By 
 ARTHUR SOMERS ROCIIK 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 M. LEONE BRACKER 
 
 THE BOBBS-MEfffiTLL COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
 OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS
 
 COPYRIGHT 1916 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 PRESS OP 
 
 BRAUNWORTH & CO. 
 
 BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y.
 
 To the Ever-Fragrant Memory of 
 
 MY WIFE 
 
 ETHEL KIRBY ROCHE 
 Somewhere, My Own, You Wait for Me
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I Lady Gwendolyn Pouts and Smiles 1 
 II Hildreth is Perverse; And Receives a 
 
 Note . . .: 12 
 
 III Hildreth Visits an Actress; And 
 
 Reads Another Note .... 35 
 
 IV The Gray Ghost Has No Appetite; 
 
 Hildreth Eats Chop-Suey ... 48 
 V Hildreth Telephones; And Is Tele- 
 phoned ....... 69 
 
 VI The Gray Ghost Calls on Morn; Mr. 
 
 Daly, of Cincinnati .,...-., 88 
 VII Hildreth Learns of the Gray Ghost; 
 
 And Avoids Some Callers . . . 108 
 
 VIII Hildreth Meets the Gray Ghost . . 125 
 IX Jerry Tryon Goes to Headquarters; 
 
 Headquarters Goes to Him . . 144 
 
 X Loot ......... 163 
 
 XI The Gray Ghost's Handiwork . . 185 
 
 XII Jerry Tryon Makes Some Deductions 197
 
 CONTENTS Continued 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGE 
 
 XIII Tryon Traces the Gray Ghost; For a 
 Short Distance .,: .: . 
 
 XIV Jerry Tryon Calls at Horn's Apart- 
 
 ments; And Heads a Cablegram , 232 
 XV Jimmy Pelham Points Out a Weak 
 
 Spot; Tryon Touches It .. , , 251 
 XVI Jerry Tryon Talks with a Restaura- 
 teur ; And a Hotel Clerk ; And Pel- 
 ham Listens ,, , : , : 272 
 XVII Horn Thinks Over a Proposition; But 
 
 Does Not Have to Answer It , 287. 
 XVin Horn TeUs Her Story; And HildretH 
 
 Does the Best , 304
 
 LOOT 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 LADY GWENDOLYN POUTS AND SMILES 
 
 "THE necklace will be finished next week 
 Gwen. Arabin cabled me to-day." 
 
 Lady Gwendolyn Brathwaite, only daugh- 
 ter of the Marquis of Mori ton, permitted 
 herself to become impulsive. Under pre- 
 tense of patting the cloth into place she al- 
 lowed her slim fingers to rest a moment on 
 the wrist of the speaker. Also, she flashed 
 him a brilliant smile. 
 
 "You're a dear, Brenner ! And when will 
 it get here the week after?" 
 
 Brenner Carlow colored with pleasure at 
 the touch and the smile. There were times 
 rare, of course, but they did happen 
 when he wondered if any one that really 
 
 1 

 
 2 LOOT 
 
 loved could be so cold, so aloof, so unemo- 
 tional as Lady Gwendolyn. Her tendernesses, 
 whether of eye, voice or hand, seemed re- 
 served for her father, her dogs, her horses. 
 The multi-millionaire American she was to 
 marry received mighty few of them. 
 
 Still, she was going to marry him. That 
 was something. From the heights of 
 the station to which she had been born 
 the Lady Gwendolyn had stooped to lift him 
 to her side. That she was also lifting to her 
 side some scores of millions of good Amer- 
 ican dollars was beside the question. What 
 was money as compared with caste ? 
 
 And the caste of the Brathwaites was, 
 royalty alone excepted, the highest in Eng- 
 land. Lady Gwendolyn was the daughter of 
 the eighteenth Marquis of Moriton. Her 
 husband would, of right, enter the hitherto 
 most impregnable strongholds of British so- 
 ciety. And it was at this prospect that the 
 mean little heart of Brenner Carlow, 
 glowed. 
 
 Mean that is from the standpoint of
 
 LOOT 3 
 
 snobbishness. As far as money was con- 
 cerned, Carlow was open-handed enough. 
 Proof a plenty of that was given in his refer- 
 ence to the necklace, concerning which 
 Arabin's, one of the most fashionable 
 jewelry concerns in America, had cabled him 
 to-day. Two million dollars is more than a 
 trifle, even to a man who possesses fifty-odd 
 millions. Yet that was the price of the 
 bauble which was to adorn the throat of 
 Lady Gwendolyn Carlow. 
 
 Lady Gwendolyn Carlow! That name 
 meant a great deal. It would be a great 
 match. Unfortunately the last half dozen 
 [Marquises of Moriton had been extravagant. 
 [Beyond the entailed properties, with rent 
 rolls that were pitiful in comparison with 
 the income of even a moderately successful 
 tradesman, the present wearer of the title 
 possessed nothing save the suave manners 
 and fearlessness of debt for which his an- 
 cestors had been famous. The millions of 
 Brenner Carlow were more than welcome. 
 Some of them might possibly be diverted to
 
 g LOOT 
 
 the heir presumptive, Lord Moriton's 
 nephew. At any rate, Carlow had agreed to 
 settle enough on Lady Gwen to enable her 
 to help out her dear old father. Society was 
 a unit in declaring that the match was emi- 
 nently suitable, all things considered. Of 
 course Gwen was a beautiful girl, and it was 
 too bad that some one of her own rank had 
 not the money to compete with Carlow. But 
 one can't expect everything in this world. 
 Gwen could have done worse. 
 
 Carlow and Lady Gwendolyn were lunch- 
 ing at a restaurant, accompanied onl^ by 
 Lady Agatha Brathwaite, aunt of Gcwen. It 
 was the first time in six months that Ccwen 
 had appeared in public with Carlow, The 
 death of her mother, a week after the an- 
 nouncement of the engagement, had made 
 her cancel all social engagements. To-day 
 was her first emerging from the semi-obscur- 
 ity demanded by mourning. And Carlow, 
 elated at being seen with her, at being recog- 
 nized by the fashionable throng^ was in no 
 mood to deny her any request.
 
 LOOT 5 
 
 "The week after?" he echoed. "Why, I'd 
 thought of running across in a couple of 
 months to wind up some affairs and of bring- 
 ing it back then. We aren't to be married 
 for six months yet, you know, Gwen. You 
 could hardly wear it before we are married." 
 
 "But I can see it, can't I?" demanded 
 Gwen. "Why can't you send for it? If you 
 love me," and she lowered her voice, "you'd 
 do that." 
 
 "Why why, I suppose I could. I im- 
 agine it would be just as safe over here as in 
 Arabin's vaults." 
 
 "After we're married," said Gwendolyn 
 softly Lady Agatha was extremely busy 
 with her luncheon "it won't be in vaults all 
 the time." 
 
 "Why, of course it would be safe enough," 
 said Carlow. 
 
 "then cable Arabin to send it over at 
 once," demanded Gwen. 
 
 "I'd like to see it myself before I closed 
 with them," he objected half-heartedly. 
 
 "Aren't they reliable?"
 
 6 LOOT 
 
 "Oh, my, yes I If Arabin's say they've 
 complied with my specifications, why, 
 they've done it that's all. Still, two mil- 
 lion, Owen!" 
 
 "Four hundred thousand pounds!" 
 Gwendolyn's face flushed faintly. Then she 
 pouted. "And can't you go now?" Then, 
 as his eyes darkened, she leaned impul- 
 sively across the table. "Isn't there some 
 one you know who knows diamonds? That 
 you could trust to examine the necklace 
 see if it's up to specifications and every- 
 thing ? That would make it so much quicker. 
 Of course I don't want you running over to 
 New York until you have to." 
 
 "Eight in the middle of my coaching sea- 
 son, too," he said. Then, as he read the 
 disappointment in her eyes: "There's my, 
 London counsel, you know. One of them's 
 going across for me to-morrow. Matter of a 
 stockholders' meeting. Some outsiders try- 
 ing to get control. My friends have begged 
 me to have some one there if I couldn't come 
 myself. Of course I could have had
 
 LOOT 7 
 
 American attorneys attend to it, but there 
 might have been some slip. And it would 
 have got out somehow. Sort of surprise. 
 My man from here walks in and surprises 
 the outsiders with my proxies. They don't 
 expect him better that way. Now he if 
 he knew anything about jewels " 
 
 " Brenner! You dear! And he'd be 
 back " 
 
 "Oh, in a fortnight," said Carlow. 
 
 "And he sails to-morrow? Brenner, you 
 must see him at once." 
 
 "And if I do?" 
 
 "I'm going to be at home this evening. No 
 other callers." 
 
 "It's very unusual, Mr. Carlow," said Mr. 
 Moggrage, senior member of the firm of 
 Moggrage, Jones, Eoberts & Crossgrove, so- 
 licitors, The Middle Temple. 
 
 "But you've just said the beggar knows 
 j ewels, haven 't you ? ' ' inquired Carlow. ' ' He 
 has only to compare the necklace with this 
 drawing. And, as I've said, we can trust
 
 8 LOOT 
 
 Arabin's to have made it only of the most 
 perfectly matched and graduated stones. 
 It 's the design. I 'm very fussy about that. ' ' 
 
 "It's a heavy responsibility, Mr. Carlo w. 
 Four hundred thousand pounds! Suppose 
 he's robbed ?" 
 
 "Impossible!" ejaculated Carlow. "Ara- 
 bin's will give him an escort to the boat. 
 Once aboard, it will be locked in the purser's 
 safe. When the vessel reaches this side we '11 
 have an escort meet him. All he has to do 
 is to examine the design and setting. If it's 
 satisfactory he turns over my check to Ara- 
 bin 's. That 's all there is to it. ' ' 
 
 "I'll call Mr. Hildreth in," said Mog- 
 grage. 
 
 He did so ; and a moment later, after in- 
 troductions had been effected, the senior 
 broached the matter to the younger man. 
 
 "Why, I don't see why I shouldn't," said 
 Hildreth. He smiled at Carlow a frank 
 ingenuous smile that was attractive. "But, 
 as I understand this proxy matter, Mr. Car- 
 low, no one not even your friends knows
 
 LOOT 9 
 
 just what to expect. You have assured your 
 friends you would aid them, but have left 
 them in the dark as to how. Isn't that it?" 
 
 "Yes," said Carlow. "I have promised 
 them that my stock should be voted with 
 theirs. Perhaps they think one of my Amer- 
 ican attorneys will vote it ; but the instruc- 
 tions which I have given Mr. Moggrage, and 
 which doubtless he has given you, will come 
 as a surprise." 
 
 Hildreth nodded. 
 
 "Of course, Mr. Carlow. Your American 
 attorneys would naturally tell your friends 
 just where they stood. Jf it became known 
 that your American attorneys possessed 
 your proxies, and refused to tell just how 
 long they'd vote a certain way, your friends 
 would suspect something and combine 
 against you." 
 
 "All these details you've mastered or 
 Moggrage wouldn't be sending you," said 
 Carlow. "About the necklace: Will you at- 
 tend to that ? I '11 cable Arabin 's to-day that 
 you are coming."
 
 10 LOOT 
 
 "That's exactly it," said Hildreth. 
 "Even though I hold credentials from you, 
 and your check, Arabin's will naturally be a 
 little averse to handing over two million dol- 
 lars in diamonds the check might be a 
 forgery and I might be a rascal, you know." 
 
