Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-10-26
CHAPTER X.

demand for an explanation.
"Wait till Herr Graden returns he
,grunted sulkily.
| have the strongest objection to tnose
silly tricks of secrecy with which the
professional police endeavor to magnify
their most simple discoveries. was
speaking my mind strongly on the SUBJECT
when my cousin reappeared.
Halo. what's the matterT he asked.
/ explained the position, while the fat
German chuckled in an oily, irritating
manner.
''Is not the official always the sameT
said Graden, with a grim smile. "Come
\ TO the light, Robert, and I'll explain
1t was certainly an ingenious discovery
they had made. Upon the page upon
which the map should have rested were
several slight indentations, evidently the
result of marks made upon the lost paper
by pencil with fine point. with great
care my cousin tore out the correspond.
ing map from his guide book and htted
1t into the vacant place. Then, turning
II slowly back, he drove a pin through
the thin paper at the spots Immediately
above the indentations on the page be-
low.
THE devil take him. he cried. Look,
Mossel. This doesn't help us, after all.
1t was true enough. The pin-pricks
showed. first, Lemsdorf; then cross
road some ten miles to the east; ana
then Bromberg to the north, on the
Berlin-Thorn, and Gnesen, to the soutn,
on the Posen-Frankfurt railways. lie
had evidently been measuring and calcu-
lating indecisively.
"Do not trouble yourself, Herr era
den," said Mossel, with a wave of the
hand that had more than a suggestion
of patronage. There are still telegraphs'
will have him detained at whichever
place he reaches. l shall return in half
an hour-to a good supper, l trust, MIR.
Landlord"
We followed him to the outer door
which opened to a wrthing wilderness
of snowfakes, for the fall had recon-
menced. The policeman turned up his
collar with grunt of disgust and melted
into the darkness. We turned to meet
the face of the landlord, white and drawn
with terrible anxiety.
MY son" he gasped. What of my
SOM"
Heaven pardon me!' cried Graden,
81 had forgotten him!
This man he drove, that Is about to
be arrested-is he a criminal? Do not
spare me. mein Herr"
Your servant-our driver to-day-will
be telling the tale in your kitchen, OF
the death of the Prof. Mechersky, OF
Castle Oster. This man, whose name is
Marnac, killed him. That is why We
pursue. Yet, my friend, l see no dan
ger for your son, unless
"Unless what, mein HERR"
"Unless he refused to assist in the
escape of a murderer"
He is an honest boy, a good boy, but
very stubborn His horses were borrow
ed; he had promised to return them to
night He would never consent to drive
this man to Bromberg or Gnesen, which
is at least an eighteen hours journey
oh, mein Herr mein Herr! what is hap
pening-out there in the snowy
1--WE are in the hands of Providence
my friend" said my cousin gravely, lay
ing his hand on the landlords arm. "Yol
can do nothing but pray that it may b.
we'll with the boy"
/ was very sorry for Reski. AS
made my toilet in my room upstairs, tn
danger Of his son grew upon me. Fate
accident Observation-Disclosures yol
choose to call its a strange thing, fo
indeed it chooses its victim with a fin
impartiality. When l entered our suppe
room, found my cousin equally disturb
ed.
"This is a bad business about tn
landlords son. he said. I've a goo
mind to follow the sleigh, though it
little good that would do"
"It's an awful night" grumbled, fo
indeed the wind was shrieking in the roo
like lost soul.
You're a queer chap, Robert, wit
your confounded mannerisms," he sale
.'Yet I'll wager you'd be the first to b
off into the storm in a matter of lif
and death"
1t was not exactly complimentary, br
let it pass.
Mossel was delayed 1t was close upo
twenty minutes more before he arrive,
a snow-swathed, stamping bear of
man. whose curses preceded him as b
rolled down the passage to our room.
"Whats up, MosselY Graden demant
ed sharply.
"The wires, mein Herr Graden, I'll
wires! Potztausend! but this storm h,
brought them down like clothes lines"
"a special train, then"
''They have not an engine in the she
have been to see; it was that whiC
delayed me-"
Graden drew sheet of paper fro
his pocket and glanced at it swiftly.
"trhere is not a train till ten in IL
morning" he said HE will be at Bror
berg. which is the nearer town, by elev,
ar latest. This is branch line, and v
could not get there under three hour
II ia now seven. An old man as he
could hardly travel through such a mig
without stops for food. Again, this Ii
who drove him may have refused to pr
ceed. We must chance 1t. my FRIEND
and follow"