Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1917-08-01

''That corner house" he said sharp
ly to Ryley, Indicating an unoccupied
| dwelling which adjoined the Claiming
residence on the Fifth avenue side
somebody stationed in an upper room
1 behind those shutters-with a gun of
/ some sort, Maxim-silenced. That shot
couldn't have come from any other
quarter. Here: take care of Miss Chan
ming, please; don't let her expose her
self. I'm going to have q try for our
| gay assassin"
Bent almost double, he ran In the
I shelter of the wall TO the rear of the
/ half-burned house, and. catching the
low sill Of a window, easily swung him
self up and into the library.
/ The room had barely escaped becom-
/ ing a total wreck-was in truth little
better yet there remained Of the floor
I ing a web Of charred and greasy tim
/ bers strong enough to sustain a mans
weight. Parr picked a eingerly way
out 10 the entrance hall, found the
stairs negotiable and within very lit
tie time was climbing out on the roof
! through a broken skylight Nor was he
in any way surprised to find the scut-
tie on the roof OF the corner house
open--recently broken open, If he read
the signs Alright.
Stealthiiy, then. automatic In hand,
Captain Parr let himself down into
the ostensibly vacant residence, stole
back through the upper hallway. aud
suddenly threw open the door to one Of
the rear rooms.
Simultaneously little man who had
been kueeling at one Of the suffered
windows swung round, and whipped
two shots at Parr from a heavy re-
volyer furnished with a Maxim 81
leucer. PARIS answering shot rang
brutality loud The little man dropped
his revolver and subsidized into a Curl
ousiy disheveled heap. quite dead. The
captain delayed only long enough to
make sure that there was no other
occupant Of the room, and to verify the
fact, which he had all along suspected,
that the murderer was a japanese.
Left here to discourage any attempt
Of ours 70 break into that vault" he
surmised. "That mems the enemy has
surprised our secrets probably even
now trying to get away with the
loot a..
Throwing open the shutter, he called
TO Ryley in the garden that the danger
had been done away with, then turned
and set himself to hasty exploration of
the corner house.
He found no living soul therein. but
every evidence that many had been in
lawlass possession Of the premises not
long since. The place had been Quilted
Of its furniture the trail of whose
hasty removal led Parr to aud through
the front door.
As he ran out into the avenue a cas-
ual-minded policeman. strolllng past,
Have you noticed anybody leave
this houseT' Parr asked.
i've noticed about two dozen leaving
it-and that's about all they did leave.
\ big guy bossln' the job tells me the
japanese consul has purchased the
property and is moving every stick out
before refurnishing. Three yanloads
they carted away-and In a hell of a
hurry they were, at that"
(Which way did they go?"
The policeman obligingly jerked a
thumb westwards. "They made Off
that way" said he. But where they
were bound, I dunno"
Parr faucied he could hazard a
shrewd guess. He ran hastily across
the avenue and down the side street.
And, so running, he disappeared for
a time from human ken.
THE HOLE IN THE WALL.
Ignoring the protests Of Mr.. Ryley,
Patria crept along under cover Of the
wall to the window through which she
had watched Parr disappear, and
abed through.
just why she elected to follow him
she could hardly have said.
She was inside the house before she
appreciated that she had yielded to
what was most probably a foolish i'm
pulse.
The FIRST thing to greet her as she
hurried through the upper hallway was
the grinniug mask OF dead japanese
huddled up on the floor Of the back
room; and turning from this in dread
and disgust she ran hlindly down the
stairs. But she discovered no sign Of
Captain Farr--or indeed If anybody
e'Se-and though SHE stopped at the
front door long enough for a hasty
glance out into the avenue, the man
she sought was by that time several
blocks away.
/ But this she couldn't know ami ue-
lieying that be must still be somewhere
in the house, she pursued her inveStiga-
lions; in the course of which. descend
Ing to the cellar, she discovered ire
futable evidence of what Purr had sur
missed to his own satisfaction. If he
hadn't stopped to verify 1t. TINT the
treasure vault of the Charming house
bad been looted through breach in
the connecting wall.
or was it empty altogether? Had
her quick ears caught The sound of a
footstep beyond that breach? Ii 50, il
must be Captain PARIS beyond a doubt
In the utmost confidence that thi,
'>'N"~N~~~~"~o~-o~-~~~-~~