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Show ' HFARD AT-TOT nRHMF Til IE frankoerst paper Syndicate.) . . I The Mayor's Daughter. IT WAS all done very nicely and politely, po-litely, but the Brigade de Surete left no doubt of its opinion of Mulberry Mul-berry Street, and Mulberry Street, justly hurt, neatly paraphrased into smooth official terms the retort that the whole of the French detective service was not worth a hill of beans. It was a little matter of forgery. There had been an Import of forped French notes of exquisite workmanship, and the Brigade de Surete had convinced themselves them-selves that the point of origination was In the United States. Mulberry Street was approached in form to "see to It." "The matter shall have our attention," said Mulbcrrv Street, and detailed two men. who for a time made tilings extremely ex-tremely uncomfortable for persons who rnipht reasonably be supposed to have leanings toward syndicated crime. The Chef de Surete. stirred thereto by reports that notes were still being ne-. gotiated and longing for someone to kick, dictated the note already referred to, and the assistant commissioner of New York's police, also pleased to kick, made his reply. Then it was that Grenfell of New Scotland Yard. London, who had been sent over to arrange the extradition of an embezzler, happened into Mulberry Street, and to him as an unprejudiced f and sympathetic outsider many people JT opened their souls. J The kick administered by the Brigade de Surete had been passed on after due reflection to Detective Sergeant McFall, who, pining for a kind word, met Grenfell Gren-fell as he was coming down the steps from the assistant commissioner's office. "Hello, you !" he exclaimed, thrusting out a heavy fist. "How'd you find the boss? Did y' mention forgery to him?" "Xo. He did all the mentioning," said Grenfeil. McFall fell into step with him and spat viciously. ' "Hell's an ice box to the chief wiien lie gets going," he said, with a touch of admiration. "He had Gann and mo up this morning, and you may have noticed the carpet where he frizzled 'us. He told you that someone was handing out bad paper in France, I suppose?" Grenfell slapped him on the back. "Come and have a tonic," he said. They had a tonic. They had two. And on trie second McFall spoke more freely. He was feeling bitter because he had been unjustly blamed. He was an able man, and it was because of his ability that he had been one of the two selected se-lected to unearth the forgers. " 'Tisn't as if we had anything to work on," he ! declared. "We've, had a line on every 1 crook in little old New York and we've : pulled a dozen if we've pulled one. The stuff goes over by mail, but we've kept our eyes on the letters sent out by every! likely bird. None of the boys is in it! that I'll swear." ! "How do you know thev go out bv ' mail?" asked Grenfell, McFall lifted his shoulders. "Same wav as the French people know the stuff comes from here. There was a package at Rennes R. U. Tupper, Poste Res-tan Res-tan te New York postmark typewritten' address fifty one-hundred -franc, notes inside and nothing else. No one ever called for them an:l they ' were handed over to the police. That's how. Now" he smashed a fist down on the counter "the chief he says, 'I want you to find out who's marketing the dope, and to find out rjuick.' And because I can't work miracles T get it in the neck-some." neck-some." he concluded bitterly. "Hard lines, old son." con rioted r.ron. fell. "Cheer up. there are worse troubles at sea. Get a weeks leave and come - with me fishing somewhere. I've eot to hnns? about for that lime before my cx-lV cx-lV tradition case comes on again." Jr "I wish 1 could," said McFall dole-4 dole-4 fully. "I wish I could. I can see the Boss's face if I asked for leave just now. Nn. I've got to keep busy." Detective-Inspector Grenfell made his fishing excursion alone. The place he selected was a flourishing little seaside town, which as yet had scarcely realized that It had the making of a "resort " He gave his holiday feeling full vent. There was nothing on earth that could prevent him throwing off the cares of his profession pro-fession and