Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-09-25

what dld ne nave 10 90 Win lie
death of Nelson?" asked Cotton sharp
ly.
Norman raised his head. II didn't
have nothing to do with it," he
screamed. "He said he couldn't find
the crow, and left him in saloon
on the water front"
Hes right" growled Carl. He
wouldn't have the nerve to push him
in"
THE waiter had the one missing
link" Cotton said quietly. He reached
out his hand toward where the dis
trict attorney was sitting. '"The feath-
err" he asked. Silently the attorney
extended it. II think this will find
the rubies," the blind man declared.
CHAPTER XXI
No Human Hand
Each person in the room leaned
forward to see the thing the prob
lemist held in his hand. Even sgd
ney Thames, who had seen the silver
feather before, looked at it with new
interest that the blind mans words
had brought. Was this simple thing
of silver the cause or the murder of
the man at the hotel and the death
of the waiter whose body had been
found in the river? on the faces of
those around the big circular room,
with it's Uttered papers and torn-up
rugs that Norman and Carl had pulled
up in their frantic search for the
rubies, was depicted the whole ga
NUT of human emotions. Silver San
dals' eyes were on the face of the
blind man, trying to read the thoughts
behind the words he had spoken. In
the eyes of Ruth Melton was only
sorrow. There was no interest in the
thing that meant so much to her.
She seemed only to see the death and
suffering it had caused. Bracken
stared frankly his smaZement. The
district attorney face held the same
puzzled look that had been there ever
since he had visited the morgue. On
Carls face was disgust and he was
looking at the slouched figure of Nor
man with death in his eyes. Norman
looked down at the floor. McMann
and the square -jawed detective leaned
back comfortably, with their eyes on
their prisoners. Their case was end
ed The Fee grinned frankly at the
effect of the blind mans words, and
shifted the perforated box a bit be-
tween his knees.
THE cryptogram was as strange
as John Melton himself" The blind
mans voice was Very low, but the
words came clearly. IT puzzled for
hours, trying to find solution by all
the known rules of cryptography. 1t
!
the answer came. That, too, because
of my blindness. John Melton knew
that Silver Sandals could solve any
puzzle by the short cuts and turns she
had learned in the years of working
over hieroglyphic fragments. So he
made the crow the key She had the
crow. She was supposed to have the
cryptogram. But there was the silver
feather that he never spoke of. He
mentioned it once to the girl. Once
he told Silver Sandals the same thing:
Only a feather stands between you
and the rubieS. She had never seen
the silver feather. What he intend
ed to do with it so that she would find
1t when she was clever enough to re-
member L don't know. But in some
way the waiter who was at the house
got hold of it. Probably he took it
only for its intrinsic value and because
1t appealed to him. The words of
Silver Sandals that Sydney told me
when l was bringing him from the
hypnotic state were instantly sugges-
tive. Only a feather Only a feather!
She remembered then. While we
were waiting she told me the facts.
She thought it was a feather of the
crow that was meant. Then Miss Neil
ton dropped the feather in her haste
to go away. / found it,"
THE solution! What is the solu-
tion?" Silver Sandals was standing.
Her husky voice made of the words
ordinations rather than questions.
She seemed to tower over the seated
girl like great black specter in her
satin gown that she had worn in the
restaurant. She had forgotten every
thing else in her eagerness to find the
solution that the dead man had left
her as his legacy. Sydney Thames
realized. as did Thornley, Cotton. that
1t wasn't the rubies nor the fortune
they represented that the woman
wanted; 1T was merely the answer to
the puzzle that she had been unable
to solve.
"As Is the case when a really clever
person tries to work an unsoIyabIe
puzzle, John Melton made it sim
plicity itself. 1t isn't a cryptogram
at ALL It's a map!"
"a map?" Silver Sandals took the
papyrus sheet. with its strange figures
from the bosom of her dress. She
laid it on the table in the center OF
the room. Cotton, too, was on his
feet, walking slowly around the room
touching the circular walls with his
hollow, slim stick.
Il said before that my blindness
figured the thing. / haven't proved
IL put I'm certain. My lack of sight
has made step counting automatic
and unconscious. ] can't help it.
knew every line of the cryptogran
because blindness has made the de,
velopment of my memory an absolut,
necessity. The minute walked dowr
the hall in the house here when I hat
brought back Carl peculiar thins
struck me. There were just as mans
steps from the front door to a doc,
that led through snort passage a.
there We're crows pictured on the
top straight line of the papyrus; eight
L turned to my right. Three steps
and there was another door. A turr
to the left two steps, and / was il
this room. 1t is circular. You have
known that for years, yet becaus,
your eyes had accepted 1t as q com
mon thing, you would not get the sig
nihcance as l would, because I hay,
steps and the shape of things. From
the door, nine steps around the cir
conference of the room"
Breathlessly they watched hin
count or the PAGES, Then an exclama
ton of disappointment rose, He wa.