El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-12-30
Playing Dead" Third s If 4 z Sz% s5 59
Story Reported
andE needas
By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS
CONTINUED From Yesterdayl

The prince was young. tall, dark
skinned, with a black, pointed beard.
He wore his national costume and
over it many necklaces Of strange
stones, and of jewels more strange.
he sat on a paper-mache throne with
giided elephants for supports. and IN
his hand held a crystal globe. His
head was all but hidden in an enOr-
nous silken turban on which hung a
single pearl Jimmie made up his mind
that if the prince was no more on the
level than his jewels there would be no
trouble.
Jimmie came quickly to the point.
can't show up" he explained, "De-
cause after lost my job as Mr.. Blas-
wins valet several articles of value
were missing But you can show up
for me. If the viii is not where 1 saw
it-where ] tell you it is-you're no
worse off than you are now You can
say the spirits misled you. But, if I'm
telling you the TRUTH you stand to get
half the reward and the biggest press
story any ghost-raiser ever put across.
And why" in conclusion Jimmie
demanded. should I ask you to do
this. If what L say is not true2"
The prince made no reply.
With sweeping gesture he brought
the crystal globe into his lap and,
bending his head, apparently peered
INTO It's depths In reality he was gain
ing time. To himself he was repeating
Jimmie's question If the stranger were
not speaking the truth, why was he
asking him to join in a plot TO de-
ceive2 The possibility that Jimmie
was telling the truth the prince did
not even consider He was not used to
the truth, and as to the motives Of
Jimmie in inviting him to break the
law he already had made his guess 1t
was that Jimmie must be a detective
setting trap which later would be-
tray him to the police And the prince
had no desire to fall in with the pO-
lice nor to fall out with them. All he
ever asked Of those gentlemen was 70
leave MIN alone And, since apparently
they would not leave him alone. he
saw, deep down in the crystal globe,
a way by which not only could he
avoid their trap, but might spring It
10 his own advantage.
Instead of the detective denouncing
him, he would denOunce the detective.
OF the police he would become an ally.
He would call upon them to arrest a
man who was planning to blsckmail
Mrs James BlagWin.
Unseen by Jimmie, in the arm OF his
throne he pressed an electric button,
and IN the front room in the ear Of the
blonde girl, a signal buzzed. In her
turn the blonde pushed aside the cur
tains that hid the door to the front
hall.
Pardon. highness" she said. "a Ger
tain party in Wall street'-she paused
impressively, and the prince nodded
wants 10 consult you about his stand
ard Oil stock"
s'He must wait" returned the prince
Pardon. highness," persisted the
woman; he cannot wait It is mat
ter of millions"
of this dialogue, which was the We
hicle always used TO get the prince out
OF the audience chamber and into the
front hall, Undoubtedly the best line
was the one given to the blonde-"it
is matter of millions"
Knowing this, she used to speak IL
slowly and impressively. It impressed
even Jimmie. And after the prince had
reverently deposited his globe upon a
velvet cushion and disappeared, jim
ME sat wondering who in Wall street
was rich enough to buy Standard Oil
stock and who was fool enough TO
sell it.
But over Such idle questions he was
not long left to mediate Something
more personal demanded his fun atten-
ton Behind him the prince carefully
had closed the door to the front hall.
But, not having his crystal globe with
him, he did not know it had not re-
NAMED closed, and as he stood under
the hall stairs and softly lifted the
receiver from the telephone. he was
not aware that his voice carried to the
room in which Jimmie was waiting.
Hello" whispered the prince softly.
His voice, Jimmie noted with approval.
even over public telephone was as
gentle as cooling dove.
Helloi Give me Spring BOO"
A cold sweat swept down Jimmie's
spine. A man might forget his birth
day, his middle name. his own tele-
phone number, but not Spring 800.