Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1916-05-20

charred remnants of the note which
had been tossed on the Goals.
Three or four Of the fragments no
even rescued with the help of GRASS
| fire shovel. He turned them about
/ delicately and studied them patiently.
| On one he deciphered the words YOU
viii come" on another he managed
/ TO make out "am ill.," The only re-
naming portion of mcurled carbon on
which he could discover any trace OF
/ writing had lost its center. But on
what remained OF II he could road
"6S Washi--re."
"6S Washington SQuSre!" he an.
announced. And FIVE minutes later
found him seated in a taxicab.
He had just crossed Fourteenth
street, sweeping south, when he caught
sight of the Golden limousine, empty
with the exception OF Train at the
, wheel, sweeping northwest.
This disturbing discovery, once he
had reached tho square. took him up
the stone steps of a ruinous mansion
long given over 10 artists studios and
workshops of n meaner order.
He had climbed three flights OF
stairs. and climbed them with all the
stealthiness of fiat looter. when he
came TO n door which held out more
| promise than the others. For behind
this door he could distinctly hear the
sound OF voices. As he squatted down
and peered through the keyhole he
heard a girls muflled scream followed
~ n 2hwnaAxr lnnqh nf fri An
tho moment he heard that laugh he
knew II TO be Legars.
Yet at the same moment he made
second and even more diverting dis.
covery This was that a ponderous
and brawny armed woman. advancing
with elephantine lurches along the
halflighted hallway, was shouting out
shrill calls of warning as she came,
Manloy for one brief second nursed
the delusion that those warnings were
intended for his own ear. II was not
until the huge and slatternly figure
flung itself upon his stlll crouehing
shoulders that he awakened to the fact
that he was being attacked, the
startled eavesdropper found himself
flung bodily through the suddenly
opened door, even before he could
draw his revolver. For he knew now
beyond doubt that he was in the terri.
tory OF the enemy. He knew that still
another trap had been set for the un.
wary. He knew 1t, even before he
caught sight OF Legar himself and
Margery Golden shrinking close to the
wall at his side.
II was on Legar that he fixed his
eye as he whipped out his iirearm and
steadied himself with one hand
against the broken wall.
Legar saw that revolver leveled at
his body. lie saw the look ON Man
ley's colorless face. He knew what
was coming
He did not stop to argue; he did
not even turn to fee. But as he stood
there, with his deep-set eyes liked on
Manley's face, his long right arm that
terminated in its claw of iron shot
out and caught at the arm OF the girl
still crouching 80 close to the wall be.
side him. But even quicker was Man
ley's discovery of Legar's intentions
to swing the body OF the girl about
in front OF his own as q human
shield. And Manley, while the path
was still clear. leveled his gun and
hred.
There was q shout, half of horror
and half of rage, as Legar went down
In heap, his wooden arm-end thump-
ing on the rough flooring like a NAL.
let as he fell. And at the same mo-
ment that the brawny-armed amazon
boldly struck Manley's right arm up
towards the ceiling, that startled band
of Legar's followers united in a rush
for the assailant of their leader and
chief
In the first two minutes of that al.
together hopeless struggle Manley had
lost both his gun and his coat In the
next minute he had lost his breath.
In the next his liberty itself was gone.
, for those worthless lost no time in tying
, and trussing him up as neatly as
. a French chef trusses a capon. As
he was rudely backed away to where
Margery Golden, equally corded and
, tied, already stood, he heard one of
the men behind him speak.
'Did he croak the chief2"
, Nav, he's still breathin'l"
"Then we gotta get him outa here.
Pip, you call taxi. We gotta
get him back to his own 'Malina'. or
there'll be hell to payl"
How about this gun boob and the
rib?"
Gag 'em and throw 'em into that
bathroom therel And If youse turn
on the gas by accident, guess it's go
n to save US all lot o. troubled"
The Creeping Message.
David Manley, for all the predica,
, ment confronting him, tried to school
himself to calmness.
Close beside him, bound and gagged
like himself, he could feel the inert
body OF Margery Golden.
But what most disturbed him was
the gas Jet that stood out from the
green-papered wall high above his
head. That had been the finishing
; touch at the hands Of his enemies.
He looked carefully about the room,
point by point. It was nothing but .
commonplace bathroom, with door
on one side and small window high
up in the wall on the opposite side.