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Show ALIA THF. I ONF WOLF j J J I A jjyCV IVweV 21 JULTI Jl JLI j 1 "" IIIIIHI.H.HMIII IIMM.IIH IMimMU , source to gain time; he ? i hi. wits' end. Only bit etar could , I save him now. Monk turned the keys, hut " 'I once forgot his purpose and cocked ;his ears attentively to rumor otx-ritement otx-ritement and confusion on the dec. 'The Instinct of the seafaring man up- Tha woman made sudden hlsslog sound, of hiTMth drawn shortly between be-tween cloned teeth. "I hop not!" she lirhd. Toa see. my friend, I think I know what Is In your mind, memories of old time. . ." "True: I am thinking of those day when the Park hunted the Lone Wolf taut, heroic spasm, then on lapsed, and moved no more. , Viewing this hideous tableau, appreciating ap-preciating what It mean that Popi-not, Popi-not, forearmed with advice from a trusted quarter, had stationed himself him-self outside the d(Kir to Monk's itutTonrn. to waylay and garotte the I man whom bo exported to emerge had teen emu its; led aboard and when, Lanyard never learned the truth. lanyard entertained for a moment a vivid imaginary picture of the scene In the saloon when Phlnuit had sur-I sur-I prised the Apache In the act of strangling- Monk. One saw the garroter creeping from his hiding place In the cabin of tht chief engineer; stationing himself at the door to Monk's quarters, with that deadly handkerchief of his trade, ready for the throat of the Ixne Wolf when he should emerge with the spoils ol the captain's safe In his hands. Then one saw Monk, alarmed hj the sudden failure of the lights, hurrying hur-rying but to return to- the bridge; th pantherish spring upon the vlctim'i hack; tha swift, dextrous noosing ol the handkerchief about- his windpipe, the merciless tightening of It all abruptly ab-ruptly Illuminated by the white glare of Phlrtuit's electric torch. Monk, stretched out- upon a lealhei couch In his sitting room, leveled eyebrows eye-brows of suspicion at Ianysrd. From t he nn loon came sou nds ol shuffling feet nad mumbling voices, aa seamen carried away. all that wai mortal of Monsieur Poplnnt. Between roars of the fog signal, six belle vibrated on the air. Phlnuit looked brightly to lanyard. "Ar-hah."' he murmured. "The fatal hour!" Lanyard gave him a gracious smile. In sttentuated accents. Captain Monk Inquired: "What say. Phln?" ' CHAPTER XXI. Tha Trap Is Sprung. On the last night, a heavy fog settled down to aid the work of Lanyard and his volunteer assistant, Mr. Muasey. At 10:30 p. m. every light went out. ' Mr. Museay had not failed to keep his pact of treachery. Lanyard whs out of his chair hefor the first call of excited remonstrance rang out on deck to be echoed In clamor. And In that time nf Ktygian gloom violence was dme swiftly, surely, and without merry; with pity, yea, and with regret. lanyard was sorry for the man at the wheel, Rm Wnat was to he done could not be done In any other way. The fellow offered barely a show of opposition. Swung bodily away fmm tha wheel, he went over the rail to the forward deck like a bag of sugHr. Immediately Im-mediately Lanyard turned to the binnacle. bin-nacle. Thrusting a hand Into the opening. Lanyard groped for the adjustable magnets In their racks, and one by one removed and dropped them to the grating grat-ing at tha foot of the binnacle. Tha compass ought now to be Juat aa constant to tha magnetic pola aa a humming bird to one especial rose. Guiding himself by a hand that lightly light-ly touched the rail. Lanyard regained his chair, carefully composing himself in the position In which he had been resting when tha lights went out. i Continued from lt Sunday) I "Ah. Michael, my Michael!" Liana J died. It la ao real to me, ao true. ! ao overwhelming, the irealeat thing 1 or all! How can It be oiherwlae to ' jrou? No: do not think I com- . plain. But. oh my dear! were I only ! a hie to make you underatand. think I what life could ba to ua, to you and j me. You with your wit. your 1 