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 Visual Basic®
For Kids

15th Edition

By
Philip Conrod and Lou Tylee

©2017 Kidware Software LLC

PO Box 701
Maple Valley, WA 98038

http://www.computerscienceforkids.com
http://www.kidwaresoftware.com
Copyright © 2017 by Kidware Software LLC. All rights reserved

Kidware Software LLC

PO Box 701
Maple Valley, Washington 98038
1.425.413.1185
www.kidwaresoftware.com
www.computerscienceforkids.com

All Rights Reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-937161-61-3 (electronic edition)

ISBN-13: 978-1-937161-58-3 (printed edition)

Previous edition published as “Visual Basic Express For Kids – 12th Edition”

Cover Design by Stephanie Conrod

Copy Edit by Jessica Conrod
Book Cover Illustration by Kevin Brockschmidt

This copy of “Visual Basic For Kids” and the associated software is licensed to a single user.
Copies of the course are not to be distributed or provided to any other user. Multiple copy
licenses are available for educational institutions. Please contact Kidware Software for
school site license information.

This guide was developed for the course, “Visual Basic For Kids,” produced by Kidware
Software, Maple Valley, Washington. It is not intended to be a complete reference to the
Visual Basic language. Please consult the Microsoft website for detailed reference
information.
This guide refers to several software and hardware products by their trade names. These
references are for informational purposes only and all trademarks are the property of their
respective companies and owners. Microsoft, Visual Studio, Small Basic, Visual Basic, Visual
J#, and Visual C#, IntelliSense, Word, Excel, MSDN, and Windows are all trademark
products of the Microsoft Corporation. Oracle, NetBeans and Java are trademark products of
the Oracle Corporation. JCreator is a trademark product of XINOX Software

The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos,
people, places, and events depicted are fictitious. No association with any real company,
organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is
intended or should be inferred.

This book expresses the author’s views and opinions. The information in this book is
distributed on an "as is" basis, without and expresses, statutory, or implied warranties.

Neither the author(s) nor Kidware Software LLC shall have any liability to any person or
entity with respect to any loss nor damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or
indirectly by the information contained in this book.
Reviews for Previous Editions
"I find your course VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS more helpful than any of the books (including
that Dummies book) I have read so far. " - TF, Mounds, Oklahoma.

"Your course VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS is the nicest I've found on the internet - it's content,
look and organization are excellent for my 13 year old son." - CG, Brussels, Belgium.

"I just wanted to tell you that I purchased VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS and have been very
pleased with it. It is for my son who is 10 and has been wanting to learn programming." -
BH, Cincinnati, Ohio.

"My 14 year old just loves this VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS! I'm glad there's finally a product
out there for the programmers of the future." - RU, Fresno, California.

"I am very impressed with the layout of your course VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS - it is quite
well structured." - AM, Tasmania, Australia.

"I use VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS with my students. I think it's great! " - PE, Bangkok,
Thailand.

"What a great course VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS! This is a wonderful product at a great price.
" - SP, Martinsville, Virginia.

"My kids really enjoy your course and are programming a lot. VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS is
perfect for my kids' level. " - RF, The Netherlands.

"Your VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS course is very well put together and I have learned a lot. " -
BN, Greenfield, Massachusetts.

"My son is keen to program but all those other manuals have involved poor Mom trying to
translate language that is supposed to be English. Thank you for writing something VISUAL
BASIC FOR KIDS he can understand! " - AG, United Kingdom.

"I enjoy your tutorial VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS and am learning along with my kids. " - JM,
Palmdale, California.

"It's nice to see a product like this VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS for beginning programmers! " -
DK, San Francisco, California.

"I'm no kid, but I enjoy the product VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS! " - BS, El Cajon, California.

"Just wanted to compliment you on an excellent training tool VISUAL BASIC FOR KIDS for
this 43 year old 'kid'. " - MD, Edgewater, Maryland.
About The Authors
Philip Conrod has authored, co-authored and edited numerous
computer programming books for kids, teens and adults. Philip holds
a BS in Computer Information Systems and a Master's certificate in
the Essentials of Business Development from Regis University. He
also holds a Certificate in Programming for Business from Warren-
Tech. Philip has been programming computers since 1977. He has
held various Information Technology leadership roles in companies
like Command Plus, BibleBytes Software, Sundstrand Aerospace,
Safeco Insurance Companies, FamilyLife, Kenworth Truck Company,
PACCAR and Darigold. In his spare time, Philip serves as the
President & Publisher of Kidware Software, LLC. He is the proud
father of three “techie” daughters and he and his beautiful family
live in Maple Valley, Washington.

Lou Tylee holds BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and

a PhD in Electrical Engineering. Lou has been programming
computers since 1969 when he took his first Fortran course in
college. He has written software to control suspensions for high
speed ground vehicles, monitor nuclear power plants, lower noise
levels in commercial jetliners, compute takeoff speeds for jetliners,
locate and identify air and ground traffic and to let kids count
bunnies, learn how to spell and do math problems. He has written
several online texts teaching Visual Basic, Visual C# and Java to
thousands of people. He taught a beginning Visual Basic course for
over 15 years at a major university. Currently, Lou works as an
engineer at a major Seattle aerospace firm. He is the proud father of
five children and proud husband of his special wife. Lou and his
family live in Seattle, Washington.
Acknowledgements
I want to thank my three wonderful daughters - Stephanie, Jessica and Chloe, who helped
with various aspects of the book publishing process including software testing, book editing,
creative design and many other more tedious tasks like finding errors and typos. I could not
have accomplished this without all your hard work, love and support. I want to also thank
my best friend Jesus, who has always been there by my side giving me wisdom and
guidance. Without you, this book would have never been printed or published.

I also want to thank my multi-talented co-author, Lou Tylee, for doing all the real hard work
necessary to develop, test, debug, and keep current all the ‘beginner-friendly’ applications,
games and base tutorial text found in this book. Lou has tirelessly poured his heart and soul
into so many previous versions of this tutorial and there are so many beginners who have
benefited from his work over the years. Lou is by far one of the best application developers
and tutorial writers I have ever worked with. Thank you Lou for collaborating with me on
this book project.
 Table of Contents
Course Description
Course Prerequisites
A Brief Word on the Course
Installing and Using the Downloadable Solution Files
Using Visual Basic For Kids
How To Take the Course
Forward by Alan Payne, A Computer Science Teacher

1. Introducing Visual Basic

A Story About Bill and Paul
Let’s Get Started
Starting Visual Basic
Opening a Visual Basic Project
Running a Visual Basic Project
Stopping a Visual Basic Project
Stopping Visual Basic
Summary

2. The Visual Basic Design Environment

Review and Preview
Parts of a Visual Basic Project
Parts of the Visual Basic Environment
Starting a New Visual Basic Project
Main Window
Solution Explorer Window
Design Window
Toolbox Window
Properties Window
Moving Around in Visual Basic
Solution Explorer Window
 Properties Window
Code Window
Summary

3. Your First Visual Basic Project

Review and Preview
Steps in Building a Visual Basic Project
Placing Controls on the Form
Example
Setting Control Properties (Design Mode)
Naming Controls
Setting Properties in Run Mode
How Control Names are Used in Event Procedures
Writing Event Procedures
Example
Summary

4. Project Design, Forms, Buttons

Review and Preview
Project Design
Saving a Visual Basic Project
On-Line Help
The Form Control
Properties
Example
Events
Typical Use of Form Control
Button Control
Properties
Example
Events
Typical Use of Button Control
BASIC - The First Lesson
Event Procedure Structure
 Assignment Statement
Property Types
Comments
Project - Form Fun
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Summary

