Imperial Valley press., 1922-06-20
O!!'W'!|',Syf!|: ||''',':''!| YES
'''S ly ARTHUR B REEVE
.epaa xIA Service. In.
ARs'!i!'HHsp ARs'T!i!Hup B REEVE

| lion dollars a year. Thoughts like this
| had no place in his mind now. All he
knew was that he was the victim OF
| interference. And he was sore-and
worried, too.
For the use of the ether (begging
the pardon of Einstein and his theory
is not limitless. 1t will accommodate
| lust SO MANY wireless messages and no
morc-at least until such an invention
as Dick was working on was perfected.
| When that limit is reached, the, air be-
comes a boiler factory.
Dick cast the headgear in useless
vexation on the table.
| 1t seemed to him that he had been
on the point of getting just the i'm
portant thing he wanted to hear. lie
had been making notes as he went
along, for somewhere he had heard
something about the methods of de-
| tectives.
| His mind was in a whirl, as if
dozen people were sending i'll his
mental ether at once. Then, sudden
ly, as if unconsciously, he had sharp
ened the thoughts to the exact wave
length, one idea seemed to swamp all
others.
Dick felt that he must get to this
place where Ruth had spent the night
and where Garrick was running into.
danger, if he had not already fallen in
| to it. And he must get there first.
| He tore out of the apartment, grab
bed the first taxi, rode only few
blocks, dismissed him down the street.
| AS he sped down the block, he could
| q, 4
man ran across under the are light.
Dick quickened. He saw in the shadow
two men struggling and a third creep
ing toward them.
Dick could make cut Garriek. He
was just in time. He hurled himself at
| the other attacker. They were two.
against two, now.
But at the moment when it seemed
that each was getting the upper hand
of his man, a couple of others ran on.
Evidently they had been trailing him
from Garrick s where they must have
been watching. /,
The fight of the four now swung
entirely against Garrick and Dick.
From the Avenue whence had come
the new assailants, now came a quick
scurry of feet. A whistle. Someone
raped as with a hickory stick on the
curb, making hollow echoes.
The four fled.
The newcomers hauled Garrick and
Dick uncereinoniously to their feet.
"You re under arrest!N One of them
flashed badge. "Saw you come out
of the cellar of the Inner Circle last
night. Also you were on that roof
tonight!' .-.
Garrick looked at the badge. They
were revenue enforcement men. He
pulled out his own card, issued by the
Comptroller of the State. There was
Il moment of perplexity, then cXclam-
ations and apologies.
"Thought you were i'll the Velvet
Gang, too .-.-
"The Velvet Gang?'
| "Yeh-that S what we nicknamed
that bunch of aristocratic rum run
ners.
One of them had picked up the key
"Ah-ha! We re in luck!'
So, without the formality of a search
warrant, they entered the Gerard
house.
If anything had ever been there
the stuff was gone!
: "Then-why the fight-with us'
puzzled Dick as they parted from the
chagrincd raiders.
''Just to get us out of the way,
, grunted Garrick. "Gosh! / ache!
Humph! -. The Velvet Gang!
4 don t know whether it S ;
; detective that s needed so mucil--or
t psychoanalyst-or an alienist-or
spiritual adviscr!"
(Continued Tomorrow