The Springfield herald., 1912-03-08
CHAPTER TX.

LeDuc was medium.sized man.
wiry of build and tough as whale
bone. His eyes were restless and the
faint smile which hung habitually
about his lips was Offset by a hawk
ish nose. had known him ever since
we had attended the same school as
youths. Later on he had naturally
gravitated into the service OF one Of
the big detective agencies; had been
successful on important cases with
uniformity that mere good luck could
not account for and having thus ac-
CURED reputation had established
an agency of his own. I had seen
very little Of him in the last ten years,
but as boys we had been more or less
chummy. the difference in our ages
having been neutralized by the phys
ical fact Of my being considerably
larger for my years than was he l
had admired him In those days for his
remarkable agility and strength AS
it is quality OF brain matter which
counts rather than quantity, SO 1t is
equally true OF muscle. And while
Billy was not especially powerfully
made as far as appearances went. his
muscles were like piano wire and the
bulk OF his competitor in physical
contest was to him matter OF SUI
preme disregard. Moreover, he was
shrewd and pleasant to meet and a
decent fellow withal. and our friend
ship had wendell along smoothly I'M
til the inevitable separation OF our life
paths. AS he had never called to
see me before. it took no rare instinct
on my part to divine that this visit
was not purely a social one.
DIR. Courtney passed us in the hall
on his way back to his Office and
with farewell salutation to him I
led my old friend up to my private
quarters. He seated himself and /
gave him cigar. No sooner had he
got 1t burning to his satisfaction than
he preached the subject of his visit.
Il have just heard that you have
had robbery of some consequence
he began. / assented with the remark
that 1t was beastly affair. LeDucs
eyes had always impressed me as hav-
ing the alertness of watching
hawks, and l now noted that they
were Ticking about the room rs
though searching for some lost article
and apparently overlooking nothing.
He continued:
Il don't suppose under the circum-
stances that it is necessary for me to
state the object of my visit, although
| presume / may as well do so. When
l got wind of this affair it occurred
to me that perhaps | might be of as
sistance to you professionally, and
even if that were not the case that l
would be glad to see you again on
general principles. So I hurried right
over. But now that we have shaken
hands and looked each other over, I
am anxious to know the particulars of
this affair-thief catcher's instinct. you
know. Mind telling me about it?"
mot in the least. Glad you came"
I returned heartily. Without further
ado briefly outlined the salient facts
in the case as they had come under
my observation. He then asked me
few questions as to who had pos
sessed the keys. and such like. to
which I gave him the same answers
that had the police. He listened quiet
ly and without comment, and then
expressed wish to be introduced to
Uncle Abner. whereupon I Immediate
ly took him to the adjoining room
and made them acquainted. LeDuc
settled down to business without de-
lay.
"As you perhaps know, l am pro
fessional detective and cases like this
are strictly my specially. take 1t
for granted that you wish to appre-
bend the parties who did this job, and
that you would like to recover your
money, or as much of 1t as possible.
That being the case I would like to
make an arrangement with you. l am
in more favorable position to get
you results than are the regular po-
lice for a number of reasons. In the
first place l am better equipped for
it than are the majority of them, both
by nature and education. 1t is mat
ter of common observation that the
smart crook is smarter than the av-