The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1900-05-11

cursion. Not having the same conf
dence In that person which YOU seemed
: to have, l thought that as your friend
1t was my duty to be on hand In case
of trouble. But was not spying upon
YOU"
so you even went SO far rs to dis.
guise yourself as n waiter and serve
beer to lot Of crooks, just to be near
me? 1 am truly Indebted to you. But
do not admire this masQucradlng. 1t
Is too theatrical. 1t savOrs too much
Of the dime novel detective. And
suppose, Of course, you had to bribe
one OF the regular walters, who al
lowed you to take his place. ch?''
"NOt exactly" said Mr.. Barnes
hesitatingly, somewhat aba.ned by the
criticism upon his methods; "but, Mr..
Mitchell, we cannot always choose.
have known Of the uses to which this
boat has been put all summer, and
realized that 1t would be wise and
might become of extreme Importance
to me to have 1t In my power to Ue
on board Mt any time. I therefore ar
ranged matters with the head waiter
and have played waiter on that boat so
often that now my presence attracts
no suspicion"
THAT is just the conceit common to
all Of your profession. Your disguises
are never penetrated. You are like the
ostrich with his head I'm the sand, In
visiblc-in your own mind. Now, the
fact Is your identity was very we'll
known on the boat last night"
Indeed! How do you know that?"
"The lecturer Of the evening was
talking to me about you. lie considers
you rather clever, but expressed his
surprise that you should stoop to such
nntiQuated methods rs the employment
Of spies. lie says that IL he were In
your place he would use his brains in
stead"
Then he would accomplish little, for
he has no brains" Mr.. Barnes spoke
angrily, for lie had begun to lose pa
tience. He thought that Mr.. Mitchell
went too far in his adverse criticisms,
and In this perhaps he was right. But
the truth was Mr.. Mitchell was cx-
cessively annoyed, not so much because
n spy had followed him. but because
for the first time in his experience he
had not himself discovered the fact.
He had therefore given vent to his feel.
lngs by resorting to satire.
Mr.. Mitchell had decided that Preach
er Jim was possessed Of quite n supe-
rior quality Of brains, and consequent
ly he was attracted by Mr.. Barnes
words. well knowing that they were
not idly spoken.
what do you mean by that" said
he.
"The man Is n monomaniac," Mr..
Barnes replied.
ION what subject?"
"Oh, on the subject Of last nights
lecture! l know his history very we'll,
having observed him for many years.
One Of his dclusions Is that lie Is him.
self great criminal. II you could get
him to talk with you, lie would un-
doubtedly lead you to suppose that he
has committed many crimes and that
through his marvellous skill he has not
only escaped arrest, but has even
avoided suspicion"
"But Is not this trueT'
"True as to his keeping out of the
clutches Of the law, but that has not
required any skill. lie has committed
no crimes since lie left the refosma-
tory, and lie entered that place when n
child. The man is not sound here" con-
cluded Mr.. Barnes, tapping his fore
head significantly.
HE does not impress me as being un-
sound mentally" said Mr.. Mitchell
doubtingly.
VERY likely not Mt n single inter-
view. Perhaps indeed you may even
have concluded that he Is endowed
with unusual intelligence. But sup.
pose that you were to meet him again
and that his conversation should be
substantially the same and that at
many subsequent interviews with you
he should always descant upon the
same topics in much the same words!
Such has been my experience and /
am satisfied that his apparent brillian.
cy Is really lusterless. AS l said at
first. he Is monoinaniac."
Nevertheless. Mr.. Barnes, he has
proved the fallacy Of one of your ia
vorite theories with scarcely an effort
Of his feeble BRAIN"
"What theory?"
"You argued that the theft of the
will Is good evidence against young
Mora; that the will would be useful to
him. because its suppression would
double his fortune"
II did. and my opinion remaiSs un.
altered"
very good. But let me give you
Preacher Jim's idca-the idea, let us
say, OF practical crook opposed to
the theory Of skillful detective. That
should be interesting, should 1t not?
Well. then. suppose that any man
that Is. any man except the son-knew
of this will and first stole the docu.
ment and then murdered old Mr. Mora
to make 1t operative. Now. after this
afrair blows over and young Mora Is
In possession OF the property. includ.