Adventure, December 1914 — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

The Stolen War Secret “Yes,” he resumed, ‘“‘there is a possible clue in that. Suppose some one had dis- covered the mysterious place where Monte- zuma or some of those other old kings ob- tained their gold, or better yet the place where they -hid great quantities of it from the Spanish invaders? That place has never been revealed. I have heard a great deal about it. Some say it is in Guerrero, others in Cuernavaca, but there.is no one who really knows.”’ It was a fascinating thought. ‘Then you think Neumeyer may have found the secret?” I asked. “Possibly,” Craig answered. “It may have been gold—not ore, but actual bullion or golden ornaments, vessels, plates, any- thing—that. Neumeyer was seeking to locate.”’ “Could Sinclair have known the secret, too?”’ I-asked, recalling now the intimacy between the two men, and the ill-concealed anxiety of Sinclair when we were looking over Neumeyer’s effects on the day of the murder. “Quite likely,’’ acquiesced Kennedy. “TI have had Burke watching Sinclair himself since he came to New York. I don’t know that the Colonel has been quite frank with us on everything.” “Has he found anything?” I asked. “Not when I called up this morning,’’ re- plied Kennedy. ‘‘Sinclair has seen no one since we left him except Mrs. Hawley.”’ ‘Perhaps she had ambitions to learn the secret too,” I put in. “She called on him; he did not call on her,’ volunteered Kennedy. “What of Alvarez?” I asked. ‘‘A man of rare ability,”’ remarked Ken- nedy, ‘‘a past master at the art of intrigue. Sanchez is a typical soldier of fortune, but Alvarez has the polish of the man of the world. Burke tells me he is one of the most trusted of the agents of the Federal Govern- ment. He has been in New York only a few days. But as far as I can see there isn’t much to connect him with the case.” Kennedy had been clearing away his X-ray apparatus and was still revolving the matter of the letters in his mind. ‘“‘There may be something more to it than even the stolen plans of Sinclair’s machine and this conjecture of buried treasure,’ he remarked at length, when he had finished. “Alvarez evidently has an eye on interna- tional relations. I wonder if we can’t get a 29 line on him in that way? We must find that curio-shop of Nichi’s.”’ He had reached for the telephone- book. “Here it 1s,” he remarked, as he ran his finger down the list of N’s. “Tt’s a slender chance, but let us go down and look over the yellow peril.”’ CHAPTER VIII THE CURIO-SHOP AN Y one seeking articles of beauty and value will find the antique shops of Fifth and Fourth Avenues and some of the side streets a veritable mine of riches. We had no trouble in locating Nichi Moto’s. It was a small, quaint, dusty rookery, up a flight of steps, in an old row of frame houses which must have been just about paying the owner enough to cover the taxes against the day when the land value would have risen and asky-scraper would re- place them. A gilt sign swung in front of the shop, and as we entered we noticed that the yard in front, for the houses sat back some distance from the sidewalk, was adorned with little dwarf trees and other Japanese plants. I could not help being impressed by the peculiarly unimpressive exterior which gave little hint of the wealth of beautiful articles that were housed in the most artistic interior. Kennedy and I sauntered in, just like any other connoisseurs who had no special ob- ject yet were always on the lookout for something that might appeal to their tastes. It was still comparatively early and the shop was as yet deserted, but the polite and smiling Nichi advanced to meet us with a ready bow and an inquiry as to what was our honorable pleasure. “Oh, we are just looking about,” ex- plained Kennedy, ‘‘picking up a few things here and there for a den.” “You are welcome,” Nichi invited, show- ing back of the inevitable smile a row of perfect, pearly teeth anda keeneye. “You could not have come to a better or more reasonable place. You will find everything just as it is represented.”’ Kennedy thanked him and commenced browsing around among the objects, about which indeed one did not have to exaggerate in order to praise. There seemed to be everything imaginable NOOK C©