Chapter XXVI: The Dampened Letter

Shocked and shaken by the terrible fate which had overtaken Simmons, Grail and his companion could only stand staring silently at the flowing waters; but very shortly they aroused themselves from their stunned apathy.

Primarily it behooved them to make good their escape; for the Russians might return at any moment, and, finding them gone from the hut, set afoot a search, which, so long as they remained so near at hand, could not fail to result in their recapture.

With the possibility of such an encounter, they decided not to risk going back through the bottoms, but since the skiff that they had used the night before was close at hand, to take it, and row across the river.

Quickly they launched it, therefore, and Grail, who took the oars, forgot, under the desire for speed, how stiff and sore his arms were.

As he thought of what might have happened to Colonel Vedant while he lay a prisoner--nay, more, of what might have happened to Meredith, recalling Simmons’ interrupted disclosure--he set his teeth in grim determination, and pulled away so furiously that Cato was constrained to protest.

“Here, captain,” he urged, “you’ll wind yourself before we are halfway across. Take it easier.”

But Grail only shook his head, and dug at the water harder than ever. Nevertheless, the swift, eddying current of the river is a thing to test the mettle of any rower, and, despite all that Grail could do, the landing that they finally effected was far downstream.

A passing trolley car, however, afforded them quick means of returning to the city, and, boarding it, they rode until Grail sighted the signboard of a public telephone station, and leaped off to call up with fast-beating heart the home of Mrs. Schilder.

The voice of the French maid answered, and as she repeated his name it seemed to him that there was a distinct flutter of surprise in her tone.

However, he was too absorbed to pay any heed to that. “Is Miss Vedant there?” he inquired breathlessly.

“Mees Vedant? No.” Grail’s heart seemed to stop beating in the pause. “She and madame ’ave just gone out in ze automobile.”

He drew a long breath, and the icy hand which seemed to have been clutching at his throat relaxed. His fears and misgivings, then, in regard to Meredith had all been in vain; she was safe.

What he would have thought if he had known that Marie lied when she said that Meredith was not in, and that immediately on leaving the phone Marie hastened wide-eyed to her mistress, is another question.

Also, he might have indulged in some reflection, if he had known that immediately on receiving the maid’s news, Mrs. Schilder herself hurried to the instrument and called up a number not listed in the book, but recorded at the office as belonging to Dabney.

Ignorant of all this, he went out almost buoyantly to rejoin Cato, and catch the next car headed for town. They had to wait a little for it to come along; so, with one thing and another, it was three-quarters of an hour before they arrived at the fort.

The evening had settled down early with a lowering sky, from which fell every now and then a spatter of raindrops, and the thunder was growling sullenly away in the distance; so, although it was still hardly sunset, darkness had practically fallen, and the sentinel at first failed to recognize them as, muddy and bedraggled, they approached the entrance.

At the sound of Grail’s voice, however, he stared in incredulous surprise, and seemed about to say something; then recovered himself and gave the salute.

“There was a note came for you, sir,” he stammered, “just about five minutes ago; but I didn’t know if--didn’t know when you were coming back, so I told the boy to take it over to the guardhouse.”

“Thank you,” replied the adjutant, and, stopping on his way to his quarters, possessed himself of the missive.

It was slightly damp to the touch, he noticed, but he thought nothing of that on account of the rainy evening. Tearing it open, and holding it up to the light when he reached his rooms, he pursed his lips as he read:

“DEAR GRAIL: I am dictating this to you at Schilder’s office,
where I have just received some astounding information which completely
exonerates you from the unjust suspicions some of us have
entertained toward you, and also points the way toward the speedy
recovery of Colonel Vedant.

“Should you return to the post before eight o’clock, will you not
accept our apologies, and come at once to Mr. Schilder’s residence
to join the officers in a conference we are holding there, to
decide on how best to use the intelligence at hand to Vedant’s
advantage? Faithfully yours,

APPLEBY.”

Grail studied the letter. There seemed no reason to doubt the genuineness of the bold signature; it was Appleby’s in every line and flourish. Neither could he question that the thing had been typed at Schilder’s office. The chipped “m” and blurred “D” spoke for themselves.

Then he smelled and tasted of the paper on which it was written, but an incipient head cold, as a result of his night spent out on the bottoms, had somewhat blunted those senses, and he could not be sure of the results. The letter seemed, on the face of it, to be straight.

Still, to make certain, he called in his “striker,” and asked if he knew where Major Appleby could be found.

“I understand, sir,” said the man, “that he and all the other officers at liberty have gone out to Mr. Schilder’s.”

Grail turned to Cato. “That seems to settle it,” he announced. “As soon as we can get brushed up a bit, we’ll call a taxi and be off.”

TO BE CONTINUED.

EXCEEDINGLY CAUTIOUS.

A gentleman once told a strange story, one that, like so many other true stories, was difficult to believe.

His auditors showed by their manners that they doubted, and so he appealed to another gentleman who had been present at the time to confirm the truth of his statement.

To his amazement, this man replied stiffly, and said:

“I regret that I do not remember the circumstances to which you allude.”

The next day both these persons met, and the first gentleman said:

“But can’t you really remember those extraordinary circumstances?”

“Oh, yes,” replied the second.

“Then why the dickens did you say you didn’t, when I asked you about them before?” inquired Mr. One indignantly.

“Ah,” replied Mr. Two, “I saw that the company, all of them took you for a liar, and I wasn’t going to be taken for another!”

LOST AMONG THE ALLIGATORS.

Many years ago I was journeying by steamboat up one of the many bayous or creeks in the southern part of the State of Louisiana.

In the course of the morning the steamboat drew up at a wooding station to take in a supply of fuel, and, led by curiosity, I went ashore with a lad about my own age.

