Chapter VII: New Developments

Grail stared at the girl in bewilderment as she repeated: “Yes, the happiest girl in the world. For if I thought you were responsible for his disappearance, as they say, I should know that no harm could possibly have befallen him. It is because I am certain of your innocence that I am apprehensive; and it is because I know you must be moving heaven and earth in the effort to find him that I have come to ask you what you have discovered. What faith can I put in Major Appleby’s promises”--she gave a deprecating gesture--“when I see how he is bungling things? But, surely, you can tell me whether or not there is any real ground for hope?”

A great flash of joy and wonder lighted Grail’s face. “Meredith,” he cried huskily, “I never expected to feel so proud in all my life! You don’t know what your trust and confidence mean to me!”

Then, afraid that if he said more, he might say too much, he placed a chair for her and drew up one for himself.

“More than that,” he went on, “I am going to prove to you that your faith is not misplaced. Take my word for it, your father shall be restored to you within a very short time; before to-morrow morning, unless I am very much mistaken.”

Never yet, in their long acquaintance, had Grail failed to make good a promise to her, and his assurance now brought a sigh of genuine relief to her lips and a smile to her pale, anxious face.

“Ah!” she exclaimed. “You mean that the running down of these Japanese spies must result in disclosing father’s whereabouts?”

“Japanese spies!” His lips curled contemptuously. “They exist only in the imagination of Appleby and Hemingway.”

“Precisely what I thought, too, when the major told me,” she said. “I know, of course, that all the foreign nations keep secret agents hanging around our forts and army posts, just as we do around theirs; but that any of these men would go to such lengths struck me, on the face of it, as ridiculous.”

“There you are wrong,” Grail returned. “Ordinarily, I grant, you would be right; but the colonel’s present series of experiments being concerned with a new and surprising development in the use of the wireless in warfare, has stirred these fellows up to a pitch where they have been ready to dare almost anything. Besides, the chap who, I am convinced, engineered this deal----” He caught himself just as he was on the verge of revealing to her the point which had caused him most concern in the affair.

Dexterously he extricated himself from the situation by knocking a book from the desk with his elbow and stooping over to regain it.

“As I was about to say,” he resumed, “the chap who engineered this deal was not a Japanese, but of a nation which furnishes spies of an even more bold and subtle character.”

He drew from his pocket the half-smoked cigarette which formed his principal clew.

“Are you sufficiently versed in such things to tell me of what make this is?” he asked.

“Russian,” she replied, without a moment’s hesitation. “The little countess we used to know in Washington, you remember, smoked cigarettes exactly like that.”

“Exactly,” he said, “and the man for whom we have got to look in this case is a Russian.”

A thoughtful look came into Meredith’s eyes. “Dad was in Russia once, on secret-service business himself,” she said; “and although they would never tell me about it, mother confessed to me on one occasion that for a long time she had been fearful of an attempt at revenge upon him, for something that happened while he was on the mission. You don’t suppose, do you, that this could in any way be an outcome of that old affair?”

“Absurd!” he answered. “Why, it was almost twenty years ago that your father was over there. If there was anything coming to him on that score, I fancy he would have been called to account long before this.”

Then, he deftly turned the subject to a discussion of the facts from which he had built up the hypothesis he was following.

“I had been on the lookout for a Russian spy, you see,” he explained, “for I had been tipped off by Sasaku, one of the dining-room boys, who is rather attached to me, that a fellow he had once seen chased out of Tokyo was here in Brantford, showing considerable interest in doings at the fort. Accordingly, I framed it up with Sasaku to get in with the chap, on the plea of being a ‘gumshoe man’ himself, desirous of working to mutual advantage, and gave him yesterday a bundle of fake papers to fool the other with, and get him to divulge his name and his business.

“That,” he added disdainfully, “is the sole basis for the ‘Japanese spy’ story you have heard. And, by the way”--he glanced with a frown at his watch--“I ought to have heard from Sasaku before this. He promised to send me a communication at the very first opportunity.”

“But where does the cigarette come in?” Meredith asked, a trifle impatiently.

“The cigarette? Oh, that was the connecting link. It is really the corner stone to my entire theory; for although I very quickly decided that the gumshoe artists were at the bottom of the job, I was, at first, rather inclined to suspect Otto Schilder as the moving spirit. It seemed pretty crude work for one of the kaiser’s men, I will admit; but there was no one else handy to lay it to, and as a German he was, of course, open to question. The discovery of the cigarette outside the office door, however, cleared things up amazingly. I recollected a glint of light I had seen flash across the doorway when the current was cut off, and, by putting two and two together, it didn’t take me long to figure out just about what had happened. The telltale spark I saw traversed the aperture of the doorway from top to bottom; consequently, the cigarette must have fallen or been dropped from above. Had the smoker been on the roof, then? And was it possible that the colonel, seized and muffled as he stood on the threshold, had been hauled up there by a rope? An electric crane, though, with its long arm sweeping silently over the yard, and lifting scrap iron across the fence to be loaded on cars outside, gave me a more plausible idea.”

“But if you knew so much,” Meredith interrupted, “why did you not at once denounce these men?”

“With what proof?” asked Grail. “Remember, some little time had elapsed before I got this theory, and to identify the guilty men in that large force of laborers would then have been practically impossible. Besides, all the evidence I had to present was this cigarette butt; and, although it was perfectly plain to me that it had been tossed away by one of the men in the basket of the crane just before grabbing the colonel, I might have had difficulty in getting others to see it in the same light. No, no! To have shown my hand at that stage would have been simply to tip all the fat into the fire.”

“But what of father?” exclaimed Miss Verdant sharply. “Is no effort being made to find him, or learn what has become of him?”

“Assuredly,” Grail hastened to appease her. “That is, of course, the object to which everything else must be subservient. Trust me, Meredith. Take my word for it that your father is safe and sound, and will be with you by this time to-morrow night.”

“Is that ‘orders’?” she asked, in playful allusion to an old joke between them, although her lip quivered as she tried to smile.

“That’s ‘orders,’” assented Ormsby firmly, “and I want you to be enough of a soldier’s daughter to obey them. You are all broken up by this thing, and worn out by your trip, as well. What you’ve got to do now is to take some rest, and quit worrying. Come! I’ll take you over to Major Appleby’s house. I suppose you are stopping there?”

