Gilpin observer., 1917-03-22

uiS suspicious tilhI u CicVer I11Sh AoO
been perpetrated.
Bertha Bonn's locket is not in Colonel
Dare's safe, after all. Pardon my error.
Thanks for the canal defense plans"
It was, Of course, from the Silent
Menace, under his usual silhouette.
Brent crushed the note in his fist
and compared 1t with one he had re-
celved by an unknown messenger at
the barracks earlier in the day.
"Major Brent" the first note read.
"You will find the locket in Colonel
Dare's safe. No one but Adams who
hid 1t there knows this"
But the signature was not that of
the Silent Menace, nor was the writ
ing the same. 1t purported to come
from Bertha Bonn.
He destroyed the two mlssives and
Joined the colonel who with Adams
and Toxic had returned to the library.
They were greatly agitated and at
loss to know what to do. Wondering
what the trouble was about, Pearl
came down the stairs and Joined the
group.
Naturally Adams was embarrassed
in the extreme.
at was $50 sudden like, I didn't
know what happened IT'LL 1t was all
over" suffered the miserable fellow.
II shoulda know'd better than to ego
near the blamed window with them
plans in m-my hands y
Suspicion was now removed from
Brent as his explanation Of the affair
at the safe had all the marks and veri-
Acations of the truth. 1t was his
chance to be insinuating and sarcas-
tic about Adams and he did not let 1t
slip.
ut seems to me that every time
anything happens to the Canal defense
plans you are in or around it-or
somewhere about" he could not re-
frain from saying to Adams in most
caustic manner.
Colonel Dare raised a protesting
voice. "The fact of the matter is that
there has been entirely too much
misunderstanding among us ALL" he
declared, testify. He looked at Major
Brent severely. "You, and Toxic, too"
he gave his chauffeur a sharp glance,
and possibly my daughter and NY
young man." He laid kindly hand
on Adams shoulder. "The time has
come when we must trust one another
more fully or else we will get nowhere
In our efforts to unmask the Silent
Menace and the secret foreign alliance
with which he Is cooperating. / must
confess that am at my wits ends"
Toxic looked sheepish. Adams
stared out of the window. Brent
shifted his eyes uneasily. His fea-
lures twitched perceptibly.
Pearl asked question or two. 81
trust Adams-when he acts in the
open. But will he explain how he came
to preside rs the Silent Menace at that
meeting of the Foreign Alliance?"
81 wasn't presiding. w-was pre-
tending" put in Adams quickly.
'Did the Foreign Alliance think you
were pretending?"
"Sure! If you hadn't thrown t-that
bomb at them they'd have been caught,
too. W-wouldn't they colonel?"
The colonel turned to his daughter
with a faint smile. adams can ex-
plain all that, Pearl"
HAS he explained how he located
the meeting place of the Foreign Alli-
ance in the uninhablted tenement
house where the note from the Silent
Menace was found not two minutes
after he entered and Disappeared"
"No'm, but 1 w-will. 1 got the ad-
dress l-left by the Silent Menace at
the newspaper office when he answered
1.-THE governments adj"
Even Toxic was obliged to admit
how simple and clever a thing to do
this was.
81 don't know yet, colonel, who
n-nailed Miss Dare In the box with
the b-bomb," Adams went on. seeing
the doubts about him dissolving some
what. "It m-might have been that
there Silent Menace, but d-don't
think 1t was" For brief second his
eyes enveloped the nervous major.
at mighta been the c-cabin boy. just
to g-get even. He's dead anyhow and
so are them there munition m-manu-
facturers. They were killed In the
explosion"
"What were their names?" interject.
ed the colonel.
~ don't know. And I ddon't know
the names of the Foreign Alliance
nuther. Except Karnavi, which is
flake. If they're alive after that ex
ploslon, They've got the Canal de
fense plans, that's dead sure. But
they haven't got the chemicals so they
can't use the p-plnns."
Then for the first time Adams wa.
told how the box of waters from Pear
reached Colonel Dare through Bertht
Bonn and were subsequently stoler
from Major Brent. The major did tht
talking.
Adams made Brent repeat the stor.
several times before he could believe