Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1920-10-15
BY
CLIFFORD S.
RAYMOND
u y .
illustrated By
IRWIN MYERS

| " IT'LL.
$50 you are familiar with this af-
fair!"
Il am not. I only know what has
happened since I came here. I do not
want to know any more"
''You are wise There is nothing but
unhappiness and danger in knowing.
It is not news to me that Dravada has
Mr. Sidney's diary. They released me
after they learned that the manuscript
had been found and that the lawyer
and Dravada had it."
i Jed then sat down and told what
had happened to him. l was very
angry, remembering IsObel as she came
hunning in that night with her sleeve
torn from her waist / wondered that
/ could hear the man calmly, but he
j had extraordinary power, being moved
by extraordinary emotions.
sIn the first place." he said, "may
say that have been preposterous?
i You think / am lunatic. Sometimes
I am almost. 1t is easy enough to be
a cabbage if you are one. It is some
times hard to seem one If you are. not
I've been fool-but I've been hunting
for something that / have not been
able to find want happiness and i'm
portance. My egotism asks for it, but
my common sense is going to have its
way. That's preliminary"
Then he told his experiences. He
had become violent with Isobel. He
wanted it understood that he had been
desperate but respectful. He had no
idea of taking hold of her or of tear
ing her sleeve. She had been magnifi-
cent. She had given him a moral
shock. He felt like worm. He had
been attacked suddenly by the men
who had overpowered him. They had
come upon him from the brush. He
had recognized Dravada at once. He
might have overcome the Spaniard, but
the desperate little lawyer, in a frenzy
of activity, had been just bold and
strong enough to interfere SO that Jed
had been made helpless. Another man
! had come breathlessly to help. Jed
had been bound and. gagged. He had
been hustled into the screen of woods
and beyond them to waiting auto
mobile
His captors, in the automobile, had
! headed for the city and entered it after
midnight They had taken their pris-
i oner to tenement on the East side.
For several days the lawyer and ORA
vada had tried to extort the secret
from Jed by threats. They had tried
to buy it by promise of an equitable
division of profits. The lawyer had
been quite frantic part of the time,
kJed said bounding about in an ecstasy
of rage. At other times he had been
friendly and persuasive.
Drayada had been savage and want
ed to try torture, but the attorney, en-
ragged as he frequently became in his
failure and disappointment, would not
permit this and hal got trustworthy
rascal of his acquaintance, named Sim,
with two other men, to keep a con-
slant guard over Jed with view not
only to prevent his escape but to keep
Dravada from doing him harm or TAX
ing him away.
The lawyer, both dismayed and en-
ragged by Jed's obstinacy, had finally
thought of corrupting someone in the
house to find and steal the manuscript.
The best he had been able to do was
to persuade a maid to prove false
enough to introduce the real thief
'Dravada and the lawyer never had
any hesitancy at having their quarrels
in the room where they held me-" Jed
said. "Brown was afraid Dravada
would corrupt the fellow Sim, torture
me and get the story. Dravada was
afraid Brown would corrupt someone
in Hartley house and get the manu-
script. Each one feared that the
other would succeed independently
and get away without making divi-
sion.
"Dravada pretended to be satisfied
when Brown told him that he must
not appear near Hartley. When they
thought they were going to succeed in
stealing the manuscript out of my
room Brown proved to Dravada that
the only one of them that could go to
meet the maid was Brown. Dravada
appeared to accept that as reasonable,
and he must have put Brown off his
guard, because Brown told him all the
plans.
"Dravada used to be very stupid,
but his cupidity has given him sort
of intelligence. He allowed Brown to
think he was perfectly satisfied, but
he wasn't at all. BY seeming to be
satisfied he learned all about the de-
tells of the plan, and he knew that
Brown, to avoid pursuit, intended to
1 take the way to Horwfch.
"He knew that if Brown went
through Norwich he would stop for
several drinks. He would need them
if he was disappointed. He would have
to have them if he had the manuscript
and was excited by it. So Dravada
went to Horwich 1t all worked out
and when Brown got to the village, he
found Dravada. Then he telephoned
to the fellow Sim to let me go. I was
perfectly harmless. 1t was an inter-
esting situation"
ST could wish Dravada had tortured
YOU" | said to Jed. "He has the
means now, through you, to torture
this family"
81 said / knew Dravada had the
manuscript" said Jed. II did that for
effect. What ought to have said was
that I knew he thought he had the
manuscript. If had no more than the
II