“No,” she explained. “I am to be with Mrs. Schilder, I believe.”

Grail looked up sharply, and seemed on the point of saying something, but reconsidered the impulse.

“You don’t need to tell me to trust you, captain.” She extended her hand. “Indeed, if it were not for my reliance on you, I don’t know what I should do.”

The adjutant, choking back words that rose tumultuously to his lips, escorted her to the door; then paused, with an involuntary exclamation, to stare at the group of officers gathered about Mrs. Schilder’s car, excitedly discussing an evening paper which one of them had just brought in.

Its flaring black headlines were plainly discernible to Grail, and in a flash he read that his little Japanese friend and ally, Sasaku, had been murdered in the city.

TO BE CONTINUED.

“I CROW.”

Many a “star” might well envy the most insignificant member of her troupe the supreme sense of importance and satisfaction with which he performs his little duty, be it only that of blowing out the candle through the hole in the scenery when the hero aims his deadly rifle at the flame and the cap explodes.

Think of the pleasure his performance accorded this small boy, for instance:

First Boy--“You ought to come to the concert our music teacher is goin’ to give.”

Second Boy--“You goin’ to be in?”

“Yes. I am one of the primmer donnas. We are goin’ to give a cantata.”

“Wot’s that?”

“Oh, it’s all about sunshine and storms and picnics and all sorts of country things. It’s great.”

“Do you sing all that?”

“N-o. I’m only in the first scene: ‘Early mornin’ on the farm.’”

“What do you do?”

“I crow.”

THE WRONG PASSENGER.

One may, perhaps, presume so far upon old acquaintanceship as to indulge occasionally in a mild, practical joke, but to attempt familiarity with strangers is “another kind of game.”

A city street arab was wont to play rather roughly with a good-natured bulldog, owned by a shopkeeper of the neighborhood. One day the boy was walking with a friend when he saw the dog approaching.

“Hi! there’s Towse!” he cried. “Now see me scare him!”

He stepped in front of the dog, with arms extended, and partially blocked the passage. The animal looked surprised, stopped, and evidently considered within himself what it would be best to do.

“I never knew him to act like that,” said the joker. “He always lies down on his back and rolls. I’ll stir him up a little.”

With that he sprang at the dog and caught him by the ears.

Towse was evidently amazed, but he proved equal to the occasion. Fastening his teeth in the boy’s trousers, in startling nearness to an expanse of bare knee, he held on like a vise.

Just at that moment the boy caught sight of an unfamiliar spot of white on the animal’s head, and dropped his hold to take at once to his heels, leaving a goodly portion of woolen cloth in the creature’s mouth.

“Run, Patsy, run!” he shouted to his chum. “He’s gone and turned hisself into another dog!”

HOW LONG IS FIVE MINUTES?

In a murder trial before a court in the West, the prisoner was able to account for the whole of his time, except five minutes, on the evening when the crime was committed. His counsel argued that it was impossible for him to have killed the man, under the circumstances, in so brief a period, and on that plea largely based his defense, the other testimony being strongly against his client. When the prosecuting attorney replied, he said:

“How long a time really is five minutes? Let us see. Will his honor command absolute silence in the courtroom for that space?”

The judge graciously complied. There was a clock on the wall. Every eye in the courtroom was fixed upon it, as the pendulum ticked off the seconds. There was breathless silence. The keen-witted counsel waited until the tired audience gave a sigh of relief at the close of the period, and then asked quietly:

“Could he not have struck one fatal blow in all that time?”

The prisoner was found guilty, and, as it was proved afterward, justly.

DON’T SNUB THE BOYS.

Don’t snub a boy because he wears shabby clothes. When Edison, the great inventor, first entered Boston, he wore a pair of yellow linen breeches in the depth of winter.

Don’t snub a boy because his home is plain and unpretending. Abraham Lincoln’s early home was a log cabin.

Don’t snub a boy because he chooses a humble trade. The author of “Pilgrim’s Progress” was a tinker.

Don’t snub a boy because of physical disability. Milton was blind, and Cato was deaf.

Don’t snub a boy because he seems dull or stupid. Hogarth, the celebrated painter and engraver, was slow at learning, and did not develop as soon as some boys.

Don’t snub a boy because he stutters. Demosthenes, the greatest orator of Greece, overcame a harsh and stammering voice.

Don’t snub any one; not alone because some day he may outstrip you in the race of life, but because it is neither kind nor Christian.

KEEPING THEM DOWN.

Rich Youth--“I should not object to the work of earning my own living if I had to, but what I should hate would be the officiousness and petty tyranny of superiors. I should hate to have to bow to the whims of some wealthy man not a bit better than myself.”

Poor Youth--“That’s easily avoided. Be a typewriter, as I am. Employers never put on airs over me. I know how to take the starch out of em.”

“Eh? What do you do?”

“Ask em to spell a hard word now and then.”

THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.

Blames Cat for Loss of Ship.

Captain Roland F. Quillen, of Bethel, Va., whose three-masted schooner _William J. Quillen_ was sunk off Cape Hatteras after a collision with the Norwegian steamship _Laly_, never again will take a cat to sea. He attributes the accident, which nearly cost his life and the lives of his crew, to a gray cat which he had aboard.

“I’ve shipped for twenty-five years and always have taken along dogs,” Captain Quillen said. “Just before I started from Baltimore for Mayport, Fla., somebody stole my dog. So I got a cat--a gray cat. Cats are bad luck, I guess. This was my first accident. The cat was lost.”

Turn Funeral Coach into a “Tango Car.”

The dead business is dead in Atlantic City, N. J. This is the conclusion of the management of the Atlantic City & Shore Fast Line after six months’ experiment in specializing in the dying business.

A half year back they went to considerable expense to have a finely equipped trolley, twice the size of the ordinary cars, constructed to carry funeral parties to the cemetery on the mainland. At the expiration of the six months they found the car a dead loss.

