The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-03-09
CHAPTER XIII
Quite a Collection.

An hour or so later, in the living
room whose terrors had departed,
Miss Cornelia, her niece and Jack
Bailey were gathered before roaring
fire. The local police had come and
gone; the bodies of Courtleigh Flem-
ing and his nephew had been removed
to the mortuary; Beresford had re-
turned to his home, though under
summons as material witness; the
Bat, under heavy guard, had gone off
under charge of the detective. AS
for Doctor Wells, he, too, was under
arrest, and a broken man though, con-
sidering the fact that Courtleigh Flem-
ing had been throughout the prime
mover in the conspiracy, he might
escape with comparatively light
sentence.
Calmly and dispass,Onately Miss
Cornelia worked out the crossword
puzzle of the evening and announced
her results.
at is all clear" she said. "Of
course. the doctor had the blueprint
And the Bat tried to get it from him.
Then when the doctor had stunned
him and locked him in the billiard
room, the Bat still had the key and
unlocked his own handouts. After
that he had only to get out Of win
dow and shut US in here.
And again:
''He had probably trailed the real
detective all the way from town and
attacked him where Mr.. Beresford
found the watch"
Once, too, she hardened back to the
anonymous letters.
"It must have been a blow to the
doctor and Courtleigh Fleming, when
they found me settled in the house I"
She smiled grimly. "And when their
letters failed to dislodge me-"
But 1t was the Bat who held her
interest; his daring assumption of the
detectives identity, his searching of
the house. ostensibly for their safety
but in reality for the treasure, and
that one moment of irresolution when
he did not shoot the doctor at the
top Of the ladder. And thereafter
lost his chance.
It somehow weakened her terrified
admiration for him, but she had moth
ing but acclaim for the escape he had
made from the hidden room itself.
"That took brains" she said. "Cold.
hard brains To dash out of that
room and down the stairs, pull off
his mask and pick up a candle, and
then to come calmly back to the
trunk room again and accuse the doc
tor-that took real ability. But I
dread to think what would have hap
pened when he asked us all to 90 out
and leave. him alone with the real
Anderson
When Lizzie came at last to coax
and scold her into bed. she was sit
ting happily at the table. surrounded
by divers small articles which she
was handling with an almost childlike
zest. A clipping about the Bat from
the evening newspaper: piece of
paper on which was a well-defined
finger-print; revolver and heap of
five shells; a small. very dead bat;
the anonymous warnings, including
the stone in which the last one had
been wrapped; battered and broken
watch, somehow left behind; dried
and broken dinner roll. and the box
of sedative powders brought by Doc
tor Wells.
Lizzie came over to the table and
surveyed her grimly.
you see. Lizzie it's quite collec-
ton. I'm going to take them and"
But Lizzie bent over the table and
picked up the box of powders.
mo, ma'am," she said, with extreme
finality. you are not You are
going to take these and go to bed"
And Miss Cornelia did.
THE end