Evening star., 1923-09-13

| as much of a thief as you are!'
Sherman Mays, head of Mays Detec-
tive Agency, WINGED. He had been serv-
| ing John Stivers for a dozen years or
| more, and he knew only too well the ac-
| curacy of the judge In classifying men
| with whom he came in contact.
Anyhow" the Judge continued, "I've
| been noticing lately that you're begin
ming to use a lot of new-fangled meth
| DDS, and forgetting the good old hustling
you used to do"
Mays baked at this. "why did he
run away. Judge, and where did he run
to?' he asked significantly.
How do / known" Stivers snapped.
That's what came all the way down
here for, to find OUT
ter to his father?" Mays continued.
Don't have to account for 1t. You're
on the wrong track, Sherman. Can't
knock 1t into your head that he's inno-
cent?" The peppery old man spelled out
the word-i-n-n-o-c-e-n-t ''I gave posi-
tive instructions that you're to go on the
assumption that he's not guilty" In
his anger the judge banged the handful
of unopened letters on the desk before
him. half of them shooting off into
Mays lap.
Mays welcomed the opportunity to do
most anything rather than look into
the face of the irate Judge. AS he slow
ly gathered the letters together and
handed them back the judge commenced
way, apparently desiring his words to
sink in before continuing his tirade.
A special delivery letter. addressed in
distinctive feminine hand, caught his
eye.
With more than ordinary attention
he ran the keen blade of a paper knife
the length OF Il and shook out the con-
tents. What he saw changed his en-
tire demeanor, and when he spoke again
even the detective caught the poorly
suppressed excitement the latter had
evidently created.
Now. Sherman. here is something"
he announced. This girl, or woman,
writes from Moapa, Mont: she says
well. here. read 1t yourself"
Mays went carefully over the letter,
Enclosures, and even examined the post
marks on the envelope before he replied:
Well. what do you Think,
That this card will tell who did
the trick, of course"
Don't turn a finger to help him yet
and this, He's in much graver danger
than an ordinary burglar. which he
isn't, would be- Judge, there's some
thing queer about all this
"That's what l think" The Judge
stroked his Van Dyke meditatively.
This signature is young Alden's
writing all right no mistake about
that. He says. Don't help, too;
the letter is written by the woman,
too"
Lets see the name at the bottom
of that letter again, Judge. Thanks"
Sherman studied it long, and care
gan. Moapa-" He repeated the words
slowly Seems right enough. Who's
this she talks about. Garret, Butler
Garret? That's probably a new fix
So they think he's got a record
Well, we can find out about that any
how"
Sherman, I'm going out to the
house-Alden's. Can you get a line
on this record, tonight?"
Certainly. if he's got one. 1 can"
Good. look it over and If it's out
OF the ordinary-no, no matter what
IL is, phone me at Alden's. Phone
me- anyhow, but don't start anything
new and drop whatever you've been
doing. which isn't very much, scarcely
anything, as far as 1 can see," the
Judge added significantly, until we
can talk this over again You have
my number? All right. at the house"
Detective Mays took the tell-tale
playing card. handed back to Judge
Stivers the letter that came with it
and both left the office.
Ought to feel good at getting
little daylight into this thing" the
Judge remarked TO Mays in the cor
rfdor, "but for some reason or other,
I'm beginning to feel worse about 1t.
Hope you find a record, Mays. Get
it as soon as you can, won't you?
Finei Goodbye, till L hear from
you
Judge Stivers found Alden as des-
pondent as he could ever remember
seeing him.. The cards he had
when they parted. were not in evil
dence, and instead Alden sat notion
less, gazing into the CRATE fire, hardly
turning at all to greet the Judge.
But Stivers was becoming accustomed
to these strange spells, and made no
comment, as he drew his chair along
side, and gazed long into the fire be-
fore he spoke. A sudden burst of
flame brok She spell:
Wire feels comfortable these
nights, Peter"
Eyes, John, very comfortable
You're burning eucalyptus logs,
T believe they are, yes. they are
eucalyptus"
"When they blaze that way, Peter,
they throw out perfume don't
"a perfume, yes. Yes. they throw
out a perfume"
But not much heat, when they
blaze"
You're comfortable, though.
"oh, yes, yes. quite. thank you.
don't ring. 1 was just noting how
the logs burned, that is ALL"
"Yes, John, the logs
"I~ was just saying, when they
flame, they. throw out perfume, but
not so much heat"
But all logs are that way, aren't
they, John?"
rYes. the heat is there. though,
but it's when they're reduced to
solid Goals that you feel it most
"I often sit here, John, long after
the flames are gone"
Even the Goals that are covered
with dead gray ashes are hot inside,
aren't they, Peter?"
"Yes, very hot; hardwood always
makes hot logs"
"They must be, Peter, or the new
ones you throw on would never burn,
they could never get started without
them"
The butler approached and threw
some logs on the fire.
Alden shifted in his chair.
You know, John, I've had an idea
lately that you think I'm old. To-
morrow l believe I'm going to take
you out and put you in your proper
place. What do you say to little
golf?"
Maybe I don't think you're getting
old, Peter, but your memory is cer-
tainly getting tired. or something.
Here I came over to beat you at a
game of pinochle."
That's right, John, you're right,
| well, that's one on me. l say" call
ing the butler, 1.-The cards." Then
turning again to the Judge: Well
well settle this card game right off,
| in short order"
Three hours later they were still
playing. The Judge was becoming
nervous. Twice he forgot to draw
cards.
"Jof1n, you'd think that telephone
| was responsible for my walloping
you. Leave 1t alone. The way you
The butler announced a gentleman