forgetting that such a plaVe as Scotland Yard existed. It is at such self-congratulatory moments mo-ments as this that fate loves to "interfere "inter-fere fate in this instance in the shape of a sportive puppy dog. of no particular particu-lar pedigree, and a woman's handbag. Grenfell had noticed Lhe young woman, wo-man, an oval - featured, fair-haired girl in white, as he strolled on the beach. She was reclining in a deck chair, sunning herself, the hand with the bag listlessly dangling. The puppy arrived at a gallop, and in the next few moments was a hundred yards along the shore, growling ferociously as he strove to tear his loot to pieces. The detective and lhe dog's owner raced to the rescue, hut it was lhe latter lat-ter who retrieved the handbag, now chewed to almost unrecognizable pulp, i a nd returned ii to its owner. Grenfell : slackened his pace and the breeze blew 1 a scrap of paper to his feet a relic of the ruin the puppy had wrought- He stopped, picked it up. and mechanically crumpled It in his ha nd to throw away again. Then something about the pellet be had fashioned caught his at tent ion. He stra Ightened it out and examined it a nd looked around for the girl. She had vanished. "May I be do.lgasted!" exclaimed Gren- "Make yourself at home." fell, and with long, quick strides he returned re-turned to his hotel and wrote a short letter in which he enclosed the scrap of paper. Thus far he was only acting with clue courtesy of the man who. having stumbled stum-bled across a piece of information, parses it on to the one more immediately immedi-ately concerned. But morning brought with it a wire from McFall which might have seemed incoherent to any but a i student of Kipling: ' 1 "The bleating of the lamb excites the tiger. Ten thousand dollars reward re-ward now offered. Coming first train. McFall." By 11 o'clock the burly central office man had reached the Knglish detective. He was chuckling with glee. The despondency de-spondency of the previous meeting was all gone. "We're on to it, old fellow," he cried. "You lucky dog! That was the corner of a five-thousand franc nole that you got hold of, and 'it's turned out by a workman. Where's the lady?" The. Knglishman shook his head. I "Never saw the going of her, Mac. To tell the truth, I haven't worried much : about It. I thought I'd give you a tip. Now it's your funeral." McFall became serious, He unlocked his suitcase and tool; out a dozen photographs. photo-graphs. "I br ought these on the off change," he explained. "There's ro one in Uje gallery that answers your description, de-scription, but I guess these are all the young women likely to be in a big job." Although lie had only a few moments' view of the girl on the beach, Grenfell was a trained observer, and what he remembered re-membered of her features he remembered accurately. H e shook his bend over t he photograph?. "She's not here." McFall wiped the perspiration from his broad forehead. "We'll get them." he declared. "We'll get them if wo have to go through lhe state with a tine-tooth comb. Gann and Willis are coming this a fternoon. Meanwhilo we might 30 ami have a chat with the chief of police here. We might want his help yet." The chief readily promised his assistance assis-tance in searching the district, but scratched his head wdth a penh older as Grenfell described the girl. She could, lie declared, bo duplicated fifty times in the town. And then the door opened wide enough 1 to admit a head and shoulders, and Grenfell Gren-fell found himself looking into the face of a girl the girl. He half rose from his seat and then sank back again. "I beg your pardon,' she said hastily. "T am looking for father, Mr. Burchnall. I thought he mightbe with you." She withdrew her head and the donr closed with a click. "Our mayor's daughter." said the chief. "Isn't she a peach?" Grenfell was doing some quick thinking. think-ing. A more impulsive or less ready man might have blurted out something. "Mac." he said, when t hey got out-side. out-side. "the local police can't help us." "Never expected much." agreed McFall. Mc-Fall. "Still, it's as well to pet 'em interest inter-est ed.' "I don't mean that. I've found