The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1913-02-07
Who said that he would take glaas

| we had seated ourselves on corner
bench out Of earshot Of the man be-
hind the bar-a bottle-nosed ruman,
who watched us furtively as he rinsed
the dirty glasses.
"That's the address. SIT" said the
serjeant, handing his superior crum-
pied sheet of paper.
"A club, is it?" he said. g1ancing up
in his quick, bird-like way. And what
sort of club?"
Foreign. sir They call themselves
social democrats, but our special
branch men tell me that full hall
of the crowd are anarchists, and sucn
rats as that. l think it must be 80.
for Nicolin and his Russians have had
the place under close observation Tor
weeks. And you know what that
means. sir"
eyes. / know what that means"
"Amaroff was not a member, but
used to drop in there from time to
time. He was very thick with the
man who runs the place, Greatman.
as he calls himself. They tell me that
Greatman sat as model for some
statue he was doing, back in July. IL
must have been funny sort Of statue,
for Greatman's a weedy little Pole,
and drinks like fish,
| For some time the inspector sat In
silence, drawing circles on the floor
with the point of the light cane ne
carried. The bartender dropped
glass, swore, and then, with stare
at us, retreated into little cage he
had at the back of his domain. Doubt
less the presence of detectives was no
incentive to trade in the bars OF Nal
den Square.
"This Greatman-what more do you
know of him."
! eve have had nothing against him
before; but all the same, it's his prl-
vate room that has the sanded floor"
The inspectors prophecy of the pre-
vious night came back to me with
sudden remembrance: "Amaroff was
murdered in room with sanded
floor, probably at no great distance
from Leman street, seeing that they
| carried him there. in coster's bar
row." l began to understand the NOR
bid significance of the private room
in this little foreign club.
| We were drawing nearer to our
game; the scent was growing strong
er. Addington Peace leant little for
ward, with a twist in his jaw that
raised ripple Of muscles under the
skin
Continue, If you please" he said.
"The room is at the rear of the club,
and there is back staircase to yard
behind, where costers store their bar
rows when not in use. It fits in with
what you told us to inquire for. don't
it, sir?"
eyes"
| The inspectors stick recommended
it's interlacing circles on the floor;
and we sat and watched, as if thereby
he were disentargling his sordid story.
! So still were we all that the bartender
poked his luminous nose from his cage
in the hope that we had gone. He
withdrew it with remarks on the po-
lice force which were distinctly audi
BILE, and opposed to the complimentary.
| Suddenly the inspector turned to me
with a motion Of half-apology. as If
at the neglect of a guest.
| "There are times, Mr.. Phillips" he
said, when evidence runs In absurd
! contradictions. Observe the present
| case, in which you are SO good as to
| interest yourself. We have it from the
Russian police that Amaroff is their
| I'D hot In fhoi
| being we'll qualified to judge-he was
murdered by Nihilists. We now learn
that he was apparently on intimate
| terms with Nihilists, and we have
good reason to believe that he was
strangled in one of their clubs. What
do you gather from that?"
"They discovered his treachery, and
took an excusable revenge" said l.
"a sound conclusion. And now let
| us suppose that Amaroff was not po-
lice spy at all; being, in fact, dan
gerous Nihilist. What them"
"Why set yourself such a puzzle?"
mot for amusement" he said, with
his quiet smile. "And now l propose
little experiment You must intro
|
door-keeper will know you, and pass
us in. Afterwards you will go to the
back entrance in the yard you spoke
Of, aud wait. It should be easy to
! conceal yourself"
Eyes, sir. Am l to stop Greatman
if he comes out?"
"No. Stop nobody. We had better
be going"
| The square lay desolate and lonely
in the bleak moonlight. We crossed
it, and stopped at a house in the
shadows Of the farther side. At our
knock slide flew back. and. In the
gush of light, hairy face examined
US curiously.
"Vat is et?" he said.
| CHRONICLES TO BE CoNTINUED.)