strength, your aklll, ymir polae I with I any great love -to Inaplre and auataln j you Mt a pair we ahould make! I Think. Michael think!" ; "Why. I think two thlnga," aald : Lanyard: "Flret. that you deaenre to ) be eounrily kiaaed." He kleaed her, but . with dlarretlon. and firmly put her from him. Then" hla tone took on i nota of earneatneee "that If what ! you have said la true, it la a pity, and J I am aorry. Liana, very aorry. And. If It la not true, that tha comedy waa 1 well played. Khali wa let It reat at that, my dear?" " Half lifting her. ha helped her back ', Into her chair, and aa aha turned her j face away, atruggllng for maatery of ( her amotion, true or feigned, he aat bark, found hla clgaret caaa, and Blip-; Blip-; ping a clgaret between hla llpa, raat 1 about for a match. Aa ha atrurk tha light ha heard a I sudden, aoft awlah of draperlea aa the i woman roae. I Moving toward tha saloon eompan- lenway, aha paaaed him awlftly, Willi-j Willi-j aut a word, her head bended, a hand .reeling a handkerchief to her llpa. Forgetful, ba followed her awaylng j figure with puixled gate till admon-t admon-t Uhed by tha llama UutL crept ItivyA , fcia fingertlpa. Ha put It to hla clg j a ret. At tha second puff ha heard a v j choking gaap, and looked up again. 1. Tha woman atood alone, en alihouette ; "agatnat tha glow of the companlonway. btr armi thruat out aa If to ward off soma threatened danger. A aecond cry broke from her llpa, ahrlll with terror, ( aha tottered and fell aa, dropping hla I clgaret. Lanyard ran to her. Hla vlilon daitled by the flame of tha match, ha aought In vain for any eauaa for her apparent fright. For all i ba could aee, the deck waa aa empty aa ha had preeumed It to ba aU,through their conversation. "Popinot!" aha erled, as Lanyard I hastily took tha glaaa away. "Popt-j "Popt-j not ha was there I saw him stand I In there'' I I iaBa-BBWge-egsBte)b-L''Sje46S)e ",1iWFet'I'llllllllll'llllll'll',lllll,i''11111 In Paris, and msde him much the aams offer as you have made tonight. . . , The Pack, you should know, messieu-s, was tha name assumed by an association associa-tion 'of Parisian criminals, ambitious like you. who had grown envious of the Lone W'olf'a auccess, and wished to persuade him to run with them." 'And what happenedr" Pbtnult Inquired. In-quired. . "As memory serves. I told them fey could all go plumb to sell." "Well. Phlnuit hazarded with a good show of confidence, "I guess you won't tell us to go plumb to hell, will you," "No; I promlaa to ha more original than that. you shall have your an-awer an-awer by tha tlma wa make our land-ling land-ling perhaps before." J Iha nam iwiaast howei, ha win on his fet't again. A bum of light ha swept across tha saloon skylight, coming com-ing from below, the besm of portable electrlo torch. It might hava been the signal for the first piercing scream of Llane Ielnrme. A plain) shot with a vicious accent cut short the scream. After a brief pause several more shot rippled In the saloon. Then the torchlight found and steadied stead-ied upon the mouth of tne companlon-wsy. companlon-wsy. Against that glare, a burly figure fig-ure was Instantaneously relieved, running run-ning up to the deck. As it gained the topmost step a final report sounded In the saloon, and tha flgurs checked, revolved re-volved slowly on a heel, tottered, and plunged headforemost down the steps again. A moment later the lights came on. "The Montalais jewels ara here." ' thereform laden with the plunder- of ' Monk's cafe lanyard appreciated further that he had done Mr. Mussey a great wrong. For he had all the time believed that tha chief engineer was laying a trap for him on behalf of his ancient shipmate. ship-mate. Captain Whltaker Monk. Lanyard stepped across the dead bulk of the Apache and planted himself him-self squarely in front of tha woman. Retslng her -forearms with his two hands, he used force to drag them down to t ha leva) of her waist, and purposely pur-posely made his grasp so strong that his fingers sank deep Into the aoft flesh. There?" he said. "That's over, Llane. Ll-ane. The benst la done for. Now forget him and real lie the debt you owe good Monsieur Phlnuit. With a grin, that gentleman looked up from hla efforts to revive Captain Monk. 