Evening star., 1923-06-24

"Thieves!" piped Mr.. Boggs on the
sidewalk. Thieves and fatheads. the
whole trade. What now?"
"schepstein.'' said the Little Red
Doctor Hes a thief. to. But he
knows"
Schepstein received US in his grub
by. grimy, desolate front room, which
did duty as an Office. with a malev-
olent crossfire from his distorted eyes.
BIT of business?" he repeated after
Mr.. Boggs. What business? State
your business"
For sale" piped Mr.. Boggs. hand
ing him the letter which he had TAX
en- from the envelope.
Hardly a glance did Schepstein give
it. Thomas Jonathan Jackson?
Who's he? And who's this Mai.
Pemberton?'
Mr.. Boggs explained. in indignant
piccolo tones, who Thomas Jonathan
Jackson was. Not about Maj. Penn
berton, however. No authority had
been given to our deputation, to dis
close the ownership of the letter. So
far as we were aware at that time, it
would have meant nothing to Schep-
stein anyway. We had no reason
then. to suppose that he even knew
Madam Tallafferr.
"Humph." grunted Schepstein,
"Stonewal1 Jackson, ehe Might be
worth something. Lessee the en-
velope" ~
He looked it over carefully, front
and back. folded the letter which he
had not even read, and slipped it back
in. Leave it with me overnight
he suggested negligently. I'll think
1t over and make you a price in the
morning"
Think as much as you like" re-
turned Mr.. Boggs, retrieving the
treasure. Well keep this. And we'll
be back at IL tomorrow"
OBSERVE. now. the advantages Of
~ living in a small self-centered
community like Our Square, where
everybody has an intimate (if not
invariably friendly interest in
everybody else's affairs. Inky Mike
had noted with curiosity our visit to
Schepstein. AS q press tender, the
inky one naturally aspires to be a
reporter, but his ideal reporter, being
derived mainly from journalism as
set forth in the movies, is species of
glorified compromise between Sher-
lock Holmes and Horace Greeley in a
rich variety of DISCUSSES. He had no
disguise handy, but he washed his
face and followed Schepstein when
q tff n i,a
mediately after our visit Further,
he listened outside the booth while
the object of his sleuthing phoned a
telegram. AS he reported it in great
excitement to our trio, it was ad-
dressed to a gentleman named Olds,
in Cincinnati, and read to this
esoteric effect
Alexandra local FIVE forty-six per-
feet What price. Answer quick"
Who's Olds?" asked the Little Red
Doctor.
"Olds7 Doncher know olds?" cried
Inky Mike. THE oil king? The
multamillionaire?"
What has this to do with us?" I
asked. 'Tt SCENE to be some oil quo
tation. What does Alexandra local
mean?"
Search met offered the amateur
sleuth. But don-choo fool yourself!
It's your business. awright He snook
out after you went, shakin' all over"
Mr.. Boggs nodded sagacious head
Trust old Sohep!" he f1uted.
"When I've his money In hand; not
before" grunted the Little Red Doc
tor.
When we called at the dingy and
lenely fiat on the following morning.
Schepstein's face was a mask of
smiling craft.
"It's worth possib1y---pos- sIb iy
ffteen dollars as spec" he said.
NO" cheeped Mr. Boggs.
"But the autograph market is look
ing up. I'll take chanst and give
you twenty-five. Cash" he added i'm :
pressively.
mo-" repeated Mr.. Boggs.
Whats the matter with you2 de-
manded Schepstein with rising trucu-
lence. "D'you wanta sell or don't
cha? what's your price?"
Eighteen hundred and forty-five
dollars and atty cents" said Mr.. BoEgs
J in clsAr. bnainessiik& Sonranos