Growing tired of watching the negroes carrying the split wood on board, we yielded to the temptation to venture a little way into the forest.

A squirrel crossed our path. We gave chase, and the frisky little animal led us on till we found ourselves out of hearing of the hissing of the steam and the voices of the negroes at the woodpile.

Suddenly a bell rang; this we knew to be the signal for the steamer’s departure, and were horrified to note how faint and far-off the sound appeared. However, shouting at the top of our voices, we turned back.

Through brambles and briers, thorns and thickets, climbing over fallen logs and splashing through marshy places, we scrambled and leaped.

Then we distinctly heard the coughing of the steam and the dash of the paddle wheels. The boat had started! The sound grew more indistinct, and our hearts sank as we heard them rapidly die away in the distance.

We thought it would be an easy thing to find the river; yet our efforts were utterly in vain.

After a time, no river appearing, we realized the fact that we were lost!

An hour or two passed, and we became sensible of the pangs of hunger. We searched our pockets, and discovered that one biscuit was our entire stock of provisions. This we divided and gloomily ate.

An incident now occurred which showed that our position had its positive dangers. A fallen tree lay before us.

Upon mounting the log, I espied, coiled in many folds, with its rattle erect in the center, a huge rattlesnake.

Just as I was about to leap down, my eye caught its villainous glance. Fortunately I knew enough of serpent lore to recognize this formidable enemy, and, with a shout and gesture, prevented my companion climbing the log.

Nor were we a moment too soon. The creature had evidently observed us, for, as we fled, we heard his warning rattle, and momentarily expected him to spring over the log, in pursuit.

As the sun drew westward, we busied ourselves with picking out a tree suitable for camping purposes.

I helped my companion to mount one, which was thick and bushy, in the branches of which he soon lay down.

I stayed below to watch for a last chance. It seemed a useless thing to do; yet, though hoarse with shouting, I once more lifted up my voice.

Was it a fancy that there was a reply? We could not be mistaken, for both of us heard a faint, far-off response.

We waited with intense anxiety the approach of the stranger.

At length a gun barrel emerged from a great bank of rushes, followed by a rough, hunter-looking man.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“We came ashore from the _Abeille_ at the wooding station, and have lost our way.”

“Whew!” he whistled, and rested on his gun; then scanned us both narrowly, for by this time my companion had slidden down from his post among the branches.

“Guess you had better come with me,” he said; and, shouldering his rifle, he turned and pushed his way through the reeds.

Soon we saw through the branches the glitter of water, and came out upon the bank of a river, smaller than that up which we had passed in the steamboat in the morning.

Here, concealed in the rushes, was a canoe, which he quickly launched, swinging the head round to where we were standing.

Without speaking, he motioned us to get into the frail craft, then followed himself, laying down his gun and taking up a paddle. With a few strokes he drove the canoe out into mid-channel.

Very soon the night fell, and the fireflies darted among the bushes on the shore. We now heard the barking of dogs, deep-toned and long-continued.

Ten minutes more and the canoe was laid alongside a shelving bank, some five or six feet high. Our boatman, quickly leaping ashore, fastened the chain of the canoe to a stump near the water’s edge, and bade us disembark.

We followed our protector as best we could in spite of the growing darkness, till, after traveling a few hundred yards, as far as one might judge in such a blind journey, we halted before a dimly visible log house.

The man unfastened the door, whereupon two huge deerhounds leaped out, frisking and barking, and, in their canine fashion, expressing the height of joy upon the return of their master.

Upon perceiving us, they showed signs, lively and unpleasant, of doubt and animosity, till they were roared down by the deep voice of our conductor.

A match was struck and a pine knot kindled. Heaping some dry wood upon the hearth, the hunter speedily had a blazing fire, whose ruddy glow showed up distinctly the rough interior of the house.

One of the first acts of our protector was to unroll a bundle from the corner and spread upon the floor a buffalo robe, upon which he bade me sit.

From the blazing fire he lit a rude lamp, which he hung upon the roof. Then he produced his iron pot, and sharpening his knife, with the pot in one hand and the knife in the other, went out into the darkness.

He soon returned with water from the river in the pot, and in his hand a piece of deer meat.

The pot was set upon the fire; the meat, cut into pieces and powdered with salt, put into it, and a handful of meal added, making a savory compound, which to us hungry boys seemed a delicious supper.

The serving of the meal was primitive. There was but one plate in the establishment; this the owner relinquished to his visitors, after having heaped it with smoking food, himself feeding leisurely from the pot.

We learned that our entertainer was an Englishman, who, in consequence of liberal views on poaching matters, had thought it more prudent to put the broad Atlantic between himself and his native village.

Here, deep in the backwoods, he lived a Robinson Crusoe kind of life, miles away from human habitation, supporting himself with his gun.

During the course of the evening we had been conscious of a growing babel of sounds, which arose on all sides in the great, dark, outside world, and which deepened in intensity as the night wore on.

Every now and then a hoarse bellow as of some mammoth bull that, slumbering, had been awakened by intolerable agony, came from the alligators that abounded in the surrounding swamp.

We had noticed that the door of the hut was a crazy concern, loosely hasped, and with an unfastened padlock on the outside. Inside, its only protection was a wooden bar, which shot so smoothly in its grooves as to suggest that a strong-snouted animal could easily nose the door off its hinges.

Upon communicating our fears to our host, we produced upon his grim visage the nearest approach to a smile that we had yet observed.

He seemed entirely at his ease.

He had strange tales, such as that one day he came home and found an old alligator asleep on his hearth; how that rattlesnakes had frequently crept in through the interstices of the logs; and how that almost every evening after dusk, at certain times of the year, wolves prowled around.

