The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-06-12


him to the Palais d'Orsay.
Fifteen minutes later he walked into the
Blondell suite and was greeted by father
and daughter with the eager question:
"Well? Have you got the Royal Ruby?"
for something in his usually impenetrable
face bore trace of success.
Tin not quite certain" he answered,
stepping to the center table and taking the
long-stemmed clay pipe from his pocket.
Before the astonished eyes of the watchers
he tapped the bowl of the pipe against his
palm and some Of the tobacco dropped out.
At the second tap glittering stone rolled
from the big bowl. Poe picked it up and
handed it to Miss Blondell.
"Tke Royal RHby" she cried.
"Quite intact" he answered, Gin spite
of being carried in a rats mouth, and hidden
in pipe bowl An ingenious gentleman,
your thief"
They pressed him for explanations.
"Well," said Christopher Poe, with some
hesitation, running slim hand through his
fluffy hair, in a characteristic movement,
81 didn't have time to ask for the details.
But here are a few rough suggestions.
Your imagination will supply easily any
thing that may be missing Torche, a con-
cert performer, with wonderful trained rat,
has an exacting mistress Of criminal record.
She reads that the Royal Ruby is to be
worn at the Chatelet. Together the pair
evolve a scheme to secure the jewel for the
vanity of Mignon, the mistress"
EYES, the Blondells breathed eagerly.
"They have forty-eight hours in which to
train the rat to pounce at once on any round,
glittering, red thing. Torche has trained
him to retrieve by smell and sight, before.
A rats sense Of smell is stronger than its
sight, but this one has been taught to dis
tinguish colors in performing.
"Torche goes to the Chatelet, easily learns
which is the Blondells' box and secures
the one next to it. Tonight, the rat being
letter-perfect, he takes him in the pocket
built in one baggy trousers leg, as he carries
him continually, on and off the stage. He
goes early to the performance, waits for the
Blondell carriage, stumbles against Mr..
Blondell and, with sleight-of-hand motion,
Cleverly clips the chain showing above your
scarf. Knowing that you will have secured
the scarf so the stone will not drop until you
remove IT, or seeing your hand over the
stone and realizing the folly of getting away
with it IN the crowd he hurries ahead of you
into the opera-house and is just in time to
drop the well-trained rat beside the curtain
to your box, which joins that to his, and
push the animal IN with a dexterous shove
of his foot, himself concealed from the
audience by the plush curtain. The rat
seeks the dark corner by the stage; Torche
has practised the thing well by dropping the
rat in the closet to his own room and throw
ing cherry first, and then a paste rubyin to
him, teaching the animal to seize the glitter
ing bit of red at the signal of low whistle
which he uses on the stage. The rat grabs
the jewel and runs for its home in Torches
trousers leg, guided by sense Of smell"
"But that sounds impossible" cried Miss
Blondell
"Not when one considers that the rat has
been trained for years and was particularly
for this performance. OF course,
Torche took a big chance at failure all
around. His chances of success were about
one in six, but there was slight danger of
detection, and the game was worth the
candle. The very boldness of the plan
made it successful"
"How did you find out all this?" cried
Blondell, his eyes bulging' with interest.
9 What was the clue you picked up from the
loor in the box?"
"OnIy splinter from chair leg, with
ew hairs clinging to it, +" smiled Poe. "When
he rat made his hasty exit he bumped
against the chair and several of his hairs
we're torn off and held by the splinter I
they were the hairs of a small
Lnimal and on examining them felt certain,
~ the color and bristly texture, that they
we're the hairs of a rat or mouse. So / put
wo and two together, secured list of con-
ert performers from a theatrical friend,
nd found one who had trained mice and
at. I took a chance and called on him,
fter asking the description Of the performer
nd finding that it tailed exactly with the
nan in the box next to yours, whose strange
whistle | had noticed and connected with
he peculiar signals usually given by animal
rainers to their pets.
at was all quite too simple. found the
nan Torche and used the bait of offering an
knowing that he would be
lad of work, to avert possible suspicion
rom himself. 1t was quite too easy,
hough a little out Of the banking line.
wen Torche felt that had seen through
he game and tried to knife me when re-
erred to his rat Poor fellow, he'll prob
bly, get life sentence for trying to satisfy
Iignon's vanity. 1t was the folly of a
over. The stone would have been traced
i. II