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Show THE RICH COUNTY REAPER, RANDOLPH, UTAH THE STORY THUS FAR: Adam Brace, FBI operator. Inspector Tope and Mrs. Tope met in the Maine woods. Tope found a man murdered, who was at first Identified as Ledforge, bead of New Eng land utilities. When a car believed to have been used in the murder was raised from the quarries it was found to contain the body of a murdered woman,. Mrs. suiKell. Her husband committed cide. Joe Dane, assistant D.A., accusing Tope of bungling the case, took complete charge. Eberly met Ledforge to go on a fishing trip. When they got in the canoe, Ledforge upset the canoe. He knew that Eberly could not swim. When he saw that Eberly was not sinking he started toward him but was stopped by Tope. not for a while interrupt again. And Ledforge spoke, a little sadly. Its hard to speak openly about Weve kept it It, he confessed. an absolute secret for so long that silence is a habit now. And he said earnestly: But you know, every important man needs a double. Did that ever occur to you? Imagine how much easier it would be for the President, for instance, if he were twins. With one twin to attend to the business ofthe office, the other to handle the social side, attend banquets, make speeches, display himself. He continued: But it was more chance than else that led anything CHAPTER XIV us into it. Some years ago theheavy demands upon my time and my Eberly said steadily: He over- energy began to weary me. I. had turned the canoe, swam away. Then like a nervous collapse, he looked back, expecting to see me something and I went away quietly to my boydrowning. He knew I couldnt swim. hood home a remote little town in But when he saw me still afloat Mr. Manitoba for a vacation. Tope had made me wear a Christopher lived there. He was he started back to finish a doctor surgeon and .doctor, too, me! as small town practitioners must be ; his in tone, and he took me in Ledforge, a bitter hurt hand, cured me. cried: Nonsense! I came to help But he me for overworkreproached you. Carl! and he suggested that a man There was murder in his eyes, ing; as busy as I ought to have a perdiEberly insisted, not speaking to watch over his sonal rectly to the other man at all. health.physician him to come I persuaded fuLedforge whirled toward Tope, You put this idea into riously. his head! Of course hes shocked, doesnt know what hes saying! He had a blackjack on a thong on his wrist, said Eberly. Ledforge wore a strap watch on his left wrist. He held it up. Carl must have seen this," he insisted; and he said sympathetically: Gentlemen, Mr. Eberly is hysterical. He has always been afraid of the water. Tope, after a moment, spoke. he Well, you see, Mr. Ledforge, explained, almost apologetically, theres more to it than just this. The whole thing started with a man that left New York last Friday morning with Mr. Holdom, in Hol-docar, and with Holdoms chauffeur driving. And the next time anybody saw that man, he was dead under a bed in one of the cabins at a roadside camp up here. The others save young Adam Bruce were watching Tope. Adam He saw the watched Ledforge. mans pupils faintly dilate, saw his eyes become fixed in a concentrated attention. Tope paused, and in the instant of silence, Adam heard Mr. Eberlys teeth chattering together. And he had an impression of racing thoughts behind Ledforges outward calm. Then the man asked curtly What of it? What has that to er do with me? Why, Miss Ledforge hasnt seen But him yet, Tope explained. the dead man .looked mightily like you. Ledforge cried, in quick horror: Looked like me? Dead? Heavens, map, do you mean Christopher? Why, yes, dead, Tope assented I didnt know his name mildly. was Christopher, but he looked enough like you to be your twin. Ledforge nodded gravely. Gentlemen, he said then, we cant stand here. Carl is freezing, and Im cold myself. Suppose we go down to the house. I. must hear the whole story. You know who the Tope asked: dead man was, then? Ledforge assented. Certainly, You His eyes clouded with grief. said he looked like my twin brother. Well, gentlemen, he was. At the house, Whitlock and Beal by Topes direction stayed outside. Eberly disappeared with a serving man, to drink hot grog and find dry clothes. Ledforge asked for Miss Ledforge; and the servant report- back with me in that capacity. He suggested also that I ought to have a social secretary or an assistant, to whom I might delegate some less important activities; and the fact, which we discovered before we left home, that not even our intimate friends would distinguish one Of us from .the other, led naturally to the arrangement which has contin- ued till now. He looked from one to another. It was very simple, he said, once we began. A little attention to such details as clothes, haircuts, and so on. . . . Christopher, ever since, besides taking care of my health, has lived the social side of my life, leaving me free to attend to business without distraction. Tope wagged his head. I declare, thats a queer one, he admitted. I dont suppose many people blew about this thing? Not a living soul, Ledforge declared confidently, except my sised: She had a turn, sir, and is lying ter Alice and even she cant tell us apart to this day. down. Two ladies are with her. How about servants and all Dont Good, said Ledforge. , disturb her. Tope suggested: Youll want to get dry, yourself! But Ledforge negatived this. Theres a good fire on the hearth, he pointed out. Ill be all right. Come in! So they gathered in the big living-roo- richly paneled like a baronial hall; and Ledforge said: Now then: My brother dead, and some one else too, you said? Mrs. Kell, Tope told him. But Joe Dane could no longer endure that Tope should dominate the scene. And Kell too, Tope!" he cried. Dead