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SYNOPSIS.
The story opens with a scream from
Dorothy March in the opera box of Mrs.
Mlssloner, a wealthy widow. It Is oc
casioned when Mrs. Missloner’s necklace
breaks, scattering the diamonds all over
the floor. . Curtis Griswold and Bruxton
Bands, society men in love with Mrs. Mls
sloner. gather up the gems. Griswold
steps on what is supposed to be the cele
brated Maharanee and crushes it. A Hin
doo declares it was not the genuine. An
expert later pronounces all the stones
substitutes for the original. One of the
missing diamonds is found in the room
of Elinor Holcomb, confidential compan
ion of Mrs. Mlssioner. She Is arrested,
notwithstanding Mrs. Misstoner's belief
In her innocence. Detective Britz takes
up the case. He asks the co-operation of
Dr. Fitch, Elinor’s fiance, in running
down the real criminal. Britz learns that
duplicates of Mrs. Missloner’s diamonds
wore made in Paris on the order of
Elinor Holcomb. While walking Britz is
seized, bound and gagged by Hindoos. He
is imprisoned In a deserted house, but
makes his escape. Britz discovers an In
sane diamond expert whom he believes
was employed by either Sands or Gris
wold to make counterfeits of the Mission
er gems. Two Hindoos burglarize the
home of Sands and are captured by Britz.
On one of them he finds a note signed
by "Mlllicent” and addressed to ‘'Curtis.”
Britz locates a woman named Mlllicent
Delnroche. to whom Griswold has been
paying marked attentions. The Swami at
tends a ball at Mrs. Missloner’s home, but
learns nothing further about the dia
monds. Britz disguised as a thief, visits
the apartment of Mlllicent. He finds a
box that once contained the missing dia
monds, but It Is empty. The detective
concludes that the Hindoos have antici
pated him In the recovery of the Jewels.
He visits their quarters and has an ex
citing experience with a snake. The
Bwarnl returns all the real diamonds to
Mrs. Missioner. except the Maharanee,
which he insists must be returned to the
temple in India, whence it was stolen.
Britz gives his theories to the chief of po
ll i . showing how Griswold has devised
the whole plot, placing the blame on
Uinor.
CHAPTER XXlV.—Continued.
"Oh, that was only a precaution on
their part. They took the chance I
might have recovered the Maharanee,
I suppose. Maybe they expected to
find in my possession something that
would give them a clue to the where
abouts of the stone. Then, once they
got me, they thought they might as
well keep me out of the running until
they got what they wanted. It was
no part of their plan to let me find
the jewels and turn them over to
Mrs. Missioner.”
"You had a close call there, lieu
tenant,” observed the physician.
“Close enough,” said Britz calmly.
"But it’s all in the day’s work."
As Britz finished there was a timid
tap on the door. In response to Man
ning’s curt “Come in!” Donnelly and
Carson crossed the threshold, and
did their best to stand at ease in
front of the lieutenant’s desk.
“You sent, huh, for us. Chief?”
“Yes,” said Manning. “Lieutenant
Britz wants you to attend to a little
matter for him.”
“Yes, Donnelly,” said Britz coolly;
"if you have nothing better to do just
now, suppose you run up to Curtis
Griswold’s apartment, and tell him
the Chief wants to talk to him.”
“Suppose he won’t come,” said Don
nelly, who evidently did not yet sus
pect it was desired that the clubman
tie taken into custody.
“Bring him, then,” said Britz. “You
haven't forgotten how to show a gen
tleman down to Headquarters, have
you?"
| Donnelly winced under the lieuten
ant’s scorn, and Carson turned gray.
“And you, Mr. Carson,” said Britz,
renewing his instructions, “be good
enough to take a trip to the Hotel
Renaissance, and ask Mrs. Delaroche
to come down to see us for a little
while.”
Carson, in the crisis, felt he could
not be too precise.
, “Suppose she declines?” he asked.
“Bring her!” said Britz.
Fitch laughed aloud at the con
sternation in the faces of the two de
tectives. It was manifest both Don
nelly and Carson were so far from
the facts in the mystery that not only
had neither of them dreamed of ma
king a prisoner of Griswold, that
suave society man who had volun
teered so much assistance to them in
their efforts to weave a web of cir
cumstantial evidence against Elinor
Holcomb, but that they were abso
lutely Ignorant of the existence of
such a person as Mlllicent Delaroche.
They shuffled their feet with increas
ing nervousness as they felt the eyes
of their chief upon them. Donnelly
shot a glance of ill-repressd hatred at
Britz as the lieutenant, at ease In his
revolving chair, faced the crestfallen
detectives with a satirical smile.
