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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 IPhen 1 darkened two of my front teeth with repealed applications of tincture id Iron, braided mv hair up cltuie am light and adorned my feet WiMra pair if broad-toed ' e.mlee' .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!"