Imperial Valley press., 1922-07-01
OnWln@Sf Wife,, VI!
"' BY At:TTHHuR B REEVE =
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Garrick shot question after question,
"Why, the 'Bacchante was floating
| treasure house-the jewels of the Ger
ard robbery, the Parr jewels-the stuff
| from score of others. There was
money, oh, j don It know how much,
| the profits of the bootleg scheme, of
| looting wine. cellars all over the island,
of the Inner Circle' Jack swore as he
thought of the massed wealth from
which he had been "defrauded."
"Why was the 'Bacchante' here7"
demanded Garrick.
''To take him off; he came across
by car from the Radio Central, as soon
as he got me-damn him!--with the
boat into the open ocean, safe-Profcs-
sor Vario of course!''
"Professor Vario!' echoed Dick in
amazement.
"Yes, Professor Vario, head of the
biggest gang of bootleggers, black
mailers and dress suit yeggman | guess
you ever heard of. Yeh-Georges was
the fellow pulled 'em in; Brock was
the roughneck-Rae and l were the de-
coys-Ruth, Vira, Glenn and the others
were their cover. Damn his cyes!'
"But the robberies?' uueried
Dick.
"Doesn' it explain the robberies {?
To amass u small fortune, of course.
That guy was born money-hungry--
and girl-crazy! / know his game. He
dragged me into his dirty work-fool
that | was-then he expected all the
time to come along at the right time,
posing as hero to Ruth, rescuing her
from me- Then to Bermuda, the Ba-
hamas, Martinique, anywhere don It
know. Only l do know now that Vario
intended all along to marry that girl
and get ten millions!''
Explain? echoed Garrick. "It eX-
plains a lot of things. For instance,
at the Binnacle,. what really happened
| was that you, Jack, double e-crosscd
Vario and tried to get away with Ruth
yourself, and he caught you. 1t just
gave him his first chance to play hero,
cha" Curtis nodded sullenly. "And the
night of the dictagraph. With his wave
meter, Vario discovered it, found that
all his secrets were being spilled in the
air, and jammed in on the dictagraph
wave length.'
Jack listened as if it was the clanking
l u d CHdlI. Ilc was dIIdlu VI
"Then that broadcasted poison per
message. First vario had allowed yoJ
to get Ruth into dangerous position
at the Binnacle from which he rescued
her and played hero. Then this elopc
ment story, to compromise her. But h'
had you right where he wanted you
How! The bigamy charge, of course!'
Rae was now blazing. She nigh
battle Jack. No one else could. Sh,
would pcrjure her little soul but sh
would fight him clear.
"Doi you know the conclusiv
thing?" Garrick turned to Dick
"That postcard, about last night a
the Radio Central told me something
How did my alarm fail? You know
Dick, there s switch between the stu
dio room and the actual sending appar
atus upstairs-not that switch we say
before us, but another. They use i
whenever anyone broadcasting tries t
put over bit of advertising or chican
cry or if the singer or speaker is rot
ten, swing the switch and put on
phonograph or something. A million
explanations will do, later. The poin
is that he learned that l was there
found out what L was doing AM
choked it off-thereby betraying him
self. He has been under cover eve
since and this is the first information
I've had of him all day--although
without letting Dick or anyone els
know of my suspicion, had private dc
tectives and the police looking for hin
quietly" He nodded over toward on
of the Astra men with the policeman il
the crowd whom Dick had not seer
Then to the man, elbow long befor
we came did you get these people?"
"Not ten minutes, SIR"
/ "And the Bacchante,' which wa
did it heads'
"He must have got motorboa
it hove i'll sight; then sent these peopl
ashore after fight or something.
should say it headed southeast-b
east. -
"Come-Dick! -
"Just second, Guy. Whose ha
) was it, Rae, that held the jewels a
Gerard 's?'
"Mine, of course" Defiantly.
"And what was in the tower wit
the searchlight at Gerard s tina
night9"
, "Ruth and Glenn" This was spite
full. "Wc threatened them. But j
was the last time.'
"And why were the Walden pearl
!. returned?'
1T was his idea, Vario s-to in
volve her, tie her up tighter, so sh
wouldn't dare squeal."
They jumped into the motorboat an
few minutes later the whirring of th
propellors and the gorgeous cutting o
spray gave them another leap off int
J the air
"They We a Commute start" shout
, ed Garriek, adjusting his headgear j
the rush of air. 'Thank heaven for tn
light. What a sunset!''
l, Dick flew by his compass in the di
rection the Astra man had indicated
then began a series of ever widenin
horizontal loops. 1t decreased his d
where she had suddenly sat down
You took me coasting after all, on TIL
1 sl