Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1914-05-07

! The Mystery
of the
B0uIe Cabinet
By BURTON E. STEVENSON
Copyright. 1918, by Burton E.
Stevenson.
Copyright. 1918, by Burton E.
Stevenson.
XIII.
"Crochard the lnvincibie."

"THIs NJ. Armand" continued
Godfrey. 'is a great criminal
and has. of course. various
followers, upon whom he
must rely for the performance of Ger
tain details. since he cal he i'll but one
place Ill Il time. AFFECT and absolute
obedience is necessary to success. and
he compelS obedience in the only way
in which it car he compelled among
criminals-by fear. For diSobcdienco
there is but one puniShment-death
And the manner of the death is so Ger.
tain II so mysterious rs to he almost
supernatural. for deserterS and trai,
tors are found to have died. inevitably
and invariably. from the effects of an
insignificant wound on the right hand.
just above the knuckles.
at is by this secret" Godfrey con
tinued. that Armand preserves his
absolute supremacy. But occasionally
the temptation is too great, and one
of his men deserts. Armand sends
this cabinet to America. He knows
that in this case the temptation is very
great indeed. He fears treachery, and
he arranges in the cabinet a mocha
nism which will inflict death upon the
traitor in precisely the same way in
which he himself inficts it-by means
of a poisoned stab in the right hand.
Imagine the effect upon his gang. He
is nowhere neal when the act of
treachery is performed, and yet the
traitor dies instantly and Surely!
"But," l questioned, what act Of
treachery was it that Armand feared?'
"The opening of the secret drawer"
"Then you still believe in the poison
ed mechanism"
II certainly do. The tragedy of this
afternoon proves the truth of the
theory"
Il don't see it," l said helplessly.
"Why, Lester protested Godfrey,
OTIS as plain as day. Who was that
bearded giant who was killed? The
traitor, of course. Do you suppose for
an instant that Armand was ignorant
Of his presence in that house? Do you
suppose he would have been able to
take Armand prisoner if Armand had
not been willing that he should?"
81 don't see how Armand could help
himself after that fellow got his hands
on him."
you don't? And you saw yourself
that he was not really bound-that
he had cut himself loose!"
'sThat is true,' / said, thoughtfully.
"Let us reconstruct the story" God
frey went on rapidly: 1.-The traitor
discovers the secret of the cabinet. He
follows Armand to New York, shadows
him to the house on Seventh avenue,
waits for him there and seiZes and
binds him. He is half mad with tri-
umph. He chants a crazy singsong
about revenge, revenge, revenge! And
plete. he does not kill his prisoner at
once. He rolls him into a corner and
proceeds to rip away the burlap. His
triumph will be to. open the secret
drawer before Armand's eyes. And
Armand lies there in the corner, his
eyes S1cdUllIS, OCSCuoC IL ID lCd1ly
the moment of his triumph which is
at hand. The instant the traitor open
ed the drawer he would be stabbed by
the poisoned mechanism! 1t was for
that that Armand waited!"
L lay back in my chair with a gasp
Of amaZement and admiration. had
been blind not to see it!
'It was not until the last moment
Godfrey went on, when the traitor
was bending above the cabinet feeling
for the spring that l realized what was
about to happen. There was no time
for hesitation-I sprang into the room.
Armand vanished in an instant, and
the giant also tried to escape, but l
caught him at the door. / had 10 idea
of his danger; l had no thought that
Armand would dare linger. He had
to kill that man; there We're no two
had to kill him."
"But whyy l asked. "Why?
'To seal his lips. If we had cap
tured him do you suppose Armand's
secret would have been safe for al in
slant? So he had to kill him-he had
to kill him with the poisoned barb
and he did kill him and got away into
the bargain!"
Perhaps he knew hat we were
there all the time"
"Of course he did," assented God
frey grimly. ITO think that l was
fool enough to suppose that I could
follow him about the streets of New
York without his knowing it.! He
knew from the first that he might be
followed and prepared for it."
'But how about ArmandT" l pro.
tested. "Aren't you going to try to
capture him? Are you going to let him
get away"
"He won't get away!" and Godfrey's
ewes were cleaning again. "We don't