Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-10-18
CHAPTER -Y.-(Continued.l

ransom went with the sleeping; and so |
lay fretful, blameful, vOwing the whole
problem a plague and cheat. This idle
wandering might have lasted until dawn,
had It not been for my neighbor in the
room to my left, who began to talk with
a low buzz as Of a night-insect humming
in bed curtain. The surging Of the
voice amused me; ! lay quite still and
listened to it. Now it rose loud CLEAN
ed a word, and was pleased; now it fell
and ! fretted but anon another voice was
added to the first, and. if the one had
pleased me, the second thrilled me. 1t
was the voice Of my friend at the dock.
Two words spoken by this man
brought me to my feet two more to the
thin wooden door which divided our
rooms. With feverish Impotence 1 knelt
to pry through the keyhole. It was stuffed
with paper. I listened with an ear long
trained to listening, although the men
spoke 50 that few words reached me. The
ship had not sailed then, for here was
the ruffian, who watched her, wasting rest
IN the first hours to hold a parley; and
if parley, with whom? Why, with those
who paid him for the work, / did not
doubt
AT the end of an hour the voices ceas-
ed. | judged that my neighbor had gone
to bed. | took from my satchel a brace
and bit, and an oiled saw. In ten mis-
utes | cut hole in the partition and put
my eye to it. A burly, black bearded
man sat in a reverie before dressing
table, and I saw that there was spread
upon the table a great heap Of jewels.
And beside the jewels was d big bulldog
revolver.
WHO was this man? I asked, and why
did he sit in an Italian hotel lingering
jewels, and giving a meeting place at MD
night to a common murderer from dock
yard? Were the jewels his own? Had he
come by them honestly? He stirred in his
chair and then sat bolt upright. l thought
he looked to have some tremor of nervous
ness upon i'm; cIutching hastily at the
jewels to put them in a great leather case,
which again he shut in a larger iron box,
locking both, and placing the key under
his pillow. After that he threw off his
clothes with some impotence, and, leav-
ing the lamp which burned upon-his dress
ing table, he dropped upon his bed.
Being assured that my man slept,
put back with some cold glue, which was
always in my tool chest the piece | had
cut from the door, and then picked the
lock with one grip of my small pincers.
My revolver | carried in the belt at my
waist, for my hands were occupied with
a soft cloth and a bottle of chloroform.
| had big felt slippers on my feet; and
went straight to his bed, where | let him
breathe the rug for few moments. |
got at his KEYS and his jewels, and saw
what l wisheI. There, true enough, were
precious sto os of all values, Brazilian
diamonds, Gaze stones tinged with yellow,
the finer cla~, of Indian turquoise, pink
pearls, black pearls-all these loosely
wrapped in ISSUE paper; but a magnif-
cent parcel. brought up at last a neck
lace of opals and diamonds, and as l held
them to the lamp and examined the curl
Gus grouping of the stones, and the
strange eastern form of the clasp, knew
that I had seen the bundle before. The
conviction was instantaneous, powerful,
convincing; yet even with my aptitude for
recalling names. places and things, | could
not in my mind place these jewels None
the less was | assured that the one solid
clue | had yet taken hold of was in my
keeping; and, as a quick glance round the
chamber told me no more, | put up the
baubles in their case again, replaced the
key and quilted the chamber.
Il lay upon my bed and brought the
whole of my recollection back upon the
Jewels. Where had | seen them; in what
circumstances; in whose hands? Again
and again l Travelled old ground, exhumed
buried cases, dwelt upon names of for
gotten criminals, and of big world people.
An hours intense mental concentration
told me nothing, but in my dreaming I
got what wakclulness had denied to me-
There in my sleep was the whole history
of the stones. written for me. / remem-
bered the Liverpool landing stage; the de-
parfure Of the Star liner City of st. Pc
tersburg. for New York the arrest of the
notorious jewel thief, Carl Reichsmann;
the discovery Of the opal and diamond
necklace upon him; the restoration of it
to-to-the brain failed for moment
then with A loud cry of delight. which
reused me, I pronounced the words; to
LADY Harden of 202A Berkeley Square.
London.
Il repeated the name again and again,
~~THfIpEt1I II us 4 SbN lLllO MY GlOIneS. /
,ethought me Of the man in the next
room. / listened. There was no sound.
lie had zone then, and had Lady Hardon's
Jewels. My memory travelled quickly on
to LADY Hardon's end for l remembered
then that she went down in the great
steamer Alexandria, which was lost in
rhe Bay Of Biscay twelve months before
7 discovered the golden ship il the dock
ward ut Spezia; and l recalled the fact.
known worldwide, that her famous jewels
had zone with her to her end. How came
II then, that this man who knew the
ruf6ans in the dock yard below, yet pos
sesSed a hundred thousand pounds worth
OF iewelry, how came it that he had got
that which the world thought to be lying
on the sands Of the bay? l left my hotel
and mounted to the hill top for tidings of
the great vessel But she had sailed. and
the dock which had held her was empty.
This discovery did not daunt me, for
| had expected it, l waited only to as
certain officially what ships had left Spe-
zia during the past twenty-four hours.
They told me at the Customs that the
brazilian war vessel built by Signor Vez-
zia weighed at three a. M. l hurried
with the necklace had sailed also. To my
surprise. ne was at breakfast when l ar
rived nj the hotel; and so one great link
in my theoretic chain snapped at the first
test. As he had not sailed with the 9th
ers, he could have no direct connection
with the nameless ship, no nautical part
OF lot with her. But what was he, then
That | meant TO know as soon as oppor
unity should serve.
4 have led you up, Strong, step b!
step, through the details of this work K
this point. l am now about to move Over
the ground more quickly. l will qui
Spezia, and ask you to come with me
after the interval of nigh year. to Lon
don, where, in an hotel in Cecil street
Strand. | was again the neighbor of thu
man with the jewels. The day on which
the nameless ship left the dock this maj
whom. | may say at once, | have al
ways met under the name of Captain
Black-quitted the town and reache,
Paris Thither | followed him, stayin:
one day in the French capital, but Coins
onward with him on the following morn
ing to Cherbourg There he went aboart
a small yacht, and lost him in the Chan
mel. l returned at once to Italy, ant