the woman." McFall was quick in the uptake. "The mavor's daughter?" he inquired. And as Grenfell nodded he gave a long, low whistle. Now that a scent had been defined. McFall took the lead. He lounged through lhe little town, visited the barber, bar-ber, and chatted as an inquisitive stranger 011 local affairs while he was heing shaved. He also displayed the little shield under the lapel of his jacket to a big policeman, swinging his stick by the loop on a Mdowalk, and the policeman, flattered flat-tered by the attention of the sleuth from Now York, also talked. McFall when he returned to his friend .it the hotel had a 'midget of Information. He dropped on to a lounge wearily. "That kid's name's Prudence Fastlet," be said. "Playing the popularity game with a big 'P' for her old man. He's been here seven years and mayor three. Retired theater manager from Columbus, Ohio. The villagers vil-lagers swear by him. Can't see any fun in being mayor of a show like this, myself." my-self." - Grenfell mentioned a word. The other man rubbed a slimy cheek with his knuckles. knuck-les. "Nope. He ain't grafting, and that's the funny part of it. He's straight." "Girl engaged?" "No. Say. Gann and Wills are about due. I'll have a quick lunch and get a smart boy 10 slip "em a note at the depot. de-pot. We don't want to know 'em lr wc see 'em."" The eyelid nearest to Grenfeil closed and opened again quickly. "The police chief here is sweet on the kid see?" "I see." said Grenfell. He had gathered gath-ered McFall's idea. Burchnall would proii- j ably mention their visit either to the girl or her father, and the news 01 their pres-ence pres-ence in town would certainly spread. Within an hour two drummers bad ar- ; rived In town and registered themselves I at a hotel. The two detectives, lounging In deck chairs on the veranda, paid them not the slightest attention. In about half an hour they emerged again and Grenfell rose lazily. '-Think I'll so for a stroll," lie said, and McFall grunted an indifter-ent indifter-ent assent. Grenfetl's sauntering took him by the mayor's house on the front, and, curiously curious-ly enough, the two commercial travelers strolled at much about the same pace, in the same direction, but fifty vards behind. be-hind. The Scotland Yard man dropped on a patch of grass and, extracting a magazine from bin pocket, began to read. His face was in the direction of the house. Fifty yards away the commercial travelers trav-elers also sat down. One of tham found a piece of rock which he stuck up on end, and the pair amuyed themselves bv shv-ing shv-ing pebbles at it. Half an hour or more elapsed. Then from the bouse there cmergtd a figure in white. Grenfell took off his hat and fanned himself. A g!a nee sideways showed him one of the commercial travelers trav-elers fumbling with a boot lace. He finished, and tbe pair strode away in the direction taken by the girl. "That's all right." 'muttered Grenfell to himself. "They'll han-- nn to her now till all's blue." He had not intended to watch (he house after he had pointed out Mh-s Fastlet 10 her sha dowers. But he hated the fe-ding of being a spectator, spec-tator, and presently tie closed bis magazine. maga-zine. There was no one in sight--no sign of life about lhe white house. Tin. temptation overcame him. liapidly he took a survey, derided lhe servant" c;iiar-tors c;iiar-tors were prohabiy located In the east "ir.g. opener the ate and mo ed inio ibt-shruhbery. ibt-shruhbery. Ti was indiscreet. it was pro'.iabty criminal. Fortune favorcJ him. for lie found an op'-m window on th ground floor which r led into a small pittin- room. He nimp.l . -I'.'ietly and ni'h-kly a toss it and into I the pa plaice. He wanted 10 waste no time in iiis invc! Ip lion. Th pmuud-Hoor '.00ms v.cv of a. per-'--'; y lnnni-en; rharacior. though Grenfell Gren-fell raided his eyebmws at what lie rr-os'nized rr-os'nized n:i:;-: ho fpc-,vr f urnisbmt. Oie e Gr"n:l! slipped behind a portiere and a servant brushed pst him almost within an in -1 . waited nerfectjv till fcr five n-rnt-s a::d h.--n !'--nn;; survey. If there :-.ad l,cn nmimg m:s-nbMoiis m:s-nbMoiis r!nvt;sra". tl-,ern uas s::l! e;; .ips;.