The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-04-28
By GRACE LIVINGSTON LUTZ
Copyright by J. b. Lippincott Co.
BEGIN HERE TODAY


cyril Gordon, member OF the
United States secret service is sent
from the Washington headquarters
to New York To recover code mes
sage that has been stolen from the
government by man named Hol-
man.
Gordon goes under the assumed
name OF John Burnham, of whom
Holman has heard as an expert
reader of codes. Holman invites
him to dinner. together with sew
eral of the thiefs associates.
The stolen paper Is handed Cor
don at the dinner table. and while
he is pretending to study 1t he sub
stitutes a fake massage. He IL
called to the telephone, a previous
arrangement with his chief, and
makes his escape through the front
door with six furious men at his
heels
Almost In front of the house a
closed carriage happens to be
Gordon for the man he awaited,
Gordon jumps in and they drive off
at a furious pace.
While In the carriage Gordon Sc
cretes the message in a little gold
case, hung on chaian about his
neck, and puts on false eyebrows,
mustach and gOatee.
Just as he perceives through the
carriage window that the Holman
dinner party Is following him In
automobiles. the carriage comes to
a halt before a lighted church, and
Gordon is seized by six excited men.
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY
Dimly Gordon perceived above
the sound of subdued hubbub that
an organ was playing, and even
as he listened it burst into the
joyous notes of the wedding
march. 1t dawned upon him that
It was church wedding and that
they took him for the best man!
His disguise had been his un-
doing. How was he to get out of
this scrape? And with his pur-
suers just behind!
Let me explain" he began.
There's no time for explana-
tons now. man. / tell you the
organ has begun the march.
We're expected to be marching
down that middle aisle this very
minute and Jeff is waiting for us
in the chapel. sent the signal
to the bride and another to the
Organist the minute we sighted
you. Come on, Everybody
knows your boat was late in COM
ing in
At that moment one of the
ushers moved aside and the short
thick-set man stepped between.
Gordon saw his only escape was
into the church. With his heart
pounding like a trip hammer he
yielded himself to the six ushers,
who swept the little pursuer aside
as If he had been a fly and liter
ally bore Gordon up the steps and
into the church door.
A burst of music and dazzling
lights bewildered him. His one
thought was for escape from his
pursuers.
He looked around wildly for a
place OF exit, but he was in the
hands of the insistent ushers. One
OF them chartered to him in a low
growing whisper:
ut must have been rough on
you, being anxious like this about
getting here, but never mind now.
Come on. Here's our cue and
there stands Jefferson over there.
You and he go in with the min
ister. you know. The groom and
the best man, you understand,
they'll tell you when. Jeff has
the ring so you won't need to
bother about that. There's alb
solutely nothing for you to do but
stand where you're put and go
out when the rest do"
Was it possible that these crazy
people didn't recognize their mis-
take even yet, here in the bright
light?
And now they were drawing
him forward and turn of his
head gave him a vision of the
thick-set man peering in at the
chapel door. He must fool him If
possible.
But don't know about the ar
rangements" faltered Gordon, re-
fleeing that the best man might
not be very we'll known to the
ushers and perhaps he resent led
him.
Could he possibly hope to bluff
it out until the ceremony was over
and then escape? 1t would be the
best way imaginable to throw that
man in the doorway off his track.
The real best man might turn up
after he was gone and create a
pleasant little mystery, but no.
body would be injured thereby.
All this passed through his
mind while the usher kept up hts
sepulchral whisper:
why, there are just the usual
arrangements. You and Jeff go
in after the ushers and just stand
there till Celia and her uncle