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Show W BULL-DOG 1 DRUMMOND M pHnBk The Adventures of A I CB iHESi eiTK)tilLzed Officer ftM PkWho Found Peace Dull KwhSwi CYRIL WNEILE fCvt 'Mrlm ..."SAPPER" 4 vlraf VPklRWIN MYERS 1 STaSl -4V- Copyright by Geo H Do ran Co .Siiddonl It Ntruck him tmt be win Ht n terrible dlmidvimtOKe Tl tblni; whntcwr It wn. knew. nt mix rnt.i npproxliimU'lj hlv portion hi- bud not the sIlKhtesI notion where It wni. And ii blind tiiiih iMixhur u tmui wbii t-ould s.,.. wimiIiI hne felt Just nbout n Mife. With IIurIi, Mich ,, .oiielii. Mon iiii-nnt Insiimt notion it iniKlt Jio dniiKeroiis on the floor; n in()st ,.,,,.. tnlnly win fur more so In bnl. II.. felt for hts torch, mill t licit, with one conclusive bound, he wns xtiuulltiK by the door, with hlx hniid on the electric-light electric-light switch. Then he pnused mid listened Intent. ly. Not n hound could he boar, the thing, wlmteMM- It was, bud become motionless nt bin sudden mweiiieiit. For mi uppreclnble time lu stood there, his ejes searching the iliirkness but eeo he eoulil e nothing, mid bo cursed the Anierlemi comprebensUely under bis breiith. He would hne given anything for een the faintest grey light, so thai he could have some Idea of what It was ami where It was. Now he felt utterly helpless, while every moment he Imagined some slimy, crawling brute touching his bare feet creeping up on him. . . Ho pulled himself together sharply Light was essential, and nt once. Hut, If he switched It on, there would he a moment when the thing would see blm before be could see the thing and such liniments are not helpful. There only remained his torch; and on the Ancre, on one occasion, be hnd siiu'd bis life by Its Judicious use. The nmu behind one of Hiom- useful Implements Imple-ments Is In blackness far more Impenetrable Im-penetrable than the blackest night, for the man In front Is dazzled. He can only shoot at the torch : wherefore bold It to one side and In front of ou. . . . The light Hashed out, darting loimd the room. Ping! Something hit the Ieoe of bis piijtimas, but still he could see nothing. The bed, with the clothes throw ii back; the withstand; the chair with his trousers and shirt everything was as It bad hcvii when be turned In, And then be beurd it second sec-ond sound distinct and clear. Itcamo from high up, near the celling, and the beam caught the big cupboard mid traveled up. It reached the top, and rested there. Iled mid steady. Framed In the middle of It. peering over the edge, was a little hairless, brown face, holding what looked like a tube In Its mouth. Hugh bad one glimpse of a dark, skinny hand putting something in the tube, and then he switched off the torch and ducked, Just as another lly plngisl oxer his head and bit the wail behind One thing, at any rate, was certain: the oilier occupant of the room was human, and with thai realization all his nerve returned. There would be time enough later on to tlnd out how-he how-he got there, and what those strange pluglng noises bad been caur.ed by. .lust nt that moment only one thing was on the program; mid without u sound he crept round the bed toward the cupboard, to put that one thing Into In-to effect In lilt) unual direct manner. Twice did he hear the little whistling whis-tling hiss fiom r.brve. but nothing sung past Ills head. K'.ldently tho mini hud lo-t him. and was probnbl still aiming aim-ing at the door And then.' with hands that barely touched It, he felt the outlines out-lines of the cupbouid. It was standing an Inch or twofioin tho wiill, and be slipped hM lingers Imj-hind Imj-hind tho back on one side. He listened lis-tened for a moment, but no movement came from above; then, half facing the vvull, he put one log ngiilnst It. There was on quick, tremendous heave: u crash which sounded deafening: then silence, And oiue again he switched on his torcl Lying on the tloor bv I he window was one of the smallest men he bud ever seen. He was a native of sorts, and Hugh turned him over with bis foot. He was quite unconscious, and the bump " bl" '"""'I. "I"'1' ll