The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-12-15

1OT q moment.
Never mind about me-" he
said at last you may not un-
derstand it-but there's a lot Of
satisfaction to a man even In a
broken arm when-he gets It in
the right cause"
I felt my cheeks flush. No
woman could have been offended
at the simple honesty Of Ralph,s
words. and the boyish twist to
his phrases was pathetic enough
to hurt me even though pathos
and hurt for me were the. last
things sturdy Ralph intended.
It isn't fair" began.
ut isn't fair for two busy folks
to sit here gossiping all day"
Ralph jerlxed out CURLY. "I'ye
got to get onto my job and
you've got to get to yours. But
don't let anything discourage YOU
about the big job we're on to-
gether. So long, Anne. =
. And he fairly catapulted out Of
the office. It took q great deal of
effort for me TO get to work.
And no sooner had I accom-.
plished the sort OF concentration
work demands than The Searcher
for Lost Persons came unex.
pectediy and amazingly to pay me
a visit. He had never been inside
my office before, ana ii aston.
ished me to have him shuttle in
with a hint Of the dustiness and
dinginess that are part Of his
office. Without preliminary he
broke out:
''Lacy's been to my place to re.
port. And I've come straight
here to tell You that nm
through"
"Through?a gasped.
''Finishcd." he replied. 81 re-
sign. I'm quitting the Hyland
CASE
''But you can't do that-you
don't want to do that" I pro-
tested.
Don't I? I tellry Mrs. Har-
rison, I'm off the case. don't
recollect ever having to quit like
this before. But want you to
pay me what you owe me and get
another detective-if you can hire
one.'
what do you mean?" I pro-
tested, all at sea.
''I mean the men won't work on
it. I mean they've been getting
restless for a long time. And
now comes Lacy's broken arm
which might have been a knife
between the shoulder blades and
maybe next time, for all we
Know"
"Oh, you don't mean that
~ sure do. There's something
fIshy about the Hyland case. So
you can just count me and my
men OUT
There was a swish Of paper. A
bill was pumped down on the
desk before me. sat staring at
It In despair II felt defeated.
And in that moment reached
out mechanically for the tele-
phone and called Ralph Lacy.
When the Searcher for Lost
Persons resigned from conducting
the hunt for Neal and raced out
Of my office, acted mechanically.
In my panic-stricken and desper-
ate state I had only one thought.
1t was to get help. And I teIe-
phoned Ralph Lacy's office.
Ralph was In. He responded to
the tenseness I couldn't have kept
out Of my voice II I'd tried. He
seemed to sense my desperation
and the need Of help born Of 1t.
and he came right up to my
office.
There's something fishy about
Hennaberry's explanation" said
Ralph. Detectives are trained
to run afoul Of gangs. Their Job
isn't child's play. They deal
with moonshiners In the noun
tains and with gansters in the
cities. They bump into the Black
Hand and various other desper-
ate groups. Why should they shy
at this one?"
You don't think Hennaberry
was telling the TRUTH" I gasped
desperately 1.-THE miserable little
deserterv'
''4ennaberry's as honest as
they come" Ralph answered In
g. tone which Gained me some
what. HE is acting like a de-
serter-but L know he can't be
got at. Still that doesn't prove
he couldn't be bought off,"
Then you see q Tar reaching
plot In keeping Neal away7" I
demanded.
II wouldn't say that" Ralph
answered slowly and thought
fully. but the case has a lot of
interesting angles. It has had
from the first. Let's see. How
much did Neal have with him
when he faded out Of the pic
ture?''
Ie Be Continued Mondayl