5. Labels, Text Boxes, Variables

Review and Preview
Debugging a Visual Basic Project
Syntax Errors
Run-Time Errors
Logic Errors
Label Control
Properties
Example
Events
Typical Use of Label Control
Text Box Control
Properties
Example
Events
Typical Use of Text Box Control
BASIC - The Second Lesson
Variables
Variable Names
Variable Types
Declaring Variables
Arithmetic Operators
Val and Str Functions
 String Concatenation
Project - Savings Account
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Summary

6. UpDown Control, Decisions, Random

Numbers
Review and Preview
Numeric UpDown Control
Properties
Example
Events
Typical Use of Numeric UpDown Control
BASIC - The Third Lesson
Logical Expressions
Comparison Operators
Logical Operators
Decisions - The If Statement
Random Number Generator
Project - Guess the Number Game
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Summary
7. Icons, Group Boxes, Check Boxes, Radio
Buttons
Review and Preview
Icons
Custom Icons
Assigning Icons to Forms
Group Box Control
Properties
Placing Controls in a Group Box
Example
Typical Use of Group Box Control
Check Box Control
Properties
Example
Events
Typical Use of Check Box Control
Radio Button Control
Properties
Example
Events
Typical Use of Radio Button Control
BASIC - The Fourth Lesson
Decisions - Select Case
Project - Sandwich Maker
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Summary

8. Panels, Mouse Events, Colors

 Review and Preview
Panel Control
Properties
Typical Use of Panel Control
Graphics Using the Panel Control
Graphics Methods
Graphics Objects
Colors
Example
Pen Objects
Graphics Coordinates
DrawLine Method
Graphics Review
Example
BASIC - The Fifth Lesson
Mouse Events
MouseDown Event
Example
MouseUp Event
Example
MouseMove Event
Example
Project - Blackboard Fun
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Summary

9. Picture Boxes, Arrays

Review and Preview
Picture Box Control
Properties
 Image Property
Example
SizeMode Property
Example
Events
Typical Use of Picture Box Control
BASIC - The Sixth Lesson
Variable Arrays
For/Next Loops
Procedure Level Variables
Shuffle Routine
Project - Card Wars
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Summary

10. Timers, Animation, Keyboard Events

Review and Preview
Timer Control
Properties
Events
Examples
Typical Use of Timer Control
BASIC - The Final Lesson
Animation - The DrawImage Method
Image Disappearance
Border Crossing
Image Erasure
Collision Detection
Keyboard Events
KeyDown Event
 KeyPress Event
Project – Beach Balls
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Summary

Bonus Projects
Preview
Project 1 – Stopwatch
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Project 2 - Tic-Tac-Toe
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Project 3 - Dice Rolling
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Project 4 - State Capitals
Project Design
 Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Project 5 - Memory Game
Project Design
Place Controls on Form
Set Control Properties
Write Event Procedures
Run the Project
Other Things to Try
Bonus Project – Pong!

More Self-Study or Instructor-Led

Computer Programming Tutorials by
Kidware Software
Course Description:
Visual Basic for Kids is an interactive, self-paced tutorial providing
a complete introduction to the Visual Basic programming language
and environment. The tutorial consists of 10 lessons explaining (in
simple, easy-to-follow terms) how to build a Visual Basic application.
Numerous examples are used to demonstrate every step in the
building process. The tutorial also includes detailed computer
projects for kids to build and try. Visual Basic for Kids is presented
using a combination of course notes (written in Microsoft Word
format) and many Visual Basic examples and projects.
Course Prerequisites:
To use Visual Basic for Kids, you should be comfortable working
within the Windows environment, knowing how to find files, move
windows, resize windows, etc. No programming experience is
needed. The course material should be understandable to kids aged
10 and up. You will also need the ability to view and print documents
saved in Acrobat PDF format.

Software Requirements:
Regarding software requirements, to use Visual Basic, you (and your
potential users) should be using Windows 10. And, of course, you
need to have the Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition product
installed on your computer. It is available for free download from
Microsoft. Follow this link for complete instructions for downloading
and installing Visual Basic on your computer:

https://www.visualstudio.com/products/free-developer-offers-vs
A Brief Word on the Course:
Though this course is entitled “Visual Basic for Kids,” it is not
necessarily written in a kid’s vocabulary. Computer programming has
a detailed vocabulary of its own and, since adults developed it, the
terminology tends to be very adult-like. In developing this course,
we discussed how to address this problem and decided we would
treat our kid readers like adults, since they are learning what is
essentially an adult topic. We did not want to ‘dumb-down’ the
course. You see this in some books. We, quite frankly, are offended
by books that refer to readers as dummies and idiots simply because
they are new to a particular topic. We didn’t want to do that here.
Throughout the course, we treat the kid reader as a mature person
learning a new skill. The vocabulary is not that difficult, but there
may be times the kid reader needs a little help. Hopefully, the
nearest adult can provide that help.
Installing and Using the Downloadable
Solution Files
If you purchased this directly from our website you received an
email with a special and individualized internet download link where
you could download the compressed Program Solution Files. If you
purchased this book through a 3rd Party Book Store like
Amazon.com, the solutions files for this tutorial are included in a
compressed ZIP file that is available for download directly from our
website at:

http://www.kidwaresoftware.com/vbkids2015-registration.html

Complete the online web form at the webpage above with your
name, shipping address, email address, the exact title of this book,
date of purchase, online or physical store name, and your order
confirmation number from that store. After we receive all this
information we will email you a download link for the Source Code
Solution Files associated with this book.

Warning: If you purchased this book “used” or “second hand” you

are not licensed or entitled to download the Program Solution Files.
However, you can purchase the Digital Download Version of this
book at a discounted price which allows you access to the digital
source code solutions files required for completing this tutorial.
Using Visual Basic for Kids:
The course notes and code for Visual Basic for Kids are included
in one or more ZIP files. Use your favorite ‘unzipping’ application to
write all files to your computer. The course is included in the folder
entitled VBKids. This folder contains two other folders: VBK Notes
and VBK Projects. The VBK Projects folder includes all the Visual
Basic projects developed during the course.
How To Take the Course:
Visual Basic for Kids is a self-paced course. The suggested
approach is to do one class a week for ten weeks. Each week’s class
should require about 3 to 6 hours of your time to grasp the concepts
completely. Prior to doing a particular week’s work, open the class
notes file for that week and print it out. Then, work through the
notes at your own pace. Try to do each example as they are
encountered in the notes. Work through the projects in Classes 3
through 10 (and the Bonus class). If you need any help, all
completed projects are included in the VBK Projects folder.
Foreword by Alan Payne, A Computer Science
Teacher

What is “Visual Basic For Kids” … and how it works.

The lessons “Visual Basic for Kids” are a highly organized and well-
indexed set of tutorials meant for children aged 10 and above. Visual
Basic is a programming environment which allows the user to drag
and drop buttons, text boxes, scroll bars, timers and dozens of other
visual “controls” to make programs which look like “Windows”
programs. They provide a graphical user interface (GUI) to the user.

The tutorials provide the benefit of completed age-appropriate

applications for children – fully documented projects from the
teachers’ or parents’ point of view. That is, while full solutions are
provided, the projects are presented in an easy-to-follow set of
lessons explaining the rational for the form layout, coding design and
conventions, and specific code related to the problem.

