Show A by ST GEORGE RIVE hor of little if sf aali H U oaf one the sp ser der a well web dr jack i 8 widow it adow U X es 88 caprice ete 1801 1901 street and smith new now yora 1 XI hot shot one look told charlie charlie that his friend had h A good news artemus was fairly bu boling over with the intelligence he had picked up such a smile upon the face of bar looked bad for capt brand and his gi cicat eat game the to fo inflations of his spanish castle were getting shaky and possibly the whole tre mendo is structure must come crashing down engulfing him in the ruins what s the word 9 asked artemus all goes on serenely so far as I 1 know artemus shut conj one ee there s some high old tun fun in pros pact well ies I 1 suppose SO st pat ticks day is always booming with good cheer in new i ork ah ali I 1 mean for us tor for our friend the captain that strikes closer home now I 1 inea you were the bearer of good news mews when I 1 saw you enter I 1 always said I 1 was born under a lucky star and this settles it beyond peradventure well tell me your advent ires and tow low good fort me ine attended you all of which N shall be to the glory of 0 air ir cause the vindication of truth and right and the utter demoralization of capt brand copie come over here where comfort and velvet chairs await us and prepare yourself for a surprise that will 1 I guess surpass anything you ever heard so they settled down charlie endeavored to retain his composure and possess bis his soul in patience he knew artemus of old and that a ceremony had to be gone through with ere he would disgorge the secrets he possessed such as would not disgrace the cross questioning in one of the higher courts well now you know what hopes I 1 had with regard to the fellows on the rialto how I 1 built up air castles concerning the finding of one or more among them who knew macauley by heart and would for a proper consid ration take pleasure in denouncing him to his face I 1 only ran across one man who had played upon the boards with the great macauley he declared he would know him under any disguise that Us its mannerisms must always betray its individuality even though ne ile rep resented Jesen ted an arab or a helenen lainee ah ali that s the man we want said tharlie and that s the man we wont won t get ten see he had one experience alea Ifa cauley and to this day be he declares mention or of the man always sends 0 chill up and down his spinal column in a word he tears fears him worse than the devil fears holy water and nei tier ter bribes nor pleading could in luce him to say he would open his lat batteries on brand the most I 1 could tet him to promise was to see the bither from a safe hiding place and then secretly give us his opinion with lie iron ironbound bound proviso that his name never appear in the matter charlie elevated his eyebrows I 1 should say that man was a little he admitted the soft impeachment und and confessed to a ghastly fear no macauley ATa cauley for him thank yoi yo I 1 A burnt child dreads the fire you know it might be some satisfaction to us it if he added the w eight of his secret testimony to our own strong condic eions in the matter that is it would perhaps fer haps influence lady arline no doubt no doubt will it pay to summon him then this direct method of questioning was the best way of assisting artemus along it compelled an answer and thus necessitated the ur masi masl ing of his strong batteries I 1 hardly think so you know best but i 1 should like to bear your reasons for refusing what small favors the throw in our way and you shall charlie my boy in the first place it bould hardly pay us to depend at all upon such secret testimony if we could inject some alcoholic fluid into this low comedian to give him backbone so that he would face brand and finish the game in a blaze of glory it would do very well but I 1 fear the only thing that would give the poor devil artificial courage would at the same time steal away his senses so that our cause would hardly make much progress dont dent you agree with me mea charlie nodded in the affirmative that Is one reason you see it wouldn t pay to bother with such a witness time and labor and good boint point I 1 wish to make his evidence isn t needed ah ahl since I 1 have found another way ot ensnaring the wonderful capt brand in a net which must render him utterly helpless when the rialto prospects grew dim I 1 had in my mind another alternative by which I 1 meant to make one last desperate move you know it V als was suggested by something you said a iong long time back in case buci nes toot v ri to london fiirst of all hit I 1 began to make dill gent rent inquiries among the various ship ping houses down in the region about pulton fulton market and soon oil 01 MW 1 s one man remembered the hespa sla sta and her sad fate perfectly he ile had sailed a voyage on her and was later on connected in some clerical way with the american branch of the bouse house in whose interests she was mas sailed up to the time of her loss that branch house Is still in exist ence and only a block away from where we stood talking at the mo ment it if interested in the He spasia or her gallant captain I 1 could not do better than to turn in and make in quirles there when I 1 opened my business with a little gray headed chap who was resi dent agent I 1 wish you could have seen him jump about six inches off the floor while the look of astonishment on his face was quite I 1 tiling for as h ht presently informed me as luck would have hane it I 1 had come asling ing about a vessel lost many years ago about chica no vestige had ever ever been discovered disco vered ered in the very hour that tl e sole larv ivor of the luckless hespa sla sia icard leen sitting there in the same chair I 1 o occupied and telling the most post thrilling of his adventures in the deserts of africa the most ex citira that ever fe I 1 from the ins ims of ot mortal man X that was quite a unique situation to sit in the same chair and ana this survivor of the hepas a had occupied within the hour how it must have stirred your blood and set your denes nernes tingling and then