 "But if I cable them in my code, which 
 only they and my attorneys know 1" 
 
 "And then won't it get out to the railroad 
 people that you're sending a man over? 
 Won't they suspect that I'm coming on the 
 railroad matter, too? Won't they, unable 
 to get any definite promises from me, com- 
 bine against me in some way?" 
 
 Carlow laughed. 
 
 "You needn't be alarmed, Hildreth. It's 
 a very simple matter to tell Arabin's to keep 
 your coming secret, isn't it? I doubt that 
 you would be suspected; but well, Arabin's 
 won't leak. . . . And you'll do it?" 
 
 "Why, of course," said Hildreth. 
 
 A little later Carlow departed; but he left 
 behind him a check for two million dollars, 
 payable to Arabia's, credentials for HU-
 
 LOOT 11 
 
 dreth to present to Arabin, the original de- 
 sign of the necklace, to be studied on ship- 
 board by Hildreth, and an atmosphere of 
 gratitude. 
 
 "I'm sorry," said Moggrage; "but I 
 didn't like to suggest to him that he should 
 send some one else. He's a valuable client. 
 But it robs you of the tour you'd planned. 
 It's a shame to have to hurry back a day or 
 two after you land. I'd hoped you'd have a 
 real vacation. It was promised you. And it 
 isn't a solicitor's business acting as re- 
 triever for necklaces." 
 
 "But Mr. Carlow is our richest client," 
 smiled Hildreth. "No doubt I shall be jolly 
 glad to turn right round and come hpme. 
 America is all very well, I suppose; but it 
 isn't England." 
 
 "Crude place, I've always understood," 
 said Mr. Moggrage. "As you say, you'll 
 doubtless be glad to return after all. . . . 
 Still four hundred thousand pounds' 
 worth of diamonds I shall be uneasy, 
 my boy."
 
 'CHAPTER II 
 
 HILDRETH IS PERVERSE ; AND BECEIVES A NOTE 
 
 [WADE HILDRETH was by no means an ig- 
 norant or narrow young man. A public- 
 school product and an Oxford man, the death 
 of his father had given him opportunity to 
 give up the jewelry business, which he did 
 not like, and to prepare himself for the bar, 
 to which he felt he was genuinely called. His 
 father had long been a client of Moggrage, 
 Jones, Roberts & Crossgrove, and with that 
 firm he had been reading law for several 
 years and was now on the verge of a part- 
 nership. Inheritor of a comfortable for- 
 tune, he could easily have lived on his in- 
 come had he chosen to do so s Instead, he 
 slaved like the veriest clerk. He had only 
 two hobbies a passion for collecting odd 
 designs for jewelry inherited no doubt 
 
 12
 
 LOOT 13 
 
 and for playing tennis ; and but one idiosyn- 
 crasy a hatred of lifts, or elevators, which 
 was almost a horror, and for which he could 
 only account by the fact that his mother had 
 been seriously injured in one a long time 
 before. 
 
 He had done the usual Continental travel- 
 ing of young men of means. He had read 
 rather widely. Yet, when from the deck of 
 his steamer he first glimpsed Manhattan's 
 wonderful sky-line, it came to him, as it does 
 to most foreigners, that, whatever had been 
 his previous conceptions of America, he 
 must prepare to revise them. 
 
 Leaning on the rail, drinking in that 
 jagged profile, Hildreth felt a dismayed sen- 
 sation. To think that he must turn round 
 and leave this new country before he had 
 done more than pass through the gates ! Oh, 
 well; he could see something of New York 
 anyway, even though a glimpse of the rest 
 of the country was denied him. He had to- 
 night, Tuesday, and what of Wednesday he 
 should not spend at the stockholders' meet-
 
 14 LOOT 
 
 ing. He read again the wireless message he 
 had received earlier in the day : 
 
 "WADE HILDRETH, S. S. Lucantia: If un- 
 able to meet you at dock will call at Hotel 
 Battenberg to-night. Boom engaged there 
 for you. (Signed) JAMES F. AEABLN"." 
 
 "Devilish kind of him," said Hildreth. 
 "Still, he ought to be polite to a man who 
 has it in his power to reject a two-million- 
 dollar necklace. I suppose, though, Carlow 
 asked him to be civil. Oh, well ; it saves me 
 trouble. I don't have to bother about my 
 accommodations. So much more time to see 
 the town." 
 
 He took a last look at the enthralling, 
 staggering, amazing city that lay before him. 
 Then he went below to look after his bags. 
 A. little later, attended by a well-tipped stew- 
 ard, he was on deck again. Later he was on 
 the dock, standing with the others whose last 
 names began with the letter H, waiting for 
 the customs officials to get through with him.
 
 LOOT 13 
 
 He was free at last and a porter carried 
 his bags he had no steamer trunk, not hav- 
 ing thought it necessary for a short stay 
 to where a row of taxis stood. Arabin, then, 
 had been unable to meet him. There was no 
 question of Arabin 's having been unable to 
 identify him. He had stood with the other, 
 H's long enough for the jeweler to have 
 found him. And he did not linger, for the 
 reason that he was anxious to enter the city 
 as soon as possible. 
 
 He did not notice that a gentlemanly ap- 
 pearing young man had kept him under ob- 
 servation from the moment he had entered 
 the huge customs shed. He did not notice 
 that this person followed him from the shed 
 to the row of taxis ; that he signaled a chauf- 
 feur, who promptly approached him. He 
 did not notice that his porter rebuffed sev- 
 eral other chauffeurs and followed the man 
 who had been signaled, and that the gentle- 
 man who had done the signaling, smiling 
 relievedly, immediately climbed into a limou- 
 sine, which shot down a side street.
 
 16 LOOT 
 
 Observing none of these things if he had 
 he might have thought that the well-dressed 
 man was merely a tout for some hotel assur- 
 ing himself that the disembarked passenger 
 would patronize the one he represented ; in- 
 deed, the porter who had been bribed to 
 deliver the bags to a certain chauffeur had 
 some such idea Hildreth tipped his porter, 
 gave the name of the hotel mentioned in 
 Arabin's wireless and started to step into 
 the taxi. He drew back suddenly. 
 
 "I say," he said to the chauffeur, "the 
 Battenberg is in which direction from 
 here?" 
 
 "North," and the chauffeur pointed. 
 
 "It's not easy to get lost in this town, is 
 it? IVe understood that the streets all mn 
 north and south, and east and west." 
 
 "Well, they do mostly, except way down- 
 town," said the chauffeur. "From here up- 
 town they all run that way." 
 
 "Then I'll walk," said Hildreth decid- 
 edly. "I want to see your charming city.
 
 LOOT 17 
 
 Take my bags to the Battenberg and what 
 will the charge be?" 
 
 The chauffeur colored. 
 
 "Say, you might get lost at that. You'd 
 better let me take you to your hotel first." 
 
 "Thank you ; but I rather think I can look 
 after myself," smiled Hildreth. "A dol- 
 lar and a half? Six and three-pence, eh? 
 Jove, but things are steep here now, aren't 
 they ? Here you are, my man, with a shilling 
 a quarter for yourself. And what 's your 
 number ? Seven-nought-three-four. No 
 harm done, my man. You needn't be angry. 
 You don't know me and I don't know you, 
 and I'm trusting my bags to you. I say, if 
 you don't care to take the bags up there I 
 don't doubt but that I can find somebody 
 who will. What do you say?" 
 
 "Why why that's all right, sir. Of 
 course I'll take them up. But you'd better 
 ride, sir." 
 
 He said this last so anxiously that the 
 [Englishman stared.
 
 18 LOOT 
 
 "Oh, I say now, I'm not an infant. I'll 
 come to no harm. Mind the Battenberg." 
 A rather amazing thing to do; but Hil- 
 dreth had been born and bred in London, 
 where a cabby would think twice oh, two 
 hundred times before he would run off 
 with a gentleman's baggage. Having pro- 
 cured the man's number, Hildreth imagined 
 that he had been the very essence of precau- 
 tion. He did not bother to cast a glance be- 
 hind him as, delighted with the thought of 
 really stretching his legs after the confine- 
 ment on shipboard, as ready to absorb im- 
 pressions as a child at a circus, he dashed 
 across Wall Street and plunged into the 
 city. 
 
 If he had looked behind him he would 
 have been amazed at the expression on the 
 chauffeur 's face. If he had been able to hear 
 the man's words he would have been still 
 further amazed; for in a very ecstasy of 
 passion the man made as though to throw 
 away the money Hildreth had given him. 
 He caught himself, however, as though
 
 LOOT 19 
 
 afraid his action would be noticed; but he 
 could not control the pallor, the extreme pal- 
 lor, of his face, and his lips trembled as he 
 whispered : 
 
 "[What '11 he say? [What'll he say?" 
 
 It took him, so nervous was he, nearly two 
 minutes to crank his car. And Hildreth did 
 not look backward as he proceeded along the 
 cross-town street. 
 
 Nothing he had seen in Europe was like 
 New York, Hildreth decided. He had made 
 his way to Broadway, thence down-town to 
 the skyscraper district, and from there up- 
 town to Madison Square and along Fifth 
 Avenue to Central Park". A. long walk, and 
 It had taken three hours ; but, like the aver- 
 age Englishman, Hildreth was a great pedea- 
 Irian. 
 
 The more he walked, the more his precon- 
 ceived notions, which had begun to fall from 
 him when first he glimpsed the city from the 
 Lucantia's deck, left him, to be replaced by; 
 wonderment and regret. The Italian colony 
 he had passed through on his way from West
 
 2Q LOOT 
 
 Street to Broadway, the amazing buildings 
 down-town, the mammoth hotels up-town, 
 the throngs afoot, in carriage, in auto, of the 
 Avenue all these were but the prelude, he 
 felt bitterly, to a greater show that he was 
 not to see. And New York itself New 
 York was but a prelude itself. 
 
 He stood a moment on the corner of Fifty- 
 ninth Street, staring across the busy plaza, 
 flanked by great hostelries and the green of 
 the Park. His watch told him it was almost 
 six o'clock time for him to make his way 
 to his hotel to await the arrival of Arabin. 
 
 A policeman directed him how to get to the 
 Battenberg. It was not far and he reached 
 it in ten minutes. 
 
 "Ah, yes; Mr. Hildreth," said a clerk as 
 he registered. "Your things have arrived 
 and are already in the room engaged for you 
 by Mr. Arabin." He summoned a bell boy. 
 "Show Mr. Hildreth to six-forty-one." 
 
 "This way, sir," said the boy. 
 
 He led th way; to an elevator and stood
 
 LOOT 21 
 
 aside for the Englishman to enter. Hildreth 
 hesitated. 
 
 ".What floor is my; room on?" he de- 
 manded of the boy. 
 
 "Six-forty-one, sir sixth floor.'' 
 
 One moment Hildreth hesitated. There is 
 a shamefaced pride that bids us do the thing 
 we do not wish to do lest people think ill of 
 us. There is a greater pride that bids us do 
 as we wish, regardless of wagging tongues or 
 contemptuous thoughts. If it were necessary, 
 for Hildreth to ride in an elevator if a 
 matter of importance depended on such rid- 
 inghe would do so; but where it was not 
 necessary he would refuse, regardless of 
 sneers. As great heights torture some per- 
 sons, so a ride in an elevator tortured Hil- 
 dreth. It was his one idiosyncrasy, as has 
 been told ; and, being perfectly normal in all 
 other ways, he felt no great shame in indulg- 
 ing himself in this one matter. 
 
