Evening star., 1927-03-28
The Gray Phantom's Romance
Astonishing Advenfares Of an Unusual Hero.
by Streets
handkerchief and mopped his perspir

handkerchief and mopped his perspir-
ing forehead.
Awful sight--ain't it, Granger?
thought I heard some kind Of racket
| just as l was passing the house.
| tried the doors, and the one at the
| side was unlocked. / thought 1t was
queer. for / had made sure it was
locked when I passed the other time,
| so l ran up the stairs and looked
around. When / came in here and
turned on the light / found that thing
lying there. 1t broke me all up. Fine
scoop for your paper, Granger. if you
grab it before the other reporters dc"
Smiling. the Phantom looked Pinto
sQuarely in the eye.
Your story needs a little dressing
up. It doesn't hang together Maybe
you would have been able to think up
a better one II your nerves hadn't been
on the jump. For one thing, Pinto. no
cop goes into Mysteries at sight of a
dead body unless his conscience is Civ
ing him the iin-jam For another,
you didn't find the body where it is
lying now. Unless l am very much
mistaken, you dragged it out from
behind those packing cases"
He pointed to corner of the room
where several large boxes had been
displaced. The shamed-faced express
sion of man caught in clumsy lie
mingled with the look of dread in
Pinto's countenance.
what you driving at?" he de-
manded with feeble show of buster
The Phantom's mind worked
quickly. In the last 15 minutes his
suspicious in regard to Pinto had be-
come a certainty. The policeman's
conduct left not a shred of doubt as to
his guilt, but the evidence the law
would require was still lacking. Pinto
would soon gather his wits and invent
a more plausible explanation than the
one he had just given, and on an
issue of veracity between the Gray
Phantom and an officer of the law
the latter would have all the advan-
tages. The Phantom, swiftly apprais-
ing the situation, saw that his only
hope lay in subtler tactics. Perhaps
by adroitly working on the policeman's s
evident pusillanimity he could Induce
him to make clean breast of it.
1.-THE games up, Pinto" he said
sternly. You murdered Mrs. Trippe.
just as you murdered Gage. Better
come clean"
A CHASTITY grin wrinkled the patrol
mans face.
Think SO, eh? You newspaper guys
think you're pretty wise, don't you?
Well, what proof have you got?'
For an answer the Phantom decided
on a random thrust. He took pencil
and a sheet of paper from his pocket,
and placing his pistol on a packing
case, roughly sketched a ducal coro-
net. He held the design close to the
patrolman's eyes.
Pinto glanced at the sketch. With
a hoarse cry he shrank back a step,
but in a moment, by an exertion of
will power. he had partly mastered
his emotion. He guffawed loudly.
Looks like a crows nest to me-" he
gibed.
"You recognized it, just the same,
Pinto. Your face told me you did, SO
there's no use denying it. You're
member of the Dukes crew. You had
orders to kill Gage, and you did. 1t
was fairly clever, too. the way YOU
arranged things so suspicion would
fall on-ahem! on the Gray Phantom.
But the housekeeper somehow saw
through you. She was wise to you.
And SO. fearing she might tell what
she knew and send you to the chair,
you killed her. too. Then-"
you've got some imagination, you
have." 5eered the policeman, strug-
Cling hard to maintain a grip ON him.
self.
Then" continued the Phantom
coolly, you carried the body up here
and hid it. Not a very clever move,
but you were scared at the time, and
people do queer things when they are