Charlevoix county herald., 1916-10-12


For seven or eight blocks, after she
left police headquarters June Travis
hurried on, from street to street, Po-
liceman Meeks ever close at her side.
The officers eyes never for an in
slant left the coat that hung over his
companions arm.
The girl was In despair. She had
planned SO cleverly this KIDNAPPING Of
the coat!
She was helpless. despairing. And
with the blind instinct of the despair
ing, she unconsciously turned her
steps homeward
Where does this cutter Of yours
live, anyhow. Dummy" the policeman
was asking
June paused. uncertainty. This farce
could not go on much longer Meeks
was beginning to grow suspicious.
A quarter block ahead, the boule-
ward split into "Y." At the left II
continued at its present level. At the
right ran flight of forty marble steps,
leading downward to a terraced ave-
nue. one tier below the boulevard on
the city's hillside.
And then. as ever Of late in her mo-
ments of direst need, an inspiration
came to the girl.
Once more she took up her former
brisk stride; the grumbling Meeks
close behind her. AS they came to
the fork of the boulevard, she halted
again.
Well" growled Meeks, which way
now"
She pointed down the long flight of
marble steps, snowy in the vivid
moonlight. The man hesitated. She
glanced at him and saw the reason.
His eyes were fixed in stupid wonder
at the right hand with which she was
pointing. On the surface OF the hand
cleaned the Red Circle; mercilessly
distinct in the clear light.
June caught the policeman roughly
by the arm with her other hand, point
ed again toward the terrace beneath
them, and started down the steps at a
run.
Fearful of losing sight of the pre-
cious coat, the policeman also broke
into a numbering run, protesting:
Hey! Go easy there! What's your
hurry? Want me to break my neck?"
Even as he spoke, June planted her
feet firmly on one broad step and
came to an abrupt standstill. Meeks
could not check his own speed as sud
denly So he lunged ahead step or
two.
AS he numbered past her, the girl
deftly swung her stick; holding 1t by
the ferule end. The crook handle
caught Policeman Meeks neatly
around the left ankle.
At the same instant, June braced
herself, and jerked backward with the
stick.
Policeman Meeks' body smote the
stairway about six steps farther
down; bounded in air; missed step
or two; then struck the stairway
again and proceeded to roll rapidly
down the remaining twentyfour steps.
For a bare half-second, the patrol
man lay half-stunned and breathless.
Then he scrambled groaningly to his
feet, sore all over.
"Gone!" croaked Policeman Meeks,
still catching his breath with difficul-
ty. "Gone!"
1t was Yama's custom, on moonlit
nights, to take his Japanese flute from
his tin trunk in the storeroom and to
fare forth into the farthest reaches OF
the Travis garden there to lean pen
sively against a tree in the midst OF a
clump of shrubs, and his eyes on the
moon, to play sentimental and hideous
Japanese melodies to 1t.
Tonight Yama was tootling away
right dreamfully, when the sound OF
cracking bushes broke in upon his
music.
He stepped out of the shrubbery
clump to investigate. Then, the flute
fell from his nerveless fingers and he
stared google eyed.
Across a patch of lawn a figure was
running; it's feet soundless on the turf.
The figure reached the house. 1t
paused, at the bottom of vine trellis;
then skillfully began to climb the trel-
lis
1t reached a second-story balcony;
stepped over the railing and began to
tumble with the long French windows
OF a room. The windows opened and
the figure glided into the room; soft
ly closing the windows behind 1t.
The spell was broken. With a yell
OF alarm, Yama grabbed up his fallen
flute and dashed for the house. A sec
ond or 80 latter burst unceremonious-
ly into the library where Mrs. Travis
and Mary were sitting.
"'Scuse!" he sputtered. "'Scuse,
please! But man climb up to honor.
able Miss June's room!"
The women flew upstairs. Yama,
prudently arming himself with large
poker, followed.
When he reached the second floor
Mrs. Travis was already hammering
frantically at the locked outer door
of June's suite.
What is it," called q drowsy voice