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Show p I II 8KTN0PISIS. BoTolullon aireDs Grodnla. The Idnc ll killed by a I feob. And nil daughter. Princes Sabina. escapes In I the fArb of a peasant. An ared priest. Father Pokoff accompanies her In fllrht. The two meet an American newspaper correspondent. Bob Hallam, who f bribes guards to permit them to cross the border. JCaroush Dupchinsky. a bolshoTlsl. is asslirned to I ,rfii and kill the princess He takes passijo for I janerlra on the same boat with the Princess Sablna. , ho is paselnc as a peasant flrl, Sophia Goror. f gtruck by the rtrl's beauty Dupiiinsky makea Ioto I to her. much to her distress. Chaos relrns in Grod-oia, Grod-oia, and Count Jan is sent by leaders of the old remooo to find tho princess that a marriag'o be-. be-. twren the two may be arranjred and the queen put upon her throne. He meets Hallam. en route home, confides his mission, ami asks his aid The prin-I prin-I ceas reaches New York and roes into hiding-. Dup-I Dup-I chlnsky annoys her. fie boast to her his rrusMon. . and he finally promises to marry him ' when ho ' bM killed the princess." Nastla tho bolsberlst'a '-VsB forsaken sweetheart, trail him to New York. Jau and Nastia both dlocorer tho princess, causing- her sreat alarm. Hallam appears on the scene arain The princess rejects Jan and tells him that sho will make no contest for the throne As Dupchinsky la about to kill the princess, ho himself is killed by Is'mtia. The princess, Nastia and Hallam are arretted ar-retted and taken to police headquarters. THIRTEENTH INSTALLMENT. THE EXCLUSIVE STORY. FFICERS McGONIGLE and Edwards I 1 were not unnecessarily rude But y murder is nothing to play with In this I country of order and quiet. With avowed regrets to their friend Hallam they took Into custody the princess, Nastla, Father Pokoff, and Hallam himself, and McGonlgle. accompanied accom-panied them In an open machine, leaving his f partner behind to turn the bodies of Jan and r Dupchinsky over to the coroner's man. Hallam reassured Sablna, who sat beside-, beside-, him in the car, that he would have her released re-leased on her recognizance or his before I midnight, and that tnc priest would be freed P with her. " Thank you once again " she whispered 'How can I ever thank you enough for all that vou have so generously done for me1 " "I'll leil you when we have a calm half hour together," he breathed back. " Each time we meet so much happens that we k haven't had much time to speak of personal P things. But your statements tonight gave jne much much may I say courage? " " Tou may not. You never needed anything any-thing to give you courage." "Hope, then?" "That is better. Those who are brave and do things sometimes are modest and dare not hope things " Hallam proved his courage forthwith. He Y squeezed her hand! And when a girl is a princess to the world, and an ethereal angel to the man moreoer. and he ia no hard hided lovemaker who has acquired an unbecoming ease with wom-; wom-; en. squeezing a hand in such a situation I could be called no less than heroism. Sablna was not so brave. She withdrow her tiny hand from his. withdrew it gently and gradually, grad-ually, but withdrew it. The touring car yanked up before the station sta-tion on its brakes. McGonlgle took Nastla by the elbow and led her to the entrance. He was not afraid of the others and per-I per-I mitted them to follow without ceremony. The captain greeted Hallam warmly and began to add his apologies for the annoyance. " Sorry to have to tak? you in," said the captain. "Who's taken in?" asked Bob. pleasantly. "These are my prisoners, all except McGon- ilgle." And Hallam showed his secret service credentials. cre-dentials. "I was working on a bolshelk investigation investiga-tion for the immigration department when my case and I both ran Into this murder mess. I was arresting or trying to arrest a notorious Grodnian anarchist, when this girl came up behind me and blew a few pills Into him because of an incidental love affair." This gave the dilemma a new horn, and Hallam gave the new horn a new twist " I'll turn the girl, Nastla, over to you as a federal prisoner temporarily," he said. ' I'll take these others, who are only witnesses, wit-nesses, into my own custody and will be responsible re-sponsible for their appearance anywhere and at any time that the police, the coroner, tho district attorney, or any other officials require them. Good enough?" "O. K" -, "Thanks Please see, then, that 'his girl Is not questioned by any one or approached r by any one. Her friends, this lady and this priest, will see that she has counsel in the morning. She is not to be reached by reporters re-porters or any others tonight, pleas. So long " Sablna'a eyes opened at the wonder work 5f her friend Hallam. Accustomed as she bad been to official fixing, used as she had been to being allowed to pass where othera were checked, she still marveled in this forbidding for-bidding atmosphere, this strange place in a strange land, that Hallam could so easily open sesame himself and her through the bonds of tho apparently proper and certainly cer-tainly regular authorities of a city of five millions. She spoke a few words into Nastla's ear