The Washington times., 1906-01-07

A gray-haLTed man n an overcoat
who stood near By acoded his head al
the auctioneeF-
Eleven shillings-going at II
shiliings."
Fifteen, bawled the colonel.
~One pound" 81 a the gray-hafred
man.
had 40 idea what the cost OF such
toys might be: but the price. second
hand. seemed Is.sa. Several Of the
dealers gathered shout the chair on
which the aucticseer was standing
looked back al Us over their shoulders,
.'COunfound those Dealers cried the
colonel IF an outside buyer wants
anything they try 70 squeeze him out
They're all in league. II ouEht to be
stopped It's iniquitous. Twenty-Five
shillings TO You. sir
Thirty" said the gray haired man.
Two pounds.
As the bids increased the temper OF
the colonel grew worse and worse
Those who were well out Of his reach
began to ehu'i-Ie. ana finally TO laugh
outright Al four pounds ten he hest
tated. With a supreme effort he made
il five
"Guineas.T said the gray-haired man.
am sorry TO say that the colonel
swore In one stupendDus oath he de-
nounced ali who dealt in secondhand
goods OF any description whats 0ever-
Then. with the little boy sobbing on
his shoulder. e surged through the
crowd like a battleship in a head sea.
and disappeared amid burst Of disre-
spectfuI laughter. Il was before the
auctioneer had sufficiently recovered
from his surprise that ] felt a gentle
touch on my arm. 1t was Arlington
Grey
There is d f0ur-wneeled cab wait
ing about thirty yards up the street
he whispered. Go and get into il. /
will join you presently
Quite half an hour had dragged By
when the cab door was swung open and
the detective sprang in At the same
time ] noticed covered cart with
black pony in the shafts pass the other
window al a leisUrely pace. Our driver
must have had his orders for he turned
his horses and followed in the same d.
TectiOn.
Grey remained ,-i!ent. so I left him
alone and contel.ted myself with star
ing out Of the window. We were go
ing northward t0vsrd Hampstead. The
villas. Lilac and laburnum bushes
peeped over Jhe garden walls. The
throng of traffic grew thinner. the
pavement less crowded II was past
> when We drew up at little
pubIic-house standing back from the
road. Grey toddled out. and followed
a his heels
lie is unloading his cart in Ashley
street. yonder," said the driver. lean
ing from the box. as he pointed with
his whip TO a side road. DO you want
me 10 wait, sir2"
The Inspector nodded and disappear
ed through the inn door. leaving me on
The pavement. AS he had given me no
orders, / strOlIed back 10 the corner
and peeped down the road, which ran
at right angles TO the one in which l
was.
About forty yards away stood tie lit
tie covered cart with the gray-haired
dealer of the auction-room talking 10 a
lad beside it. Presently the lad crawled
under the canvas hood, and handed
down the identical lOng-tailed horse
that had brought about the public dis
comfiture Of the gallant Colonel Gun
ton The dealer pushed IL across the
stone pavement into little furniture
shop and the boy, whipping up the
black pony, drove quickly away.
I turEed back TO find the detective at
my elbow.
Grey ! said, what is your inter
est in that hicycle-horse
1T happens 10 play the comedy part
in our little mystery"
What do you mean?'
only that E has hole in the sad
die for a pom1lel should a little girl
ride it, and the hole leads down to a
hollow inside Do you guess what It
was that droI ped into the hollow in
side?''
Not Mr.. Taubery's diamond"
Exactly. Yet we have still 10 find
out the man who put it there"
But, in the meantime. the old deal
CT may
Tut, tut. Mr.. Phillips The old
dealer has nothing 10 do with it. He
is only Obeying an order 10 buy the
toy whatever it cost. and 10 keep it un-
III called for. We may have 10 waste
some time, 50 L have ordered q steak
and fried potatoes in an upper room
that conveniently OVerlOOks the door of
MS shop Let me show you the way
We passed through a long bar at
smoked, and 50 upstairs into q private
room, the windows OF which comma nd
ed Ashley street. We ate our meal in
relays-one watching at the window.
while the other disposed Of his Sec
ton Of stringy steak and heavy beer.
The daylight softly faded. the gas jets
spTang out along the street, the tramp
of homecoming fathers dropped into
silence-but there was still no caller
at the furniture shop The shutters
had been put Up for the night IT
seemed plain TO me that nothing would
happen for that evening at least,
though Grey did not seem ID desmond.
Nine o'cIOek-yen O'clock-I):3o. ard
the customer arrived.
I had watched his cab como rafting
down the street with a casual intc.,'sI,
for many had come and gone since We
first mounted quad. II mad passed
the little shop. and was almost beneath
Is, when a head was thTIst nut of
the window and . Valce cried iuuaBlv
to the cabman. a street lamp show d
him to me clearly White-faced
youth with a straggly, brown mUstache