The Wolf Point herald., 1920-02-26
CHAPTER v.
The Mystery Solved7


The Mystery solved7
Two days later Mr.. Snyder sat In
his ofice. There was a telegram be
fore him.
1t ran as follows:
"Have solved Gunner mystery. Re
Turning. "Oakes."
Mr.. Snyder rang the bell.
"Send Mr.. Oakes to me directly he
arrives" he said.
He put his feet up on the dess
tilted his chair back, and frowned al
the ceiling.
He was panied to find that the CHIEF
emotion with which the telegram from
Oakes had affected him was annoy
ance. The swift solution of such an
apparently insoluble problem would re-
feet the highest credit on the agency,
and there were picturesque circum-
stances connected with the case which
would make it popular with the news
papermen and lead to its being ac-
corded great deal of publicity.
On the whole, no case Of recent
years promised to give the agency a
bigger advertisement than this one.
Yet, in spite of all this, Mr.. Snyder
was ANNOYED. 1t was ridiculous and
unprofessional of him TO be annoyed.
but human nature was too strong for
him.
He realized now how large a part
the desire to reduce Cakes self-esteem
had played with him.
Looking at the thing honestly, he
owned TO himself that he. had had no
expectation that the young man would
come within a mile of a reasonable
solution of the mystery; and he had
calculated that his failure would prove
a valuable piece of education for him.
For the professional was mixed up
with the unprofessional in Mr.. Sny-
der's attitude toward his assistant. 1t
was not only as private individual
that he had hoped to see Oakes reduced
to humility by failure: he also believed
that failure would make Oakes more
valuable asset to the agency.
Oakes had intelligence. That he had
never denied. Mr.. Snyder's grievance
against him was that he had only
about half the intelligence with which
he credited himself.
His aggressive belief in himself i'm
paired his utility as detective. He
needed breaking in, and Mr.. Snyder
had looked to this case to effect this
end.
And here he was, within a ridicu-
lousy short space of time, returning
to the fold, not humble and defeated
but with flying colors.
Mr.. Snyder looked forward with ap-
prehension to the young mans prob
able demeanor under the intoxicating
influence of victory.
His apprehensiOns were well
grounded. He had barely finished the
second of the series of cigars which,
like milestones, marked the progress
of his afternoon, when the door opened
and young Mr.. Oakes entered, ram
pant.
Mr. Snyder could not repreSs a faint
moan at the sight of him. One glance
was enough to tell him that his worst
fears were realized.
Few people in the history of New
York could have been so pleased with
themselves as Oakes obviously was at
that moment. He diffused self-satis-
faction like a scent. In some mysteri-
Gus way he seemed to have grown
bigger.
He was still tense, but his tenseness
now was that of the leopard returning
from some important kill, announcing
his magnifcence to the rest of the
jungle.
He sat down before Mr.. Snyder had |
time to invite him, and the older man
looked with dismay at this significant |
sign of his increased Importance.
81 got your telegram" said Mr..
Snyder.
Oakes nodded.
1T surprised you, ehf"
Mr.. Snyder resented the patroniz-
ing tone of the question, but he had
resigned himself TO be patronized and |
gave no sign of resentment.
One Of the old mans chief virtues,
which had compensated him for GER
tain lack of genius in his makeup,
was his level-headedness and his abil-
ty to allow nothing to disturb him
His sense of humor had