The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-04-03

MIN DN lne cnlel, anu llS luSb line WIS
wonderful revelation to his excited
mind.
These smugglers, the penciled sent
ence ran" are supposed to have haunt
down the coast. Lee Kirby and Will
lam Page, noted desperadoes, are act
i've members of the band. 1t is limited
that the moving spirit and moneyed
hacker is one Percival Aylmer."
"Aylmerl" gasped the startled de-
tective. "Ah! if it is indeed he, it is
clue at last. All the perils of earth
shall not prevent me reaching that
man, and through him the woman /
loye-stolen, bereaved Grace Dayton"
"Quick! off with the top of the
barrel out with the opium. We have
no time TO lose. Some one may come"
1t was 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. L 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? 2"
"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. l 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 struggled opium was
taken out of the barrel.
All of this was hidden under n 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"
All 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 orifice 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 plank,
and into a 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 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
kind of rambling cabin, and beyond it
what seemed boarded-up cave.
Several desperate-loolling men came
out and regarded the hogshead crit
cally. Then it was rolled through the
doorway of the boarded-up cave, and
then four weary hours went by for the
cooped-in Ridgely.
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
cavern a mule. Across its back were
strung two enormous baskets, such as
are used in South America to convey
merchandise.
There you are, Aylmer," spoke this
man, ito order, as you wanted it, You're
going to great bother, it seems to me,
to get out of the district. Why not go
boldly, without all this trouble?"
II dare take no risks" was the re-
ply. "This is the best way. You
know the information we haye-that
the detectives have located us. If this
is so, may have difficulty in reaching
Villavosa, even disguised as / am You
attend to affairs here try to get what
goods We have TO Villavosa. Once safe
with the girl there, we'll lie low until