Then our protector informed us that we must be stirring with the dawn. He would take us in his canoe a distance of ten miles, whence, by crossing a narrow tongue of land, we might reach a steamboat landing.

With lively interest we watched his preparations for the night. He tried the wooden bar placed across the doorway. The logs were put together on the hearth. He then bade us wrap ourselves as well as we could in our buffalo robe; put out the lamp, and then lay full length on the floor, near the hearth, and was soon fast asleep.

Wearied as I was, I could not sleep. The external noises grew louder and louder. The alligators waddled up and down the acclivity upon which the house stood.

At one time no fewer than four of these ugly reptiles were prowling around our little sanctuary.

Meantime, our host had fallen into the profoundest of slumbers, the audible proofs of which had in them some obscure consolation, for I could not but reason that a man who could sleep under such circumstances, and sleep so soundly, could not but be assured that there was no real ground for alarm.

So the event proved. Confused thoughts of rattlesnakes, alligators, wolves, steamboats that devoured, and rattlesnakes that coughed and paddled, clouded my brain until I fell off into an uneasy slumber, gradually deepening into utter unconsciousness.

When we awoke our host was standing in the open doorway, drying himself with a strip of canvas, after his matutinal wash in the river.

He had put a can of water over the fire, and, bruising some coffee berries between two stones, he made us a not unacceptable beverage. Biscuits, coffee--without either sugar or milk--and the considerate relics in the iron pot from his last night’s supper, made our breakfast.

We were soon on board the canoe, and were rapidly drifting downstream. The distance was quickly accomplished, and connection with civilization rapidly made; but I shall never forget that night spent among the alligators.

A NEW MOSQUITO TRAP.

He had the appearance of having traveled a good deal and was very talkative.

I incidentally touched upon the subject of mosquitoes.

“Mosquitoes!” he said; “why, my dear sir, up the Kongo I’ve seen them as big as bumblebees. One night, I remember particularly, they were out on the warpath, seeking whom they might devour, and were so outrageously lost to all sense of respect for me, that I was compelled to take refuge under the mosquito bar or curtain, although it was only just after dinner time and I wasn’t a bit sleepy. There were two candles burning on the table, so that I could see pretty clearly through the thin muslin bar, and by and by I noticed one of the indefatigable gray cusses, in prospecting around, had discovered a hole about the size of a shilling in the bar. He hummed joyously and then sailed away and triumphantly broke the news to all his friends and relatives, and in five minutes the whole community had clustered round the hole. They marched in silently and formed up in battalions, awaiting the signal to fall to. I had been imitating the sailor’s parrot by thinking a good deal, and superior intellect prevailed; for, as the last of the procession entered, I slipped out from underneath, took a cork from the brandy bottle, stopped up the hole, and slept outside. The way those penned-up insects raved and swore when they saw themselves circumvented was simply bloodcurdling. Fact, sir. What! going so soon? Well, I hope to meet you again some day. Good-by.”

THE CAP FITTED ALL.

“You told me that you were going to a spiritualistic séance last week,” said young Hepburn to his chum, McCabe. “Did you go?”

“Oh, yes,” replied the other; “I went.”

“Well,” said his friend inquiringly, “anything out of the way happen?”

“Well, rather,” said McCue. “We had spirit rapping and table moving and other things, besides, and the whole affair went off splendidly until the medium went into a trance, and then announced that he was the spirit of a man who had had his umbrella stolen, and that the thief was in the room.”

“And what happened then?” queried Hepburn.

“Well,” replied his chum, “the whole party made a dash for the door, and I was afraid that if I stayed behind I might be taken for the thief, so I retreated with the rest.”

* * * * *

THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.

Forks Save Keeper Clawed by Lion.

Attendants armed with pitchforks saved the life of Carl Wilson, an animal tamer, when Prince, a Nubian lion owned by the Levitt & Meyerholz circus, leaped at him as he was putting the beast through its paces at Jersey City.

Wilson was rehearsing four lions when Prince became enraged. As the trainer advanced to the corner of the cage where it crouched, the beast sprang, Wilson fell backward, and the lion clawed his face and tore his arm.

The lion was growling over the prostrate trainer, when attendants, standing outside of the bars, prodded the animal with long-handled forks. Prince turned on them, giving Wilson opportunity to crawl to a door on the opposite side of the cage. He was taken to the Jersey City Hospital.

Prince has a reputation as a bad lion. Six other trainers have met with more or less serious injuries at his teeth and claws.

Scottish Officers Make Ammunition.

One hundred members of the Glasgow Officers’ Training Corps have begun a self-imposed task of making shells, in response to the appeal from Earl Kitchener for unlimited amounts of ammunition.

These volunteers belong to the best families of Glasgow, and most of them will go to the shell factory in their own automobiles. They have undertaken to work six-hour shifts after a preliminary course of training.

Hamilton’s Oath Sold.

The original oath taken by Alexander Hamilton on his admission to practice as attorney and counselor in the supreme court and as solicitor and counselor in the court of chancery in New York, a one-page folio, dated Albany, July 12, 1783, brought the top price at the opening session of the sale at the Anderson Galleries of Part V. of the library of the late Adrian H. Joline, of New York. George D. Smith paid $125 for the document.

The same buyer gave $100 for the original manuscript petition of Colonel John Brown to “Horatio Gates, in the Army of the United States of America, commanding at Albany,” requiring General Arnold’s arrest on thirteen charges. Mr. Smith also gave sixty dollars for a four-page letter written by Washington Irving.

Auto Puts Engine Out by a Blow.

A great, overgrown Erie express train near the Garfield, N. J., railroad crossing struck a poor, little, aluminum-bodied automobile with all its might--and the Erie locomotive was put out of business and had to be hauled back to the repair shops.

