Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-08

eating house, and men patrolled the alleys and
harbor-side ceaselessly, there was no sign of
suspicious packages in the possession of any
of the foreign seamen on shore leave. It
was just after midnight and we were sitting
noodily staring at the continuous stream Of
blue clad coolies and Lascars, when burly
Arab came in and sat next to u.s.
'Durand want you quick he muttered. We
rose and left at once, and gained headquarters
building near the cathedral without loss of
time, thanks to my knowledge of short cuts.
Durand was in the fore-court with several
men, busily unloading a small touring car
which was packed with bales tightly wrapped in
tarpaulin.
I'VE are all on the wrong track" he said ex-
citedly. Zone of our revenue cars came on
this one standing in field on the road to La
Ciotat 1t had broken down and several men
were busy carrying some of the bales to taxi.
They ran when they saw our men. We didn't
get any OF. them; but I've opened several of
these bundles. Look!'
Spread out on the ground we saw a mound
Of cakes of raw opium and several heaps of
embroidered silken shawls, kimonos and rolls
of silk
This was put on shore somewhere between
Nice and Toulon,' Durand informed us. But
how and where is a mystery. We had man
on board watching the crew and the passengers
The Toxic never slowed down since leaving
Naples and the Italian police were on board
until she left. Nothing was landed there
This is evidently the consignment LIE Breton
was waiting for, although Ali hasn't budged
from his room all day"
Your men made mistake" Levallois snap
ped angrily. They should have taken no
notice of the car, and then when the men had
carried the stuff to the taxi. they could have
followed it to town. 1t was a chance that
won't come again"
Durand nodded. 81 quite agree, but they
lost their heads. Anyway we've got the num-
Der OF the taxi. Come up now, the chief wants
to talk things over"
The result of our discussion was that
Levallois decided to try to become friendly
with some Of the Chinese who were known to
keep clandestine opium dens. He would go
there as drug addict and agent for drug
peddlers, in the hope Of obtaining information
We accompanied him to the Pearl of the
Orient tavern, after agreeing upon signal
whereby he could summon help Voltaire was
very anxious to go with his friend, but two
strangers would inevitably arouse suspicion.
The idea had to be abandoned.
Now began an anxious time for waiting,
for the risk the little fellow was taking was
very great
The men We were after were known to be
utterly callous, with little regard for human
life Their leaders were evidently reaping a
rich harvest and would certainly not allow any
spy to get away alive.
That night neither voltaire nor obtained
any further sight of Levallois, although we
entered the same tavern some hours later We
supposed, therefore, that he had succeeded in
gaining the confidence of the proprietor and
was now feigning to be stepped in the paradise
OF the slaves of the black smoke
THE next day dragged slowly by, with no
news from our colleague until the hour
at which we were to have met had long gone.
Voltaire was almost frantic with apprehension,
for he loved the queer little man he had met
under strange conditions while investigating
the murder of Daniels At last we could stand
it no longer.
We each slipped heavy revolver into our
pockets and thus prepared strolled down the
Cannebiere toward the harbor. At the Cafe
deS Glaciers We saw Durand and one of his
Arab inspectors. He beckoned to us as we
were about to pass. I explained that we were
going to explore the place where Levallois was
last seen. While we were discussing the best
means for forcing our way into the hidden
cellars where the opium smoking probably
went "A Chinese lad npfor he