Work was started at once to make it a paying proposition. It is being dismantled and will be transformed into a “tango car.” The conveyance will have the central seats removed, a fine maple floor will be put down and waxed. Then it will be put in special service to carry gay parties to the country clubs on the mainland. They can tango their way over and back again; in fact, never stop tangoing from the time the car starts out from its station.

“There’s more than one way of making ends meet,” declare the officials.

Woman Buys a Large Dairy.

Mrs. Elsie Rothery, a Memphis woman, has bought and assumed active management of a large dairy farm near Natchez, Miss. She purchased the 300-acre farm on which the Natchez Creamery is located, together with a number of fine milk cows and the dairy equipment.

She intends to conduct a modern dairy on an extensive scale.

Noted Woman Detective, Mrs. M. E. Holland, Dies.

Mrs. M. E. Holland, who was called “America’s greatest woman detective,” died recently at her home in Chicago. She was forty-eight years old and had been ill for two weeks. She was recovering from an operation when pneumonia set in.

Mrs. Holland was editor of _The Detective_, official organ of the police authorities and sheriffs of the country. She was internationally known as a finger-print expert and had figured in some of the most important cases in the country. A number of years ago she was hired by the government to install in the secret-service bureau the finger-print system of identification.

She was a native of Galena, Ill., but had lived in Chicago many years. She had the largest private rogues’ gallery in the world, and, with her former husband, was joint partner in a large police-equipment house. She owned personally a special make of handcuff and the patent right of the Oregon boot, an affair which superseded the ball-and-chain device, and was the patentee of a folding stretcher that has been adopted universally in police circles. Mrs. Holland was the only woman in the country holding honorary memberships in the associations of police chiefs and detective-bureau chiefs throughout the United States, and was a familiar figure at their conventions.

Mrs. Holland was divorced from her first husband and was married to Arthur McCarthy, a police sergeant, in January, 1914. She continued to work with her former husband, however, in publishing _The Detective_. Later she was divorced from McCarthy.

“Snooker” is New Pool Game.

There’s a new game in New York called snooker. It is English pool, and is played on a table six feet wide and twelve feet long. The pockets at each corner and on the sides are smaller than those of the regulation pool table, and in proportion the balls are smaller.

Fifteen red balls are racked together at one end of the table. In back of the pyramid is a black ball that counts seven for you every time you succeed in putting it in the pocket. Directly in front of the apex of the pyramid is a pink ball that is valued at six points. In the center of the table is a blue, worth five, while at the opposite end of the table are a yellow, green, and brown ball, worth two, three, and four points.

The game is played by shooting alternately at any of the other colored balls. When the fifteen red balls are pocketed, the remaining extra-point balls are played off in rotation. The penalties of the game are just about as numerous as the creditors on the trail of the man who is hard up. Snooker has resulted in putting the nose of one Mr. Kelly much out of joint.

Old Ma Wolf a Jealous Mother.

“All my sheep, gather in a heap, for I spy the woolly, woolly wolf,” shouted an urchin standing in front of the wolf dens in the New York Zoölogical Park recently, when some of his playmates gathered in the park to watch the animals. The wolves he spied are Cherokee, Seneca, and Iroquois, latest arrivals in the prairie-wolf pack, and they are just as limber and wild as the Indians used to be on the plains of North Dakota, from which Minnehaha, the mother wolf, came to the park a few years ago.

Since the trio arrived, interest has centered about them more than any other attraction in the park. Their mother is insanely jealous of them and especially solicitous for their welfare.

Only by patient watching and waiting was it possible for Alexander Ferguson and Peter Romanoff, the keepers, to steal into the cage and snatch the puppies away from Minnehaha. The howl she set up was chorused by all the other wolves in the park, and this brought hundreds of persons running in the direction of the wolf dens.

Minnehaha was forgotten when the crowd discovered Miss Marcella Burke, secretary to Raymond L. Ditmars, curator of the New York Zoölogical Society, with Iroquois, Cherokee, and Seneca in her arms. The little ones did not like the idea of being taken out of the cage, but Miss Burke, who has handled a variety of animals in the course of her work--more perhaps than any other young woman, excepting those engaged in the circus business--petted the puppies and soon made them feel at home.

The children gathered around Miss Burke, and besought her to give them the little wolves. One chap said that he had a dog like Seneca, and another was certain that Cherokee was a spaniel and not a wolf at all, while still another exclaimed that Iroquois was neither a dog nor a wolf, but a cat. During the argument, Minnehaha never let up her high-pitched staccato cry, manifesting clearly that the puppies were neither dog nor cat, but hers at all hazards.

It was not until her offspring were returned to the cage that she ceased howling for them. Her coddling of the little ones kept the crowd amused for some time, and Minnehaha tenderly picked each one up by the slack of the neck and tucked them away in the cave. She snarled at the spectators and stood guard at the cave hole, ready to resent another intrusion.

Elephant Famine New Horror of War.

The European war has caused a shortage in elephants in this country, according to Ernest Siegfried, manager of Louis Ruhe’s wild-animal farm at Woodside, N. Y. Yesterday he received a rush order for six elephants to be delivered at once to the Barnum & Bailey circus, but he was unable to fill it.

“The activity of the fleets of the Allies in stopping German commerce is responsible for this shortage,” said Mr. Siegfried. “The importation of elephants has been carried on chiefly in the past by Germans through the port of Hamburg.”

Mr. Siegfried declared that his firm was fortunate in getting out of Germany, just before the war started, a considerable consignment of other wild animals, among the number being fourteen lions, two tigers, two leopards, three wolves, two polar bears, three brown Russian bears, three camels, and a number of deer and kangaroos.

While there is some demand for these animals, they cannot take the place of elephants, and there is a danger that some of the smaller circuses throughout the country will have to go through this season at least without their elephants.

Woman Routs Burglar.

A burglar climbed up to the window of the guest chamber in Judge John E. Keeler’s house on Strawberry Hill, in Stamford, Conn., at four o’clock the other morning.

A New York woman whose name was withheld occupied the guest chamber. She awoke when the burglar had half of his body inside the open window, shoved him out of the window, and hurled the water pitcher after him. Then she became hysterical.

The burglar escaped.

Aged Ninety; Still a Sprinter.

