The Washington times., 1910-07-04
THE BURNING IMAGE
BY CRIT ENDEN MARRIOT
Copyright The A. hInnssy COMPANY.

I MED and denied again, and no one had
believed me.
Il asked nothing. I asserted fact
- fact" Slowly the words grew into /
my brain When a man has suffered
alterations of hope and despair for !
months, and mas at last seen rJ1in-ab- /
sOlute- irretrierable ruin-staTing him /
in the face, his sensibiiities bscome
dulied. Hope dies, and an apathy that /
Is not resignation takes its place. Hope
dies, and it takes more than yelled
Colonel Voita's talk OF rehabilitation
had passed over my head, but his last
words stirred me- and leaned forward
/ eagerly.
You know sOuething2" cried
: What is itZ''
A curious expression fitted across the
/ coIoneTs face-an expression such as an
angler wears when the Dish nibbies at
I his bait 7 read it Alright, but / did not /
What do you known I repeated
/ What can you known
I II know that you are innocent
+ know the real murderer Your polise
methods. II YOU viii permit me to say
/ SO, are shockinsly inefficient You
/ keep no real records OF your criminals
/ negl ect Our European systems are
/ very different A line Of work that we
/ were following cut yours and placed IN
our hands the moral proof that you
I was excitea enough now I forgot
: that this man was a stranger 10 me ne
7 a
! Good heavens. mani I cried. why
I6idn't you come forward beforeZ
/ Why should we2 You were nothin
/ 20 US. Il does not oay 10 interfere ~
such cases without some special rea-
son"
-sThen why do you come now, when
Colonel Voita's eyes flashed "Be-
cause he answered. you can do US 2
service in return, and because IL IS not
/ ~ 70. - NJ bones fell when
such q man bargains in SUCH matter
: he is 70 be distrusted- Men OF Co-oLiel
tNOlta's type are well known IN wash
ItCn, emissaries OF Foreign powers, a.
ways ready 70 take advantage Of an
ECnicer's extremities to gain some Cd
- earvice7- - flashed at him. what
is it, S0me v5llainy, I'll be bound. else
you would not ask II In this way
/ The c0loEel's eyes narrowed
ct beg your pardon LIEUTENANT
( Scott he replied. with dangerous
cfviIftv Il came 10 offer you service
TOR service. You have a right 10 re-
fuse If you like, you have TO right 20
Z was wrong. I beg your pardon.
As YOU NAY imagine, my condition IS
mot altogether normal Please go on
Colonel NOlta's face cleared y tod
YOU lust now" he resumed. that a
had become convinced Of your limo
lccnce while pursuing an iuVestl 50 ton
iof my own 7 have reason TO believe
THAT Paymaster Jordan was not killed
Ifsr the money IN his charge but be-
icause he would not give Tp certain
Information he was believed 10 pos
isess Ny government wanted that in
II 1rmarion for one purpose several
lctEer governments wanted IL Tor an
lcther- the agents OF one OF them
reached Mr. Jordan before 1 did"
Well
Il stiI lack that information Mr.
Igo-dan's death blocked my plans and IL
Us only recently that I have learned Of
taI0ther avenue OF advance Somewhere
along that avenue are -Lhe men that
murdered JC-Lzn and teEr you % bear
the burden OF the crime II yCu care 10
travel Il. you VIII meet them sooner or
later Dare you DO IT,
Dare ~ laughed harshiy. Yes,
though ] meet the devil himself, Only
show them 20 me-
81 cannot show them to you. You
must find them yourself They viii op-
pose your progress and br that DpUoSf-
ton VIII expose themselves. II you 90
past them and win for me the infOrma-
ton I want I VII put IN your hands
other evidence which enable you 70
clear your name Is II a barEain2'
Yes. Il" 7 hssitated- Caution was
foreign 70 ms nature, but something
warned me that I Fad better not 20 too
fast What Information do you want
ne TO get for your
I Colonel Volta considered Tor a mo-
There is a man ne began. at last,
whom my government IS very anxious
10 find He disappeared many years
ago and yvss believed TO he dead II
now seems that he IS not dead. and Il IS
imperative that he be found
Jordan knew where he was-and died
in consequence. Only one clue 70 his
whereabouts now remains Like many
another fugitive. he has kept Up com
muuicatiOn with q Woman
A revulsion Of feeling swept over ne
~CJf COuTseL'7 exclaimed And YOU
want TO trap hirn through his sweet
heart The method - traditional I
have seen II a hundred times on Rhe
( stage
This is not case for the theater.
{ Mr. Scott, but ore Of life and death-of
/ your own life and death. let me remind
, YOU This man, as 7 say. has kept up
= con- nuniCatiOn with woman and pos
Shy with a man. though neither VIII
) ad nit it-netther VIII admit that they
! have ever heard Of him Yet Il IS
: through them that we must find him
II we find him az all
The task IS not easy. These people
are persons Of standing ANY inquiry
made by foreigner would excite IN
slant suspicion and an ordinary detec-
tive would accomplish nothing OR
only chance is 20 find some American
of their own class who can win their
confidence and learn from them where
this man IS hiding and lead Us TO him
"Sucf men are not easy 70 md You
! Anaeri-sa uS-tnOSe OF you VINO nave me
. I necessary qua1ifiCat iOns-haTe preju-
dice against the profession OF SPY.
It Is -verr ridiculous prejudice against
3 2 ve-- necessary and honorable duty.
/ Here - the case IN a nllSlGlL-
have reason to believe the man want
viii soon communicate with these per
sons Win their confidence. find the
man and deliver him to US and We viii
prove your innocence"
I leaned bacE in my chair ard vainly
/ tried 20 reduce my WhlFling thoughts
! TO some sort Of order. In whatever
way I looked at II, the task was hor-
ribIv distas teful- I was willing TO ad-
NIT that police spies were necessary
and that their work was not necessarily
ISishonOrable but Il was not work that
had ever expected to undertake
Still. needs must when the devil drives
This man2' 7 questioned Who IS
he2 What has he done Was ne in
/ vOlved in poor JOTdan's MURDER
The colonel shook his head He was
not coucer ned in Il at all he replied
''except that Jordan refused 10 betray
and thereby lost his life
/ But who is he7 What DO you want
with him2"
The Continuation OF This Story WIZ
&c Found I'm TOm0rrov's
Issue OF The Times.