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Show IS-! -ill I Diamond Gut: Diamond I; By JANE BUNKER jjj 3 j E (Copyright, by Bobbs-Merrlll Company.) J ! i CHAPTER XII. 12 The Capture. That night nothing happened at least to me; but somehow the periods when nothing happened were more alarming than when he was boldly attacking. at-tacking. You may imagine, if you can, what I went through on Saturday ! My one diversion was to rehide the diamonds. dia-monds. This time after I had taken them out of the hyacinths and poked a thimble among the stems I sealed them in an envelope and thumb-tacked It to the bottom of a sideboard drawer. The drawers sledded In and out on runners run-ners deep enough to allow the envelope enve-lope to pass. All day long I kept thinking, think-ing, "What will happen If monsieur doesn't talre the bait?" It seems strange to me now, but I never once asked myself, "What will happen If he does?" The last half hour before Billy came was positively the longest In my life, and when the bell did finally ring I was shot through the heart and ready to dHi. I came to life Immediately, whispered whis-pered through the door, "Who's there?" and heard, "Ann Preswlck" the password we'd agreed on. "Then he hasn't killed you !" were my first words. "Who? Your 'mossoo?' No I killed him on the stairs last night or pretty near !" I didn't see why Billy should bestow the proprietorship on me he wasn't my "mossoo," as I reminded Billy while he was pulling a pair of handcuffs out of his overcoat pocket. "A mere detail," he returned. "He will be your own In an hour." He flung off his coat. "Where do we hide these togs?" "My wardrobe. . . . But he won't come." "Oh, yes, he will he told me so." I thought Billy was Joking and made no reply. "Very Interesting man," mused Billy. "Not at all the sort of person you'd expect to find In a diamond robbery. Wonderful knowledge of European politics pol-itics and American politics, too." "Billy, what do you mean?" I demanded. de-manded. "Why, I took your 'mossoo' home 'to his hotel last night and " "You didn't!" I gasped. "Of course I did! Why not? You don't suppose I'd go off and leave him here to murder you, do you?" Billy w-as making the most out of his story, I could see. "But how did you manage man-age it?" I wns still gasping. "I didn't. He did. He wasn't going to give himself away by going upstairs; up-stairs; he said he was going down. So we went down together, and I kept ' talking to him. When we got to the street we Just kept on till I'd seen him home. We were thick as thieves by that time. I invited him to see Chinatown tonight and he accepted" "Billy! You never " "Yes, I did ! And It's how J. know he's coming tonight see? I went round this morning in time for the first mall. He was waiting for it. Oh, he got the letter all right ! And as soon as he read It he came over and told me he couldn't go to Chinatown China-town tonight he had diplomatic business busi-ness that might take him to Washington Washing-ton which means here. See?" "Billy, you're the cleverest thing I ever saw I" I cried with real admiration. admira-tion. "Thanks coming from you I appreciate appre-ciate that." He said it In an offhand way, but I could see he was feeling very set up over himself. And I didn't blame him. He added, "What the 'mossoo' was really after' why he wouldn't let me go' out In the dark alone was to know who I was calling on. I told him It was the people In the front flat and I couldn't get in. I told him It was their cousin from Boston Bos-ton I was calling on and maybe they'd gone to the theater. That led to our I talking about plays ; that led to an in-i in-i splration of genius and I asked him if he'd seen Chinatown ; that led to my invitation and the rest you know." "Billy, you are positively the cleverest clever-est man I know !" "Didn't think I'd grow up like that, did you? And that's not all. As for the pretty daughter your little Claire that you think so much of don't faint now well, she's in it up to the neck and over her ears. She's his accomplice, accom-plice, all right. Here's her cable mes sage " He drew out a bit of paper on which he'd copied It and read: "Born a girl. Mother and child doing do-ing well. CLAIRE." "But this Is this isn't " I stammered. stam-mered. "Quite so," agreed Billy. "It Is and .It Isn't ! It is a code. It isn't a piece of Insanity. I've read It or I think I have. Listen now: 'Born' the precious pre-cious thing that was expected has come to pass successfully; that Is, 'the diamonds have arrived safe and sound.' " lie glanced at me for approval and then puckered up his brow while admitting. ad-mitting. "This next 'a glrf puzzles me a bit. It's one of tflree things: jnst a Alter, to make it read ; or a code word with an agreed meaning; or It refers to Mrs. Delario that is, .ve still has the diamonds she hasn't passed them on to some man. But let that go. The nest is too easy 'mother' the owner, of course; 'child' the precious things ; 'doing well' got through the customs without being be-ing separated. Plain as day and when you and Mrs. Delario stepped out of the cable office your dear 'mossoo' 'mos-soo' stepped In and read it." "Poor little Claire!" "Poor yourself !" snorted Billy. "You don't need to waste any pain and tears on that outfit. They're slick. Well, let's to work 'mossoo' is downstairs down-stairs anxiously waiting for you to go out" "How do you know?" "Shadowed him. . . . My revolvers revolv-ers all right? And the red pepper?" "Yes but I've been thinking about that pepper and how about ammonia instead?" "H'm-m," considered Billy. "What's the advantage?" "It wears off quicker, and I think It's probably sefer for us If he struggles and we have to hold him down." "Guess It is," Billy agreed. "Got it ready?" I took him to the kitchen