Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-17

response. he inserted his pass.key in the
lock, only to discover that another key was
already there, but from the inside.
He reported the fact to Herr Skopf, the
proprietor, who at once made his way to
the second floor, where he, too. pounded
vigorously upon the door. Receiving no
reply, he bent to the keyhole In an attempt
to look through into the room beyond. In
so doing, being portly, he lost his balance,
which necessitated putting palm to the
floor to maintain his equilibrium
AS he did so he felt something soft and
thick and wet beneath his fingers. He raised
his open palm before his eyes in the dim
light of the corridor and peered at 1t. Then
he shuddered, for even in the semidarkness
he saw n dark red stain upon his hand.
Leaping to his feet, he hurled his shoul-
der against the door. Herr Skopf is a
heavy manor at least he was then: /
have not seen him for several years. The
frail door collapsed beneath his weight,
and Herr Skopf stumbled precipitately into
the room.
Before him lay the greatest mystery of
his life. Upon the floor at his feet was
the dead body of a strange man. The
neck was broken and the juguar severed
as by the fangs of wild beast The body
was entirely naked, the clothing being
strewn about the corpse. The old lady
and her grandson were gone. The window
was open. They must have disappeared
through the window, for the door had been
locked from the inside.
But how could the boy have carried his
invalid grandmother from second-story
window to the ground? 1t was preposter-
ous Again Herr Skopf searched the small
room. He noticed that the bed was pulled
we'll away from the wall-why? He looked
beneath 1t again for the third or fourth
time. The two were gone: and yet his
judgment told him that the old lady could
not have gone without porters to carry her
down as they had carried her up the
previous day.
1 Further search but deepened the mystery.
All the clothing of the two was still in the
room-if they had gone then they must
have been naked, or in their nightclothes!
Herr Skopf shook his head then he
scratched It, He was baffled. He had
never heard of Sherlock Holmes, or he
would have lost no time in invoking the aid
of that celebrated sleuth: for here was IA
real mystery. An old woman--an invalid
who had to be carried from the ship to her
room in the hotel-and a handsome lad,
her grandson, had entered room 81 on the
second floor of his hostelry the day before.
They had had their evening meal served
in their room-that was the last that had
been seen of them. At 3 the following
morning the corpse of strange man had
been the sole occupant of room 81.
No boat had left the harbor in the mean
time-there was not railroad within hum
dreds of miles-there was no other white
settlement that the two could reach under
several days of arduouS marching, accom-
panied by well-equipped safari. They had
simply vanished into thin air. for the ma
tive he had sent to inspect the ground be-
meath the open window had just returned
to report that there was no sign of foot
step there, and what sort of creatures were
they who could have dropped that distance
to the soft turf without leaving spoor?
Herr Skopf shuddered. Yes, 1t was
great mystery-there was something un-
canny about the whole thing. He hated to
think about it, and he dreaded the coming
OF night.
1t was a great mystery to Herr Skopf-
and doubtless still is!