The Monticellonian. [volume] (Monticello, Ark.) 1870-1920, 1917-06-07


by anyone. The signature confirmed
his suspicious that clever trick had
been perpetrated.
Bertha Bonn's locket is not in Colonel
Dare's safe, after all Pardon my error.
Thanks for the canal defense plans"
1t 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-
ceived 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 it 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 missives and
joined the colonel who with Adams
and Toxic had returned to the library.
They were greatly agitated and at a
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, didn't
know what happened It'll 1t was all
over" suffered the miserable fellow
81 shoulda know'd better than to ego
near the blamed window with them
plans in m-my hands ~
Suspicion was now removed from
Brent as his explanation of the affair
at the safe had all the marks and veri-
fications of the truth. 1t was his
chance to be insinuating and sarcas-
tic about Adams and he did not let it
| slip.
at 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. 1.-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 my
self have been over suspicious of this
young man. He laid a kindly hand
on Adams shoulder "Fhe time has
come when we must trust one another
| f,,Il Il
in our efforts to unmask the Silent
i Menace and the secret foreign alliance
with which he is cooperating. I must
confess that I am at my wits ends"
Toxic looked sheepish. Adams
stared out of the window. Brent
shifted his eyes uneasily. His fea-
i lures twitehed perceptibly.
Pearl asked Il question or two. 81
i trust Adams-when he acts in the
open. But will he explain how he came
j to preside as the Silent Menace at that
meeting of the Foreign Alliance?"
81 wasn't presiding. l w-was pre-
tending" put in Adams quickly.
Did the Foreign Alliance think you
We're pretending?'
Sure. If you hadn't thrown t-that
| bomb at them they'd have been caught,
| too. Wwouldnt they colonel?"
The colonel turned to his daughter
| with q faint smile. adams can ex-
plain all that, Pearl"
HAS he explained how he located
the meeting place of the Foreign ALI
ance in the uninhabited tenement
house where the note from the Silent
Menace was found not two minutes
after he entered and disappeared"
Nom, but l w-will. l got the ad
dress l-left by the Silent Menace at
the newspaper office when he answered
1.-THE governments ad ~
Even Toxic was obliged to admit
how simple and clever 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. at m-might have been that
there Silent Menace, but I DIDN'T
think it was" For a brief second his
eyes enveloped the nervous major.
at mighta been the c-cabin boy, just
to g-get even. Hes 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.
II don't know And l DIDN'T know
the names of the Foreign Alliance,
nuther. Except Karnavi, which is
flake. If they're alive after that ex-
plosion, They've got the Canal de-
Tense plans, that's dead sure. But
they haven't got the chemicals so they
can't use the p-plans."
Then for the first time Adams was
told how the box of waters from Pearl
reached Colonel Dare through Bertha
Bonn and were subsequently stolen
from Major Brent The major did the
talking.
Adams made Brent repeat the story
several times before he could believe
1t to be true. He watched Brent mar
rowly while the latter told how he had
been drugged and questioned him po-
litely but mistakenly as to the place
and time. Brent's answers were terse,
clear and convincing. little too much
SO, perhaps to Adams.
until the laughing "cabby" drove him
up and down the embankment.