Once or twice Donnelly essayed to
speak, but each time he caught the
frozen expression on the faces of the
Chief and Britz, and the words died
In his throat. Nothing remained save
for the two brilliant crime-hunters to
carry out the lieutenant’s orders. As
they turned to go their discomfiture
was augmented by the real detec
tive's mock solicitude.
“You’ll find it an easy job, boys.
Just ask the two of them to come
down here quietly, and if they don’t
want to come, make ’em. Show them
your shields, you know, and all that
sort of thing.”
When they had gone, Britz in
dulged his amusement to the extent
of a laugh; Fitch joined him, and
'fanning, after a brief attempt to
keep his face straight, also laughed
heartily.
CHAPTER XXV.
The Attack on the Yacht.
Britz. Manning and Fitch walked
briskly around the corner and board
ed at Bleecker Street a subway train,
i At Fourteenth Street they caught the
first uptown Van Cortlandt express
s of the morning, and they made good
’ time to Two Hundred and Twenty
- fifth Street. There they left the
1 train, and walked quickly along the
edge of a grassy bluff overlooking
1 the government cut that now con
’ nects the Harlem and Hudson rivers
1 by a more direct route than the old
Spuyten Duyvtl creek. A few hun
’ dred yards beyond the low fence that
■ separates the meadow from the street
: they came upon a man standing close
behind a large tree. He was screened
’ from the little street and from the
' bridge that spans It by thick under
brush. When he sighted Britz he
, lifted his hand warningly and beck
oned. The three men went within
the shelter of the bush.
“Anything new, Gordon?” inquired
! ; Britz.
"Yes,” said the other detective,
' “They have gone aboard.”
“Where’s Hicks?”
“Down there near the water, piping
them off."
Tfe’they"bn" deck?”
“No, in the cabin; they seem pret
ty busy, too.”
Gordon looked at the sky. It was
growing brighter every minute.
Stepping with most solicitous ten
derness on the grass, and avoiding
every leaf and twig that might give
forth a slight crackle, the four men
made their way slowly among the
bushes to the spot where Hicks, lying
at full length with his head only a
little way above the ground, was
waiting and, at the same time, watch
ing a naphtha yacht of more than
ordinary size. Not a sound broke the
silence of the early morning. The
ground was bare of snow, the grass
almost as green as in late summer,
and only the chill in the air and the
nakedness of the trees indicated the
winter season. The sun was just
rimming the far shore of the sound.
A pioneer ray gilded the Spuyten
Duyvil headland, caroming thither
from the crest of Marble Hill.
After a whispered conference with
Hicks, Britz slipped his hand into a
side pocket of his coat, and took oi^
something that glittered In the sun
shine. At a single word from Britz,
Gordon and Hicks wormed their way
along the bank until they were at the
bow of ’the yacht. Britz, Fitch and
Manning stayed near the stern. Sud
denly the lieutenant fired a shot over
tne yaciit tnat echoed metallically
.from the cliffs, and at the signal, all
five of the attacking party leaped
aboard the yacht, their feet striking
the polished deck with a concerted
thud that must have made those with
in the cabin think they were feeling
the first shock of a landslide.
The five men on the deck gave
those below little time for analysis of
their sensations. Gordon and Hicks
raced around the wheelhouse to the
starboard side of the craft, and
dashed down the companionway from
that direction, while Britz, Manning
and Fitch hurled themselves into the
port entrance to the cabin, alighting
on a richly carpeted floor a dozen feet
below the deck. Two shots followed
before the police party could seize
Prince Kananda and Ali, who, facing
in opposite directions, stood at bay in
the center of the cabin. Britz and
Gordon struck upward the revolvers
of the Indians as the triggers were
pulled. The bullets flew high, harm
ing no one. Behind Kananda and Ali,
using a table as a breastwork, stood
two more Hindoos, both of them
strangers to Britz. They were un
armed save for wicked-looking Malay
krises they gripped nervously as they
crouched in waiting for an attack.
Britz and Manning jammed their pis
tols into the faces of the men with
the krises; but the Indians, undis
mayed, made savage slashes at them
with their razor-edged long knives.