mul hit the lloor, was rapidly swelling to the size of u large orange. In bH band be still clutched the little tube, and Hugh glugeily removed It. Placed In position at one end was a long splinter of wood, vylth a sharpened point: mid by the light of his torch Hugh saw that It was faintly dhi-colored dhi-colored Willi soiiio brown stain. Ho was still outinliilug It with Interest, In-terest, when u thunderous knock came on the door. Ho strolled over and switched on the electric light; then be opened the door. An excited night-porter rushed III, followed by two or thrvo other people In varying singes of undress and hi ed In niuutt'iiicnt at the scene. The heavy cupboard, with a great crack across the buck, lay face down-ward down-ward on the lloor; the native still lay culled up and motionless 'One of the hotel pot'" qu rled Hugh plea-.intly. lighting 'wirrtte. "If It's nil the suuio. t v I wu "If It's All the Same to Ybu, I Wish You'd Remove Him." jou'd i online blm. lie wits' ah Hading Had-ing It uncomfortable on the top of the cupboard." It appeured that the night-porter (otild speak Lngllsb; It also appeared Unit the lady occupying the room below- had rushed forth demanding to be led to the basement, under the mis-apprehension mis-apprehension that war had again been declared and the Germans were bombing bomb-ing Paris. And then, to crown ever)-'thing, ever)-'thing, while the uproar was at Its height, the native on the lloor, opening open-ing one beady and somewhat dazed eje, renll7tsl that things looked unhealthy. un-healthy. Unnoticed, U' lay "doggo" for ti while; then, like a rabbit which has almost been trodden on, he dodged between the legs of the men In tho loom, and vanished through the open door. Taken by surprise, for a mo-'iieut mo-'iieut no one moved: then, simultaneously, simultane-ously, the) dashed Into the passage. It was empty, ami Hugh, glancing up, saw the Amoiicnn detective advancing toward them along the corridor. "What's the trouble, captain?" he iisl.ul as he Joined the group. "A friend of the management elected to "pi ud the night on the top of my ciipbouid, Mr. iliit'ii," answered Drum-nioud. Drum-nioud. "and got ornnip half way I I lir.ni'jh" The Auieilcaii gazed at the wreckage wreck-age In silence. Then be bsiked at Hugh, and what he saw on tbitt woitby's fine apparently decided hint to maintain Unit policy. In fuel. It wits not till the night-porter and his attendant minions bad at last, and ver.v diibloiisl.v. withdrawn, that he agiilii opened Ills mouth. -Look like a beetle night," ho murmured. mur-mured. "What happened t" llriell) Hugh told him what bad occmred uii'1 the detective whistled softl.v. "Itlowplpe and poisoned itaris he slid hliuillj. lemming the tube to liriimiuoliil. "Nanow escape d--d iiiii row ! Look at )our pillow Hugh looked- embedded In the lu.cn vveie four pointed splinters similar to the one he belli III Ids band: h the door were three more. I.vlng on ibe lloor. "An engaging Utile bird," be laughed; "but nasty to look at." He extracted the little pieces of wood and carefully placed them In an emplj nialch-box: the tube he put Into In-to his elgaietlecase. "Might come III handy: ou never know," be leniurked casiiallj. "They might If 'ou stand quite still," said tin; inerlcau, with a sudden, sharp louiuinnd In id- voice. "Poni move," Hugh stoisl motionless, MlatliiK in the speaker, -who with ejes Hm.I on his right forearm, hud stepi-d for ward. From the loose sleeve "f bis , pyJnuiH coat tlm detective gently pulled another dart nnd dropped II into the uititcb-box. "Not far off gelling joii that time, captain," be cried ohcerfiillj "Now joil'vo got the vbole blamed oiittlt." THREE It was the I'omte tie Guv who lioaided the bout express at the Guru tin Nurd the next day; It was Carl Peterson who stepped off the bout express ex-press at iloiilngjie. And It wn onl Priiiiiiiioud'N positive assiiriini-e which mm lined the American Unit the, Uvw f-hariulcr were the sun" man. lie was Iwo'ri? over the side of the bv.i reading a lilegiani when he lli-si mw lluJi ten