 "Come back to the desk," he said. 
 
 He spoke to the clerk.
 
 22 LOOT 
 
 "I say. I don't care about being situated 
 on the sixth floor. Too many; flights of 
 stairs." 
 
 " Plenty of elevators," suggested the 
 clerk, with a lift of the eyebrows. 
 
 "And I don't use 'em," said Hildreth 
 shortly. "I walk. Have you a room on the 
 second floor?" 
 
 Hotel clerks are used to idiosyncrasies; 
 this one, beyond the lifted eyebrows, gave no 
 further sign that Hildreth 's dislike for ele- 
 yators was at all remarkable. 
 
 "Certainly, Mr. Hildreth," he said. "Boy, 
 show Mr. Hildreth to two hundred and four. 
 I'll have a porter transfer your things im- 
 mediately, Mr. Hildreth." 
 
 And a few moments later it was done. Hil- 
 idreth dismissed the porter and turned on the 
 water in his bath. Half an hour later he was 
 dressed for the evening. Undoubtedly Ara- 
 bin would offer him some form of entertain- 
 ment to-night and he wished to be properly, 
 attired for it; but shortly after seven the 
 pangs of hunger assailed him. His long
 
 LOOT 23 
 
 walk had given a fillip to an appetite tliat 
 was always healthy. He decided to wait no 
 longer on the off chance that Arabin would 
 wish him to dine with him. He transferred 
 the design Carlow had given him from the 
 business suit he had worn to his evening 
 clothes. He could not forbear glancing ap- 
 preciatively at the drawing as he did so. 
 
 A wonderfully beautiful and original de- 
 sign! He would not have thought Carlow 
 possessed such taste. But then, he guessed 
 and rightly, too Carlow had probably 
 had some able artist design it for him. 
 
 Of course there was no chance of his see- 
 ing the necklace to-night. That would not 
 come until to-morrow, anyway. Indeed, he 
 would have postponed seeing it until Thurs- 
 'day just before sailing time, had it been the 
 right thing to do. He begrudged every mo- 
 ment taken from sight-seeing ; but, of course, 
 lie should have to examine the thing to-mor- 
 row and see whether any minor alterations 
 were necessary to make it conform exactly 
 to the design. He could not trust himself to
 
 24 LOOT 
 
 give a proper decision on the very day lie 
 sailed, rushed as he would be then. 
 
 But, though he knew he could not see the 
 jewels to-night, he carried the design in his 
 pocket. It was such a beautiful thing, so 
 wonderfully conceived, that he liked to have 
 it with him. 
 
 The Battenberg is not the gayest of New 
 York's hotels, nor is it the dullest. It aims 
 at the happy medium between the two. The 
 dining-room was thronged with well- 
 groomed men and women, and among the 
 latter were a few faces that made Hildreth 
 smile with impersonal appreciation. He was 
 rather glad he was able to dine alone; it 
 gave him opportunity to observe, to drink in 
 the atmosphere of the place. 
 
 A perfect dinner, served well, was finished 
 at last. He lighted a cigar and strolled out 
 into the lobby. There he sat down to await 
 the arrival of Arabin. He hoped Arabin 
 was a young man and that he would propose 
 seeing or doing something worth while. The 
 electric atmosphere of Manhattan did not
 
 LOOT 25 
 
 incline Hildreth to a quiet chatty evening. 
 He wanted to see things, to do things. And 
 he hoped Arabin would hurry up and not 
 make him waste a perfectly good evening. 
 He had finished his cigar and was just be- 
 coming impatient when a bell boy called his 
 name. 
 
 " You 're wanted at the telephone, 'Mr. 
 Hildreth." 
 
 He led Hildreth to a booth. 
 
 "This Mr. Hildreth?" asked a cordial 
 voice. "This is Arabin. Awfully sorry not 
 to have been able to meet you at the dock or 
 get down to the hotel before this, Mr. Hil- 
 dreth ; but a very important business matter, 
 which couldn't be postponed, has delayed 
 me." 
 
 "That's all right," said Hildreth. "Don't 
 let me interfere with you in any way. [Very 
 good of you to think of me at all." 
 
 He hoped Arabin would continue and tell 
 him that he could not see him to-night. He 
 wanted to wander out into the city. But he 
 was doomed to disappointment.
 
 26 LOOT 
 
 "I'd planned on having you go to the the- 
 ater with me The Sunlight Girl. Bully 
 show ! And a little supper party afterward. 
 But I find I can't get away for an hour or 
 so. Suppose you run over to the theater and 
 I'll join you later. It's the Yandergelt. I 
 called up this afternoon and had them re- 
 serve seats. I've just phoned the box office 
 and had them put one of the seats in your 
 name. If you'll go over there now you'll not 
 miss any of the show and I'll join you as 
 soon as possible." 
 
 There was nothing for Hildreth to do but 
 accept. He would have preferred to walk 
 about the city, but Arabin had been ex- 
 tremely decent, looking up a hotel for him, 
 and all that. It would be positively churlish 
 to refuse. And, after all, one learned more 
 about a country by talking with its inhabi- 
 tants than by merely looking at them. The 
 supper party would be most delightful, as he 
 hardly imagined that Arabin meant that only 
 they two should compose it.
 
 LOOT 27 
 
 So, with a pleasant word of thanks, lie 
 hung up the receiver. From the clerk he 
 inquired the location of the Yandergelt The- 
 ater, and learned that he had only to walk 
 west to Broadway, a street that he was told 
 he could not mistake, and then a few blocks 
 to the south. 
 
 He went to his room, got his hat, stick and 
 coat, and a few minutes later had turned 
 into Broadway. He was reluctant to leave 
 it and enter the theater, but he did so ; and 
 the box-office clerk promptly handed him a 
 ticket on mention of his name. 
 
 The overture was being played as he 
 reached his seat, the second from the aisle, 
 well down front in the center. In a moment 
 the curtain rose. It was the usual thing, 
 Hildreth guessed, the sort of thing that runs 
 a year if it runs at all tuneful music, clever 
 dancing, and quantities of girls of various 
 grades of pulchritude. He was young 
 enough not to have entirely outgrown this 
 sort of thing. He leaned back in his seat, his
 
 28 LOOT 
 
 coat and hat resting on the vacant seat that 
 jirabin would claim later, prepared to enjoy; 
 himself. 
 
 Twenty minutes passed twenty minutes 
 of antics on the part of the comedians, of 
 dancing, of singing by lesser principals. 
 Then there came the attitude of expectance 
 on the part of the audience that heralded the 
 entrance of the star. Hildreth had seen her 
 name in the electric lights outside the the- 
 ater and had been struck with its oddity, 
 thinking it, of course, an assumed name. 
 Morn Light did not sound like a real name. 
 He supposed, of course, she was extremely 
 blonde. So the fact that she was a brunette 
 surprised him. 
 
 And such a brunette! Hair as black as 
 night, yet with a brilliance that reflected the 
 footlights. Eyes that were large, limpid, 
 soft, yet glowing with a light of merriment, 
 as though she enjoyed her work. Supple, 
 slim, graceful as only expert dancers can be, 
 graceful without the underlying effect of 
 muscular effort, she whirled on to the stage,
 
 LOOT 29 
 
 and dropped into a graceful curtsy before 
 the comedian, supposed to be a reigning 
 monarch of some mythical land, come to visit 
 the star's country. She rose, retreated 
 slightly and began a silly song Welcome to 
 Our City that yet had in it opportunity for 
 the display of a sweet, charming, though not 
 extremely powerful voice. 
 
 Hildreth leaned forward now. He was not 
 the type to lose his heart to a vision across 
 the footlights. He knew that such a vision's 
 charms often lose their glamour in the 
 searching sun of noonday. But this girl 
 she was different somehow. There was blood 
 in her good blood. That was evident in 
 every move of her lithe body, every note of 
 her pure voice. A lady, without doubt. And 
 So lovely ! He drew in his breath gaspingly, 
 as scores of other impressionable young men 
 were doing at sight of her. Yet Hildreth dif- 
 fered from these in that he was not impres- 
 sionable at least, never before to-night. 
 
 Somehow it seemed that she was singing 
 the song to him ; that she was welcoming him
 
 30 LOUT 
 
 to the city. He wished that it was so. For 
 the hundredth time, and more bitterly than 
 heretofore, he cursed the commission of the 
 necklace, which had robbed him of his vaca- 
 tion. Had he time, it might not be impossi- 
 ble for him to obtain an introduction to Miss 
 Morn Light. Morn Light ! The name pos- 
 sessed a quaint charm, more fascinating by 
 reason of the midnight coloring of the girl's 
 eyes and hair. Suddenly he hoped that it 
 was her real name. And then he felt him- 
 self blushing to the very roots of his hair; 
 for it seemed to him that the star was look- 
 ing right at him, singing directly to him. He 
 tried to meet her eyes. He was only twenty 
 feet or so away from her as she came close to 
 the footlights. Did she really see him ? Was 
 she really looking at him ? There was noth- 
 ing cheap, nothing flirtatious in her look ; it 
 was rather as though she recognized him. 
 Absurd, of course, but so it seemed. 
 
 Then he felt a chill of alarm. Her eyes 
 had turned from him a moment ; and as they 
 came back, as though fascinated, they seemed
 
 LOOT 31 
 
 frightened, seemed to hold horror in them. 
 In the middle of the chorus of her song her 
 voice faltered ; the easy, graceful dance step 
 slackened. Her ankle turned under her 
 and she collapsed on the stage. Yet, even 
 as she fell, it seemed to Hildreth that her 
 eyes flashed him some message. Absurd, 
 but it seemed so. 
 
 There was a gasp that became one of relief 
 from the audience as Morn Light sat up; 
 that became one of pity as she seized her 
 ankle in one hand as she sat there. The 
 pantomime was sufficient. The orchestra 
 ceased playing. The comedian rushed to 
 her side and lifted her to her feet. He sup- 
 ported her to the wings. Other hands 
 reached for her there and the comedian 
 turned back on the stage. He continued 
 with the play, plainly improvising to cover 
 the star's absence, and a round of handclap- 
 ping greeted his efforts to carry off the con-* 
 tretemps. 
 
 Then, as the curtain went down, a man in 
 evening dress, plainly the manager, stepped
 
 32 LOOT, 
 
 before it. He made a short announcement 
 to the effect that Miss Light had twisted her 
 ankle slightly, but would appear in the next 
 act. She would do no dancing, however, 
 and he craved the audience's indulgence. 
 Applause greeted him and he retired. Hil- 
 dreth's impotent excitement died. She was 
 not seriously hurt ; she would come on in the 
 next act; he should see her again. 
 
 The man next him rose and, with an apol- 
 ogy, passed by him. Other men were leav- 
 ing the orchestra for cigar or drink. Hil- 
 dreth felt that a smoke would soothe his 
 restlessness. He, too, rose and stepped into 
 the aisle. As he did so an usher spoke to 
 him. 
 
 ' ' Mr. Hildreth, sir ? ' ' His voice was very 
 low and, had he not mentioned Hildreth 's 
 name, the Englishman would not have real- 
 ized that he was being addressed. The usher 
 was staring straight ahead. 
 
 "Yes," said Hildreth. 
 
 "Program, sir? You haven't one, have 
 , sir? Here, sir. There's a note inside
 
 LOOT 33 
 
 it, sir. Please don't read it here, sir. Read 
 it in the smoking-room. Please, sir!" 
 
