Evening star., 1921-01-02
FRAT INC TT TO IRFNF, Bv seusn Ford 1.-THE


sp- Mr.. Piddie: that Is. when he
amt a pest. And sometimes
=. - he's little Of both. Course.
he. has his useful points. or he
wouldn't have held down his job as
9 once manager for the Corrugated
Trust all these years. He's a reg'lar
watchdog on the expense account. and
1 expect he gets as much work out of
= that battery of fiossy lady typists and
sourccollection OF bond room sports as
any arm could ask for. but somehow
or other he's always in a stew over it.
n Also. he's a great one to work up
suspicious. Say. bookkeeper can't
use the ink eradicator on a blot, or
one of the force get a phone call. but
what he'll figure out possible EN- :
bezzlement case or a scheme to play
the market on inside dope. And the
way he glares up and down that iihe
of key Founders you might think tney
was a bunch of female bolsheviStS. IN
stead of so many rattle-headed gum
yankers.
So, when he sidles sleuthly up to
my desk one day, with his brow all
wrinkled and a worried 1da sd1iat IN MS
"Well. Piddie." says I. whats
wrong with you now?'
.Look- says he, slippin' sheet OF
paper in front of me. What do you
make of that, Torchy?~
"Eh?" says !, glancin' at 1t, casual
.All I can see is a string of figures
and punctuation marks. just jumbled
together careless. Looks to me like
some amateur had been monkeyin'
with a typewriter. or else a stray
pianist had been tryin' to play a tune
on it"
He shakes his head solemn. NO."
says he. "1 believe it is a message Of
some sort"
you do:- says I, Then you've got
Stance sE,anee%1setsR 1casi wRs'' TINS "0r'' '0' m
II don't know. Tn sure" says Pid-
die. '1t is probably written in Sc
cret code"
TITS secret all right" says I. Say.
Piddie. where do you get ideas like
thato Whatever gave you hunch that
a messageT
Because this IS the third time it has
appeared" says he
''whaddye mean. appeared - says l.
he. "Once pinned to my desk blotter
order hook, and this one I found
tucked into the pocket of my Office
coat 1t was put there this noon.
while I was out to luncheon. Every one
the same. I call that mysterious,
Torchy."
yes, you would" says I.
"1 am certain there's something
back of all this" he insists.
Sure" says Somebody's using
ed Ouija yet, have you?
'1f this occurs again. says he. Il
shall certainly take steps to get to
the bottom of it."
"Going down. I sings out. joshin'.
Say, you're a wonder. you are. Pid-
die"
But when he gets on the trail of
anything like that there's no iarrin'
him loose. For two or three days
saw him sleuthin' around the general
offices, pipin' of the bond room force
from behind a pillar, tiptoein' back
of the stenogs when thev was busy
and even lunchin' on sandwiches and
an apple so he shouldn't miss any
secret moves. He don't seem to dig
I'd almost forgotten what it was all
about. when here the other afternoon
he stops and whispers husky over my
shoulder.
-APesher -ARss s,V. ~sssaseo os says ves; he; More
typist's hash?"
"As before says he. "I discovered
it concealed in the letter file"
"Strordinary. Sherlock says 1.
NOW you'll take steps, will you?'
Positively saws he.
I didn't think for a minute. though.
that he'd be nut enough to carry this
wild tale ito Mr.. Eflins. But a Few
minutes later. when I takes some
documents into the private Office. Il
finds Piddfe wavin' sheet of paper
in front Of Old Hickory and explainin'
excited all his suspicious.
-H-m-m" says the boss. rubin his
chin. Yes. it is rather singular.
Undoubtedly. sir, says Piddie.
Probably a threat You remember
those warnings that were sent before
the Wall street bomb outrage? This
may Be something OF the kind. And