nrnutts after ibe noat bud h i the ibor; nnd If be It ii hoped o gJ di .t tut M'siilt io Hi' m c'de I o, ' I '" I " e no 'f It showed on his face. Iustcud ht waved u cheerful greeting to. Drum-mond. Drum-mond. "This Is n pleasant surprise," he remarked re-marked affably. "Have you been to Paris, too?" For u moment Urummoud looked at htm narrowly, Was tt a. stupid bluff, Or was the man no sure of his power of disguise that he assumed wlUi certainly cer-tainly he hud not been recognized T And It suddenly struck Hugh that, save for that one tell-tale habit a habit which, In all probability, Peterson Peter-son himself was unconscious of ho would not have recognized him. "Ves," be answered lightly. "I came over Io see how you behaved yourself your-self I" "What ii pity I didn't know I" said Pelei-sou, with a gooil-lumiored chuckle, lie seemed In excellent spirits, as bo carefully lore the telegram Into tiny pieces nnd dropped them overboard. "We mlulil have had another of our hoiuel) little chats over some supper. Where did joti stay?" "At the Hit.. And jour "I iilwiijs slop at the Hrlstol," an-MM-rod Peterson, "Quieter than tho Hit.. I think." FOUR "Walk right In, Mr. (iioen," wild Hugh, as, three hours later, they got out or ii taxi in Half Moon street. "This Is my little rabbit-hutch." Ho followed the American up the stairs, mul produced Ida latchkey. Hut before be could even Insert It in the bole the door was lluug open, mid Peter Dun ell stood facing him with evident relief -in his face. "Tlialik the Lord jolt've come, old son," he cried, with n biief hsik at the detective. "There's something doing do-ing down at nodalmlng I don't like." He followed Hugh Into the sitting room, "At twelve o'llock today Toby mug up. He was talking quite ordinarily you know the sort of rot he usually gets off his chest when suddenly he stopped quite short and said, 'My (lodl What do j ou wuntr I could tell ho'd looked up, because Ills voice was milf-lied. milf-lied. Then there was the sound of a scuffle, I heard Toby curse, then nothing noth-ing more. I rang and rung mul rang no answer." "What did joii do?" Drumiiiond, with a letter In his hand which he had taken off the iitantelplee, was listening lis-tening gilmlj, "Algy was here. He motored straight off to see If he could itml out what was wrong, I stopped livie to tell j ou." "Anything through from hlmV " '.N'ot a word. There's foul plaj-, or I'll eat my hat." liut Hugh did not answer. With a look on his fine which even Peter had never seen before, he was reading the letter. It was short and to the point, but he rend It three limes before ho spoke. I "When did this come?" bo asked. j "An hour ago," answered the other. I "I very Hourly opened It." "Iteud It," said Hugh, H handed It to Peter iiim) went to the door. . .'IJenflj?' he shouted, "I want my cur round at once." Then he came i back Into the room. "If thej've hurt . one hair of her bead," he said, his volco full of u jiinnldcrliig fury, "I'll murder that gang one by one with my , bum builds " "Jjay, captain, may I bee. this let ter?" SUIO Hit- mm .v..-, ... ..u. nodded. " Kor pllj's sake, come at once," rend the detective aloud, " The bearer of this Is trustworthy.'" He thoughtfully thought-fully picked bin teeth, "(llrl's writing. writ-ing. Do joii know Iter?" - "My llaiicee," said Hugh shortly, "Certain?" snapped the American. "Certain I" cried Hugh. "Of course I am. I know every curl of every letter." let-ter." "There Is such ti thing as forgery," remarked the detective dtspiisslonatelj-. "D n It. mini," exploded Hugh; "do you Imagine I don't know my own girl's- writing?" "A good miinj bank cashiers huvf mistaken their customers' writing before be-fore now," said the other, unmoved. "I don't like It, captain. A girl In real trouble wouldn't put In that hit about the hearer." "You go to b I," remarked Hugh brlelly. "I'm going to Oodulmlng." "Well," drawled the American, "not knowing (iislalmlug, I don't know who scores. Hut, If j oil go there I come too." "And me," said Peter, brighten-lug brighten-lug tin. (Contlnuou Noxt Week) |