-(irs. !i- p'.,'.ipd iiis he'id in hf-')rf'C : 1 a ft-'-r br.-'r -.. and tlte feeifng ; 1 m t h.c- mo: r c.-in v;n ;n V f-- ry r-.oi; en T . T !icre wis "ne r. .(-,,11t 1 r j crl t Ivn-ach a 'ri of it".ne rco-,. T'u- dooy r-fus-d j to ci ve as :e I vis' ' d 1 ;e )n ?:.!!e. IP- j kivwn." i-,f. ei'iaii,lih "Boi,;,. to - 1 . c remained sinndmc in tlioujt fnr a - s. . an! f i -m tr.M 10 peer I'.ro-ico !',-. ;(-.i,0'e. . flnp on tl)e-1 tl)e-1 t.t.-er fr h, HI lie sniffp-i in- Or.irpa!v Tren ! yrruic: ikiM ;t and j fo .p'i '.i::sc':' Iookimc .b''-n the irnzz'f r-i j;nn at 1 " "'her end o' the e:i;i. "','; vii!!"'': v. .. ' he wa a tall, a v. a rd rran !;' ."a or t '-.f r--a ""U 1 c. Sip:a re-fa, c"). (V-,tti-js'--'.-n. v.::!i 1'..'.:; -ay li.ir. and a n.omh ;iko a ra : : .; i j G-- : s'od PTiik s';!1. Tie kr.ew ; ; ' .a t i! ' i '.:! i he vej-i d , r'"a-'if in miss iwi'-. -i e',o'j':n at Three vnrns. ! "Mr. V 1 nrrsume." he said po- 1 "e-. Th-re w-? TTchh-c to he "air.d .-- K.nc Ins r.er;d. 1 "Tha' s ;r.o." the ether r-ilv. "Don't you be too fresh, Mr. Man, and j keep your hands away from your pock- 1 ets. That's better." He walked across the room, selected an armchair and sat down, the gun still trained on Grenfell. It ran swiftly across the mind of the detective de-tective that an ordinary householder who had surprised a supposed burglar would have summoned help. "You can sit down, if you like," said Fastlet. "Only move smoothly, because my nerves are rather out of order. I'd just hate to have a corpse on my hands." Grenfell leaned against the wall. "I'd rather stand, thanks," he said languidly. "That's all right." agreed the other, "so long as you don't try any monkey tricks. Well, what do you think you are : going to do about it?" "It's up to you," pointed out Grenfell. j Fastlet studied him silently for a minute min-ute or so. "So It's up to me," he repeated re-peated slowly. "You know that a man Is ' .iustifiVd in shooting a burglar whom he j finds searching his house. Any juVy I would ca 11 tha t justifiable homicide." He I raised the gun and glanced along the j barrels Grenfell read murder in his I eyes. v ' He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think you'll do that. Mr. Fast-let." Fast-let." he said. "I wouldn't If I were you. You see there is a central office man staying in town and he knows where I am. If I'm any judge he'll stir around pretty soon, and a dead body won't be easy for you to explain away." The mayor's face was expressionless as he lowered the gun. "And who in Hades arc you?" be demanded douhtfully. "M name is Grenfell. detective-inspector of the criminal investigation department. depart-ment. New Scotland Yard." Fastlet dropped the gun and. standing up. broke into a thunderous roar of laughter laugh-ter as he extended a hand. "Well, I'm jiggered. The Joke's on you this time. Burchnall told me that you and McFall were here, hut I didn't expect to cat eh you burbling my house. D'you think I'm a forcer? Ha, ha ! That's good. What the dickens are you doing, anyway?" It was a question that was difficult to answer. There was only one course for Grenfell to adopt. He smiled blandly into tbe mayor's face. "Come and have dinner with me tonight." to-night." he said, "and I'll put you wise to the whole thing. As you say. the Joke's on me. Now let me hurry away, there's a good ma n, or McFall will be making trouble. ,ee von later." Grenfell ha d run his hardest for 1 en minuies before, he found a very fat and very dignilied policeman. He seized Dial oi'fiHa V' sleeve and dra :rc:erl him along fur a dozen yards In hfs headlong oareei-. "Get on 1o thp fire brigade." he sid b;-ea 1 h V-ssIy. "Turn m out to the may. or's hnuHe. Jion't ask ijueFtiona. ("Jet bus ." Grenfell raced into the hoirl. threw an iivuiiry j, nd an order at the clerk in the ball in Hie same breath and found Mr-Fad Mr-Fad at the telephone with Wilis at hi." r .ow. I e ha nd fel 1 on t h1 seren t s j shr;:!de and he lore him away in the j nhdhie of u senletu'e. ! "' 'o:r: nr.," he urgd. "The-re's pn t time to waste. I've ordered a car." N ve 1 : helps? theve was a wait of a 'Vn ! nmmrnfs at the gnrace. Grenfeil in short ; sia' ato sentences jerked out some nf rhp. i ' onchi.iions he had arrived at. "Yes. 1 We've cot i- he uuiek if that's the Tise," j s.d Mi a !i. "YN e'li dron Wili? at thr i ho'-se." The cav was rcadv hy this timf-! timf-! and they jijrnp-'d aboard. "Now rut loose I for aH she's worth." or.