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THE DIAMOND THIEVES
V.—The Boob from the Burdock Patch
THEY thought I wa* ma<l, Thjj
natlvpn of that one-hor*f towo
claarly took mp for a nut. Ant)
I can't altogether them, whan I
oom« to think It over, Kor It iloaan't
look like aee a girl lying flat
on her hark In the nun. blinking up :
the rlome of heaven an though ahe wer,
a ahe-Swaml holding converge with the
Infinite.
Hut It wasn't converse 1 was after.
It vu two much almpter things luat
freckle* and tan. I ha,| to hav< them,
and I’d only two day* to get them In.
IPhen 1 darkened two of my front teeth
with repealed applications of tincture
id Iron, braided mv hair up cltuie am
light and adorned my feet WiMra pair
if broad-toed ' e.mlee' . And, thus
•quipped, I made my way buck to the
and of my tdrth.
t went hack to the city looking no
much like the Queen of the ftulies that
* a one-legged small hoy leaned against
the Subway kiosk and called aloud to
the world: "Hay, Dutch, did youse pipe
th' boob from Ih' burdock patch?",
I had the consolation of knowing that
my destination was a rooming-house
at a certain number In Hast Twenty
fourth Street where my arrival had
been laboriously prepared for.
I'nder ordinal circumstances, of
course, the prosyect of being a slavey
In an F,«sl Hide rooming-house would
have proven anything but appealing
lo nil- Hut In this ease the circum
stances were far from ordinary. In
spector Sloan, in fact, had announced
thsl this same Twenty-fourth Street
rooming-house, Conducted by Mrs
M linger, held a carta Hi old Herman
who answered to the name of *>tto
Sehoenfeld. and {hat while nothing
definite as yet was known as to Schoen
fold's activities there seemed hi be
certain substantial reasons for Inves
tigating that mild-mannered old Her
man and his manner of life-
That was,all 1 knew. Hut It was
enough. Mrs Monger, I soon found
was not the type of woman to main m.v
task an siver-lugurlotisly • asy one. Un
der Her soft and billowy form, I saw.
resided a heart of granite. Hestdes
four long lllvhta of stnlrs to cllmlt.
there were beds to make, halls lo be
swept, washings to be carrjed to the
roof, towels In be Ironed, bells lo In
answered ami a hundred anil one other
odd errands to be i nn. I was Installed
In » sulphur-colored cubbyhole on the
top floor front.
To this, however. I offered no Objec
tion, for the one other im* upant of that
top floor was a mild-mannered old
oculist by the name of Sehoenfeld.
Ah for otto Sehoenfeld himself, he
gave every promise of proving about as
thy as a springbok. He vanished like
a shadow l found, at the first sign of
mv upprnOrh. it wasn’t until my
third day as a slavey. In fact, that I
got n good look at him.
It wnftt 1 ’- until the fourth day that
1 hod a chance to visit his quarters,
< limbing the tlue«- hum flight* with a
frugal parcel of laundry tor which I
was Instructed to collect thirty-two
< entft.* 1 cohtd hear the hum of nm
< hirers a J repealed ttiy knoeft on hi*
door. I could also hear the sound of
a holt hein * withdrawn as old Otto
answfred that knock.
His work, i soon discovered, involved
the continuous r<*> «dpt and despatch of
t ifefull box**d icclacle kolSes. Sonje
Ini ‘ they -afile by messenger, atm
Munetlrnea they came by % registered
special delivery. But nlways'they were
delivered personally at Otto Schoen*
fold's door. It was Impressed on mo.
from 1 »« fl *t that all utch pncktuie
were to go at one.* to that tone floor
optician. *
1 tin I two y* of toll before 1 found
ni s-ls presented with it chance of avail
■ * much ns |m nclrniliiK the enemy'* In
t ,i hment* My rhamv i'iihik with a
* tit ord<*\ from the mountainous Mr*.
M'.imn v. to wish S* Im* itfeld'M window*,
II • held out n coin to me on.! naked m*
I'd 11 1 run out to a. Third Avenue
it- . .iiul I > nut ■ cuttle lion* lor
hi* cauarie*.
The I,noli from the burdock patch
prided herself on seeing throutth lhnt
rum but rhe went without a murmur.
