The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

â€"_____ C y Edison Marshall " Ztsain: 4 mmen‘, S CR t i+ aee EOm UE en C nttt mlne T sed nhenevnitnte ‘eetie ewhite stone " "Not destroved it Merery gath: Robin turns out to be Alexnnder: "You‘re a funny one, Pierce," he Pierce, the detective. spoke jokinglyâ€"and at the same time Alexander Pierce and Inspector| meant every word he said. "In the Freeman discuss the crime, Dr. Long ) first place, coming with all that stage feels that his visit at Southley Downs J scenery on yourself. It takes one of is coming to an end, and regrets leavâ€"| you correspondence school detectives ing the habitat of the girl for whom|to do stunts like that. I suppose you he feels he has a hopeless love. ‘ thought that the murderer would retâ€" NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY ognize your determined face from mattems your picture in the newspapersâ€"and "But it seems you trusted every| make himself scarce before you could one else." I glanced toward Southley| get out the handcuffs." "But it seems you trusted every one else." I glanced toward Southley and his daughter. "Naturylly Mr. Southley knew it. 1 came at his invitationâ€"and your own, af course, too, Long. Miss South~ Iy learnedâ€"the sruth just this evening, und I consider it a distinet reflection on the ability of her father and myself to judge character that we waited so long in making her an ally. But I will sayâ€"its more her father‘s fault than mine. "You must remember that my acâ€" quaintance with my daughter was somewhat slight." Southley explained. "She has been away to school so muchâ€"only here a few weeks. B sidesâ€"she did know a few thing I‘m sorry I didn‘t te!l her more." Father â€" and â€" daughter â€" exchange smiles. _ Josephine | herself | seemed changed. It was curiou: that I had not noticod it the moment 1 stepped inte the room. There was a new light in her eyes. a rising of the delicious color that played ever in her checks. Again l saw the smile that 1 had marâ€" veled at that night in the drawingâ€" room long ago. Evidently there had leen developments in the mystery of which I was not aware. Alexander and I walked together inâ€" to the drawingâ€"room, and we had a minute‘s talk at the foot of the stairs. "I‘m going to my room now," he explained. "It‘s a maid‘s room on the third floor, but it fitt my purpose perfectly. 1 have a few chemical exâ€" periments to make." "Of course it was you who destroyâ€" "Remember, we will need your son too," Aléxander told my host. "Not destroyed it Merery ‘gathâ€" ered it up. I wanted to make some blood tests. And it pained me to cause you and the inspector so much disapâ€" pointment." "I imagined it would!" ‘Then we had a little laugh together. It was all to plain that a deep proâ€" fessional jealousy existed between such freeâ€"lance experts as Alexander and staff detectives like Inspector Freeman. â€" "But why in the world did you tear that piece from Ahmad‘s shirt?" I asked. â€" _ Alexander laughed againâ€"a boyish, joyous sound that died quickly in the silence of the room. "I‘m afraid that is evidence of my quixotic nature," he said. "But I had to have a sample of the bloodâ€" stains; and I knew it would break Freeman‘s heart if I took the whole shirt. So I just tore out the price." He sobered and became very busiâ€" nesslike. That was one of the marâ€" vels of the man. One minute he was the best of comradesâ€"boyish, laughâ€" ing irresponsible. The next, he was the coolâ€"headed, tireless sleuth with every nerve and muscle alert. "There‘s work for toâ€"morrow," he went on swiftly. "You‘ll have your part to do. So will Southley have his part, and his two children. Toâ€"morâ€" row I‘m going to take the boat on a a little expedition over to the plaâ€" teau. You are to meet me on the path at my returnâ€"just after nightâ€" fall. You can have the inspector with you if you like. Southley and his daughter will be close about, and they will know their parts. The hour to strike is almost here." "And Vilas? What about him? And Ahmad*" And it was piain to see that Freeman "Ahmad is the suspected murderer. I‘m afraid Vilas won‘t do." "But Josephine Southley would think otherwise," I told him with some bitterness. _ "You must knowâ€"that they are allies. You couldn‘t have missed that point." "She‘s going to marry himâ€"that‘s what I mean. And she‘s bitterly against me. Thinking that her lover might be accused of the murder of his father, she told the detective things that implicated me and got him to hold me here." He turned and