and showed him half a glass of household ammonia diluted with water and covered with a saucer. Then I hung his coat and hat In my wardrobe. After that he looked at me and I looked at him the fatal moment had arrived. "Well?" said Billy. I seemed to know he'd say "well." "Well?" I repeated after him, trying try-ing to pretend to myself I didn't know what he meant. Billy glanced at the clock. "Your 'mossoo' is wondering why you don't come. By the way there wasn't a soul in the lower hall when I sneaked in he's sent his man off for fear you won't leave." My knees were shaking under me. I was sure Billy knew it, but he affected affect-ed not to notice. He took one of the revolvers and inserted a blank cartridge car-tridge for the first shot, explaining that we couldn't have an omelet without with-out breaking eggs. I was to Jump out of my bedroom and fire this as soon as monsieur reached the dining room. "I calculate we'll have him now In about fifteen minutes," was Billy's delicate del-icate hint to me to go on with my part, and with knees ready to close up under un-der me like Jackknlves I rang for George. I must say that George acquitted himself very creditably as a spy. Instead In-stead of his usual inquisitive "Goin' to be out all the evening?" he put it In this way: "If somebody calls when shall I tell 'em you'll be home?" "Tell them I won't be home say I'm out for the evening," I returned promptly; and George's face wore the satisfied expression of a well-earned five-dollar bill. By the time we reached the second floor Billy was ringing furiously from the sixth this .was to get George out of the way at once so 'I could slip upstairs up-stairs and when we reached the first the luck that is said to favor natural-born natural-born idiots and such turned a trick for me by fetching little Mrs. Thing-down-stairs slithering along the hall. iiMwMl 1 , "Tell Them I Won't Be Home." She darted past me Into the car, almost al-most knocking me over In her desire to keep George from opening the front door for me, and she made sure of my defeat by uttering an acid, "Take me up immejetly." For which rudeness rude-ness I have ever blessed her! In ten seconds I had gone along the hall to the front door, retraced my steps, and thanks to her was gliding up the stairs In her wake like a ghost. In less thnu two minutes from the time she trampled me under her feet I was safe in my own fiat. Whetner Billy and I had Ave minutes min-utes or nrty to wait now we did not kuow, but we took It for granted that we should have the shortest possible time In which George could dclher the news of my departure "for the evening" eve-ning" and monsieur could creep upstairs, up-stairs, unseen by his all-seeing spy. We therefore took our prearranged places. The flat was almost dark. One low gas Jet lighted the dining room and showed the hyacinths on the table so monsieur could see the moment he entered the front door; a low light in the bathroom showed at a glance through the half-open door that nobody no-body lurked within. The door to my bedroom stood flat against the wall ; the kitchen door nearly so, and behind It Billy, Jammed in between the refrigerator refrig-erator and the set tubs, was completely complete-ly concealed unless one entered the room. A low light burned here, sufficient suf-ficient to show the room's apparent emptiness. We calculated that monsieur mon-sieur would make a dash for the fire escape when I shot off the blank cartridge car-tridge from my bedroom and Billy was then to greet him with the ammonia. In my own room I stood pressed against the wall Just Inside the doorway. door-way. In my right hand was the revolver. re-volver. Neither Billy nor I uttered a sound. The little metal clock echoed along the hall, horribly loud. It chimed the half after seven. I counted ticks one minute min-ute gone. I counted and thought of hundreds of things I meant to do, or had forgotten to do, all the while counting mechanically. Three minutes gone four five A key slipped quickly, boldly, regardless re-gardless of the noise it made my lock! No it couldn't be! The lock turned. A quick illumination filled my hall from the gas Jet outside and was gone almost before I had realized it. The door closed. My heart Jumped out and ran about the floor and tried to hide uritler the bureau. I remember thinking, "Suppose it doesn't come back but stays away? Then poor Billy's done for I can't more a muscle without my heart 1" And all the time I was jthinking these Idiotic things, I heard the cautious indomitable in-domitable pad, pad, pad of whispered footsteps. They paused at the bedroom bed-room door for a glance within nothing noth-ing there; paused at the bathroom door nothing in there ; paused at the kitchen door nothing in there; then made for the table. The light blazed up in the dining room and my heart came back with a plop. Monsieur had turned up the light in order to remove the diamonds and leave me to discover it, as it might chance tomorrow or a week from tomorrow. With the light, all my fear left suddenly. sud-denly. I popped out of the bedroom saw monsieur with che hyacinths In his hand fired the blank cartridge and yelled, "Hands up !" and stood facing fac-ing him and between him and the door with a smoking revolver in my hand. He said, "Mon Dieu !" took in the situation and bolted for the fire escape es-cape got a smashing blow from the kitchen door as Billy Jumped from behind be-hind it and then half a glass of ammonia am-monia in the face. Two seconds later we three were a writhing strangling heap on the floor. The next thing I remember, I was sitting on monsieur amidships and Billy -was snapping a handcuff. I gasped and rolled off on the floor; picked myself up from the inelegant position by way of my hands and knees, got a wet towel and sopped