Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-20

was?''
1 why. where was that place you found
me in?"
4 Granville road PadfieId 1 suppose they
tod you you were in another town.
tTold me it was Newstead Hatch. They
drove for about three four hours, and
kept me down on the floor between the
goinE &
"Dpne for two reasons said Hewitt
"FirEt, to mystify you. and prevent any
| spiracy; and second to be able to put you
indoors at night and unobserved. Well.
think I have told you all you know your
self now as far as the carriage.
But there lies the Hare and Hounds just
! in front Well pull up here, and I'll get
| out and see if the coast is clear. 1 fancy
Mr.. Kentish would rather you came in I'M
noticed
| In a few seconds Hewitt was back. and
| Crockett was conveyed indoors by side
entrance Hewitt's instructions to The
| landlord were few, but emphatic. Don't
| tell Steggles about it, he said; make an
excuse to get rid of him, and send him out
of the house Take Crockett into some
other bed room. not his own, and let your
| son look after him. Then come here, ana
I'll tell you all about it.
Sammy Crockett was undergoing heavy
| grooming with white embrocation at the
| hands of Sergeant Kentish when the land
| lord returned to Hewitt. Does Danny
krow you've got him?' he asked. How
| did you do it?
"Danby doesn't know yet. and with luck
he won't know till he sees Crockett running
| tomorrow. The man who has sold you Is
| Steggles"
"Steggles?"
"Steggles it is. At the very first when
| Steggles rushed in to report Sammy
Crockett missing. l suspected MIN. You
didn't, l suppose?'
| NO He's always been considered a
straight man, and he looked as startled as
anybody
be acted III we'll.
But there was something suspicious in his
story. What did he say? Crockett had re-
| marked chilliness. and asked for a
sweater, which Steggles went to fetch.
Now. just think. You understand these
things. Would any trainer who knew his
| business Gas Steggles does have gone TO
bring out sweater for his man to change
| for his jersey in the open air. at the very
time the man was complaining of chilli
ness? OF course not. He would have
taken his man indoors again and let him
change there under shelter Then suppos-
ing Steggles had really been surprised at
missing Crockett. wouldn't he have looked
about. found the gate OPEN and told you IL
was open when he first came in? He said
nothing of that-we found the gate open
for ourselves. So that from the beginning
1 had certain opinion of Steggles.
What you say seems pretty PLAIN now,
although it didn't strike me at the tune.
But If Steggles selling us. why
couldn't he have drugged the lad? That
would have been deal simpler
Because Steggles is a good trainer. and
has certain reputation to keep up. 1t
wculd have done him no good to have had
a runner drugged while under his care; GER
tainly it would have cooked his goose with
you. 1t was much the safer thing to con-
nivn at kidnapping. That put all the active
work into other hands, and left him safe
even if the trick failed. Now, you remem-
Der that we traced the prints of Crocketts
spiked shoes to within couple of yards
from the fence, and that there they ceased
suddenly?'
Yes You said it looked as though he
had flown up into the air; and so it did.
.Rut | was sure that it was by that gate
that Crockett had left, and by no other
He couldn't have got through the house
without being seen, and there was no other
way--let alone the evidence of the unbolted
gate. Therefore. as the footprints ceased
where they did, and We're not repeated any
where in the lane, knew that he had taken
his spiked shoes off-probably changed them
for something else, because a runner anx-
ious as to his chances would never risk
walking on bare feet, with a chance OF
cutting them. Ordinary, broad, smooth
SOed slippers would leave no impression on
the coarse cinders bordering the track, and
nothing short of spiked shoes would leave
mark the hard path in the lane behind.
The spike-tracks We're leading, not directly
toward the door, but in the direction of the
fence, when they stopped: somebody had
handed. thrown, the slippers over the
fence, and he had changed them on the
spot. The enemy had calculated upon the
spikes leaving a track III the lildt
might lead us in search, and had ar
raEged accordingly.
so far so good [ could see no footprints
near the gate in the lane. You will remem-
Der that l sent Steggles off to watch at the
Cop before l went out to the back-merely,
of course, to get him out of the way l
went out into the lane, leaving you behind,
and walked its whole length. first toward
the Old ,Kilns and then back toward the
read. I found nothing to help me except
these small pieces of paper-which are
here in my pocketbook. by the by OF
course this 'mmy might have meant
jimmy or Tommy as possibly as
So mmy, but they were not to be rejected
en- that account. Certainly Crockett had
been decoyed out of the ground, not taken
by force or there would have been marks
of a scuifie in the cinders. And as his re-
quest for a sweater was probably an ex-
cuSe-becauSe 1t was not at all cold al
ternoon-he must have previously designed
going out. Inference. letter received; and
here were pieces of a letter. Now in the
light of what | have said, look at these
pieces. First, there is the 'mmy'-that l
them ov'-clearly a part of throw them
over exactly what had probably been
done with the slippers. Then the poor f,
coming just on the line before. and seen,
by joining up with this other piece, might
easily be a reference to poor feet These
condolences, one on the other, went far to
establish the identity of the letter and to
confirm my previous impressions But then
there is something else. Two other pieces
evidently mean left him. and right away,
perhaps; but there is another, containing
almost all of the words hate his with the
word hate underlined. Now. who writes
hate with the emphasis of understanding
who but a woman? The writing is large
and not very regular; it might easily be
that of a half-educated woman. Here was
something more-Sammy had been enticed
away by a woman.
NOW | remember that when We went
into the tap room Wednesday some OF
his companions We're chatting Crockett
about certain Nancy Webb, and the cha fl
went home. plain to see The wom-
an, then, who could most easily entice
Sammy Crockett away was Nancy Webb
1 resolved to find who Nancy Webb was
and learn more of her.
Meantime l took look at the road at
the end of the lane. 1t damper than
the lane. being lower and overhung by
trees. There were many wheel-tracks but
only one set that turned in the road and
went back the way it came, toward the
town; and they were narrow wheels-car-
riage wheels. Crockett tells now that
they drove him about for a long time be-
fore shutting him up; probably the incon
venience of taking him straight to the
hiding place didn't strike them when they