Child-learners may follow tutorials at their own pace. Every bit of the
lesson is remembered as it contributes to the final solution to a kid-
friendly application. The finished product is the reward, but the
student is fully engaged and enriched by the process. This kind of
learning is often the focus of teacher training. Every computer
science teacher knows what a great deal of preparation is required
for projects to work for kids. With these tutorials, the research
behind the projects is done by an author who understands the
classroom experience. That is extremely rare!

Graduated Lessons for Every Project … Lessons, examples,

problems and projects. Graduated learning. Increasing and
appropriate difficulty… Great results.
With these projects, there are lessons providing a comprehensive,
kid-friendly background on the programming topics to be covered.
Once understood, concepts are easily applicable to a variety of
applications. Then, specific examples are drawn out so that a young
learner can practice with the Visual Basic designer. Then specific
Visual Basic coding for the example is provided so that the user can
see all the parts of the project come together for the finished
product.
By presenting lessons in this graduated manner, students are fully
engaged and appropriately challenged to become independent
thinkers who can come up with their own project ideas and design
their own forms and do their own coding. Once the process is
learned, then student engagement is unlimited! I have seen literacy
and numeracy skills improve dramatically because students cannot
get enough of what is being presented.

Indeed, lessons encourage accelerated learning – in the sense that

they provide an enriched environment to learn computer science,
but they also encourage accelerating learning because students
cannot put the lessons away once they start! Computer science
provides this unique opportunity to challenge students, and it is a
great testament to the authors that they are successful in achieving
such levels of engagement with consistency.

My History with Kidware Software products.

I have used Kidware’s Programming Tutorials for over a decade to

keep up my own learning. By using these lessons, I am able to
spend time on things which will pay off in the classroom. I do not
waste valuable time ensconced in language reference libraries for
programming environments – help screens which can never be fully
remembered! These projects are examples of how student projects
should be as final products – thus, the pathway to learning is clear
and immediate in every project.
If I want to use or expand upon some of the projects for student
use, then I take advantage of site-license options. I have found it
very straight forward to emphasize the fundamental computer
science topics that form the basis of these projects when using them
in the classroom. I can list some computer science topics which
everyone will recognize, regardless of where they teach – topics
which are covered expertly by these tutorials:

• Data Types and Ranges

• Scope of Variables
• Naming Conventions
• Decision Making
• Looping
• Language Functions – String, Date, Numerical
• Arrays
• Writing Your own Methods (subroutines)
• Understanding the Visual Basic Environment (Solution Explorer,
Design, Toolbox and Properties Window)
• The unique design and coding features of dozens of Visual Basic
Controls

In many States or Provinces, the above-listed topics would not be

formally introduced in Middle School computer studies, but would
form the basis of most projects undertaken by students. With these
tutorials, you as the teacher or parent may choose where to put the
emphasis, to be sure to cover the curricular expectations of your
regional curriculum documents.

Any further Middle school computer programming topics derive

directly from those listed above. Nothing is forgotten. All can be
integrated with the lessons provided.

How teachers can use the product to encourage

Contextualized Learning
Having projects completed ahead of time can allow the teacher to
present the design aspect of the project FIRST, and then have
students do all of their learning in the context of what is required in
the finished product. This is a much faster learning curve than if
students designed all of their own projects from scratch.

Lessons concentrating on a unified outcome for all makes for much

more streamlined engagement for students (and that is what they
need, in Middle school, and in grades 9 and 10), as they complete
more projects within a short period of time and there is a context for
everything that is learned.
With the Visual Basic for Kids tutorials, sound advice regarding
generally accepted coding strategies (“build and test your code in
stages”, “learn input, output, formatting and data storage strategies
for different data types” etc..) encourage independent thought
processes among learners. After mastery, then it is much more likely
that students can create their own problems and solutions from
scratch. Students are ready to create their own summative projects
for your computer science course – or just for fun, and they may
think of projects for their other courses as well! And what could be
wrong with asking the students’ other teachers what they would like
to see as project extensions?

Meets State and Provincial Curriculum Expectations and

More
Different states and provinces have their own curriculum
requirements for computer science. With the Kidware Software
products, you have at your disposal a series of projects which will
allow you to pick and choose from among those which best suit your
curriculum needs. Students focus upon design stages and sound
problem-solving techniques from a computer-science, problem-
solving perspective. In doing so, they become independent problem-
solvers, and will exceed the curricular requirements of Middle
schools and Secondary schools everywhere.
Useable projects – Out of the box!
The specific projects covered in the Visual Basic for Kids tutorials are
suitable for students aged 10 and above. Specific kid-friendly
tutorials and projects are found in the Contents document, and
include:

Savings Account Calculator

Guess the Number Game
Sandwich Maker (making food menu selections from a GUI)
Blackboard Fun (a project where you learn to make drawings)
Card Wars
Beach Balls
And, from the bonus chapter, GUI versions of
Stop Watch
TicTacToe
Dice Rolling
Memory Game (Concentration)
Pong

As you can see, there is a high degree of care taken so that projects
are age-appropriate. You as a parent or teacher can begin teaching
the projects on the first day. It’s easy for the adult to have done
their own learning by starting with the solution files. Then, they will
see how all of the parts of the lesson fall into place. Even a novice
could make use of the accompanying lessons.

How to teach students to use the materials.

In a Middle school situation, parents or teachers might be tempted
to spend considerable amounts of time at the projector or computer
screen going over the tutorial – but the best strategy is to present
the finished product first! That way, provided that the adult has
covered the basic concepts listed in the table of contents, then
students will quickly grasp how to use the written lessons on their
own. Lessons will be engaging, and the pay-off for younger students
is that there is always a finished product which is fun to use!

Highly organized reference materials for student self-study!

Materials already condense what is available from MSDN (Microsoft
Developer’s Network) help files (which tend to be written for adults)
in a context and age-appropriate manner, so that young students
remember what they learn.
The time savings for parents, teachers and students is enormous as
they need not sift through pages and pages of on-line help to find
what they need.
How to mark the projects.

In a classroom environment, it is possible for teachers to mark

student progress by asking questions during the various problem
design and coding stages. In the early grades (grades 5 to 8)
teachers can make their own oral, pictorial review or written pop
quizzes easily from the reference material provided as a review
strategy from day to day. I have found the requirement of
completing projects (mastery) sufficient for gathering information
about student progress in later grades.

Lessons encourage your own programming extensions.

Once concepts are learned, it is difficult to NOT know what to do for
your own projects. This is true even at the Middle school level –
where applications can be made in as short as 10 minutes (a high-
low guessing game, or a temperature conversion program, for
example), or 1 or 2 periods in length – if one wished to expand upon
any of the projects using the “Other Things to Try” suggestions
provided at the end of each chapter.

