Evening star., 1918-04-14

her. gentlemen. Ready with the motor.
chauffeur? All right. Now. then.
Bobby. fall back. and mind your eye
three, here goes"
With that he pushed the crestfallen
Collins from him. made feint of
punching his head as he reeled back.
then sprang toward the spot where the
Frenchwoman stood. and gave finish
to the adventure that was highly dSA-
matte and decidedly theatrical. For,
her. struck pose. threw out her arms,
gathered him into them. to the exceed
ing enjoyment of the laughing throng,
then both looked back and behaved as
gesticulated extravagantly. and. rush
ing to the waiting motor. jumped
into it.
Many thanks. Bobby; many thanks.
everybody" sang out the red headed
era men will pick US up again at
Whitehall in a few minutes time"
Right you are. SIR" responded the
chauffeur gayly- Then "toot-toot' went
the motor horn as the gentleman In
gray closed the door upon himself and
his companion. and the vehicle. darting
forward, sped down the embankment
in the exact direction whence the man
himself had originally come, and, pass
tion of the hurrying crowd to whom
the end of the adventure was not yet
known. few on and-vanished.
And Collins, stopping to pick up the
him. felt that after all it was poor
price to receive for all the jeers and
gibes of the assembled onlookers.
"Spart capture. Bobby, wasn't it?'
sang out deriding voice that set the
crowd jeering anew. You'll get pro-
NOTED, you will! See it in all the eve-
MIN papers-oh, yus! 'Orrible hand-to-
hand struggle with desperado. Brave
constable has 'arf a quid's worth out
of an infuriated ruff1an!' My hat! won't
your missis be proud when you take
her to see that bloomin' filmr
Move on, now, move on" said Col
Inns. recovering his dignity and assert
ing it with vim. Look here, cabby.
I don't take it kind Of you to laugh
like that: they had you just as bad as
they had me. Blow that Frenchy! She
might have tipped me on before made
such an ass Of myself. I don't say that
I'd have done 1t so natural II I had
known, but-Hullo! What's that?
Blowed II it amt that blessed whistle
again. and another crowd a-pelttng
this way: and-no-yes. by Jupiter: @
'em. My hat! what do You suppose
that means?"
He knew in the next moment Pant
ing and putting. a crowd at their heels,
and people from all sides stringing out
from the pavement and trooptng after
racing through the grinning gathering
and bore down on p. c. Collins.
"Hullo, Smathers. you in this. too?.
began he, his feelings softened by the
knowledge that other arms of the law
would figure on that film with him at
the Alhambra tonight Now, what are
you after. you goat? That French lady
or the red-headed party in the gray
suit"
Eyes. yes, of course 1 am. You heard
me signal you to head him of. didn't
you?" replied Smathers looking round
and growing suddenly excited when he
realized that Collins was empty handed
and that the red-headed man was not
there. Heavens. you never let him get
away. did you? You grabbed him, didn't
you-eh?"
.'Of course I grabbed him. Come out
of 1t. What are you giving me. you
josser" said Collins. with a wink and a
grin. -"Ain't you found out even yet.
you silly? Why. 1t was only faked-up
thing. the taking of kinematograph
picture for the Alhambra. You and
Petrie ought to have been here sooner
half quid for my share when I let
him GO"
smathers and Petrie lifted up their
voices in one despairing howl
when you what?" fairly yelled
smathers "You fool! You don't mean
like that-those two? You don't mean
to tell me that you had him. had him in
your hands and then let him go? You
did? Oh. you seventy-seven kinds Of
double -barreled ass! Had him-think
of ft!-had him, and let him go! Did
yourself out Of q share in reward of
two hundred ouid when you'd only to
shut your hands and hold on to it,"
Two hundred quid? Two hun
W what are. you talking about?
Wasn't 1t true? Wasn't 1t kinemato-
graph picture, after all7'
fairly dancing with despair. "Oh, you
blithering idiot! You ninety-seven va
rieties of fool! Do you know who you
had in your hands? Do you know who
you let go? 1t was that devil Forty
Faces the Vanishing Cracksman.' The
Man Who Calls Himself Hamilton
Cieek.' and the woman was his pal. his
confederate. his blessed stool pigeon.
'Margot, the Queen of the Apaches.' and
she came over from Paris to help him
in that clean scoop of Lady Dresmer's
jewels last week.
"Heavens!" gulped Collins. too far
gone to say anything else. too deeply
detected to think of anything but that
he had had the man for whom Scotland
Yard had been cropping for a year: the
man over whom all England, all France.
all Germany wondered. close shut in in
the grip of his hands and then had let
him go. He was the biggest and the
boldest criminal the police had ever
had to cope with. the almost supernat-
ura1 genius of crime. who defed all
systems. laughed at all laws, Knocked at
all the Vidocqs and Lupins and Sher-
lock Holmeses. whether amateur or
professional. French or English, Ger
man or American. that ever had or ever
could be pitted against him, and who,
for sheer deviltry. for diabolical inge-
nuity and for colossal impudence as
well as for nature-bestowed power
that was simply amazing. had not his
Who or what he really was, whence
he came, whether he was English, Irish,
French, German. Yankee Canadian,
Italian or Dutchman. no man knew
and no man might ever hope to know
unless~he himself chose to reveal it, In
his many encounters with the police he
had assumed the speech. the character
istic and. indeed. the facial attributes
of each in turn, and assumed them with
an ease and perfection that were
simply marvellous and had gained for
him the sobriquet of Forty Faces"
among the police and of the vanishing
Cracksman" among the scribes and re-
porters of newspaperdom. That he came
In time to possess another name than
these was due to his own whim and
caprice. his own bald. unblushing i'm
pudence; for. of a sudden. while London
was in fever of excitement and all
the newspapers were up in arms over
one of his most daring and successful
coups, he chose to write boldly to both
editors and police complaining that the
title given him by each was both vul-
oh