started up the stairs. "Sometimes, Dr. Long." he told me slowly, "your mental grasp is quite ustomishing â€" for its perfect and ubounding aptitude to make a fool of yourself." And he left me to ponder in the hall below. Inspector Freemanâ€"who had learnâ€" ed the truth at lastâ€"and 1 walked eleven o‘clock the next morning. The rowboat waited for my friend, and in e ie oo en t m ie e Sm d en e o . ing,| rifie. "It wasn‘t the murderer I was! was. It was a pistol. ion" 5o frightened of. ~In theâ€"first_place. |___"What‘s _ this*"~Alexander â€"asked. self |I didn‘t want you to leave the scene! _ "Vilas‘s pistol," Southfey~reptied i so in disgust, as you might have done . "You told me to get it." it 1 upon recognizing me. You were doâ€" ‘How did you do it without arousâ€" ault ing too good work." ing suspicion?" d pos t " i 5 . ies {admiration for your qualities, but I |assure you you are making the misâ€" i take of your career." "Every one has to make mistakes sometimes, inspector," Alexander reâ€" turned quietly. "Besidesâ€"I don‘t supâ€" ‘pose you remember about the breakâ€" ing of the ]cvee~how the murderer would have time to cross the isthmus to the plateau, but couldn‘t possibly go farther?" "Rather a different reason, my dear | inspector," Alexander answered him as be began to slip the great c:rt-g ri‘_ga-i_nto the magazine o{ She heavy | "You needn‘t have been afraid of that. The man was already in my hands. And I‘m glad you appreciate the work I have done." "Porfectly, Freeman, perfectly. . It was~ partcularly clever the way you found the shirt." "Of course,. 1 wondered what you and my good friend Long were going "Iâ€"suppose you know that the shirt is going to put the noose about Ahâ€" mad‘s neck?" "Ore can never tell, inspector." "It= a piece of evidence that cannot be ugestionedâ€"although 1 admit the final tesis as to the authenticity of the stains has not yet been made." And beside, Freemanâ€"there are other reasons why I thought it best that certain occupants of this house didn‘t recognize me," Alexander went on seriously. "It would help out in the end. 1 confess I don‘t care for diâ€"guises as a rule. And now I must bid you good day, and go search yonâ€" der jungle for the murderer of Hayâ€" â€" "I remember that perfectly. But the real murderer didn‘t try to cross at all. He came back into the house." "Then there‘s the matter of the scratchesâ€"and the legend, and the[ rest to fit. None of these things must | be overlooked, Freeman. And I‘ll meet | you both soon after dark." | We watched the negroes row away across the dark swamp water. He was gone ail afternoon. Once it seemed to me that 1 heard the farâ€" off echo of two rifie shots, but I couldn‘t be sure. Freeman continued his investigations. Vilas walked about on the green hillside like a hunted man. The long afternoon waxed hot, the shadows lengthened, the sun cast its glamor over all the waste of the white mist, and the stars began to crop out of the sky. The night life of the marsh awakenedâ€"insect and wind and bird had their chorus. I don‘t know where my thoughts were that long afternoon. I tried to read for a while. It wasn‘t a success. I knew that my stay at Southley Downs, so often threatened, was at its end at last. Tomorrow we would all cross the marsh to testify at the coroner‘s inquest; and I would never return to Southley Downs again. The mystery and the charm would go out of my life to stay, as the swampâ€" water glided beneath the boat. It was after nine when I saw the flash of a lantern gcross the water. Thin clouds were in the sky, and the moon had not yet risen. Then whole wilderness world was bletted out by the shadow, and the soft light over the water brought a queer flood of thoughts. I welcomed its apâ€" proach. At the moment is seemed the only reminder that life still existed about this great, bleak estate of the Southleys. Without it, it might have scemed a reaim of death, where huâ€" van beings never came. And besides, the great Alexander Pierce was reâ€" turning from his expedition. and I did not know but that this gleam across the wastes was the breaking of ‘he light of truth in the darkness. The boat drew up to the shore, and the colored man got out to make it fast. The lantern light was dim, and 1 coukt not see piainly. ltn!