The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1916-12-22
IAN like Big Rufe out with a malacca

cane?"
The lighted match burned the ser
geant's fingers. He dropped II maSt!t,s
and wrinkled perplexed brows. 'What
the point?" he asked.
"oh. nothing. I'd just got an idea'
that's all"
After he left Horand., Almach swung
chcerfully back to his division.
He pulled down a much-thumbed copy
Of Whitaker's Almanac from shelf
nropped it open at a certain page ano.
with the aid Of a pad OF paper. became
absorbed in a series Of calculations.
surveyed the result Of his labor dtscon-
Itentedly. ,,r,,,,
bled. months, and months: I'm dasheo
liz can see where I'm wrong.
the narrow office. his hands trust deep
in his trousers pockets. I'll see II
through" he said resolutely. AND tnen
new train Of thought occurred 70 MN;
his fingers played an impatient tattoo
while he waited for a reply.
He was satisfied, when at quarter 70
9 that afternoon he arrived al Ghar IN
been taken. He felt Il premonltlon OF
success, and he chuckled grimiy TO MINI
self as he loitered near the bookstall In
Ia position which commanded an unosten-
Tatious view Of the barrier for the CONT
mental train. Somewhere among the
throng tina, congregated the station were
three men he knew he could rely on. u
only remained for the Goat to walk into
O'Brien was punctual. AS a business
man he knew the virtue Of always being
on time. He and George descended from
Ia cab outside the station Just rive sec,
Ionds before another cab that carried
Horand and a colleague. -
We're barking up the wrong tree.
proclaimed the sergeant to mis- eompan-
| ion. Well not get the Goat this trip
The euv'nor got some wild Idea in his
head, but ! bet it don't come off. They
haven't got the goods on EN-, anyway.
All the luggage is those kit bags. Come
He strolled off in the wake of the
other pair as they moved toward the bar
rier. Then he saw Almack step out smil-
inglE and greet the 9ld 1s man leaving Lon
don? Who'd have expected to see you
Hello, Mr.. Almack. This Is good Of
you: There's n couple OF your men been
tracking up her" IN a taxi. We've been
, quito Il process ion.'
Almack laughed. You're not losing
and have a sttrrup cup. You too,
George" They were becoming the CEN
ter Of little group OF interested men.
We'll just take peep inside those bags
of yours. il you don't mind.
, The Goat smiled his humble smile.
rWhy sure" he CALCULATED. You're an
active young man. Mr.. Almack You
ought TO get on. Fancy springinG this
on u.s."
said Almack. locking his arm Into
O'Brien's while someone performed a
I like kindly office for George. We won't
be long" 49,
Il hope not" said the Goat easily; Il
hat fra In
In the waiting room he surrendered
his keys docilely and waited while Al
mack rummaged the bags pcrfunctoriiy.
The inspector relocked them and made a
| half bow as he handed the keys back.
:, Just one minute" he exclaimed and
made a snatch at the thick malacca stick
! the Goat was carrying. Even the alert
O'Brien was taken unawareS and for the
moment his nonchalancc deserted him.
He made wild'swing at the detective.
| but big Horand caught him in midair
| and held him back.
| NO wonder poor Rnfe was knocked
out said Amnek eH banSW the bs sr'G of
| lead" He swung the stick by the fer
rule twice against the solid fender. Ut
the second blow the silver knob gave
/ twinkled like hail on the floor. Il think.
| Goat. we'll have TO trouble you to put
off that trip quite a while" he smiled:
ut was Big RUFF gave me the idea.
| said Almack, making verbal report TO
the suPernteSaene od the H gr WAS
certain that he'd been knocked out by q
! malacca cane. and there was only one
! supposltion-that the cane must have
| been loaded. AS fact. which, we'd made
| q search the previous day we'd noticed
g. collection Of sticks and I'd picked up
| one or two about which there was moth
ing apparently abnormal. We found
4 that most Of the sticks were honest
enough. and even If we'd hit on one of
, the prepared ones there was nothing to
, give It away before It was nlled up.
: These sticks just had hollow steel lin
ing, and those We took away from the
Goat and George held just over three
pounds Of gold apiece-worth in all
j something like fifteen hundred dollars.
"As you know. sir, the Goat hasn't
| often received any bulky stuff and that
| confirmed my impression about the walk
| ing-sticks. But I'll admit it puzzled me
as to how he could have slowed away
, three thousand ounces Of gold. That
would have needed n whole armory Of
/: sticks. Then 1t occurred to me to make
sure If he often went to Paris. rang
up and had the word passed to Horand
to make inquiries. He found that either
the Goat or George--rnostly George
was away from the fiat every weck-cml.
I guessed that meant Continental trips
snd that they probably intended to get
the stuff over piecemeal.
That was all there was to it, eN-
cept yhen he went over the fiat again
today we knew for sure that the stuff
was somewhere, and it wasn't where We
had looked before. OF course we had
tapped for secret panels and all that
sort Of thing. but it occurred TO me that
! the one place that neither We nor any
enc else had ever looked at was the
, windows. AS a matter of fact, most Of
the woodwork over the steel boxes and
, tubes-all made to open and all full Of
J pn1H They had oil ~ IN Lo
handy shape for their purposes. That's
all there is In the business. SIR"
II really think"-thc Superintendent
beamed at the divisional ofriccr-"that
! we may get a conviction this time"
There seems to be a possibility. sir"
agreed Almack dryly.
/ The End