Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-09-26
S live v
Sandals
A Detective Story of Mys-
terry, Love and Adventure.
By Clinton H. Stagg
Continued From Yesterday
Copyright, w. ]. Watt & Co..
International News Service.


Don't novel" Colton's command
came in a sibilant whisper. Ihey
waited for the last weird move IN tne
whole weird game. Silent they sat
around the vaulted room ana stareo
upward at the curious thing IN the
ceiling that had been covered with
the heavy design. The light on its
straight silver tube swayed back anu
forth from the center of the hinged
door that had opened.
Like a black shadow the crow flew
in through the window. Once more
they watched it, not daring to move
lest they disturb it. But the BIRD
paid no attention. 1t flew ceillng-
ward. It's bill picked at a dangling
led, pulled it, then darted to another'
To Sydney's mind. as he watched,
came the picture or the crow as ne
| had seen it in the velVet-hung nan
| in the old house wnen It's Dill nau
pulled the cord that had opened the
| curtains to the room where ne hao
lost all recollection of things. From
one cord leg to another the crow dart
ed, apparently without rhyme or rea-
son Jerking one at one side and then
a leg connected with another bird be-
| fore it flew back. With sudden
scream it flew downward to perch on
the table. The square of silver swung
slowly downward. Resting on TWO
bars. was a heavy box.
THE rubies," Cotton said. The
crow was the key that unlocked them.
If you will look in the tree you Will
probably find clever crossing or hne
wires in the hiding pface of the crow.
The simple dropping of the metal
feather on them closed the electric
circuit that opened the first door;
Clever, yes, but a man who could build
the supporting frame that brought
John Melton into the Beaumonde
Restaurant was clever enough to do
anything His voice became very
solemn. Anything but to solve the
Higher Mystery" he said softly.
Once more Thornley, Cotton was in
the darkened library of the old,
brownstone house. Once more his
| burning eyes were swathed in band
ages. In the darkness sat the district
attorney and Sydney Thames. 1t was
several hours after the scene at the
house in Poughkeepsie. Carl, still
cool, was in a cell at police head
quarters. Norman was in another.
On the streets newsboys were yelling
the damp extras with Police Captain
McMann's name spread in great type
over the first pages. At Poughkeepsie
Silver Sandals, the girl, and Bracken
were beginning new life that had op-
ened before them. In an upper room
of the Cotton house shrimp was pet
/ ting Rameses. 1t had been given him
by the old woman. and was the only
fee that had come for the long hours
of work and risk and pain.
There is one thing that puzzled
me-" declared the district attorney
slowly. How did Bracken get out
of the diningroom at the Beau
monde %
The darkness hid Colton's smile.
He walked out" he said. "It was
the simplest thing in the word. He
was in a dress suit. He sauntered
leisurely into the lobby when he saw
that the captains eyes were not on
him after he had apparently hurried
away to carry out an order of the
girl. He presented a hat check that
he had arranged for, got his hat, and
sauntered out. Then he got the car
he had left near by, and was all ready
for the girl"
Sydney put in a question: But I
remember that the eyes of the old
man were very bright. I noticed
them"
"Silver Sandals told me of that.
while we were waiting for the time
to come for the denouement. 1t was a
chemical he had discovered that was
used by the ancient Egyptians for
their mummies. He had also found
another secret, in his years of re-
search, that the old embalmers used.
II prevents stiffness of dead joints
The incense odor was another secret,
just as was the making of papyrus for
all his writing. He wouldn't have so
modern a thing as paper"
Silence for a few minutes, then the
district attorney put another question:
The woman found the body with
the slashed wrists, beside the tub?"
Yes, but, as Carl said. she merely
thought that her brother had taken
the thing into his own hands. It
didn't seem strange at all to her. She
was a curious woman, strange as the
old man himself. And you must re-
member that there was nothing else
she could do. She did not dare men
ton the fact of it being suicide, be-
cause that would mean the police, and
explanations of the things they had
done. think that was the real cause
OF the nervousness that she never let
the girl suspect.
Reading of the coroner's inquest
and the police surgeons testimony
showed her that it was murder. But
sun she dared do nothing. She
S-ioo5hs mat OHly bTdcKen could be
guilty. I accused him of the murder
10 draw her out. Naturally she
thought that he had stolen the crypto-
gram map. But she figured he had
only done that to see that it was the
girl who got the rubies. She told
me those things at the Bracken house
VI course young Bracken was nearly
crazy. He was trying to locate Nor
| man as the only one who could he
guilty. Then, when he heard the wo-
man as l intended he should he
thought that she had killed her broth
er because or the long-nursed scheme
of revenge"
THANK God it all came out riphtr,
There was fervent thankfuIness in
the oHlclafs exclamation. This morn
llis my nerves were raw. I realized
What slip meant to me. Now I'm
clear. McMann will see that it doesn't
come out Elections only little wa "
off" way
Once more the darkness hid The
smile that curved the thin lips of tbe
pllnd man. Isn't 1T very true - he
said quietly. that we can't 90 hacko
ward? The old man thought he was
living in the centuries that were dad
ana gone. He died AS the old Egvnt-
ians died. Yet modernism thrust IL.
way in. Wall Street, money snacn
lation, caused his murder. thouph he
knew nothing of them. You have
been worrying over election. ballots
and newspapers. But time haIfs for.
no man, nor can it be pushed haot =
| SeCOndi" He rosa fro,. a. sNSh a