The Tomahawk., 1916-03-02

turned on my naSnllgnC. Al tue saluo
time my feet touched the ledge.
"There, right before me was black,
| yawning hole in the rock wall, and be-
fore knew it or could put forth any
effort to stay myself, I was sucked
into it. l kicked loose from the weight
and right away was propelled upward
till the rope drew taut. made one
last desperate effort to pull myself
back along the rope; but it was no
| use. Then l cut it.
"All Of a sudden my head bumped
! against something hard-the roof, I
suppose you'd call it; it sloped sharply
upward; and still clinging to my fash
light, I scrambled along it till-zip!-
up I popped out of the water.
| I'm less than minute I could wade.
Then the cavern ended at tunnel
which plainly had been cut in the rock
| by men. The tunnel led me to short
ladder; and the top of the ladder is
under that trap-door right there, in
| the middle of the floor!
when popped into the room, like
| Harlequin" She lifted a fold Of the
bath robe and covered her face, not
entirely SURPRISING a giggle. She
| flashed look at one of the three hand
cuffed men-the doctor who had been
so curious at Mackinaw. "You tell it, .
she concluded.
The doctor was not wholly crushed.
He made gallant attempt to obey.
NATURALLY, we were overcome with
astonishment-and admiration" said
he. II thought some lovely lake nymph
had burst in upon us, or that Undine
had experienced reincarnation In the
glitssring grotto. But, alas, the nymph
shrieked--''
when you three rushed at me-"
Helen inteTjected.
"Then these men burst in upon us,
and He indicated their defeat and
discontinue by an eloquent shrug OF
the shoulders.
"At the foot of the ladder" said
she, you will find the boxes Of gold
and the hideous, painted rubber
dragon that scared the divers away.
There are two good diving outfits in
the cavern, and a boat with air-pumps
and ALL"
The plot to rob the First National
bank had terminated in the fertile
brain of DOC" Simmons-who in real
ity was physician, but one possess
3ng a most unsavory record-and it
owed its inception to his discovery of
the cavern and tunnel the summer be-
fore. There were reasons why he de-
sired to retire temporarily from the
world, and Pigeon island offered him
an asylum. Given the cavern, an &C.
quaintance with Elliot Perky and that
festive gentleuian's expensive habits,
the fact that Perky was a good SWIM
mer, and the plot grew as rank as a
weed. Perky even spent his week:
ends with Simmons, practicing diving
from a boat and following a rope at
tached to float that led directly into
the opening. What with the guiding
rope and the strong suction, there was
no chance of missing it.
The WORKOUT artifice Of leaving
ones clothes and a farewell note upon
the river bank no longer deceives the
stupidest policeman, particularly
when one is a fugitive from justice.
But suppose the policeman should see
with his own eyes person tumble
into the middle of Lake Michigan and
not come up again, then what could he
think? Moreover, to be weighted down
with hundreds of pounds of gold
Though the weight is not such ter
rible handicap once it is 'submergeO,
and the obvious becomes real, the ap-
parent intent an actuality.
Within minute after Perky toppled
into the water, dragging the guiding
float down with him, he had been
hauled high and dry up on the cav
ern's floor and Simmons in diving
suit and attended by the fisherman had
dragged the boxes off the ledge and
into the cavern.
The robbers had anticipated that
the spot would remain under constant
surveillance until divers could be pro-
cured, and it fell to Simmons and
Perky, operating with the fisherman's
cooperation from the cavern's int.
rior, to keep them at any cost from
discovering the opening. Hence the
Cut Sduu ctl1-LuUSS, uSuC6
the fantastic dragon, in rare truth {
terrifying object when viewed in tho
ghostly, distorted twilight of the wa
terry depths.
Beset by leviathan unable to find
the gold, the divers by and by would
grow discouraged and go away; then
the thieves could remove their booty
with impunity.
In the meantime, when Perky rested
from his labors, his identity was hid,
den underneath numerous envelopina
bandages, the fiction of the ACCIDENT
was circulated, and, quite the prop
crest thing in the world, his "physi.
clan" came daily to see him. Thus waa
communication maintained with tbs
outside world.
A representative of the bankers in
surance company, when he called al
ENo1;