On me return with the cuttle-hone
Otto Wohoenfeld tv** nil ra*dv to re
can m Then he loehed mo Inahle,
fie 11 led out thpt he wanted me to be
■ «i, alii careful "f hla photo*rnph
plate i <m the window sill*
Along n. ~ wall run n wide work
bench. luMnlled under t\ils heneh wet*
* n electric dynamo, a huire galvanised
* in with a funnel hi Its lop obviously
to catch drip :iml a lldlca* bread-box
Ms i ir e j.t:i, !,. for glass i'fll[m and the
butch refuse in general. on the bench;
was :t lure.' smooth-rimmed (flndltonr :
■i no lot with the dynamo, with a
► mall drlli-cnn adjusted above It. Tht»
was plainly an automatic grtndlsig
wheel for shaping and polishing lease-
Against the opposite wall stood n
cabinet of ate k lenses. About tha
walls war., hung highly complex charts
of the human eye, and a rOuule of cal
endars bearing the name of manufac
turing opticians, together with an ad -
rertlstng sign announcing “The
S. to enfold Tone Will Save You*
When later m the .lav I communi
cated this Information to SUaut himself,
he aald “(lei hta finger-prints."
Another two day a allppcd by. how
ever before ,1 had a chance It pre
sented itself wtien Mrs. Monger sent
me up to the second floor back with a
box of collars to be delivered to the
vaudeville acrohat residing therein
Itul Instead of taking that box to the
second• floor back 1 climbed to the top of
the house and knocked on Otto Hchoen
feld'a door.
I gueaa them's for \ou!“
Not for me. teedle gtrl," he said with
good-natured fort-earanee, as he handed
the i»arvet hack to me I gaped at hint
gratefully, and harked away. Hut once
that door was relockrd 1 had the eat
tafartt«n of seeing the wrapping paper
about the collar-bo« dearly i nip rested
with the loops and whorls of a thumb
im| forefinger slightly stained with oil.
\nd before? I prowented the box to it?
rightful owner I'd torn away the neces
ary portion of wrapping-paper.
My n oon thin wan on its way to th«
Inspector’* office. Before night an an*
severing message had reached me. It
read: “Watch that man Ilk#* a hawk.'
So i watched Otto Hehoenfeld more
• loaely, and In doing so made * number
of discoveries. One was that the old
German had baldt of slipping out
late at night and remaining away for
i couple of hours. Another was that
the different-sized plate-holders which
in kept in » row on his window-ledge
were riot there for the printing of
| photographs. The order of their ar
rangement, in fact, was altered day by
day, and my Immediate, inference was
! that they were being used as an in*
genlotiM sort of signaling to the hack
window of some room or office on the
north side of Twenty-third Street. I
also discovered that, certain messengers
repeated their calls on Sehoenfeld and
showed every evidence of a desire to
avoid undue observation.
But my most urgent need, I began
to realize was to obtain admission to
that old German's workroom It could
neve r bo done, I also discovered, by
means of my “spider ” since an espe
cially Intricate spring-lock guarded that
precious door. Even Mrs. Monger I
found, was not. In possession of a pass
kev. It wasn’t until I carried the old
fox's fresh bed-linen up tb him and
stood waiting to carry away his own
soiled sheets and pillow-slips, that 1
• aught sight of his key-ring on the lit
tered work-table. I was chewing gun
at the time. I knew' I had only a mo
merit or two, before the old mar
•merged from the bedroom. But I
i idled over to the table, turned ove
the key-ring, picked out what I knew
•o he the kev 1 wanted, and promptly
took a gum impression of lt*igalnst the
palm of my hand. Having had n key
made from this impress, I entered the
room the nexf evening after the old
German had gone out.
I sat down on ids work-stool and
looked tiiore carefully over the grind
ing- wheel, studied out its connection
with th<* dynamo-shaft, and discovered
a connection which I couldn’t quite ac
count for. So I got down on my hands
and knees, peered under the table, and
found a swivel-shelf adjusted there,
hidden from the casual eye by a fringe
r.f pinked oilcloth. This ahelf, I next
discovered, swung outward and re
vealed an auxiliary shaft and bevel
m* a ring which connected with the
dynamo on the on*, hand and on the
other with a second grinding-wheel
This second wheel was much smaller
than the one above the table. But the
most important feature about it I saw
lay in the fact that It didn’t operate in
i vertical position, as did the wheel on
the table-top. It was geared and ad
justed to run In a horizontal position
it wag also geared to revolve at a very
high rate of speed. And this was the
sort of wheel, i knew, thtgt was used
by diamond-optter*, Just n*'the fixing
wav was used for embedding a stone
and thus holding it firmly while Its
facets were being ground.
