Evening star., 1927-04-01

incongruity of some kind, and for a
while he tried In vain to analyze it.
Finally, as he centered his attention on
the building to the west. the one with
the boarded windows and doors, 1t
came to him. 1t seemed strange that
a structure of that kind should be
standing vacant in the midst OF a
housing famine, when even the least
desirable dwellings, commanded ex-
travagant prices.
The Phantom laughed, a little dis
gusted with himself for allowing an
other meaningless trifie to perplex him
AS likely as not the house was vacant
for the simple and sufficient reason
that it had been condemned by the
building commissioner. His gaze wan
dered to the door of thea Bimble resi-
dence, and a disturbing thought caused
the chuckle to die in his throat.
Only the other day Helen HArdwick
had walked out of that door, he re-
membered, and from that moment on
her movements We're veiled behind a
curtain of mystery. Which way had
she turned, what had happened to
her, and where was she now? Had
she been forcibly abducted as she
stepped from the house, or had some
OIle IuEcQ her liitO IL tIdp!
There had been nothing about her
disappearance in the newspaper the
Phantom had just read and he sur
missed that Mr.. Hardwick had used
what influence he had to keep the
matter out of sthe press. The door
across the street still held his gaze;
and Of a sudden, out of the tumble of
his fears and perplexity, came another
haraSSing thought
What if Helen had never walked
out of the door across the wayo What
if she should still be inside the house?
The Phantom's eyes narrowed as
the suspicion came to him. 1t was
groundless, so far as he could see. and
there was no reasoning behind it. 1t
had come out~of nowhere, like a stray
hgment OF the Imagination yet it tor
mented him with an insistence that
he could not shake off.
He walked 10 the end of the block.
then crossed the street and moved up
the side on which the Bimble house
stood. There were a few pedestrians
in the street, and to attempt to force
the main door might prove unsafe.
The basement entrance was dark, and
he was at work on the lock. 1t yielded
in a moment, concealed by the shad-
ows so easily to his deft manipulation
that he could understand how the
providers of whom Bimble had com.
planned had managed to enter the
house.
Pulling the door shut, he took out
his electric flash, determined to settle
his suspicious by making q systematic
search of the house. He proceeded
swiftly but with care, searching every
nook and Granny and occasionally tap
ping the walls and floors to make sure
there were no hollow spaces. He ex-
plored cellar and basement without
finding anything of suggestive nature,
then walked up the same stairway he
had ascended after his first trip
through the tunnel.
He was now in the laboratory,
sweeping floor and walls with the cleo.
trio torch. At first glance Il looked
exactly as 1t had when Helen met him
at the head Of the stairs with a 1eveled
pistol, yet he sensed the long work
bench with it's collections of chemical
apparatus, over the black framed
photographs and x-ray prints, and
then he glanced at the tall cages along
the wall, in which the skeletons stood,
erect and grim as ghostly sentinels.
1t was then that his mind grasped
the difference. On his first visit there
had been at least a dozen skeletons in
the room: now he counted only seven.
The famous Raschenell, to whom Binn-
BILE had pointed with SO much pride,
was among the missing ones. TIe
paused only for moment to. wonder
what had become of the others, for
Bimble and the servant might return
at any time and interrupt his search,
and he wished to be at the Turkish
coffee house not later than half past 10.
He inspected room after room, but
without result, finally mounting to the
attic and making the same thorough
investigation there. He had found
nothing whatever to reward him for
his efforts. He came to the conclusion
that his suspicious had been entirely
unfounded, for IL they had had any
basis iYi fact his investigation would