Gordon and Fitch sprang upon the
kris-bearers, Hicks with a pistol in
each hand standing off Kananda and
AH. Again and again the Hindoos
slashed at their assailants, and that
they did not split at least one head
was due to the wary agility of the
four who attacked them. Shots from
the detectives' revolvers would have
brought them down at such short
range, of course; but the policemen
seemed bent on capturing them alive,
and Fitch was not a man to have re
course to bloodshed until he could be
certain it was inevitable. Britz and
Manning waited their chance. After
futile swings at the Indians, ' they
closed with them, clubbing their re
volvers and bringing them down with
crashing force on the gaudy turbans
of the Orientals. A few seconds of
that vicious pounding stunned the
Hindoos, and it was then but the
work of a moment to slip handcuffs
on them. Kananda and All, in the
meanwhile, had made no further at
tempts to use their pistols. They
■ read death in Hicks’ eyes as he con
fronted them with his long, blue
। gleaming barrels aimed , straight at
them. Their hesitation was fatal to
their hope of escape. For even as
All, doubtless at a whisper or signal
from the Prince, swung himself about
to Interpose himself between Hicks
and the petty potentate’s son, while
I Kananda turned for a dash to the
.kJ < /cM
“You Sent, huh, for Us, Chief.”
deck, Britz, Fitch and Manning, leav-’
Ing Gordon in charge of the captured
Indians, surrounded the other two
and disarmed them. Breathing heav
ily from the short but sharp struggle,
the captors marched their prisoners
to the far end of the cabin and seated
themselves between the Hindoos and
the doors. They were still on the
alert to prevent an attempt to es
cape on the part of Kananda or All.
The other two Indians being hand
cuffed, It was less likely they' would
make a spurt for liberty, but the po
liceman took no chances.
“Now, Mr. Kananda,” said Britz to
the Prince cheerily, “I reckon we’ll
have those diamonds.”
‘ Perhaps you will be good enough
to explain,” parried the Prince with
his most blase Cambridge manner.
“Explain nothing!” shouted Britz.
“I’ve fenced with you fellows long
enough. We've caught you now and
we want the goods.”
“Since you are resolved to carry
this miserable farce farther,” said the
Prince, “I suppose We shall have to
submit.”
“You’ll submit to a search, that’s
what you’ll do!” interrupted Man
ning. “I don’t blame you, Britz, for
losing your temper with this crowd;
fresh is no name for it.”
The Chief nodded to Gordon and
Hicks, and they began a search of
the four prisoners that left nothing
undone to find the diamonds. When
they had examined every article of
the Indians’ apparel, from the Orien
tal costumes of the low-caste Hin
doos to the conventional attire of the
Prince, they looked to Manning for
further instructions, for they had
found nothing.
Then all four of the detectives, with
the Chief and the doctor, ransacked
the cabin, fore and aft and from star
board to port, as thoroughly as the
Indian burglars had gone through the
apartments of Griswold and Sands.
They even lifted the carpet on all
fl K
y
B
The Scowllna Orientals Were Penned In a Comer.
• sides, rolled the heavy furniture
about, and prodded every locker. In
vain. If the diamonds were on board
the yacht, they were not in the
saloon.
Gordon went to the wheel, while
Hicks, who had some knowledge of
machinery, watched and regulated
the feed of the motor. Silently as a
giant swan, and as smoothly, the
yacht threaded the cut to the broader
stretch beyond the Spuyten Duyvil
creek and, passing under the long
railroad bridge on which the famous
little Dolly Varden train toddled from
bank to bank, swung downstream in
the Hudson and headed for the Bat
tery. The yacht was off Grant’s Tomb
before an idea occurred to Fitch, for
which Britz not only gave him full
credit, but blessed him heartily.
“See if any one of those men is
wounded, lieutenant,” Fitch suggested.
Britz and Manning looked the Orien
tals over, and made them walk up and
down the cabin. The Prince halted
slightly in his gait for an instant, then
recovered control of his muscles, and
strode as steadily as his low-caste
compatriots.
“That man has the Maharanee,”
Fitch declared. “You’ll find it in the
calf of his leg.”
Britz seized Kananda by the collar
and shook him savagely.
“If you don’t give up that diamond,
your finish will be the operating
table,” said the detective.
Kananda forced another laugh.
Britz, Manning, and Fitch seized him,
and baring his leg to the knee,
searched for marks of a wound.
Strangely enough, there ras a little
lump in the calf. The detectives
looked at the doctor.
"Here’s a slight protuberapce, doc
tor,” said Britz. “I guess the rest is
up to you.”