in Grodnian, assuring the girl that whatever nhe and Father Pokoff could do for her comfort com-fort and toward her defense would bo contributed. con-tributed. She hesitated a second, then added that whatever Hallam could do would bo at her disposal, too she felt that she could safely safe-ly guarantee this, and Hallam unquestionably unquestion-ably could do a great deal. McGonlgle, looking a shade aheepish, led Nastla back Into tho police car to take her to the women's detention prison Hallam summoned a taxi, handed the girl and tho father Into It. tossed an address to the drivor Which was unfamiliar to his guests, then Joined them as the vehicle made off. " I have taken the liberty," he explained, "to order us driven to my mother's homo. I am certain that you could not spend tho night in the where you have been living." I " It is good of you. We accept gratefully." Mid the priest. I " Tou see," eald Hallam, I had to turn Nastia into custody, of course. She must bo formally tried, though I think that a Jury of Americans will send her out frco and acquitted. ac-quitted. As for you, I could not think of leaving you behind after what happened, even though I might have induced McGonlgle McGon-lgle to consent. "Now, with Nastla safely In lavender, you shall be snugly installed in the one placo where I know you will be welcome and as comfortable aa our humblo establishment permits. I must leave jou almost Immediately Immedi-ately when we arrive, as I have much to do tonight." "For Nastia?" asked the princess, naively. " Yes but only indirectly. For myself, first of all, I suppose, though in honest truth "JO then that was what you meant earlier ear-lier tonight when " "Please. Pardon my interruption, but Blnco you are kind enough to ask I must not waste a second in replying: No. That was not what I meant at all. And I deeply beg of you that you will not think harshly of me because I can glvo thought to a newspaper news-paper story something which may even turn out to be of advantage to myself at a time such as this, a climax In your life, undoubtedly tho great crescendo hour of my own and in this I do not mean as a newspaper man. " But I dare to think that perhaps you will not misjudge my zeal. A man is pledged to his work, to his calling On newspapers, especially, wo are made to cherish a sen30 " My my boy has has so often told me bo much of you." sho hesitated. "Of mc?" asked the princess. "What was there to tell? " Father Tokoff smiled at tho innocent faux pas of Mrs. Hallam, for Bob. who had breezily breez-ily stood before kings and calmly cross questioned ques-tioned them, was blushing. Tho priest and the princess were 6on made at homo within. Bob In a few quick phrases acquainted his mother with the principal happenings of the day. then he surrendered his friends for tho night to her hospitality and ran for the taxi, ordering the chauffeur to break all the known records to the editorial office. Tho local room was in a panic when h dashed in, out of breath. Tho double killing I am not worrving much about myself, For Was spinning out ream after '- ream of the amazing Princess mV Paper " Sabina story. "You will write the story tonight?" asked Sablna. "Will I? Lovely lady twenty four hours Is a thousand lifetimes on a newspaper. This is the most memorable ' beat ' a beat Is an exclusive story in half a century I was there when it happened. I saw everything had been seeing the preliminaries for days at close range, had seen the primary preliminaries pre-liminaries thousands of miles from here months ago. " I alone, of all newspaper men. havo from tho lips of Princess Sabina, herself, her renunciation re-nunciation of her royal claims From her own Hps 1 have been honored with her own viewpoint on the historic importance of this extraordinary episode. This is more than a story It is ten stories. " No other newspaper will have more than fragmentary facts. I have bottled up Nastia. the only other being who could furnish details de-tails or even give a salient hint as to the soul of this talc. No one clso ia in position to do more than .scratch its surface as a mysterious mys-terious double murder. Jan and Dupchinsky will probably bo partially identified from tho papers found on them by tho coroner, but the facts will be confused and tho full truth is Impossible for an outsider to piece together tonight, though all the shrewdest reporters In town get on tho chase, as they undoubtedly are, even now." " It is as you say. It should be a great feather In your cap. Mr Hallam," said tho princess, not entirely displeased " You see how you can help me how you havo helped me? " asked Hallam. of loyalty to our Institutions which Is more than that spirit manifested ordinarily by men in commerce toward theirs This means as much to me as winning a great battle single handed would to a soldier, because it means as much to my paper as tho other would to that soldier's flag Am I forgiven? for-given? " " Right heartily and thanked." answered Sabina. " It Is tho utmost desire of my mind that the world bo acquainted with the truth in this matter before it becomes eo garbled that tho underlying fundaments of its significance are clouded. You will bo doing my Grodnla that is to say the country