That was all there was to this New Jersey incident, except for the fact that two men who were seated in the automobile don’t know just how they escaped injury.

Antonio Parapeto, of Monroe Street, Garfield, N. J., and John Russo, 430 Midland Avenue, also of Garfield, climbed into the touring car “to take a little spin.” While approaching the Erie Railroad crossing at Garfield, the autoists failed to see No. 9 Erie Express, bound for Chicago, until they were only thirty feet from the tracks. Both men jumped.

The automobile went ahead and was smashed to splinters.

The locomotive came to a halt very soon. The metal work of the automobile had cut a steam pipe near the locomotive’s pilot and rendered it helpless. Traffic on the line was tied up for an hour.

Parisians Lionize Pau.

An incident in Paris illustrates the popular regard for General Pau, who has been spending some time in that city since returning from his political mission to Petrograd and the Balkan capitals. Persons who saw the general enter the Red Cross branch in the Place Madeleine, waited in the street to see him come out. A crowd soon collected. A young girl borrowed a hat and quickly collected enough money in the crowd to buy for the general a huge bouquet of red, white, and blue flowers.

General Pau appeared to be deeply moved on receiving the flowers, and kissed the girl. The crowd cheered him, and as he drove off in his motor car he responded by shouting: “Vive la France!”

Husband Rued His Bargain.

Belmar, N. J., women want to know the name of the wife who obtained from her husband funds for a new Easter bonnet and two dollars, besides, as a church contribution.

Women of one of the borough’s church societies each undertook to earn a dollar. They were to tell how they made it. Some baked cakes and one earned her share by deciphering a tombstone. The prize went to the woman who bargained with her husband for a dollar to trim her own Easter hat.

The husband gave her a dollar not to wear the hat and bought her a new hat besides.

Girl Arrests Hat Critics.

Miss Hannah Goldstein, of 1841 Prospect Place, East New York, chased two young men whom she accused of criticizing her hat into a candy store near her home, and there, after her screams had brought a crowd, exercised the right of any citizen to make arrests.

She took both into custody with the support of the onlookers, and escorted them to the Brownsville station, where they were booked on a charge of disorderly conduct.

The prisoners said they were Louis Markowitz, of 1589 Prospect Place, and Murray Zepkin, of 1858 Prospect Place.

Boy in Storage Three Days.

While the police of New York searched three days for James Kelly, the fourteen-year-old foster son of Mrs. Thomas Riley, of 158 Kent Street, Williamsburg, the youngster was locked in the subbasement of the building in which he lived. A workman for a storage warehouse, which occupies the lower floors, found him unconscious.

A general alarm was sent out for the boy, and it was only by accident that the subbasement was opened, as goods had been placed there to remain several months.

At the Williamsburg Hospital, where the boy was revived, he said he went to the cellar to look for something, and found the door closed when he attempted to leave. He screamed and beat upon the walls until he became unconscious, he said. The vault was so far below the ground that his signals were unheard.

England Aids Belgians

The English National Committee for the Relief of Belgium, organized as an auxiliary of the American Relief Fund, has made an excellent start. Although its appeal was issued a few days ago, $400,000 has already been subscribed.

Many Anglo-Americans have contributed, among them Countess Strafford, who sent $500. The success which the appeal has met is regarded in London as a wonderful tribute to the American organization.

Land French Boy’s Valor.

Jacques Goujon, seventeen years old, has been mentioned in military orders, and a military medal has been given him. The youth killed two German sentinels, blew up, with the aid of bombs, two quick-firers of the enemy, was captured, but succeeded in escaping, carrying with him at the same time a machine gun of the Germans to the French lines. Later, during a German counter-attack, Goujon’s right arm was blown off by a shell.

The military authorities at Lyons, Goujon’s home city, had refused to accept him for military duty on account of his age. He went to Paris, where he was accepted because of his robust constitution.

Weds Invalid Rescuer.

Frank A. Seabert, seventy-seven, former superintendent of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, has fulfilled what he declared was a debt of honor, when he married Miss Jeannette A. Thomas, forty-seven, the woman who saved his life recently. The ceremony occurred in the Pasadena Hospital, Pasadena, Cal.

Recently Miss Thomas threw herself upon a discharged employee of Seabert’s in the Seabert mansion at Sierra Madre, who had attempted to kill her employer. She was shot in the spine, and physicians say she is paralyzed for life. For five years Miss Thomas had been Mr. Seabert’s private secretary. The first Mrs. Seabert died four years ago.

Hen Hatches Turtle Brood.

Thomas Warren, a fox hunter, of Winsted, Conn., who recently found a nest of turtles’ eggs in a field, placed them under a setting hen as an experiment. Seven of the eggs hatched. The hen’s unusual offspring still nest among the feathers.

Gave Three Sons to France

Three of the four sons of Charles Legrand, who entered the army, have been killed in action.

M. Legrand, who was formerly president of the chamber of commerce and was active in the project for exchanges of commercial students between Harvard University and the French Commercial University, has been notified that the third of his sons had been killed.

Use Name of Spy to Spy on Germans.

Anton Kuepferle, the American citizen of German birth who is held for trial in London on a charge of supplying Germany with information concerning the movements of English troops and ships, is said to have been the means of affording English detectives much inside information concerning the workings of the German spy system, with headquarters in Holland.

Kuepferle’s arrest was kept a secret for nearly two months. Meantime it is reported that Scotland Yard men were using the prisoner’s name as a means of communicating with German officials in Holland. In Kuepferle’s baggage, sheets of paper used for invisible ink were found. Imitating Kuepferle’s handwriting, the detectives were said to have written letters to German spy chiefs, between the lines of which they traced in invisible ink all sorts of questions asking further instructions. A rapid-fire correspondence is reported to have continued for many weeks.