Fitch took out a pocket instrument
case, and selected a tiny knife. Ka
nanda, on the point of beginning an
other struggle to escape, was choked
o^fr^R
and held powerless by Britz and Man
ning. Gripping the Prince’s leg firmly,
the doctor worked his scalpel gently
into the small lump In the flesh —a
wound so recent that it had been
bound together by pieces of court
plaster the color of the skin. Then he
triumphantly extracted something
which, though ruddled, sparkled in the
gleam of the incandescent lamps with
which the cabin, despite the daylight,
still was illuminated.
“The Maharanee diamond!” cried
Britz and Manning together.
CHAPTER XXVI. “
Mutual Explanations.
It was breakfast time, and Britz and
Fitch after their exciting night were
hungry enough to eat a Hindoo, but
they did not stop to show considera
tion to their inner men.
As he expected, Britz found Gris
wold and Mrs. Delaroche in the big
reception room of the Detective Bu
reau with the detectives who had ar
rested them waiting ponderously near
the door, and an interested desk lieu
tenant looked up from his work to
hear the denouement of what Police
Headquarters had come to regard as
the “star” case of the year.
Britz walked slowly to his own
room, where the scowling Orientals
were penned in a corner, while the
chief of the detectives and his two
subordinates were taking well-earned
rest in the lieutenant’s easy-chairs.
Britz talked to Manning in whispers,
then went to the telephone and called
Mrs. Missloner’s house.
“Good morning, Mrs. Missioner!” he
said over the wire. “This is Lieuten
ant Britz—Britz, of Headquarters. I
called you up to tell you we had ar
rested the jewel thieves and —beg par
don? What dfd you say—your jewels
have been returned to you? That’s
strange. I have one of them in my
pocket now. How's that? You say you
have all your jewels? Then whose is
this —the Maharanee? Pardon me, Mrs.
Missioner, I don’t quite understand.
We have the thieves here and the big
gest of the diamonds. What did you
say—you don’t want the thieves prose
cuted? Why, really, Mrs. Missioner —
yes. of course—yes, I am talking from
Police Headquarters’—they are here
now, all the thieves, lot No. 1 and lot
No. 2. You say you don’t understand?
Well, I tell you, Mrs. Missioner, per
haps you had better run down here.
Yes, I know it is a great deal to ask,
but I have worked pretty hard to find
your diamonds —yes, day and night.
The Chief thinks ft would be better If
you could arrange to come down. It
won’t take you long; you need not stay
more than five minutes. Oh, but you
don’t know who the thieves are; yes,
you have guessed in part —not alto
gether; but I think you’d better-come
down, Mrs. Missioner; you will be in
terested, I am sure. How’s that? Bring
Mr. Sands? By ail means, if you wish.
Yes, I will await you—then you’ll
come? Thank you very much, Mrs.
Missioner; Good-by.
"Now, what do you think of that?”
said Britz to Manning. “After all our
work, Mrs. Missioner calmly informs
me that her jewels have been re
turned to her, and that she does not
wish to prosecute the thieves. She
says she is willing to overlook their
little deviations from the path of hon
esty, as she is so glad to re
cover her jewels. I told her I had the
Maharanee in my pocket, and she in
sisted she had all her gems. What do
you know about that, anyway?”
Mrs. Delaroche was brought in by a
private of the detective force, and
Britz, with elaborate politeness, bowed
her to a chair. She was too angry to
acknowledge his courtesy, and she sat
looking at the lieutenant and the
Chief with flashing eyes.
“Mrs. Delaroche,” said Britz, “I
may as well tell you at the outset that
the game is up. We know all about
your connection with this case, and the
best thing for you to do is to tell us
everything you know. Your friend,
Mr. Griswold, as you have seen, is un
der arrest. What do you know about
him?”
“I shall answer no questions,” said
Mrs. Delaroche, “until I shall have
had an opportunity to engage coun
sel.”
“Mr. Griswold Is engaged to marry
you?”
‘Of course,” she replied with an in
dignant flush.
“Now, Mrs. Delaroche,” Britz re
plied, “I’m going to tell you that you
are the most mistaken lady in Man
hattan Island right now. Griswold is
not engaged to you; at any rate he
doesn’t understand that he is.”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“I mean, madam,” answered Britz,
“that Mr. Curtis Griswold, though he
engaged himself to marry you, has
been industriously engaged for some
time past in attempting to become en
gaged to another woman.”
‘Who is she?”
“She is the possessor of many mil
lions,” said Britz, “a woman of ac
knowledged beauty and of undeniable
charm. Os course, I don’t undertake
to say for a moment, madam, that her
attractivenes equals yours. Doubtless,
Mr. Griswold, being an enterprising
young man, has eyes more to her mil
lions than to her looks. Nevertheless,
she Is a beauty.”