-.Jere i M'-Fail. It lid taken Grenfeil a quarter f i'n . to o: from the mavnr's house in rn? 1 no;ei. Jt ;ook the car barely three mfn-1 mfn-1 i : ; ,- s; fo rover 1 hp d : 1 .- n" . .V r,i' i i -a'o-'-d wk gathered a'r.ou' the ga'es. and !a thin, almost ur-difrernibh v.-r-n ; 1 1 of vf.vor was r-indinK from a window. The ! ff :- had a Iv-e ut. ad e Pp ln the 1 rond-..'.v ri-rv "uid inr the sinariung of , ae o:t Wond work. 1 Wilis iump-d to the ground as the rar ', s'.a-'h-pf 'I pare, and ran forward. They i-ouhl -re iiim niakinc eae'-'r inquiries, a preptly he rnm runnlre b.T-k. 'T'a :-"vp trp minutes." be chnut'-d "''"ar a ht. old - f a t, joned. cv-r r. -pa i nf d t -vn-pfj Tou'i pick him up easy." The Mia'f'eur pressed nvr a lev.-r and 'tii' 1 p.t slid smoot b !y f nrrn rd. Mr Fa ' i fiK f rnm a pocket a .it nuinmailr, tooV: out r. --hp of cartridges and pushed it 'back r.par:i. "You cot a gun?" he asked. ',;. -.-vn shook his bead "You pever kno-.v," s;,jd MrFnll, droi- pirtr the weapon j,i bhs jacket poo;.;ift and f'irc his eyep ahead on the Minding ; v-hite road as if whirled toward them. ' Tw:. e they slackened si?ed to make in quiries. It was on the second occasion that they learned the green-painted car was but a mile ahead of them, and a few minutes later a little cloud of dust In front showed that they were rapidly overhauling their quarry. In a little while they were tirar enough to see a lace peering over the back of the leading car. "Look out!" cried Grenfell. Gren-fell. and dropped without shame into the bottom of the car. The glass wind screen shattered, and they could hear tbe shriek of a bullet as it tore overhead. McFall was holding the barrel of his automa tic balanced on the palm of bis left hand. The thud of bis answering shot was almost simultaneous. But a fragment of glass from the broken wind screen had caught their chauffeur on the cheek. The car swerved, righted again, and then the brakes were on. "I'm done," said the chauffeur; "he's got me." It was no moment to waste time in argument. ar-gument. McFall stuck the muzzle of his weapon against the back of the chauffeur's chauf-feur's neck. "Get on with it," he ordered curtlv. Sullenly the chauffeur started up again. It was a choice of evils, but, whereas the man in front might miss if he started shooting again, the detective certainly would not. In a matter of five minutes they were again within fiftv yards of the green car. McFall commenced to fire. He was taking tak-ing no chances. Once only was a shot returned, and, as they drew nearer, Grenfell, Gren-fell, who was peering over the top of the seat, perceived the reason. Fastlet's chauffur had also needed persuading with a pistol. He laughedc as the situation became clear to him. "Make him slack up as we come alongside along-side the other car," he told McFall. "I'm going to jump for it." McFall nodded. The Scotland Yard man braced himself for a leap. Inch by inch they drew near the other car, and Fast'et, facing around, fired twdce. Both shots went wide. Then Grenfell jumped. He heard the wooden thud of McFall's automatic again, and as he landed his face was scorched by the explosion of the mayor's pistol. Then his strong, wdry arms were around Fastlet, end he dragged him down backward. back-ward. Both cars slid to a halt Just as the two struggling men fell heavily to the ground. The mayor was a powerful man, but he had been taken at a disadvantage. Moreover, Grenfell was as physically fit as It is possible for a man of AO to be. By the time McFall had come running to his assistance, he had the mayor pinned. The central office man put away his weapon and dragged out a shiny pair of self-adjusting, nickel -plated handcuffs, which he clipped around the prisoner's wrists. "Now we're all hunky," he sa id, and thev assisted the prisoner to rise. "This is you," said Fastlet. gl irlng menacingly at Grenfell. "If you hadn't been so darned quick " He