Charlevoix county herald., 1914-06-06
CHA Pr XIII.


appointment. The interview with
the inspector was short, but to the
point. Crewe lad the "riot act"
read to him, and received with
becC Liin., meek1ess. Shaughnessy
admitted that he bad not a thing
in the world against he saloon
keeper.
A. headquarters Shaughnossy found
Harper the new nan. awaiting
him. Rat was there also shrewd-
eyed, alert, solemn.
where he so?" Shaughnessy
demanded.
ASK him. ] guess he'll tell, all
right" Harper replied.
81 welt to keep me regular job"
Rat spoke up quickly.
He had been rehearsing in his
mind what he should say to Shaugh-
ness, for, figuratively, he had been
caught with the goods on. That is
to say, he had been doing some pre-
liminary work for Faber when Har-
per had come up NTH MIN, and now
he had no idea OF giving up the snap
to Shaughnessy. Not Rat. 1t was a
coincidence, pei haps, that Harper
should have followed him into and
out of the very building where Birge
Moreaux had his studio, and that
Rat, discovering his shadow then for
the first time, wal ked directly up to
Harper and demanded:
Say, what are sou pipin' me off
for?"
Shaughnessy took no stock in
Rats plea of a regular job. He did
not regard it as necessary even TO
prove or disprove the boys tate
ment. He was already convinced
that Rat lied. Harper spoke up and
told the name Of the building, and
Shaughnessy wheeled upon the lad
again.
So" he said, you were in that
building, were you Who sent you
there ?"
"The Prince of Wales sent me
with a message to King Dodo," was
the solemn reply, and it was deliv-
cred in such manner that it was
equivalent to his saying, go to
thunder and find out"
And then, as he sail l., an in
spiration came to him. He recalled
that he had seen a certain woman
whorn he knew by sight, in that
building and had seen her enter one
of The studios on the top floor. He
recalled, too, that Shaughnessy knew
the same woman and that he had
seen him with her. He had seen
Jess when she went to Noreaux's
studio to pose as Juno.
When Shaughnessy best nearer to
Kim, and would have cuffed him for
his impertinent reply had there been
fewer people in the big room, Rat
plunged into the vortex of his inspi-
ration.
81 was there pipin' off Shannon's
Jess he said. "There was a swell
that me. me in the street yesterday,
an ne says co me, SIZE, Rat, d'you
know Shannon's Jess? SIZE. Il do
s'zi. you folly r t'-mor' morn'n','
SIZE, AN tell me where she goes to-
SIZE. Then. las night. wen ] was
gittin' tn lay uh tn land down
around where she lives, you cops me
an sends me here, an wen J gifts out
this morn'n' lights down to th'
same neighborhood Z pipe r of, an
] sees r come out, an folly r
Then his nibs here-l dunno his
name yet, bu: I've got his numbcr--
collars me H. the buildin' wen ] was
waitia for r to come out sgln an
that's all there is to it; so help me,
,ShauChnessy."
Now, as it happened, Rats sorry
fitted in very well indeed with
Shaug,.nessy's deist;.nding, al
though he was a little surprised to
think that anybody had believed it
worth while to have Jess Swallowed:
But, being thoroughly a crooked
character himself, ne regarded every
other person as the same, and there
seemed to be wheels within wheels
working in the present affair, which
were revolving in opposite directions
all { time. He believed, therefore,
thay Rat had told him part OF The
truth.
He reached out and laid his hand
reassuringly upon Rats shoulder.
That's all right, kid; only you've
got to give up the name OF the man
who told you to do all that"
"Say, Shaughnessy, I can't. I've
plumb forgot it-honest | have"
at guess you mean by that that
you're more afraid Of him than you
are Of me. Amt that right, Rat?"
T amt afraid uh nobody, ] amt"
was the explosive reply.
Shaughnessy, for some reason.
was satisfied. And it was his own
egotism that satisfied him. He had
suddenly come to the belief that it