He watched closely the effect of his
words on the high-strung woman facing
him, and saw that he had touched a re
sponsive chord. Her eyes flashed aa
if her very soul vibrated with jealous
rage. Her breath came and went in
short gasps. Her fingers twisted and
untwisted nervously, and she seemed
to be on the point of a violent revela
tion when the situation was interrupt
ed by a knock on the door.
Britz, a flash of amusement in his
face, walked to the door, opened it,
and thrust his head out. In the cor
ridor stood a man from the Detective
Bureau who said:
“The prisoner, Griswold, requests an
Immediate interview with Lieutenant
Britz.”
Britz hesitated a minute, then said:
“Bring him In here,” and then returned
to Mrs. Delaroche.
“I shall not ask you to take my
word for It, madam,” he said. "I’ll soon
give you proof of the very best kind
that what I have told you about Mr.
Griswold is true. Just sit over here in
this alcove where you cannot be seen
from the middle of the room, and pay
attention to what goes on.”
Shortly after that, Griswold was
brought Into the room, and the lieu
tenant, his hands in his pockets, his
shoulders squared, his features cast in
an iron mold, confronted the club
man.
“How long is this farce going to be
kept up?” Griswold demanded.
“None of that now, Griswold. I’ve
got the goods on you. The less of that
kind of talk you indulge in, the better
for all concerned. Mrs. Delaroche haa
told everything!”
Griswold inquired sarcastically.
"And what, pray, had she to tell?”
“A great deal more than Mrs. Mis
sioner knows,” answered Britz craft
ily.
“Don’t you mention that lady’s name
in such a place as this.’” exclaimed
Griswold with a show of chivalry that
would have gone very well before a
jury, but which was lost on such hard
ened thief-takers as Britz and Man
ning.
“No harm in mentioning her name,
is there, when the lady herself will
be here in a few minutes ?”
This time there was no simulation
in the start Griswold gave. He stared
at the detective as if he doubted hia
own hearing.
“Why—why—you simply must not
let her come here,” said Griswold
again. “I would not have her see me
here for anything in the world. Can’t
this be arranged somehow? Say, yon
know I am not a poor man—”'
Britz grinned at him.
“Oh, I know you can’t be bought,"
said Griswold. “But this is a serious
matter to me. It means my whole
future. I don’t want Mrs. Missioner
to come here and see me a prisoner.
It will be different when the case
comes to trial. I will have counsel
then, and I can take care of myself,
but just now I’m helpless. Don’t bring
the woman here to make her lose all
respect for me; oh, man, don't queer
me!”
Millicent Delaroche from the alcove
heard and saw all that passed be
tween the men. She gripped the slen
der arm of her chair until her taper
ing fingers curving around it bit inta
her pink palm. She watched the un
mistakable agitation of the prisoner
until no doubt remained in her mind
of his attitude toward Mrs. Missioner*
Then her rage broke through all re
straint. Casting the detective’s cau
tion to the winds, she strode to the
center of the room and towered above
Griswold, as, thunderstruck at sight
of her —in his self-centered pride of
what might happen, he had utterly for
gotten for awhile her presence in Po
lice Headquarters—he moved uneas
ily in his chair.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Louis Napoleon In America.
It is noticeable that Princess Caro
line, who subsequently knew the em
peror so Intimately, makes no refer
ence to the visit of Louis Napoleon td
America in 1837.
He was for two months in New
York, where he lived at the Washing
ton hotel, Broadway.
It is interesting to know that he
made the acquaintance of Washington.
Irving, whom he visited at Sunnyside,
Irving had also met Mlle. Montijo.
On the occasion of the emperor’s
marriage, in 1853, he wrote: “Louis
Napoleon and Eugenie de Montijo,
emperor and empress of France; one
of whom I have had as a guest at my
cottage on the Hudson; and the other
of whom, when a child, I have had on
my knee at Grenada.”—Footnote to
Princess Murat’s Memoirs.
How She Hurt Her Finger.
"What’s de mattah, Miss Clara?”
asked Rosa, the Browns’ colored laun
dress, seeing Miss Clara nursing her
finger with a pained look on her face.
“I bruised my finger with the hammer
the other day and it hurts still,” was
the reply. “I has dat, too!" exclaimed
Rosa, eagerly, “feels like a tinglin' all
down de palm of my han’, but mine
jes’ comes from slappin' de chulluns
on de hald.”
The man who stands on the truth
has God’s hand under him.—.lndianap
olis News.
