Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 189, No. 4 — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

630 locate the bird who was in the plane. The chances are that the machine doesn’t be- long to the Amalgamated Airways, at all— or if it does, it was stolen for the stunt. I’ll- have to get you and your friends to tell me all you can about this aviator’s ap- pearance; then we’ll go after him.” Trent was helped to his chamber and the others put through a minute examination as to the characteristics of the suspected flyer. In an aside to Mrs. Pyle, Perry said: *“No chance of this butler being mixed up in it, I suppose? His absence in town couldn’t have had anything to do with it, could it? How long have you had him?”’ “He has been with me only six months. But he came with the best possible refer- ences—direct from England. His last em- ployer was Lord Perriton with whom he had served for eight years. The reason for leaving his post was that Lord and Lady Perriton were departing for a three-year trip around the world and were closing up their town house in London. Before that, Trent had worked for Sir Gilbert Dufflesford and Celia, Lady Embrie. Trent has the original letters from all of them. I trust him im- plicitly.” “T just asked as a matter of course. ’Tain’t likely they would have batted him a smash like that, anyway, unless, of course, they were out to double cross him. And that wouldn’t pay because he’d be sure to - spill the works if he wasn’t killed outright. Well, we’ll go after this stunt flyer and the chances are we’ll have the whole gang locked up within twenty-four hours.” With which Chief Perry and Detective Williams took their departure, leaving Cap- tain Schmidt on guard at the Pyle home. To Mrs. Pyle, this had the appearance of an unnecessary precaution, seeing that the damage was done and there was little likelihood of the thieves returning to put their heads into the lion’s mouth, as it were. But Schmidt knew what he was about as was proved when Otis J. Pyle arrived with friends and, after a conference, passed over certain coin of the realm, in appreciation of the great efforts which Chief Perry and associates were about to put forth toward the apprehension of the culprits and the recovery of the gems. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Further, at the suggestion of the officer, Mr. Pyle authorized the posting of a re- ward of twenty thousand dollars for infor- mation leading to the arrest and conviction et cetera, et cetera— The value of the prop- erty was in excess of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; doubtless the insurance companies would also put up a substantial sum. IV. THAT was as far as the proceedings had gone when the news of the theft came to the notice of Jack Tempest, partner in the Climax Investigation Bureau, a private agency in Manhattan and, in a twinkling, Mr. Tempest was on the job. Jack was a young man who had at one time been on the police force of Shelburne Water, a fashionable resort on the other side of Long Island, and therefore, was fa- miliar with the layout of the famous strip of earth that begins with Brooklyn and ends at Montauk Point. In his work there, Jack had come into frequent contact with headquarters in New York and had made a host of friends among Manhattan sleuths. Which stood him in good stead when he formed a connection with the Climax Bureau in that he had ready access to the files of the identification department and the benefit of the advice of veterans. Many of these were willing to concede that jack did not require any advice, espe- cially after his latest triumph in the appre- hension of Dan Burky, who had got away with more than one hundred thousand dol- lars’ worth of jewelry of wealthy summer residents of Shelburne Water. For that success, Jack had received almost twelve thousand dollars in rewards. Jack’s long suit was his knowledge of personal traits of known criminals. To this subject he had given long and careful study and his private files contained information that would have startled exceedingly those to whom it referred. Jack did not bother with the ordinary identification marks such as scars, gold teeth, crooked fingers and moles. That stuff - was on file at headquarters and he could consult it when he chose. (e(0) DOOKS AMI i€O