Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1913-08-22

ing, and at the Hateful lower door an
other figure was creeping out. rec
ognized it as the butler, suspicioned a
weapon in his concealed right hand
and fred.
This way shouted RAND, leaping
toward the front hall, and I followed
him, turning for last shot at the
three figures who clogged the hall.
"What-what?'' I implored of him,
as we ran, but before he could answer
we had pushed nut into the thick Of
struggling, cursing, screaming, shoot
ing mass that defies description. Tom,
the Sioux, standing on the third step
Of the stair, lowered over the fight,
steadily firing into the mass below,
and caught a glimpse Of several po-
lice helmets, AMI thel graiplcd With
a vicious little dark man who came
At me like char3in snake.
Oct him alive. II you can. Duncan!~;
yelled Rand's voice. In blind obedi!
enea wrestled with an appraised
hand which held a knife, and q low
cred one. which gripped a pistol and
the last remember 10 that young Dam
vers reached over and knocked the
knife away and that something hit me
. singing blow on the shoulder. /!
When returned to consciousness
Rand and Danvers were bending over
me. and policeman was skillfully,
bandaging my wound.
Hell do nicely now, cir. till the SUR
geon comes" said the policeman.
That's good" replied Rand heartily.
well. Duncan. old boy, I'm sorry that
brute winged you, but you have oil
the glory OF having captured one Of
tho most desperate criminals alive.
besides neatly picking OF two Others
Young DAnvers. who had left the
room for . moment. returned and told
Rand that Mrs. Danvers was resting
quietly, after her fright of hearing
such = disturbance. and that she
wished the great detective to know,
that she was thankful that tho whole
thing was exposed at last. what she
means by that don't know. SIR" con-
cluded tho boy. but she said that per-
haps you would tell me-" ~--.s :
Rand gave the little short nod which
IL his, sign OF communication a. he lit
another cigarette.
"Mr. Danvers." he said, ~ will toll
all that know az briefly a. possible.
Your father called himself by the
name which you now use, but it was
really Danelli." He nodded asserting.
" 1t the exclamation which broke
from us both. eyes, he was an Italian.
but hts mother was an EngltshWoman,
and for reasons of his own he never
acknowledged his paternity. He mar.
ried your mother. who was q New Eng.
land school teacher, under tho name
OF Danvers, and I fancy that until late
" she had no suspicion that 1t was not
his right name.
"Your father was tho head Of 4 20
cret society, making It's headquarters
In Italy, and during the years that
you were abroad he used this house %
. place Of deposit for tho most yalua,
BILE papers and property of the socie.
ty, Of which the servants were all
sworn members. The place was q gath,
ering ground for every ono of the
members who came over here
"But-how could they-about de.
posting things here, you know? There
isn't q place In the house where any.
thing could be hidden" Young Dan.
vers looked incredulous.
For answer Rand walked across to
the fireplace, fumbled about a little,
and suddenly swung the whole mantel.
piece out toward US. Back of It were
rows and rows of drawers, neatly la.
beled.
We were too astontshed to say a
word, and Rand walked about the
room, touching this and that piece of
woodwork or carving, and at each
touch revealing the same thing-lines
upon lines of drawers quietly reposing
there, back Of the apparently blank
wall. ~
You see" he said to us, coming
back from this demonstration. the
whole house is like that. We found q
complete plan Of the place, with all of
the hiding places marked. on the body
OF the man who poses as your butler.
Mr.. Danvers never intended that you
or your mother should return here. I
guess, but in such society man is
never sure Of carrying out his plans.
Dying as suddenly as he did, he did
not know that he had been deposed
and that people, inimical to his inter-
ests. were put In his place. The whole
effort. of course, was to brighten you
into leaving the place and selling 1t.
No doubt. you had offers for It before
you came over?"
I'VE did?" said Danvers: 80 man in
Italy said his brother had become
wealthy as contractor over here and
wanted 1t for his home.
"Of course you told him that you
also wanted It for the very same
=thing?'
.sYes, we did,
and the word was passed on, 20 ]
that the little entertainment which
really shook all our nerves was ar
ranged for"
j Good heavensi" exclaimed Danvers.
I, = ~