Otto Sehoenfeld, f saw, was an op
tician only on pretense. Ills vocation
on a lens-grinder was merely a blind
He was a diamond cutter. Working in
secret i*t such a railing plainly implied
that his work wa* Illicit. And I saw.
m a breath what it all meant He wan
l lf “fence” for diamond thieves. Thf
| louses which were almost daily coming
I to him by mail and messenger were not
j lenses at all, hut stolen diamonds pried
out of their settings forwarded to an
| expert who examined them under a
microscope, removed all distinguishing
marks frm them, probably sp’dt them if
they were of a suspiciously large size,
completely disguised them hv re-cut
ting, and ent them out Into the w ? orld
again, to be sold freely and fearlessly.
| The Alliance office had been right. The
mild-eyed German had been a man well
worth watching.
A* t stepped out of that door, after
multiple sure (lie count was cleur. I
c.might thi sound of heavy atep* as
cending the atulr*. It sent me scurry -
1 itk tn a panic to my room, where 1
tumbled Into bed. clothca amt all.
I could hear the old Herman unlock
■ hla door Hnd move cautloualy above his
room. 1 could hear hint atep out Into
rlie narrow hallway attain and ap
purently atop at the stairhead to listen
Then h\ move I atealthlly toward nv
own (lia r which was without a look,
and pushed It an Inch or two further
open | kttVw he wm listening there
Ilia heavy breathlnit. In fact, w'n* at
advertisement, not only of some aeere
excitement hut slso of the fad th.v
he had climbed the stairs at a rate of
which was exceptional with him
So | untuned hta straining cars by pro
due In* ws regular and sonorous an tin -
ttatlffh of anorltur aa I was aide
The next night Schoenfeld went out
earlier than usual l felt that my
chance had come, and proceeded to act
on that conviction.
Once the old German was well out of
• Ight | was bolted in bis room and re
new In* my search of his possessions
there Anil nothing presented Itself to
reward that search until from under a
white enameled Iron bed 1 unearthed
[ an Iron-bound box about the slae of a
steamer-trunk, it* huge wrought-lron
lock »«* a formidable-looking one. hut
j»o old-fashioned In 11 simplicity that
five minutes with my “spider" had con
quered it and 1 was able to lift back the
heavy lid.
It was not until 1 delved below the
tr*> that I discovered anything of tm
l«ortance. Then things began to
happen
I first unearthed an automatic pistol
’ with a box of cartridges beside It, They
came a small pair of Jeweler'* scales
and a diamond-gage Then came row
| of small mantla envelopes, dosens and
dotens of them, eaoh ons dated and
bear'ng a number and an Inscription
which I was unable to decipher But '
i carefully lifted out one of these en-
velopes and peeked Into it. It held a
beautifully cut diamond of the first
water, about three carats in weight.
And envelopes I looked into con
tained on« or more of these stones
Beside them I saw an old cigar-box,
a much-handled box with faded labels
and a dog-eared revenue stamp encir
cling it. It was a humble enough look
ing container. Hut I blinked, involun
tarily at I lifted the lid, for it flasher
hack Jhe light In a thousand broken
prisms and I realized ag T stared down
at It that I w'a* looking at several hun
dred cut diamonds, diamonds of all
shapes and sizes, some of them pure
white, sfcme a canary yellow, some
with blue and pink, go me
cut rot#* and double rose, with two or
three cut briolette.
Under a little German textbook on
high explosives that I stumbled across
something which brought a catch in
my breath and a little tingle of triumph
up and down my backbone.
My discovery was nothing more than
a neatly kept pocket, notebook. But on
its orderly pages were entered lists of
stones received, with dates, and among
ihe addresses I found such names as
Angelo Pareto, Samuel Everson, August
Zwack, Fldelo Forcarino, Marie I>e«-
champs, and William flellstab, each
established as a trafficker in stolen
Jewels and each with his present
whereabouts di/ly revealed. There, be-
That AtPtATto
— ANO
LICiHT-
'or,, me, were the names that Sloan
ind hla agents had spent fruitless
v.-eka In trying to tlnd.
I wanted that hook and that list more
han anything else! ltut would It be
afe for me to carry It away?