David Anderson, of 33 Chestnut Street, Yonkers, N. Y., celebrated his ninetieth birthday by a little sprint around the block in which he lives. Anderson won a gold medal in a hundred-yard dash when he was seventy-four. He has an open challenge to any man not more than ten years his junior.

Americans in the Air Corps.

The formation of an American section in the French aviation corps has been completed by Norman Prince, of Boston, and soon will be in active service. It consists of seven pilots, who will fly a new type of 160-horse-power monoplane. Three of the seven American aviators have qualified for the military certificate at Pau. They are Norman Prince, William Thaw, of New York, and Andre Ruel, of Chicago. The others expected to pass the tests are Elliott C. Cowden, junior, of New York; James Bach, an American, living in Paris; B. Hall, of Texas, and Frazier Curtis, of Boston. Prince says that he needs a reserve of three pilots, at least. Beckwith Havens, winner of the Chicago-Detroit flying-boat cruise, may enlist.

Oddities of Ball Players.

The lamented “Bugs” Raymond, world-famous pitcher of the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, always carried about him his pressmen’s union card. It was always in his pocket on the ball field. Bugs was very proud of it, just as he should have been, for a finer bunch of lovers of true sport than the pressmen on newspapers never lived.

Larry Lajoie, the famous swatter, has a pair of rubber-soled canvas shoes. Those shoes were on his feet when he first played with the Fall River team. Lajoie never has parted with them. They have a special place in his suit case.

Frank Chance, when with the Chicago Cubs, used to seek four-leaved clovers. So does Hughey Jennings to this day.

Mysterious Message in Heart of Potato.

A great deal of interest and curiosity has been created in the vicinity of West Nashville, Tenn., by a message found in an Irish potato.

Mrs. Walter Lovell was preparing some potatoes for dinner when her knife struck something she thought was a cob, but on examination proved to be a heavy piece of brown paper, about a foot long and five inches wide, with the following writing on it:

“Peter Johnson, Edmore, Mich.; Harry Hansen, Edmore, Mich. Please answer.”

This was written with an indelible pencil. The peeling of the potato was smooth, with no indication of a plug. The potato was unusually large, weighing about three pounds, and had grown firmly around the paper, leaving a cavity when it was removed.

As to how the paper was grown into the potato with no indications on the peeling remains a mystery.

Big Grizzley is Hotel Guest.

An unusual guest appeared recently at the Stewart Hotel, in San Francisco, when a huge grizzly bear, accompanied by Fred Thompson, his owner, and nature man Joe Knowles, waddled up to the desk and gravely went through the formalities of registering, giving his name as “Baby of the Rockies.”

After a good feed on lumps of sugar, Baby, who weighs slightly over 500 pounds, took a trip up the elevator, which he jammed on his way up. Arrived at the seventh floor, Baby and escort visited a party of women. The grizzly was captured by Thompson five years ago.

Four Legs Fatal to This Curious Chicken.

The town of Cheshire, Conn., has developed a chicken which ought to have been born in the days of Phineas T. Barnum, so that its praises could be properly expressed by the world’s greatest showman and purveyor of natural and man-made wonders, more frequently the latter.

Joseph Wheeler, a prominent poultry raiser, found among a recently hatched Rhode Island Red brood a chicken perfectly formed except that it had four legs. All went well for nearly a week. Then it was discovered that the two sets of legs were arranged for locomotion in opposite directions. The result was that the chick pulled itself apart.

People from all over the countryside came to see it, and in death it has been turned over to a taxidermist.

How Ships Take Oil on Run.

The method of supplying vessels, especially battleships, with fuel oil at sea is remarkably simple when compared with that required for coaling. A tanker is run up to within about six hundred feet of the vessel needing oil, a tow line is attached, and a second line supports a hose through which the oil is pumped. Meanwhile the ships are steaming at an hourly speed of from ten to twelve knots. An automatic tension furnishes the necessary elastic medium for paying out and taking up the supporting cable, as required by motion of the vessel.

By this method it is possible to transport from the tanker to the vessel taking on the fuel nearly seven hundred barrels an hour.

Owes Life to Sleeping Dog.

A dog averted perhaps a fatal injury to its owner, J. H. Adams, a farmer near Polo, Ill. He fell thirty feet from the haymow of his barn and alighted upon the dog, which was lying asleep. The dog was killed, but the man escaped.

Facts for You.

For the convenience of travelers, an English firm is compressing tea into blocks that resemble American plug tobacco.

After experimenting for thirty-two years, a New York man claims to have perfected a synthetic gold, made from copper and aluminium.

A French inventor’s parachute can be guided in falling by pulling cords to draw in its sides.

Extensive deposits of iron ore have been discovered in Bavaria, the ore lying close to the surface of the ground.

In the last twenty years the per-capita consumption of paper in the United States has increased about six-fold.

Aluminium can be rolled into sheets one-two-thousandth of an inch in thickness that are as strong as tinfoil.

Charcoal made of peat and formed into briquettes has been used successfully for melting iron ore in England.

A new sanitary holder for tumblers is made of spring wire, so shaped as to touch the glass as little as possible.

To enable a man to walk on an inclined roof, spiked frames, to be strapped under the shoes, have been patented.

Experts from the United States Department of Agriculture are making an extensive study of the coconut industry in the Philippines.

To enable visitors to get a closer view of the whirlpool of Niagara Falls, a passenger-carrying cableway will be built across the river.

California possesses more than one-twelfth of the hydroelectric power development of the United States, about 450,000 horse power.

A violet-rays water-sterilizing apparatus invented in France automatically opens a valve and diverts the water into a drain if the rays should stop.

Experiments are under way with glass for spectacles intended to filter out the injurious rays of artificial light, leaving the effect of sunlight.

A new deepest hole in the earth is a well that has been bored in Silesia to a depth of 7,348 feet, 6,848 feet of which has been lined with iron tubing.

A New South Wales irrigation dam, which will cost $3,680,000, will impound 33,380,000,000 cubic feet of water, backed up in a lake forty miles long.

By authority of the Brazilian government, the railways of that country and Paraguay will be connected, providing another transcontinental line for South America.

