Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1925-11-21

81 admit IT," he murmured US
TO date they had scored a faint mea-
sure Of suceess-exaggerate my
friends. greatly exaggerated by the ra-
pers. Tonight came the reckoning
which incidentally Is the reason why
am a little late. Tonight"-he leaned
forward impressively-"the leader Of
the gang himself honored me with q
visit. And the leader viii lead ne
| more"
You killed him." said me girl
helping herself to champagne.
Il did" answered the count "And
without the leader l think we can ig.
more the gang"
That's all right az far as It goes"
said the Reverend TheOdoslus In a
slightly Modified tone. But have you
covered all your traces7 In this coun-
try the police get peevish over muir
der"
The count gave a self-satlsfied
smile
mot only that" he remarked. "but
have made II appear as IL he had
killed himself. Listen. my friends.
and ! will give you brief statement
Of the events Of the past few days
suddenly found out that the leader
Of this gang had discovered my head
quarters IN Hoxton / was actually
talking to Latter in my office at tne
time. when / heard outside the call
Of an owl. Now from the informa-
ton had received. that was the raj
lying call OF their gang, and l dashed
into the passage. Sure enough,
standing by the door at the end was
huge man covered from head to
foot In black. Whether It was bravado
that made him give the cry, or wheth.
er II was ruse to enable him to see
me, is immaterlal now AS | say
he is dead. But-and this is the point
1t made me decide that the Office
there, convenient though 1t was, would
have to be given up.
Il was completing the final sorting
out of my papers with my secretary,
when the electric warming disc on my
desk glOwed red. Now, the Office was
empty, and the red light meant that
someone had opened the door outside.
heard nothing. which only made IL
all the more suspicious so between
us we gathered up every important
paper, switched Off all lights and weni
out through the secret door, Then
we waited"
He turned to the clergyman, who
sat motionless save for ceaseless
tapping of his left knee with his hand
AS you know. monsieur" he pro-
ceeded, there Is an opening in that
door through which one can see into
the room. And through that opening
watched developments. After a
while a torch was switched on at the
further door, and 1 heard voices And
then the man holding the torch came
cautiously in. He was turning 1t into
every corner, but finally ne focused
it on my desk. l heard him speak to
one of his companions, who came into
the beam of light and started to pick
the lock. And II was then that
switched on every light, and closed
the other door electrically They were
caught--Caught like rats In tran"
The hunchback paused dramaical-
ly, and drained his champagne. If he
was expecting any laudatory remarks
on the part of his audience he was
disappointed But the Reverend
Theodosus and his little Janet might
have been carved out of marble, save
for that ceaseless tapping BY the man
Of his left knee In fact, had Count
zadowa been less pleased with him
self and less sure of the effect he
was about TO cause he might have had
a premonitlon Of coming danger There
was something almost terrifying in the
big clergyman's immohllty.
Like rats in trap" repeated the
hunchhack gloatlngly. 1.-TWO men /
didn't know, and--weu you know
who the other was. True he had his
mask on by way Of disguise, but I
recognized him at once. That huge
| figure couldn't be mietaken-lt was
the leader Of the Black Gang him
self"
And what did you do. Zadowaf
How did yon dispose of one or all
those men SO that no suspicion is like
ly to rest ON YOU 2"
The hunchback rubbed his hands to
1 gether gieefully.
"By an act which. ] think you viii
agree is very nearly worthy of your
self, monsieur To shoot was lmpos-
sible-becal'se am not sufficiently
expert with a revolver to he sure of
/ killing them No-UofhIns, 81. gy4s,,.,r,
as that They saw me watching them.
/ can see his eyes Hugh said one
Of them to the leader, and / remem-
bered suddenly that in the passage not
far from where / stood were half
dozen bombs What ls It. monsleur?'
lie paused In alarm at the look on
the clergyman's face as lie slowly rose.