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CHAPTER XXVL--(Cont'd.) Mrs. Greene broke forth with im- precations. Her anger became almost insensate, and she was changed into a creature at once repulsive and pitiful. Markham waited calmly for her par- "Take the key," she capitulated bit- terly, "and save me the final infamy of having my house tcrn down by ruf-}i fians. . . . It's in the ivory jewel case in the top drawer of that cabinet." She pointed weakiy to the lacquered highboy. Vance crossed the room and secured the key--a long, old-fashioned instru- ment with a double bit and a filigreed blow. "Have you always kept the key in this jewel-case, Mrs. Greene?" he asked, as he closed the drawer. "For twclve years," she whined "And now, after all that tire, it is to be taken from me by force--and by t-: police-~the very people who should be protecting an old, helpless, para- lytic like me. It's inf_my! But what ean 1 expect? Eve y one takes de- light in torturing me." Markham, his object gained, became contrite, and endeavored to pacify her by explaining the seriousness of the situation. But in this he failed; and 8 few moments later he joined us in the hall. "I don't kke this sort of thing, Vance," he said. "You did remarkably well, how- ever. If I hadn't been with you since lench I'd have believed you really had a search warrant. You are a verit- sble Machiavelli. Te saluoo!™ Vance looked about him cautiously to make sure we were not observed, and led the way t. the Library. "The lock works rather easily, con- sidering its twelve years of desue- PAIN relieved «= instantly Aspizin will dispel any pain. No loubt about that. One tablet will wove it. Swallow it. The pain is jone. Relf=] is as simple as that No harmful aftereffects from As- Mirin. "It never depresses the heart |' ind you need never hesitate to make tse of these tablets. So it Is needless to suffer from head- ach toothache or neuralgia. The pains' of sciatica, lumbago, rheuma- Hsnt Or neuritis can be banished com- pletely in a few moments. Periodical suffering of women can be soothed away; the discomfort of colds can be] avo Aspirin tablets have other import- ant uses--all described by the proven directions in each box. Lodk for that mame Aspirin on the box--every time you buy these tablets--and be safe Dot' accept substitutes. "Aspirin" is a trademark registered in Canada. - - the book cases hung gargoyles and old prints, yellow with age. "We might get the fingerprints" suggested Heath. Vance shook his head. "Not even worth trying. The per- sn we're dealing with knows better than to leave sign manuals." He closed the door softly and threw the bolt. CHAPTER XXVIL Vance looked about in the library. Presently he pointed benezth a huge geographical globe beside the desk. "There ave your go'oshes, Sergeant. I thought they'd be here." Heath almost threw himself upon them, and carried them to the window. "Theyre the ones, all right," he de- ciared. Markham cave Vance one of his an- noyed, calculating stares. "You've got some theory," he as- seried, In an accusing tone. "Nothing more than I've already told you. The finding of the goloshes was wholly incidental. I'm interested in other things--just what, 1 don't know." He stood near the centre-table and let his eyes roam over the objects of the room. Presently his gaze came to rest on a low wicker reading-chair, the right arm of which was shaped into a book-rest. It stood within a few feet of the wall opposite to the fireplace, facing a2 narrow section of bookshelves that was surmounted by a replica of the Capitoline Museum bust of Vespasian. "Most untidy," he murmured. "I'm sure that chair wasn't left in that po- sition twelve years ago." He moved forward, and stood look- ing at it musingly. Instinctively Mark- ham and Heath followed him; -and then they saw the thing that he had been contemplating. On the tablearm of the chair as a deep saucer in which stood the thick stub of a candle. The saucer was almost filled with smoky wax drippings. "It took many candles to fill that dish," commented Vance; "and I doubt i. the departed Tobias Gid his reading by candlelight." He touched the seat ard the back of the chair, and then ezamined his band. "There's dust, Devil's Food Layer Cake 3% cup butter ¥ teaspoon salt 13 cups suger 3 teaspoons Sex Magic Baking 1 cup milk Powder TRRRERERILE jin i il : BE | pauperism, and philanthropy, prison | reform, capital t, ab devoted to insanity and cretinism, so- cial and criminal pathology suicide, i punishmen psychology, legal codes, argot of | the underworld and code-writing, toxi- "cology and police methods. The vol- umes were in many languages--Eng- !lith, French, German, Italian, Span- ish, Swedish, Russizn, Dutch and Latin. ; Vance's eyes sparkled as he moved along the crowded shelves. Markham also was deeply interested; and Heath, bending here and there toward a vol- ume, registered an expression of be- wildered curiosity. "My Lord!" murmured Vance. "No wonder your department, Sergeant, was chosen as the future custodian of these tomes. What a collection! Ex- tr'ordin'ry !