I thought It over, there on mi knees
.■side (he open trunk, nnd decided to
estoro the book to Whore I hud found
t. I carefully replaced the tray re
locked the trunk, and pushed It back
to Its earlier posltlou beneath the
whit# enameled bed. I breathed more
freely when I was out of that room
and safely hack tn my own. There 1
made ready for the street, for 1 realised
that 1 had Imnortnnt business ahead
of me that night.
1 had reached the second floor when
1 found that another person was com
ing up those stairs and coming as
noiselessly as I was trying to go (ton
them This other person was a man
hut I'd been unable to catch alght of
hla face.
“Rseuaa, mces. but you know of man
call' Schoenfeld?*'
1 remained silent for a moment, and
then nodded my head In assent. For as
I heard that suave and full-toned voice
ask Its question I knew even before 1
saw the outlines of tip* olive-skinned
face In the clearer light from the hall
bracket that I was once more standing
face to face with Angelo Pareto.
"Then where mils' ! go flnda heem?”
Then he suddenly stood stock still, and
he smile died away from his olive
s'gjnued face He looked at me long
ind earnestly.
1 idao saw that he stood on higher
(round than 1 did, and this, I remem
■rred. would always be a dlsadvanta*.
• Copyright, lit 19. by the McClure newspaper Syndicate.
So instinctively I moved up the remain
ing three steps of the stairway, cling
ing to the banisters and watching him
at each step. It wasn't until I reached
the hall floor that he either moved or
spoke. •
“Escusa, please.” he said in his full
voweled J.atin intonation. “I maka one
be"g I fink I”
There was a note of irony, of mock
ery, I'm sure, in that apology of his
But it wasn't this that caught my at
tention. It was more the soft and
panther-like quickness with which n
stepped past me. down the stairs, took
the turn, and continued on his way tc
the street.
I knew, as I heard the street door
close that the cat was out of the hag
I could no longer pose in that house as
a boob from the burdock patch. I was
discqirercsd. Pareto and Sehoenfeld
were working together, hand and glove
and anything that whs to he done
would have to he done before those two
came together.
I a pretense of preparing for
bed hut it was a pretense and nothing
more. Then I unearthed my revolver
and slipped It under my pillow. Sleep,
I knew was out of the question. I sat
on my hard little bed with its hundred
and one humps and waited tor the un
expected.
And the unexpected came. It came
in the form of a stealthy step to my
1 »or. 1 was a mysteriously studied
3tep, a step that sent a little shiver
along my spine.
The next movement tool, the form o
a knock on my door, a carefully mod
orated and yet a distinct knock. 1
became louder anil more determined a:
It was repeated. And I could hear an
anxious and somewhat sutural voice
say "Hectic one!” twice over.
"What do you want?” I demanded.
"I vnnt to speak mit you, please,
retorted (he somber figure so close tc
me. "I4st“rt, leetle one. VIM you he!
an old! man In troutde?"
"What ca.i ! do?” 1 asked.
"I has vorked hard, h'etle one vorked
many years, anil I has saved vat 1
could. Tonight I belief somebody v
come to rob me of vat I has! Vat leetle
I has ‘s In a troonk In tny room Some
body vlll come to rob me of dat leetle.
tine ding you can do. You can keep
dat troonk of mine here, mit you. Here
under your bedt, It vlll be safe. And
den 1 vlll not be robbed!”
It took a moment or two for this to
sink in. The only trunk 1 had sight of
In Otto Schoenfeld's rooms had been
tli,. Iron-bound ehest .f o-k And that
Iron-bound chest held everything which
had brought me as a spy Into tha!
household
" Hut 1 haven't even a lock on my
door.'' I contended.
"I vlll pul one on" wras hla prompt
and somewhat unexpected reply
I barke,\ away from him a little. “1
wish I was home,” 1 said, with a well
simulated sob of distress
"1 vlll help you go dere ven die
trouble Is ofer.” he announced In his
heavy and Intimate whisper.
"Hut there's Mrs. Monger,” I still
pointed ou'. “She wilt send me away
without my wages,”
TWELVE DETECTIVE STORIES
By ARTHUR STRINGER t
t
'You vill has more from me, ven dis
is ofer, dan Mrs. Munger vill efer gif
you.” He shuffled back toward the
door, as though the entire matter were
finally settled. “So now I vill bring de
troonk and fix dat lock-bolt on dis
door of yours!”
