The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-12-13

holding 10 TO tho end d tD6 young mans
|. cigar. "a bird in h1Ad, you know.
is worth two On the rGof, a. the Ger
mans put IT. -.
Ralph nodded.
1.-THE only thing that puzzles me-"
he said, lis my arrest. 1t is iuoongru-
GUS I am the stone that spoils the
mosaic. I ought not to be in it, but it
seems that am. Hendricks, l have
had queer sort Of admiration for you
in tho past, but have never thought
you could be stupid enough to arrest
tho wrong man under any circum-
stances. If you don't unchain me before
explain. you shall cease to be my ideal
detective"
II should dislike that" answered
Hendricks. '.but presume my pride
must suffer-that is, if you are the
wrong man."
Ralph pulled two or three times to
keep his cigar alight. Suddenly he bent
his puzzled gaze again on Hendricks.
'Tell me exactly why you have ar
rested me-" he demanded. "You are
woefully of the track. Honestly, that's
u fact"
"Am II" Hendricks shrugged his
shoulders and glanced slyly at Lamp
kin, whose eye he caught. II know
that on the night Of the murder you
came in at the side gate and crossed the
grass in bee line for the north walk.
found your tracks, the only footprints
not explained by others, near the body
of your father. These tracks traced to
certain point on the walk, where"-
where the maker Of them vanished
in tho air like the nightmare we saw
just now" put in Ralph, with smile.
$50 it seemed at first" agreed Hen
bricks, "but the other day Wilson, the
gardener, recalled the fact that in order
to surprise the young ladies, who had
expressed desire to have swing, you
had yourself late in the afternoon hung
one from bough Of big oak. The
night your father was killed it was
hanging at the edge Of the walk, not
five feet from the spot where the foot
prints ended. What had become Of the
swing Wilson could not imagine, but I
found it in the hollow Of the tree above
the lower boughs.
Hendricks paused, knocked the ashes
from his cigar and teok two or three
draws at it, his eyes the while fixed OH
the young mans face
Ralph smiled.
"Well." be said, Ego ahead"
''It suddenly occurred to you," con-
tinued Hendricks, that the sand was
taking the impression Of your feet, and
you sprang to the swing. You climbed
one of the tow ropes to the boughs to
which it was fastened and then drew
the swing up after you. After this you
unfastened the rope and crammed it
into the hollow of the tree"
"What did do them" asked Ralph
coolly. II swear, you have as many
eyes as water beetle. wonder if even
you could tell what l next did,"
Lampkin, who had had considerable
experience with criminals, decided ad-
miringly that this was the coolest cul-
prit he had ever met. He glanced at
the adept and was astonished to see
broad grin on his face.
''You crawled out on a long bough
till 1t bent down to the roof Of the
wood she'd" answered Hendricks. "This
reached, you next went from it to the
roof of the wellhouse, thence to the roof
Of the veranda, thence into your room
through an open window"
pretty goodr" said Ralph calmly.
"But has it occurred to you, Hendricks,
that some one else might have done all
this2"
II went into your room AMI searched
it," went on the detective. II found