Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 170: what you’re looking at

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

168 A brief silence ensued. Scott was listen- _ ing to the man at the other end of the wire. “No, no,” he broke in suddenly. ‘‘Never mind holding him for extradition. If you _get him with the goods, fetch him right here to.the Bureau. We've got other fish to catch, and we need him. I’ll agree to square the kidnaping end of it by getting a year lopped off his sentence. Call me up after you’ve gone through 26, And handle the plates carefully. You know what I mean. So long.” Moving the hook up and down, Scott was soon in touch with Central, who connected him with the office of the Superintendent of District Police. “T want Major Hanrahan in person, un- less he’s gone to his Club,’”’ the man-hunter told headquarters. “This is Scott of the Secret Service.” _A brief paused followed, then Scott spoke again. “Good evening, Major; hope you’re feel- ing chesty this fine December eve... . Fine, thank you. I wanted to ask you if you can get out a general alarm for me before your night men: go on duty.... Good! Here you are: We want a man wearing Corrigan rubber heels, who smokes ‘Pasha’s Pleasure’ cigarettes, lights ’em with a pocket igniter, and who’ll probably be carrying a woven cane suitcase two feet long and six inches deep.” Other particulars followed, then Scott called up his own chief and acquainted him briefly with the facts of the case. This accomplished, and the Secret Ser- vice operative leaned back, grinned at the Director, and began to chew on a fresh cigar. “Clues to burn in the snow,” he said. “Heel-prints, an impression of the bottom of a suitcase, two marks where the plates struck and dug through the snow into the turf, and three big cigarette butts showing the brand.” “Ves,” said Kendall admiringly, ‘I follow you partly. I can understand that a suit- case would be the most convenient article to take the plates away in; and I get you in the matter of the heel-prints and cigarette butts. But how do you know the thief used a cigarette lighter? Even though you saw no burnt matches lying around, that’s no proof that the fellow didn’t light his cigarettes from the burning butts of the others.” Adventure Scott was about to answer, when the tele- phone bell jingled. “Yes, this is Scott,’ he said, He listened for a few moments, then “hung up” and faced Kendall. “Not on the B. & O. train,” he said, “unless he changed his shoes and planted the suitcase. There’s not a cane suitcase on the train, and only three pairs of rubber heels. The wearers all happen to be women.” The Director chafed as the minutes flew by, but Scott took the wait coolly, his eyes half closed and fixed upon the long row of framed portraits of former Secretaries of the Treasury and Directors of the money fac- tory. “About that cigar lighter,” Kendall prompted, with the object of making con- versation. ‘“‘That’s a mere elementary proposition,” laughed Scott. He indicated the three cigarette butts. Two of them represented cigarettes that had been barely half con- sumed. *‘A man who lights one cigarette from the butt of another, almost invariably smokes down to a pretty short stub,” the man- hunter went on. “The party who smoked the cigarettes represented by these butts scarcely knew that he was smoking at all. He was toonervous. He was waiting watch- fully for the appearance of something vastly more important. So he smoked automati- cally as it were, throwing away the half- smoked cigarettes, and lighting fresh ones. And as no burned matches were in sight I concluded Again the telephone bell electrified the Director, and this time the wire bore good news. “Got him! Got him on the Penn. train!” declared Scott as he turned from the instru- ment. ‘‘And it’s our old friend Thomas Jerrold, alias “Tommy the Rabbit,’ ex-plate- printer and all-around thief. He’s waived extradition, and he’ll be over here about ten.” ‘“‘And can you make him tell who his ac- complices are?”’ Kendall asked. He wanted no thieves in the Bureau—nor suspects either for that matter. _ “The Rabbit has never yet belched on a pal; but in this case I have strong hopes of inducing him to let me know whether there are two men here in the Bureau heading for _ jail, or whether there’s but one.’ (EOVAMIKE COOLS (@) (E(0) m