Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-02-23

maids into gangs and set them to
search the strawberries thoroughly. J
sent off one of the policemen to the
station to inform the inspector in
charge and have the news telephoned
to the neighborinF police stations. Be
for the children and nursemaids were
half way through their search, the in
spcctor himself, accompanied by three
more policemen, came In haste from
the station. | suggested that each pO
liceman should take with him nurse
maid who knew Lord Cantelune (there
are plenty of spare nursemaids in the
garden, since there are at least two
to each family, and make inquiries in
the neighboring streets to find which
way the men had gone. The Inspector
fell in with the suggestion; neither the
nursemaids nor the policemen made
any objection; and after we had map.
ped out the area to be searched by
each couple, off they went cheerfully
Then I suggested to Alice that she and
I should go hunting eastward. She
agreed; and we started. Just as we
were leaving the garden the first news
paper reporter arrived and fell eagerly
on Gwendolen Rinns.
Alice was distressed and disposed to
think that Lord Cantelune would never
be found. was not. We had been too
quick discovering his loss and setting
out to hunt down the kidnapers Long
before they could reach their lair the
newspapers would have set half Lon.
don on their track, unless they CHANGED
to be living close by in one Of the May
fair slums. lAnd then those slums are
not so large as they are dirty; and the
police could ransack them thoroughly
without any great difficulty. It is not
easy for tramp to get any distance
with a clean baby without attracting
notice.
had chosen the most likely direc.
ton for our own search; and we went
quickly along, making enquiries as we
went. We asked every likely person,
policemen, commissionaires, postmen
and all persons who looked to have
been standing about idling at street
corners, or against the walls Of public
houses, if they had seen tramp or
tramps with the lost Lord Cantelune.
No one had. 1t was somewhat embar-
RAISING thta SO many Of them leapt to
the conclusion that it was our own lost
baby we were looking for; they were
very sympathetic, begging Alice not ITO
take on" Many Of them. too, had
stories of lost children to tell, stories
they had heard from friends or &C.
quaintances, mostly Of children who
had been lost and never found. They
| were not cheering; but they went
along with us to tell them.
BY the time we reached Bond street
! 1o< Il
iastic little band of rather more than
a hundred helpers, who took part In all
our enquiries in thoroughly confusing
way, Several OF the women who had
joined us kept proffering scriptural
consolation to- Alice; but fancied that
they always quoted wrong.
We plunged into the region beyond
Bond Street. but there again we found
no traces OF lost Lord Cantelune. Our
search party was now two hundred
strong; and found It so much more
embarrassing than useful that sug.
gested to Alice that we should allow
! It to go on searching by ITSELF Alice
said that It would be best; and sudden
! ly we slipped into a tea shop. Only
! eleven Of them saw our move and fol-
| lowed us in. Five Of these, not persons
of the kind who generally use tea
shops, at once proposed that l should
pay for their tea When refused, they
went outside, leaving only, six These
six seemed bent on having substan.
tial meal: Alice and l drank our tea
and left them at it. When we came
out we found the five waiting patien.
| ly to take up the search with us again
but taxicab was passing. We jumped
into it and drove back to Garthoyle
Gardens. Alice was disposed to be dis
pirited and gloomy: but I cheered her
up by assuring her that. though we had
failed, some one else would be sure
! to have succeeded and that by now
Lord Cantelune had been restored to
Gwendolen.
AS we drove along there stared at
us from the posters the words:
! LORD CANTELUNE STOLEN.
When I'VE came to the garden we
found it fuller than ever Most of my
tenants and many OF their servants
! had come into 1t to>discuss the kidnap
Ing and get the earliest news of what
was happening So far the police had
no news Of the missing baby; none Of
! the nursemaids had returned with her
! accompanying pOlceman; Nthey were
hunting still; and in vie wof the hour
| fancied that each nursemaid and hel
policeman were at the nursemaid's ex
pense.
Gwendolen Binns was in great form
holding forth to dozen painting news
paper reporters about how she had
been logged by suspicious LOOKING
people for several days, and having
her portrait taken in the part of lost
Lord Cantelune's devoted and sorrow
stricken nurse for all the illustrated
weeklies. Frederick chung to her side
sharing her glory. In the middle OF Il
the Marquis of Alperton, Lord Cantel
une's father, arrived on the scene
promptly discharged her from his ser
vice and babe her at once pack he'
boxes and clear out of his house. She
went. protesting in shrill howls.
Then came the news that the Even
ing Herald had offered one hundred
pounds reward to any one giving IN
formation that should lead to the cap
t1ure Of the kidnapers; and one OF Its