Evening star., 1927-03-20

| DIR. Bimbie's Laboratory.
| ~HE was the last person the Gray
Phantom had expected to see at
| that moment, and this was the
IL last place where he would have
dreamed of finding her. He
stared into her face until the flame
| of the match bit his fingers.
| "You." He dropped the stub and
trampled it under his foot. She stood
rigid in the shadows, and the wan
| CLINT of the pistol barrel told that she
| was still pointing the weapon at him.
| Her breath came fast, with little sob
| like gasps. as if she were trying to
stife n violent emotion.
! How did you get here?" she de-
manded, her voice scarcely above q
whisper.
by tight squeeze he said, light
| ". II must be sight"
| tYou came through the-tunnel?'
| "I did as matter Of fact, though
| I don't see how you guessed it.
Staring at her through the dusk,
| the Phantom was conscious that his
statement had exe~ted a profound eff
| feet upon her. She drew a long
breath. and her figure, scarcely dis
tinguishable In the gloom, seemed to
| shrink away from him.
"Oh" she exclaimed an odd throb
| in her voice. Then you did it?''
did WHAT"
Murdered Sylvanus Gage"
The Phantom shook his head. You
deduce | am a murderer from the fact
| that / got here through a tunnel
Wen, that may be very good feminine
logic, but"
"It is excellent logic, my rflehd'
INTERRUPTED a voice somewhere IN the
nI in the moment
| there came a click, and a bright elec-
| trio light flooded the scene. me
! phantom had brief glimpse OF a
| ludicrous little man with an overslzed
| head. a round protuberance or stoin-
| ach. and short, thin legs ncased IN
| tightly fitting trousers; then he turned
| TO Helen Hardwick and gazed intentiy
into her large, misty-bright eyes
"Oh, they're brown, ! see, he muir
| INJURED. II had a notion they were
either blue or gray. Queer how one
| forgets.'
The girl looked as though utterly
unable TO understand his levity, for
as such she evidently construed ms
remark. The thin-legged man stepped
away from the door through which
he had entered and approached them
slowly. giving the Phantom gravely
appraising look over the rims or ms
glasses. The Phantom had eyes only
| for Helen Hardwick. He studied her
closely, almost reverentially' noticing
| that her eyes, which upon his en-
| trance had been steady and cool, We're
| now strangely agitated, radiating a
! dread that seemed to dominate her en-
| tire being. The hand that clutched
| the pistol trembled trifie, ana there
| were signs of an extreme tension in
| the poise Of the strong. slender figure,
| in the quivering nostrils and in the
palor that suffused the smooth oval
| of her face.
"Remarkablet' murmured the spec
| tacled individual, drawing few steps
| closer to obtain a clearer view OF the
| Phantom. "The young lady and my
| self are covering you with our pis-
tolls, and yet you exhibit no fear
whatever. Most remarkable. May /
/ feel your pulse, sir?"
| The Phantom S lip twitched at the
| corners as he. looked at the speaker.
! The latter's automatic, pointed at a
| somewhat indefinite part of the Phan+
| TOMS body, seemed ludicrously large
| in contrast with the slight stature of
| the man himself
| sMy name, sir" declared the little
| man with an air of vast Importance,
| sis DR.. Tyson Bimble. You may
| nave nGdId III IiiE+ nt&NC WI iINSti
| several treatises on the subject of
| criminal anthropology, and my pro-
| fessional services have occasionally
| been enlisted by the police. Not that
such work interests me-" he added
quickly. 1.-THE solution of crime mys-
| teries and the capture of criminals
| are the pastime Of inferior minds.
| AS a man of science, I am interested
solely in the criminal himself, his
mental and physical characteristics
and the congenial traits that distin-
| guish him. Again ] ask you if / may
| feel your pulse
| Smiling, the Phantom extended his
hand Admonishing Miss Hardwick to
| keep a steady aim, DIR. Bimble pock-
eted his own weapon and took out his
watch.
perfectly normal" he declared
when the examination was finished.
"At first I thought that at least a
! part of your superb GOODNESS was sim
| ulated. It is all the more remarkable
in view of the fact that at this very
moment you are surrounded on all
| sides by the police. They have thrown
a Gordon around the block and
every house is being Systematically
searched"
/ The Phantom stiffened. His abrupt
and unexpected meeting with Helen
Hardwick had momentarily blunted
his sense of caution, causing him to
forget that he was still in imminent
danger. He threw her quick glance
noticing a look of alarm in her face
He made a rapid appraisal of the sit
uation. His flight through the tunnel
could not have taken him more than
12 or Is yards from the rear of the
Gage establishment, and he was al.
most certain that the passage had ex.
tended in a straight southerly direc-
tion. Consequently the place in
which he now found himself must
be one of the shedlilxe structures he
had seen from the window of Cages
bedroom.
His eyes opened wide as he looked
around. Whatever the place might
look like from the outside, the interior
| nEnXyHNrG Srrrnx1 u