The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1917-09-27

This bold knave had exhausted the
| last shred of revenue available from
| the monarch of Jangeh in their extra
| ordinary jump around the world. II
he had not been a spendthrift he
would have been a millionaire.
At last my eyes rested on the self
exiled, butterfy-chasing, stranded
king. AS 1 first saw him he was
crouching over a blazing oil stove in
a squalid room behind the shop of a
pawnbroker. If his wife's face had re-
sembled dusky mahogany, his own
was more of the hue of ebony. He was
thin and wasted, furtive, frightened
| look in his shrinking eyes. The des-
peration of the prodigal down to his
last husk was expressed in every Inca
ment of his shrunken face.
In some way Ducroix had induced
| the pawnbroker to advance a small
sum on his majesty. The latter had
insisted on retaining personal posses
sion of the collateral. Warm as was
| the weather, the thin, tropical blood
of the king demanded constant heat,
and in the bill which Marvel paid
| there was an item of Kerosene, 81"
In a corner of the room, a marred
wreck, was what was left of the ia.
nous doll.
1t was to the Office of the United
Bankers Protective association that
the king was at once conveyed. Du-
croix accompanied US, and Lafort was
| inn faly Tho turn
Frenchmen came very near to blows,
but Marvel sternly held them down to
the importance of the occasion and to
strict business.
was sent to the home of the presi-
dent of the bank, and brought him
back with me. The institution was
visited, certain documents pertaining
to the Jebel River & Great Jangeh
Railroad company secured, and a new
deed of trust was made out
IF you can influence Queen Ibi
Zwoa to sign that" observed Marvel
to Lafort, she can come and see her
husband here. If not, she will see
him behind steel bars"
1t was all arranged within a few
hOurs-the possession of an absolute
ly valid deed covering the Jangeh
property. And that meant a new pro-
motion, and the saving to the bank or
its ill-advised original investment
The president could we'll afford to
be liberal, and Ducroix went away
with enough in his pocket to stake
him till he found a decent job, if that
was his inclination, which it probably
was not. Lafort was eCstauc over
the possession of a thousand, and ii
was arranged to get King Zwun Zht
and his wife back to their home pos
sessions in respectable way.
was with Resilius Marvel when he
wound up the last strand of this re
markable case. 1t was at the desert
ed Offices of Ralston & Co. We found,
fallen behind one Of the dust-laden
desks mans cap, and written in red
ink on the inside lining was the name:
Clinton Durham"
The big safe of the defunct promo
ter held nothing but useless office rec
ords the vault in which it stood only
equally valueleSs litter. The climax,
however, arrived when a second vault
was opened
Upon its floor lay prone figure. II
was the owner of the misplaced cap,
dead-dead for many days.
We could only conjecture from a
crumpled document in his cold hand
what it all meant. The unfortunate
mercantile reporter had become sus-
picious, had. suspended the rating of
Ralston & Co.. and had revisited their
Office for proofs to sustain his judg-
ment OF the condition Of the concern.
The paper in his hand was a private
balance sheet, showing the house in
solvent He must have had an op-
portunity to slip into the vault to Sc
cure it. He had been discovered,
probably by Ralston, with the indis-
putable evidence Of the insolvency Of
the concern in his possession. The
door OF the vault had been crashed
shut. and then, within twenty-four
hours gathering up all he could lay
his hands to, Bernard Ralston had
vanished
A week later Resilius Marvel
showed me telegram from Lott,
dated at Los Angeles. He was on the
trail of Ralston, who was aiming to
get out of the country
There was a longer wire two days
later-again from Lott, close on the
track of the absconder The latter,
hemmed in, had tried to escape over a
narrow mountain road. wrong turn
sent the automobile and its driver
three hundred feet below to the bot
tom OF rock-strewn canyon. The ma
chine had turned turtle, shutting out
from sight the frightful end of the
man who had been Open for Rating.
Brotherhood.
N..,,. t.,-.I ...,.:.. ~.