Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1912-01-19
canoe of the marEings?" I asked.


mot now. Langton. | want to bend
every effort to experimenting the MUIR
derer Luckily this will not be diff
cult Since the police imagine him to
be an Italian. he will have no incen-
tive to Disgusting his true nationality.
You know the Spanish quarter?"
bloomsbury" | said.
1--WE shall find him there. These
people would rather die than live out
side their own Deighborhoods. Watch
for a man with a sack"
"a sack?" I queried.
YES" said Crewe impatiently. "Fe
will not dare to maintain the organ
grinder fiction; nor will he venture to
leave the creature in his room. We
must search the streets until we find
him."
At Tottenham Court Road we took
an omnibus and, seated upon the roof,
observed the streets narrowly. Moth
ing escaped Crewe's observant eyes.
When he had passed through the
Bloomsbury district we descended,
Crewe kailed hanson, and for an
hour or more we drove slowly up and
down the squalid thoroughfares,
Crewe's eyes registering every human
being among the moving mass of
pedestrians. Suddenly he signaled
to the driver and leaped out.
Follow that man." he exclaimed.
In front of US, some two hundred
yards distance, a swarthy fellow of
Spanish or Italian origin was strolling
leisurely through the streets. He was
attired in the corduroys and overalls
of a working man and had small
sack slung over one shoulder.
eve must not let him escape"
Crewe muttered. 1t was growing
dark and we fastened our footsteps
until we were almost abreast of him.
Then we followed him, now on this
side of the road, now upon that, while
he pursued his course through Bloom
bury, into Seven Dfals, thence through
Covent Garden and along the waste
of half-erected buildings on Kingsway,
the new County Council thoroughfare.
At a signal from Crewe we fell back
little.
How do you know that Is the
mani" I questioned hurriedly.
"He bears the mark of the beast"
Crewe returned.
The beast?"
Look at his collar"
l crept up more closely and sud
denly perceived, upon the cheap eel
luloid collar that the man wore, the
Identical hen-track-three finger
marks, clearly outlined-that Crewe
had drawn upon the paper. A sud
den sense of horror almost overcamo
me. l fell back again and waited for
Crewe to join me.
What are you going to do?"
whispered.
Seize him-at an opportune mo,
ment."
It was night now, and the thorough
fare, which was not yet installed with
street lamps, was so dark that we
could discern our man only as shad-
ow moving among shadows. He
stopped before the flank of a new
building from little cells in whose
walls lights cleaned fitfully. I knew
it to be one of the County Council
structures for the housing of poor
persons, but could not imagine for
what purpose the robber intended
breaking in.
He hesitated moment, then moved
round toward the end Of the block
And suddenly I was enlightened. AS
though emerging out of squalor into
fairyland, saw before me the splen
did new Wemyss hotel, fronting upon
the Strand. Now the robbers pur
pose was made clear. If he could
ascend that blank wall of the lodging
house for fifty feet and more-if, like
a fly, he could climb that apparently
impossible structure, he could gain
the unlit back court of the hotel and
have each tier of rooms at his mercy
while their occupants were dining or
enjoying themselves at some place OF
entertainment. 1t was daring con-
ception, for the inclosed courtyard
dominated by a bare brick wall, was
wholly unguarded, being deemed un.
enterable.
AS we crouched in the shadows we
saw the robber glance swiftly round
The thoroughfare was apparently de-
serted; nobody was likely to pass
through on any honest purpose
Stealthily he opened the sack, plunged
in his arm, and drew out some furry
creature of large size-a monkey, and
yet not a monkey, for instead of
chattering and leaping this thing lay
apparently lifeless in his arms. The
man deposited it carefully in a re-
cess between two angles Of the build
ing and then began pulling out of the
bag what seemed like an unending
cord
"By God, I was right" I heard
Crewe mutter. l was trembling with
excitement; yet for the life of me
could not see what the man intended
to do.
Presently he appeared to come to
the end of the cord. He pulled off his
coat and waistcoat and made it fast
around his waist. Then. picking up
the creature in his arms, he placed 1t
against the side Of the building.
To my establishment tie thing be-
gan to move. The strange black
creature climbed higher and higher