 And the usher passed swiftly down the 
 aisle, offering programs to those who did not 
 have them already. 
 
 Hildreth was a bit more quick-witted, 
 perhaps, than the majority of his country- 
 men. His first idea, of course, was that 
 Arabin had written him some excuse for not 
 joining him; but the usher had begged him 
 not to read it here and had concealed the 
 note inside the program. And the youth 
 had seemed in most desperate, sober earnest. 
 Hildreth, hat in hand, passed up the aisle. 
 He went directly to the smoking-room. 
 There, shielded from observation by the pro- 
 gram, behind which he carefully kept the 
 note, he tore the envelope open and read the 
 enclosure : 
 
 "Come at once to my dressing-room. 
 Stage entrance. Doorkeeper will admit you. 
 At once, please!"
 
 34 LOOT 
 
 And it was signed by the girl he had just 
 seen on the stage for the first time, whose 
 eyes he thought had flashed him some sort 
 of message Morn Light !
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 HILDKETH VISITS AN ACTRESS; AND EEADS 
 ANOTHER NOTE 
 
 AMAZED, Hildreth reread the note. It 
 bore no salutation, but the envelope in which 
 it had been enclosed was addressed: "Mr. 
 [Wade Hildreth, third row, second seat left 
 of center aisle." 
 
 Undoubtedly the note was meant for him, 
 but how did the girl know his name I How 
 had she recognized him ? He had not been 
 mistaken in his belief that her eyes had held 
 recognition, he was now certain. And why; 
 did she want him to come to her dressing- 
 room ? [Why had the usher been so anxioua 
 that no one should observe Hildreth read- 
 ing the note ? 
 
 Plashed through his mind a dozen possi- 
 bilities. Had either the outsiders or the in- 
 
 35
 
 36 LOOT 
 
 siders in the railroad struggle, at which he 
 was to represent Carlow, learned of his 
 presence in New York ? Did they plan some 
 surprise for him ? But that was absurd ! 
 
 Hildreth was not naturally a suspicious 
 person ; yet even the most unsuspecting per- 
 son, having as weighty commissions to exe- 
 cute as did he, would be apt to consider any 
 move before making it. Stage entrances are 
 not exactly the proper thing for men en- 
 gaged on weighty businesses. 
 
 But the note, if anything, was an appeal. 
 And what possible harm could come to him 
 from a walk round to the stage entrance of 
 the Yandergelt? Suddenly he laughed. 
 Arabin had spoken of a supper party. Per- 
 haps he had meant a supper party with Miss 
 Light as one of the guests I A very wealthy 
 jeweler, with entree to all sorts of society, 
 might very well have a large stage acquaint- 
 ance that included the charming Morn 
 Light. 
 
 If that was the case But was it ? 
 
 [Why did Miss Light want him to come now,
 
 LOOT 37 
 
 instead of later ? [Why did she not mention 
 
 Arabin's party? [Why; He looked again 
 
 at the note. .The handwriting made him 
 think of the look of alarm in her eyes, the 
 horror almost that he had seen in them ; for 
 the writing had been put into the envelope 
 without blotting and was slightly blurred. 
 Evidently Miss Light had been in a hurry. 
 Moreover, the writing itself strong, char- 
 acterful was proof in itself that it had 
 been hastily written. [Why the great haste 
 if Arabin's party was the only motive for 
 the writing of the note ? 
 
 He laughed again, this time somewhat 
 self -contemptuously. A little while before 
 he had really been quite wrought up because 
 he did not possess the inestimable privilege 
 of an acquaintance with Morn Light, had 
 found it necessary to restrain his inclination 
 to go at once to her assistance. And now, 
 when the loveliest girl he had ever seen, who 
 radiated a personal charm and magnetism 
 more compelling than any he had ever 
 hitherto experienced, wrote Tn'm. a note, ask-
 
 38 LOOT 
 
 ing him to come to her dressing-room, he! 
 hesitated ! 
 
 He suddenly blushed. How dare he offer 
 the star of The Sunlight Girl the insult of a 
 suspicious, hesitant thought? He carefully, 
 folded the note and placed it in the pocket 
 of his dress coat. Impulse ruled him now. 
 He was out in the entrance of the theater, 
 holding his return check in his hand, before 
 he quite realized that he was not wearing his 
 overcoat. 
 
 But dozens of other men in evening dress 
 were venturing into the cafes near the 
 theater and these had not worn overcoats. 
 The night was warm and starry. He asked 
 a uniformed attache of the theater where 
 the stage entrance was. The attache grinned 
 wisely and directed him. Hildreth had 
 visited stage doors before. A cousin, fairly 
 well known on the musical-comedy stage in 
 England, had on several occasions bade him 
 call for her. So he knew enough to waste 
 no time in parley with the door-tender. He 
 pressed a bill into that guardian's hand.
 
 LOOT 39 
 
 Up a narrow iron stairway Hildreth pro- 
 ceeded. On the first landing was room num- 
 ber one. Trembling, exulting, all mystery; 
 forgotten save that he was to see Morn 
 Light, to talk with her, he knocked on the 
 door. 
 
 It opened a few inches and a brown head, 
 feminine, protruded. A pair of light eyes 
 scrutinized. 
 
 "What do you want? Miss Light Is 
 resting." 
 
 "Why why " stammered Hildreth. 
 
 T J> 
 
 He got no farther. Another hand than 
 the maid's pushed the door open. Morn 
 Light stood before him, and even the close 
 view of the make-up on her face could not 
 spoil the natural beauty that was hers. She 
 smiled. 
 
 "Why, hello, Ted! Come right in. Sweet 
 of you to call!" 
 
 She retreated a step and over the maid's 
 shoulder she frowned; she put a finger on 
 her lips; she shook her head. Then:
 
 40 LOOT 
 
 "I suppose you came to see how badly I 
 :was liurt. Dear of you ! Come in. And I 
 
 didn't even know you were in town I 
 
 did you come ? Are you going to take me to 
 
 supper some night while you're here?" 
 
 She rattled along to Hildreth's bewilder- 
 ment as he entered the dressing-room. Be- 
 fore he could answer she spoke to her maid. 
 
 ' ' Celia, my head bothers me. Excitement. 
 Run to the drug store and get some powders. 
 Hurry! I'm all made up and ready, and 
 you have ten minutes; but hurry!" 
 
 She turned to Hildreth. 
 
 "Sit down, Ted. Do!" she invited. 
 "Celia, please hurry. I can't sing if my 
 head aches." 
 
 "Yes, Miss Light," said the maid. She 
 stepped through the doorway, leaving it 
 open. 
 
 "Close the door, Celia!" ordered the star. 
 "A draft- - " 
 
 The maid closed the door. Morn Light 
 sank on a divan that ran along one side of
 
 
 <, 
 
 She pointed to the door and shook her head
 
 LOOT 41 
 
 the little room. Through her make-up 
 Hildreth could see little drops of perspira- 
 tion on her face. Her hands shook as she 
 pointed to a chair. But as his lips opened 
 she touched her own with her finger again. 
 Then she pointed to the door and shook her 
 head. The pantomime was clear. The maid 
 might be listening. But why? asked the 
 amazed Hildreth of himself. 
 
 "iWhy, it's perfect ages since I've seen 
 you!" chattered the actress. She picked up 
 a fountain pen from the desk by the divan 
 and reached for a sheet of paper. Bapidly 
 she began to write, and as she wrote she 
 talked. "I suppose the audience thought I 
 was badly hurt. Silly of me to slip like that. 
 But it was just a little wrench. I suppose 
 my understudy's heart leaped for joy when 
 I fell. Cat!" 
 
 She smiled as she said this. Also, she 
 handed Hildreth the paper on which she had 
 been writing. The smile left her face, and 
 again he noticed the beads of perspiration
 
 42 LOOT 
 
 that indicated the girl was undergoing a 
 strain greater by far than any wrenched 
 ankle could have caused. 
 
 He read what she had handed him: 
 
 "You're Ted Daly; don't ask questions. 
 Meet me twelve private dining-room at 
 Bishop's. Ask for Jacques. He will under- 
 stand and show you to room. Don't go back 
 to theater! Don't on any account! Say 
 something polite about my injury. You're 
 Ted Daly." 
 
 He lifted his amazed eyes to hers. She 
 was staring at him with a concentration that 
 startled him. That she was warning him of 
 something could not be doubted. That she 
 was sincere in her warning also could not be 
 doubted. Hildreth's thoughts were chaotic. 
 !What did she mean? 
 
 "Ted, give me a cigarette," she said aloud. 
 "I'm famished for one." 
 
 "Certainly," he said, finding his voice for 
 the first time, and a bit surprised at his 
 huskiness.
 
 LOOT 43 
 
 He handed her his case and she selected 
 one. 
 
 " Famished for a smoke I" she said gaily. 
 
 She pointed to the writing in his hand. 
 He gave it to her. She held it before his 
 eyes and slowly drew a delicate forefinger 
 beneath the words " Don't go back to the 
 theater!" She looked at him, a pleading 
 question in her eyes. He nodded assent and 
 relief showed in her face. Then he remem- 
 bered that his overcoat and stick remained 
 in the vacant seat which Arabin would 
 claim. He made a series of movements to 
 represent a man drawing on his coat. 
 
 "What a handsome case!" she cried. 
 "Perfect beauty. I think I'll buy one I" 
 
 To any eavesdropper her accenting of the 
 last two words might have seemed a brazen 
 hint for a present. To Hildreth, who could 
 see her face, as any eavesdropper might not, 
 it was clear that she was telling him to buy 
 an overcoat. 
 
 Bizarre, fantastic as her commands 
 seemed, he was hypnotized by her beauty
 
 '44 LOOT 
 
 and no less by her deadly earnestness. Again 
 he nodded and again relief showed from her 
 eyes, 
 
 "You haven't told me what brought you 
 to New York, Ted," she said. 
 
 As she spoke she struck a match, but she 
 did not hold it to her cigarette. Instead, 
 she held it to the paper he had returned to 
 her, which she had twisted into a spill. From 
 its last nicker of flame she lighted her cigar- 
 ette and tossed the charred, blackened rem- 
 nant of her strangely indited warning on a 
 little brass tray. 
 
 "Didn't expect to come myself," he an- 
 swered, "until quite recently." 
 
 "And you didn't have time to write me a 
 little note !" she pouted. 
 
 "I thought the surprise would please you 
 better," he answered. 
 
 She flashed him a look of commendation 
 for his playing of his part ; and, stupid and 
 heavy of wit though he felt himself to be in 
 the presence of her perfect artistry under 
 circumstances that somehow seemed fraught
 
 LOOT 45 
 
 with menace, he nevertheless glowed to 
 think that she approved his feeble attempts 
 to rise to the occasion. 
 
 "Do you think your ankle can stand the 
 strain of going on again?" he asked. 
 "Wouldn't it be better if you let your 
 understudy take your place and went out 
 to supper with me now?" 
 
 She shook her head warningly and pointed 
 to the charred remains of the writing in 
 which she had made an appointment. 
 
 "Couldn't throw the management down 
 for a slight wrench," she replied. "As for 
 the supper I'm a popular lady, Ted. All 
 appointments must be made in writing." 
 
 Again through her levity ran the under- 
 current of deadly seriousness. And once 
 again he nodded, just as the maid knocked 
 on the door. 
 
 "Come in!" called Morn Light. 
 
 The maid entered the dressing-room. 
 