For finding leaks in motor-cycle tires there has been invented a box to fit over them in compartments of which is cotton that is moved by the escaping air as it passes over a hole.

Raise Your Own Food.

Sufficient vegetables can be raised on a quarter-acre lot to supply a family of six persons for an entire year if close attention is given to the rotation and succession of crops, says the Federal Department of Agriculture. The same lot will accommodate such permanent crops as asparagus, rhubarb, and small fruits and berries, if care is taken in arranging the garden. It will provide fresh vegetables for the summer and enough for canning for use in the winter.

A smaller area, such as is found in the average city back yard, will accommodate several of the smaller crops, such as lettuce, peas, parsley, radishes, beets, and onions, all of which are in constant demand by the average housewife.

Pigeons Overrule Solomon.

According to an order of Judge Beall, in special sessions court, of Yonkers, N. Y., a flock of pigeons was permitted to determine ownership. The birds were in the cote of William Warholy, who asserted they belonged to him. John Yosko was also a claimant, charging the pigeons had been stolen from his cote.

Recalling that pigeons are credited with a wonderful instinct in finding their own roosts, Judge Beall ordered two policemen to release the pigeons in dispute and report the result.

One-half of the number of birds flew to Warholy’s cote and the others to Yosko’s cote, thereby reserving decision for the judge.

Garden Rake is Life-saver.

Jennie Reed, four-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Reed, of Grand Rapids, Mich., owes her life to a garden rake. The little girl fell into a cistern while playing with little Raymond Algra, a neighbor boy. The boy called his mother and told her Jennie was in the cistern. Mrs. Algra seized a garden rake, which had been left near by, and drew the child to safety. Jennie was delivered to her mother little worse for her cold plunge.

Prehistoric Race Relics Found in Nebraska.

Ruins left by some prehistoric race in the vicinity of Howe, Neb., have recently been inspected and studied by Professor Gerard Fowke, the St. Louis geologist, who is curator of the St. Louis Museum.

Mr. Fowke has been gathering scientific data of the primitive inhabitants of the Missouri Valley, and he investigated the remains of their civilization. He began with the ancient ruins north of Kansas City and followed the west bank of the river northward, tracing the northern retreat of these ancient farmers and gardeners.

After an exhaustive examination of the ruins found at Howe, Neb., and at Peru, the professor is of the opinion that the ancient remains recently discovered near White Cloud, Kan., were of works made by the same race. Considerable work has been done at Howe under the direction of C. L. Meek, and a large number of the bone and horn gardening instruments have been unearthed. The tools for the most part were found cached beneath what had once been the floors of the dwellings, where they were buried in beds of ashes.

Scientists are now of the belief that a number of the remains found along the Missouri River and the neighboring country were those of a civilization which preceded that of the Indians.

Skeletons discovered by Robert P. Gilder, of Omaha, and now in the University of Nebraska museum, are declared by scientists to greatly antedate the Indian. The skulls show much less brain capacity than those of the Indian, and have the very receding forehead characteristic of the early members of the race, and but little higher than the ape or gorilla type.

Well Stops Flowing at Night.

Hawkinsville, Ga., has a well which refuses to work at night. This well, which is located at the county jail, has an estimated flow of about fifty gallons of water per minute until about a year ago, when it suddenly and without apparent cause quit flowing entirely and remained dry until about a month ago, or just after the earthquake in Italy, when it commenced flowing again, the flow this time being not over two or three gallons per minute. But the strange thing about this well is that it flows only in daytime. It begins flowing about nine o’clock in the morning and quits about the same time in the evening, and remains dry all night.

Missing Police Pet is Found with Kittens.

“Now, Annie; now, Annie,” crooned Captain of Detectives Walker on his knees at the central police station, in Cleveland, Ohio, “nobody’s going to hurt em. Say, George, better give that teeny one some of that milk. It looks as if it needs some.”

And Lieutenant George Matowitz, assisted by Lieutenant Charles Sterling, obeyed the commands of their superior, picked up a kitten in the corner, and administered nourishment via a bottle and nipple.

Annie, feline mascot of the police department, was discovered after a disappearance lasting four days. Hidden behind the telephone booths in the reporters’ room at the central station, she was found nursing her litter of kittens.

The police department rejoiced, for Annie is the only official mascot at the station, and her disappearance had caused no small amount of worry among Cleveland’s finest.

Captain Walker sent to the nearest drug store for a bottle and nipple and obtained a quart of milk, which was administered to all the little newcomers by Lieutenants Sterling and Matowitz, while Annie, secure in the grasp of Walker, arched her back and otherwise indicated her feline rage.

Villainous Bugs to Pose for the Movies.

Bugs in movies--ten or twenty-legged insects posing for the camera--are promised by a new entrant into the picture field, the division of entomology at the Minnesota College of Agriculture. The various creepers, borers, and aviators, after they have been placed on the film, will be routed over a circuit of Minnesota towns. The promoters of the venture are confident that their “star” bugs are sure to make a hit.

Only bold, dangerous villains, the most destructive known to exist in the State, are sure of a position in the cast. They are to be shown in the native environment, and all their destructive operations reproduced before those who suffer from their malicious activities.

Has a Lamb with Eight Legs.

Martin Werner, living near High Ridge, Mo., has a lamb which has eight legs. The lamb is otherwise normal. It is considered a remarkable curiosity by Mr. Werner’s neighbors.

Heliograph to Sell Goods.

Perhaps the most novel of all methods of selling goods is that devised by a grocer in Tonasket, Wash., who uses the heliograph for signaling inquiries and quotations to a forest-service station located fifteen miles away across the mountains, and receives orders flashed back by the same method. The grocer’s heliograph is an improvised instrument, consisting only of a mirror held in front of an automobile headlight. With this he flashes his messages in the code used by the forest service.

Electricity in a Fence Kills Three.

Three persons were killed and two badly shocked by current from a high-voltage wire which broke and fell across the rear fence of a house on Grover Street, Los Angeles, Cal. The 2,200 volts in the wire set fire to the fence across which it fell. Two men were killed when they threw buckets of water on the flames. A woman seized her husband’s hand and fell dead.

War Chiefs Begin by Prayer.

