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Show BRIGHT ty BELL SYNDICATE W.N.U. SERVICE the Tommy gun In your car. And if you want to die In a hurry just try beating It out the back way while I'm gone." He returned In less than a minute min-ute with the one-man machine gun in bis hands. "We've got Nance Belden where you dropped her," he announced, "so while you're lapping up that whisky, tell me all about it." "So Nance told you where to look for us, eh?" The man who had handled the motor boat spoke with withering contempt and hatred. Instantly In-stantly Dan McNamara cuffed him viciously on the side of the head. "Apologize for that," he roared. "You're so d d crooked you think everybody else Is, too." The man mumbled an apology. "No, Nance didn't tell me, you rat," McNamara went on, "and I didn't ask her, because I knew she wouldn't tell. But I did think she'd tip you off to call on this doctor. You dropped her at the home of his office nurse; I put two and two to- SYNOPSIS mdore Gatlln adopts a baby, Nlope," In an effort to solve his monlal troubles. But his wife jever wanted her, and their af-X af-X end In the divorce court. Ten-'told Ten-'told Penelope Is given into the ?-ng of Mrs. Gatlin. At a base-ams base-ams a ball strikes Penelope 9 nose and Mrs. Gatlin removes from the hospital and spirits o Europe. Gatlin Is about to a search for his daughter when t .or accident ends his life. Some ,' 'ears later, In San Francisco, in en Burt Is a rising young sHatrlst. Dan McNamara, chief "illce, brings him a patient y' Belden, a girl with a dual "'nallty, for which her "saddle is In part responsible. McNa-b,'. McNa-b,'. does not think she Is a crim-e crim-e ;.nd obtains Burt's expert testl-ln testl-ln court. Lanny, the doctor's Mr- nurse, Is won over to Nance's , , but the girl's criminal record w.-Ighs Doctor Burt's exphination r case and she la sent to San L in penitentiary. She escapes, ,jgh shot, and goes to Lanny's Unent. Danny tells Chief McNa-m-who orders her to bring Nance i'a- apartment. j.i: : (. " CHAPTER 1V Continued i. 8 Zjhen smiled. He liked this id man, with the Celtic face as lac.table as a Chinaman's. As a 3 -jlst In mental diseases he ' the part heredity plays In the tlon of character, and one did live to look at the chief twice iw that he came of courageous J(;ry. No vague fears or ies In this fellow, Stephen luit. Courageous men are usu- ..nnost men ; even when they L-jt honest they are sufficiently anleous to pay the price, no mat-'s mat-'s pw high, for the things they atth their eyes open to pay it ully and refrain thereafter whimpering. you're going to protect this spate you, Chief?" ;""h !" A throaty growl. "Got 'E Got to protect society." Ste-."'ookcd Ste-."'ookcd puzzled, so the chief Ajn'ied. "If I let that girl grad-iTiffi'om grad-iTiffi'om San Quentln, she'll come lN 0ith a broader knowledge of liLJand trickery and a greater ipt for society than when she ) fa. The only kind of criminal Is the smart one; I can nl-Oiatch nl-Oiatch the boobs promptly, but mes it takes a long time to 3 tquainted with the artistic of a real craftsman. They're Hcirliers, Doc. They have a ill their own and you've got h! name, had called up three times and had left word he would call again; that he had seemed very anxious to know when the doctor would retuin. "I knew It I knew if Dnn Mc-Namara's Mc-Namara's pride in his own perspicacity perspi-cacity was almost juvenile. "I figured fig-ured Nance would tell them to go to you. And I'll make another prophecy. They'll admit they are friends of hers and that she sent them there. She's told them you're her friend and that you'll not turn them up to ma A wounded crook Is always up against it, Doc, unless he knows a crooked doctor. And In this case the radios have broadcast the warning of two hundred and fifty dollars out for Nance too standing state reward for recapturing recaptur-ing an escaped convict. "Come on, Doe. I'll go to your home with you aud pick these birds up." "No, you shall not. I wouldn't turn those two men over to you for ten thousand dollars. They're too " "Yes, they have guts. They can be trusted on a particular job I want to put through. Word of honor, hon-or, Steve. I'll not pinch them. I just want to talk with them." A block from Stephen's home Dan McNamara got out of the doctor's car. He had already received from Stephen Burt a description of the ground-floor plan of his house. And Stephen had agreed to leave his latchkey under the mat at the front door. The chief watched Stephen put up his car and enter his house. A light was shining In the entrance hall, and this light Stephen, In accordance ac-cordance with the chief's Instructions, Instruc-tions, switched off. In about five minutes the chief saw this light switched on and off twice. That meant the doctor had received another telephone message. Then the light was switched on and off ten times. That meant the patient pa-tient would arrive In about ten minutes, so Dan McNamara hid himself him-self In the deep shadow of a tradesman's trades-man's entrance at the side of a house across the street, and waited. In ten minutes almost to the second, sec-ond, a car, with drawn curtains, drove up to the house and two men got out. The chief could see that one of them had to have assistance, so the driver got out and helped the other man half drag, half carry, the wounded man up the steps. Stephen opened the door and the three men entered; immediately