t is limited
that the moving spirit aud moncved
hacker is one Percival Aylmer"
"Aylmer" gaspcd the startled de-
tective. All! if it is indeed he. it is
clue at last. All the pelils of earth
shall not prevent me reaching that
man, and through him the woman |
lovc-stolcn, bereaycd Grace DAYTON :"
Quick off with the top of the
barrel; ont with the opium. We have
no time to lose. Some one may come"
1t was a little after midnight, and
the scene was a deserted wharf. In
side of it, standing beside a huge,
many-hooped hOgshcad, was Walter
Ridgely; near him, hammer and chisel
in hand, fellow detective. and Just at
the door, closely watching the wharf
and the street leading to it, was third
member of the agency.
How did You come to work it,
Ridgely?" asked the man with the
hammer, as he ripped off the top hoop.
Easily, [ spotted the Osprey rs
she sailed into the harbor at dusk. A
hundred rods from the wharf some of
the sailors boldly tipped out this hogs
head. 70 the inspector aboard they
said that it contained straw and fever
infected bedding, and as it tloated
away, and no one paid attention to it,
the inspector believed it.
And it was this barrel"
The same. was in vawl and
followed in the wake of the hogshead.
About two hundred yards down stream
two men in small boat were waiting
for it. They drew it ashore, Mt this de
serted spot, attached hooks, dragged it
into this shed, and went away after Sc
curing the door. l heard them say
that at two o'clock hour hence
they would take il 20 the den. went
for You two. That's all there is in it.
Remove the contents.
And arrest the men when they
come
Not at al.
En-"
No; is their haunt we are anx-
ious to locate. Remove the opium. if
opium it is, and hoop the barrel up
again.
Il don't understand
And me inside Of il >"
les, that was au,lnci"us Walter
RidgelN's scheme. His fellow officer
gIow.d with admiration al his bravery.
but shook his head obviously.
D"te np in paper, then in water
proof cloth. and finally in tinfoil.
lunnd after pound package after
package ri ille smugglcd opium was
taken ont OF the barrel
All Of hi, was hidden under heap
III straw IL ON" corner OF the shed.
Ihcu Eidg"ly got into the hogshead.
the top was secured. IN his close
uGullrls he called ont TO his com
panion. a. til" last nail was driven
home
Keen Us in view, hut not too closely,
50 rs 10 arouse suspicion. and do not
act till I signal Ivy whistle.
"All right" Then silence and dark
ness, for RilGelyS assistant and the
guard had left the vicinity Of the she'd
Ridgelv had Just completed cutting
an air-hole through .stave, when
wagon wheels sounded outside.
Through the small orificc he had
made he could make ont two roughly
dressed men. They ioltcd him ter
ribly as they proceeded to roll the
hogshead out Of the door, up a plank,
and into wagon. Then one took mp
the lines, the other sat ON the barrel
as if to watch if they were being fol
lowed, and the vehicle started up.
1t traversed mile or two of deserted
city streets, struck off for the suburbs,
and finally threaded Il lonely thorough
fare leading south down the coast.
Day was advanced many hours when
the wagon halted. The detective, glanc,
ing through the aperture. made ont a
kind of rambling cabin, and beyond it
what seemed a hoarded-up cave
Several deSperate-looking men came
ont and regarded the hogshead criti
caliy. Then it was rolled through the
doorway of the boarled-up cave, and
then four weary hours went by for the
cooped-in Ridgcly.
Voices sounded on his hearing at
last. CHANGING forth, the detective
saw two men. One of them had driven
from some dark compartment of the
strung two enormous baskets. such as
81" used in South America to convey
merchandise.