Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-07-21

"AH Wasted-the Whole EffortI" He
Murmured.
to something, but all it has given me
is the reward of saving myself and
possibly retrieving Lucie. AS for the
larger game, the bigger quarry-it's
all wasted. 1 haven't unraveled a
single thread; the first real clue cam
to me tonight, purely by accident,
Memphis Izzy Gumberts That's the
lead to follow! I'll get rid of this
Midnight Masquer f~oolishness and go
after the real game"
Gramont was to discover that it Is
not nearly so easy to be rid of folly
as it is to don the TESTERS cap and
bells; a fact which one Simplicissimus
had discovered to his sorrow three
hundred years earlier. But, as Ora
mont was not versed In the line of
literature, he yet had the discovery
ahead of him.
Hammond re-entered the room with
the tin box, from which Gramont took
his stock certificates issued by Bob
Maillard's oil company. He pocketed
the shares.
"I1l go to Maillard the banker-Jo-
seph MaillardHfirst thing in the morn
ing, and offer him my stock. He'll
be mighty glad to get it at a discount,
knowing that it is in his sons COM
pany. You see, the son doesn't confide
in the old man particularly. I'll let
the father win a little money oil the
deal with me, and by doing this I'll
manage to save the greater part of my
Investment
ploded in a burst of laughter as he
| caught the idea. "Say, if this amt
the richest thing ever pulled! When
the crash comes, the fancy kid will be
stinging his dad good and hard, eh?'
Exactly; and I think his dad can
afford to be stung much better than I
cam agreed Gramont, cheerfully.
"Now let's take those packages and
stow them away in the luggage COM
partment of the car. I'm getting
nervous at the thought of having
them around here, and they'll be per-
fectly safe there overnight = safer,
there than here, in fact. Tomorrow
YOU can take the car out of town and
send the packages by parcels post
from some small town.
SIN shat way they ought to be de
livered here on Wednesday. You'd
better wear one of my suits, leaving
your chauffeur's outfit here, and don't
malt the car in front of the post Office
wnere you mail the packages
Il get YOU" assented Hammond,
sagely. But what about them avia-
tors clothes?"
"Take them with you-better get
them wrapped up here and now. You
can toss them into a ditch anywhere"
Hammond obeyed.
Ten minutes afterward the two men
'of' the room. carving the packages
Of loot and the bundle containing the
aviator's uniform. They descended
to the courtyard in the rear of the
house. Here IA a small garden, with
a fountain in it's center. Behind this
were the stables, which had long been
disused as such, and which we're now
occupied only by the car Of Gramont.
1t was with undisguised relief that
Gramont now saw the stuff actually
out of the house. Within the last few
hours he had become intensely afraid
of joachim Fell. Concentrating himself
upon the man, picking up information
g%uardedly, he had that day assimilatAd
many small items which increased his
sense of peril from that quarter.
Straws, no more, but quite significant
straws. Gramont realized clearly that
if the police ever searched his rooms
and found this loot, he would be lost.
There could be no excuse that would
hold water for a minute against such
evidence.
In the garage Hammond switched
on the lights of the car. By the glow
they disposed their burdens In the lug
gage compartment of the tonneau.
which held them neatly. The COM
partment closed inc locked, they re-
turned into the house and dismissed
the affair as settled.
Upon the following morning Ora
mont, who usually breakfasted en- pen
sion with his hostess, had barely seat
ed himself at the table when he per-