White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-10-27


caught out. The rooms / want to
break into are unoccupied just now,
and you may be sure I'll leave them
exactly as l find them"
you've given yourself away" said
the manager, with laugh. "There IS
nobody away on the third floor except
ing Mr.. Candy. What have you got
on him, Wally?"
Nothing at all. merely want to
see how he lives when he's at home"
Gall right" Ormsbury agreed, pro-
ducing the coveted passkey. Its
smashing the traditions, as you say,
but I'm banking on your discretion.
Don't you want an authorized witness
along?"
"No; you'd better not come. What
you don't know you can swear you
don't know. If anything develops, I'll
promise you'll be the first to know it.
Won't that answer?"
II guess so-for this one time. But,
for the Lords sake, be careful"
With the pick-lock key in his pos
session Markham made sure there was
no one looking on in the corridor when
he opened the door of Canby's sitting
room and let himself in. The sitting
room, bath, and the adjoining bedroom
were all in order, and it took him but
a few minutes to make a rapid but
thorough search in every nook and
corner large enough to conceal Landis'
black box. He didn't find the box;
he had scarcely hoped to.
1t was when he was shutting the
doors Of the clothes closet wardrobe
in the bedroom that he made a dis
covery. One of the several suits OF
clothes had fallen from its hook, and
when he reached down to prevent 1t
from interfering with the closing OF
the door he found that the bottom
board Of the piece of furniture was
loose.
Laying the fallen suit aside, he lifted
it. Underneath there was an enclosed
space Of few inches In depth. At
the farther end his cropping hand came
in contact with leather bag lying
flat. When he tried to lift it, it was
so heavy that he had to take both
hands.
Taken from it's hiding place and
opened upon the floor, the case con-
tanned nothing to throw light upon
Landis' loss; still, it's contents were
surprising. First, wrapped in
chamois skin, there were two large cal
iber automatics, new, well oiled and
with the magazines filled with cart
ridges. Next came a larger piece Of
leather which served as wrapping
for set Of tools, drills, files, steel
saws, cut-nippers, pliers, bunch Vt
objects that he took to be skeleton
keys, and, lastly short steel bar
drawn to chisel-end at either ex-
tremity and beautifully tempered !;
each piece looking to be as new and
unused as the automatics.
Having. as he believed, plenty Of
time at his disposal, Markham drew
up chair and sat down to consider
his prize thoughtfully. OF course,
there was no doubt as to its nature.
1t was complete kit of burglars
tools, with the guns to back 1t up,
spare kit, as it appeared, since there
was every indication that the tools
had never been used or the guns fired.
What was Candy, figuring as an ener-
getic young promoter intent upon
making Carthage grow, doing with
burglars kit hidden in his wardrobe?
During the four days In which he
had been quietly pursuing his investi-
cations Markham had found the cir
eumstantial evidence, based on clews
revealed the morning following the
robbery, gradually losing Its hold.
Apart from the fact that Betty Law
son had demonstrated, or had seemed
to demonstrate, her innocence Of any
part in the robbery, Markham was re-
luctantly compelled to admit that, up
to the present moment, he had dis
covered nothing upon which to hang an
assumption Of Canby's guilt. More
over, If Betty were innocent, her &C
quittal necessarily cleared the young
promoter, since the two were together
from the close Of the theater perform
ance up to and including the return to
the Lawson house. Yet here was this
burglars kit, cunningly hidden in Can
by's bedroom, to muddy a pool Of his
thoughts.
Deep in maze of dubiety Markham
restrapped the bag and returned 1t to
its hiding place. Clearly, the first
thing to do was to tell Ormsbury Of
his discovery. Possibly the hotel man.
ager might be able to indicate the next
step to be taken. In replacing the bag
he tried to leave everything just as
he found it, rearranging the fallen suit
Of clothes so that 1t might appear as
If it had not been disturbed, and turn
ing the key in the lock of the ward.
robe door.
Five minutes later he was handing
the passkey to Ormsbury and con-
graduating himself upon an exceed
ingly narrow escape. For, as he
h1 nj tNr h. ho1