 "I sent a messenger boy, Miss Light," she 
 said quickly. " He 'd just delivered a note to 
 one of the chorus, and I thought perhaps it
 
 46 LOOT! 
 
 wasn 't best for me to leave you. A wrenched 
 ankle sometimes makes people sick, even 
 when they think they're all right. You 
 might twist it moving round. He'll be right 
 along with the powders." 
 
 "That was thoughtful of you, Celia," said 
 the actress. 
 
 If she felt the slightest anger toward her 
 maid and she must distrust the woman, or 
 why this extraordinary precaution in writ- 
 ing her warning and appointment ? thought 
 Hildreth she concealed it marvelously. 
 
 "Curtain's up, Miss Light," said the 
 maid. "You'll be going on in five minutes, 
 and your hair " 
 
 "Lordy ! How one forgets work when an 
 old friend comes along!" cried Morn. 
 " You '11 call me up or drop me a line, Ted? 
 The Glen worth. Sorry not to be able to 
 liave supper with you to-night, but some 
 other time, eh ? Good boy ! Run along now, 
 and don 't forget I want to see you. By-by ! ' ' 
 
 She gave him her hand. It was hot and 
 moist, despite the coolness of her voice.
 
 LOOT 47 
 
 "I won't forget," he said. 
 
 Then, the maid taking a stand by her 
 mistress' side and her fingers beginning to 
 fumble with the lovely black tresses, he 
 hesitated no longer. He backed out of the 
 room and closed the door behind him. 
 Slowly he descended the iron stairs. In the 
 wings stood actors and actresses awaiting 
 their cues; superior stage hands also idled 
 there. None of them paid any attention to 
 Hildreth and he noticed none of them. 
 Mechanically he found his way to the pas- 
 sage that led to the street. 
 
 Appropriately he thought of his conver- 
 sation with Moggrage the day before he left 
 London. He had reassured the senior's 
 nervousness by stating that New York was 
 very tame, and Moggrage had agreed. And 
 yet within six hours or so of his landing 
 in New York he found himself in the very 
 midst of a mystery that was amazing. What 
 did it mean ? He stood on the curb of the 
 side street on which the stage entrance 
 opened, trying to guess the answer.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE GRAY GHOST HAS NO APPETITE; HILDEETH 
 EATS CHOP-SUEi; 
 
 IN THE rear of Patello's, a shabby; little 
 Italian restaurant on a street in the late 
 thirties, off: Sixth Avenue, where one might 
 find fair cooking and service, moderate 
 prices and a rather remarkable selection of 
 wines, a man sat drumming nervously on the 
 none-too-clean cloth with long fingers that, 
 beginning to taper, became suddenly spatu- 
 late at the ends. His table was next a win- 
 dow that opened on a fire escape. One might 
 nearly always find him in such a position 
 that is, close to a way of escape. 
 
 The light Italian wine in his glass was un- 
 touched ; the cigar in his mouth was unlight- 
 ed ; the little pile of sandwiches on the table 
 had not diminished since the waiter had 
 
 48
 
 LOOT 49 
 
 brought them, twenty minutes earlier. 
 From these signs, and his occasional glanc- 
 ing at his watch, it was not hard to deduce 
 that he awaited some one. And it was equal- 
 ly easy of deduction that his welcome would 
 hold the warmth of anger, not of pleasure; 
 for his gray eyes smoldered in their deep 
 sockets and his thin lips parted every now 
 and then in a smile that contained no mirth. 
 
 He was tall, slim, fashionably attired, 
 though not in evening clothes. His business 
 suit, of a dark gray material, had evidently 
 been cut by a tailor who knew his business. 
 There was nothing noisy about his raiment ; 
 he wore no jewelry ; his tie was gray ; so was 
 his cloth hat, hanging on a hook above his 
 head. So, indeed, was his hair. 
 
 Even his complexion was of a grayish 
 tinge, as though some remote illness had set 
 its stamp on his features. But it was re- 
 mote; the cords that showed in his wrists 
 were proof enough that here was a man of 
 more than normal strength. And the high 
 forehead proved that strength was guided
 
 50 LOOT 
 
 by brains, though a certain predacious ex- 
 pression about the nose and mouth would 
 have caused one to wonder about the man- 
 ner in which the brains moved the strength. 
 His age was indeterminate it might have 
 been fifty; it might have been forty. Cer- 
 tainly it was no less. 
 
 That his eyes gave a truer indication of 
 his mental state than his easily lolling po- 
 sition was proved when his cigar, clipped 
 through by the strong, nervously working 
 teeth, fell to the floor. His lips moved 
 silently and he held out his hand and kept 
 it before him, staring at it until its vibra- 
 tions had apparently ceased. Will had con- 
 quered nervousness. He put another cigar 
 in his mouth and looked toward the main 
 entrance of Patello's. Two men entered at 
 the moment and made their way directly to 
 his table. They sat down. 
 
 "Well? Got him?" demanded the man 
 in gray. 
 
 The others shook their heads. The spat-
 
 LOOT 51 
 
 ulate fingers commenced drumming on the 
 table, but immediately ceased. It was as 
 though he would not permit any; of his 
 energy to dribble away in nervous displays. 
 
 "Well, what's the excuse this time?" he 
 demanded sardonically. "You, 'Brant" 
 and he spoke to the younger of the two ar- 
 rivals, an immaculately attired youth whose 
 mouth perpetually closed firmly, as though 
 Its possessor knew of the loose weakness of 
 his lips and endeavored to hide it "you 
 said you'd get him at the dock. I left it to 
 you and you muddled it you ass!" 
 
 Despite the control of his muscles, despite 
 the control of his voice, his tones quivered 
 slightly, giving an impression of violent 
 wrath that would have been no greater had 
 he raged in fury. 
 
 The younger man, Brant, trembled; his 
 mouth drooped ; the lips fell apart and im- 
 mediately closed, with their pathetic expres- 
 sion of firmness. 
 
 "I steered him to Blaney," he defended
 
 52 LOOT 
 
 himself. "Blaney had him booked for a 
 ride in his car. How could I know that the 
 man would walk?" 
 
 "You could have waited," snapped the 
 gray man. 
 
 He turned to the other man, a short, 
 stout, prosperous-appearing individual who 
 looked as though he might be a comfortable 
 business man. 
 
 "You, Ashby, you bungled the hotel 
 matter." 
 
 The stout man shivered slightly. 
 
 How on earth could I tell that he 
 wouldn't take the room I'd picked for 
 him!" he demanded. "I'd engaged had 
 engaged six-forty-one. I was waiting with 
 Foote in six-forty-two. It would have been 
 a cinch. I had everything all ready, sponge 
 soaked everything. Intended to rush him 
 down rear elevator, pretend he was sick, 
 later telephone in his name that he was go- 
 ing to spend the night with Arabin, remain 
 with him during the rest of his stay, send 
 for his things but he refused the room. He
 
 LOOT 53 
 
 took one on the second floor a [What chance 
 was there then?" 
 
 "But you sat next him at the theater, you 
 dunderhead!" snapped the gray man. 
 "Couldn't you have kept in touch with 
 him?" 
 
 "Well, who on earth would have expected 
 that he'd disappear and leave his coat and 
 cane behind?" protested the stout man. "I 
 got up for a smoke apparently really so's 
 to be able to trail him if he went out, with- 
 out seeming to do so. It wouldn't have done 
 to follow him right from his seat. And when 
 he went into the smoking-room without his 
 coat well, I stepped to a phone to let you 
 know it was O. K. so far. When I came 
 back he was gone. But I thought he was in 
 the lobby somewhere. I went back to my 
 seat ; his coat and stick were still there. How 
 could I guess that he wasn't coming back?" 
 
 The gray man was silent a moment. 
 
 "Did nothing to make you think he was 
 suspicious?" 
 
 "Not a thing," protested the stout man.
 
 54 LOOT 
 
 "He'd been lucky that was all. Blaney 
 said lie couldn't have been wise at all. He 
 simply wanted to see the city, and Blaney 
 naturally didn't dare follow him in his taxi. 
 He might have been seen, and then this 
 Hildreth would have suspected. Anyway, 
 he went to his hotel, didn't he? That he 
 took another room looks funny but he fell 
 for "Williams' telephone, didn't he? He 
 went to the show all right, didn't he ?" 
 
 "And he left itl" snapped the gray man. 
 
 "But who'd have dreamed it? Without 
 his coat?" asked the man Ashby. 
 
 The teeth of the gray man clicked slightly. 
 
 "You waited in the theater?" 
 
 "Until the show was over. In the middle 
 of the second act I got leery. I telephoned 
 you again, as you know. You told me to 
 stick and that you'd have others busy out- 
 side. I went back to my seat. When "Will- 
 iams showed up, prepared to play Arabin, 
 I was there, as he '11 tell you. But when the 
 show ended well, I came right up here and
 
 LOOT 55 
 
 met Brant just outside, on his way; in to see 
 you." 
 
 "YouVe got the hotel watched?" de- 
 manded the gray man of Brant. 
 
 "Every corner full description, Of 
 course if he comes in a taxi, right to the door 
 it can't very well be done there." 
 
 "No!" Again the gray man was silent. 
 "Seeley ready?" 
 
 "If he gets back to his hotel," said the 
 loose-lipped man, "Seeley will get him out- 
 side again somehow. Then " 
 
 "Yes, then!" said the gray man with a 
 sneer. 1 1 Then ! It 's never now ! Oh, you full- 
 fledged asses ! If you hadn't bungled " 
 
 A waiter approached. 
 
 "Telephone for you, Mr. Atchison." 
 
 The gray man rose and left the table. 
 Stout man and slim youth stared apprehen- 
 sively at each other. 
 
 "I wish he'd drop it," said the stout man. 
 
 "Tell him so," said Brant. 
 
 Ashby nodded. He mopped his forehead
 
 56 LOOT 
 
 and poured himself a glass of wine. Neither 
 said more while Atchison was gone. He was 
 in a slightly better humor when he returned. 
 
 "Williams, thank heaven, has a few 
 brains!" he said. "He's found the chauf- 
 feur who took Hildreth away. Took a taxi 
 right under your nose, Ashby. Right at the 
 corner. Drove to a clothing store and dis- 
 missed the taxi. I suppose you can guess 
 what he went there for." 
 
 "A coat!" gasped Ashby. 
 
 "You're coming on," sneered the gray 
 man. ".Williams found out what kind. 
 Black raincoat. He's telephoned Seeley and 
 the others." 
 
 "What others?" inquired Brant. 
 
 The gray man's thin lips parted in a 
 sneer. 
 
 "I don't suppose either of you can divorce 
 action from excitement, can you? Because 
 I'm not ranting round, you imagine, I sup- 
 pose, that I've done nothing. What others? 
 Why, you triple-plated idiots, don't you 
 suppose that the moment you, Ashby, tele-
 
 LOOT 57 
 
 phoned me that he'd been gone half an act, I 
 got busy at once? I knew he'd not come 
 back. I knew he'd tumbled somehow. Just 
 what that somehow is somebody leaked. 
 When I find out who that somebody is ^" 
 He did not finish the threat. 
 
 "Adamson," he continued after a mo- 
 ment, "has two men watching at police head- 
 quarters. If he goes down there well, 
 Williams had sense enough to phone the 
 others first about the black raincoat. Not 
 much, but, with the rest of his description, it 
 will help. Williams has brains more than 
 I can say for you two ! I left the hotel busi- 
 ness to you, Brant. If there 9 a a slip-up there 
 
 . Snyder is watching Arabin's house. 
 
