Warren sheaf., 1903-05-28
CHAPTER xix.
THE NAN IN THE RED FOX.

At the hour designated by Ellison,
Inspector Barnes, the chief of police,
had posted his men in the streets
leading to the Red Fox, waiting for.
the signal which would call his men
to the center of the scene of action.
1t was very seldom that the head
of the police department took hand
in an affair of the kind, but he was
moved by curiosity, and, at the same
time, by the desire to figure promi-
nently in the capture of rogue who
had defed the department for many
months: It would not look well in
the papers, when the accounts came
! to be eventually written up, if the
chief did not occupy prominent
place in the proceedings. Barnes,
moreover, felt a certain hatred for
the man who had put his department
in such disrepute, and he was anxious
to have first view of the man who
had been able to withstand all the
machinery of the law so long.
Ten o'clock had been the hour when
he expected to hear the pistol shot
that was to summon him and his
men to the scene, but as time passed,
and it was nearing the half hour
after the time, he began to grow
impatient.
"What do you think of this, In
spector Thorne?" he asked of tall
man, who had secreted himself in a
hallway opposite the queer hotel.
Barnes was not the only important
official who had desired to have some
thing to do with the capture of the
celebrated criminal.
"Oh, I'm not worried" replied
| Thorne. ''Never know what delays
might happen in an affair like this.
I only hope your man wasn't guying
us with his story"
He did not. love his chief particu-
larly, and would have liked to see
him ousted to give place to a real
genius himself, for example. If
the principals were excited, the men
detailed on this occasion were also
in somewhat of furry. They did
not share the opinion held by Barnes
that the man who had defed the
machinery of the department so long
would be easy to capture, and looked
forward to lively time of it.
Barnes and Inspector Thorne were
still occupying the hallway of de-
serted warehouse, watching the
building that loomed up darkly be-
fore them, listening for the sound of
the pistol shot that was to be the
signal. d,
The hotel with the foreign name
was really two buildings. The bar
room facing on one street, through
which the sleeping rooms could be
reached in the rear by narrow
passage. s...#
For a long time the police had
known that Monsieur Pouiac con-
Quoted house that was the resort
of all the ragtag and bobtail and
human sewage Of the city. But he
was useful, and his suppression would
have made it only more difficult to
find a man when 1.e was wanted. So
it was that the Frenchman was al
lowed to continue running his shady
tavern as a friend of the law and a
secret foe to the lawless elements. -
AS the time passed, and yet the
signal was not heard, Inspector
Barnes began to get impatient, and
in the shadows moved up and down
the street, meeting here and there
some of his men, with whom he ex-
changed word or two, and then
passed on his beat.
During his walk he arrived pres
emily before the real front of the
building, where the barroom was sit
uated, and here he saw man putt
ting out the lights and making other
preparations to close up. AS it was
his intention to wink at the doings
of Monsieur Poujac, who had had a
hand in the apprehension of num-
| Der of criminals, he made no at
tempt to approach the man who was
clearing up.
As soon as the front of the estab-
| ishment was dark he returned to
his post, which commanded the alley
and where Inspector Thorne was
now standing.
Anything new?" he asked, as he
snuggled into the hallway beside his
subordinate.
Not sound from our corner" re-
sponded the other.
I'm getting suspicious said
Barnes.
tOf what?'' ].
THAT I have been fooled"
'How's that?" @
''This chap Ellison might, for all
know, be one Of the gang who is in
1terested in the man we are seeking. .
Cant believe that"
Well, don't like to believe it,
either" grumbled the chief, s.and il
he has played us a trick I fail to see
| what he will gain by it; besides I
took care to look the man up. He
is the brother Of banker of wealth
and repute, but perhaps is none the
better for that. He was silent for
| a moment and then ssYo1I 500 4 ,ro !,