The Press., 1918-03-21
(copyriEht 1917, Western Newspaper Union


 | thought of early boyhood's days and skating on one foot, as the sole of one shoe struck a fiat piece of banana peel, and went sliding irresistibly to- ward a wooden crate cover set over a manhole in the sidewalk.
 Bang! My feet met It, sending 1t spinuing halfway around on the uh- fastened pivot and down | shot through the half-moon aperture.
 Thump! I landed ten feet down amid utter darkness across an up turned tub. knocking out It's bottom and bringing hoops and slaves anout me in flying sections.
 The shock was brief, my bruises trl- vial. Then l congratulated mNScn' If the under-sidewNlE space lht" which had been precipit0ted connect- cd with the main cellar of the struc- ture abutting upon 1t I would hail my misadventure as stroke or genuine good luck, That grim old time-shat- tered three-Story building had been a center of considerable interest 10 me dnring the past week. l had haunted it's vicinity persiStcntly. It was to lit" tle purnose. however. Its rear was a blank brick wall. Its sides were guarded by heavy iron shutters. The front had but one entrance, q double doorway, and beyond it was store space shallow and narrow, more or q hall entrance than a room, barred closely nichts, and in the daytime, seated behind q bench hammerlng away at various pieces of metal, was A low-browed, keen-eyed man, evident Iy the guardian Of the place.
 I was on a still hunt for a missing friend. and had been for over a month That was how I came to be interested in what had vertically become to me a house of mystery.
 Acton Ncserve had been Il fellow worker and close friend for something like two years. We were both of us i exncrt cngravers and earned good wages in the service of leading bank nolc engraving concern. It was Jus' after he had married and was gone on his honeymoon that trouble began
 Ton must know that the working economy of a confidential and impor tant business such as we were engaged in calls for strict integrity on the par' of those employed. It was about $ week after my friend MeserTe had Jeff on his memorable vacation when dls covePy was made that some govern ment paper, some denomination die' and a kit of fine engraving tools Wer' missing from the vault. When search was made in the office ther' was found in Meserve's desk some O the paper The company awaited th' return of NIeserve to charge him Wltl Irregularities, possibly theft. Bu neither he TOT his wife returned to tn city at the end of two weeks, nor foul nor six. In fact, although detectiV was employed to seek to gain trac of their whereabouts, Acton Meserv and his wife had disappeared as efreF tuaIIy as though the earth had sWa lowed them up.
 One day l WAS summoned to the pr yate office of the president of the con pany. I knew that my close compaI ionshin with Meserve had aroused su' picion in the mind of the detective a to a possible knowledge on my part a to what had become of Meserve. Tn disappearance Of the well-guafde t property of the company pointed to , probable scheme to do some outsid plate work. This surmise was emphs |, sized by the strange absence of NJ 8 serve.
 I "We shall require your services . longer, NIr. nIsley," spoke my superIo I definitely and with sternness. a "I am S1rry,'' said simply. "l wi not ask YOU the reason of this unWa 8 rantable disclarge. for l can gues T You are wrong in attributing what yo imagine to as good a man as Acrc I. Meserve. I shall make it my bnslne' @ to prove it to you soon,"
 A .I hope so," colGIy remarked the 0 O flciaI, ''and l further hope you VI , take care of yourself"
 There was significance. almost l suIt. in this last remark, and l did D u resent it in words. l had made up 'A mind that would find Acton Meser
 if 1t took all 1 had saved up ana year of my life to accomplish 1t. The was something wrong, not only at t 3 engraving plant, but as regarded M serve.
 L. There was dense mystery sl
 rounding the abstraction of the pro
 erty of the company and the inexplit
 bIe yanishment of AIcscrve and
 wife. | started to solve the enign
 firm in my fairh in my fried and 1T
 comPadc.
 found his relatives and friends al - ious and gPieyed over his absen
 None of them had seen or heard fr'
 him since the day they had seen h
 started on his wedding journey. ,~ went over his presumable honeymo
 trip, to lose all trace of him utterly.
 returned to tie city, more in the af
 than ever, gloomily dlsappointsd' 5. most hopeless. ..-..
 One day I struck il clew, OF fanc
 I had. It was when, for the first u
 in many months, | saw walking aht
 of me on the street a man nan
 Bartiey Webb. This person had b'
 a printer at the engraving plant
 had left work about week before
 serve had started on his vacation. . had never liked him and had notp 1 that he kept bad comjany-Just .
 worse than ever, for the two men "
 him were as viIlainous-looking fellc
 as I had ever seen. followed th'
 a new suspicion in my mind as u
 were admitted to the very buildin
 have described, took up watch,
 ward over the sombre pile of masto
 for several days. Twice ! saw "
 visit the place. Always his admiss
 was followed by the closing and 4o
 ing of the outside door. Always
 door was kept carefully reclosed u
 be had departed, after brief stay
 know not why, but somehow ] ass