-di me that something was huddled in bottom of the boatâ€"something rather 1 heard a step behind me. It was Inspector Freeman. "I see he‘s coming just at the time he promised," he said with a note of (Continued next week) as after nine when I s cAer _ * . h C We rstK .. n uy _ Aoe c ,fi ® in for vour qualities, but 1 "Good. Then vou‘ll come with me ** largeâ€"but 1 couldn‘t see what it was because a rubber tarpaulin had been thrown over it. But I did see Alexâ€" ander‘s face. He held the lantern up to look at us, and it showed his featâ€" ures plainly. He seemed curiously intent. We walked up the path, and three shadows made black streaks across the light that the lantern threw. They were of the three Southleys, who had come out of the house to meet us. They also seemed grave, determined. Something gleamed in the old man‘s hand. As Alexander held the lantern high, 1 saw what it And just as the shadows fell a | hand touched mine. It was a warm | hand, and soft, and the fingers rested | a single fluttering instant in my palm. | It was a little hand, too; and I had in ,a single instant of neverâ€"toâ€"beâ€"forâ€" gotten knowledge of its power to | soothe and hold, and a tenderness beâ€" | yond all reckoning. And 1 knew | whose hand it was. { _ "Maybe you can understand after | this," she whispered. â€" "Perhaps you lwnn‘t condemn me so." the old man‘s hand. As Alexander| The lighting effect was one in which held the lantern high, 1 saw what it a great artist would have rejoiced. was. It was a pistol. It was yellow and dim, of course; and __"What‘s this*"~Alerander â€"asked. nerhaps it had a uqgality _of unre = "Vilas‘s pistol,"" Southfey~reptredâ€"Fhe â€"atmosphereâ€"â€"of _candles at any "You told me to get it." ‘time is distifetly medieval. Then ‘How did you do it without arousâ€"| there was the gradation of shadows =| ing suspicion?" du<ky close to the fireplace, but shadâ€" "Took it from the drawer in the ing off to a deep, intense black. The library table. He keeps it there in light from the two candles met at the the daytime. Usually carries it at|very extremities, leaving a dusky path night. Ernest and I left him with the between. Vilas‘s head and shoulders excuse that we had to talk to some cast a distinct shadow on the wall, of the culored laborers at their cotâ€" blurred, however, by the effect of a tiges. Josephine just slipped away." candle across the room. The shadow Alcxander turned to Ernest. "How gliding and dusky and dim against the about the candles?" curtains of the windows. "Two burning in the library. Al tContinued next week) Alcxander turned to Ernest. "How about the candles?" "Two burning in the library. All the others have teen misplaced. aâ€" you directed." "And the servants2" "No one in the bouse but Abmad." He lifted the lantern and turned down the wick. Then he blew out the flame. Of course I understood. In our present position at the base of the hill, it would not be visible from the windows of the house. It would be visible as we approached the house. "Good. Then you‘ll come with And nowâ€"out goes the light." Then like & squad deploying in batâ€" tle, we started climbing up the slope of the hill. that at first I didn‘t see him at all. He kept at the very edge of the canâ€" We goon left the others in the darkâ€" ness. Alexander and I crept to the postern door. â€" â€" e "One sound will spoil the play," he whispered to me in the instant that we waited at its threshold. "Keep your ears and eyes open." Then we crept through into the little hall. The door into the library was open, but scarcely any light came through. So deep was the shadow that Alexander was at once invisible. We lay down on the opposite sides of the hall, so that we could look through into the library. But we left the passage open, as Alexander had instructed. The reason was simply that he thought the man we had come to watch might want to make an esâ€" through the doorway I felt sure that no such attempt would be made. The darkness of the hiliside where Hayâ€" The library at Southley Downs was tremendously long. It had rows of windows at one end. and the other opened into the hall. The tapestries and furnishings were rather dark, afâ€" ter the manner of Victorian libraries. At one side was built the great fireâ€"| »lace. now cheerless and cold. Thore were rather many curtains that why ered when the wind blew. The wind was blowing now. We could feel it, damp and strange from . the marsh would have spoiled the plan for him to see us on the way out. Lying close to the walls, it was likely he would room itself. were ‘no other occupants in the room to ignore his presence. It was Abmad mind, seem more terrible than the THE RIGHLAND PARBK PRESS, HIGHLAND PARK, HiiNoi Th When I say that Vilas Hayward ne in the house but Abmad." inspector â€" suddenly | gasped. ;;”" â€"__!