 The Tenderloin police station that's the one 
 any officer near the theater would have sent 
 him to is being watched. Of course if he 
 got to headquarters or the Tenderloin station 
 before our men got there well, in that case 
 
 But I don't believe it. There 'd have 
 
 been signs of activity there before now." 
 
 ' ' Why ? ' ' demanded Ashby . ' ' He couldn 't
 
 58 LOOT 
 
 be wise to the whole business. If he sus- 
 pects anything and I don't see why he does 
 it must be something so vague that it 
 doesn't amount to much, and the police 
 would hardly call out the reserves." 
 
 "If he suspects anything at all he sus- 
 pects enough to make it extremely unpleas- 
 ant for us," said Atchison. "If he went to 
 the police at all he went there with a regu- 
 lar story, one that would start something. 
 And as nothing has been started why, I 
 don't believe he went to them." 
 
 "But you do believe he suspects some- 
 thing?" demanded Ashby, white-faced. 
 
 "Unless some accident happened to him, 
 and there's been no ambulance call in the 
 neighborhood of the Vandergelt, he must 
 suspect something! How else can you ac- 
 count for his running off?" 
 
 "And he stayed through the first act," 
 cried Brant. "It looks as though he didn't 
 get suspicious until then." 
 
 "First gleam of real brains you've shown 
 in some time," said the gray man. "Exactly
 
 LOOT 59 
 
 what I figured. And lie went off to verify 
 it. Couldn 't be anything else. ' ' 
 
 Again the waiter approached with the 
 word that Atchison was wanted at the tele- 
 phone, and the gray man left the table. 
 Again Brant asked the stout man to ask 
 Atchison to drop it. The gray man returned 
 again, this time puzzled. 
 
 "Did Hildreth act like a fool to you?" he 
 asked Ashby. 
 
 The stout man shook his head. 
 
 "Drunk?" 
 
 "Not a sign of it." 
 
 "No ; they wouldn't send a fool or a drunk- 
 ard to collect two million dollars' worth of 
 diamonds," said the gray man as though 
 arguing to himself. ' ' But Williams just told 
 me that they'd found the chauffeur who 
 drove Hildreth from the clothing store. And 
 he went to Chinatown ! Sight-seeing !" 
 
 1 1 What ? ' ' ejaculated Brant. Ashby 's eye- 
 brows lifted. 
 
 "Exactly; was driven to Port Arthur. 
 Williams phoned Adamson and he sent a
 
 6Q LOOT 
 
 man over to the chop-suey place. Man an- 
 swering Hildreth's description sat there for 
 half an hour alone, eating. Left without 
 speaking to any one but his waiter. Seemed 
 to be enjoying himself. Only a drunkard or 
 
 a fool and he can't be either But if he 
 
 suspected something he'd not Yet why 
 
 did he leave the theater when he expected 
 
 Arabia -" His voice died away into 
 
 amazed silence. 
 
 It seemed an appropriate moment for 
 Ashby to rehearse the little speech he'd been 
 planning during Atchison's two trips to the 
 telephone. He cleared his throat nervously. 
 
 "Why don't you -forget about him any- 
 way?" he asked. "What you just told us 
 makes it look as though he doesn't suspect 
 anything. A man wise to what you've got 
 up your sleeve wouldn't waste time in a 
 chop-suey joint, would he ?" 
 
 "You forget that he left his overcoat in 
 the theater and bought a new one," said 
 Atchison softly; "that he didn't wait when 
 he thought Arabin was coming."
 
 LOOT 61 
 
 ".Well, he didn't suspect enough to tackle 
 the police with his tale," persisted Ashby. 
 "And if he does suspect something and noth- 
 ing happens to him he'll think he was 
 'dreaming, won 't he ? ' ' 
 
 "What are you aiming at?" demanded 
 the gray man. 
 
 " L Why, just this: Let him go! There 's 
 risk and trouble monkeying with him. Let 
 him alone. What's a two-million-dollar 
 necklace when there's ten other millions 
 waiting for us?" 
 
 "What's a " Atchison stared at tHe 
 
 stout man, fury in his eyes; but when he 
 spoke it was in modulated tones : "My dear 
 !A.shby, how long have you been associated 
 svithme?" 
 
 "Ten years, " replied Ashby sullenly. 
 
 "And have you ever, in all that time, 
 known me to fail in anything I attempted ? 
 Have you ever known me to relinquish any- 
 thing on which I had set my heart? It is 
 needless to answer. You know you haven't ! 
 I've set my heart on the Carlow necklace. Is
 
 62 LOOT 
 
 that reason enough for not forgetting this 
 manHildreth?" 
 
 "If you say so I suppose it is," replied the 
 stout man, cowed; "but, just the same, it 
 looks to me as though you're jeopardizing 
 the biggest thing you ever tackled. It's ten 
 million sure if you drop this Hildreth man 
 and only two million more if you do get the 
 necklace, with about a million times as much 
 risk if he happens to suspect anything 
 already; and he's acting queer for a man 
 who doesn't." 
 
 "The beauty of having a brain like yours, 
 shby," said the gray man, "is that you are 
 never disturbed by possibilities. Being a 
 dunderhead, it never occurs to you to reason 
 matters out. You are fairly good at carry- 
 ing out orders, but please refrain from offer- 
 ing advice. Why, you numskull, can't you 
 think? Williams is private secretary to 
 Arabin ! He learns that the Carlow necklace 
 has been unexpectedly completed and that 
 j^rabin has cabled Carlow to that effect. He 
 holds up Carlow's answering cable till I've
 
 LOOT 63 
 
 had a chance to look at it. I decide that we '11 
 still include the necklace in our other little 
 transactions. But that transaction's date 
 was determined on two months ago, before 
 we knew that the necklace would be finished 
 ahead of time. 
 
 "We can not change the date now, but 
 we can arrange that the early finishing of the 
 necklace will not cost us its possession. Will- 
 iams holds up Carlow's cable. We plan to 
 detain this man Hildreth. We send him a 
 wireless message signed by James F. Arabin. 
 We plan to get hold of him at the dock. Lest 
 that fail, we have a room engaged for him at 
 the Battenberg, ostensibly by an employee of 
 Arabin 's store. Our plans fail there again. 
 We get him to the theater. Williams plans 
 to impersonate Arabin. Hildreth has never 
 seen Arabin. Williams could talk intimately 
 of the necklace, of the Arabin store, as no 
 one else could, being Arabin 's secretary. But 
 that fails. 
 
 "Now then and try to think: Suppose 
 Hildreth is unmolested. Suppose he sees
 
 64: LOOT 
 
 Arabin to-morrow. Wliat will Arabin say on 
 learning that Carlo w cabled of Hildreth's 
 coming arrival a week ago ? What will he 
 say; to Hildreth's story of the wireless, the 
 room engaged, the theater party? Arabin, 
 who knows nothing of Hildreth's coming, but 
 imagines that Carlow himself will come in 
 his own good time for the necklace what 
 will Arabin say? Will he suspect the good 
 faith of Williams, his secretary? And isn't 
 it vital to our plans that he does not suspect 
 Williams ? Are you answer e d ? " 
 
 The stout man was. He made no further 
 effort to persuade the gray man. 
 
 "What do you want me to do now?" lie 
 asked humbly. 
 
 ' l Stay here a while both of you. This will 
 be my headquarters for an hour or so." He 
 reached for his as yet untouched glass of 
 wine ; then set it down hastily and rose, bow- 
 ing to a girl who approached their table. 
 
 It was Morn Light, in modest decollete, a 
 silk scarf across her white shoulders. She
 
 LOOT 65 
 
 nodded coldly to Ashby, and to Brant, whose 
 weak face lighted up with adoration at her 
 approach, and addressed the gray; man. 
 
 " Lovely place for a party 1" she said, 
 sinking into the chair Atchison drew up for 
 her. "What made you pick such a common 
 place, anyway? And where is your party? 
 Surely I haven't been summoned just to en- 
 tertain you?" 
 
 Hers was the petulance of spoiled beauty, 
 and Atchison smiled grimly. 
 
 "And if you had? [You'd have come just 
 the same, Morn. -But our party is off for 
 the present." 
 
 "Well, I don't think it nice of you to send 
 for me on a moment's notice, as though it 
 were a matter of life and death. I worls 
 hard; I need all the rest " 
 
 "That will be enough, Morn!" snapped 
 Atchison. ' ' At times your sulkiness amuses 
 
 but to-night Life and death ? It was a 
 
 matter of the latter. And if at any time in 
 the next two weeks I send for you, no matter
 
 66 LOOT 
 
 where you are or what you may be doing 
 Jklorn, you will come !" 
 
 His eyes glowed in their deep sockets. 
 The girl shuddered and tried to hide her un- 
 easiness by further petulance. 
 
 "You needn't be so bogymannish about it. 
 <0f course I'll come. But you were joking 
 just now ? About death ? ' > 
 
 "Have I ever joked, Morn, about serious 
 matters?" demanded Atchison blandly. 
 "Oh, don't be frightened! You will never 
 figure in these matters. To-night you were 
 merely to let a gentleman escort you home. 
 He would have gone to sleep in your car. 
 You would later have remembered setting 
 him 'down up-town somewhere. That is all. ' ' 
 
 She tossed her head, but her color ebbed 
 beneath his level glance. 
 
 "May I go home ?" she asked meekly. 
 
 ' ' Certainly, ' ' he said politely. ' ' But don 't 
 go to bed for a while yet, Morn." 
 
 "Why not?" she asked quickly. 
 
 "I may want to see you shortly at any
 
 LOOT 67 
 
 i> 
 
 moment. It depends on a certain word I'm 
 expecting. .You may be needed after all, 
 [Morn. Go home and wait there. ' ' 
 
 ''How soon shall you know whether or 
 not you need me ? Why can 't I wait here ? ' ' 
 
 "I thought you wanted to get your shoe 
 Off." 
 
 "I do; but it will be twice as painful get- 
 ting it on again. I'd rather wait." He shook 
 his head. 
 
 ".Go home and wait," he said courteously 
 .enough, but with a flat finality that brooked 
 no further argument. 
 
 The girl left the restaurant. 
 
 "You didn't mention her being hurt, 
 Ashby," said Atchison. 
 
 "Slipped my memory, with all the other 
 things," was the stout man's answer. "She 
 doesn't walk lame," he added, looking ovei 
 his shoulder at the retreating Morn. 
 
 "She said it wasn't much of an injury. 
 At least, that she was out only part of the; 
 first act," said Atchison; but his voice was
 
 68 LOOT 
 
 dreamy, far-away, as though he had already 
 forgotten Morn Light. The others forbore 
 to disturb him as a look of concentration 
 appeared in his eyes. [When the Gray Ghost 
 leaned back in his chair and schemed, his 
 satellites were wont to sit in silence.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 HILDKETH [TELEPHONES ; AND IS TELEPHONED 
 
 HILDEETH stood only a moment on the 
 curb. His .white shirt and waistcoat limned 
 his figure clearly in the dusk, he knew ; and, 
 hater of conspicuousness that he was natur- 
 ally, to be conspicuous at the present moment 
 was, he felt, to be a magnet for peril. 
 
 Thus deeply was he impressed with the 
 manner and written words of Morn Light. 
 Fantastic as her commands were, he had 
 promised to obey them, and never for a mo- 
 ment did he consider breaking his promise. 
 Even more than by the feeling of peril was 
 he guided by the promise she had extracted 
 from him. 
 