'I'm a shy. retiring violet. he stated somewhat superfluously, "but IX the world will kindly lend Its ears. I will Inform It coyly that was soma shootin. Hava a look, will you. Lanyard, like a good fellow, and make sure our little lit-tle friend over there is nyt playing 'possum on ua. I-anyard adopted the sensible suggestion sug-gestion of Phlnuit. To his complete satisfaction, no flutter of life waa to be detected In that barrel like chest. Ho this was the source of Mr. Mussey Mus-sey 's exact understanding of the business busi-ness ! As to tha question nf how the Apache 4 : . us asas aaaw r i i' m-n hi I his answer to our unselfish little prop- oaltlon at six bells tonight and not later." I Ianyard slowly Inclined his head. I J regret f must beg to be excused. (A look of fury convulsed Liana's face. Phlnuit, too. was glaring no longer a , humorist. Monk's mouth was work-I work-I Ing and his eyebrows had got out of hand altogether. "It Is my considered judgment that f would be a fool to associate myself with people of a low grade of Intelligence, Intelli-gence, wanting even enough to hold fast that which they have thieved. "Come through," Phtnnlt advised In a dangerous voice. "Just what do you mean?" "I mean tht you. knowing I have but one object In view, to wit, the recovery recov-ery of tha jewels of Madams rie Mon-taUla. Mon-taUla. have not had sufficient wit to prevent my securing those jewels under un-der your very noses." "Ton mean to say you have stolen them r Lanyard nodded. "They are at present pres-ent In my poaseaslon. If that confesses an act of theft." Monk laughed discordantly. "Then I say you are a liar. Monsieur the Lone Wolf, sa welt as a fool!" His fist smoke the desk again. 'The Montalais jewels are here." Liana Ielorme said abruptly. In a choking voiqe: "Open the safe, please. Captain Monk. Monk swung open the safe door, seised the metal dispatch box by the handle, and set it upon the desk with a bang. Lanyard gave no sign, but his heart sank. He had exhausted his last re- 'Kough stuff, monsieur 7 i'ut menu, y.ysiw4 urce a ' I ....cuy. iv gui a vuuyle of I frlenus ui imne u v i-uuntei I we una uuwnata.r vty iu.i.uie, lUsftuy attlU W.Uiilg IU tUt UUl lhJ JiUllOt' o, twU.i ia iMrU .vii uiiui-r aticsi tti mt-VAlttitt tilt afc4Vllle.ei.lS JCWUlS. iut ia t v-'" ' -i4'u piu-Itsicu, piu-Itsicu, ' uu k.u uvi.cva atei i t.iitrl . UrsLt-l mhU .iiiL'i'aku U le.wd JtVtvis Ulliy 1U lUlll leeClU lu lUf wU ioiH a.s auitt-a uiauv-ieiiiia luu irusiy e Ut UUU UJl.tL4 bit.t' ittllJVUM iUUlH'tU ,flUW, Ml lit l-ilii Ult.tJtu- nig eyes vi a' it mm i. juj Uou.' sMiny urd piunouniii in eultliw UvAfataT v WVe UUtt. LtliiU - iiia . .now I, In my turn, ha.e Lbs hunur lu mi urn i uu .nac a.Mv iwu tius ui atvtLtitvs) wa.ta it uutet uu-y gnu fiigiit, wiiu tii..4uwi.u,. iu aUu.u tlaW UUv.t atwOU rftlvt Vf CI HaiUll up lu in iuulii ' lid iy.a, ' -luhK ii.aittivd, putting a leatraiii.ua i.aiiu ci i'i..u.i s aim. i4.iui ..ci.a ii'i'iui, o iiiu nail dlVa iiU lililta lb Uta 4hJiU Ifl. , paCV Ml C y Uli !-.-litt.lt. Jinil iiiv. ' iMiiii aaul-'t'' "Jatuifi ue .iuu.4i.e. ' cue tititua Hitu u. in hor laCM IA. k leelllttU VUL ItlV liU- puisi tvsLuie V)iiu V.UH.U ant iii in Ikt iiAiius. 'My dear lijend!" she ciicd happily "I am to tk.aU! Ana 10 think ue have been guests of Uie ame huiel tor Vtrfen livnong .1.1) i nnil i i mvtd by La Touralne Saturdiy, but your message, telegraphed bat from Combe-Kedonde, reached me not five minutes ago. I telephoned tha desk, they told me the number of your room ana here 1 am!" "Hut 1 cannot believe my senses:'" With unanimous consent Jule.i, Phlnuit and Monk uprose and made fur the door, only to find It blocked by a substantial t nn. "Stfady, KjnU"" he counseled coolly. "Orders are to let everybody In and nobody out." For n moment they hung In doubt and consternation consulting one another an-other with dismayed stares. 