just to think what rollicking adventures he bad had to tell of his life in africa by the way haven t we heard something in that line before I 1 have an in anlis its recollection of listening to some very entertaining reminiscences that rivaled the feats of old munchausen perhaps after all it was vas only a dream plainly then aou ou think the old boy bas has been up to his tricks and sp nning his aristo arns arn sto tto a fresh audi ence erice artemus remarked I 1 confess that thought came to me well it struck me that way at first ah ali then you found occasion to change your mind I 1 did and it wasn gasn t the ogre ogree 9 breath lessly not a bit of it then charlie gave vent to a whistle there were two richmonds Mch monds in the field the man they knew as capt brand had a rival for the honors it was as growing decidedly interest ing and charlie stuart realized that his friend had certainly stumbled upon news of importance here then was mate ben hazen come to the surface after his long ex lie ile yes it was a grand stroke of luck they could doubtless easily prevail upon the mate to meet the imposter face to face and tear away the mask with which he had all this time con cealey his identity surely he would be willing to do this tor for the sake of his old captain captains s no wonder charlie felt pleased well he said at length it begins to look like business I 1 declare very much so remarked artemus I 1 can readily see there is some great fun in prospect if we can bring these two wonderful african travelers into contact oh ohl glorious and if we can get the mate to denounce this old ogre our end Is gained who la Is to denounce him why ben hazen the mate of course ah ahl where will you find him I 1 thought that is I 1 understood or at least I 1 tool it for granted you had found him artemus slowly shook his head in the most tantalizing manner I 1 never said so then I 1 j at conclusions and was you were if ben hazen Is out of the ques tion I 1 suppose this Is one of the crew who has turned up upa Ar artemus lay back in his chair with thumbs in the armholes of his vest his attitude was consequential and triumphant it plainly gave warning that he was about to fire a volley guess again I 1 am at my wits ends how about the genuine simon pure captain 7 charlie caught his breath good heavens that would be the most stupendous tl ing on record coincidence without a parallel but see here as he detected a quizzical gleam in the others fun loving eyes this Is too serious a thing to joke about you know my dear fellow you bet it is and you are in dead earnest 7 never more so in all my life cross my heart if it isn t so then charlie realized that he could believe him tell me he said eagerly were you incredulous at first rather and how did you set about brov ing matters 7 I 1 saw only one way that was to look up this new claimant for the honors you did ita I 1 bad had to you see I 1 couldn coulden t rid myself of the idea that it might after all be macauley our ogre spinning his spider web that would have struck me the first thing well with me it aas a somewhat didor nt tor for the cae stood out so clearly you see he came to the agency in company with the captain of the english steamer mer that picked him ip in a small boat off 7 the coast of africa he having at last escaped from the arabs who held him prisoner so mar maz years k this steamer was bound fram cape town to new york and bad had been thrown out of her regular course by a series of terrible southern storms they wanted to pit him aboard some vessel bound for london but strange to say spoke none during their subs subsequent quent voyage so that he has been landed here most remarkable what a sur prise for arline I 1 truly hop hope this papa will prove more acceptable th than an the ogre has been said stuart re electively I 1 think he will remarked arte mus calmly what grounds have you for bellev ing soa so the evidence of my judgment as brought to bear upon the matter by eyes and ears that arejas least equal to the average abat than you have se seen him oh ay and talked with ama hima spent three ho he arsun irskin his company and he was very loth to have me break away then really that should settle it in three hours artemus artemus could learn scores of things that would go to prove matters were ad the new claim ant declared and the captain what of hima Is he anything like well heili our ogree not a whit in manner and very little in appearance these long years 0 on the desert have darkened his skin and whitened his hair but they could not destroy his noble nature it shows in the determined and kindly glow of his eyes in the almost heavenly smile ard warm clasp of the hand 11 m well I 1 hope hell he 11 be friend ly said charlie oh he s wild to see you to thank you for all that has been done don t worry a bit about that part of it 1 I ve fixed matters significantly charlie blushed a little hope you haven t overdone it and made me out a heroic sort of figure by the way what did he think of the othera you mean the ogre ogree yes capt brand number one we may say well I 1 wouldn t care to stand in his big boots when those two meet there th ere s going to be war to the knife I 1 can tell you just as I 1 thought all these years he has lived on the hope of seeing his dear ones again and to find an usurper in his place makes him furious could he cope with the rascal his ills wild life among the arabs has ha hardened his constitution like itou lion besides he jsn isn t an old man although his hair is white god help the ogre it if once he falls into the avenger avengers s hands then we must see that this nap hap pens as soon as possible there la is need of haste such a romantic story as the captivity and escape of capt brand cant can t long be hidden under a bushel some enterprising reporter will get hold of it and the aff affair air can be spread out over a whole page of a yellow journal correct and for that reason I 1 thought you had better see my cap tain at once so I 1 tool the liberty of fetching him along and it if you will kindly take blittle a little walk with me III introduce you to papa to be continued |