Lord Curzon’s statement in the House of Lords that Lord Roberts had conducted family prayers for his household for fifty years, is supplemented by data collected by the _Church Family Newspaper_ regarding Lord Fisher, first sea lord, and Lord Kitchener.

“We learn, on unimpeachable authority,” says the journal, “that Lord Fisher makes a habit of going to a certain church practically every day for prayer and meditation before commencing his responsible duties.

“We understand that Lord Kitchener follows out a similar rule whenever he is in London.”

“Tipperary” Causes Mix-up of Nations.

Allan McAtee, Scotch, of Bridgeport, Ohio, asked two Austrian girls to give ear while he sang “Tipperary.”

He was interrupted by Policeman Tom Howley, formerly of County Donegal, Ireland, who arrested him for disorderly conduct.

Next morning McAtee faced Mayor Herman A. Schafer, German by right of descent, who fined McAtee one dollar.

Harry Wilson, an American and a friend of McAtee’s, paid the fine.

Fuel Value of Wood.

The fuel value of wood is in weight about half that of coal. But the forest-service laboratory at Washington has determined that a cord of seasoned hickory, oak, beech, birch, hard maple, ash, elm, locust, longleaf pine, or cherry equals a ton of coal; a cord and a half of short leaf pine, hemlock, red gum, Douglas fir, sycamore, or soft maple, and two cords of cedar, redwood, poplar, catalpa, Norway pine, cypress, brasswood, spruce, or white pine are needed to equal in heat a ton of coal.

Eighteen Pigs Young Sow’s Record.

Lawrence Murphy, of Pilot Knob, Ind., has a bigboned Poland China sow that had a litter of eighteen pigs. Believing this number more than the sow could care for, Murphy took five of the pigs away to raise by hand, but in this he was unsuccessful.

The sow at present has only ten pigs, she having laid on three of them at time of birth. The sow weighs 350 pounds and is not yet two years old. Her record is nine pigs in her first litter and eighteen in her second, which is considered quite extraordinary.

Serves as Juror at Eighty-five Years.

A. R. Wright, who is serving as a juror at this term of district court in Fort Dodge, Iowa, despite his eighty-five years, is probably the oldest man that ever has served on a jury in Iowa. Notwithstanding his advanced years, Mr. Wright is in possession of all of his faculties.

He saw a dispatch in a local paper recently about a man seventy-eight years of age who served on a jury, and he decided to go him one better.

Boa Tries to Eat Zoo.

Ten pythons, a crate of parrakeets, now reposing inside the largest of the giant snakes; armadillos, boa constrictors, monkeys, parrots, Theodora, a baby bear; Brazilian wild cats and South American birds of all combinations of brilliant colors were part of the cargo of the Lamport & Holt liner _Terence_, which docked in New York recently.

In spite of the varied temperaments of the members of the party, the trip was calm and peaceful, except for one dary day, when “Old Tom,” the largest python, broke loose and devoured a crate of parrakeets to appease the appetite engendered by the sea breezes. Tom fell asleep while digesting the crate, however, and was bundled back into captivity before he awoke.

The zoölogical consignment is the property of Henry Bartels, of 72 Cortlandt Street, and was shipped to him by his brother Ferdinand, who has been collecting beasts and birds in the Amazon region to fill the hole in the wild-animal trade left when Hagenbeck was put out of business by the war.

Countess Szechenyi Invents War Game.

Countess Szechenyi, who was Miss Gladys Vanderbilt, of New York, and Countess Sigray, daughter of the late Marcus Daly, have invented a popular war game for Budapest. It arose from an argument between the two, as each has a pet theory as to when the war will end. The game consists of writing forecasts of the date of the close of the struggle, sealing them in envelopes, and filing them to be read after peace is declared. A growing number of people, lured by the chance of saying, “I told you so,” are canning their own opinion with red wax and ceremony.

Dog Saves Man from Attack by a Park Buffalo.

James Crowley, keeper of the menagerie in Central Park, New York, who has charge of the herd of buffalos and bears in the pens near the Arsenal, had a narrow escape from injury, when one of the biggest buffalos of the herd attacked him. Crowley’s pet Airedale terrier rushed at the big buffalo and kept the animal busy long enough to let Crowley escape. The dog then made a dash for safety and managed to get out of the pen.

Crowley went to the buffalo pen just when his animal charges were enjoying breakfast. In the pen he was surprised to find the body of an old pet rooster, “Dick,” evidently a victim of a snow storm. “Black Diamond,” who is the fighter of the herd of buffalos and about the biggest of the lot, was not so much interested in his breakfast that he did not see Crowley, and when the latter’s back was turned, he sneaked up behind him.

It would have fared badly for Crowley, for the buffalo was coming at full speed, with head lowered when the dog interfered and attacked the animal. Crowley then saw his danger and escaped before the buffalo could get free from the dog, and in a few minutes more the dog, knowing that danger to his master was past, came racing to safety out of the pen.

Sings as Convicts Weep.

Mrs. Mary Greer McLane, daughter of Bishop Greer, of New York, sang Easter hymns recently for the prisoners in Sing Sing prison. With her sister and father she entered the chapel of the prison, where every bench was filled. Her audience listened in absolute silence. When she had finished, more than one gray sleeve was used as a handkerchief.

Bishop Greer conducted the Episcopal services, and Mgr. Evers, of New York, and Father Cashin the Roman Catholic services.

His First Ride Proves Fatal.

Upon the very first ride on the motor cycle for which he had been saving for years, Samuel Leechman, twenty-six years old, a salesman, of New York, was killed before he had gone fourteen blocks.

On Central Park West he swerved at Seventy-ninth Street to avoid a passenger from a trolley car. The wheels skidded and Leechman was thrown. The police could get no ambulance for half an hour, and then Leechman was dead.

Friends say motor cycling had always been Leechman’s hobby, but he had not been able to purchase one until the day of his death.

Hog Nearly Eight Feet Long.

A hog weighing 1,210 pounds and less than two years old is the record in swine raising made by Colonel W. E. Wimpey, of De Kalb County, Ga. The hog is 7 feet 10 inches long, 39½ inches high, and 74½ inches around the body.