'rasping the situation. Kve de Montalais Mon-talais turned to the quartet eyes that glimmered in a face oi.ierwise quits composed. 'Hut how surprising"' ha declared, "Madame la Comic?, a i Loi ncs Monsieur Monk--.li. J'hlnuithow delightful de-lightful to . mi all at,aln'" The civility n. et yt.xh inadequate appreciation. ap-preciation. "Nothing could be more opportune." L.myurd dcclascl; "for It Is to this I ludy, llniljir.i Uf Montalais, and to thf.te gr:ttii:nen that oj owe the recovery re-covery of fi! jewels." "Hjt how can I thank them? "Weil." rru.t Lanyard, "If you ask me, I btlieva they wuuld be most grate-f grate-f il to b permit :ed to leave and keep their ninncc.nM and pressing appointments appoint-ments eldcvvnere." I nm entirely of your mind, monsieur." mon-sieur." Lanyard nodded to the man In the ! doorway "A'A right. Mr. Murray" .Hid In- sio'ifl lr.d:ftorently aside. In silence tha three men moved to the door and out. Phin'iit with a brazen bra-zen hwbgger. Jniea without emotion v isiMo, .lin:; w ltii eyebrows adroop and flapping. But Lanyard fn'erpTTfl when Llane Delorma would have followed. "A moment, Llane, if you will be so good." She paused, regarding him with a somber and inscrutable face while lie produced from his coat pocket a fit envelope without indorsement. "This I yours." The woman murmured blankly: Mine 7' Ha s.iid In a guarded voice: ."papers ."pa-pers I found in the onfe in your library, li-brary, that nljrht. You ar unwise to keep sum pipers, Liane. Good-hy." Lifting the flap, the wnman half withdrew the enclosure, r vogmzed it t a glance, and crushed it in a convulsive con-vulsive grasp. For an instant she seemed about to rpeak, t.-.-n bowed her head In dumb acknowledgement, and left the room. Lanvard nodded to Mr. Murrav who amiably cloned the. door, keeping himself him-self on the outside of iv Kve de Montalais wa velng him with an indulgent and fain:? I glance. "That woman loves you, monsieur." she mated quietly. M"1,J artmlraWy In looking as If the thought was stun to him. orm s sura madams mu?t ba mis-i mis-i taken." ! "Ah but I nm not- Pnd Eva da : Montalais. -Who should know better i the signs that tell t,f Wulll-n-, iov for you, my dear?" I The Knd lanyard went to bed. the last night out, leaving a, noisy gathering in the aaloon, and read himself drowsy. Then turning out his hght he slept. Rome tlms later he found ttiniself instantaneously instantane-ously awake, and alertxwiih a clear head and every faculty en the qui viva. He felt a presence, and kne that It waited, stlrlesa, within army's length of his head. Without much concern, he thought of Popinot, that "phantom Poplnot" of Monk's derisive naming. Well. If the vision I.Ian had seen on deck had taken material form here In his stateroom, Xsmyard presumed It meant nr. ther fight, and the last, to a finish, that la to say, to a death. Ha heard a whisper, or rather a mutter, a volca ha could not place Hie bewildered gaze discovered first Liana lie lor me. Her fingers were clawing claw-ing her cheeks, her eyes widely dilate with horror and fright, her mouth waa agape, and from It Issued, as by some mechanical Impulse, shriek upon hollow tha opposlta side of the saloon Monk lay with purple fara and protruding pro-truding eyeballs, far gone toward death Lthrough at r Angulation. Phlnuit, on his knees, waa removing a slUc handkerchief, handker-chief, that had been twisted about that scrawny, throat. At the, toot of the companlonway steps. PoplnoL no phantom but the veritable A pacha- himself, waa writhing and heaving convulsively; and even as Lanyard looked, the Huge body of the creature lifted from tha floor In one """ "Emptied the pistol at ths panel. parmost. Monk stiffened, grew rigid from hesd to foot. One heard hurried feet, outcries, a eudden Jangle of the engine rom telegraph. tele-graph. ... "Monsieur! Monsieur!" Llane