I stood there listening as his quiet
yet heavy tread passed along the little
hallway wondering what my course of
action ought to be. Then I heard him
shuffling back along the hall, and whis
pering for me to turn on the light.
He had come in through the narrow
door sideways, for he was carrying the
oak chest by its two iron handles. He
toddled across the room to my iron bed
put down the chest, and carefully
pushed It under the bed. Then he
reached into his coat pocket and lifted
out a screw-driver and a wrought-iron
draw-bolt. Reaching into another
pocket he took out some
held the bolt against the edge of my
door, and proceeded to fasten It there.
On the frame of the door he screwed
a loop of iron into which this bolt could
slide. Then he closed the door and
slid the bolt back and forth several
times to make sure that it worked.
“Bock yourself In —so —and it vill be
all right,” he said with a reassuring
smile. And before I could say another
word to him he h#d slipped out through
the door and disappeared within his
own quarters. .
I promptly closed and oQlted my
door, crossed to the bed, and cautiously
pulled the mysterious chest a little out
'com Its hiding-place. The first dia
>very I made was that It was securely
looked. My second discovery was that
the keyhole of the huge lock had been
Hied with sealing-wax nnd stamped
while still fluid with a seal of oddly In
termingled initials.
As soon as I had dressed I moved
the trunk out, to test its weight. A»
l did so a sudden question crossed m.v
mind. How was I to be certa’n that it
really held what I thought it -held'.'
The fact that Its lock had been so care
fully sealed may have been only a
trick and the man against whom 1
was campaigning had shown himself
extremely resourceful In tricks. I re
membered a pair of nail-scissors in my
suitcase, got them out and with them
cut and gouged away the seaiing-wux
that covered th* lock-front. Once I'd
cleaned out that keyhole I got busy
with my spider. In two minutes I had
the ltd open, and the iray of lenses and
mailing boxes lifted away. The auto
matic pistol was gone, the rows of
mantla envelopes were gone, the boxes
of precious stones were gone, and the
notelxtok with its orderly row* of ad
dre«*e* wa* also gone. That tricky old
scoundrel had duped me, had fooled
me to the queen's taste. And It was
ten to one that I'd lost all chance of
redeeming the situation.
I rrept out to the old Germs n's door,
cautiously tried It, and found It still
locked. Then I stood at the head of
the stair*. listening.
As I did so 1 heard a sound, I'ke that
of a street-door being opened and
closed And *t almost the same time
l heard * second sound, only this one
came from behind Otto Schoenfeld’s
door.
I backed away, instinctively, until I
came # to the foot of the stairs that led
to the roof-hatch, for here the shadow
was deepest and a way to the open
stood closest behind me. Then I took
advantage- of that avenue of escape. 1
went up those narrow stairs, step by
step, holding my breath, for at the
same time that my straining ears
caught the sound of steps advancing up
through the house I heard Otto
Schoenfeld's door open and the snap
of the spring-lock which told me it
had been swung shut again. I recog
nized the stealthy shuffle as the old
German crossed to the head of the
stairs and listened there for a momen'
op two. But T took advantage of that
diversion to scurry up the reinain’n?
steps to the roof and slip out through
the door which I had com** 1 to know
tolerably w-ell in my daily activities
with Mrs. Munger’s clothes-basket.
My attention, as I did so was at
tracted by the winking of a flash
light from orje of the windows of the
Twenty-third street office-building fac
ing me. This reminded me of Schoen
feld’s window-sill arrangement of
plate-frames and of the fact that even
in that uncertain light I might be visi
ble to some unknown accomplice
signaling from that So
T crouched there behind a sheltering
chimney-tier, in the shadow of a wall
coping.
Mv eyes had got more used *to the
darkness by this time, and uncertain
is was the ligljt along that broken
‘ ier of roofs, I could make out what
was taking place so close to where 1
lay hidden I could see the roof deck
door swing back and the heavy figure
slowly shoulder out through it I knew
at a glance .that it was Otto Schoen
feld himself. From his left hand hune
a long and narrow laundry-hag, tied
at the top. In his right hand, which
he held doubled up close to his chest,
he held an automatic and as he backed
stealthily out through the narrow door
his attention was directed toward some
person or persons who seemed to be
threatening him from, within the house.
