The Washington times., 1911-09-28
CHAPTER Xxx.
Felix Babylon's Little Joke.

to show you. Will you come to my
room? We will talk there first. tn,
whole hotel is humming with excite.
ment"
with pleasure" said Aribert.
"Glad his highness Prince Eugen Is
recovering" Racksole went on, urged
by considerations of politeness.
"Ah! AS to that" Aribert started
I If you don't mind. wen discuss
that later. Prince" Racksole interrupted
him.
They were in the proprietor's private
room.
II want to tell you all about last
night" Racksole resumed, about my
capture Of Jules, and my examination
of him this morning."
And he launched into a full account
Of the whole thing, down to the latest
detail.
You see," he concluded, ''our suspi-
cions as to Bosnia were tolerably cor
rect. But, as regards Bosnia, the more
I think about it, the surer / feel that
nothing can be done to bring these
criminal politicians to Justice
And as to Jules, what do you pro-
pose to do?''
Come this way" said Racksole, and
ne led Arihert to another room.
a sofa in the apartment was covered
with linen cloth. Racksole lifted the
cloth-he could never deny himself a
dramatic moment-and disclosed the
body of a dead man.
It was Jules, dead, but without a
scratch or mark on him.
have sent for the police-not a
street constable, but an official from
Scotland Yard" said Racksole.
How did this happen?" Aribert
stood you to say that he was safely i'm
INJURED IN the bedroom"
so he was," Rdcksole replied. "I
went up there this afternoon chiefly
slonalre was on guard at the door. He
had heard no noise, nothing unusual.
Yet when / entered the room Jules was
gone.
He had by some means or other
loosened mis- fastenii,gs; he had then
managed to take the door off the ward
robe. He had moved the bed in front
y of the window, and, by pushing the
wardrobe door three parts out of the
window and lodging the inside end Of
It under the rail at the head of the
bed, he had provided himself with
sort Of insecure platform outside the
window.
'All this he did without making the
least sound. He must then have got
through the window and stood on the
little platform. With his fingers he
would Just be able to reach the outer
edge of the wide cornice under the
roof of thc hotel. by main strength of
arms he had swung himself on to this
cornice and so got to the roof proper.
He would then have the run of the
whole roof.
"At the side of the building facing
Salisbury lane there is an iron fire es-
cape which runs right down from the
ridge of the roof into little sunk yard
level with the cellars. Jules must have
thought that his escape was accom-
plished.
But it unfortunately happened that
one rung In the iron escape ladder had
rusted rotten through being badly
painted 1t gave way, and Jules, not
expecting anything of the kind, fell to
the ground about a hundred and fifty
feet.
He fell on his back on hard asphalt:
his spine is broken. Jules was always
unlucky / can't help saying now, that,
murderer though he was, he almost de-
served to escape, as reward for his
kcleverness and ingenuity"
As Racksole ceased speaking. he re-
Otlaced the linen cloth with a gesture
from which reverence was not wholly
absent.
When the grave had closed over the
dark and tempestuous career Of Tom
Jackson, once the pride of the Grand
Babylon. and perhaps one of the great
est head walters that London has ever
known. there was little further trouble
for the people whose adventures have
been described in these pages.
Miss Spencer, that yellow-haired,
faithful slave and attendant of bril-
liant scoundrel was never heard of
again Possibly to this day she sur
wives, a mystery to her fellow-crea-
lures in the pension Of some cheap
foreign boarding house.
AS for Rocco, he certainly was heard
Of again.
Several years after the events set
down II came to the knowledge of Felix
Babylon that the unrivaled Rocco had
reached Buenos Ayres, and by his Gull
tune OF a new and splendid hotel. Baby
Ion transmitted the information to
Theodore Racksole, and Racksole might.
had he chosen, have put the forces of
the law In motion against him.
But Racksole happened to coincide
with Babylon's vic wthat so fine an
artist should be left undisturbed. Cooks
Of the highest type are so rare that
the world can ill afford to lose them,
even though they be grievous sinners.
Moreover. everything pointed to the
fact that Rocco had learned his lesson,
and was now pursuing his vocation
honestly.
The one difficulty which Racksole ex-
perienced after the demise of Jules
and it was a difficulty which he had Of
course anticipated-was connected with
the police.
The police, very properly, wanted to
know things. They desired toI be in
formed what Racksole had been doing
in the Dimmock affair between his first
visit to Ostend and his sending for
them to take charge of Jules dead body.
And Racksole was by no means in
cIined to tell them everything.
Beyond question, he had transgressed
me laws OF England, and possibly also
the laws of Belgium, and the moral ex-
- hf- In NJ CO xryoC
of course in the eyes of legal justice, no
excuse for such conduct.
The inquest upon Jules aroused some
bother and about ninety and nine sep
arate and distinct rumors. In the end.
however a compromise was arrived at.
Racksole's first aim was 70 pacify the
inspector whose clue-wnich, by the
way, was a false one-he had so curtly
declined to follow up. That done, the
rest needed only tact and patience.
He proved to the satisfaction OF the
authorities that he had acted In per-
fectly honest spirit, though with a high
hand. and that substantial justice had
been done. Also, he subtiy Indicated
that, if il came to the point, he should
defy them to do their worst.
Lastly, he was allie. through the me-
dunn of the United States ambassador,
TO bring certain soothing Influences to
bear upon the situation.
one afternoon, fortnight after the
recovery OF the hereditary prince OF
Posen, Aribert, who was still staying at
the Grand Babylon, expressed wish to
hold converse with the millionaire.
Prince Eugen, accompanied by Hans