Having used Kidware Software tutorials for the past decade, I have
explored many programming environments which are currently of
considerable interest to kids! I thank Kidware Software and its
authors for continuing to stand for what is right in the teaching
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The house of
the missing
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The house of the missing

Author: Sinclair Gluck

Release date: May 31, 2024 [eBook #73742]

Language: English

Original publication: New York, NY: A. L. Burt Company, 1922

Credits: Brian Raiter

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE OF

THE MISSING ***
THE HOUSE OF THE MISSING

by

SINCLAIR GLUCK

A. L. BURT COMPANY
New York
Published by arrangement with Dodd, Mead & Company
Copyright, 1922, by The Inter-continental Publishing Corporation of New York
 Contents
I I Acquire a Friend
II “The Shadow of the Web”
III “That’s All We Know”
IV Roving Commissions
V Our First Clew
VI The Girl in Gray
VII The Famous Tea
VIII Amateur Burglary
IX The First Skirmish
X Mrs. Fawcette is Indiscreet
XI Black Friday
XII Disaster!
XIII Our Second Burglary
XIV What We Found
XV The Darkest Hour
XVI The Final Attempt
XVII Walk into My Parlor
XVIII When in Rome——
XIX Fast in the Web
XX The Room of the Voices
XXI Beating Back
XXII Through the Outposts
XXIII Within the Web
XXIV The Web Is Torn
 XXV The Emperor
XXVI The Final Surprise
 TO
MY SISTER
WHOSE HELP AND ENCOURAGEMENT
BROUGHT IT TO A HAPPY ENDING
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED
 Chapter I.
I Acquire a Friend
High on the roof of the apartment house, in the darkness, the
insatiable, ceaseless murmur of the city came hushed and muted to
my ears. I leaned against the parapet, staring out over the glow of
clashing lights below and letting the breeze touch my face with its
gentle fingers. It had a soothing influence of which I was badly in
need that night. For I had come to the end of two months of
ceaseless search—and consistent, unvarying failure.
I had not dared to lose faith that somewhere down there, in that
brimming human river, still existed the sweetest little sister a fellow
ever had. It was possible even that one of the little dots now passing
in the street far below knew where she was and what her fate had
been. But I, who would have given the aching heart out of my body
to find her, could not tell. I could only remember her sweetness; her
little wide-eyed glances; her happy, bubbling laughter and her
adorable innocence.
Perhaps fate had been envious of our happiness together, for it
had played us the cruellest of tricks, wresting my little sister away to
God knew what horrors and leaving me with a ceaseless, gnawing
grief. My imagination is none too vivid, perhaps, at ordinary times,
but during those two months I had had to school it rigidly. A mind
that is balked of a great desire, turns on itself like a scorpion. But it
did not help my search to picture scenes in which she might be the
victim, scenes going on even at that moment and just around the
corner perhaps. And madness lay that way, as I had long since had
cause to realize.
Looking back, there on the roof, it seemed a weary waste of
years since that morning, only two months before, when she came
laughing, dancing into my studio to ask her favor. A Mrs. Furneau,
whom I knew slightly, had offered to drive her into New York that
day, to a luncheon party at the house of some friends and a matinée
afterwards. Margaret was just seventeen, with an innocent, slender,
childlike beauty that set me nearly crazy in my efforts to transfer it
to canvas. She had come home for the summer holidays, and as
usual her dainty wishes were my law. This party was to be a “Special
treat, please!” So I had let her go.
I gazed down at the darkened city, and for the thousand-and-first
time went wearily over the events of that terrible time, seeking for
the faintest clew.
The first intimation that I had had of impending tragedy had
come from Mrs. Furneau, the woman who had taken Margaret into
New York. I had been working hard on a portrait and had hardly
missed the child. But about seven o’clock, an hour after she should
have been home, the telephone rang and a gasping voice came to
me over the long-distance wire: “Is Margaret with you? Did she
come home?”
Mrs. Furneau sounded nearly distracted, but I had managed to
drag the details out of her at length. They had gone to the luncheon
and then to the matinée in a party, she told me. A little after five,
they had left the others and started for home in Mrs. Furneau’s car.
Then, at 34th Street, Margaret had begged for ten minutes in which
to do some shopping in one of the big stores near by. Mrs. Furneau
had agreed to wait for her, and had pulled up in front of the store
while Margaret got out and ran inside. And that was all!
Mrs. Furneau had waited for nearly half an hour, and then, as she
could see that the store was closing for the night, had gone inside to
look for her. Not finding her, she had returned to the car. But
Margaret had not come out, according to Mrs. Furneau’s chauffeur.
So she went back again and searched the nearly empty store
thoroughly this time. But she could learn nothing—could find no one
who had even seen the child. Margaret had certainly entered the
store, for the older woman said she had watched her graceful figure
until it passed through the revolving doors. But after that she had
vanished!
 Thinking that Margaret might have met and talked with friends or
gone to another store in search of what she wanted, Mrs. Furneau
had waited in the car for nearly an hour more. By that time all the
stores were closed. And besides, Margaret was a considerate child
and would never have stayed away so long of her own volition
without telling her hostess. Mrs. Furneau became really frightened
then and telephoned to me.
Half an hour later I met her in New York. She repeated the
details of Margaret’s disappearance and we talked over possibilities,
but there was no clew to work on, as to what could have become of
my little sister. We called up all the friends she had in New York that
I knew about, but could learn nothing. And there was very little that
I could do that night. The store workers were scattered to the four
winds by that time.
So I had given all the details of the disappearance to the police,
and after sending Mrs. Furneau home—she was frightened and tired
out—I went to a hotel myself, so that I could be close at hand if the
police wanted me.
As long as I live the recollection of that night will be vivid in my
memory. Hour after hour I paced the floor, stopping every ten
minutes or so to ring up my house, only to learn from the frightened
servants that there was no news. Margaret had not returned. And at
last the gray dawn crept into the room and found me still fully
dressed and still pacing back and forth.
The store opened at nine, and at that hour Mrs. Furneau, who
had come into town again to help, joined me. We went through the
store together and questioned the workers—door-men, floor-
walkers, salesgirls—every one. But we could learn nothing. There
was simply no trace of any kind.
And another hasty telephone call told me that there was no news
of my little sister at home.
That night and morning had been the beginning of two months
of fear that haunted me like the terrible figments of a nightmare. At
first, the number of investigations that suggested themselves,
among the people in the store and among Margaret’s friends, had
kept my mind occupied and kept hope alive that nothing serious had
happened to the child. Then there had been the hospitals to search
and city officials to interview, to say nothing of social workers and
charitable organizations. Mrs. Furneau spent days with me, helping
in the search. But as time passed and we could learn nothing,
despair settled on me like a choking cloud, and with it an
unreasonable sense of resentment towards Mrs. Furneau for her part
in it all. I did my best to conceal it; but her intuition must have told
her that there was something wrong, and after a week or so she
gave up the search and I continued my efforts alone.
But the days grew into weeks and the combined efforts of the
police, the best detective agencies in the country, and every other
agency that money and determination could press into the service,
failed to find a shadow of a trace, until at length other crimes and an
epidemic of disappearances among young Society girls distracted
their attention and I continued the search alone.
Hope dies hard; and there was always the chance that the child
might make her way home again, or that I might hear of her or from
her in some roundabout way; for at least her body had not been
found. But after two months of utterly unsuccessful search, almost
continuous by day and night, I was pretty desperate now, standing
up there on the roof of the building in New York in which I had taken
an apartment.
