Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1889-05-04

w. Here was q statement that the
schooner Osprey would sail into the har
Dor that evening with cargo of bamboo
fancy wares, crockery, and tea from
China. In some deft way it was also
expected that certain large hogshead,
ostensibly containing lead-foil, but IN
reality filed with opium, would be
landed SO as to evade Government In
spection. This package was to be
spotted, allowed to land, and In nc
case to be seized until it had been
traced to the secret haunt where the
smugglers lived.
II don't like it! murmured Ridgely.
"It's dangerous and unsatisfactory
kind of a case, and it takes my time
and thoughts from the Dayton affair.
At lastr'
With a thrill and start, the detect
i've projected the last words. They
conveyed a marveling token of excite
ment and hope.
For he had happened to read the
last memoranda in the papers given
him by the chief, and its last line was
a wonderful revelation to his excited
mind
"These smugglers, the penciled sent
ence ran" are supposed to have a haunt
down the coast. Lee Kirby and Will
lam Page, noted desperadoes. are act
i've members of the band. It is limited
that the moving spirit and moneyed
hacker is one Percival Aylmer."
"Aylmer!" gasped the startled de-
tective. "Ah! if it is indeed he, it is a
clue at last. All the perils of earth
shall not prevent me reaching that
man, and through him the woman
stolen, bereaved Grace Dayton !"
sQuick! off with the top of the
barrel; out with the opium. We have
no time to lose. Some one may come. :"
It was a little after midnight, and
the scene was a deserted wharf. In
side of it, standing beside a huge,
many-hooped hogshead, 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. I spotted the Osprey as
she sailed into the harbor at dusk. A
hundred rods from the wharf some of
the sailors boldly tipped out this hogs
head. To the inspector aboard they
said that it contained straw and fever
infected bedding, and as it foated
away, and no one paid attention to it,
the inspector believed it"
"And it was this barrel?"
"The same. I was in q yawl 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 at this de-
serted spot, attached hooks, dragged it
into this shed, and went away after Sc
curing the door. I heard them say
that at two o'clock-an hour hence
they would take it to the den. went
for you two. That's all there is in it.
Remove the contents"
"And arrest the men when they
Gomez"
"Not at ALL"
"Eh?"
@No; it's 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 it !"
Yes, that was audacious Walter
Ridgely's scheme. His fellow officer
glowed with admiration at his bravery,
but shook his head obviously.
Done up in paper, then in water
proof cloth, and finally in tinfoil,
pound after pound, package after
package of the smuggled opium was
taken out of the barrel.
All of this was hidden under q. heap
of straw in one corner of the shed.
Then Ridgely got into the hogshead,
the top was secured. In his close
quarters he called out to his COM
panion, as the last nail was driven
home:
Keep us in view, but not too closely,
so as to arouse suspicion, and do not
act till signal by whistle"
"An right" Then silence and dark
ness, for Ridgely's assistant and the
guard had left the vicinity of the shed.
Ridgely had just completed cutting
an air-hole through a stave, when
wagon wheels sounded outside.
Through the small orifce he had
made he could make out two roughly
dressed men. They jolted him ter
ribly as they proceeded to roll the
hogshead out of the door, up a plank,
and into wagon. Then one took up
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 a mile or two of deserted
city streets, struck off for the suburbs,
and finally threaded a 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 out a
kind of rambling cabin, and beyond it
what seemed boarded-up cave.