Cupid Calls Mayor to Aid of Pastor.

Backed up with a letter of commendation from the Bishop of Ontaria and kind words from other persons of prominence, a clergyman of the Church of England, from Barrie, Canada, has asked Mayor Mitchel, of New York City, to find him a wife.

When the mayor replied he had no means of obtaining wives, but would be glad to publish his letter, the minister sent the following:

“DEAR SIR: This is to thank you for kindly acceding to my request to aid me in finding a wife, and you may publish my want. I desire a well-bred, cultured woman, healthy, cheerful, preferably not over thirty years of age. For publication let me repeat that I am an Episcopalian minister, graduate of a leading university, healthy, vigorous, bright, artistic, practical, affectionate, and very devoted where deserved.

“I send you credentials that will enable you to attest my position and social standing.

“Of course, all communications will be honorably treated by me as strictly confidential.”

In his letter, which was enclosed, the bishop wrote:

“He is in good health, very active, full of pluck and energy. He could be designated as a manly man. He is about thirty years old, and has no ties.”

A letter from M. L. Mackenzie King, director of the Rockefeller Foundation for Investigation of Industrial Relations in Ottawa, to the clergyman, which he sent to the mayor, said that Mr. King had received “an exceedingly kind and generous letter” on the clergyman’s behalf from her royal highness, the Princess Frederica, of Brunswick and Lunenburg, which letter was written “by her royal highness in her own hand.”

Barrie is a town of 5,500 people, with several manufacturing establishments and other industries, about sixty-four miles northwest of Toronto. It is the county seat of Simcoe County.

Any woman desiring to communicate with the clergyman on matrimony may address him at Post-office Box 701, Barrie, Ont.

Ate All the Rolls in Sight--Three.

The most striking effect of the eight months of war on Vienna has been the banishment of the roll which has made the Austrian capital famous. The Café Imperial on rare occasions with late coffee still serves white rolls. The other evening three were brought to a party of six, just as the party was finishing the meal, and an American girl, who came late, ate all three. The waiter’s voice was full of real pathos as he pointed out the girl to the manager and said: “That, sir, is the fraülein who has eaten three of our rolls. I can’t understand how she dared.” No other hotel serves anything but gray war bread, and the signing of peace is spoken of as the day of the restoration of the Vienna roll.

Fireman with a Tough Head.

Three thousand New Yorkers gasped when an iron shutter fell three stories, striking a fireman squarely on the head. Two minutes later an ambulance corps couldn’t find a fireman who would admit his head had been bruised.

Has Fireproof Cotton Press.

J. R. Roddie, a negro of Muskogee, Okla., has invented and obtained a patent upon an all-steel and fireproof cotton press. Not only does the new press obviate the danger of fire, but the claim is made for it that it can be operated by one man, whereas the present cotton presses require two and three men to operate, and that it can be built for one-half the cost of the presses now in use.

Offered Fifteen Cents to Settle.

An unidentified autoist, after running into a rig driven by Mrs. Frank Reynolds, Mount Holly, N. J., and tossing her and the horse several feet into a ditch along the roadside, stopped his car, turned around, and offered to settle the affair by paying her fifteen cents for a broken strap on the horse’s harness. She refused to accept his offer.

Mrs. Reynolds is a large woman, and received a jolting from which she will not recover for several days. No bones were broken. The horse was severely injured. Mrs. Reynolds secured the number of the machine, and will sue the driver for damages.

Rye Bread Fad Lifts German Flour Ban.

Some of the restrictions against the use of wheat flour in Germany for making bread and pastry have been removed, says a dispatch from Amsterdam. This step has been taken because of the increased consumption of rye bread, which resulted in the use of an undue proportion of that grain rather than wheat.

Lone, Timid Prisoner Released on Parole.

Elwood Armstrong, the sole prisoner in the Sussex County Jail, in Georgetown, Del., who recently complained to Sheriff Jacob West that he was lonely and afraid to remain in the prison at night without company, will no longer be afraid.

Recently he was paroled for two years to Charles S. Richards, of Georgetown, formerly secretary of state, and brother of Robert H. Richards, of Wilmington, formerly attorney general. This was done after he had confessed to the theft of five dozen eggs.

Accordingly the jail is now empty. The turnkey has taken a vacation, and the sheriff does not have enough to do to keep him busy.

Chickens are roosting in the cells, some of which are modern steel affairs, and the jail yard will soon be planted in early corn.

The dry forces say it is a concrete example of what happens when the liquor traffic is forbidden. This is a local-option section.

* * * * *

THE NICK CARTER STORIES

ISSUED EVERY SATURDAY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS

When it comes to detective stories worth while, the =Nick Carter Stories= contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of time so well as those contained in the =Nick Carter Stories=. It proves conclusively that they are the best. We give herewith a list of some of the back numbers in print. You can have your news dealer order them, or they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in money or postage stamps.

704--Written in Red. 707--Rogues of the Air. 709--The Bolt from the Blue. 710--The Stockbridge Affair. 711--A Secret from the Past. 712--Playing the Last Hand. 713--A Slick Article. 714--Taxicab Riddle. 717--The Master Rogue’s Alibi. 719--The Dead Letter. 720--The Allerton Millions. 728--The Mummy’s Head. 729--The Statue Clue. 730--The Torn Card. 731--Under Desperation’s Spur. 732--The Connecting Link. 733--The Abduction Syndicate. 736--The Toils of a Siren. 738--A Plot Within a Plot. 739--The Dead Accomplice. 741--The Green Scarab. 746--The Secret Entrance. 747--The Cavern Mystery. 748--The Disappearing Fortune. 749--A Voice from the Past. 752--The Spider’s Web. 753--The Man With a Crutch. 754--The Rajah’s Regalia. 755--Saved from Death. 756--The Man Inside. 757--Out for Vengeance. 758--The Poisons of Exili. 759--The Antique Vial. 760--The House of Slumber. 761--A Double Identity. 762--“The Mocker’s” Stratagem. 763--The Man that Came Back. 764--The Tracks in the Snow. 765--The Babbington Case. 766--The Masters of Millions. 767--The Blue Stain. 768--The Lost Clew. 770--The Turn of a Card. 771--A Message in the Dust. 772--A Royal Flush. 774--The Great Buddha Beryl. 775--The Vanishing Heiress. 776--The Unfinished Letter. 777--A Difficult Trail. 782--A Woman’s Stratagem. 783--The Cliff Castle Affair. 784--A Prisoner of the Tomb. 785--A Resourceful Foe. 789--The Great Hotel Tragedies. 795--Zanoni, the Transfigured. 796--The Lure of Gold. 797--The Man With a Chest. 798--A Shadowed Life. 799--The Secret Agent. 800--A Plot for a Crown. 801--The Red Button. 802--Up Against It. 803--The Gold Certificate. 804--Jack Wise’s Hurry Call. 805--Nick Carter’s Ocean Chase. 807--Nick Carter’s Advertisement. 808--The Kregoff Necklace. 810--The Copper Cylinder. 811--Nick Carter and the Nihilists. 812--Nick Carter and the Convict Gang. 813--Nick Carter and the Guilty Governor. 814--The Triangled Coin. 815--Ninety-nine--and One. 816--Coin Number 77.

