Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1919-07-11
CHAPTER ".
Herr Skopf's Mystery.

Hetr SNopIS WyStcTy.
The killing of the friendless old Rus
sian by his great trained ape was
matter for newspaper comment for
few days. Lord Greystoke read of it
and, while taking special precautions
not to permit his name to become con-
nected with the affair, kept himself
well posted as to the police search for
the anthropoid.
As was true Of the general public,
his chief interest In the matter cen
tered about the mysterious disappear
ance of the slayer, or at least this was
true until he learned several days sub
seQuent to the tragedy that his son
Jack had not reported ut the boarding
school, en- route for which they had
seen him safely ensconced in a railway
carriage.
Even then the father did not connect
the disappearance Of his son with the
mystery surrounding the whereabouts
of the ape, nor was 1t until month
later that careful investigation re-
vealed the fact that the boy had left
the train before it pulled out Of the
station at London and the cab driver
had been found who had driven him to
the address OF the old Russian that
Tarzan of the Apes realized that Akut
had In some way been connected with
the disappearance of the boy.
Beyond the moment that the cab
driver had deposited his fare beside
the curb In front of the house In which
the Russian had been Quartered there
was no clew. No one had seen either
the boy or the ape from that instant
at least no one who still lived. The
proprietor of the house identified the
picture of the lad as that of one who
had been frequent visitor In the room
Of the old man. Aside from this he
knew nothing.
And there at the door of Il grimy old
building in the slums of London the
searchers came to a blank wall
baff1ed.
The dny following the death of Al
exis Paulvitch a youth accompanying
his invalid grandmother boarded q
steamer at Dover. The old lady was
heavily yelled and so weakened by age
and sickness that she had to be
wheeled aboard the vessel in an In
valid chair.
The boy would permit no one but
himself to wheel her and with his OWL
the interior of their stateroom-ant
that was the last that was seen of The
old lady by the ships company unit
the pair disembarked. The boy ever
insisted upon doing the work OF theil
cabin steward, since, as he explained
his grandmother was suffering from ,
nervous indisposition that made thu
presence of strangers extremely dis
tasteful to her.
Among the passengers there was al
American named Conlon, blacklei
and a crook, who was wanted" In hal
q dozen OF the larger cities of tht
United States. He had paid little ut
tention to the boy until on one occa
sion he had seen him accidentally dis
play n roll Of banknotes. From ther
on COnlon cultivated the youthful
Briton.
He learned easily enough that thu
boy was travelling alone with his In
valid grandmother and that their des
tination was a small port on the ives
coast Of Africa, little below thu
equator; that their name was Billings
and that they had no friends in tn
little settlement for which they were
bound. Upon the point of their pur
pose in visiting the place, Conlon fount
the boy reticent, and so he did no
push the matter-he had learned al
that he cared to know as it was.
At last came the day that the steam
er dropped anchor in the lee of I
wooded promontory, where score o
more Of sheet iron shacks, making al
unsightly blot upon the fair face o
nature, proclaimed the fact that civ
ilization had set its heel. Struggling
upon the outskirts We're the thatche,
huts a natives, picturesque in thei
! primeval savagery, harmonizing will
the background of tropical jungle ant
accentuating the squalid hideousnes
of the white mans pioneer architeC
ture.
The boy, leaning over the rail, wa
looking far beyond the man-made town
deep into the God-made jungle. A III
tie SILVER of anticipation tingled hi
spine and then, quite without volition
he found himself mentally gazing int
| the loving eyes of his mother and tn
strong face of the father which mir
rored beneath its masculine strength
/ q lova No lose than tha mothers eve
| proclaimed. He felt himself weakene,
In his resolve.