New Britain herald., 1924-10-24
threshold of dlscopery.n

l tNil= WHtEe II VIII led0 yOut sne SalQ and then afttr pause she went on: Next Thursday. If the same thing happened again next Thursday. Friday might find another man missing
 '0r floating in the river."I said.
 That would depend on the foreman" she returned quickly, with which cryptic remark she left me and went to bed. M.@ s.t
 She had tiny room on the ground floor, mine was upstairs. but not over hers. AS rule my unaccustomed labor sent me early between the sheets and made me sleep soundly; tonight l was very wide awake. I drew the one chair which the room contained to the window and sat down to think. It was a fairly concentrated effort i'm agine, because l was not at first con- scious of the sound which reused me I stuck my head out of the window cautiously. Mrs. Wheeler was getting over the sill of her window heavily and ] ungracefully, but with an agility re- markahle in a woman of her age. She went cautiously across the little garden at the back Of the cottage, and through q break in the fence into the field be- Tond. Ii did not take me moment to make up my mind. Trusting that Mrs Worral was too fast asleep to be dis turbed, went down the stairs and left by the door l was determined 10 see where Mrs. Whecler's night prowl took her,
 l She kept under the hedge of two or
 hree fields making in the direction of | the factory. Arriving there, she passed around to the river side and cautiously inspected windows and doors. She wa particularly interested In the spot where Finley's body had been found. and seemed 10 pace out distances be- tween this spot and points in the fac tory wall. Then she seated herself on the bank and stared into the water. | Had any of the hands seen her they well might have thought that the ghost walked tonight. Evidently Mrs. Wheeler was not suspicious.
 followed her back to the cottage and next evening heard from Mrs Worral that she had gone off to some work at distance which would keep 1 her away for a day or two. She did not return until the, Wednesday night and I must confess that I had missed her. I wanted someone to talk to- safety valve as 1t were, because had determined to try an experiment. Her cryptic remark that it would depend on the foreman whether a man were found missing or floating in the river. should the same event happen which had occurred in Hardy's case, had set my mind running in a groove. The weasel-faced man who had interviewed me when l applied for the job was at present foreman of the packing depart ment. He had apparently given me a good character when Moss had ques- toned him about me. and in spite of inclined to be iovial and friendly with those under him. Possibly he was car rying out the firms instructions in or der to prevent other workpeople leav- ing.
 Have you discovered what happened in the packing department the day my Jim disappeared Mrs. Wheeler asked me on the Wednesday night. nodded.
 T thought ycu would"
 And it is going to happen again this Thursday" I said
 Adventurous young fellow. ain't you? Well, if I was your age, and man. I should be like that myself. Maybe you'll want all your wits about you when you've done it, and"
 And a shooting iron in my pocket, eh?"
 Lord, is that the kind of young fel- low you are? Not working with Raw son, are you?"
 ''No. It is an idea of my own"
 "Brainy," she remarked.
 I watched to see if she slipped out of her window that night. but she didn't and while watched I wondered much. Whatever villainy there was she might be the center of it.
 About noon next day small barge coming down the river managed to get wedged between some piles on the fac tory side of the stream, and nothing but tug would get her free. One man went off to get a tug, the other sat on the barge and waited. He had spent a good deal of bad language on the mis- hap, and appeared to have exhausted all his energy. My work took me con- stantly by a window from which I could gee him. and he never moved as far as could see.
 A large part of our goods left the factory by river, but the stranded barge did not interfere with the work, although Moss seemed annoyed at the accident. He went out to look at it more than once. and fussed about the factory all the afternoon. He seemed to get on Rawson's nerves. who had turned up during the morning. They were both in the packing department when I let bottle of pickles fall, Ii smashed well with a lot of noise, and the contents spread out in an un- slightly mess.
 Moss whipped around as if he had | been shot.
 What the devil-'
 Sorry, sir and put down the tray | of other bottles with the intention of | clearing the stuff up,
 Leave 1t alone" he said. and knock off your work"
 Rawson went to the tray of bottles which had put on the floor lifted it up, and put it on a bench.
 Accidents will happen?" he said.
 Moss called the weasel-face fore man.
 Put this mar on to some job where he can't do any harm. We've got no use for his sort Let him come in 10 me at the end of the day and I'll pay him of"