 He knew that it would attract attention 
 for him to walk along the streets without a 
 coat. If enemies who or what he could not 
 
 69
 
 .70 LOOT 
 
 even dimly imagine, though by now he wag 
 certain that his danger had to do with one on 
 jboth of his commissions lurked inside the 
 theater it was not reasonable to suppose that 
 they would remain there long if he was ab- 
 sent. He beckoned to a stage-door lounger; 
 who gossiped with the door-tender. He 
 slipped a coin into the man's hand. 
 
 " Fetch me a taxi," he said. 
 
 [A. moment later he was inside the machine 
 and was being driven to a clothier recom- 
 mended by the chauffeur. At the door of the 
 establishment he paid off. his driver, entered 
 the store, purchased quickly a black rain- 
 coat and emerged, to stand again doubtfully 
 on a curb. 
 
 For a moment the idea that he was the vic- 
 tim of some sort of elaborate practical joke 
 possessed him. He weighed the evidence. 
 If Morn had been joking, the look in her 
 eyes as she broke down in the middle of her 
 Bong might have been a counterfeit emotion. 
 [But his close proximity to her in her dress- 
 ing-room ! She could not have counterfeited
 
 LOOT 71 
 
 fear there. There had been drops of per- 
 spiration on her face, drops that came from 
 no physical exertion and that Hildreth did 
 not believe came from the pain of her ankle. 
 .Terror had brought them there real terror, 
 no counterfeit. He dismissed the practical- 
 joke thought as swiftlv. as it had come, to 
 him. 
 
 [But it was only a little after nine o 'clock- 
 now. If the jeweler had not already started 
 for the Yandergelt Theater it was Hildreth 'a 
 polite duty to inform Arabin that circum- 
 stances had arisen making it impossible for 
 him to remain in the theater. That was only 
 common decency. He entered a drug store 
 and shut himself in the booth. In a moment 
 a yoice answered him: 
 
 "Mr. Arabin 's residence." 
 
 "I'd like to speak with Mr. Arabin Mr. 
 3"ames F. Arabin," said Hildreth. 
 
 "Mr. Arabin 's out of town," was the an- 
 swer. 
 
 "Out of town?" asked Hildreth in sur- 
 prise. "When did he leave?"
 
 72 LOOT 
 
 "He's been in Boston the last two days," 
 replied the voice. "He is not expected back 
 until to-morrow morning." 
 
 Hildreth was stunned. 
 
 "You mean to tell me that Mr. Arabin has 
 not been in New York to-day?" 
 
 "I said he was in Boston," came the chill- 
 ing reply. "He leaves on the midnight 
 train and will be in town to-morrow. 
 0ood-by!" 
 
 "Here ; wait a bit !" cried Hildreth. "Tell 
 me this is the residence of Mr. Arabin, the 
 jeweler, isn't it?" 
 
 "It is." 
 
 "Well, has he any relative in the business ? 
 A cousin a son by the same name?" 
 
 "Are you spoofing me?" demanded the 
 voice angrily. 
 
 Hildreth had imagination. At another 
 time he would have smiled at the mental pic- 
 ture the voice, with its London slang and 
 accent, conjured up before him. But he 
 was in too deadly earnest now even to think 
 of smiling at the solemn, aggrieved English
 
 LOOT 73 
 
 butler, whose like, if voices told anything at 
 all, Hildreth had seen many times at home. 
 
 1 ' I 'm not chaffing, ' ' he answered. ' ' I want 
 to know." 
 
 " There is but one James F. [Arabia," re- 
 plied the servant, as one who should say that 
 there was but one President of the United 
 States, one King of Britain, one Church of 
 England. And he rang off. 
 
 It was a temptation to Hildreth to ring 
 the number again, declare his identity, his 
 mission and find out whether the servant 
 could answer the puzzling questions that he 
 could not. 
 
 But a servant was not to be lightly con- 
 fided in, especially over the telephone. More- 
 over, if James F. Arabin were in Boston, if 
 he had deliberately been absent from New 
 York at the time of Hildreth 's arrival, there 
 was but one explanation of such action: 
 Arabin did not know that Hildreth was com- 
 ing. In that case it would hardly avail any- 
 thing to question the servant. Hildreth 
 walked dazed from the drug store.
 
 74 LOOT 
 
 Some one, of course, had engaged quarters 
 at the Battenberg for Hildreth, and that 
 some one had posed as Arabin or, at any 
 rate, as his representative. Some one had 
 wirelessed Hildreth on board the Lucantia 
 and signed Arabin's name to the message. 
 Borne one had telephoned Hildreth and made 
 an appointment at the theater; but that 
 some one could not have been Arabin, for 
 Arabin was in Boston and would not return 
 until to-morrow. The servant spoke with 
 certainty; there was no reason to doubt the. 
 correctness of his knowledge as to his 
 master's movements. 
 
 Bo then, whoever had sent that wireless, 
 whoever had caused that room to be en- 
 gaged, whoever had pretended to be Arabin 
 over the telephone, was an impostor. Had 
 there not been the telephonic message, had 
 not the speaker said that he was Arabin, 
 Hildreth could have understood it all. He 
 would have assumed that some trusted em- 
 ployee of Arabin had taken the liberty 
 been instructed to do so, in fact of signing
 
 LOOT [73 
 
 Arabin 's name to the wireless, of engaging 
 the room. If the voice over the telephone 
 had not stated that it was the voice of Ar- 
 abin, but had said that it was an employee 
 of the jeweler but it had not ! 
 
 There was but one conclusion the sender 
 of the wireless, the engager of the room, the 
 donor of the theater ticket, was an impostor. 
 And this, of course, led to another conelu- 
 sion: Inasmuch as only an impostor had 
 done these things, and inasmuch further as 
 there had been no genuine effort on the part 
 of Arabin to meet him, and as Arabin was in 
 Boston his arrival was not expected by the 
 jeweler. 
 
 Up to now the cryptic warnings and mes- 
 sage of Morn Light had seemed anachronis- 
 tic, smacking of the days before New York's 
 "finest" and police forces everywhere were 
 the powerful machines they are now, of 
 whimsical intrigue, and of grotesque plot 
 and counterplot, staged in greenrooms by 
 beautiful theatrical adventuresses. But 
 there was no stage play about this affair. It
 
 76 LOOT 
 
 was in deadly sober earnest, Hildreth could 
 not doubt. 
 
 [Morn Light did not exaggerate Hildreth 's 
 danger. How she, a lovely girl, knew of 
 the plot Hildreth could not imagine. But 
 that her connection with it was innocent, 
 that her knowledge of it was innocent, he 
 would have been willing to swear. Further, 
 by warning him of danger she was giving 
 proof of her innocence. 
 
 Unless, of course, her appointment with 
 him at Bishop's restaurant was in the nature 
 of a trap ! But this, Hildreth would not be- 
 lieve. And when common sense told him 
 that he ought not to keep the appointment 
 he answered it with the argument that his 
 conversation with Arabin's butler had 
 shown him conclusively that there was a plot 
 of some sort, that he would not have sus- 
 pected such a plot were it not for Morn 
 Light, and that to doubt one who had already 
 been proved honest, in a measure, was 
 foolish. 
 
 Having imagination, It occurred to him
 
 LOOT .77 
 
 that there might have been two rival plots, 
 and that Morn was but serving one of them. 
 But that was a little too far-fetched. He 
 'dismissed it. And that his railroad mission 
 might be the basis of whatever plan was 
 being launched against him did not seem rea- 
 sonable. No one not even Arabin had 
 been informed of his connection with the 
 railroad matter. 
 
 Anyway, all the evidence, the use of Ara- 
 bia's name, precluded any possibility other 
 than that the necklace was the objective 
 of the plot. Mechanically he patted the 
 pocket in which reposed the design of the 
 beautiful necklace, the check for Arabin, 
 his own letter of credit, and the ironclad 
 power of attorney, which empowered him 
 to vote the Carlow railroad stock. He was 
 glad he had them all with him, even though 
 they did spoil the symmetrical hang of hia 
 evening jacket, folded in a wallet though 
 they were. Also, he was glad he had changed 
 a quantity of English gold into American 
 bills aboard the Lucantia and that they were
 
 78 LOOT, 
 
 on his person ; for lie could not go back to the 
 Battenberg to-night, and cash might prove 
 useful. 
 
 A taxicab came down the cross-town street. 
 Hildreth hailed it. The young Englishman, 
 aside from the matter of elevators, had no 
 nerves. Danger assailed himj very well, he 
 could not ascertain the source of the danger 
 until midnight. Two hours and more must 
 be passed before he should receive an ex- 
 planation. Why not employ those hours in 
 seeing what he could of the city? He had 
 heard and read much of New York's China- 
 town. If it were remote enough from the 
 yandergelt he would go, there. 
 
 To his question the chauffeur answered 
 that Chinatown was some miles distant. Hil- 
 'dreth immediately ordered the man to take 
 him there. And shortly afterward Hildretft 
 entered the Port Arthur restaurant and or- 
 'dered some Chinese food, finding that excite- 
 ment had made him hungry. He ate with 
 perfect calm. Trouble was In the pot, but, 
 lUntil it was brewed, why worry, needlessly?,
 
 LOOT i79 
 
 eating he wandered round China- 
 town for a while, but was quickly disillu- 
 sioned of the idea that here lay any great 
 romance. It was sordid, distasteful, hide- 
 ous with suggested vice. He left it and ex- 
 plored the Bowery, of which he had heard! 
 so much. Thinking that his silk hat ren- 
 dered him a bit too shining a mark in the! 
 neighborhood, he entered a hatter's store 
 and bought a soft cloth hat, leaving his high 
 hat to be called for later. 
 
 He wandered through the East Side, his 
 coat buttoned over his white shirt, and found 
 It much less pitiful than London's ^VVTiite- 
 ehapel, though here, indeed, was poverty 
 enough. He came out beneath Brooklyn 
 [Bridge, made his way to Park Row and rode 
 In a trolley across to Brooklyn, finding New: 
 [York more wonderful at night than it had 
 been by day from the Lucantia's deck. He 
 recrossed the bridge and found that it was 
 half past eleven. A policeman directed him 
 to the subway and told him what stop was 
 nearest Bishop's restaurant. Somewhat be-
 
 80 LOOT 
 
 fore the appointed hour he passed through 
 the portals of that gay restaurant, gently; 
 but firmly refusing to surrender his hat and 
 coat to the rather insistent check boy. 
 
 To the head waiter, who accosted him, he 
 proffered a request to be shown to Jacques. 
 
 "I am Jacques," said the waiter. "Mon- 
 sieur wishes?" 
 
 "Hiss Light told me to ask for you. She 
 said you would understand." 
 
 "Ah, yes," said the Frenchman. "And 
 monsieur's name is?" 
 
 Hildreth 's own name was on the tip of his 
 tongue before he caught himself. Morn 
 Light had told him that he was Ted Daly. 
 [Undoubtedly she wished him to masquerade 
 as Ted Daly here as well as in her dressing- 
 room. 
 
 "Daly," he said. 
 
 "Yery good, monsieur," said Jacques. 
 "If monsieur will follow me " 
 
 He led the way to an ornate stairway and 
 motioned Hildreth to precede him. In the 
 hall above he moved up beside Hildreth.
 