The prisoner is charged with having visited many English and Irish ports to investigate shipping and report to Germany the movements of transports. Dublin, Liverpool, and Belfast are said to be centers where he was active. His capture took place the day following the declaration of the German submarine blockade, February 18th.

New Record Made by Wireless Phone.

A new distance record for wireless telephony was established when P. N. Place, superintendent of the Scranton division of the Lackawanna Railroad, spoke from Scranton, Pa., to Frank Cizek, superintendent of the Syracuse division, who was in Binghamton, N. Y. The messages traversed sixty-three miles through a mountainous country.

The achievement was made more notable by the fact that the messages exchanged were not brief greetings, but business communications, regarding the movement of trains. The Lackawanna trains between Scranton and Binghamton moved for several hours according to orders sent and received by the wireless telephone.

Every word transmitted by the wireless was heard distinctly, according to L. B. Foley, superintendent of telephone, telegraph, and wireless of the Lackawanna, who was in charge of the experiment. Mr. Foley was jubilant over the achievement. Experiments with wireless telegraph and telephone have been conducted by the Lackawanna under his direction for more than a year.

The more recently recorded demonstration previous to this was on February 9th last, when wireless-telephone conversations were carried on between the station at Binghamton and a moving train at Lounsberry, N. Y., twenty-six miles away. The immediate object of the Lackawanna’s experimenters now is to increase the distance between a fixed station and a moving train to fifty miles, and that between two fixed stations to 150 miles, the distance between Hoboken and Scranton.

“I firmly believe,” Mr. Foley said, “that we shall be talking from our station in Hoboken to our station in Scranton within the next three or four weeks.”

The Lackawanna has constructed wireless stations at Hoboken, Scranton, Binghamton, and Buffalo, and the ultimate object of its experiments is to have all points of the entire line between Hoboken and Buffalo in constant communication by wireless telephone. Simultaneously with the experiments in talking between fixed stations, progress is being made in the development of wireless telephony between a fixed station and a moving train. The experiments are being conducted by the Lackawanna’s own men working independently of other agents. They use the Marconi receiver and a transmitter devised and constructed by themselves.

The Lackawanna began with experiments in wireless telegraphy from a moving train to a fixed station, and this was developed until the wireless-equipped train was always in communication with one of the fixed stations along the line, but with the advance of wireless telephony the development of this branch of communication was appreciated, and the efforts of the Lackawanna were bent to its perfection.

The value of wireless telephony has been proved on the occasion of every blizzard that has destroyed or impaired communication by wire along the railroad lines west of New York. In several instances the Lackawanna has succeeded in getting its trains in operation many hours ahead of other railroads because of the efficiency of its wireless.

Owes Life to Albert.

A wounded soldier in the Nantes Hospital tells how King Albert saved the life of a French officer. During a furious bayonet charge, a lieutenant ventured too far into the German lines, and was brought down by a rifle shot. He was grievously wounded, and evidently was thought by the Germans to be dead. The scene of the conflict shifted, and though the officer was very weak from loss of blood, he dragged himself out of the range of fire and then fainted.

On regaining consciousness, he saw two Belgian officers beside him, one with a lantern and the other dressing his wounds. They carried him to a motor car in the road. Arriving at the field hospital, near the general headquarters of the Belgian army, he got a better view of the two officers. One of them he recognized, saluted, and started to speak, but the king hushed him.

“All right, my brave hero,” he said; “save your strength; the world can’t afford to lose men like you.”

Woman, 100, Leads in Dance; Blesses Sturdy Ancestors.

Doubtless, as she says, Mrs. Emily Mayhew Osborne’s sturdy health heritage from New England ancestry has something to do with her century’s lease on life. “I have lived to enjoy vigorous old age because of the clean, moral life of my forefathers,” she said.

Nevertheless, when the orchestra tuned up for the one-hundredth-birthday celebration at 660 East 164th Street, New York recently, Mrs. Osborne led her fifteen descendants in a tango step. Four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren joined in the applause which greeted this skillful attempt to reconcile Puritan ancestry with modern liberalism.

One hundred years rest lightly on the shoulders of this direct descendant of Thomas Mayhew, the first governor of Martha’s Vineyard, who received a royal grant of Nantucket Island in 1641. She is hale and hearty, takes a long walk every day, and sews several hours at a stretch.

“Yes, I use glasses,” commented Mrs. Osborne, anticipating the next question, “but understand, now, that I don’t have to use them. They rest my eyes--that’s all.”

When she came to New York City from Columbia County, a woman of one and twenty, Manhattan Island above Fourteenth Street was mostly pasturage. “Yes, Broadway was nothing but a pathway for cattle, and Fourteenth Street was a little lane!” she exclaimed, in a flash of reminiscence.

After the death of her first husband, John Wilson Higgins, Mrs. Osborne married Samuel Osborne, who died many years ago. Of the eight children she has borne, two are living, Miss Emily Higgins and Mrs. Victor Smith.

Beginning in the afternoon, Mrs. Osborne’s birthday party lasted into the evening, with friends and neighbors dropping in to leave flowers and extend congratulations.

Respirator Appeal Swamps British.

One day’s appeal through the London press has given the English army all the respirators needed, and the press bureau issued the following notice:

“Thanks to the magnificent response already made to the appeal in the press for respirators for the troops, the war office is in a position to announce that no further gifts of respirators need be made.”

“It looks,” says _The Daily News_, “as though every woman in England who could find time for it made respirators. No doubt reports from soldiers who had suffered from fumes had a tremendous effect in prompting the instant answer to the appeal of the army, but the response was of such an extraordinary nature as to set up a record.”

