Show The House t of the Three Ganders By Irving Bacheller Copyright by Irving Irvine Bach W Service CHAPTER VII 9 9 The Mysterious Arm COLONEL BLAKES BLAKE'S offices were C up one flight from the main street or of the village In the rear of ot ofa a brick building It Is necessary to the understanding of ot a singular event In the case of ot the People against Brown Drown that the reader should have a n clear perception of a apart apart apart part of ot the structure of these offices and the points at which the help employed em em- plo cd near their entrance was sta sta- I There was an outer room in which a young typist received ed all aU comers corners The typist opened a panel In an oak partition and gave their names and the nature of ot their business to a n clerk who sat rot at a table Inside the partition and against it Shad was Immediately trained for this latter task I C I I Co I. I Bl kes ke's I I Clerks Ote e Office 1 1 Slide O. O The evening train for the south was almost an hour late Shad ate his llis supper with a n small bag In his lap and got aboard the train arriving arrive ing lag at the county seat about eighty- eighty thirty There were not more than half a dozen lozen people In the streets He went to the office The anteroom anteroom anteroom ante ante- room was dark The colon colonels colonel's ls l's key was In the door that opened from It to the large room occupied In business hours hv by clerks dorks raphers The colonel was at work In his private room the door of ot which was open Shad put the bag bagon on his desk and removed his overcoat overcoat overcoat over over- coat and muffler The lawyer came out and greeted him They stood a moment talking together Colonel Blake stood facing the door In the middle of a sent sentence nce he stopped suddenly He was looking at a mans man's arm which had been thrust through the open slide In the oak partition Its hand seized the little leather bag on Shads Shad's desk Before the colonel had quite recovered recovered recovered ered from his astonishment It vanIshed vanished van van- with the bag The lawyer ran to the door It would not open It was locked The thief had bad turned the key on n Its farther side The bag I Iwas was gone with the man who took It and they were helpless The colonel col col- onel opel ran to the Ule telephone and called called t ii sheriff Within two minutes the i latter with his deputies was out outon outon on the streets I Colonel Blake returned from the I telephone I The Devil and Tom Walker I he exclaimed This kind of ot thing Is well I enough In fiction but when it jumps I Into real life lite Its It's going too far That was the arm of ot the murderer or an accomplice He may have followed you from the train If It I had not been here he might have overcome you with violence We are getting close chose to the guilty man He HeIs Heis Is scared He Is desperate He thinks that the tho revolver Is a vital part of our case He doesn't know that It is so well known that It Is la lano no longer needed Its evidence Is Ison Ison Ison on record My old slouch hat was In that bag with the revolver said Shad Colonel Blake went to the telephone telephone telephone tele tele- phone and called the home borne of Judge Swift In Ashfield I have reason to believe that the theman theman theman man who killed Oscar P Perry rry Is In Inor Inor inor or near this village Please go quickly and ond see If lr Robert Royce Is In Ashfield Its It's Important Let me know at my office as soon as possIble possible pos pos- sible the colonel requested The sheriff sherl r came and unlocked the door Weve scoured the town he said We Ve have seen no stranger I learn that a team hitched bitched to a a buggy stood In front of your door a few mIn mm utes ago It faced toward the river A woman sat in the bug buggy y The law lawyer er told what had happened happened hap hap- In the office Sheriff Colewell said The thief whoever cr he be Is got Into that buggy with the bag and was a mile out of or town when you called me The telephone bell rang Colonel Blake Biake answered It lie was astonIshed astonished aston aston- by the Information that came cameto cameto cameto to him from Ju Judge ge Swift It was this Robert Royce Is now sitting by bythe bythe the fireside at the Westminster hotel In Rodney Hodney the proprietor tor tells me that he has lias been sitting sitting sit sit- ting In the chair he now occupies ever since be he finished eating his supper supper supper sup sup- per about quarter past post six Blake told the tue Judge of the singular lar mr Incident of the tue evening and rang off lIe He came out of his office Well Sheriff Im I'm about ready for ii Important move In this game of checkers he said Ive I got a man manIn manIn manin In the king row Im I'm going to move mo for tor Jumpy Browns Brown's release on ball PRECEDING EVENTS Ragged and starving a boy of Dr about sixteen n Is befriended nd d by a camping party pu He Ho has fled na from his W. brutal father Dat flat The boy Shad Sh Sheridan Sheri Shed ri- ri dan lin b La sent lent to Canton with a letter to Colonel Colon 1 Blake BIale The Tho colonel his hI wife wile and their daughter Ruth are Impressed by the boys boy's manner monner He sets gets work In the lbs village of Df Amity Darn Dam and m meets ts a II youth of ht ace ae e