monsieur's face as fnst as I could though why I performed this humane act so quickly, I can't say ; and as soon as he stopped strangling for a lot of the ammonia had gone into his mouth and very little in his eyes Billy and I dragged him to the dining room, propped him against the sideboard and opened a window. I believe that none of the three of us uttered a word during the entire performance Billy says he can't remember re-member any; but one of the strangest things was that the firing of the revolver re-volver elicited no investigation from the populous house. All this might have happened in the center of Laramie Lara-mie plains in a snowstorm the day after the fall roundup for the amount of notice no-tice man or beast took of it. Tt wns a faultless achievement. And now we had monsieur we had captured him, as Billy said we should, all by our little own selves. He and I silently regarded the crumply creature sitting against the sideboard and then for the first time the idea came into our heads, "And now that we've got him, what are we going to do with him?" I looked at Billy and he looked at me. We asked each other the question with our eyes. As for monsieur, his fears had swallowed up his chagrin at the indignities heaped upon him. Strange as It may seem, he was the first of the three that found his voice. "Zere has been a great mistake," he began, to which Billy retorted: "It looks that way." "Ah e'est vous !" breathed monsieur, mon-sieur, suddenly recognizing Ullly. "Of course. Who did you think It was?" returned Billy with a tang of pertness, for which he might on that occasion be forgiven. Monsieur repaid it by Ignoring him and addressing himself to me. "If madame will permit me a chair and allow me to explain 7" We couldn't Tery well refuse him that particularly as we didn't know what to do with him anyway so we helped him to a chair and when we'd set him in it, I took my turn to remark re-mark severely: "There's not much to explain. You were caught in the act of breaking and entering my flat you may make your explanaiions to the police. po-lice. We'll have them here in five minutes." That was a fine shot on my part, I felt. Monsieur's face proved it. "Madame "Ma-dame !" he cried. "Ze police no! For your own sake for ze avoidance of ze scandal. Madame, you totally misunderstand misun-derstand ze so strange situation " "It certainly is," commented Billy. "in which I am place. But I can explain all everysing why I am here. . I have ze absolute proof zat madame has ze ze Jewels of my daughter which do not belong to madame ma-dame in her apartment." Billy and I couldn't help smiling at this and monsieur seemed astonished. I sneered, "Indeed?" in the. way that always set him on edge. "Oui yes madame. I have ze proof in your own words." I gave him another "Indeed?" in the same tone. This was the moment I had been waiting for. I slipped a paper out from under a pile on the table the carbon copy of the decoy letter. "Is that it?" I sweetly asked, showing show-ing it to him. "Yes I thought so. . . . And is this it, too?" I handed him the copy of the decoy letter supposed sup-posed to be from Mrs. Delario to him- 1c "Madame, You Are a Brave Woman." self. After that I said : "Really, monsieur," mon-sieur," in an amused tone, and Billy waved his hand toward the typewriter and informed him blandly, "Homemade "Home-made cake. Written here last evening Just before I had the pleasure of making mak-ing your acquaintance on the stairs. Mailed by me after I saw you to your hotel." The poor man looked from one to the other of us and actually I did feel sorry for him! He stammered: "I cannot understand I recognize ze writing of Madame Delario " He was silent a moment and then light seemed suddenly to brenk on him and he launched an ultimatum of accusation accusa-tion at me : "If madame did not have ze stones if she has not seen ze stones how could she refer to zem? How could she have composed zis to deceive me?" He nodded in a way that said : "Now answer that If you can." I had expected some such question arid I was ready. "That's too simple," I assured him. "You remember you accused me of stealing Jewels from your daughter; therefore I knew what you were after." "But zis word 'gum-drops' It refers most evidently to unset Jewels " "Oh, I put that in," Billy interrupted. inter-rupted. "It doesn't mean anything but what you make It mean. See?" He spoke in a tone that said : "You're giving giv-ing yourself away." Monsieur ignored him and looked at me as If expecting ine to continue my explanation. "The hyacinths," I went on they lay, a draggled bunch on the floor, "you overlooked them In your search it was the one thing you did not open that hunch, so I knew you'd remember It when I culled your attention to it. You see, monsieur," I added, "I knew you would remember the one thing you'd overlooked" he bowed and a faint smile flitted across his face at the compliment I was paying his Intelligence In-telligence "and come hack to Investigate Investi-gate if you had the chance. I gave you the chance, that was all." "Bin how do you know zat I enn come back so easily as zat?" be asked, partly puzzled and partly to draw me out. "You had a rss-key to the tint you opened the door with It the other night and I stood behind It while you were working at the chain-bolt. I saw your hand " "And you said nosslng you do not scream when you see a man try to get Into your apartment In ze middle of ze night?" he Interrupted, his tone a mixture mix-ture of Incredulity and I hope I'll be forgiven the apparent conceit admiration ad-miration for my bravery. "Why should I say anything or scream? I knew you couldn't get in, so what was there to be scared over?" He smiled then for the first time and said : "Madame, you are a brnve woman." (TO BE CONTIJIUKtl.) |