The Meeker herald., 1918-02-09
A Detective
Episode
By ANDREW CUMMINGS

Of II detective bureau. ] persuaded him
to give me Il trial. lie said lie would
as soon as he had simple case. for
since l was not experienced lie would
not trust me with diiIicrlt enc.
In due time he called me to his Office
and said to me:
II have letter from womnn this
morning to say that Jim Harkcr. u
crook we have been looking for. Is to
leave the city by certain train to-
morrow. We have him cOrraed. but
he IL going to make an attempt to
break through. The reason given by
the informer is TINT he is going In COM
pany with another woman. who is her
rival. Such communications may BE-
sincere or they may be tricks to cover
q retreat. l can give you n man to as
sIst you II you like"
II occurred to me TINT II ] were sue
cessful my assistant would clnim the
credit. and II failed he would point
out wherein l had been mistaken. !
preferred to choose my own helper and
took with me Frank Walker. a chum of
mine who had written detective story
remarkable for its ingenuity. He
would have been glad OF an opportu-
nifty to show that lie could do rs well
In real detective work az in fiction had
he not considered the case beneath his
ability.
I had been shown a photograph OF
Harkcr on file In the rogues' gallery
and noted his features carefully. fixing
them In my mind. Consequently had
no dif1culty IN recognizing him when
saw him In the station In company
with fashiiy dressed woman. who
betrayed her anxiety for him constant
ly. despite her efforts to conceal 1t.
Walker from the start manifested 4
disposition to take the most important
part OF the work into Ills keeping. leav-
ing the unimportant part to me.
II think We had better divide the
watch between u.s." he said. .'They
are liable to separate. and we should
have 1t arranged which one you will
shadow. Ill take the man. II you like.
and you take the woman"
suggested that We had better ar
rest them both Mt once. but Walker
seemed DESTROYS to make something
dramatic OF 1t and demonstrated. urg-
Ing that We must first get them where
they could not get away. yielded to
the car We got In too.
81 don't understand, Frank" ] said.
why the CROOK Ia leaving town with
out Disgusting himself. He 10 an ex-
act duplicate Of his picture
That's what spoils the job" was
Walkers reply: Its altogether too
dead easy"
A woman sat In a seat on the other
side Of the aisle from US who seemed
| to be Interested In US. l whispered to
Frank a caution not to appear to he
watching our quarry. for suspected
this person OF having noticed us doing
10. Presently Frank went to the end
OF the car for drink Of water, and
while lie was gone the woman op-
posIte came to me and said In a low
| tone:
Reckon you're on to Jim Harker.
I'm the party that gave the informa-
tion on the bloke. Don't try to take
him unless you're armed and get him
where lie can't shoot He's dcsper-
ate man. The woman with him IL
wanted. too. but II you get him you'll
do well. Don't try to do too much"
BY the time Walker returned to his
seat the woman had returned to hers.
As We approached town of impor-
lance just before we pulled into the
station the woman with Hnrker got
up and went to the saloon. which was
mt the rear OF the car. A moment later
Harker bolted TO the front car door.
Frnnk dashed after him. and started
to go In the other direction to the sa
loon when the woman who had given
us the information got in my way.
Where are you going?" she cried
excitedly. Don't you see that your
man has gone out by the forward
door,"
LET me pass!'' said angrily. my
friend is going after him. I'm to get
the woman
"Sce here" she retortcd, bristling
i've put you on TO this thing. and
your stupidity. tell you Jim Harker
has gone in the other direction"
She kept me as long as she could
then let me go by. When got to the
saloon found 1t empty. The woman
had gone out by the renr door. went
on to the platform. but there were so
many persons moving hither and thith.
err that could not distinguish her
among them.
There seemed nothing for me to do
but wait for Walkers return. Within
half an hour lie came In with his
quarry. Frank had armed himself with
a revolver. n deputy sheriffs badge and
a pair of bracelets. the latter articles
being now on his prisoners wrists.
II got him." said Frank. evidently
very proud OF himself.
I'm glad you didn't get killed OH the
job" replied. Mine was too smart
for me-"