Bony flony and Bumpy Brown tinker considered a II drunkard because of his periodic lapses from strict sobriety With Bony Dony ony Shad visits the shack which Brown calls colls borne home Bat Mor- Mor eon ryson comes cornea to toko tako his bl son Ion back to his bl own dissolute life ife but Is b overawed by Colonel Blake the th district attorney and his father lather passes out of Shad Shads life A girl Ctrl young and pretty comes to Browns Brown's aback Inquiring for lor him bm Shad applies himself diligently to his bIs neglected education and love for Ruth takes a II strong stronghold bold hold on his h heart art In an attack made ma da on the Perry family Oscar Perry the fa father fa- fa a- a tSar ther his Ws daughter Mrs Mra Doolittle wits wila of Cyrus Doolittl prominent nt citizen aro arc shot and seriously wounded Circumstantial evidence points poInt to Bumpy Brown as the tho assailant nt and he be Is I. s arrested Shad loses his bIs Job and goes to livo live with Bony at lit Miss The two boys find disguises the murderer had worn Colonel Blako Is I. almost convinced Brown Drown Is not Dot the murderer He Ho arranges for Shad to study law und under r his hi guidance New evidence points ponts to Robert Royce as the murderer of Perry or at least of implication In the affair The County court convened con In the morning The district attorney In view atthe of at the discovery of ot new evidence In the case of at the People against William Brown moved for the release of at the defendant on ball freely offered by bya a number of oC responsible Grand Army men I am convinced that the prisoner If Ir he Is set free tree can be beof beof of ot some service to us I The motion was granted Doctor Gorse was at the little board boarding lg house when Shad returned with Bumpy The doctor greeted them Ulem with the grave gro dignified and amI gentle co courtesy for which he was famous He lie turned to Miss and said I would like to talk privately with young Mr Perhaps you will take Brown Into the dining room and close the door for a few II minutes When he and Shad were alone the doctor said The district attorney Is not yet In th the central current of ot the singular singular singular lar stream of ot events which has engaged engaged engaged en en- his attention There Is one episode e of ot which he may not have learned On the fifth of ot November a stranger stranger stranger stran stran- ger arrived In He lIe was a brawny man ut about sl six sis feet tall tail with witha a fre freckled kled face and large and prominent prom prom- meat ears He Be registered at the Westminster hotel as Donald Donnld Algyre from Winchester Springs Ontario When he arrived he wore a broad- broad brimmed hat Later h he lie wore ore a Scotch cap that has a parted crown and ribbons at nt the base like those worn much In rural Canada He Hese se seemed med to have bave no business He had money He spent It freely In Inthe Inthe Inthe the barrooms He Lie drank dronk with all their cheerful the the horsemen horsemen horsemen horse horse- men the sports the roustabouts He He- I had traveled much He bad been a cowboy In th the wild West He was a good story The boys liked hiked him Some one discovered that he carried car car- I nod ried a big revolver In his hip pocket He went Into the woods wood for a hunt bunt with Royce There Roy Royce e tells of ot seeing him throw a silver sliver quarter In the air and shoot a hole In It with his revolver er before It came down Now In the early evening of the tenth of at November he be was seen In Ina Ina ina a canoe on the river Roger Wingate Wingate Win Win- gate a patient of at mine and his young son passed near him In a boat The time was a quarter of ot seven or nearly that It was rather dark The boy bad had his fathers father's dark lantern He opened It suddenly and ii II lJ I 1 t- t 1 MI Its Hand Seized the Little Leather Bag on Shads Shad's Desk flung its Us light on the stranger Here lIere was unmistakably the man known as Algyre WIngate had met him He spoke but got no answer Now the point at which they met was nearly opposite Browns Brown's cove Wingate Wingate Win- Win gate thought nothing of the Incident It seemed to have no relation to the murder Shad was quick to say That man couldn't have got to DoolIttles DoolIttle's house by seven It would have been Impossible No suspicion of that ever entered the mind of ot my patient He had forgotten the matter until the excItement ex excitement of yesterday In Ash eld had begun to spread What excitement Shad asked Oh have hare not heard you of ot It itT Iti No I 1 left Canton early and was with Bumpy at his shack all yest yesterday yester rester- r- r day and got here less than an hour bour ago Well WeIl a while back I had written to a classmate of mine at McGIll university who Is IB In practice e at Winchester Springs Ontario I bad had framed a theory and I wanted to learn what he knew v about Donald Donah AI Algyre lie He answered promptly No Noman Noman Noman man of or the name and description I 1 had given gh-en was known In that village vil vU- lage or In the country surrounding It The genial stranger had bad van van- from our neighboring village I was m mystified Detectives es from Chicago arrived In on the noon train yesterday They were looking for tor the man described In InthIs