Evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1907-1913, 1912-09-05

.
81 saw the target" l answered,
simply.
"Thats like saying, Il caught a
twelve-pound bass. Here's the hook
and line to prove it."
81 have a scale Of the bass"
"a what?"
Something your Chinaman dropped
beside the tree"
Phleglnatic though he was, some
thing very like a start followed upon
my words Then, as if to cover the
movement, he shrugged his Shout
ders, and ehHekled ponderously.
''tIis visiting card, / suppose"
Nearly as good" I supplied. THE
bowl Of his opium pipe"
At that moment Jerry came around
the corner of the house and stopped
abruptly, stupefied by surprise; for
from the open mouth of the giant
there issued roar Of bass laughter,
that reverberated in weird discord-
ance through the night silences.
"You bally IDIOT" he cried, his guf-
faw ended. 81 suppose no persons ex-
cept Cinnamon smoke opium, Ell!
And that being so, no Chinaman but
my Chinaman could have made tar
get of d piece of an old portrait and
dropped his pipe bowl at the foot of
a tree! Go on with you, you make
me sick!" And then, seeing Jerry,
who had quickly joined me: Didn't
find him, Ell? Well, that's not strange.
Having lost the bowl of his pipe, he's
probably gone to borrow another
from a laundryman friend in Cos
Cob; and that, by the way, is about
the nearest place for you to buy gas
olene."
The next day I spent at my office,
in New York, busy with the hundred
details that go to the making of
periodical which aims to focus popu-
lar sentiment to righteous view
point concerning matters of national
and social import. For the time be-
ing my consideration of Cameron and
his strange problem was suspended.
Now and then the subject REQUIRED to
me, dragged into the mental light on
the train of Evelyn Grayson; but al
most Immediately it was buried be-
meath a question of editorial policy
or debate regarding a contract for
white paper at an extortionate in
crease in price.
When. however, my business day
was ended. and I had boarded the
train for Greenwich, the whole in
volved enigma spread itself again
before me, demanding attention. And
in the miGs7t Of it. dominating IT,
stretching his great shadow over ii
to the farthest limit. appeared that
troWsy red giant, Murphy, mystery
within a mystery; for, though he
seemed to pervade it, there was no
point at which l could discover him
quite touching it.
In vain tried to detect real con-
nection. l started with the letters.
They bore no single characteristic
mark Of this uucouth creature. AS an
artist he might have devised the curl
Gus silhouette signature, but there
was something about that-some cum
ming, inventive subtlety-which |
could not reconcile with the ogre l
had played upon. stung, to anger and
aroused to curiosity.
That he could either have con.
ceived or executed the ruin Of the
portrait I did not believe possible
The conception, like the letters and
the signature, bore evidence of
Craftiness too fine for such as he: and
to fancy him. mammoth that he was
stealing unobseryed into Camerons
stury, was to fancy the incredible.
And so, though the impression OF
intimate relationship persisted, ]
could find no point of contact, closer
or more definite than through his
servants rifle practice, which after
all might have been quite without mo.
tive.
There was little, therefore, in the
line of reason, to convict Murphy OF
any knowledge of the matters which
had so disturbed us. And yet, as |
have said, l felt intuitively that he
possessed an intimate acquaintance
with the whole affair.
At the Greenwich station, I found
my touring car waiting; my mother
in the tonneau. My chauffeur touched
his cap as | approached.
You may drive, Francois" I said,
and l took the place at my mothers
side.
'You look tired, Philip" she an.
nounced when had kissed her. was
it very warm in the city," Her eyes
were ever quick to note inflnitesimal
changes in my appearance of we'll
being
"Not uncomfortable" answered,
indulgently. a had very busy day,
though. But I'm not the less fit be-
cause of It,"
I'VE have had some little excite
ment here" She FASTENED, eager to
give me the news. "Old Romney
called you up on the telephone about
noon. I happened to answer 1t, my
self, and when I told him you were in
New York. and would not be back
until six, 1t just seemed he couldn't
wait to unburden himself Won't you
please tell him, Mrs. Clyde he said,
that Mr.. Murphy's Chinaman was
= II l.