Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1925-07-03
Copyright by r. P. Dutton g Coz


I dence already in his hands with the
vague hope that from 1t conclusion
would suddenly stand forth, just as
one again looks through pile of pa
pers for the twentieth time for one
paper that the senses have proclaimed
repeatedly Is not there.
AS on other occasions when he
weighed the facts he was not disposed
to give weight to the idea that any
secret band, acting perhaps under oath
of vengeance or of loyalty, was exer-
cising an influence upon the life of
Brena Selcoss. Her fathers connec-
ton with the secret society revolution
aries in Greece and the political plot
| tings of her maternal grandfather, the
| famous Tom Vaughn, might have ap-
| peared to give some color to the idea
| but Peter knew that the arm of Sc
cret band, no matter how long it might
| be at its full development, no matter
how 1t might deliver knife thrusts at
| the ends of the earth on behalf of a
cause, withers quickly when it's inspi-
ration is gone. 1t was not likely that
after lapse of more than half cen
fury the power Of such an arm would
survive nor that it would extend far
away and across the years either to
| protect or blast the life of girl, who,
whatever she had since become in her
wonderful development, was, at first,
humble and forgotten and alone.
To be sure, Peter thought the last
words Of her father had made refer
ence to an unnamed assurance that if
Brena were to be menaced, protect
ing force would aid her. These, how
ever, were the words of an impractical
dreamer who having failed to provide
against all dangers to his orphaned
daughter might naturally enough, when
facing death, have voiced a vehement
faith, hoping that 1t would help to
make no in part for a lack of works.
Peter put this evidence behind him as
belonging to that class Of improbable
ties that only those who love to make
more mystery rather than to lessen 1t,
seize with all the joy of the amateur
secret service men who had amused
Peter so much during the war.
The vital facts as Peter saw them
were to be found among those which
attended the disappearance Of men
men of different types who at moments
some years apart had sunk to the bot
tom of nonexistence like two plum
NETS.
One Of these men, Jim Hennepin,
had gone to his end without fear; he
had only shown excitement. He had
limited that some call or message of
great advantage had come to him. + At,
the time he left he had giveR, asppar-
emily without intention 4 scrap of pa
per bearing tbs symbolic figure of the
feathAred snake-the Kuk-ul-can, god
81 the Magyar civilization. According
to Parmalee, who not only had been
much in the desert country but who
was student of it's history and col
lector of books bearing upon its an
tiquities, the appearance Of this sym
Dol suggested the southwestern United
States or Mexico.
When, however, Parmalee himself
had disappeared less than four years
later 1t was at the end of long period
in which he indicated beyond doubt
that he had some knowledge, however
vague, of the danger that threatened
him. Peter had often on his voyage
across the Atlantic, squeezed all the
conclusions possible from the facts
bearing upon whether Parmalee feared
n frran mi yr1f xxyV1
Brena's strange husband at times in
dictated fear Of a known and human
agency; when he had shot at an mag
mary intruder in their New York
apartment he had said, II thought it
was him. a remark that he had after
ward explained by saying he referred
to the burglar that he believed had en-
tered. Parmalee's violent objection to
the exhibition of Brena's portrait with
her name attached might well have
been the objection of man who feared
that some one by chance seeing the
picture and recognizing it would trace
the original by inquiries addressed to
the artist.
What had 1t meant that this extraor
binary man had surrounded his lire
with defenses as If forewarned Of his
fate? He employed only servants he
knew, he built defensive walls, put up
bars at his windows, retained the
chauffeur, Paul. because the man
would be handy with his fists in an
emergency, he bought fanged mon
grel beast to roam about the grounds
at night. He lived in terror which
burned his nerves and chilled his heart,
that drove him jibbering to the bottle
and he indicated more than once that
this was all due to his wife that it
was she who dragged this trail of I'M
known horror
But when he had gone vanished
without trace. he, like Jim Hennepin,
went willingly.
What was the bait? In Hennepin'sS
case 1t had been money. This could
IL. I, Loo