Everything else had been dropped and I had moved to New York.
I had been in queer places and seen queer sights during those eight
weeks. I had pierced the outer, commonplace integument of a great
city—the shifting scene of blank, reserved humanity that meets the
casual eye—and had been caught up and swept nearly off my feet
once or twice in the seething welter of passion and crime that swells
and ebbs beneath the city’s impassive exterior.
But of the slip of a girl I sought and now almost dreaded to find I
could learn—nothing.
Stretching away below me as I watched, the city crouched
purring, like some great animal motionless and watchful. I hated it
actively for what it had done to me, longing to tear out its secret by
violence, if need be. But after a while sanity slowly returned and the
momentary madness faded. I can only say in excuse that the
gnawing anxiety of those two months must have somewhat
undermined a pretty normal point of view.
But with returning sanity came a slow resolve. Up to now I had
been seeking blindly, with no plan—no definite aim, no thought of
the future. From now on I vowed that my life should be given up to
the search; that nothing should interfere with it; that only death or
success should put an end to it. The resolve brought me a curious
sense of peace. That much I could do—even though it were all I
could do. But that much should be done.
With the thought I turned away from the parapet to go to my
rooms below and try to lay out some sort of a campaign for the
future. As I turned a touch fell upon my arm and I found Larry
standing beside me. In the dim light from the open doorway that led
to the roof I could detect the half-veiled pity in his eyes.
I had acquired Larry a couple of weeks before, or rather had had
him more or less thrust upon me, and had not regretted it.
Early in the search I bought a small light car and scoured the city
night after night in it, in the hope of catching a glimpse of Margaret.
One night I had been driving slowly along the Bowery. It was very
late and the long, wide, cobbled street under the L structure was
deserted. But as I came to a corner, Larry darted out of a side
street, yanked open the rear door of the car and dropped into the
obscurity of the tonneau behind me, with “For God’s sake, d‑r‑r‑rive
on, sor. It’s half a dozen of them gangsters is after me!”
The sheer impudence of it took my breath away for a moment,
and with the sudden natural impulse of a sporting chance for the
hunted thing, I stood on the accelerator and whisked around a
corner and out of sight before it came home to me that I was
probably defeating the ends of justice. Then, too, there had been a
quality of warmth and a hint of laughter in the rich brogue of the
speaker that appealed to me and seemed to lift him out of the
common run of malefactors.
Once committed, however, I turned a lot more corners and put a
good bit of the city between us and his pursuers before I pulled into
the curb and turned to have it out with my “fare.”
 He forestalled me. He jumped to his feet at once. “Do but wait
now, sor, and lave me have a look at ye!” said he.
Surprise and wrathful amazement kept me silent for a moment
while he stared into my face. Then just as I was preparing to give
him an extensive and unvarnished account of what I thought of him
and his impudence, he slapped his thigh, and leaning forward took
my hand and touched the top of his head with it, in a queer old-
fashioned gesture.
“Faith, sor, I knew ut! You’re the man for me and I’m your man
from this day forth. See now, tell me what it is you want in the world
and I’ll get it ye. Ye have the look of a seeker, sor. Tell me what it is
ye seek and I’ll find it. There now!”
I could not answer for a moment. The beggar was so impudent
and so amazingly penetrating. Then I recovered my tongue and
proceeded to give him a dressing down that I’m proud of even now,
when I think of it. He listened without a word and with only an
occasional wriggle of the body to show that some comment of mine
upon his personal appearance had gone home. I wound up with the
observation that I now proposed to take him and hand him over to
the nearest policeman with a full account of our meeting.
“That’s it, sor!” he broke in, as I finished, “you’re the master for a
lawless lad like me. I knew it from the fir‑r‑rst. An’ ye’ll not be for
givin’ me up to thim cops at the latter end, afther the way ye’d made
such a rescue an’ all. Faith, ’twas a small matther av a colleen av
wan av thim gangsters, sor!”
He paused and looked at me with something of anxiety in his
eyes. “See now, give me up to thim thin if ye must, sor. Thim bhoys
is nothin’ an’ I’ll soon be quit of the pack of thim again. But ye’ll not
be the sort that’s met with every day. An’—an’ I’d like fine to serve
ye, sor!”
To tell the truth, I was puzzled. The man had been clever enough
not to threaten me in return with the disclosure of my part in his
escape, supposing I were to give him up. If he had, I should have
handed him over at once. And at his first appearance there had been
something of exultation mixed with his fear, so that I doubted in him
any great depth of depravity for its own sake. Moreover, his first
words about seeker and search had been a wild stab in the dark
from an arrant braggart, but—they had struck home. God knows, I
needed help in my search, and what right had I to refuse it, in
however wild a guise it presented itself? The fellow was young, with
the slimness of youth, but he was big-boned and powerful-looking
and his eyes were bright with intelligence. He might prove a useful
ally enough if he were sincere. For the moment I could only
temporize.
“What do you mean by ‘serve me’? Do you think I want a
chauffeur or what?” I demanded.
His answering look was full of reproach. At least his face was
frank and open for any man to read, the emotions chasing each
other across it like ripples of wind on a mountain lake. There was
something attractive, too, about the youth and vitality and daring of
his make-up.
“Faith, that’s not yerself, sor. Did I not tell ye there was the look
of the seeker about ye? There’s lines of pain an’ fear an’ anxious
nights and days in yer face, sor, an’ that’s God’s truth, beggin’ yer
pardon, sor. I saw that at once. An’ I’d like foine to hilp ye to yer
desire, the way we would be worrkin’ together on it. If there’s a bit
of excitement about it, so much the better, sor. Have ye a ‘man’
already?”
“You know who I am, then,” I told him sharply; “that is evident.”
“I do not, sor,” he answered, triumph in his voice. “But I’m right
then, sor?”
“Yes, you’re right,” I answered wearily. “Well—you’d better come
home with me now and we’ll talk over what’s to be done with you.” I
started the car again and so drove home with him.
I put the car away and then took him up to my study, set him
down and fell to cross-examining him on his past life, with a view to
getting a better line on the man himself from his way of answering.
Some mix-up over a colleen had sent him out of Ireland as a boy
and he had drifted to New York, that Mecca of the Irish. He told me
frankly that his father had argued and occasionally beaten into him
the conviction that the world owed him a living and a good one. In
New York he had tried common labor, odd jobs and work as a
shipping clerk, but had found no good living at any of them. So he
had drifted into bad company and a manner of life that promised an
easy existence, plenty of pickings, and above all, the excitement that
his soul craved. The pickings had not been all he had hoped, it
seemed. But there had certainly been plenty of excitement.
“So,” I told him calmly, “I’m to take you on here and install you,
so that you can clean the place out in my absence, without even the
trouble of breaking in!”
The hurt, resentful look on his face was enough to convince me.
But he turned away and started for the door, his cap in his hand.
“Faith, sor,” he answered quietly, “I took ye for a man of more—
sinse, beggin’ yer pardon, sor. I’ll just be goin’, unless ye’d like to
give me up still?”
“Come back here and turn out your pockets.”
He came slowly back to the table, a glint in his eye and rebellion
latent in every line of him. I took a quick step forward. “On the
table,” I told him quietly.
It was a sorry collection. Bits of string, a heavy clasp knife, a
half-eaten sandwich, a letter or two from the old country made up
the total with a few small coins.
“Is that all?”
“That’s all.”
“All right, put them back. I’m glad we’ve nothing to return to the
rightful owners. Now come with me and I’ll show you your room.
The first thing you’d better do is to take a bath.”
“By God, sor,” he said, and stopped, the blood flooding his face.
“Ye’ll—ye’ll not regret it!” he added quietly, a moment later.
So I took him into my service, ostensibly as a valet, a nuisance
which I did not want in the least, but actually for the aid his
