The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1920-11-19

generous n convincing offers OF AID
had filed me with new hopes.
trusted, too. that old Rufus Keen eyea
quickly would discover the secret pas.
sageway now that I hac indicated to
him where to look for It. was cont
IDENTITY expecting that the resulting de.
velopments quickly would free me
from even the suspicion Of being Q
murderer. The minute. however. that
laid eyes or German l knew that
something had gone wrong.
what Is it," l cried. whats the
matter nowy"
you're a wonderful liar, you are"
was his surly greeting. with your pipe
dreams about secret passageways and
stolen pearls"
what do you mean?" l replied. !
had o the least idea what he was
getting at.
you almost had me believing you"
he said sayagely. IF 1t wasn't that
knew that Wick and that girl up there
were crooks ! would wash my hands
Of the whole affair.""
81 don't understand" / answered In.
d%ignantly. Every statement have
made to you has been the absolute
truth"
"Yes, 1t hast" he sneered.
Ordinarily I would have resented
anyone talking to me in this manner,
but l felt that under no circumstances
could | afford to quarrel with German.
He was the only friend l had in the
whole city that l could rely on, ex-
cepting OF course my great-uncle. l
%contented myself with merely reassert-
ing:
Il tell you it ID all true-every word
of it."
"The old mans hOme-old Rufus"
he responded ~irrelevantly.
Il know" l replied. "I-saw him for
a few minutes day before yesterday.
He promised to do everything in his
power to free me as speedily as pos
sible. After talking with him l am
confident that he had nothing what
ever to do with any part of the plot.
Have you Seen him?"
"Yes." said German. significantly.
1--WE e him. He looked me up yes
terday and we went we the case to-
sether. He suggested that we 30 up
to the Granddeck and look Over the
apartment, and we did. The minute
we got In he went to the wall safe and
opened it up and"
German stopped short and looked
at me. It seemed to me that there
were doubt and distrust in his express
sion.
go on" / cried. "what did you
find?"
1--WE found" he said. speaking slow.
ly and putting special emphasis on his
third word. two jewel boxes there,
| the n with the pearls and the other
| one"
"What," I cried. aghast at this in
credible bit of news, two jewel
caSes!"
"Sure we did," he announced tri-
umphantly. "And the pearls were
there as safe as when the old man
went away. Now what have you got
to say to that?"
What could l say?
/ knew as positively as / knew that
I was alive that on that Saturday
when ! had opened the wall safe to
put away my money there had been
but one Of the jewel boxes there. l
had taken 1t out and had examined Its
contents again. With the aid Of n
lighted match l had explored every
! corner Of the steel-lined receptacle.
The box containing the pearls and the
rest of the valuables In the CASTOR
| collection was gone. Now the pearls
were safely back there again. How
could that be explained The mystery
was too much for me.
There was not the slightest reason
for me to believe that German w8s
lying to me now. / had found him In
all u dealings straightforward and
candid. II he said he had seen great
uncle Rufus find the pearls there It
must be so. but how could they have
got there? Could It be possible. | won
dered, that systematically, ,burdened
with the responsibility OF the custody
Of such costly gems. ! might have risen
In my sleep and In q somnolent state
removed the pearls to some other hid
ing place. No. / decided, that the
DRY was too preposterous and absurd
for ven q moments consideration.
II l had done that In my sleep
I must also have restored them to the
safe again in my sleep. 1t was far
more likely that the thief. becoming
alarmed over the publicity brought to
the Granddeck by the murder. had
been afraid to attempt to dispose OF
gems so ~well-known as the CASTOR
pearls and had restored them in the
| same mysterious way that he had alb
stracted them. suggested this theory
to Garman.
Gro BE cONrINUED.)
Lead and Steel.