The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1910-04-15
what we want is the fellow who MAD.

| What we want IL the fellow who made
| the ghost"
The bivouac was nerve-racking. The
old house apparently had bount&ena
| rodent population and the little beast.
scampered back and forth In the wall.
with spooky gambols. Every window
in the house ratified, and the pail Of
emptiness that always hangs heavily
| in a deserted human habitation rested
"a dead weight-in the air.
| Two blocks distant the elevated
trains rumbled DULY by. and the
morning parade of the milk wagon.
had not yet begun-to touch the Wis
| ions Of the night with the realitits ~
| the day.
''This is too much for me-" cried one
| Of the detectives. Let get out ana
take a breath"
The little group, all except Johnny.
| arose with alacrity. He stopped alone
| in the old house, and tried to keep his
| eyes open and, failing, wondered why
| he didn't advertise the newspaper busi-
ness as cure for insomnia and accrue
! cash thereby, when
Whats that?" asked Johnny Of
| himself. He heard with joyous ears
| a scraping and sliding in the closet op-
| posite, where he had picked up tho
i gold and amethyst garter. 1t sounded
| as II the Dashboard were being forci-
! bly, removed, or. rather, as If someone
| were endeavoring to slide 1t back, and
as if the board were sticking in an un-
accustomed and stubborn fashion.
Tohnnu 1a0kad for COnvorfonf o@~
ner in which to duck. He couldn'. fl:
| into the drawers of the chiffonier or
| the bureau, and the bed, stripped OF
all its coverings. even of the mattress
and pillows. was fiat against the wall.
On a chance Johnny crawled beneath
! it. with one eye fixed steadily upon the
closet door.
He had not long to wait. SteaIthily
the door opened, and through the crack
came gleam Of a pocket electric
! f1ashlight. The man who was holding
the light whirled it hastily around the
room, scanning it closely as II to make
sure he was unobserved.
"Oh," groaned Johnny, and skunk
closer into the corner, rolling himself
still more tightly into ball, and pull
ing his coat up over his fiery head The
intruder walked over to the bureau
| drawers and began to search hurried
ly. They were empty, and at this dis
covery in each successive drawer the
man flung them shut with gesture of
disappointment.
The voices of .Jehnny's returning
companions echoed through the corri-
doris and their footsteps sounded on the
stairway. The intruder put out his
light and started for the closet. The
dawn was now SO far advanced that al
he passed the window Johnny distin-
guished his features clearly. He must
have been at least fifty years Of age,
rather gstockily built man. Of good ap-
pearance. with a tired face and dark
hair. thickly streaked with gray. He
hurried into the closet and shut the
door behind him. and Johnny heard
again the struggle to slide the panel
into place.
WHO called. son? ?" asked the fat de-
tective. jocularly, as he entered the
room. did they leave cards for the
hull of us? Say, where is that brick
top. anyway"
Johnny with considerable wriggling
| and squirming, came out from beneath
| the bed.
Funny how laundering much easier
it is to get under bed than out from
| underneath It," he commented, rubbing
the dust from his knees.
you didn't get chased there. did
you. now?" came the question. Were
you seeing things. or what?"
II saw enough" retorted Johnny.
Guess saw more than you did, and
it didn't cost anything for the vision,
either Here. Farley. let's have a
light; where's that pocket contraption
Of yours?"
Farley brought it out, and Johnny.
glorying in the importance of knowing
something that the others did not, and
reveling in the curiosity and impa-
thence of his fellows, strobe majestical-
ly into the closet. When Johnny had
anything tucked away in his Uranium
that he was crazy to tell as other peo-
pie were to hear, he pulled out to The
dimensions of the tabled frog. That
was the time when Johnny was. really
funny. and more provocative of risibil-
ity than any of his ever-ridiculous
yarns.
Entering the closet he scanned its
calcimined sides closely, running his
slender, long-nailed fingers carefully
down the wall. Then he hit the base
board The group around watched IN
tense silence.
"Oh, John, cut 1t out and open up"
snarled CORN. CORN was one of
Johnny's best friends.
(To be continued.)