The Washington herald., 1914-03-01

footman chosen this moment to hurl me
n from him, and to make a dash in the d.
rection from which they had come Lord
Amersteth had him in an instant; but
the fellow fought desperately. and it took
the two of us to drag him downstairs.
amid terrified chorus from half-open
doors. Eventually we handed him over
to two other footmen who appeared with
their nightshirts tucked into their trou-
sers. and my host was good enough to
compliment me as he led tbs way out
! side.
II thought heard shot," he added.
Didn't your
II thought I heard three"
And out We dashed into the darkness.
So dark was the night that We were in
the cricketers' midst before we saw the
simmer of their pajamas; and then Lord
Amersteth almost trod on Mackenzie as
he lay PROSTATE in the dew.
| Who's this?'' he cried. What on
earth's happened?"
Its Clephane." said a man who knelt
over him. He's got a bullet in him
somewhere"
'Ts he alive?'
Barely"
Good Cod Where's Crowley
Here 1 am called a breathless voice
Its no good, you fellows. There's moth
ing to show which way they've gone
Here's Rafies; he's chueked it, too" And
they ran up painting.
'wel. we've got one of them. at all
events" muttered Lord Amersteth. '-The
| next thing is to get this poor fellow in
doors. Poor fellow His name isn't
Clephane at all. He's a Scotland Yard
detective, down here for these very viii
lainsr'
Raffies was the first to express surprise;
but he had also been the FIRST to raise
the wounded man. In a little We had the
senseless man stretched on a sofa in the
library. And there, with ice on his
wound and brandy in his throat, his eyes
opened and his lips moved.
Lord Amersteth bent down to catch the
words.
'Yes. yes" said he; we've got one OF
them safe and sound The brute you col
Jared upstairs" Lord Amersteth bent
lower. by Joye, Lowered the jewel case
out of the window. did he? And they've
got clean away with it! Well, we'll.
fellow through. He's off again"
An hour passed. The sun was rising.
1t found afdozen young fellows on the
settees in the biIliard-room, drinking
whisky and soda water in their oyercoaIs
and pajamas. and still talking excitedly
in one breath. At last the door opened
and Lord Amersteth put in his head.
1T isn't hopeless" said he, but it's
bad enough. There'u be no cricket 10
day."
Another hour. and most OF US were on
our way to catch the early train: between
us we filled a compartment almost 10
suffocation.
Raffies watched me under lowered lids.
Not a word had We had together; not a
word did We have until We had left the
others at Paddington, and were skimming
through the streets in a hanson with
noiseless tires and a tinEling bell.
We'll. Bunny" said Rafies. so the
professors have it. eh?''
Yes" said l. And I'm jelly slad.'
THAT poor Mackenzie has a ball in his
chest?'
That you and have been on the de-
cent side for once"
He shrugged his shoulders.
You're hopeless. Bunny, quite hope
less, / take it you wouldn't have refused
your share if the Doodle had fallen TO us?
/ confess. however, that the professors
methods were full of interest to me. That
lowering the jewel case out of the win
dow was a very simple and effective eN-
pedient: two of them had been waiting
below for it for hours"
How do you know I asked.
Il saw them from my own window.
which was Just above the dear old Iady's.
was frettinG for that necklace in par
ticular when I went up to turn in for our
last highland l happened to look out Of
my window. In point of fact, I wanted
TO see whether the one below was open.
and whether there was the slightest
chance of working the oracle with my
sheet for rope. OF course ! took tn;
precaution of turning my light of first.
and it was a lucky thing ] did. / saw
the pros. right down below, and they
never saw me. / saw little. tiny. lum-
nous disk just for an instant. and then
again for an instant a few minutes later.
OF course I knew what it was. for have
my own watch dial daubed with luu-
inous paint: it makes a lantern of sorts
when you can get no better. But these
fellows were not using theirs as a Ian
tern. They were under the old lady's
window. They were watching the time.
The whole thing was arranged with their
accomplice inside. Set a thief to catch
a thief: in a minute had guessed what
the whole thing proved TO be-
And you did nothing,'' 7 exclaimed.
ON the contrary. l went downstairs
and straight into Lady Melrose's
room
You did?"
Without moments hesitation. To
save her jewels. And l was prepared to
yell as much into her car trumpet for all
the house to hear. But the dear lady is
too deaf and too fond of her dinner to
wake easily
.'weu?"
She didn't stir
And yet you allowed the professors.
as you call them. to take her jewels. case
and ALL
"AH but this" said Rallies thrusting
his fist into my lap. Il would have shown
il to you before. but really old fellow. your
face all day has been worth a fortune to
the firmi'
And he opened his fist. to smut it next
instant on the bunch Of diamonds and of
sapphires that had last seen encirclins
the neck of Lady Melrose.