Evening star., 1918-04-14

or those blessed registers plaStereQ
up. simply had them papered over
one over there near that settee), and ii
a man got into this house, he could get
into that furnace thing and hide in one
of those 1ues until he got ready to
me that perhaps it would be as well for
you to examine that furnace and those
f1ues before matters go any further"
''Of course 1t would. Great Scott! Sir
Horace, why didn't you think to tell
me of this thing before?" said Narkom.
excitedly. The fellow may be in it at
this minute. Come. show me the
wretched thing"
ITS in the cellar. We shall have to
go down the kitchen stairs. and I
haven'tsa light"
Here's one" said Petrie. unhitching
q bull's-eye from his belt and putting
it into Narkom's hand. s'Better go with
Sir Horace at once. sir. Leave the door
of the gallery open and the light on.
Fish and me. will stand guard over the
man is in one of them f1ues and tries to
bolt out at this end we can nab him
before he can get to the windows"
"A good idea." commented Narkom.
way?"
Come on. Sir Horace. Is this the
Yes, but you'll have to tread care
fully, and mind you don't fall over any
thing. A good deal OF my parapher-
nalia-bottles, retorts. and the like
Is stored In the little recess at the foot
of the staircase, and my assistant is
careless and leaves things lying about
Evidently the caution was necessary,
for a minute or SO after they had dis
appeared behind the door leading to the
kitchen stairway Petrie and his col
leagues heard q sound as of something
being overturned and smashed, and
laughed softly to themselves. Evident
". too. the danger Of the furnace had
been grossly exaggerated by Sir Horace.
for when. few minutes later. the door
opened and closed. and Narkom's men.
glancing toward 1t. saw the figure of
their CHIEF reappear. it was plain that
he was In no good temper, His fea-
lures were knotted up into a scowl.
the shutter over the bulrs-eye and
handed 1t back to Petrie.
Nothing worth looking into. superin-
tendent?"
mo. not thing" he replied. 1.-THE
silly old josser, pulling me down there
sane idea like that! Why. the f1ues
wouldn't admit the passage of a child;
and. even then. there's bend, an
abrupt elbow, that nothing but a cat
who's an authority on the human brain!
I sent the old silly back to bed by the
way he came, and If"
There he stopped. stopped short. and
sucked in his breath with a sharp.
wheeling sound. For, of a sudden, a
swift pattering football and a gIimmer
Of moving light had sprung into being
and drawn his eyes upward. There,
overhead, was Miss Lorne coming down
the stairs from the upper floor in a
bedroom candle in her shaking hand. a
loose gown flung over her night dress
and her hair streaming over her shoul-
derS in glorious disarray
70 ~&
quickening breath. with overwhelming
eyes. as though the beauty of her had
wakened some dormant sense whose
existence he had never suspected, as
though. until now, he had never known
how fair it was possible for a woman
while he was so looking she reached
the foot Of the staircase and came pant
ingly toward him.
"oh, Mr.. Narkom. what was it-that
noise ! heard?" she said in tone of
struggle, like the noise of something
breaking. and I dressed as hastily as
I could and came down. DID he come?
Has he been here? Have you caught
him? Oh! why don't you answer me.
you see how nervous, how frightened
I ann Dear heaven, will no one tell
me what has happened?"
Nothing has happened. miss" an
SWeFeQ fetTle, CdtCHlHS nor eye as Sne
flashed round on him. You'd better
go hack to bed. Nobody's been here
but Sir Horace. The noise you heard
was me a-grabbing of him. and he and
Mr.. Narkom a-tumbling over some
thing as they went down to look at
the furnace"
Furnace? What furnace? What are
you talking about?" she cried. agi-
tatedly. What do you mean by saying
that Sir Horace came down?
only what the superintendent him
self will tell you. miss. If you ask him.
Sir Horace came downstairs in his pa
iamas a few minutes ago to say as
he'd recollected about the fiues of the
furnace in the cellar being big enough
to hold man. and then him and Mr..
Narkom went below to have a look at
it."
She gave sharp and sudden cry. and
her face went as pale as dead face.
"Sir Horace came down." she re-
peated. moving back step and leaning
heavily against the banister. "Sfr Hor-
ace came down to look at the furnace?
We have no furnace!
"What?"
1--WE have no furnace. tell you. and
Sir Horace did not come down He is
up there still. know, because feared
for his safety. and when he went to his
room 'ocked him in"
"Superintendentw The word was
voiced by every man present and six
pairs of eyes turned toward Narkom
with look Of despairing comprehen-
sion.
Get to the cellar. Head the man
off. It's he. the cracksman" he shout
ed out. Find him! Get him! Nab
him. il you have to turn the house up
side down"
They needed no second bidding. for
each man crashed the situation in
stantly Shouting and scrambling like
a band of madmen. they lurched to
the door, whirled it open and went fly
ing down the staircase to the kitchen
and SO to a discovery which none might
have foreseen. For almost as they
entered they saw lying on the floor a
suit of striped pajamas. and close to
1T. gagged, bound. helpless, trussed up
like a goose that was ready for the
oven. gives on his wrists, gives on
his ankles. their chief. their superin-
tendent. Mr.. Maverick Narkom. in a
state of collapse and with all his outer
clothing gone!
AFTER him! After that devil. and
thousand pounds to the man that gets
htmw he managed to gasp as they
rushed to him and ripped loose the
gag. HE was here when we came! He
has been in the house for hours. Get
him! get him! get him!"
They surged from the room and up the
stairs like a pack Of stampeded ami
mails; they raced through the hall and
bore down on the picture gallery In
a body. and, whiting crea the ,iaS.