The Springfield herald., 1912-03-22

hand which held knife, and low
cred one. which gripped pistol. ant
the last remember is that young Dan.
vers reached over and knocked the
knife away and that something hit me
a stinging blow on the shoulder
When l returned to consciousness
Rand and Danvers were bending over
me. and a policeman was skillfully
bandaging my wound.
Hell do nicely now, sir. till the sur
geon comes" said the policeman.
That's good" replied Rand heartily.
We'll. Duncan, old boy. I'm sorry that
brute winged you. but you have all
the glory Of having captured one OF
the most desperate criminals alive.
besides neatly picking OF two others"
Young Danvers. who had left the
room for a moment, returned and told
Rand that Mrs. Danvers was resting
quietly, after her fright OF hearing
such disturbance. and that she
wished the great detective to know
that she was thankful that the whole
thing was exposed at last. What she
means by that don't know, SIR" con-
cluded the boy. "but she said that per-
haps you would tell me-"
Rand gave the little short nod which
is his sign OF commendation as he lit
another cigarette.
"Mr. Danvers." he said. II will tell
all that know as briefly as possible.
Your father called himself by the
name which you now use, but 1t was
really Danelli." He nodded asserting.
ly at the exclamation which broke
from US both. Yes, he was an Italian,
but his mother was an Englishwoman,
and for reasons Of his own he never
acknowledged his paternity. He mar
ried your mother. who was New Eng
land school teacher, under the name
of Danvers, and fancy that until late
ly she had no suspicion that 1t was not
his right name.
"Your father was the head OF a Sc
cret society. making its headquarters
in Italy. and during the years that
you were abroad he used this house as
a place Of deposit for the most vaIua-
BILE papers and property OF the socie.
ty. of which the servants were all
sworn members. The place was gath
ering ground for every one of the
members who came over here"
"But-how could they-about de-
posting things here. you know? There
isn't place in the house where any
thing could be hidden" Young Dan.
vers looked incredulous.
| For answer Rand walked across to
the fireplace. fumbled about little
and suddenly swung the whole mantel
| piece out toward us. Back OF 1t were
rows and rows OF drawers, neatly la.
beled.
We were too astonished to say a
word. and Rand walked about the
room, touching this and that piece OF
| woodwork or carving, and at each
| touch revealing the same thing-lines
| upon lines of drawers quietly reposing
there, back OF the. apparently blank
| wall
You see," he said to us, coming
back from this demonstration, "the
whole house Is like that. We found a
complete plan Of the place. with all OF
the hiding places marked, on the body
of the man who poses as your butler.
Mr. Danvers never intended that you
or your mother should return here,
guess, but in such a society man is
never sure of carrying out his plans.
Dying as suddenly as he did, he did
not know that he had been deposed
and that people. inimical to his inter-
ests, were put In his place. The whole
effort, of course, was to frighten you
into leaving the place and selling 1t.
No doubt, you had offers for it before
you came over?'
I'VE did?" said Danvers; "a man in
Italy said his brother had become
wealthy as a contractor over here and
wanted 1t for his home"
"Of course you told him that you
also wanted 1t for the very same
thing?"
"Yes, we did"
And the word was passed on. SO
that the little entertainment which
really shook all our nerves was ar
ranged for"
Good heavens" exclaimed Danvers,
"I had forgotten all about that shadow.
What was"
Rand reached out to the table for a
little black wooden box which was ly-
ing there. On one side of 1t was a
small opening, which he turned toward
the opposite wall, and instantly the
dread shadow sprang into life there.
There is your ghost" said Rand.
He opened the top of the box and took
out little mannikin. A string hung
from its back which. when pulled.
made one hand fly up and saw at the
throat with the wooden knife 1t
clutched.
Inside here" continued Rand. "is
tiny, high process dynamo. This little
figure was hung on delicately adjusted
wires in front OF the dynamo: this lit
tie lever turned on the power. the
camera shutter in front focused the
thing-and there you are. All the op-
orator had to do was to pull the string
occasionally and produce tirst-class
spook. The hoax was operated by.
man who lay concealed back OF the
panel of the hall. He got up there
through a place in the laundry which