Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-01-15
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49,

lJ with bang that echoed
through the building.
Anything doing:" he asked as he
tapped the rain from his coat
Simmonds, the grizzled veteran of
the central office. now temporarily in
charge of the devious business of the
'Tenderloin,'' shook his head deSpond-
emily.
Not thing Only" he added, his
eyes cleaning suddenly with apprecia-
ton. you We're right about that De
lame abduction case. 1t was all u
Iaked up story on the mothers part.
She confessed this evening"
Il thought she would if you kept at
her" said Godfrey. sitting down with
a quick nod of satisfaction. "She
hasn't nerve enough to carry through a
thing like that; she's too pink and
white. How does it happen you're
aloneE"
''Johnston's gone down to Philadel-
phia to bring back Riggs. the forger.
FIeming's got the grip. Bad night"
There was a certain similarity in the
faces of the two men. especially in the
expression of the eyes and mouth.
Age. however, had given to Simmonds'
features 4 trace of stolidity which was
wanting in those of his companion. He
had been connected with the central Of
fee for many years, was dean Of the
force, in fact, and though lie had de-
yelOped no special genius in his deal
inSs with crime he possessed Il matter
of fact industry and personal courage
which had frequently achieved success.
In the end his chief had come to trust
him greatly. probably because the bril-
liant theorists of the force made so
many unfortunate mistakes.
Godfrey was a brilliant theorist and
something more. He was not 50 pa
tient as SimInonds. but then he was
much younger. He had more imagina-
ton. and perhaps his greatest weak
ness was that lie preferred picturesque
solutions to commonplace ones. Dur
ing his three years connection with the
force he had won four or five notable
victories. so notable. indeed. that they
attracted the attention of the Record
management. The end of it was that
Godfrey resigned his badge and en-
tered the Record office as criminal ex-
pert. climbing gradually 70 the position
of star reporter. Since then the Record
had not waited on the police; indeed. it
had been rather the other way around.
1t was with SimmOnds that Godfrey I
had long since concluded an alliance |
offensive and defensive The one sup |
plemented the other-the eagle gave |
eyes to the mole; the mole gave the |
eagle the power of working patiently |
in the dark. Simmonds kept Godfrey |
in touch with police affairs; Godfrey |
enabled Simmonds TO make a startling |
arrest now and then. Godfrey got the
story, SimmOnds got the glory. and
both were satisfied. 1t may be added
that without in the least suspecting It |
the mole was considerably under the
influence of the eagle. Brains natural
" lead industry. Besides, the bin"
must have guidance.
They listened until the gust of wind
lied away down the street. then Cod
frey arose and began to button up his
coat.
Nevertheless, he said, I've got to
be moving on. L can't stay loafing
here. 1 wouldn't have stopped at all
put for the chance of seeing you"
''Oh, don't co. protested Simmonds.
L was mighty glad to see you come in.
was feeling a little lonesome Wait
i'll this squalls over anyway and have
smoke"
Godfrey took the proffered cigar and
elapsed into his chair.
. I'm only human he said as he