The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1912-07-04
me that I shut Carroll into 1t, as II 1t

me that shut Carroll into 1t, as II it
were cell.
A foolish feeling Of triumph took
possession of me. l exulted in the
thought of my success. had accom-
plished my errand; had saved Frank
lin; had rescued a beautiful girl from
hideous fate. Oh, indeed. I was a
great man in my own estimation and
already saw myself displacing that
dark visaged rascal in Miss Franklin's
affections
These pleasant meditations were
scarcely interrupted, rather accentu-
ated perhaps. by the sight of Carroll.
who came down the stairs. smiling
and at ease, and passed out to the We
randa. supposed that he would go to
Miss Franklin, who was sitting where
I had first seen her. but instead ne
strolled out to the street. watched
him till he passed from sight. had
no uneasiness; he would return.
A shock passed through me, as Of
ice in my blood. I turned to the stairs
and assembled them as If on wings. l
came to the door of the room that had
been assigned to Carroll. had noted
the number in the register. The door
was locked.
called Franklin's name. There was
no answer l put my shoulder to the
door and burst it in. There lay the
innkeeper on the floor, his head in
pool of blood.
Oh, had been an imbecile, mere
vain, staring idiot! A child might
have known what would happen. Be
yond doubt Franklin had received
the stolen money from Carroll. For
his daughters sake he had concealed
the fact from Henderson and me, but
surely he would take the first oppor-
tunity to demand an explanation. and
what could Carroll say? An ex-con-
Wet, guilty, he could not dream of en-
during any investigation. He had never
dreamed that the small bills in the
package could be identified. He had
used them with rankin, and he was
caught. There was but one hope for
Franklin stood In his way.
If had had the wits of rabbit
would have followed the two men
when they went upstairs together In
that house, where there was no one at
that hour above the level Of the kitten
en-. should have stood ready to de-
fend an honest man against a prac-
ticed. resourceful, utterly ruthless Grim
inal. and had miserably failed.
1t was through no merit of mine
that Franklin was not dead. Indeed,
he was very near it. and ! had reason
to thank heaven that l had learned
the proper procedure in such emer-
gencies, for a doctor was unobtainable
| until midevening, and Laura and !
| worked without professional assistance,
yet successfully, to save her fathers
| life.
l never spared a moment for pur-
suit Of Carroll. | knew he would be
caught eventually. and it was enough
| for me at the moment to know that
Laura was eternally safe from him.
In fact, Carroll was caught in Mon
treal three days later, and l had very
little hand in it, nor did help to any
| great extent in finding the bulk Of his
plumber, which was in a safe deposit
| box in Quebec. But l wrote the story
Of the case, and Major Henderson
played me up in his paper as the great
est criminal Investigator that the world
had ever known. The shame Of this.
however. was hardly worth consider
ing in comparison with the gratitude
of Franklin and his daughter. l told
them the truth, but they would not
see it, Despite my obvious folly | got
all the credit for saving Franklin's life
by my wonderful promptitude in going
to his aid when in reality had merely
stood pattfng myself on the back while
he was being half killed. 1t is the way
Of the world.