Show AT T TT HP A T T THROUGH THE WALL By CLEVELAND MOFFETT Copyright 1909 by L AUTHOR OI OK OF TIll THE BATTLE ATTLE ETC D. D APPLETON AND COMPANY l' Y CHAPTER IX conti Stubborn fellow And unbelieviNg You doubt our power against you O L Come I will give gi you a a. glimpse of or It tt just the I briefest fest glimpse glimps Suppose you try to arrest me You have been boen thinking of it now low act Im I'm a a. suspicious character I ought I t to b be e investigated t Well Veil do your duty I might point out that s such uch an arrest would accomplish absolutely nothing for or you OU haven't the slightest evidence against me and ran can get none but I waive that point because I want to show you jou ou that even en in so simple an effort against us as this you ou would inevitably in inevitably in- in fa fall 11 Tho Th mans man's impudence was passing all hounds bounds You mean that 1 I cannot arrest arrest arrest ar ar- rest you ou menaced Pr Precisely I 1 mean that with all i your your our cleverness and with a a. distinct advantage antage In position here on the Champs Ulysees with policemen all about us us you cannot arrest me answered M. M Well Vel see about that answered Paul a grim purpose showing In his deep set eyes I I sa say this in no spirit of ot bravado bra continued the other with Irritating insolence inso Inso- lence lenee but so that you ou may remember I my words and this warning when I 1 am gone Then with a final fling of ot de defiance de de- fiance lance This is the first time you have seen me M M. and you ou will probably probably probably ably never see me again but you will hear from me Now blow your whistle was puzzled If this was a bluff blurt it was the maddest most Incomprehensible hen sible bluff that a criminal ever made But If It was not a bluff blurt Could there be he a hidden purpose here Was Vas the man deliberately making some subtle move In Inthe Inthe inthe the game he was playing The detective paus paused d to think They had come down the Champs past the tho Ansonia and tind were nearing the Rond Bond point the best guarded part of Paris where the shrill summons of ot his police call cali would be answered almost Instantly And yet he lie hesitated There Is no hurry I suppose s said lo ftp t the tho h detective e. e Id like to ask a question 1 lor or two As many as you ou please lease With all the strength of ot his mind and memory was studying his ad ad- ad- ad That beard Could It be false And the swarthy tone of the skin which he was sn noticed that i d n natural now 1 In the tle If n not Improving n natural i ai I light then i wonderfully Imitated And the hands the arms arms arms' He had watched these from the first noting every moVement every movement particularly particularly particularly the left hand and the left arm but buthe buthe he had detected nothing significant the theman theman theman man used his hands like an any anyone one else he carried a cane In the right right hand lifted his hat with the right hand band offered the envelope with his right hand There was nothing to show that he was not a right handed manI manI man I I wonder If you have anything against me personally inquired II rr Paul On the contrary de declared lared the other we admire you and wish you well But you ou threaten my dog If If necessary yes And my mother If necessary The decisive moment had come not only because anger was stirred by this cynical avowal but because just then there shot around the corner from the Avenue Montaigne a large red automobile automobile auto- auto mobile which crossed the Champs ElyseE'S Ely- Ely seES ices slowly past the fountain and the tulip beds and turning Into the Avenue I Gabr lle eile stopped under the chestnut trees Its engines engine throbbing Like JIke a flash it came Into the detectives detective's mind that the same automobile had passed them I once e before o some dat streets S back Au Ah hero here was the Intended tn way of r escape i iOn On the front seat were two men strong looking fellows accomplices no doubt He must act at once while the wide street was nos as still between themI them I ask because U beg began began an M. M Paul u with bM hl his ll indifferent drawl I then swiftly If I drawing drawing draw draw- ing his whistle he sou sounded ded a danger call that cut the air in sinister alarm The stranger sprang away but was wason wason on him in a bound rg clutching N C him by the r and nd t rh bf throat r a and ap pressing back with Intertwining intertwining inter Inter- t twining legs Ies for tor a sud sudden 1 n. n fall The bearded beard beard- ed man saved himself b by a quirk quick turn and with a great heave of ot his shoulders broke the detectives detective's grip then suddenly he attacked c smiting for the n neck ck not with clenched fist but with the open hand handheld handheld held sideways in the treacherous cleavIng cleaving cleaving cleav cleav- I ing blow that the Japanese use when they strike for the ducked f forward savi saving v ng himself but he felt kt the c descending i hand hard o as stone atone on his shoulders I lie He struck with his fight right fight thought M. M MI Paul I At the same moment he felt his ad adversary's adversary's ad- ad I hand close on his throat and and rejoiced for he knew the deadly reply to this Hardening his neck muscles mus mus- cles rles until they covered the delicate parts beneath like bands of ot steel the detective seized his enemy's extended arm In his two hands one at the wrist one at the elbow and as his trained fingers sought the painful pressure points his two free arms started a resistless torsion movement movement movement move move- ment on the captured arm There is no escape from this movement no enduring its excruciating pain to a man taken at such disadvantage one of ot two things may happen He may yield and In that case he is hurled helpless over his adversary's adversary's adver adver- sar sary's S shoulder or he may resist with the result that the tendons are torn from his lacerated arm and he faints In agony Such was the master masler gained by bv M. M Paul In the first minute of the struggle long and carefully he had practiced this coup with a wrestling professional It never failed it could not fail fall and In savage triumph he prolonged his victory slowly Increasing the pressure slowly as ashe ashe ashe he felt the tendons stretching the bones cracking racking in this helpless right arm A Afew Afew Afew few seconds more and the end would come a few seconds more and then and then a crashing shattering pain drove through low lower r heart r region lon his arms relaxed his senses dimmed and he sank weakly to the ground His Ills enemy had done an extraordinary thing had delivered delivered delivered ered a blow not provided for In Jitsu tactics In spite of ot the torsion torture he had swung his free arm under the detectives detective's lifted guard not In Yokohama style but In the best manner of ot the old English prize ring his clenched fist fallIng fallIng falling fall- fall Ing full on the point of the heart full on the unguarded solar plexus nerves which God put there for the undoing of the vainglorious fighters And dropped like a smitten ox with this thought humming hamming in his darkening brain It was the left that spoke then As he sank to the ground M. M Paul tried to save himself and seizing his opponent by the leg he lie held him desperately with his falling failing strength but the spasms of pain overcame him his muscles would not act and with a furious sense of ot helplessness helplessness help help- I and failure he felt the clutched leg slipping from his grasp Then as consciousness faded the brute Instinct In him rallied In a a. last fierce effort and he bit the man deeply under the knee When came to himself he was lying on the ground and several policemen policemen policemen police police- men were bending over him Ho lie lifted his head weakly and looked about him The stranger was gone The automobile was gone And It all came back to him himIn himin himin In sickening memory the flaunting challenge challenge challenge chal chal- lenge of this man the fierce struggle his own overconfidence and then his crushIng crushing crushing crush crush- ing defeat Ah what a blow that last one was with the conquering left And suddenly it flashed through his mind that he had been outwitted from the first that the mans man's purpose had not been at all what it seemed to be that a hand to hand conflict was precisely what the stranger had sought and planned for because because because-because- because In feverish haste felt in his breast pocket for the envelope with the precious leather frag frag- ments It was not there Then quickly he lie searched his other pockets It was not there The envelope containing the womans woman's name and address was gone n |