Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1920-05-14

Mr.. Snyder himself, in common
with most of his assistants, relied for
results on hard work and plenty of
detective of the snowy type. Results
had justified his methods, but he was
perfectly aware that young Mr.. Cakes
looked on him as a dull old man who
had been miraculously favored by luck.
Mr.. Snyder had selected Cakes for
the case in hand principally because
it was one where inexperience could
do no harm, and where the brilliant
guesswork which the latter called his
inductive reasoning might achieve an
unexpected success.
1t was one of those bizarre cases
which call for the dashing amateur
rather than the logged rule-of-thumb
professional.
Mr.. Snyder had, moreover, a kind
of Superstitious faith in the luck OF
the beginner.
Another motive actuated Mr.. Sny-
der in his choice. He had a strong
suspicion that the conduct Of this case
was going to have the beneficial result
of lowering Cakes self-esteem.
If failure achieved this end, MIR.
Snyder felt that failure, though it
would not help the agency, would not
be an unmixed i'll.
The door opened and Cakes en-
tered tensely He did everything tense
ly, partly from a natural nervous
energy, and partly as a pose. He
was lean young man, with dark eyes
and a thin-lipped mouth, and looked
as like a typical detective as Mr..
Snyder looked like comfortably pros
porous stock broker.
Mr.. Snyder had never bothered HIM
self about the externals of his profess
sion. One could imagine Mr.. Snyder
in his moments of leisure watching a
ball game or bowling. Cakes gave the
impression of having no moments OF
leisure.
"Sit down, Oakes," said Mr.. Sny-
der. give got job for YOU
Cakes sank into a chair like a
crouching leopard and placed the tips
Of his fingers together. He nodded
CURLY. 1t was part of his pose to be
keen and silent.
81 want you to go to this address"
he handed him an envelope-"and
look around. Whether you will ind
out anything, or whether there's any;
thing to find out, is more than l can
say. When the old lady was telling
me the story own I was carried away,
She made it convincing. She thinks
it was murder. I don't know what to
think"
'The facts?" said Cakes briefly.
Mr.. Snyder smiled quietly to him
self.
"The address on that envelope is
of a boarding house on the water
front, down in Long Island. You know
the sort of place-retired sea-captalns
and so on.
"All most respectable. Don't run
away with the idea that I'm sending
YOU to some melodramatic hells-kitch
en- where the guests are drugged and
shanghaied on the day Of their arrival.
GAS far as I can gather, this place
is a sort of male Martha Washington,
In all it's history nothing more sensa'
tional has happened than a case OF
suspected cheating at pinocle. Well, a
man has died there"
"Murdered?"
81 don't know. That's for you to
find out. The coroner left it open. ]
don't see how it could have been MUIR
der. The door was locked; nobody
could have got in.''
1.-The Window"
"The window was open. But the
room is on the first floor. And, any
way, you may dismiss the window.
remember the old lady saying there
was bar across it, and that nobody
could have squeezed through"
Cakes eyes glistened. He was in
terested.
"What was the cause of death|
Mr.. Snyder coughed.
'Snake-bite," he said.
Cakes careful calm deserted him.
He uttered a cry Of astonishment.
"NFhat!"
'It's the literal truth. The medical
examina.io proved that the fellow
had been killed by snake poison. To
be exact, the poison of a snake known
as the kraft In this Long Island
boarding house, in a room with
locked door, this man was stung by
kraft It's a small snake, found prln-
cipally in India.
"To add little mystifcation to the