--Aren't ou glad, Mark-| ham, you wangled the old lady into a Devil's Food Layer Cake with Magic Baking Powder "I know from experience," says cookery ex- pert of Western Home Monthly, "that Magic makes most baked dishes look and taste better. Its uniform leavening quality gives dependable baking results." And Miss Dutton's praise of Magic is seconded by the majority of dietitians and cookery experts throughout the Dominion. They use Magic exclusively because they know it is pure, and always uni- form. Canadian housewives, too, pre- fer Magic. In fact, Magic outsells allother baking powders combined. For luscious layer cakes, light, tender biscuits, delicious pastry-- follow Miss Dutton's.@dvice. Use Magic Baking Powder. FREE COOK BOOK--When you bake at home, the new Magic Cook Book will give you dozens of recipes for delicious baked foods. Write to Standard Brands Ltd., Fraser Ave. and Liberty St., Toronto, Ontario, / quishing the key--17" _ Suddenly he stiffered and jerked his head toward the door, at the same time lifting his hand for silence. I, too, had heard a slight noise in he hall, like some one brushing against the woodwork of the door, but had thought nothing of it. For a few moments we waited tensely. But no further sound came to us, and Vance stepped quickly to the door and drew it open. The hall "as empty. He stood on the threshold for a while| listening. Then he closed the door and turned again to the room. "I.could have sworn some (ne was listening in the hall." "I heard a rustle of some kind," Markham corroborated him. "I took it for granted it wus Sproot or the maid passing by." "Why should anybody's hanging round the hall worry us, Mr. Vance?" Heath asked. : "I really couldn't say, don't y' know. Bt it bothers me, nevertheless. If some one were at the door listening, it shows that our presence here has produced a state of anxiety in the person privy to the fact. It's possible, d' ye see, that some one is desirous of ascertaining what we have found out." "Well, I can't see that we've found out enough to make anybody lose any sleep," mumbled Heath, "You're so discouraging, Sergeant," Vance sighed and went to the book- shelves in front of the wicker reading chair. "There may be something in this section to cheer us. Let us see if there's a glad tiding or two written in the dust." (To be continued.) iis sammie Autumn Ocean Cold rocks watch the roll of clouds Along white plains of sky and prowling Storms s 'eep down the shivering sea And lock the shore in iron bleakness. Sombre glint of wave and wild 'White flash of spray that chillsthe twi- light Stir a weary drift of thought Bewildered as the weaving waters' Stumbling on indifferent coasts. But there is comfort in the roaming Breakers and the keening gulls That glean along the wet gray gulches, And the never-ending war Of waves with weight of deeper water, And the wind's low discontent. The summer is spent and through 1 e measured Drone of days benea' low skies There wells an autumn presence of quiet And the air is drenched with still Slow turning of earth's thoughts to winter. ; When the year's gold crest is reached It breaks in greyness, deeply seeking Peace within thé winter sea To Inll its hunger into sleeping. --Christy MacKaye, Wind in tls Grass." -- ee Urges Survey of Weeds Plant surveys of communities as an °*;| aid to hay-fever control are urged Ly c- | Miss Elsa Horn, botanist of the Kan: type. | sag State College, who has completed such a project in Manhattan, Kan, a ciiy of 12,000 population, according to The Ass Press. "Only-ten of these vitally needed ~~ ARace-Horse Arthur Mann in American Mercury gel (July, 32), Breeding time on a thoroughbred stock farm is a period of deep anxiety. Th. colts are foaled in April and dur ing these days hopes, fears and wishes} are born.' The most lowly foal may become king, and the colt with the bluest blood may grow to be a wind- sucker, or may have brittle hoofs, or a weak digestion, or insufficient racing courage. And always the breeder 'dreams of producing another Man o t War. ! You can well ima_iae the eager- ness and anticipation which attend.:d the Man o° War matings and foalings. The whole racing world talked about them. Man o' War was a king and 1*e blood lines of every mare he served were subjected to the most rigid scrutinv. And what splendid animals his offspring turned out to be! All but one or-two won big s.akes. To- day, in his retirement at the Fara jay Farms at Lexington, Ky., stud service by Man o' War . is valued at $5,000. Other outstanding stallions, such as Reigh Count and Gallant Fox, com- mand service fees of $3,000, while the average fee for fairly prominent stal- lions runs from $1,600 to $2,500. . The weanling foal is a gaunt and awkward animal, and one can scarcely visualize him as a future champion. His legs are long and spindled, and his body stumpy. Spending pight and day outdoors with his mother he becomes hardened to the mild exposure of Sum- mer and early Fall His feet grow firm from constant gamboling:. He learns to nibble grass. On January 1, the common birthday of all racehorses, he changes overnight from a weanling to a yearling and is introducgd to hardy meals of oats and mash. H> can al- ways find hay in the corner of his stall, Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons dean of American trainers, has had more help- less weanlings in his charge than any- one else in the business Fitzsimmons' greatest triumph lies in the up- matched career of