Under His Thumb — page 190: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- UNDER HIS THUMB, 181 “Something you got for a clew to a murder mys- tery, a bloody mark, or something of that sort, he said. That is all I know about it, boss.”’ The effect of this declaration upon Croly was startling. His muscular hands Suddenly clutched the ruffian with greater force, and before the latter could make any show of resistance, he was hurled violently to the floor. Then, without waiting for the man to regain his feet, Cr oly flung open the outer door, and dashed out upon the street. In an almost incredibly brief space of time the de- tective had reached his private apartments. The instant he passed inside the door he knew that some one had been there in his absence. A hasty examination confirmed his apprehensions. The bloody thumb-print—that singular clew upon which he had based his hopes of winning the case against his great rival—was gone. Not only this, but the wax impression which he had obtained that morning, also. There were miss- ing, besides these, several trinkets, of less value and importance. “This is the work of that dwarfish wretch called Spider,’’ Croly exclaimed, the moment that he had ascertained to a certainty the fact of his having been robbed. He promptly returned to his outer room and rang a sharp summons. A pale, astute-looking girl answered his ring, and stood upon the threshold with an air of quiet defer- ence. “Minnie, whom did you admit in my absence?”’ he sternly demanded. ‘““No one, sir,’? was the low reply. ‘*Are you sure, girl?’’ ‘““T always obey my orders, sir.’ foe no one visited my rooms ae day except my- se 97? ‘*Nobody but the boy, sir.’ “What boy?’’ ‘The one you told me to send up if he called.”’ mn EComicbooks (Ee)