Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-02-17
The Mystery of
the Bou1e Cabinet
BURTON E. STEVENSON
I Copyright, 1915. by Burton e. Stevenson.

Then his yes encountered mine.
"Lester!" he said. Where is he-Pigot?
He stopped short. looked once around
at the cleaning marble of the bank.
fumbled for something at his side, and
fell senscless on the seat.
/ have no recollection of how ] got
back to the Marathon. L suppose L must
have walked; but my first remembrance
is of finding myself sitting in my
f%avorite chair. pipe in hand. The
pipe was lit. SO l suppose l must have
lighted it mechanically. and 1 found
that l had also mechanically changed
into lounging coat. l glanced at my
watch and saw that it was nearly 4
o'clock.
The top of my head was burning as
though with fever, and 1 went into the
bathroom and turned the cold water on
ii. The shock did me a world of good,
and by the time I had finished a
vigorous toweling ] felt Immensely bet
down to review the events Of the eve
ming; but / found that somehow my
brain refused to work, and black
circles began to whirl before my eyes
again.
~ told Godfrey I couldn't stand any
more of this" l muttered. and stumbled
into my bedroom, undressed with diff
ficulty, and turned out the light.
Then. as l lay there. staring up into
the darkness, a singing though brought
me upright.
Godfrey-where was Godfrey? Wa
he on the track or Crochard? Was he
daring a contest with him? Perhaps,
even at this moment.
Scarcely knowing what / did, I
CROPPED my way to the telephone and
asked for Godfrey's number-hoping
againt hope absurdly-and at last, to
i VrN,, IN nm IN aud >ls~ r h~~%l
his voice-not a very amiable voice.
"Hello!" he said.
Godfrey" 1 began, its Lester. He
got away"
"Of course he go away You didn't
call me out of bed to tell me that, I
hope"
Then YOU knew about it,"
Il knew he'd get away
When the wagon got to the bank
there was nobody inside but Simmonds.
Simmonds went along, you know"
Was he hurt?"
around all right" j..
That's good-but Crochard wouldn't
hurt lin. He got ava with the Jewels,
of course?"
"Of course" i assented. surprised that
Godfrey should take 1t SO cody. when
you rushed out that way" 1 added. Il
thought maybe you were going after
him."
with him 20 minutes In the lead?
I'm no such fool! He got away from me
the other day with a start Of about half
a second"
I tried to get you explained, "as
soon as Simmonds told me they were
going to Loo at the cabinet. l 'phoned
the office. The city editor said he had
sent you out into Westchester."
Godfrey laughed shortly.
1T was a wild goose chase he said,
cooked up by u friend Crochard.
But even then, I'd have got back, if we
hadn't punctured a tire when we were
five miles from anywhere. l knew what
was up-but there 1 was. oh, he's made
fools of us all. Lester. l told you he
would"
Then you didn't get my message?.
"Yes-they gave it to me when l
'phoned in that the Westminster bust
ness was Il fake. I rushed for the sta
ton, though l knew Id be too late"
But, Godfrey I said, Il can't un-
derstand. even yet, how he did it.
Grady and Simmonds left the boat with
Pigot and were with him all evening,
showing him the sights. How did Gro
chard get into it? What did he do with
Pigot? Where is Pigot?
He's on the Savoie. I rushed a wire
less down to her as soon as 1 left the
station. They made a search and found
Pigot bound and gagged under the
berth in his stateroom."
/ could only gasp.
And to think 1 didn't suspect" adj
ded Godfrey. bitterly. We stood there
and saw that yacht with the French
flag walk away from us: we saw her
put a man aboard the Savoie: we saw
that man talking to Pigot "
Yes" said. breathlessly: YES"
WELL, that man was CrOchard. He
got Pigot into his stateroom-gave him
9 Whit Of he same stuff he used on
simmonds. no doubt; put him out Of
the way under the berth; got into his
clothes. made up his face, put on a
wig-and all that while we were kick
ing our heels outside waiting for him.
But 1t was a tremendous risk" I
said. There were SO many people
on board who knew Pigot-it would
have to be q perfect disguise"
"Crochard wouldn't stop for that.
But It wasn't much of a risk. None
OF us had seen Pigot closely; all we
had seen Of him was the Jack of his
head: and the passengers were all on
deck watching h quarantine men.
And yet. Of course. the diguise was q
perfect one. Crochard is an artist in
that line. and he was. nc doubt, thor
Oughly familiar with Pigot's appear
ance. He deceived h purser-but the
purser wouldn't suspect anything!"
80 it was really Crochard -
But we ought to have suspected.
thing. questioned everything; I ought
to have looked up that visitor and
found ont what became of him. In
stead of which. Crochard put Pigot's
papers in his pocket. set his bag out
side the state room door, and then
came out calmly to meet his dear
friends Of the press: and I stood there
talking to him like a little schoolboy-
no wonder he thinks I'm a fool!!"
"But nobody would have suspected
gasped. Why. that man isis
"a genius" said Godfrey. IAN alb