knowledge of the under-world might prove in my search. But before
a week had passed I had learned to like the man for himself, for his
cheery optimism, his courage and his faithfulness, also somewhat for
his incurable laziness and bragging, though it would never have
done to let him know it; and I spent most of our time together
outlining the most unflattering views on his ancestry and personal
habits.
 We had already pulled out of some pretty tight corners together,
but through it all he had stood by me, plucky, optimistic, for ever
bragging and for ever ready for anything. To tell the truth he had
pulled me back to a sane frame of mind more than once with his
nonsense. But whether he knew this and did it on purpose or not I
could not tell.
Up on the roof now, he stood beside me for a moment before he
spoke.
“Well?” I demanded, sharply.
“There’s a gintleman to see ye, sor. Says his name is Bertrand
Moore, or some such thruck as that. He gave me no cyard. I did tell
him, sor, that ye would not be wishful to be disturbed. But he was all
for seein’ ye, whether or no. Sure he folleyed me up here a ways, till
I turned back to him. Shall I sind him about his business?”
With this he lapsed into silence, waiting calmly for directions. He
was quite ready, as I knew, either to throw the visitor out bodily or
to make him at home, whichever he was told. Aside from myself,
matters of ethics did not trouble Larry in the slightest, and it was
this quality in him that had brought back to me the power to laugh.
“What does he want? Do you know?” I asked.
“That I don’t, sor. There’s a lackadaisical air about him, an’ yet
I’ve a notion he’s used to havin’ his way, sor. He wud not tell me
more than just that he wanted to be seein’ ye, an’ see ye he wud!”
The name conveyed nothing to me, and it was not until I entered
my small drawing-room and my visitor rose to his feet that I placed
him. I had seen him once or twice hanging round the police station
when my search had taken me there, and had also met him once at
the house of some friends. I had put him down as a bit of a lounge
lizard, his dress and manner of speech giving me that impression
rather than his face. So, after shaking hands, I waited with some
interest and secret amusement to learn what he wanted with me.
“How do you do, Mr. Clayton?” he began in his mincing voice.
Then he glanced at Larry, who was hovering about in the
background. “May I have—er—five minutes of your time—alone?”
“I suppose so,” I answered, smiling. “You can go, Larry. Sit down
Mr.—Moore, isn’t it?”
 Chapter II.
“The Shadow of the Web”
My visitor nodded and sank gracefully into a chair, leaning back
negligently. But as soon as the door had closed on Larry he seemed
to stiffen in a surprising manner, his negligence dropped from him
and he leaned forward with a certain eagerness. There was a force
about him now of which I had not been conscious before.
“Mr. Clayton,” he began, “I want to talk to you about your own
affairs—and I can only hope that you will hear me out before you
resent the apparent impertinence. I assure you that there is a
reason—and a good one—for my action. Have I your leave to go
on?”
I nodded shortly. “Let’s hear what’s on your mind,” I told him.
“But I won’t guarantee not to resent any impertinence, as you call
it,” I added grimly.
He bowed and smiled. “That’s only natural and to be expected,”
he said. “But this is what I came to talk to you about.” He paused a
moment as though to collect his ideas, and then continued quickly:
“You have, I believe, spent the last two months searching for your
sister. I believe that, to a certain extent, I can help you in this
search, or, rather, that I can put you in the way of helping yourself—
seeking at a greater advantage and perhaps to better purpose. If
you care to listen to me, I will tell you what I have in mind. But
before doing so, I am forced to ask you for a pledge of absolute
secrecy. That is quite essential.”
He waited then, and I stared at him in growing amazement. Of
all the queer rigmarole——
He saw my expression and smiled. “Sounds like something
straight out of a melodrama, doesn’t it?” he said. Then the smile left
his face and he went on soberly: “Nevertheless, I am very much in
earnest. I was never more serious in my life than I am now, in
assuring you that I believe I can help you and that the pledge of
secrecy is quite essential. You will see why at once, if you give it. As
you know nothing at all about me, I might add that such a pledge
will bind you to nothing at all dishonorable, nor will it force you to
connive at anything dishonorable by your silence.”
“Good Lord, man,” I broke out at this, “what kind of a bee have
you got in your bonnet? You seem to be in earnest, but what’s all
this talk about secrecy? If you know anything about my sister, for
God’s sake tell it to me and have done. I’ve been disappointed so
often——”
He shook his head, his face sobering instantly. “I’m sorry to say I
haven’t,” he answered; “I’ve done my best, too. But there, give the
pledge, man. It’s little enough to give and I know you’ll keep it.”
“Very well,” I said at last, “I’ll keep secret anything you tell me,
provided—well, you understand. I’ll give you my word on that.”
He sat up, smiling again. “Good, I took you for a man of sense
and I was right. The suggestion I have to make to you is, that if you
allied yourself with a certain organization, you would be in a better
position to pursue your search. The organization can help you in
many ways, and your search itself will be of help to the others—the
men affiliated with you.”
“And the organization?” I demanded.
“The organization is the Secret Service of the United States!” he
answered quietly.
I sat and stared at him at this. And the longer I stared the more
indignant I grew. The thing was preposterous on the face of it. In
the first place, what had he to do with the detection of crime—this
fastidious young fop? Secondly, how could I pursue my own search if
I joined such an organization, presuming for a moment that I could
do so? And lastly, how could my search be of any possible benefit to
the United States? Still he seemed sane enough. There was an
earnestness about him that bade me hesitate in my indignation
even. And he must have some object in his proposal.
 At last the funny side of it struck me and I laughed. “Well, one of
us is crazy, I think, and I don’t think it’s I. Now will you tell me what
grounds you have for making such a proposal—what possible use I
would be to the Secret Service—and how on earth it would help me
to join them?” I demanded.
He laughed in his turn. “I admit it sounds absurd,” he said, “but I
think I can answer your questions to some extent. Under your
pledge of secrecy I can at least tell you that I have the honor to be
an operative of the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of
Justice. That is one of my reasons for making you this proposal.
Secondly, I am not alone in believing that you might be of great
service to us at this time, even,” he added, smiling, “if you do give
food, shelter and comfort, as we say, to a young gangster!”
I nodded grimly. “Is there anything else that you know about
me?”
He laughed. “Yes, quite a lot. In fact, practically everything. I
know that you have considerable independent means, that you are,
or were, fairly successful as an artist—portrait painter; that your
parents are dead; that you are an athlete; that in spite of prohibition
you still buy bonded gin and whisky occasionally, by the case, and
where you get it; that during your search for your sister you
narrowly escaped getting mixed up in that Gerachty murder case;
that you were in the room when the man was stabbed, and that you
got out by a clever dodge of walking backward, so that when the
police entered they thought you were just coming in; that you
haven’t by any means given up the hope of finding your sister, and
that——” Here I held up my hand and he stopped.
“You certainly have the advantage of me,” I told him. “Now
suppose you proceed and tell me why you think the Department will
help me in my search?”
He shook his head. “In spite of your pledge, I cannot tell you
that, unless and until you decide to join. There is too much in the
balance and I have pledges of my own to consider.” He leaned
forward and spoke eagerly. “But listen. This is a bona fide offer and I
am empowered to make it. You are mixing yourself up, or are trying
to, in something far bigger than you have any idea of—something far
too big for you to handle alone. Join us! You have got nowhere this
way—that I happen to know. Indeed, if you had, almost certainly
you would not be here to give me this interview. That much I will tell
you. Come with me to-morrow and see the Chief and listen to what
he has to say. Perhaps he will make things clearer than I have the
right to. But you have nothing to lose and, I believe, everything to
gain by joining us. Our Chief is in town for a few days. Will you
come?”
