The Washington herald., 1914-11-29
cqI4IisAt. sll.,

many perpIexing and quite unique feat
ures-a mysterious and even desperate
business which -threatsned the life Of
one good man, the honor Of two others
and involved the reputation Of many peo-
pie Of high standing in both the COM
mercial and the social worlds-yet had
it not been Cleek's whim that he and Mr..
Narkom should make Hampstead the
field of their operations that morning Tin
pursuit of the investigations which had
for several days occupied their attention.
the affair might never have found a place
in these chronicles at all.
Primarily. the antecedents of the case
resolving themselves into nothing more
mysterious than a cipher cablegram,
which, on being decoded. read simply:
Just traced 21S. Sailed last week on
Tunisian-AlIan Line-from Canada, un-
der name Hammond. Woman with him
Handsome blonde. Passing as sister. Be-
ueved to be IA"
Mr.. Sarkom nearly had a stroke"
when he compared those cabalistic num-
bers with their counterparts in his code
book and saw that their definition was
registered thus:
NO. 2lS-Nicholas Hemingway. popu-
iarly known as Diamond Nick Ameri-
can. Expert swindler, confidence man
and Jewel thief Ex-actOr and very skill
full at impersonation. See Rogues' Gal
lery for portrait"
No. 774-EIla Plawsen, variously known
TO members of the light fingered frater-
nifty as Dutch Ella and Lady Nell
Gefman-American. Probably the most
adroit female Jewel thief in existence.
Highly educated, exceedingly handsome
and amazingly plausible and quick-wit-
ted. Usually does the society dodge
No photograph obtainabie. A natural
blonde and about twenty-five years old. "
Within forty-five minutes after these
facts were made known to him Supt
Narkom vas with Cleek. laying the sert-
BUSINESS Of the situation before his IA
nous ally. And that it was serious may
best be understood from the fact that as
the whereabouts of this precious pair had
eot been successfully established by the
American police until four hours after
the Tunisian had locked and discharged
her passengers they had unquestionably
slipped unchallenged past the guardians
of the port and were already safely hous-
cd somewhere within the intricacies of
that vast brick-and-mortar puzzle, Lon
don.
In this dilemma Cleek's advice was SIM
pie and promising. 1t was, in short, that
he and Mr.. Narkom should themselves
take up the dutv of endeavorinG to locate,
the wanted pair by personally inyesti-
gatinG those districts in which they
would be most likely to locate.
Thus matters stood when on the morn
ing OF the fifth day Cleek elected to make
Hampstead Heath and its environments
the scene Of their operations, and at 9
o'clock set forth in company with the
superintendent to put them in force in
that particular district. with the result
that by noontime they found themselves
in the thick of as pretty a riddle. as they
had fallen foul of in many a day.
1t was in the neighborhood of II 30 that
what might be called the first mutter-
ings OF a storm" introduced themselves
TO Cleek's notice. thus: Turning into a
quiet, shady road in that particular quar-
ter which is known as The Vale of Health
and is, as no doubt you know. on the
borders of the historic Heath-he looked
up to discover that there was but one
building in the entire length of the thor
oughfare-a large, imposing residence set
back from the road proper and encircled
by high stone whI with heavy, curl
ously wrought iron gates leading into the
inclosure. and that before that building
two copper skinned. turbanned, fantasti-
cally clad Hindoos were doing sentry
duty in 4 manner peculiar unto them
selves-the one standing as motionlesss as
a bronze image and the other pacing up
and down like a clockwork toy that had
just been wound up.
The Punjab for a ducat!" exclaimed
CIeek. as he caught eight of them. "And
The insignia of the Rance of Jhang. at
that 1 knew the old girl was over for
the coronation but what on earth are
her attendants doing out in this quar-
ter of the town2 She's not putting up out
here of late. is she?'
''HGo. She's still at Kensington. But
what the dickens those johnnies are
L., - f..-
me-" replied Mr.. Narkom. It's the res
id"nce OF Sir Mawson Leake. You know
-Leake & Lealxe. jewellers. Bond street. |
Fine old place isn't it? Inherited it-as
he did the business-from his father.
What's that? No. not a young man-not
a young man by any means. Grown chill
dren-two sons. One by his first wife and
one by his second. who's an American, ]
believe. and-Hullo! That's a rum
CIcek?''
See what? The manner in which that
ciockwork chap stopped in his tracks and
eyed US as we passed?''
mo. The woman. All muffled up to |
the eyes. by Jove and in weather like |
this. Just stepped out of the house door. |
saw those two niggers and then bolted |
back indoors like the Old Boy was after
her"
Saw us, more than Iikely-you know |
what high-class Hindoo women are where |
aliens are concerned. It will be the Old
Rance herself, dare say. paying q morn |
ing visit to the jeweler in reference to |
some Of her amazing gems. That would !
explain the presence of the sentries, Of |
course"
ITO be sure" admitted the superintend-I |
ent. and walked on. dropping the matter
from his mind entirely.
Ten minutes later however, it was
brought back to him in a rather startling
manner, for upon rounding the end of
the thoroughfare along which they had
been walking and coming abreast Of an
isolated building which was clearly the
stable Of the house they had recently
passed they were surprised to hear the
sound of a muffied cry within. to catch
Whit Of charcoal smoke as the door was
flung widely open by the same muff1ed |
female Mr.. Narkom had observed pre-
viously. and something more than merely
startled to have her rush at them the in
slant she caught sight of them, crying
out distractedly:
Il feared it-I knew it'll read\ II in his
very eyes. Oh, help me, gentlemen-help
me for the love of God! 1 can't lift him.
1 can't drag him out-he is too heavy for
me! My husbandi In there, In there!
He'll die il you don't set him out"'
They understood then. and for the first
time, what she was driving at and rushed
1ast her into the stable-into what had
once been designed for a coachman'si
find an apartment literally
reeking with the fumes that poured out
from a charcoal furnace on the floor and
beside that the body Of man-inert.