Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-08-26

Cotton" The boy held them out.
We're goin' t find Sydney, amt
we?"
We're going to try. ShriDlp." Col
ton took the things smilingly He
knew that the boy, whose one ambi-
ton in life was to help the blind man
solve his crime puzzles, had been list
ening to every word. He knew, too.
that every nerve in Shrimp's body
ungled with the prospect of having
an active part inc one of the cases
on which the blind man was working.
The car was at the door, and within
two minutes Shrimp and the blind
man were on their way to the start
ing place of the long trail Michael
went across the city to Third Avenue,
and followed the same route he had
taken the night before, when the low
hung car had taken the girl down into
one of the darkest, most narrow
stretched, least known parts of the
big city. The boys alert mind was
teeming with a hundred unasked
questions; thousand possibilities; n
million pictures of what the blind man
would do and could do. To the boy
there was nothing impossible, moth
ing too difficult, no case too complex
for the master mind of the man he
worshiped. But he was silent, know
| ing that the blind man wanted silence.
Michael drove the big car slowly
through the twisting streets, stopping
at the narrow corner where Sydney
Thames had alighted early the same
morning. The chauffeur turned in his
| seat. Down this street. to the first
turn on the left he said.
| cotton nodded, and Scowled as his
ears told him of the small group of
staring urchins who crowded around
the car Shrimp, visibly swelled with
vested authority, curtIy ordered them
aside as he stepped out the machine
and held the door for the blind man
to alight.
Wait" said the problemist to the
chauffeur, and, with the touch of the
boys sleeve against his arm, he walk
ed through the crowd and started
down the sidewalk, perfectly conscious
OF the staring eyes of bearded men
ana kerchief-hooded women from
doorways and curb.
A blear-eyed man sidled from a
dingy hallway.
"Guidechu t Silver Sandals, sir?"
he wheedled huskily. do it fer a
quarter. Wonder, Silver Sandals is.
Past, present, and fucher. Love, bust
ments, lucky days, an women First
name, horoscope, picher of yer wife.
Spirit control, hyp'tism, an mind =
readin'. Slate-writin', cabinet mys-
terry, an wishin' charms. One dollar.
two dollars, an five. Can't make a
mistake, or your money back. Best
fortune-teller in the world. On'y def
and dumb cla'r'v'ynt in America.
Guidechu, sir, a quarter.
Ihe words came rapidly, in husky
singsong, as the .blear-eyed man
shuffled along beside them.
All right" nodded Cotton, but the
words of the guide had put dozen
new kinks in the snarl the blind man
was trying to straighten. There was
no doubt of the fact that at least some
OF his bleariness of eyes had been
caused by the quarters this profess
slonal had got for guiding we'll
dressed people to the house of the
ciairvoyant. His patter had been too
glib, 100 we'll learned to be new, and
ms voice had the whisky huskiness
of the hard drinker
A common fortune-teller in such a
district Colton's mind picture of the
woman who had guided the bearded
man to his table in the restaurant
had been entirely different. But she
was evidently well known. There
was no question that the woman of
the night before and the clairvoyant
OF the hlear-eyed guide were the same.
The girl of the burnished-g gold hair
would have had no other reason for
visiting this part of New York. Syd
ney had disappeared here. And there
wasn't one chance in ten thousand
OF two women who wore silver san
dals being connected with the case
Silver Sandals is quite old. isn't
she? Cotton asked the question in
the tone of nervous anticipation that
a seeker of new experience in a
strange section of the city would use,
and his hands fumbled around the
GUIDES arm and hand with the ner-
Vousness of stranger in the section.
| SHE'S thousand if she's a daVI'
declared the guide positively. fgurin q
that the tone of the blind man was
worth at least an extra quarter. and
determining to give full value. "I
neen IN this section twenty years, an
she was here when I came. Folks
said she'd always been here. She's
got crow what talks fer her that's
oldern she is. Says it's a carnation
OF some Egyptian ram. 1 don't know
now she fggers a crow bein' a flower
an a goat, but then 1 don't figger
nothin' she does!"
Cotton understood that the woman
had impressed the guide. and prob
ably others. with the fact that her
crow was reincarnation of a Ram
eses. A trick of the charlatan to i'm
press the gullible! But why the pre-
tended deafness and dumbness? Col
ton, who prided himself that his ears
could not be tricked, had declared il
was the woman who had spoken in
the restaurant the night before. He
could not be mistaken!
1t must be quite difficult for a
deaf-and-d person to be a clair
voyant," remarked the blind man
Not Ter herr" There was no doubt
that the guide was profoundly inn
pressed. Colton's superkeen ears told
him that there was no hypocrisy in
the blear-eyed mans statement. He
spoke as man who would stake his
life on his statements. She kin tell
what you say by lookin' at Yer lins
You needn't make ii bit of noise II
you don't want to, on'y move Yer Iins
like you was talkin', and she gets
everything. Some of the swells as
comes to her does that SOS there'u he
no chance of any one hearing VIII
they has to say An she shouldn't hear
a house fall down. That's right one
fell down cross the street, an she
never knew it till I told her. She inst
makes sorter squealin' noise in her
throat. Nobody round here ever
heard her say a word, an know
people as knew her fifty years ago. v
strange | never heard of her until
a friend told me few days ago" Col
ton said casually.
Yer lucky" confded the e,,ide
Amt many people hear of her She
amt the kind that reads yer hand fer
a quarter Ony swells is what She
handles. Chez, some of the neonIe
that cOmat Wop,ap ,,,;4L