Evening star., 1927-04-01
The Gray Phantom's Romance
Asfonishing Adcenfares Of an Unusual Hero.
Copyright smith

! ing pinto's recovery. lie had an un'
savory record, according to the police,
| and was known in the underworld as
/ Dan the Dope
The Phantom was satisfied. From
/ Dan the Dope he had nothing To fear,
and Pinto, even il he were inclined to
! tell what he knew. would not be able
ito speak for some time. He was pass.
ably safe SO far as the police were con-
cerned, and a little extra caution and
vigilance would checkmate the designs
of the Dukes henchmen. So far as
he was able to tell, neither side sus-
pected that the Gray Phantom was
masquerading as Thomas Granger.
| He had still more than an hour to
while away, and hazy thought in the
back of his mind guided his steps in
the direction of Dr. Bimble's house.
Everything seemed to indicate that
| Helen had disappeared shortly after
leaving the anthropologist' laboratory
and he might be able to pick up some
clue in the neighborhood that would
| help him to trace her movements. He
| looked about him cautiously as he
walked along, surmising that the vi
cinity was being watched by spies of
the Duke.
At the corner nearest the Bimble
residence he turned into a cigar store
and purchased package of cigarettes.
| He loitered near the door while smok-
ing one, amusing himself by studying
the faces of the passers-by, and pres
emily a tall. angular figure approached
from the other end of the block. AT a
glimpse the Phantom had recognized
the inscrutable features of Jerome, the
anthropologist's servant. The man
walked hurriedly. looking straight
ahead, and in a few moments he was
out of sight.
A vagrant impulse told the Phan-
tom to start in pursuit of him and see
whittier he was bound, but he realized
that he had no reason for doing So
He had sensed something mysterious
about BimbleA, and his servant, but his
interest in them was little more than
an idle curiosity. II he had any sus-
picions at all, they were of the intangi-
BILE and intuitive sort and afforded him
no basis for action.
After a few minutes another figure
appeared down the block, and the
Phantom pressed close to the wall at
his back. Even at distance he rec.
ognized the enormous head the jutting
stomach and the absurdly thin legs of
DR.. Bimble. With a beatific smile
on his face, and looking neither to
right nor left, the anthropologist
walked past him. evidently bound in
the same direction as his servant.
Again the Phantom felt an instinc-
tive urge to follow. 1t struck him as
rather queer that master and servant
had not gone out together. but then he
told himself that the circumstance
was probably meaningless and that his
imagination was magnifying trifies.
He crossed to the opposite side Of the
street and turned east, scanning the
dark front of the Bimbie house as he
strolled along.
Coming directly opposite the resi-
dence. he paused in the doorway Of a
delicatessen store and looked across
the street, scrutinizing the gloomy and
unprepossessing dwelling with an in
terest for which he could not account
It seemed strange that DIR. Bimbie
should have chosen such an unattract-
i've location, but he remembered that
the scientist had said something about
wishing to live in an out-of-the-way
place where he could be safe against
intrusions on his privacy and where
he could conduct his researches in
peace and quiet.
The house, fianked by a lodging
house on one side and on the other by
a fhree-story structure of residential
appearance, whose boarded-up win
lows and doors limited that it had
stood vacant for some time. was dark
from attic to, basement. Presumably
DIR. Bimbie ana his man were out for
the evening. The house and it's
neighbors en- each side held the Phan.
TOMS gaze with a persistence that he
could not understand He sensed an