The San Francisco call., 1896-04-19

II the pursuit of his enterprise on this
certain night Joseph Queltin, known
variously as French Joe, Backdoor
Frenchy, Scar-face Joe, and the like,
was confronted with the disagreeable
necessity of strangling his victim. This
was because Mr.. Martin, in spite OF the
burglars matchless skill as silent opera
tor. happened to be sleeping in an unaccus-
toned room and was uncommonly wake
full. As he was rather delicate man
Joe, who was possessed of prodigious
strength, found the task not at all diff
cult, though none the less dstasteful for
that. 1t requires more ferocity to choke
the life out OF human being than is COM
patible with the deft skill of burglar so
accomplished as Queltin. but when driven
to murder as the alternative of an outcry,
a struggle and possible discovery he did
not hesitate a moment. At the instant
when, after turning the key of Mr.. Mar
tins hall door with an "outsider," he
entered and the victim awoke, he shot
open the slide of his dark-lantern, so as
for second to draw Mr.. Martins atten-
ton from his real danger to the broad
circle of light which the lantern threw
upon the opposite wall. and then sprang
to the bed in the shadow and sank ten
trusty fingers and thumbs into a warm,
yielding throat. 1t was all over in min
ute or two.
Then the burglar, with anything but a
cheerful heart and with many a nervous
glance toward the silence that hurdened
the bed and filled the whole cham Der with
its weight, proceeded about his business
He had done so much fine preliminary
work on the case, and had planned the
affair with so great care that the surprise
which had forced him into tragedy had
weakened the security of his nerve.
He shivered as he glanced over his
shoulder toward the bed with its awful
load of silence.
Don't suppose there's another man in
my profession that could have got on to
this sly old duck with his rubies and dia-
monds that he brought from India. That's
because the lad don't understand the trick
OF watching the faces of people when the
customs officers put 'em through at the
dock.
Good thing that beastlv monkey that
he brought was sly enough to do the
smuggling while the officers was thinking
about the man. Good thing for me, too,
that the beast didn't hear nothing 1ust
now, or he might be screeching.'
In spite of this semi-cheerful mono
logue, pursued while a trunk and the
drawers of bureau were yielding up from
their remoter corners a sparkling diamond
here and glowing ruby there, Queltin
was under tremendous nervous strain.
The commission of murder in the course
OF burglary is not only unprofessional
and evidence of a blundering skill in an
exquisite art, but the silence that follows
Is aggressive, biting and terrifying. The
burglar nerves were on so hard strain
that when the closed door standing within
the circle OF light thrown by the dark lam
tern was suddenly opened and a formid-
able figure slouched clumsily over the
threshold, the burglar with a smothered
gasp snatched a sitting mask from his
face with his left hand, drew long thin
bladed knife with his right and sprang
back into an attitude of defense 1t
seemed to him that in this one moment of
terror his heart would burst,
But 1t was only for moment. In the
next instant he recognized the lodger's aid
IN the smuggling enterprise-a splendid
specimen OF the male orang-outang. five
feet in height, and though of enormous
strength, an lndoient and docile beast. 1t
was not alone the opening of the door that
had alarmed the burglar; the giant ape,
eye that blaZed at him from the
darK-lantern on the bureau had as
Sumed instinctively menaclng atti
tude toward it, ignorant as yet of the
more formidable presence that croucbed
behind the lantern in the darkness and
with drawn knife awaited assault. The
ape soon realized that what ne saw was
not dangerous, and then he yawned.
blinked sleepily and began to look idly
about the room.
From terror the situation of Queltin
quickly degenerated into that of half
amused perplexity. Would the beast, see
ing his master lying so quiet on the bed
retire peacefully !? Would he suspect any
thing from the disordered condition of the
bed-cloIhing, or from his masters disor-
SanlZed aspect, or from his silence or the
prevalent evidences of confusion in the
room2 Could he smell strange man? If
he discovered sthe truth would ne run, cry
out or fight?
The orang, unlike his anthropoid con-
geners, is slow and deliberate in domes-
ticatlon, seeming to have more thinking
than anything else to do. This one,
called by his master Kahmo, seemed
old, Tor he was growing gray. carried
considerable flesh and was awkward
in gait. The heavy projection of his
orbltal arches and their furnishing of
rebeilious hair, taken with the expanse
OF his jaw and the sinister smallness of his
ears. gave hlm ferocious look, which
the bland expression of his eyes was in
sufficient to tame. His grotesauely long
arms, reaching below his knees, had a
suggestive restlessness that contrasted
oddly with the blankress of his face and
the clunfsiness of his body and lower
limbs.
Having yawned. blinked and glanced
idly about the room the ape, too indoient
and sleepy to move further ;peered at his
masters bed, which lay in sem-darkness. |
AS he did so his manner became more at
tentive. He cooked his. head on this side
and that, listening. Meanwhile he had
succumbed into sitting posture, his