Gallant Fox. He took the Fox as a weanling and led him to the highest conquests that rac- ing offers. He watched the little colt develop such intelligeacec that he was regarded as having th: reasoning powers . of a ten-year-old Loy. This amazing horse, winner of $303,000 in a single s "son, always knew when his scheduled racing day arrived. On this day he would leave a portion of uis noon-day oats while other horses finished everything in their stalls. Sugar '1 *1e stomach of a horse about to race may complicate matters. Well, you could not bribe the Fox to eat a lump of sugar before a race, although he'd accept it willingly afterwards. Most horses search frantically for water alte: a race, but drinking 'before cooling brings on cramps. Gallant Fox refused to touch water before he had cooled out. In "is first race he stood at the barrier gazing skyward trying to fathom the mystery of an airplane overhead. Though he was smarter than any other colt in the race he was left at the post, wondering about chat strange bird hovering over the track. Forty years of observation and close study have taught Sunny Jim Fitzsin- mons what is best for a colt, but he can never be certain of results, "It's all kindness and patience," he says. "You've got to realize that you're deal- ing with an animal that's nearest to a buman being in intelligence. If he can't run fast, a whip won't teach him." ' Despite a common belief to the con- trary, the cppetites of thoroughbred racing colts are not pampered. There is only one dependable food, and that} is oats. A growing colt consumes nine quarts a day;--three quarts in the morning, two quarts at noon, and four | in the evening. If he eats more, he is overfed. A At the end of his first year of train. ing the crit has become accustomed to halter, saddle, aad a boy on his back. year-old in February, with gallops up and down the track. He is allowe.. to romp at a fast canter for an eighth of a mile, and continues this pace for a week to loosen up | muscles. Then for the first time in his life the youngster js allowed to] gallop a quarter of a mile against time. He is paced to cover the distance in 30 seconds. Unless he is a plu he meets the assignment wi"i ease. By the lat- ter part of March he is sweeping past the three-eighths post n 37 flat. _a the days when he tales mo galloping exercise he is ridden to the starting stalls and the barrier. There he must learn .le significance of that restrain- ing webbing; it is brushed in fromt of his face nd eyes to sho that it. : harmless. i With the barrier lessons completed' and the workouts producing big-league' speed the colt graduates to the races' in April. Then the Eastern tracks | open and the owners trot out their proud litt'e charges to fam=, fortune, or fajlure. The average ov.ner has cl! ready spent between $6000 and $7000! on every colt or filly he sends to the barrier as a maiden two-year-old. This! does not include preliminary fees or starting ussessments which total ap-! proximately $5000 for the eight most, important juvenile stakes. Minimuia jockey fees are $10 a mount and $25 for a winner. But the better jocke ss receive an annual salary and 10 per cent. of all purses. Eal Sande got $50,000 in salary and commissions one season on Gallant Fox. . The most exacting of the two-year old stake~ . tho Futurii- Tie n- er pays out $1170 in preliminary fees for this one rece wit) the odds 20 to J against his getting a penny of it back. But the winner's prize is generally over $100,000, the richest two year-old stake in the world. The outstanding thre.-year-cid fea- tures impose eq" ° alent demands, but thy owaer has at least an opportunity to determine just what he is sending to the barrier. Yet there are always confusing precedents to upset his soundest reasoning. - Many mediocre two-year-olds have blossomed into in- vincible three-year olds. Gallant Fox seemed to have ordinary ability as a two-year-old, but no horse could touch him the following season. Thoroughlred racing has prespered a.ad grown since th: World War, but it must still be put down as a sport and not a business. A sizeable stable ust take in $250,000 or more in winnings to break even on a season. Needless to say (nly one or two owners such a return on their outlay.. Yet an owner's 're~ms and hopes often batter down his discretion and he envisions set of reins, and recognized the signals ter, don't send me away I'm so -- scared of these ---- rats that I cant stay beside them im the dark" The Trojan was swarming with rats, and all sorts of vermin. Iam rather afriid of rats myself, and I did no. object to Bill's company, so I told him that so long as he kept the steam up, he might stay with me as much as he liked. Bill, it seemed, had been in almost | every prison in the Britisa Isles. He had other peculiarities, too. He was quite a good singer, but his repertoi.e was poor and generally obscene. Some- times he gave me "Rock of Ages" and "Jesu, Lover of My Soul," which e sang with the tears streaming down his cheeks. "I'm ---- if I can help it, Mister," he used to say by way of a . Another real Jacobs character um. der whom Mr. Riddell served was Mr. The doctor, a young iellow who had The str ngest sailors Mr. Riddell ever saw were in Finland. When he } H i } il gk FEFE 2k : ! ae I ®