The Dermott news., 1915-06-10

Nf SC dt when heard the telephone ring 1t was Craig Without d word of apology for his rudcuess. which knew had been purely abseHtmnde2. | heard him sas. Waiter. meet me iH half al hour outside that Florence Leteh's house.
 
 Half aa hour later aas waiting near the house in the suburbs to which had been directed by Che strange telephone caIl the day before. l noticed that fl Was apparently de- serted The blinds were closed and To Let sign was on the side Of the house.
 Hello. Walter" cried Craig atlast, busting along
 He led the way around the side of the house to window. and. with powerful grasp, wreuched open the closed shutters He had just smashed the window when . policeman ap- peared
 Hey. you fellows what are you doing there?1 he shouted
 Craig paused second. then pulled his card from his pocket
 Just the man 1 want, he parried, much to the policeman.s surprise. There's something crooked going on here Follow Ills in
 We climbed into the window There was the same living room We had seen the day before. But II was now bare and deserted
 Come ou..crIed kennedY heckon, ing us on.
 Quickly h. rushed through the house There Was uot a thIug m t to change the deserted appearance of the frst floor At last f occurred to Craig to grope his way down cellar. Th,rs was notMng there
 Kcnned had been carefully going over the place. and was II the other sjdc of the cellar from ourselves whom l saw him step and gaze at the floor.
 Hide. he whispered suddenly to us
 We waited a moment Nothing hap rened Had he been seeing things or hearing things. l wondered2
 From our hidden vantage We could now see a square piece in the floor perhaps Ave feet in diameter slowly open up as though on pivot
 The weird and sinister figure of q man appeared Oyer his head he wore | b ,vl4 pieces over the eycs and tubes that connected with a tank which he car ried bucklcd to his back.
 Quickly he closed down the cover of tho tubc. but not before vile ctiluyi- um seemed to escape and penetrate even to us in our hiding places As he moved forward Kennedy gave a flying leap at him. and We followed with a regular football interference.
 It was the work Of only a moment for us to subdue and hold Him while CrmG ripped oT the helmet
 T. was Dan tho Dude
 What's that thine 9' pulled. as L helped Craig With the headeear
 An oxygen helmet" he replied There must be air down the tube that cannot be breathed "
 He went over to the tube Carefully he opened the top and gazed down starting back second later. with his face puekered up at the noxious odor
 Sewer gas" he calculated as he slammed the cover down Then he added to the policeman Where do you suppose it comes from2"
 Why" replied the officer. the St. James viaduct-an old sewer-is some where about these parts
 Kennedy puckered his face as he gazed at our prisoner. He reached down quickly and lifted something of the mans coat
 Golden hair" he muttered "Elaine's,"
 A moment later he seized the man and shook him roughly.
 Where is she-tell me-" he de- manded
 The man snarled some kind of re- ply. refusing 10 say a word about her Tell me" repeated Kennedy.
 "Humph," snorted the prisoner. more close-mouthed than ever
 Kennedy was furious Az he sent the man reeling away from him he seized the oxygen helmet and began putting it on. There was only one thing to do-to follow the clue of the golden strands of hair
 Down into the pest hole he went, his head protected by the oxygen helmet As he cautiously took one step after another down a series of iron rungs inside the hole, he found that the wa ter was up to his chest At the bot tom of the perpendicular pit was a narrow. low passageway leading off.