McNamara ran across the street and up the front steps behind them, found the latchkey under the mat, opened the door and stepped inside. He could hear voices In Stephen's reception room, so he drew his pistol and stepped silently up to the entrance of it. "Put 'em up, boys," he ordered cheerfully. He drew back his left lapel and revealed his blue and gold shield. "No necessity to argue in the smoke. This isn't a hanging matter." He forced the two unwounded men to stand with their backs toward to-ward him while he ran his facile hands over their persons and relieved re-lieved each of a pistol. He "broke" both guns and placed the cartridges in his pocket. "I beg your pardon, Doctor, for entering your house unannounced, but you left your front door unlatched un-latched and I couldn't resist I had a notion these men might call upon you. Just a hunch, because the warden tipped us off to watch the home of your office nurse, Miss Lan-ning. Lan-ning. So, while watching the home of the servant I concluded to watch that of the master, also. Sit down, boys. Never mind us, Doe. The man on the table needs all of your attention. Fix him up nicely and let him lie there until I come back. He can't run away, and If he tries, don't yon let him. You other men come with me down to the central office till I see If we have anything on you. I don't appear to have the honor of your acquaintance, acquaint-ance, but we'll look the rogues' gallery gal-lery over aud compare fingerprints. While there's life, there's hope. You got an open fireplace In your house, Doctor?" Stephen saw that McNamara was pretending they had not previously met. "Yes, Chief. In the drawing room. It's all set." "I want to warm these boys up and dry them out. They did good work this afternoon and they deserve de-serve good treatment. Drop that wounded man long enough to dig up a couple of stilt Jolts of spirltus frumentl for my lads, will you, Doc? I always warm a cold man from the outside in and from the Inside out." "Thank you, Chief," both men muttered. The three retired to the drawing room and the chief tossed one of the men a box of matches. "Fire up," he commanded. "Then draw yourself up to the blaze and drink the grog the doctor will give you. Where's your pal hit?" "Top of the riL-bt shoulder, calf of the left leg and biceps of the left arm." "So he's the chap that dragged Nance out of the water, eh? lie was In the rear cockpit, but you were up front driving the boat. There are forty bullet holes In the rear of that boat." tie sighed. "These machine guns certainly spray things. Yon didn't drop your own machine gun overboard, either. They're too valuable val-uable and hard to get. A Thnmrv son. I suppose. A Tommy cnn and a Tommy man! Visiting brethren from Chicago, I suppose. That's why we haven't met before. Pardon Par-don me a minute while I look for ness there is a strength that amazes me." "She wouldn't do It voluntarily, of course, but just now, In her weakened weak-ened state, I'm sure I could hypnotize hypno-tize her. Get her to look fixedly Into a mirror, you know, like this. Once I secure control of her subconscious sub-conscious mind, she'll answer my questions. And after I wake her up she'll have complete amnesia for the experience ; she will never know she peached on her pals." CHAPTER V TnE chief smiled. "Of course I know that hypnotism Is being used by advanced psychiatrists and particularly by Morton Prince. and William McDougall. I've read their books. The modern chief of police Isn't modern, Doc, If he Isn't a pretty pret-ty good lay psychologist and psychiatrist. psychi-atrist. I don't know what a criminologist crim-inologist Is, but I suppose he's a bird that studies the criminal actions ac-tions and tendencies of criminals and tries to reduce crime to Its lowest low-est common divisor. That's the bunk. The thing to do Is to know their minds and why they act like they do ; If you can cure what makes them go, criminology becomes a dead science. "Yes, I know all about hypnotism and I know something you've forgotten. for-gotten. Your power of suggestion on a patient in the hypnotic state Isn't powerful enough to make him steal or commit murder If he's an honest man. His acquired Instincts of morality, which lie In his subconscious sub-conscious mind, are too strong for you. And the most powerful acquired Instinct In the mind of a crook Is that fie mustn't squeal. That's his Idea of Immorality! Yon try It on Nance Belden and she'll tell you almost anything but who her friends are, where they live and how they make a living." "Weil, we shall see at another time. Meanwhile, what are you going go-ing to do with this girl? You can't keep her here, because that's dangerous dan-gerous unless you have her watched. And whom can you trust to watch her?" "How about Lanny?" "Lanny Is my office nurse and I cannot get along without her. She's under suspicion now and we've got to kill that. She must not come to your house again. And yet, this girl must be parked somewhere until un-til her wound heals. She's suffering suffer-ing from the shock of this emotional experience now ; she's lost considerable consid-erable blood and suffered some pain, and for five hours she's suffered from exposure. Her garments are soaking wet." "If she forgot to tell those men to bring some dry clothing for her to hop Into, once she got aboard the boat, my heart will just about break. That would be one flaw In a perfect per-fect Job and I can't