implored- "Open that box:" j The words were on her lips when she was thrown off her feet by a frightful fright-ful shock which stopped the Sybarite dead In full career. The woman cannoned can-noned against Monk, shouldering him boldly aside. Instinctively snatching at the box. Monk succeeded only In dragging It to the edge of the desk before a second shock seemed to make the yacht leap Ilka a live thing stricken mortally. The dispatch-box went to the floor. Llane Del or me was propelled head Ion into a corner, Monk thrown to his knees. Phlnuit lifted out of his chair and flung sprawling Into the arms of Lanyard, who retained suftclent presence pres-ence of mind to disarm Phlnuit before be-fore that one guesaed what he was about. Of a aadden the engines ceased, and there waa no more movement of any sort, Lanyard had no means to measure how long that dumb suspense lasted. It seemed Interminable. KventuaNv he saw Monk pick himself up and dash out. As tf he had only needed that vision vi-sion of action to animate him. Lanyard Lan-yard threw Phlnuit off, so that he staggered stag-gered under the threst of hla own pistol in Lanyard's hands. He lingered for h moment then apparently rntillww kin danger, faded away Into the saloon. With a roughness dictated by the desperate extremity. Lanyard strode over to Llane Telorme. fairly Jerked her to her feet, and thrust her stumbling stumb-ling Into the saloon. Clostng the door behind her, he hot its bolts. He went to work swiftly then. In a fever of haste. Stripping off coat and waistcoat, he took from the pocket of the latter the wallet that held his papers, then ripped open hla shirt and unbuckled the money belt around hla waist. Its pockets were ample and fitted with trustworthy fastenings: and all hut one. that held a few Kngllsh aovereigns. were empty. The Jewels of Madame de Montalais i went Into them as rapidly aa hla fingers could move. Thus ensaged. a heard a pistol explode ex-plode In the saloon, and saw the polished pol-ished writing bed of tha captain's dek scored by a bullet. A stream of bullets followed, one after another boring the; stout panels as if their consistency; i had been that of cheese. I j Lanyard stepped out of their path and hugrred tha partition whfle he finished stuffing the Jewels into the belt and, placing the thin wallet be. neath It. atrapped It tightly round him nr more. . . . Lanyard edged along the partition to th. door, calculated the stand of tha lunk-tjc In the saloon from the angle at Whjch the bullets were coming com-ing through.and mptied the pistol he had taken froin phlnuit at the pan-I els as fast as he iauld pull the trigger. trig-ger. There was no more firmjr. . . He tossed aside the emprvweapnn. made sure of poplnot 'a on hisnp. approached ap-proached one of the deadlights, placed a chair, climbed upon it. and with In finite pnlns managed to wriggle and squirm head and shoulders through the opening. After that he had to work his way round, inch by Inch, until It seomed j possible to drop Into the sea and escape es-cape hitting th screw. Ten minutes later tha fingers of one hand he was swimming on his side at the bottom of his stroke touched pebbles. He lowered his feet and waded through extensive shallows to a wide and sandy beach. !A trembling arm indicated tha star-feoard star-feoard deck Just forward of tha com - pan ion housing. But of course, when $ Lanyard looked, there was no one there 4 ... .If there had aver been it "Impossible!" Phlnuit commented when told of tha Apache's appearance. 