But that threatened interference, ap
parently was something only of the
instant. For the next moment he
dropped the bag to the roof, swung the
door shut, and wedged it in that posi
tion with a screwdriver which he took
from on e of his pockets. Then, after
pressing his ear against the door for
several moments, in an attitude of
listening, he caught up the laundry
bag again and crept along the roof
until he came to where the clothes
line swayed in the nigl# breeze. Tho
next moment I saw him cut this
clothes-line away from its stanchions.
He crept back to a row of three chim
neys in one that stood at the easterly
edge of the house-roof, pushed his bag
down inside the middle chimney and
let it hang there by the clothes-line,
after wedging the upper end of the
cotton rope in between two chimney
bricks whore the mortar had been
torn away. Then I saw him cut
off the few inches of rope that pro
truded, so that even in daylight small
evidence would remain to show the
spot where he had so ingeniously hut
involuntarily repeated a device which
is supposed to be peculiar to Santa
Claus alone.
Then my heavv-footed friend felt his \
way carefully to the hack of the roof. I
There I saw him reach into his pocket
and lift something out. Ak’hat he now i
held in his right hand a pocket j
flashlight and with it he was plainly
signaling to the window of his un- j
known confederate. The next minute,
in fact. I could see the answering wink
of a corresponding light in the fourth
floor window. Then the series of
flashes suddenly stopped and Otto
Schoenfeld himself crept cautiously
back to the roof door and leaned for
ward with his ear pressed against its
surface. For below stairs certain more
or less interesting things were plainly
taking place. T could hear the sound
of sudden and shattering blows, like
those an axe would make in smashing
in a door, followed by shouts and call*,
and the thump of hurrying feet. It
sounded to me remarkably like a police
raid. Schoenfeld was sitting on the
roof and engaged in solemnly removing
his shoes. This done, he pulled his
screwdriver wedge away from the door
where it had held that door shut,
picked *up his shoes and pussyfooted
cautiously across the roof until he
came to the very wall-coping against
which I pressed. He clambered grunt-
Inglv over the coping, within ten feet
of where I lay holding my breath. With j
his gaze still fixed on that door he
reached Into a pocket and took out his
automatic, which he placed carefully
on the top of the wall coping. I knew
better than to move. It was the man
on the other side of the wall, in fact,
who did the moving. •He had caught i
up his shoes in hne hand, and hjs pistol !
In the other, nnd was apparently about
to adventure further alopg those un
even housetops xfhen the roof-door
through which he had so recently
passed swung open with a thump. A
flashlight suddenly exploded on the!
darkness, a much stronger flash than j
that used by the German. It wavered
and danced Inquiringly about the
empty roof for a moment or two and
then went out as suddenly as It had
appeared. And still again I lay In my
sheltering shadow, scarcely daring to
breathe. Then I was startled by a
small sound that was made by a pair
of heavy shoes being placed on the
wall directly over my head. By rising
one elbow I could Just see the tops of
them. And I was hoping gainst hope
that the automatic would he placed
there beside them. But the second*
slipped away and no such movement
took place. Bo I quietly reached up
and lifted one of the shoes from It
resting-place. Sinking down again, I
threw that shoe lightly and silently out
; over the house cornice. A few seconds
i later I could hear the faint thud of
(sound as It struck the street pavement.
Then I reached up and took posses
, slon of the second shoe. I was about
to repeat the process with this, remem
bering that whatever happened a shoe*
less man would always be an easj
quarry to follow when a grunt of sur
prise sDunded from the wall-top no
three feet away from my head. I coul<-
hear the interrogative pawing of a hand
along the coping-tiles and the crackl«
of the tin roof as the body on thf
other side of the bricks scrambled tc
an upright position. To reach that
position it was necessary for the none
too limber-jointed German to grasp the
edge of the coping-tile. The extraor
dinary feature of the whole thing was
the fact that the hand Which pawed for
a clutch along the glazed corner of the
tile held an automatic pistol in its
fingers. I could not see it clearly but
I could see it clearly enough to under
stand what 'it was. And in my own
right hand I still that empty shoe.
But insttad of flinging it out into space,
as I had at first intended. I did some
thing quite d'fferent. lolding it by the
toe, I brought its heavy heel down with
all my power on the fingers clustered
about the pistol-stock. These fingers,
it so happened, rested on the thick
coping-tile as the blow' fell. As I
struck the second time I had the satis
faction of seeing the automatic knocked
free of the relaxed fingers. That side
blow was strong enough, in fact, to
send it rattling to the roof-tin, where
it skidded along the gentle slope and
dropped out of sight.