which gave mo birth and the entire world an Immeasurable service. I am sure." " You glvo mo too much Importance. I am afraid." said Bob " But I shall endeavor to realize a little of it." Mrs. Hallam was awake. Sho never retired re-tired before her Bob came homo when ho was in town. She came to tho door and saw, to her amazement, a man in eli-rlcal vestments vest-ments and a dazzllngly charming prlrl In the doorway with her son. " Mother, dear this Is she," he said. " Princess Sablna, my mother. Mother dear. Father Pokoff." Mrs. Hailam was no fishwife. The widow of a distinguished physician, herself a woman of ilno education, sho was not ill at rase In the society of stranper- But tho suddenness of tho meeting with a Drinccss quite staggered her, had "broken" .in hour earlier with a first hint that two foreigners had been shot in a lower east side house. That information, naked, was not essentially exciting Stab-blnjrs Stab-blnjrs and shootings in the poorer districts ore not infrequent, and unless these affrays havo atmospheric or unique " angles." they go for brief mention as vital statistics of a great municipality. The downtown mystery had already monopolized mo-nopolized the available resources and tho concent' ated activities of the city editor's force when Hallam dashed in. "Saved"' cried the night city editor. " O, Bob. Just In time. Just the man I want. Big shooting down on " " I got it." said Hallam. "Was there when it came off. Had u half-Nelson on tho big bird when ho was plugped. saw the other one go down, arrested the girl that killed 'em both, and salted her for the night Princess and a priest were present took them to my house where nobodyil get at 'em K11I-in;s K11I-in;s were due to love affair gone wrong, which only topped big international bolshevik bol-shevik plot on one sldo and royalist plot on the other. Princess renounces pretensions to throne All exclusive all sot. Dig out photos Princess Sablna of Grodnia. pictures of riots when her father was assassinated, pictures of Count Jan of Grodnla we've got 'cm all Anything else? " Tho phlegmatic desk man desk men cither are or become that way almost fainted. " Don't string me," he gasped. " String my eye! How much 6pace we got? " " The whole paper- for that kind of a yarn " " Easy," said Hallam, and grabbed a bundle bun-dle of " copy " paper and made tracks for his typewriter. Editorial room details, young fiction writers writ-ers aro taught to understand, make poor reading. This probably is not true, but is duo to an unwritten rule of editors, established estab-lished through tho generations as an instrument instru-ment of self-defense against novices, who, having served their apprenticeships on the A dailies, break Into the magazines; and. Invariably, In-variably, the first story each novitiate turns out is a " newspaper yarn," because the trained reporter has learned In his training that he writes best what he knows most ubout. and ho naturally knows most about tho world In which he has moved, to whloh ho has given of his blood and his 6weat and his heart's squarest devotion. But a rule Is a rule, and therefore, this narrative shall not steal too much of that precious thing known as "space" to tll of the mad whirl of editors about Hallam'a machine ma-chine through that long but all too short night when ho was spinning out ream after ream of the nmazlng Princess Sablna story in id! its phases and ramifications. Sub-editors seeking infinitesimal information informa-tion for headlines and picture captions, main editors checking him back on statements which were so thrilling that they seemed Inaccurate, In-accurate, telegraph correspondents Imploring Implor-ing him for special grains of data that might be of local interest to their faraway papers, though of no moment In the main running account these and many more harassed him In all good intent as he plowed through page after page, muttering back an answer now and again over his shoulder In a monosyllable. monosyl-lable. Tho other reporters, helpless In this monumental monu-mental and epochal " beat " to add even a mite, for the whole thing was "cleaned up" on every end by Hallam. stood by and grouped about, rushed for wet proofs to follow the growing galleys of type as they came up from the composing room, and bit their thumbs not in envy, for reporters do not know that; but in nervousness because a whopper of a tale was coming through and they couldn't pitch In to make it bigger, to make it better for their paper. A thousand times that night ono whispered to tho other: " No use talking Bob Hallam is the luck-lot luck-lot reporter that ever lived " And a thousand and one times came back an answer something like this. " Luck nothing! The goods. Bob Hallam's the best reporter that ever lived." And so the paper came up at last. Every man of the staff remained that night to reach for a copy when the flying delivery boy strode in with the first fifty off the first rotary. Some one handed ono to Hallam, whoso hands had dropped to his sides as he sat. exhausted ex-hausted and limber, blinking at his now silent " mill." The eight column headline looked blurred to him in all its yet moist blackness and its altitudlnous type PRINCESS RENOUNCES THRONE