Great Waste in Potatoes.

Doctor Carl L. Alsberg, chief of the bureau of chemistry in the department of agriculture, said, in a talk to the New York Society of Chemical Industry at Rumford Hall, 50 East Forty-first Street, New York, that millions of dollars’ worth of potatoes and grain were destroyed by excessive moisture in this country every year, when they could be utilized for making alcohol and other purposes.

The United States, he said, had relied on Germany for a supply of potato dextrin used as an adhesive, when it could easily be obtained here by simple processes from the potatoes which are annually allowed to rot in the Pacific coast States.

America Leader in Tobacco Trade.

The United States holds first rank among the nations of the world as producer, exporter, importer, and consumer of tobacco. Our production of leaf of all sorts averages somewhat more than 1,000,000,000 pounds a year, having a value to the producers of about $100,000,000.

An enormous quantity is exported--considerably more than a third of the production in normal years--and the sales of tobacco abroad are excelled by only seven other products. They exceed in value such items as cotton manufactures, electrical machinery, paper and paper products, and leather and leather manufactures.

Taking the export figures of the department of commerce for the eight months ended with February this year, the exports of leaf tobacco amounted to 221,129,872 pounds, valued at $28,077,684, and of manufactured tobacco were valued at $4,209,054.

The dislocation of trade resulting from the war has had its effect on tobacco sales, however, as on most other businesses. Unmanufactured leaf has suffered most. It is practically impossible to ship leaf to some of the belligerents, while factories in the warring countries that are accessible are not taking their usual supply because of insufficient labor. Manufactured tobacco is holding its own, due to the increased demands from the Far East and Oceania. In the actual war zone the increased consumption by the men in the field is more than offset by the economies that must be practiced by noncombatants.

Oldest Circus Man Dead.

Charles H.--“Pop”--Baker, seventy-nine years old, known as the oldest circus man in the world, died recently at the county infirmary in Toledo, Ohio, from the infirmities of old age. Baker brought out George Primrose, the minstrel, and twelve famous side-show curiosities.

Baker was born in Buffalo. He was an intimate friend of President Cleveland. He was in the circus business fifty-nine years.

Triplets Ride in Baskets.

Doctor George G. Hartzel, of 1460 Bryant Avenue, and Doctor Edward C. Joyce, of 1926 Clinton Avenue, New York, took to Bellevue Hospital a set of triplets. The little ones were born to Mrs. D. C. Attridge, of 826 East 180th Street. Believing they would have better care in the hospital, the physicians carried the babies from The Bronx to Bellevue in a clothes basket in an automobile.

The three children, shortly after their birth, were christened Margaret, John, and Dominick. The father declared that if the triplets had been born in Ireland he would have been entitled to a queen’s bounty of $2,500.

Tale of Two Sharks, One Caught by Tail.

Commodore Merrill B. Mills, of Detroit, has brought his yacht _Cynthia_ to New York from Florida waters, and when he reached the Hotel Wolcott, his friends took it that the season down there was officially closed, though partisans of Doctor H. W. Lawton, whose exploits in the fishing line have often crept into print, insisted that this could not be said until the doctor arrived in New York in his palace-car automobile, an event which has not yet been chronicled. At the same time, the stories of the recent exploits of Commodore Mills that gained currency soon after his arrival indicated that he has had an unusually satisfactory season.

In the first place, there was the rumor that Commodore Mills had landed some of the biggest tarpon that have risen to cheer the visitor to Florida in many years; and the tales of his other catches would fill an aquarium--if the fish did not. But the story that went furthest was the tale of how Commodore Mills, just before giving the skipper of the _Cynthia_ the word to “head her for the Hook,” had cast a tarpon line overboard, and had hauled up, single-handed, a pair of life-sized sharks, one of them with the head of a man in its mouth.

The story of the catch, as it was given by a supposedly veracious person at the Wolcott--Commodore Mills not being then available--ran this way:

“The morning was uncomfortably hot, and the commodore, who had come to the conclusion that if he didn’t hurry North, the hot season would get here before him. However, he decided to cast a line in the ocean for a farewell bit of sport, and the yacht being some distance from the coast at the time, she was hove to, and her owner cast a tarpon line over the taffrail.

“Immediately, it seemed, came a tug at it. The commodore began to play his catch as he would a tarpon, but the line did not behave in the same way. What was on the other end, just tugged, and before he could get a half hitch on a convenient cleat, the line had run out almost its full length.

“Then the yachtsman pulled and pulled, but the fish would not come any nearer. First one husky sailor after another was called to assist, but there was no result. Finally the commodore had an idea. Surely there could be nothing smaller than a whale on the end of that line--a remarkably stout one it was, by the way, as you will see. He was anxious to get it aboard his vessel, if possible.

“He decided there was only one way this might be accomplished. So he had the end run through the block on the end of one of the davits, and it was gradually worked in far enough to enable one end to be taken to the winch. Then the winch was worked just as if they were raising the anchor, only very slowly.

“The catch kept pulling, but it could not compete with machinery. In less than four minutes, those who were watching saw the head of a shark at the end of the line. Some twelve or fourteen feet back of this a tail was thrashing the water vigorously. It looked as if a twelve or fourteen-foot shark had been hooked.

“As the catch came nearer, to the surprise of all on board, there were two sharks, for a second had caught hold of the tail of the first. With boat hooks and strong ropes, the two were made fast and hauled over the side. When the fish were examined, the head of a man was found in the jaw of the shark that had taken the bait.”

