Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1920-09-10


expected return to the city and his
generous and convincing offers of aid
hau ntied me with new hopes.
trusted, too, that old Rufus keen eyes
quickly would discover the secret pas.
sageway now that / had indicated to
MIN where to look for it. l was conf
GENTLY expecting that the resulting de
velopments quickly would free Ine
from even the suspicion Of being a
murderer. The minute, however, that
laid eyes on German / knew that
something had gone wrong
what is it?' l cried. whats the
matter now?"
| You're wonderful liar, you are"
was his surly greeting, with your pipe
dreams about secret passageways and
stolen pearls"
what do you mean?" I replied. I
had not the least idea what he was
| getting at
"YOu almost had me believing you
he said savagely. IF it wasn't that /
knew that Wick and that girl up there
| were crooks | would wash my hands
| OF the whole affair"
Il don't understand" l answered in
! dignantly. Every statement l have
made to you has been the absolute
truth"
eyes, it hasi' he sneered.
Ordinarily / would have resented
anyone talking to me in this manner,
but felt that under no circumstances
could afford 20 quarrel with German.
He was the only friend / had in the
whole city that | could rely on, ez:-
'cepting of course my great-uncle.
cOntented myself with merely reasSert-
ing:
Il tell you it is all true-eyery word
Of it,"
1.-The old mans home-old Rufus"
he responded irrelevantIy.
II know" | replied. II saw him for
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 | am
confident that he had nothing what
ever to do with any part of the plot.
Have you seen him?"
Yes said German, significantly,
''Pve seen him. He looked me up yes
terday and we went over the case to-
TO the Granddeck and look over tho
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. 1t seemed to me that there
were doubt and distrust in his express
sion.
go on" / cried, what did you
find2"
"We found" he said, speaking slow
ly and putting special emphasis on his
third word, 1.-TWO jewel boxes there.
the one with the pearls and the Other:
one"
What" cried. aghast at this In.
credible bit of news. two jewel
cases -
'Sure we did" he announced tri.
umphantty. 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 1 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.
had taken it out and had examined it's
contents again. With the aid of a
lighted match / 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 was
lying to me now. / had found him in
all our dealings ghtforward and
candid. If he said he had seen great
uncle Rufus find the pearls there ii
must be so, but how could they have
SOL ILICACs COuiu Ii DC pOSSlUICs L WOii-
dered, that subconsciously, burdened
with the responsibility of the custody
of such costly gems. might have risen
in my sleep and in a sOmnoleDt state
removed the pearls to some other hid
ing place. No. l decided, that the
Dry was too preposterous and absurd
for even a moments consideration. |
If l had done that in my sleep |
| must also have restored them to the |
safe again ia 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. I suggested this theory |
TO Garman
CTO BE CONTINUED.)
Lead and Steel.
Lead IS said TO act like steel at or