Our next movement was a prompt
even though an essentially ludicrous
one. We each rose to our feet, facing
each other across that narrow w'all-top
which came scarcely to my waist. And
we each— eagerly and
j reached out for the other.
I knew’ there could and would he no
half-measures in that house-top fight
with Otto Sehoenfeld. And mv knowl
edged keyed mo up to keep on fighting,
fighting like a wildcat/ even after w'e
had fallen to the roof together and tho
old scoundrel was doing his best to get
a stranglehold on my throat. I became
dimly conscious that we were rolling
over and over, like two wrestlers who
have gone to th e mat. I dimly remem
bered that we were on a house-roof,
some five stories above the street level.
Then I shut my eyes, and gave up all
effort, for I could feel my revolving
body roll off the edge of things and
drop into space.
It dropped inta space, but, luckily, it
was only four or five feet into space,
as far as the level of the next roof.
But I was uppermost when we struck
that roof and I rolled free cf my op
ponent without coming to a stop.
Then I sat up, dazed, a little puzzled
by the fact that this opponent of mine
did not start in pursuit of me. I
scrambled to my feet, groped my way
to where I saw a clothes-line swaying
on the roof, and fumblingly untied that
line. Then I crept over to my enemy
and tied first his feet together and then
his hands together behind his hack.
Then I clambered back across the roof,
climbing the wall-coping, crossed to the
chimney that heUl the laundry-bag,
an<i. carefully drew* that soot-covered
bag up from its hiding-place. Then I
staggered in through the roof-door and
down the narrow' steps, where Mr£
Munger was seated on the top step of
the house-stairs, weeping over the
wreckage of her top floor rear which
looked strangely as thougn a cyclone
had swept through it.
But I was more interested, Just then,
in my laundry bag, and I promptly sat
down on the very step so recently va
cated by the incoherent Mrs. Munger,
and investigated the contents of that
bagr. It held, I found, dozens and
dozens of small manila envelopes, a
worn cigar-box filled with small stones
which glittered and shone in the bald
electric light, two cardboard boxes
filled with equally iridescent pebbles,
and a notebook filled with orderly rows
of names and addresses. And I knew,
as I dropped these back in the soot
covered hag, that my night hadn’t been
an altogether wasted one. I had won!
I had obtained what I had been sent
after!
Otto Schoenfeld’* door la;- a battered
wreck along the aide wall against which
I leaned; a shcTwerlni!; of broken lenses
glistened along the floor; bedding and
boxes and clothing lay scattered about;
and. as though to give articulation to
that scene of ruin disorder, Mr*.
Munger's lugubrious wails rose louder
than ever from below stairs.
“Yuh come batterin’ down the doors
of a decent woman,” she lamented
aloud, “who’s always tried to keep a
decent house’ You’d be working more
to the point If yuh’d arrest that young
girl up there who’s stealin' and pickin’
her fill of other folks’ belongings?
That's what you’d he doin’!"
“What girl?” demanded a voice
which made me suddenly sit up. For I
knew It was the voice of Sloan him
self.
I was still sitting there when Sloan
appeared, short of breath, with weartnes*
and disgust on his heavy-lined 'face.
"Well, this Is a fine night’s work.
Isn’t It?" he demanded, In a tone of
wearied and unadulterated disgust.
I merely sat there grinning down 4ft
him. “What’s wrong with It?”
“Nothing, of course,’ “he retorteft
with heavy scorn “except that you
bungled your whole Job here, and
Wilkins bungled hlg raid, and Pchoen
feld got away, and the whole bunch of
Diamond Thieves has given the Alli
ance the all-night laugh again! That’s
the only thing that’s wrong with It!”
"Aren’t you leaving something out?"
I quietly asked of him.
’’What?" he barked. •
"This," I said as l swung the laun
dry-hag toM-ard him. “And Otto
Schoenfeld. who’s tied down up there
on the second roof, .’.nd If you can
trust Wilkins and Doyle to go to the
third office-door on the fourth floor of
the Twenty-third Street office building
| hacking on this dump, you'll probably
, gather In a sttek-up or two who've been
cay-catting there for our German
! friend! And I wt*h you'd order me a
taxi, for I feel like a welter-weight
who's taken the count, and am rather
I longing to get Into something loose!"