1 "Noneenee," Monk added, speaking ) directly to Liana. fine bad recovered much of her com poeura, enough to anahta her to shrug . , her disdain of such stupidity. "I tell you only what my two eyes .4 smw- "And I tell you, while that assaasin la at liberty aboard this yacht, not on of our Uvea la worth a sou no, ' not one!" "Oh, wa shall search." Monk gave In aa on a who Indulges a childish whim. . "But I can tell you now what we ll u find - or won't." i 'Then heaven help ua all! Llane j want swiftly to the door ef her room, PWut ther heaitatad, looking back In ap-j ap-j veal to Lanyard, "I am afraid...." j "Let ma hava a look round first." And whan Lanyard had satisfied himself there was nobody concealed In any part of Liane'a suite, and had been rewarded with a glanca of gratitude grati-tude "I ahall lock myself In, of course," the woman aald from tha thrash old "and I hava my pistol, too." Lanyard, scrutinising the deck with tha flash lamp, stooped picked up aomathing. and offered It on an outspread out-spread palm upon which he trained the claar electric beam. "Clgaret stubr' Monk aald, and sniffed. "A cigar t manufactured by the Wench Hegle. Who that usee 'tha part of tha deck would be apt to in- j ault his pa lata with such a ctgarvt?" j "Than you believe It waa Poplnot, j toor "1 belleva you would do well to make the search you have promised thorough and Immediate. "Plenty of time, Monk replied wear lly. "I'll turn this old tub inside out. It you Insist, In the morning." "Wnslher or not aleap brought Monk better counsel, the morning's ransacking ransack-ing of tha veaael and the examination of her crew proved more painstaking than Lanyard had expactod. And the upshot was precieety aa Monk had foretold, fore-told, nothing. He re port ad drily to this effect at an in forma n conference In his quarters after luncheon. "Now," Monk announced with a little lit-tle bow, "for what, one Imaglnea, Mr. Phlnuit would term tha Elaborate i Idea!" CHAPTER XX. Tha Trap far h Welf. They are such monsieur," Monk aald with that deliberation which becomes be-comes a diplomatic per sonaga "your talents ara such that you can. If you will, become Invaluable to ua" Phlnuit chuckled outright at Lanyard's Lan-yard's look of polite obtueeneaa. "Nsvar sail a straight course can you, skipper? when you can get there 1 by tacking. Let me act aa Interpreter, j Mr. Lanyard: this giddy as-i as-i sociatlon of malefactors hers j present baa ths honor to Invite you to become a full-fledged working ( member and stockholder of equal In j tereat with ths reat of us, participate ) Ing in all benefits of tha organlsa-i organlsa-i tioa. Including pollca protection' And j as added inducement we're willing to walvs Initiation fes and dues. io I make myself clearT" Lanyard lifted his meditative gsae to ths face of Phlnuit. "1 find something lacking .... Too hava shown me but one side of ths coin. What la ths re versa? You have forgotten to name the penalty which would attach to a possible re-fusal- "1 guesa It's safs to leave that to your Imagination," Thar would bs a penalty, how-verT" how-verT" -TV ell. naturally. If you're not with ua, you'ra against ua And to take that stand would oblige ua as a simple sim-ple matter of self-preservation, to defend de-fend ourselves with every means at ur command. "Means which." Lanyard murmured, "you prefer not to name." j "Well, ona doean l liks to ba J crude." j "I hava my answer, monsieur and ' many thanks. Ths parallel is com- plete." With a dim em lis playing In his eyes and twitching at tha corners of his i bps. Lanyard leaned back and studied tha deck beams. Liana Del or me aat J with a movement of sharp uneaal-4 uneaal-4 neea. . "Of what, my friend, ars you thlnk- Ing?" 3 "I am marveling at something every-, every-, body knows that history does repeat liaelf." in us prevent pitch. "A wake, M onaleur nelnrmeT" It said. nrush! Don't make a row, and never mind the light." His astonishment was so overpowering overpow-ering that instinctively his tenaed muscles relaxed and bis hand fell back upon tha bedding. "It's me Mussey." Lanyard echoed wftlessly: "Mussey??" "Mus-sey??" "1 had to have a bit of a talk with you without anybody's catching on" '"Well." Lanyard aald, "I'm damned!" Look hers. . ." The mutter stumbled. 