|clared it has ruined their business‘ d mmpd} Actual data shows that the water w out lhexh“ risen 30 inches in the last ten tood. In days. This means that many piers ase of the| cannot be used by the resort owners from the!"" private homes which have them would be| built so they stood just above the Ditvew water in normal conditions. "}; A trip into the lake region shows 7. | that most of the piers are buried far to | beneath the water, that the water has ‘crept up into places along the shore in! where ordinarily there is large parkâ€" â€"â€" raaiiprplace. and.the resort owner have tively visible in dim light. That is why soldiers going on to No Man‘s Land at night darkened their faces with lampâ€"black. But Ahmad‘s face was naturally dark, and it blurred in our sight. Sometimes I saw the whites of his eyes when the candlelight shone on them. Vilas Hayward was not trying to read; and the fact that the light was too dim for easy reading had nothing really to do with it He was watching Abmad Das out of the corner of his eyes. WATER IN LAKE REGION HIGHEST IN MANY YEARS It has been manyâ€"years since the wuter has been so high in the hkt‘i fegion as it is at the present limr‘ and in fact the resort operators have been seriously hit by the high water which in some cases bas reached the point of about 32 to 36 inches above normal. Continued delay in the fight against mosquitoes in the north shore mosâ€" quito abatement district has been caused by the surplus of moisture during the last few weeks. The water had receded somewhat in the Skokie district the early part of the week, but the workers were still unable to get in where the water was above their waists. HIGH WATER DELAYS MOSQUITO ABATEMENT Blasting work for the new ditch now being dug by the Sanitary disâ€" trict will be resumed as soon as the high water recedes enough to make the work possible. When the ditch is completed it will be possible for more of the surplus water to be carried off in times of excessive rainfall. Mosquitoes are very thick in the Skokie district, according to informaâ€" tion from Mosquito Abatement headâ€" quarters. They breed not only in the marshes, but in pools of water on priâ€" vate lawns and on improved property where it is impossible to get rid of them by the use of oi], which destroys grass and plant life. A number who taught in the county but who are scattered throughout the United States also received their anâ€" nual checks but the money does not show as credited to Lake county, Mr. Simpson explained. Of those contributing to the penâ€" sion fund during the year 449 paid in in Class 1 at the rate of $5 each, 83 in Class 2 at $10 each, and 76 in Class 3 at $30 each. As retirement nears, he explained, the rate of payment to the sfate is inâ€" creased in proportion. The eight under pensions and reâ€" ceiving $400 annually are: Annie Hallowell, and Lucy Burke, Waukeâ€" gan Neilie Courtney, Barrington; Estella Grace, Wauconda; Emily Ketâ€" tell, Zion; Cora White, Grayslake; Annie McCreadie, Millburn; and F. O. Hartieb, Gurnee. LAKE COUNTY TEACHERS PENSION FUND TOTALS Annual report of T. A. Simpson, county superintendent of schools, to the state showed that Lake county teachers paid $5,327 to the pension fund in the past year and that eight teachers new retired drew $3,200. Amounts Paid in During Year And‘ These Receiving A white face is always comparaâ€" 733 GLENCOE AVENUE Telephone Highiand Purk 2637 LAMBERT 3 SERVICE STAFTION Waukegan Road, Deerficld Shell Gas Try a filling of Hyvis and after 1000 miles driving without draining, the oil level to be maintained at the ~ proper level, if it does not prove superior to any oil you have used, your mongy will be cheerfully refunded. JOHN ZENGELER FOLDING CHAIRSâ€" .____________ CHAIR COVERS FOLDBING CARD TABLES AND COYRRSâ€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"& _ BANQUET TABLES _ CATCOREX‘S TaABtP3â€" ANBDâ€"CHAIRS.. as _ _ Funeral Director 27 North Sheridan Road Telephone H. P. 299 ‘ MURPHY & SCHWALL HNEATING CONTRACTORS Hot Water, Vapor, High or Low Pressure Steam Estimates on New and Remodcling Work â€" Repair Work a Specialty Delivered and called for â€" Rates are reasonable For Rent for Parties and Gatherings When HyViS you buy the I!-ng,l:‘hmly possible to proâ€" HyViS is superâ€"refined from pure It We Operate Our Own Plant in ELM PLACE SERVICE STATION Elm Place and First Street YICTORY SERVICE STATION First Street and Laure} Avenue ‘Telephone Highland Park 2801 Cleaner and Dyer 25 North Sheridan Read H. M. PRIOR CO. PURNELL & WILSON y (body) unâ€"