Inthis Inthis this document He ne drew from his pocket a small poster containing a tone half-tone photograph photograph photo photo- graph and the following announcement announcement announcement announce announce- ment Reward of ot For Information which will lead to the arrest of the famous bandit and bank robber Reuben Smith alias John OBrien O'Brien alias aUas Percival Perchal Roberts alias ollas and lately Donald Donnld Algyre Algyre Al Al- gyre of whom this Is a photograph Ho lie Is about six feet teet tall He has large bony hands and rather broad shoulders His face tace Is freckled his hair red his ears cars large and promInent prom prom- meat When last seen he was dressed In a dark and rather shabby suit lie wore a Canadian Scotch cap cap Address Address' communications to the police of your own town or to Allan PInkerton Chicago m. m It will b be remembered that Shad and Bony had seen the man so well described In the poster sitting with Royce noyce Anderson and others at the Westminster hotel In the he evening of the day of their successful hunt for tor forthe forthe the hats and the handkerchief The boy read the words of Mr Mr Pinkerton Pinkerton Pinker Pinker- r- r ton with deep Interest A thought flashed In upon him He Be asked Do you know Imo when this man was last seen In Ash Ash- sh- sh field The doctor answered It Is Isell well ell known that his last appearance there was about seven o'clock In Inthe inthe the evening of December 1 A telegram telegram telegram tele tele- gram had been delivered to him that evening He paid his bill Royce Hoyce ate supper with him In n a al al along l long ng ulster and yarn arn mittens he went out of the front door of the hotel with his two bags The bellboy offered to help him but buthe buthe buthe he said No thank you The door closed and he was gone gone He had vanished It would seem that no noone noone noone one got a glimpse of him after that It Is supposed that somewhere near I a wagon was waiting for him I II I think that I saw his hand and I arm that night said Shad i He told the doctor of the singular I event In Colonel Blakes Blake's office on the I InIght night or of December 1 This Is interesting said the doctor doctor doc doe tor gravely But Dut who was the woman In the buggy Shad asked If It I was to guess said the doctor doctor doc doe tor I would say that she was a aman aman aman man In a womans woman's head-dress head and cloak I would say further but further but I have gone f far r enough Dont Don't let probabilities deceive you This Is evident The daredevil alien aUen crook arrives es He Be Is a generous and agreeable agreeable agree agree- able companion In one of the barrooms barrooms barrooms bar bar- rooms he lie falls taUs In with our local talent tal tal- ent eat They become Intimate It Is Isa Isa Isa a curious fact tact that l If you turn a n crook loose In a town he be will soon find his brother If It there Is one to tobe tobe tobe be found They will be friends Now the stranger was a deep and cunnIng cunning cun cnn ning man with the help of ot whisky he soon knew what our novice badIn had bad hadIn hadin In his mindA mindA mindA mind A man like me that has mastered the arts of ot making alcohol his servant servant serve ant He Be may pretend to be drUnk I but he Is always able to do his work The other fellow unbuttons his mind The skilled crook Our hayseed with a rotten soul grew confidential In his cups Algyre was sympathetic He offered to help belp In some part of ot the proceeding that was safe and easy Yon You may be sure that he was to be well paid In cash for his bis trouble He dug Into the background of ot the situation He made a few v expert suggestions I have ha wondered a little that our bur local talent should be capable of ot creating a problem so Intricate that even a man of Colonel Blakes Blake's acumen has lIas been leen deceived I think that the famous criminal whom the PInkertons described conceived the plan of our problem The local bungler made a mess of ot It He killed the wrong party Shad said Yes es He meant to i kill Mrs Urs Doolittle but he had never used that revolver He didn't know how to use It It Exactly I 1 the doctor exclaimed You see at ut a point on the road opI opposite op op- I his canoe our crook met the murderer who passed the revolver er to him He slipped across the river dropped the weapon near Dump Bumpy's s shack put the cartridges In the old oldmans oldmans oldmans mans man's Jacket pocket crossed and ran down the river half halt a mile There he left the canoe and went to tb the house of ot Peter Lalone where he was spending the night probably night probably playIng playIng play play- Ing poker with some of ot our local sharps Shads Shad's eyes glowed with Interest and delight as the doctor raveled out the threads threads' of ot the well knit problem The colonel colon l will be glad to hear bear of ot this he said If It you put my theory before him ho he will naturally ask Why would a clever criminal Involved ID In big things and sought by the police poUce put his life and liberty In danger In this small I answer that he lie didn't He took the precautions to establish an un unshaken unshaken unshaken un- un shaken alibi At precisely pre seven fifteen he called at Henry Lockwood's Lock Lock- woods wood's woods more more than |