Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-09-14

@
WITHOUT WARNING GRAHAM PRANG
UPON STERN.
mand upon it, and when l thought of
what [ knew about young Farnsworth's
character l rebelled utterly.
"There is one point" Graham was
saying. ALLEN wrote this letter and
lost it. OF course he would write an
other. Has it been r~eceiyed?'
mot yet" said Baxter.
Graham glanced at the clock.
"There's one more delivery today" he
said. It'll be due in a few minutes at
Miss Davenport's house. Suppose we
go up there"
Baxter accepted the suggestion, and
we set out at once, reaching the house
precisely in the nick of time Billy
Stern was in the very act of delivering
a letter to Miss Davenport at the gate.
Baxter, out of breath with walking,
merely extended his hand for the letter,
and Miss Davenport gave it to him.
The detective tore open the envelope
and drew forth a sheet of blank paper.
'This is too much for me-" said he.
"IIl be hanged if | understand
He was interrupted by a sudden and
surprising occurrence. Without the
slightest warning Graham sprang upon
Stern, the carrier, and the two men
anne heavily to the ground. Graham
was much the stronger. He seized
Stern's right wrist and wrenched his
hand open. A crumpled paper was dis
closed. Baxter stopped and seized it,
and / saw as he held 1t up that it bore
a letter written in Aliens cipher.
Graham rose, pulled Stern up after
him; then he faced Baxter.
"Why, man." he cried, "how could We
business? Did We really believe that
these letters were opened after Miss
Davenport received them"
do you mean that this fellow Stern
has opened Them" demanded Baxter,
that they were intended for his eyes,
that the whole plot was between Stern
and Allen?"
Beyond a doubt" answered Graham.
"Stern's description of the second rob-
Der was an obvious lie intended to
throw dust in your eyes and cast sus-
picion upon al innocent man-young
Farnsworth. Stern saw no robber but
Allen until he came to a looking glass
and saw himself. He's a trusted man
In the Office. He'd have a far better
chance than the postmaster's son to
know of the large sum in the safe. Did
We not think of that?"
Baxter slowly shook his head.
81 guess you're right" he said. ST
remember trying to find Stern ON the
evening Of the fourth day after the
robbery, and on that same evening Al
len got away from my watchers for a
couple of hours. But never thought
that there was any connection between
the two occurrences. They must have
met"
"And on the next day Miss Daven-
port got the note from Allen asking her
to receive the letters" said Graham.
at was a clever trick. Allen knew
CHdC ne was WdJcueu. ne udTeu nOC
mail letters to Stern or even to a bogus
name, for he knew you would trace
them-in short, they had to be dehg-
cred to somebody. If taey had been
destroyed or held in the postoffice you'd
have known that the other thief must
be there"
He turned suddenly and seized the
pale and trembling postman by the
rmIwith a grip that made him vince.
you'd just opened this last letter,
eh?" said he. "And you had the In
closure in your pocket? OF course.
And when you saw Mr.. Baxter open
the envelope you were afraid and tried
TO crumple the slip in your hand and
toss it over the fence, but l nabbed you
In time. Am l right?"
Stern tried TO snsTer, but his throat
was too dry. His face was a picture
Of guilt.
well, 1 guess he's the man, sure
enough" said Baxter.
The rest was asy Before the even.
ing was over the two thieves were in
custody and their plumber unearthed
from the hiding place where Stern had
bestowed it.