NEW SERIES

NICK CARTER STORIES

1--The Man from Nowhere. 2--The Face at the Window. 3--A Fight for a Million. 4--Nick Carter’s Land Office. 5--Nick Carter and the Professor. 6--Nick Carter as a Mill Hand. 7--A Single Clew. 8--The Emerald Snake. 9--The Currie Outfit. 10--Nick Carter and the Kidnapped Heiress. 11--Nick Carter Strikes Oil. 12--Nick Carter’s Hunt for a Treasure. 13--A Mystery of the Highway. 14--The Silent Passenger. 15--Jack Dreen’s Secret. 16--Nick Carter’s Pipe Line Case. 17--Nick Carter and the Gold Thieves. 18--Nick Carter’s Auto Chase. 19--The Corrigan Inheritance. 20--The Keen Eye of Denton. 21--The Spider’s Parlor. 22--Nick Carter’s Quick Guess. 23--Nick Carter and the Murderess. 24--Nick Carter and the Pay Car. 25--The Stolen Antique. 26--The Crook League. 27--An English Cracksman. 28--Nick Carter’s Still Hunt. 29--Nick Carter’s Electric Shock. 30--Nick Carter and the Stolen Duchess. 31--The Purple Spot. 32--The Stolen Groom. 33--The Inverted Cross. 34--Nick Carter and Keno McCall. 35--Nick Carter’s Death Trap. 36--Nick Carter’s Siamese Puzzle. 37--The Man Outside. 38--The Death Chamber. 39--The Wind and the Wire. 40--Nick Carter’s Three Cornered Chase. 41--Dazaar, the Arch-Fiend. 42--The Queen of the Seven. 43--Crossed Wires. 44--A Crimson Clew. 45--The Third Man. 46--The Sign of the Dagger. 47--The Devil Worshipers. 48--The Cross of Daggers. 49--At Risk of Life. 50--The Deeper Game. 51--The Code Message. 52--The Last of the Seven. 53--Ten-Ichi, the Wonderful. 54--The Secret Order of Associated Crooks. 55--The Golden Hair Clew. 56--Back From the Dead. 57--Through Dark Ways. 58--When Aces Were Trumps. 59--The Gambler’s Last Hand. 60--The Murder at Linden Fells. 61--A Game for Millions. 62--Under Cover. 63--The Last Call. 64--Mercedes Danton’s Double. 65--The Millionaire’s Nemesis. 66--A Princess of the Underworld. 67--The Crook’s Blind. 68--The Fatal Hour. 69--Blood Money. 70--A Queen of Her Kind. 71--Isabel Benton’s Trump Card. 72--A Princess of Hades. 73--A Prince of Plotters. 74--The Crook’s Double. 75--For Life and Honor. 76--A Compact With Dazaar. 77--In the Shadow of Dazaar. 78--The Crime of a Money King. 79--Birds of Prey. 80--The Unknown Dead. 81--The Severed Hand. 82--The Terrible Game of Millions. 83--A Dead Man’s Power. 84--The Secrets of an Old House. 85--The Wolf Within. 86--The Yellow Coupon. 87--In the Toils. 88--The Stolen Radium. 89--A Crime in Paradise. 90--Behind Prison Bars. 91--The Blind Man’s Daughter. 92--On the Brink of Ruin. 93--Letter of Fire. 94--The $100,000 Kiss. 95--Outlaws of the Militia. 96--The Opium-Runners. 97--In Record Time. 98--The Wag-Nuk Clew. 99--The Middle Link. 100--The Crystal Maze. 101--A New Serpent in Eden. 102--The Auburn Sensation. 103--A Dying Chance. 104--The Gargoni Girdle. 105--Twice in Jeopardy. 106--The Ghost Launch. 107--Up in the Air. 108--The Girl Prisoner. 109--The Red Plague. 110--The Arson Trust. 111--The King of the Firebugs. 112--“Lifter’s” of the Lofts. 113--French Jimmie and His Forty Thieves. 114--The Death Plot. 115--The Evil Formula. 116--The Blue Button. 117--The Deadly Parallel. 118--The Vivisectionists. 119--The Stolen Brain. 120--An Uncanny Revenge. 121--The Call of Death. 122--The Suicide. 123--Half a Million Ransom. 124--The Girl Kidnapper. 125--The Pirate Yacht. 126--The Crime of the White Hand. 127--Found in the Jungle. 128--Six Men in a Loop. 129--The Jewels of Wat Chang. 130--The Crime in the Tower. 131--The Fatal Massage. 132--Broken Bars. 133--Won by Magic. 134--The Secret of Shangore. 135--Straight to the Goal. 136--The Man They Held Back.

Dated April 24th, 1915.

137--The Seal of Gijon.

Dated May 1st, 1915.

138--The Traitors of the Tropics.

Dated May 8th, 1915.

139--The Pressing Peril.

Dated May 15th, 1915.

140--The Melting-Pot.

=PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY.= If you want any back numbers of our weeklies
and cannot procure them from your news dealer, they can be obtained
direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as money.

STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Ave., NEW YORK CITY