AS j GIRL MURDERS COUNT AND RED. A trifle feeblo. Hallam thought. But it told the " new s." j His tired eyes lighted as he read it again I and saw that his suggestion had been fol- 1 lowed that the resignation of Sablna and I her declaration of independence from all the fetters and fetishes of royalty topped ths edition This would please her. I From tho headlines, past the " lead " of ths 9 main report and over the varied keyllnes and j Introductions of tho divisional stories on j1 selected radii of the general narrative ha I ran his glance, then to the " layout " of photographs In the center of the foremost I page There, was the star, Princess Sabina, ! a flashing likeness of her. centered, and (TOUpsd about her were smaller cuts of Jan, 0 of her late royal father, of a scene in Grod- I nla taken while tho bolshevik riots were on, scenes from the houso where the two shootings shoot-ings had taken place, and : Hollo! Hallam's weary eye was startled with a portrait of himself Why? Being J one of those unpresumlng personalities who I never can understand why any one should be Interested In them, he was a bit puzzled, he was even slightly vexed Beneath the in- I serf was his name, and beside the layout, in one of the notches of its Irregular form, was an article devoted to him and to how he, with almost incredible Ingenuity, persever- ! ar.ee second sight, and reportorial skill had " stuck " to the case for weeks until he had OOme In at the death not only to give his paper an unparalleled "scoop," but to take an active hand in saving the life of the prin- 1 cess and turning over the murderess to ths !. authorities. Hallam shook his head In disappointment. That fulsome " boost " flattened the edge of his whole pleasure. He strolled to the managing man-aging editor's desk, laid the paper before him, pointed at his picture and the panegyrlo about himself, and said: The chief stood up and placed his hand tenderly on Hallam's shoulder. " Don't be fussy, Bob." he said. " I know you don't relish such as that. But in this instance you not only got news and wrote it, but you made it. In the matter of good faith to tho readers we cannot do otherwise than give you full credit. Now be a good boy news Is news Wo never praise without with-out warrant and never spare we tell what j happens. This cannot bo told without dwelling dwell-ing heavily on your share in it." " You're the editor," answered Hallam, " But I wish you'd killed it." "Two killings are enough for one page," 6ald the head of the staff, with a smile. " But I promise not to headline you any more, though you will, of course, do the rest of this case, which will run for months the follow-up follow-up stuff, the trial, the effect on bolshevisnj hero and abroad, the afterclap In Grodnla, which you can expand upon with your full knowledge of all the fine points when the cable matter gives us the skeletonized do- lngs and so forth. Since the princess is living liv-ing at your house. I presume you will see her often and remain in her confidence." " Gee I hope so." said Hallam. with eo much unguarded and boyish vehemence that the older man. seasoned and sharpened by years of quick analysis of emotions, expressions, expres-sions, plausibilities, and possibilities, looked up and studiously searched the face of ths youngster whom he loved. " Say, Bobby," he asked, low and earnestly, earnest-ly, "does she feel that way about it. too?" "No That Is, not now. Maybe soms day. She was brought up to marry' a prince " "There you ore. I hope she gets you " " Thanks. Am I off? " "Well. I should hope so. I can't boss you tonight never tried very hard, anyway, but I'd like to seo somebody order you around right now. in this shop." "Please don't talk that way. chief. I'm only one of the boys. Just because I happened hap-pened to be in on a ' break,' for which I was throwing down the paper by my long absence instead of really serving It with intent to be useful to it, is no reason why I should be a sacred cow here. I won't be trcatcc like that. I'll be on the Job at 1 this afternoon to report for my assignment." ' It will be waiting for you. So will a healthy raise and a bonus Republican ingratitude in-gratitude is proverbial, but this is a democratic demo-cratic newspaper." "I cant protest too often or too hard, or you won't believe I mean it. But I'm afraid I'm taking all the best of this, and simply because I'm lucky, that's all " " Say. Bob are you lucky? " asked tho r il managing editor. " I don't know. But as soon a she'll lot me decently feel my way so I can ask a fow questions, I II find out." " Good I'll say you're tho best interviewer I ever had. And when you get the answer If it's the right one remember that it's a great story, and don't fail to turn it In at this desk." " Believe me, If I get the answer you're thinking of, I'll tell the world." " Tut tut. I want It exclusive. You're not ill going to throw down the old sheet on ths best romance story of years, are you?" .. x0 if if there's anything to tell that has any news value. I'll cork it tight and let you spring It " " Attaboy, Bob. I withdraw my promise to keep you out of the headlines. News is news." " Good night, chief." To be continued ICopjrrifht: 1019: b Jack Laik I 1 |