Inquiries brought out some slight revision of this story. It is true that Commodore Mills caught two sharks, one of them weighing 970 and the other 750 pounds, but it was affirmed that they were caught separately. As for the detail that one had a man’s head in its mouth, it was learned that the big shark did fill that description, but only momentarily, when Commodore Mills had a sailor stick his head between the jaws of the fish. The mouth was so large that there was six inches to spare on every side. The shark was quite dead at the time.

With these slight corrections, said the authority, the story was true.

Students Needed to Fight Typhus.

Professor M. I. Pupin, the Servian consul general, through the New York Committee of Mercy, has issued an appeal to American college students who own or can operate an automobile, to join a volunteer corps to fight cholera and typhus, as well as to convey food to the civilians isolated from the food camps in Servia.

The Committee of Mercy has appropriated $10,000 for the equipment of a special sanitary camp for the college men, in which they will be entirely protected from the dangers of infection.

Professor Pupin’s intention is to form a Servian organization of college men similar to that now in France, and one that will relieve the suffering that is not caused by lack of food, but by the lack of families for carrying the food from the food camps to the isolated sections.

The Committee of Mercy asks that those who intend to aid the sanitary equipment of the college volunteers send contributions to August Belmont, treasurer of committee, 200 Fifth Avenue, New York.

“Home-run” Baker Gets $10,000 Job.

“Home-run” Baker, who refused to play with the Athletics until Connie Mack gave him more money, and who recently signed to play with the Upland team of the Delaware County League, was recently engaged by John P. Crozer, of Upland, a wealthy farm owner, at a salary of $10,000 a year, to manage Mr. Crozer’s extensive stock farms, according to information received from Harrisburg, Pa. Baker will prepare the Crozer prize stock for fairs and exhibits, and will seize the present opportunity, it is believed, to familiarize himself with a business that will bring him greater financial returns than baseball.

Connie Mack refused to comment on Baker’s latest move other than to declare he had never said he intended to blacklist the famous third baseman. “I want to say, however,” continued Mack, “that I never want to see Baker again. He has treated the club unfairly, and I have no time for a man who is unfair in his dealings.

“So far as preventing Baker from coming back to the Athletics is concerned, I have not that power. Our contract is mutual, and he can force me to take him, but my sincere hope is that he sticks to his word and remains away. A man who breaks his word once is likely to do it again, and once and for all, I don’t want Baker on my club. We miss him greatly and want his services, but I prefer a losing club to having men whose words are unreliable.”

United States Seed Wheat for Spain.

The Spanish government has announced its intention of purchasing a large quantity of American wheat for distribution among the Spanish agricultural syndicates for seeding. This information is contained in a report received by the state department from Carl Bailey Hurst, American consul general at Barcelona. Spanish experts regard American wheat as superior to other varieties.

Culebra New Gaillard Cut.

President Wilson has signed an executive order changing the name of Culebra Cut, in the Panama Canal, to Gaillard Cut, in honor of the late Colonel D. D. Gaillard, who died from disease contracted while a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission.

England Losing Great Pictures.

A committee of trustees of the English National Gallery appointed in 1911 to inquire into the retention of important pictures in England, has issued a blue book, in which the committee states that the exodus of pictures from private collections is proceeding at such a rate as to cause serious apprehension. Masterpieces of the greatest importance have gone either to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum, in New York, among public collections, or to private collections in the United States.

The committee recommends that the government be asked to increase the ordinary Parliamentary grant from five thousand pounds yearly to not less than twenty-five thousand pounds, or, alternatively, that the money be raised by taxing the proceeds of works of art sold at public auction and by appropriating death duties paid on works of art. It is further recommended that the trustees and director of the National Gallery shall approach owners of pictures which it may be desirable to secure for the nation and endeavor privately to obtain the first refusal.

The committee regards it as inadvisable to legislate on the lines of the Italian law for restriction or prohibition of export of works of art. It is also considered inadvisable to put an export duty on pictures or works of art.

An interesting proposal is that some form of order, or decoration, should be conferred on those who generously endow or augment national art collections.

Wages Rising in England.

War as a wage raiser has brought to a considerable proportion of the laboring classes in England some compensation for the increased cost of living. Social workers estimate that the increased cost of living averages at least ten per cent, while the average increase in wages is not over five per cent. The plentiful supply of overtime work available in most trades makes it easy for most workmen to more than even matters.

The upward tendency of the English workingman’s wages has been very marked. According to the official board-of-trade reports, the increases granted during the month reached a total of nearly $365,000. The number of workpeople who shared the increases was 440,000.

Increased wages in some of the leading branches of industry are summed up briefly as follows:

Railwaymen--All-around increase of seventy-five cents a week.

Longshoremen--Increases varying from twenty-five cents to two dollars a week.

Policemen--War bonus of seventy-five cents a week upward.

Carpenters--War bonus of one dollar to one dollar and fifty cents a week.

General Laborers--Increase of seventy-five cents to one dollar and fifty cents a week.

Miners--Employers generally offer ten per-cent advance in pay; miners demand twenty per cent.

Postal Employees, Including Telephone and Telegraph Workers--Increase of one dollar a week has been demanded.

Gas Workers--Increases averaging one dollar a week.

Bakers--Increase of one dollar and twenty-five cents a week asked, but employers’ offer of seventy-five cents accepted pending negotiations.

Textile Workers--Bonus for overtime work in factories doing work on army clothing.

Boot and Shoe Workers--War bonus of five to ten per cent granted in some places.

Coppersmiths--Average wage before war, nine dollars; now twelve dollars and fifty cents.

Clerks--Some increases; 180,000 grocers’ assistants have asked a readjustment of wages; similar movements pending in other branches.

Engineering and Building-trade Workers--Some sections have secured substantial increases.

The number of unemployed in Great Britain shows a large falling off.

Reform Ousts Tiny Cripple from Stand.

