The Washington times., 1912-10-01

the BOARD when ran tnere.
downward with his strong arms. Graf
ton, clutching his hands, struggled up
ward with mighty effort and Sue
ceeded In gaining a perch at the others
side.
And there, in the dim early light, on
top OF the railroad fence. asst the mag
nate of kenyonyiile and the CHIEF OF
the best private detective agency In the
breath in great. hard gulps. and star
Ing wildly about through the mysteri-
And for all their staring they saw
they had pursued!
For perhaps 200 feet to the west. the
tracks were quite clear and free from
rolling .stock. Beyond that. to right
or to left or straight ahead. the 1nby-
rinth of steel rails. OF switch targets
and signal arms, OF flat-cars and box
cars and cattle cars stretched as far
as the eye could reach.
There was not human being in the
neighborhood; and gazing upon the
scehe sad truth came over Grafton
and the detective, A man In the least
familiar with that peculiar environment
would eiude successfully any ten Of the
1t was Burieish. recovering his wind
In \ measure. who first voiced the I'M
pleasant certainly.
liver
''Ycs, I'm afraid 80. Burleigh."
He has lust dropped in among those
confounding cars. and with what he
evidently knows about Them and we
In hftesn feet at this minute-and yet.
for us he might as well be at the
other end of town.
Grafton nodded silent assent. "
However. II will do no harm for us
to have a little look about" Burleigh
dashed. the drops from his damp fore
head: Are you good for It after the
Pm good for anything that promise,
They dropped into the yard and look.
| ed about. They pried into unlocked
cars and under locked cars; searched
the trucks and climbed to the tops They
walked quickly along the strings OF
between the tracks.
But there was no slgn Of the man. and
| the heart had gone out OF their search.
| At the end OF a long. tiresome hall
hour, when the grayness was lightning
they walked TO the far end Of the yard
| where the switch engines were working
| a train or two into shape. There they
| questioned the crews. No stranger OF
any sort or description had been seen
They gave It up at last as . hopeless,
] job. and. accompanied BY friendly
| more, and were let out into the street.
| For a block OF two neither man hat
much to say. Grafton's tired voict
finally shaped his thoughts into theil
well we'll 80 back and try our vile,
WHATS the time now?s
Twenty. minutes past 9. exactly"
Grafton strobe along In silence 70
sudden flerceness:
"By Georsel Wen succeed this time
Burleigh. I swear that I'll have tina
letter. II It costs me half Of what II rep
I'll make him rich for life-apd he'l
accept that fast enough. Everybody 4
not SO Internally incorruptible n
"xs Brady, ehy' The detective rubbe,
his chin thoughtfully. II say, Mr.
r"We,ip" .-- %. a
"This fellow that We have been cha.
Ing. you know"
"WeiI. did you-did you get a peculia
impression from what little we coul
Isee?"
Grafton stared In Amusement.
why. BurIeigh! II thought II to
absolutely absurd for serious considers
"But at the same time the man locke
wonderfully like Big Jim Brady, eh ,
the detective cried.
"Yes. should never have mentione
ii. believed 1t too entirely the produc
OF my own Imagination, but someho'
the whole bearing of the man SCENE
:. very familiar to me-" ,I.
I Burleigh shook his head.
1 Queer! Queer! he ,, said. L Lo,r
= to happen In this queer businessT'
n "But this fellow"
r "Mr. Grafton, that fellow may r
more have been Brady than he was "
{ governor Of the State. For all the res
) Identification we could make, We al
bound to assume that he was not. An.
! In spite Of that. there was something
the roundness Of that ngure, in the wa
he moved. too, and before he went in'
politics Brady used 70 be a railroa
man man. and ,a ne t WSrf iest those vel
= Burleigh laughed slightly, and hun
med to himself for minute or two.
Assuming that 1t might have bee
that same Brady" he said, why a
a he come backT', Z
well, we shall have to admit y
possibility of that or drop, the subJe
altogether" said the detective grfmi
>. "And having gone thus far. how did
d know II at all-and why was ne SO an
t ious to obtain it?'
a Grafton spoke up .mpatientiy.
n He didn't know, Burleigh.
Q "Why do you say .hatr'
d, Because it's overdrawing the thing.
Well, I'm inclined to believe that
9 Is, myself" muttered the detective. =
Q would be nightly convenient just no
p to have some such hypothesis, but l.
afraid We can't connect Jim Brady wi
the job"
Kenyonville was coming to life mo-
i Here and there people issued from &
houses ,on their way to work; milkm,
hurried in and out of the dooryard
Il the baker boys travelled from house
: house with their burdens of bags al
y white bundles: the cars were comii
y down town well loaded.
! Another day had begun-and VIII
r. a different day for Grafton from Z
n one before! Then he had been the rio
est man in town: now, perhaps, he W
= one of the poorest.
& He sighed again, and Burleigh turn
II with word of unconvincing CHEF
IGrafton recognized its futility with
1t weary shake. of the head. ana star
= at the ground.
r. Then. he stopped short,
Is A tiky tinkling chink had reach
A both mems cars at the same MONEY
l. Grafton had kicked something's
g of metal that rang out clearly.