chocked himself. "What's the charge, anyway? You've got nothing you can brine against me. This means an action for damages." "Cut out the bluff," said McFall sharply. sharp-ly. "You'll be held for forgery, and that's all there Is to It. Let's set aboard." ' Far away, back in the central office records, long before the days of fingerprints, finger-prints, McFall came across the portrait of a voune man. He pointed it out to Grenfell. Gren-fell. "That finishes It. Here he is 'way back In the '90s. Soapy Smith he is he was in the green goods trade at one time but he's an expert forger. Got ten years ln '92 and has dropped put of sight since." "Let It alone." growled Wills. "Gren- fell's going to tell us how he got on to the 1 old man not but what we'd have got , htm anvway," he added with a touch of esprit de corps. "Once we nailed the girl it was plain enough." "I was lucky," admitted Grenfell mod -estlv. "You people have been too Ion? ln the game not to know that luck counts a lot. But I'd have been nowhere without your backing. I couldn't have told for sure on my own knowledge that that piece of paper I picked up on tho beach was from a forged note without vour experts behind me. Still that was luck to start with. Then when McFall here found out that the manr was no grafter, we both got to thinking on the same lines." "That's right," agreed McFall. "A man wdio's all for purl ty in municipal affairs and lives in rhe way he did has got a reason you het." "Yes. Soapy must have had It all worked out when he went into politics. If the French police hadn't : tumbled that the stuff was drifting in from the states he might have kept on forever. Who was going to get suspicious of the hlgh-souled mavor of a seaside town? "I figured this out while I was waiting to put you on the girl. 1 gave McFall credit for having t he same line. But I wanted to get the thing done with quiek7 j ly, and it didn't seem to me likely to work out In a hurry on soft lines. That was ! how It came into my head to break Into the house on the off-chance of picking up something. "I'll own freely it looked ns If I was on a dead end till I got upstairs. There was a room there a sort of study with another an-other room leading out of it. The door of the second room was locked, hut I got a kind of mixed smell of chemicals. I ; knew then that I was right and that I ; had happened in the private laboratory. It was then that the old man happened on me with a shotgun. "He knew who T was he'd been talu-iner talu-iner to Burchnall and at first 1 looked HUe qualifying for a funeral. I bluned IhiU McFall was lylner in wait, and we called a truce. We shook hands and I came aw5y. "It was pretty obvious be wasn't going go-ing to sit around once he'd got me out of the house, and If he made a get-away ! he wouldn't want to leave any evidence ' behind him, either. That was how I came to think of a fire call." "Lucky you did," observed Wills. "The firemen had just broken into the laboratory labora-tory when I got there. He'd simply plied the place with junk, emptied a can of kerosene over it, chucked In a match and locked the door again. Wo saved enough out of the ruins to get hold of the whereabouts where-abouts of their crooks in France. We've cabled the address over. Me was supplying' supply-ing' them with phony paper at 50 per cent discount." "You haven't told me about the girl," said Grenfell. ' "What's happened to her?" "She's safe enough," said Gann. "The old man seems to have got somewhat disturbed when he heard that McFall and you were on the warpath. He in a wary bird, and bad no dealings direct with those who were handling the paper. He had a little cigar store in the Bronx under un-der the name of George James, with a manager in charge. The manager had no knowledge of anything wrong he didn't even know where Ida employer lived. Soapy never came to the town himself. He always sent the girl and she collected letters off the manager and posted every mail that was to go out. Well, as I say, he smelt something and sent her off to New York to destroy any mail she found there. I pulled her actually ac-tually in the store. She's Ids daughter, but i think she'll clear herself." |