Show H I hl l l l l li I I l all l I hl the bearded stranger by R T M SCOTT H H l hl I all l l il tl M H t ANY of the successes of aurelius Au rellus M MANY smith criminal investigator have been attributed to pure lucac ills his outward appearance e of laziness and indifference concealed tile he inward intensity with which lie he observed in the case of be bearded murderer his in dolence was supreme un all the last few s seconds eco ads wl when ien I 1 life I 1 fe a and nd death hung filing in the hi balance flance A certain millionaire had been dis porting film himself elf III ID a new york vork night club und and had scraped tin nn acquaintance with a bearded stra stranger tiger the two had driven away in the lite till 11 lonal res car tile alie chauffeur chausteur chauT eur loul heard a shot und and felt tile the to lizzle of u gun pressed against it his s back almost before the cur car stopped the stronger stranger jumped out tin and into a 0 passing taxi the clinus fear found its ills master murdered and robbed except hint flint tile the murderer had a beard which its either dark brown or black the police were without any accurate description of the criminal they combed the city bo however wever and picked up the taxi tax driver who had driven the man with a n beard to one ot tile abe big hotels r there tile the trull trail ended aai ellus St smith ilith engaged by the millionaires lion aires alres family stood in front of tile the bit big hotel and decided that hut no murderer would dri drive v e from the scene of hla his crime to tile place in which he slept lie ile looked across across the alio street and saw another big hotel and it occurred 0 o him that a murderer might drive fairly close to the place pince in which tie he slept smith sauntered across tile street and asked ile permission emission to interview somo some of tile lie chambermaids smiths question was do you know a guest who has shaved off his heard beard one maid knew such a guest who had checked out the day after the murder 1 I came in while he WEIS was shaving the maid said and lie he swore something awful because tile the soap tell fell oft off his brush onto tits his cuff lie ile have tits his sleeve rolled up queried smith a funny tiling thing tte maid answered ills left shirt sleeve w wua as rolled up tip but not ills his right one there was nothing of interest to be seen eeck in the room mom except upon a tele liliose lilio sn ti pid id which MIMI had b been een torn clean but which showed the lie pressure of the tha I 1 anch alion lie newly exposed sheet it was not mil to decipher a memorandum of two amounts of money which waldi tin hod been added together the amounts were significant to n traveler and at tho the grand orand central station smith discovered that flint they were identical with the cost of transportation and a lower berth to chicago tile the following duy day smith arrived la in chicago Clil cago and commenced ills tusk by sitting in tile lobby of a small bot lintl at frequented hy by the alie sporting world smoking many cl cigarettes garette and staring mostly at the ceiling or the tip of tits hla shoes ile he appeared to be extremely boreo bored after some time he rose listlessly and lounged over to the desk where a young man with sad eyes and a drooping cigarette was examining the register smith could spot a reporter ns as easily as lie ho could a plainclothes man loan know anything any tiling about tile the right fo forearms dearins of your chicago murderers asked smith tile the sad eyes of the reporter brightened a little the two took chairs close together and talked in low tones the chicago papers printed the story of the new york murder by the bearded strang r and now a new york detective claimed that the murderer wua was in and that lie alone out ot of all tile lie world could identify that murderer by querns of tits right forearm smith proc proceeded ceded to search tile the city by sitting in the lobby and staring at the ceiling or tile the toes of tits his shoes the file next nest day he read about the mystery of the murderers forearm in a tu orning paper and noted that his name hit eliud been printed together with the name of ills bis hotel As smith closed ills bedroom door behind him about he be was surprised to notice that the heavy window blinds hit eliud been drawn down the room was in complete darkness darkness swiftly he reached for the two bull bulb chandelier II 11 la lingers fingers touched hot glass the light had been sIt switched ched olt off within tile the last few seconds probably as ills steps sounded in tile hall then it was that flint ills ids lightning mind saved it his I 1 s life dexterously the reaching hand unscrewed one bulb and tossed it into antu a corner comer ut of tile the dark room half a second after the fragile glass vacuum burst with a loud pop smith turned on nn the remaining light and life hla free hand shot out with an automatic A mail sitting quietly in a chair with a revolver in hla his liand hand laid twisted ills head in the direction of the bursting tump ile he looked buck quick ly enough lint lie did not attempt to raise tits ills weapon it was too late lie ile was covered thought yuu you would kill me ine aind and destroy the lie only evidence against you quizzed smith us lie he disarmed ula ills cap tive five what lint mark did you yon have on your arm smith shoved up the lie muna mans sleeve and revealed three tattooed initials only know knew you were concealing something smith returned pleasantly lyt an and thought ll it would be easier for you to find we ine than tor for rue roe to lind you |