“Little Georgie,” the tiny hunchback negro, who for nearly a score of years has had the privilege of conducting the bootblack stand in the basement of the war department, in Washington, D. C., has to move because of the reforms inaugurated by Colonel W. W. Harts, U. S. A., superintendent of public buildings and grounds. Georgie is heartbroken, but, with a catch in his high-pitched voice, he said:

“Well, I made out pretty well to stay as long as I did, but I can’t see how my little bootblack stand here in the dark alcove bothered anybody very much!”

In addition to the stand, Georgie conducted a little store for the sale of sweets to the employees of the war department. He served also as guide to the interesting portions of the building and the various exhibits of uniforms and models of warships.

Weird Old Man of the Pine Mountains.

The railroad now building between Callaway, Ky., and Beattieville, Ky., will penetrate the wildest and remotest fastnesses of the Appalachian Highlands and open up to development the vast stores of coal, iron, and other minerals now buried in their recesses; but it will also destroy much of the glamour of romance and fable that has so long hung over and been associated with it.

In the past the mountain region of Kentucky has been a world unto itself, preserving, almost intact, the manners, customs, and characteristics of the early settlers of almost two centuries ago. Feuds have been handed down from father to son for three generations, after the manner of the Scotch Highlanders, and many strange superstitions, among others a belief in haunts, wizards, witches, and warlocks still hold in the bosoms of many of the mountain dwellers.

Wise men, seers, and hermits still hold forth among the Pine Mountains, and the greatest among these--and regarded by many as being able to peer into the beyond and read the future as an open book--is “Old Norrie Parysons,” the wise man of Plinlimon’s Heights, at the base of which the village of Calloway is located. His dwelling place is a large cave, fashioned by the hand of Nature, but it resembles not the cell of an anchorite, for it is fitted up comfortably, almost luxuriously.

Old Norrie is a man of remarkable and striking appearance. He is the product of the melting pot into which has been cast the blood of the Cymbrian harper, the Highland seer, and the Aztec priest; for his mother, an Indian princess, could trace her lineage back to the days of the Montezumas, when her ancestors, high priests of an ancient faith, possessed secular and ecclesiastical, temporal and sacerdotal authority over unnumbered millions. His father traced his ancestry back to Cadwallon, the last and greatest of the Cymbrian, or Welsh bards, whose only daughter married a celebrated Scotch warlock.

The hermit, seer, prophet, or whatever we may choose to call him, is no ignorant and uncultured boor. He is now old, almost beyond the memory of years, and his once raven hair is white as the driven snow, but his form is still erect, his step free, neither is his natural strength abated. His eyes are somewhat dimmed and bleared from much watching over midnight furnaces, and have the weird, pathetic look seen only in eyes that have gazed into mysteries unlawful for men to know; but still in their slumbrous depths can be discovered flashes of latent flame that, at times, seems to pierce into the most secret thoughts of the beholder.

Norrie’s parents settled here and made their home in the cave now occupied by the son in the early part of the nineteenth century. Where they came from or their purpose in locating in these remote fastnesses was never known. That they were cultured and educated far above the condition in which they dwelt was apparent even to the few rustic mountaineers who resided in this vicinity. Their cave was furnished with almost Oriental splendor, and negro slaves waited upon and served them.

The son, a small boy when they made their advent here, was waited upon by a young negro boy who was deaf and dumb. About the year 1850 Norrie’s parents died, and leaving the cave in charge of the deaf-and-dumb negro, he started forth upon his wanderings, rumor said, to add to the store of occult knowledge he had obtained from his parents, who had long been regarded by the simple rustics as possessing uncanny powers and holding communications with unhallowed spirits.

For more than thirty years he was a wanderer in the Orient, learning the wisdom of the East in the temples of India and Persia.

The cave contains strange reminders of his travels. Standing in one corner is an orrery such as, in the long ago, Chaldean sages studied the blazonry of the firmament in the Valley of the Euphrates. There is a furnace, crucibles, retorts, mathematical instruments, and astrolabe in juxtaposition with a Jacob’s staff carved out of ebony wood and fashioned in the form of a serpent.

On a table lies the latest works on Christian Science, side by side with Egyptian manuscripts, written on papyrus, and tablets from Babylon and Nineveh carved with strange hieroglyphics, together with the Bible, the Talmud, and the Koran.

That he will prove the last hermit of Pine Mountain is probable, but in the meantime his vogue is immense and he is consulted by hundreds, who place implicit faith in his utterances.

Sees Wolverene Possibilities.

Speaking of cows, Bro. Gibson, a Michigan boomer, believes in the dairying possibilities and hog-raising future of the Wolverene State.

“Why,” says John, “we have in our section eleven cheese factories and one hundred creameries. It is impossible to describe the grand future of our dairying interests. If all the cows in our State could be put into one cow, she could graze off the equator, while with her tail she could swish the icicles off the north pole. If all our hogs were turned into one hog, he could dig the Panama Canal with three roots and one grunt.”

* * * * *

TOBACCO HABIT

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E. J. WOODS, 230 K, Station E, New York, N.Y.

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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--The 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. 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.

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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 Kidnaped 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 Message. 132--Broken Bars. 133--Won by Magic. 134--The Secret of Shangore. 135--Straight to the Goal. 136--The Man They Held Back. 137--The Seal of Gijon. 138--The Traitors of the Tropics. 139--The Pressing Peril. 140--The Melting-Pot. Dated May 22d, 1915. 141--The Duplicate Night. Dated May 29th, 1915. 142--The Edge of a Crime. Dated June 5th, 1915. 143--The Sultan’s Pearls. Dated June 12th, 1915. 144--The Clew of the White Collar.

=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