stand flaws." And Dan McNamara strode Into the room where Nance lay with her hand In Lanny's. "Why didn't you tell your friends to bring you some dry clothes?" he demanded. Nance smiled up at Lanny. "ne thinks I'm a nut, after all, Lanny. Why, of course I wouldn't overlook that detail. I changed my clothes, but when we crossed the bay It was rough and there was a police boat on our trail. He had to outrun them and you do forty miles an hour through a mile of tlde-rlps and you'll all but drown In the spray I" "Thank God for that," the chief murmured. "I'm proud of you and your friends, Nance. I hope neither of them was hit." For the barest fraction of a second sec-ond Nance hesitated, then answered. "No, they got through all right, but how they did Is a mystery. The boat was riddled." Dan McNamara came back Into the living room and on his heavy face was the faintest, most cryptic of grins. "I'm going to get one or both of Nance's friends, Doc," he exulted. "One of them was hit, and he'll have to have medical attention. Not that I want to land either one of them for this Job, but because I want to give them the once-over. At that they might be somebody we're looking look-ing far." "Did Nance tell you one of them had been bit?" "No, hut she hesitated half a second sec-ond when she told me neither of thorn had been bit. She never hesitates hesi-tates ordinarily. Iler co-ordination is lightning fast well, you get so. Doc, that you know when they're lying. Go to the telephone, call np your home and ask if you've had any telephone calls within the past hour." Stephen obeyed and was Informed that a man, who refused to leave 1 1 Cai; 1771 of 1 1 T" laid' sff j Hmt' r The Chief Watched Stephen Put Up His Car. gether and decided to Investigate all by myself. And here we are. Got any Idea why I came alone?" "No." "Because I wanted to save you from the consequences of the job you pulled off this afternoon. I'm In sympathy with that, and as far as I'm concerned Nance Belden Isn't going back to San Quentin. And she Isn't going back to your gang, either. Now, you play the game with me and I'll play It with you. Double-cross Double-cross me and I'll hang something hard on you, and you dnd your friends won't be heard of in public . for a long time." I "Nance had no right to be there," I the man protested to McNamara. "The poor kid's queer." He tapped I his forehead. "But she framed a ; sweet getaway, If it would work, and ! we figured It might. So. we thought I we'd give the girl a hand. She's all right. I've got a blind brother that would have starved to death If it hadn't been for Nance Belden; as for the man the doctor's working over now, Nance took care of his wife while he was In the stir. Helped her when she had a baby. Chief, that girl's a saint. The oniy trouble with her Is that she's a devil, too. You never know how to figure her." "You've figured her right. She's queer. And what's your wounded friend been doing since he got out of stir? What did he get In for?" "He got In for bootlegging and he's been bodyguard for a boss bootlegger boot-legger since he got out." "H-m-m-rnl And what's your specialty?" "I don't know what line I'll take up, Chief. I've oniy been out of the United States army disciplinary barracks on Alcatraz island a month. I was a soldier and I poked an officer." "Oh, you're the machine-gunner, eh? Learned to shoot In the army, I suppose?" "If I hadn't, I'd have killed that guard. I could have gotten him If I cared to, but Instead I scared him with overs and shorts. Did I sweep the roof of that lookout tower?" "You certainly did and rattled the man at the Browning gun there. Well, you're quite a fellow! What does your friend, the chauffeur, do?" "Delivers bootleg. He took a chance for a friend." "Yon may go." said Dan McNamara McNa-mara to the chauffeur. "Take your car and beat IL But I'll remember you and If you pull any rough stuff In this city I'll land you out In the grass. On your way." The man fled promptly, and Dan turned to the ex-soldler. "I've got j Nance out at my house," he ex-j ex-j plained. "Doctor Burt has fixed her up and I'm not going to turn her In. Neither am I going to turn her out, becnuFe she'd be picked up. That saddle nose of hers Is a dead giveaway." give-away." The man nodded lugubriously. "We've got to find a quiet spot for your friend, too." the chief went on meditatively. "A man with three bullet holes In him Is In an emhar-r!ss;ng emhar-r!ss;ng fix when he's wanted. So e'll take him out to my house, too. That's the only safe place I can think of." "How about me?" "You've been a soldier, 90 1 suppose sup-pose you can carry out orders?" "Yes, sir." TO BE CONTINUED. ;d f -ver Picked Him Up, Doc." their style. And about the jujriin think you've learned It, wrk up Slum! bird that's guilty ju't lsM,t tlle n'11" 5'i thought ! nnd . He's Just stolen his inns-tiff. inns-tiff. Nance Helden Is too y Bs ' to turn loose on the world, """gibe's a leader n louder of )G(iShe'd make the balls, nnd her o0,l,;ould tire them nnd always red up." n'led his pompadour. "Well, 7rome K"llen her away from her aV1-fhe's lost them and they've coV'-;' AnJ ,lloy Ilnist ccv" get U'" ----Itl you like to know who p" t' ? the b ourse. I m normally curl-on curl-on " 1(l '" find out for you," said Ste-rm'"":. Ste-rm'"":. ,pi!" Dan McNamara looked Oil " 'cSe will tell me." je crazy, Doe. You don't e code. They die, but they iwenl. There Is honor In ihonor, and In their weak- |