I sat taking him in for a moment. “Well,” I answered at last, “I
don’t believe you’re crazy anyhow, though the thing sounds absurd
enough in all conscience. Moreover, I hate to spare even one day
from my search, just because I have got nowhere, as you say. But I
think I’ll take a chance and see this chief of yours, whoever he is.”
I broke off short because my visitor had got slowly and silently to
his feet and was tiptoeing toward the window, where heavy curtains
were drawn half-way back to let in the evening air.
As he passed me, he nodded and motioned me to go on talking,
his lips forming the words “Go on!”
“What time do you want me to meet you and where?” I went on
at random.
My visitor reached the window and snatched one of the heavy
curtains aside. I caught a glimpse of a startled face—saw the face
twist into a sudden, frightened snarl. Then Moore’s hand flashed to
his hip as I got to my feet. The room rang with the crash of a
revolver shot and I clapped my hand to the side of my head. I saw
the intruder stumble forward into the room through the smoke,
tearing with both hands at his chest, and then sink limply to the
floor. A small metal object shaped something like a hammer-head
dropped from his hand as he fell.
Glass was still tinkling on the floor from a broken picture behind
me as my visitor slipped his revolver back in his pocket and stooped
over the fallen man. “Good Lord, so soon?” I heard him whisper.
I stumbled over to him, speechless, as Larry came running into
the room, a ludicrous look of apprehension on his face. It cleared a
little when he saw me. Then a moment later he caught sight of the
blood on the side of my face and came running over to me. “My
God, sor, did he get you bad? I’ll tear the heart out av him.” He
turned on Moore, and then for the first time caught sight of the man
on the floor. Moore turned to me at the same moment.
“Did he get you? Not badly, did he?” He strode over to me. “Let’s
have a look! No, just a scratch, thank goodness. Close call though.”
“Say, what the devil is it all about?” I began. “Who is this fellow,
and what the hell did he get me with? I’ll swear there was only one
revolver shot and that was yours.”
But Moore interrupted me. “Listen,” he said quickly. “That one is
dead, I think, and a good job too. But you and I are also, or as good
as dead, if a word of this gets into the papers. I want you to ’phone
to police headquarters, if your head will let you, and ask for Captain
Peters. Don’t talk to any one else on any account. When you get
him, give him this address and tell him to come here at once. Give
him no name, but tell him he’s wanted. Better wash out that wound
first, though. Get rid of your man and keep his mouth shut, will you?
I’m going to search this fellow.”
Whatever it was that had struck me, the wound on the side of
my head was only a scratch. Larry, seething with indignation and
curiosity, washed it out for me, keeping up a running fire of
questions the while, to which I returned no answer. My visitor’s
manner, to say nothing of my own narrow escape, had convinced me
that the matter was serious, and the less Larry knew the less he
could talk, though I doubted anything but his discretion. A few
moments later I went to the telephone, leaving Larry in his room
with orders to stay there and to keep his mouth shut in future, and
leaving Moore still busy with his victim. My own head was seething
with remonstrance and questions, to say nothing of a slight dizziness
induced by the blow it had received. But I succeeded in getting
Captain Peters and delivering my message. “I’ll be there in ten
minutes, tell him!” came over the wire to me, followed by the crash
of the receiver in its socket. Then I turned back to Moore and the
thing he was searching.
He looked up as I gave him the captain’s message. “Thanks,” he
said. Then, indicating the man on the floor, “Nothing at all on him
except—this! What do you make of it? Be careful!”
 I took the metal object that the intruder had dropped as he fell.
But I could make nothing of it. It resembled nothing I had ever seen
except that there was a projection about an inch long from the
middle of it that might be a muzzle. It was made of blued steel and
built to fit in the hand when half closed, so that the muzzle
protruded between the second and third fingers.
“It’s some sort of an air revolver,” Moore explained; “but I’ve
never seen anything just like it before. Maybe it’ll come in useful,
though. Gad, I hope this fellow was alone!” he added.
“But who is he?” I demanded at last, “and how on earth did he
get in here?”
“As to who he is,” Moore smiled, a little grimly, “you’ll find out all
about that to-morrow—if he was alone. Otherwise you probably
won’t live that long. As to how he got in: like a fool I misunderstood
your man and followed him a little way toward the roof when he first
started after you. He had left the door of the apartment open and
this poor devil must have slipped in then. Your man turned back and
showed me in here, but I suppose he must have hidden behind the
curtain at once. The time was so short that I never thought to
suspect anything or look for eavesdroppers, until I saw the curtain
bulge a little in a way no summer breeze would move it. You saw the
rest, and I’ll say it was a damned close thing at that, that he didn’t
get the two of us. But come on, let’s get him out of this.”
Together we carried the man to a chair and sat him up in it. I put
my ear to his chest, but the burnt hole in his coat and in the shirt
beneath, through which bright red blood was still slowly oozing, was
directly over the heart. The man was stone dead.
Moore stood looking down at him a moment. “Poor devil,” he
said. “He was only a tool, but, none the less, I think he was here to
finish my little business, and yours too, probably, after what I had
told you.” He hesitated. “What’s more,” he went on, “it’s probably a
good job for both of us that he’s dead. The only good Indian is a
dead Indian, and this fellow is one of that breed.”
At this moment the bell rang and I went to the door. Coming just
after the recent scene I had witnessed, the burly police captain who
stood there gave me a twinge of uneasiness on Moore’s account, for
I had taken a strong liking to my unconventional and quick-witted
visitor. But the captain only nodded and passed in front of me
through the hall, as I stood back, entering the room where Moore
still hung over his victim, as though to wring the last bit of
information out of him.
Moore nodded and spoke at once. “Captain Peters, I’m sorry to
say I’ve killed this man. I caught him behind that curtain, and it was
a close thing at that, as you can see by that picture over there and
by this gentleman’s head.”
The police captain whistled and, striding over to the body, stared
down at it for a moment. Then he turned back to Moore. “I don’t
know him, do you?” he asked.
“No,” the other answered, “I don’t. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen
him before. But I want you to get a taxi and get him out of here at
once, if you will. You can find him somewhere else; anywhere, you
know. But keep the thing entirely out of the papers if you can, in any
case. That’s important, as you can guess. Above all, captain, don’t
let it get about that he had anything to do with me or with this
gentleman or that he was killed in this building. If you do, my life
will be a poor risk for any insurance company, though I guess it’s
that already. You know enough about this business to know that!
Will you fix it for me?”
“I’ll fix it,” the captain answered, laconically. He turned in my
direction, “Who’s this?” he asked curiously.
“Meet Mr. Clayton, Captain Peters,” Moore answered, with a
shadow of a wink at me for the style of introduction. “He’s not with
us yet, but I believe he will be before long,” he added.
“Good enough!” said the captain and shook hands, his manner
thawing considerably. “Glad to meet you, Mr. Clayton. Well, if you’ll
’phone for the taxi, I guess I can manage to get this downstairs by
myself. I guess it will be better if neither of you gentlemen show
yourselves.”
A few moments later the taxi arrived, and after putting a fresh
coat on the body—one of Larry’s, by the way—and closing the eyes,
we rang for the elevator. When the boy finally woke up and arrived
at our floor, I had an opportunity to observe something of the quality
that had brought the captain his rank. He marched into the elevator
with his arm around the body, supporting it. He set it down on the
seat and sat down beside it, and as the elevator door closed on the
round, startled eyes of the operator, I heard the captain gruffly
admonishing his charge, in the usual tone: “Come on now, you ain’t
as drunk as all that.”
As soon as I rejoined Moore, he turned away from the window
where he had been standing and, walking up to me, held out his
hand.
“I’m sorry—damned sorry—that this happened here, Clayton. Of