'l want to ssk a personal question. Is or isn't your right nams Lanvard. Michael Lanyard?" ' "That's an unusual name. .Michael I-Anyard," cautiously replied Its pro-?lr- "iiow Old you get hold of "They say It's ths right nams of the Lone Wolf. Oueas I don't have to tell you who ths I,one Wolf is." "They say'T Who, please, are Ihey?" "Oh, there's a lot of talk going around tha ship. Yon know how it Is a crew will goaaip. And God knows they'vs got enough excuse this rrulas. This was constructively evasive Lanyard wonderad who bad betrayed him. "It would seem safe td assume I am tha man gossip says I am," Lanyard aald cautiously. "Then ... to begin at tha beginning." begin-ning." whispered Musaey tn tha darkness. dark-ness. , . . va known Whit Monk a good long tlma. Itefora this, if anybody any-body had ever told ms Whit Monk would do a pal dirt, I'd 've punched his head and thought no mors about It but now ..." In ths darkness that disembodied voles took up Its tale anew. "I and you ars both In tha same boat. In a manner of speaking. We're both on the outside shut out looking In." "You propose, then, sn alliance?" "That's the answer. I know you can get that tin safs of Whit s open when you feel like it, get the Jewels and all; but what show do you stand to get away with them? That Is unless you've got somebody working In with you on board ths ship. 8ee hers . . Ths mutter sank Into a husky whisper. whis-per. "Well, go to It; make your plans consult with me, get everything fixed, lirt the loot; I II stand by. fix up every thing so's your wrk will go through slick, sea that you don't get hurt, stow ths Jewels when they won't ba found; and when It's all over, wa ll split fifty-fifty. fifty-fifty. What d'you say T "Kxtremely ingenious, monsieur." "It'll have U be pulled off tomorrow night or not at all." ths mutter urged with an eagc accent. "My tbougftt. precisely. Now to do what I will have to do. 1 must have ten mlnutea of abaoluts darkness. Can that bs arranged ?" "Absolute darkness?" Ths mutter had a rlalng inflextion of dubiety "Why, by nightfall wa ought to be off Block island. In traffic as heavy as on Ktfth avenue! Isn't there some other way T" "Not with lights to hamper my operations. oper-ations. But if some temporary accident were to put tha dynamos out of commission com-mission flgurs to youraWf what would happen." . "Tha engines would hav to bs slowed down until oil lamps could be substituted for the binnacle, masthead, and sidelights, also for tha engine room." "And there would bs excitement and confusion, eh? Everybody would make for the deck, and even the captain would leave his cabin unguardvd long 1 enough ..." i "I get you" with a sigh. "It's wrong. sU wrong, but well. 1 suppose Hi got i to be done." Lanyard treated himself to a smile of , triumph, there In ths darkness. ' CHAPTER XXII. Finis. The windows In his suite at the Wal-pole Wal-pole commanded a southward vista of 1 Fifth avenue, whose enchantment was so potent that Lanyard, on the first day of his tenancy, thought It could never tire. Yet by noon of the third ) he waa viewing it with the eyes of soul-destroying ennui. Three days before. Immediately on i arriving, he had cabled Kve de Montalais. "Mission successful." he had wired "returning Prance by La Savols in flvs days, having arranged safe transportation transporta-tion your property please advise If you can meet me in Paris to receive same or your commands otherwise." And to this, silence only! When the telephone did ring toward noon of that third day, he fairly stumbled over himself in his haste to reach the instrument. "Yes. . . Yes. at once." His callers filed Into the room with cheerfulness of mien, Liane lelorme first, then Monk, then Phlnuit. rather bleached of color and wearing one srm In a sling: all very smart in clothes' conspicuously new and costly as the avenue afforded, striking figures of contentment In prosperity. "It Is a plessure indeed." Lanvard gravely acknowledged their several salutations. "Be that as It may." said Phlnuit "here Is the happy faml'y reunited and ready to talk business." "And no hard feelings, Monsieur! Phtnult?" j "Wa don't want to pull Sny rough stuff on you. Lanyard." I |