as a herring! And Holdom dying, so well never gel a word ' out of him. saw Tope Ledforges eyes quicken in a sort of triumph, and the old man turned to Joe almost roughly. Joe, he said, youve a real gift lor talking out of turn. Mr. Ledforge, here, can lie all he wants to now, knowing Kell and Holdom cant contradict him. . Cumberland and Adam were silent, strictly listening; even Joe did feet were tied with wire. He was gagged and blindfolded with tape. His hands and feet and head were muffled in pieces of blanket. Hed been alive when he was put there. He died of a ruptured . appendix. Hed been brought there in a coupe belonging to Holdom, by a man and a woman. I found their tracks. Afterward the man killed the woman it was Mrs. Kell and left her in the car and ran the car into an old quarry up in the hills. We found the mans tracks there. Ledforge made an explosive gesture. Hideous! he cried. Incredible! 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IU take off this wet coat, he remarked, and stood before them in flannel shirt, vest, khaki trousers and light woods shoes with rubber soles; a spare, gray, small old man. It was Holdom, he began then. I can see what was in his mind, what he tried to do. And he explained: A week ago, I would have been as mystified as you, because I had always trusted Holdom. But I know now that he was a thief and a rascal. I learned last Monday that he had been using my collateral to trade in an account under my name, to sell my own stocks short. I have already reported the matter to the Exchange authorities. He paused, but no one spoke. So he went on: How To Relieve The greatest distance swimmer of all time is Pedro Candioti of Santa Fe, Argentina, who has been staging marathon swims since 1922, the most important being his annual attempt, never yet successful, to swim the 205 miles of the Parana river between Rosario and Buenos Aires, says Colliers. 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Soothing Mentholatum acta Mentholatum, the comforting medimedicinally: (1) Gently stimulates cated balm. Handy jars or tubes 304. A cracked lip 0) Holdom did not know, you under- stand, that there were two of us; Christopher and I. Now gentlemen, Christopher was sick. Being a doctor, he of course knew that he had a bad appendix; but he was devoted to me. For him to go to a New York hospital would have been to risk the discovery of our duality. He was willing to take some risk to avoid that, so he decided to come up to Holdoms home here for the operation. Mrs. Kell had been a trained nurse. Dr. Nason would come from Boston to do the operation, in the rooms above Holdoms garage. Christopher himself, pretending to be me, made all these arrangements with Holdom; so Holdom would naturally suppose that I was about to be incapacitated for a week or ten days. Perhaps he thought I was likely to die. Perhaps he already intended my death. At any rate, before leaving New York and trading in my name he sold my stocks short. So then Holdom and Mrs. Kell she was his mistress drove to Dewains Mill, in the coupe, with Christopher hidden in the rumble. He looked at them all, challenging-ly- . Doesnt that fit the facts? he demanded. Well, so far," Tope agreed. But For Safety Invest in Your Own Country Buy United States Savings Bonds! Do You Know That Cooked Wheat Cereal! the worlds dependable breakfast for centuries still is the best I was of Americans still demand a steaming bowl of appetizing cooked wheat cereal for the daily mornings repast Why? Because, careful blended like Cream of the West from the meaty and nourishing center portions of golden wheat grains its the most nourishing the most easily digestible for babies for chilMillions dren For grown-up- s. CREAM of the WEST -- Is Tastier! MONTANA CEREAL CO. Bluings, Montana go on! They took a cabin for the night, and Holdom hid Christopher where you found him. But Mrs. Kell must have protested at the inhumanity of leaving him there alive, till Holdom, in rage or desperation, strangled her! ' He hesitated, and the color for an instant left his cheeks as though that word had shocked and frightened him. Its sickening! he exclaimed then, hurriedly. But aftthat? er that, Holdom would go on to disIt was simply a matter of never pose of the car, and of Mrs. Kells appearing anywhere together, Led- body, and meet Kell, and make Kell One of us give him a rap on the head and leave forge assured them. always stayed out of sight when the him to be found beside the road. As other was to be visible. Of course, an alibi! And he said in a low we used some simple disguises at furious tone: It is incredible; and times, to give the one who for the yet something like that must be the moment did not exist a little free- truth! And he said dom of movement. He finished, and Joe Dane started to speak, but Adam touched his arm suddenly: But now its my turn to ask ques- and hushed him. tions. Who told you the dead man, Tope rapped his pipe on his heel, chucked the ashes on the hearth. Christopher, looked like me? . We showed Kell the dead man, Mrs. Tope had seen you or your He said it wasnt brother at a stockholders meeting he remarked. once." you! Kell would lie, of course. To save Probably she saw Christopher, v himself. But tell me Ledforge suggested. Yes, I figured that, Tope aswhat happened? Where is Christosented; but he said then in a sort of pher? How was he killed?, irritation: Shucks, Mr. Ledforge, said all Why gravely: Tope right, Mr. Ledforge. Ill tell you: all thats too complicated for me. under a bed Holdom was in it, sure; but my idea I found your brother ' in a cabin called Faraway, at a has been, right along, that whatroadside camp called Dewains Mill, ever Holdom did, he did because you up above here. 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