course I’m sorry that it happened at all, except that it’s one less to
reckon with, and of course that bump on the head you got is at my
door. But what you’ve seen to-night is a little—just a very little
shadow of what you’re up against—if you only knew it. Now I must
go. Be at 7th Avenue and 16th Street to-morrow at 3.30. There’s no
need to mix you up with this yet until you make up your mind. And it
will be best, I think, if we’re not seen together. Will you do it?”
“I’ll be there,” I told him.
“Right,” he answered. “Good-night. Don’t come out to the
elevator with me. I’m going to walk down a few flights anyway,” and
with a smile and a graceful wave of the hand that brought back his
original simpering manner, he let himself out and was gone.
I called Larry at last and set him, sullen and rebellious, to picking
up the pieces of the broken picture glass and to washing away the
blood-stains on the floor. Then I sat down to ponder upon the events
of the night and the new features they had introduced into my
search.
 Chapter III.
“That’s All We Know”
Next morning I had to deal with a suspicious and indignant Larry,
with smoldering rebellion in every line of him. Nothing would
convince him that the shot that broke the picture was not intended
for me. In fact, I found him, just after breakfast, polishing up the
revolver of his lawless days and whistling softly the while. I felt
pretty certain that another such unconventional visitor as the man
who had died at my feet would get a warm reception in my absence.
Larry had a grievance that morning; in fact, two of them. In the
first place I told him that I was going to meet Moore, but had not
told him why, nor what I was going to do. This was grievance
number one, for up to now he had shared my plans.
But far greater than this was his grievance over the amazing
metamorphosis of the graceful and negligent Moore. The glimpse
Larry had caught of him, standing, smoking revolver in hand, over
the dead man, had upset Larry’s calculations completely. He seemed
to take it rather as a personal affront that this gentle soul should
turn into a killer like that, behind his back. Perhaps the way Moore
had ordered him out of the room afterwards had something to do
with it.
However, I left him in charge of everything, and even
commissioned him to wander about the city where his fancy led, to
see whether he could pick up any clews. From a study of portraits
and photographs, he had long since impressed my sister’s face on
his memory, and he knew by heart the details of the dress she wore
that day. This and his post in command of the fort, as it were,
cheered him up a bit. I left him finally resigned and whistling over
his revolver.
 Personally, I felt considerably more cheerful that morning than I
had felt for a long time. In the strain and fatigue of endless search,
questing here, there, and wherever impulse led, I had had no time
to brood over the fact that I was doing it alone. I had been in some
pretty tight corners in my search, where, I believe now, only fixity of
purpose had pulled me through.
I had not realized this at the time. But I am naturally rather of a
peaceful disposition; I had my fill of fighting with the Lafayette
Esquadrille during the war and had no desire for further excitement.
So the new sense I had this morning of companionship,
encouragement and backing waiting for me ahead put new heart
into me. I felt somehow that things had taken a turn for the better
in my quest. And I was filled with an even greater determination to
see the thing through, however long it took and whatever happened.
But for all this, I think it was as well that I could not see what lay
ahead for me in the weeks to come.
I could find no one to meet me when I reached the rendezvous
which Moore had designated. As I paused irresolute at the curb
edge, a workman, lounging against a lamp-post and sucking on a
dry cutty pipe, leisurely uncrossed his legs and sauntered up to me.
“Say, Mister, got a match on ye?” said he.
I handed him my box rather absently. But as he struck a match
and stooped to light his pipe, he moved a little closer to me as
though to shelter the flame. “Your cab’s across the way, sir,” he
whispered. “At the corner, there. The driver knows.”
A moment later he straightened up and flipped away the match.
“Much obliged, Mister,” he said. Then he handed me the box of
matches and sauntered back to his lamp-post.
I moved across the street without looking at the man again.
What I had seen of Moore and the man who had followed him the
night before gave me no reason to believe that he and his associates
would go in for a needless display of melodramatic secrecy.
Therefore, if my arrival and destination seemed to them best kept
secret, it was up to me to take the hint and fall in with their plans.
The car across the street was an ordinary taxi. As I came up to
him the driver called, “Taxi, sir?” and reached back to open the door,
quite in the natural manner.
“You know where to go?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Right you are, sir. Jump in!” he said, as though I
had given him an address. A moment later we were speeding away.
My new life and associations had begun.
Once started, I fell to wondering again as to why I had been sent
for and how I could serve the ends of the Department, for of course
the Department must have some definite object in view. I pictured
the interview, imagining myself in some spick and span Municipal
Office temporarily placed at the disposal of this distinguished visitor
from Washington, chatting with some elderly gentleman of a curt
and somewhat pompous mien. I was never more mistaken in my
life!
We drove for ten or fifteen minutes, in and out among the little
streets of Greenwich Village. Then suddenly the taxi pulled up in
front of a little hotel below Washington Square, of which I had never
even heard.
As I got out, the man glanced at the meter and raised his flag.
“It’s sixty cents, sir,” he said casually.
Somewhat at a loss, I handed him a dollar bill. At that he dived
into his pocket, picked out a dollar in change and presented it to me
with a grin. He leaned forward as he did so. “Room 333, sir,” he said
softly. Then, raising his voice: “All right, sir, I’ll be here at ten!”
A moment later he and his taxi had disappeared.
I entered the hotel, walked through the lobby, nodded to the
elevator-boy and told him the third floor. And presently I was
knocking at the door of Room 333.
It flew open and disclosed Moore, as immaculate as ever, but
with an anxious look on his face which disappeared when he saw
me. He reached out and pulled me into the room, shutting and
locking the door again without wasting an instant.
“Thank goodness you got here all right. I was getting nervous.
Now let me introduce you to the Chief.”
Instead of the pompous individual I had expected to meet, I
found myself shaking hands with a big, genial fellow, with a jaw like
the prow of a ship and a warm twinkle in his keen blue eyes. I took
a liking to him at once.
“Well, sir,” he said, “glad to meet you—and glad you got here all
serene. Mr. Clayton, isn’t it? Now let’s get to business.”
The room was an ordinary hotel bedroom and small at that. The
Chief waved Moore and myself to seats on the bed and sat himself
down somewhat cautiously in the only chair, which groaned under
his bulk. He was still smiling, but his eyes were keen and cold, and I
realized that the smile was purely automatic. He leaned forward in
the groaning chair and made his points, as he talked, by tapping the
forefinger of one hand in the palm of the other.
“Now, Mister Clayton,” he said, “Moore here suggested that you
might be of use to us and I told him to bring you along, so that we
could talk it over. You see, I am being frank with you, because I
don’t suppose you imagined for a minute that this was a
philanthropic proposition, eh?”
“No,” I told him bluntly, “neither on your side nor on mine.”
He laughed. “Well, we’ll call it a mutual benefit association.
Anyhow, I know something about your search for the last two
months and about you yourself, and your record in the war. Of
course our men have had Miss Clayton on their minds. But that’s not
entirely because of the dust you kicked up. There’s a bigger reason,
too.”
“Bigger because it’s pretty nearly national,” Moore interjected
softly.
The Chief nodded. “Yes, I might have put that differently. But my
work comes first, you understand.”
“How do you think I can help you and help myself at the same
time?” I asked him.
“I’m coming to that.” He broke off for a moment and glanced
about the tiny green and brown bedroom. The glaring electrics in
the central chandelier showed up every line of the grim, resourceful
face with the grizzled hair above and the firm, heavy jaw. It was a
face to inspire confidence certainly—if you happened to be on the
same side with it. Otherwise it was distinctly a face to avoid.
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