 LOOT 81 
 
 "Monsieur will notice," he said blandly, 
 "that there is another flight of stairs at the 
 other end of this hall. It leads to a side 
 street. Also" and he opened a door and 
 motioned Hildreth inside " monsieur, if he 
 looks, will notice that behind the curtain" 
 he pointed " there is a door. It can be 
 bolted on either side. At present it is not 
 fastened at all. It is well to notice these 
 things, monsieur. That door opens almost 
 directly on a third flight of stairs, leading to 
 another side street. Monsieur will order 
 now or await Miss Light's arrival ? That is 
 better, yes ? Meantime would monsieur care 
 for something to drink?" 
 
 Hildreth sat down at a table. 
 
 "Jacques, what does all this mean?" 
 
 The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 * ' There is nothing I can tell monsieur. It 
 remains with Miss Light. Undoubtedly 
 mademoiselle did not invite monsieur to 
 meet her here for the amusement of either 
 monsieur or herself. Undoubtedly there 
 will be explanations by her."
 
 82 LOOT 
 
 1 1 Yes, ' ' persisted Hildreth ; * ' but you must 
 know something. You aren't showing me 
 several ways of escape for nothing, you 
 know. "What is the game ?" 
 
 Jacques shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "That is for mademoiselle to tell." 
 
 "Oh, is it?" demanded Hildreth with 
 choler. "And suppose it isn't Miss Light 
 who will find me here ? Suppose it is some 
 
 one else who I think I'm rather an ass 
 
 to walk in here blindfolded. I think I'll not 
 remain. " 
 
 "That," said Jacques, "is just as mon- 
 sieur prefers. I, Jacques, know nothing 
 nothing, that is, which I am at liberty to 
 pass on to monsieur. But I earnestly beg 
 monsieur to remain. Mademoiselle wishes 
 it. Monsieur would be foolish not to re- 
 main. However " 
 
 He made a gesture implying that Hil- 
 dreth was free to depart. The Englishman 
 laughed shortly. 
 
 "I'll stay," he announced, chagrined at
 
 LOOT 83 
 
 his inability to win any information from the 
 head waiter. 
 
 ' ' And will drink a cocktail ? ' ' 
 
 "Very well," said Hildreth. 
 
 Jacques bowed and left the room, closing 
 the door silently after him. Merely as a 
 precaution born of the circumstances, Hil- 
 jdreth rose and tried the door Jacques had 
 Closed. It yielded readily and he moved 
 away satisfied. He pushed back the cur- 
 tain the Frenchman had indicated and 
 opened the door concealed behind it. He 
 looked through and assured himself as to 
 the location of the stairs Jacques had men- 
 tioned. Then he replaced the curtain in its 
 Original folds and sat down at the table, 
 first removing his hat and coat. On second 
 thought he put his coat on again. Jacques' 
 words had plainly signified that there might 
 be need for flight. It was as well to be ready 
 to attempt it. 
 
 He started nervously as a knock sounded 
 Dn the door, but it was only a waiter bring-
 
 84 LOOT 
 
 ing the cocktail he had ordered of Jacques. 
 The man put it on the table. He unfolded 
 a newspaper and handed it to Hildreth. 
 
 "The gentleman might care to read," he 
 suggested, and bowed himself out of the 
 room. * 
 
 Hildreth picked up the paper idly. He 
 noted amusedly that it was dated Tuesday, 
 though Monday had not been more than four 
 or five minutes dead. But a glance told him 
 that it was a theatrical paper, of which he 
 had heard his actress cousin speak as denot- 
 ing the importance of the stage in New York, 
 where it commanded its own newspaper. He 
 knew it was issued almost in time to meet 
 the audience filing out of the theater, ready 
 with a review of the performance they had 
 just witnessed. 
 
 Then swiftly his idle glance became fixed. 
 [Alongside a picture of a comedian who had 
 been arrested for speeding his automobile 
 was a photograph of a bearded man, and be- 
 neath the photograph the man's name. 
 Above it was a head-line telling of the sud"
 
 LOOT 85 
 
 den death of John Madison Clinton, presi- 
 dent of the railroad, to take part in whose 
 annual election Hildreth had been primarily; 
 sent to America. He read the article inter- 
 estedly. Half-way down the column he came 
 on a statement issued by the board of direc- 
 tors to the effect that, out of respect to the 
 memory of the late president, the annual 
 stockholders' meeting would be postponed 
 for two weeks. 
 
 Hildreth 's first thought was of delight. 
 Then he should not have to cut short his trip 
 to America ; his stay in New York would be 
 prolonged at least two weeks and he would 
 have a chance, entirely aside from this mys- 
 tery, to see Morn Light, to know her. . . . 
 He was sorry that any one should die, but if 
 President Clinton must die he could not have 
 chosen a more opportune time for Hildreth, 
 or his directors a more satisfying way of 
 evidencing their regard for their dead chief. 
 
 "Whatever this mystery might be it would 
 undoubtedly be settled in a day or so. It 
 could hardly endure longer. And, with the
 
 86 LOOT 
 
 introduction to Morn Light it had given him, 
 he would make use of these extra two weeks. 
 . . . The telephone, set on the wall, jan- 
 gled and disturbed his pleasant musings. He 
 rose wonderingly, suspiciously even, and an- 
 swered it. 
 
 "Mr. Daly? Ted? This is Morn. I can't 
 come down: it's impossible now. But wait. 
 You must wait ! And don't go to your hotel 
 under any consideration. Stay where you 
 are ! Do you understand ? ' ' 
 
 "I understand what you're saying," he 
 replied, "but not its meaning. And isn't it 
 about time you explained what " 
 
 "I can't! I can't!" she said, her voice so 
 filled with repressed excitement that he could 
 imagine her flushed face and heaving bosom. 
 "If I could now but I can't. Believe me, 
 won 't you ? Trust me please ! And wait ! ' ' 
 
 "Hadn't I better go to the police?" he de- 
 manded. 
 
 "Police? You'd not pass the threshold 
 of the nearest station. I tell you, it's so!
 
 LOOT 87 
 
 Wait for me; sometime to-night before 
 morning " 
 
 "But, I say," he protested, "I'm begin- 
 ning to have an inkling. I'm beginning to 
 see" 
 
 "You can't," she said. "You haven't the 
 slightest idea of how big Will you wait ? 
 I tell you your very life will you wait ?" 
 
 "Of course," he said; "but" 
 
 Strangely changed, her voice came over 
 the wire to him : 
 
 "Don't be absurd, Ted! You must know 
 what a ridiculous hour this is to ask me to 
 come to supper. Even an actress needs sleep 
 once in a while, you know. And my ankle 
 you knew it was bothering me. You aren't 
 very thoughtful, to say the kindest ! Good- 
 by." 
 
 He heard the click of the receiver; she 
 had rung off.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE GRAY GHOST CALLS ON MORN ; MR. DALY, OP 
 CINCINNATI 
 
 THERE was a pout of amused disgust on 
 Morn's lips as she drew aside the portieres 
 and entered the drawing-room of her apart- 
 ment. It vanished when she saw Atkinson 
 sitting on a divan. 
 
 "Oh, you," she said. "I knew it couldn't 
 be Celia that I heard. But I didn't hear you 
 ring?" she added questioningly. 
 
 "I didn't bother to be announced," he re- 
 plied. "It is late. The hall boy was busy at 
 the phone and evidently thought me a resi- 
 dent here ; the elevator was down in the base- 
 ment. I presume the operator was sneaking 
 a smoke. So" I walked up. I would have 
 rung the bell at your front door, but the door 
 was ajar, so I walked in."
 
 LOOT 89 
 
 "Ajar? I thought I'd locked it." 
 
 "The evidence goes to prove that you did 
 not," he rejoined lightly. "You were tele- 
 phoning ? I interrupted you ? ' ' 
 
 "Not at all," she answered carelessly. "I 
 should have been glad of an interruption, 
 but none happened; so I was rude instead." 
 
 "Indeed? I can hardly fancy you being 
 that. To whom, may I ask ? ' ' 
 
 "Oh, a silly boy who gets his knowledge of 
 actresses from the comic papers, I imagine. 
 Wanted me to go down-town and have sup- 
 per with him. He'd been drinking, I fancy. 
 He knew that my ankle was hurt ; called at 
 my dressing-room after the first act to-night 
 to offer sympathy and ask me to have supper, 
 after the performance. I refused and I im- 
 agine he's been brooding" she laughed de- 
 liciously "and drinking." 
 
 "Impertinent cub !" said Atchison. 
 
 "So I gave him to understand," said Morn 
 carelessly. She sat down in a chair across 
 the room from Atchison. 
 
 "Who is he?"
 
 90 LOOT 
 
 Her eyebrows lifted slightly. 
 
 " Ted Daly. Cincinnati. Stocks and bonds. 
 [Will that do? I don't know his politics or 
 Ms religion. What did you want to see me 
 about?" she asked abruptly. 
 
 "Mr. Ted Daly," he answered. 
 
 ' ' What ! ' ' The word was wrung from her 
 unawares, and the moment she had uttered 
 it she turned her head as though to rear- 
 range the cushion in the back of her chair. 
 [When she turned back to Atchison there was 
 no sign of alarm on her face. 
 
 ".What do you eare about Ted Daly?" she 
 asked with seeming perplexity. 
 
 The man's face was hard. 
 
 "Don't play with me, Morn! Are you 
 keeping a love-affair from me ?" 
 
 "A love-affair! Have you been drink- 
 Ing?" she asked contemptuously. 
 
 ' l Tou know better, ' ' he said shortly. ' ' But 
 I happened to be down-stairs a few moments 
 ago, as you know. I overheard the hall boy 
 speaking." 
 
 ' ' iWell ? ' ' She seemed unmoved.
 
 LOOT 91 
 
 Suddenly Ms face was convulsed. 
 
 "Why do you lie to me, Morn? I heard 
 the operator down-stairs speak your name ! 
 I heard him say that he was getting a num- 
 ber for you ! And now you tell me that this 
 Daly called you up. Why do you lie ?" 
 
 "If you must know," she answered, "it is 
 hard enough for a girl to apologize to a man 
 without letting other people know that she 
 has done so." 
 
 "You! Apologized to this man? Why?" 
 
 "I was rude to him when he called at my 
 dressing-room to-night. My ankle hurt and 
 I was impatient. But I was silly, for at 
 once he again insisted that I dine with him 
 
 now.' : 
 
 'And the rest what you've just told 
 
 "Does that matter? It was none of your 
 business! Since you make it yours, since 
 you eavesdrop, I tell you. Are you satis- 
 fied?" 
 
 "So that it is not a love-affair, I am." 
 
 "And if it were?"
 
 92 LOOT 
 
 "Then I should make New York most un- 
 comfortable for Mr. Ted Daly." 
 
 She colored. 
 
 "But you promised that you would never 
 again " 
 
 "Promised!" He sneered. "What is a 
 promise when That, Morn, was because I 
 loved you. Because I would not ask you to 
 marry a man who had no security of place ; 
 who " 
 
 "And are you not the same man ?" 
 
 He smiled. 
 
 "The same man, my dear Morn; but the 
 security of place soon, oh, very soon, Morn, 
 I shall be secure. This last coup " 
 
 "Yes? And what is it?" 
 
 "That can wait," he answered. 
 
 "And yet you profess to love me. What 
 is love without trust?" 
 
 "You must remember, Morn, that you 
 have not yet told me that you love me." 
 
 "No. So I haven't. And I never shall!" 
 
 He smiled tolerantly.
 
 LOOT 93 
 
 "When the time comes, Morn, you will do 
 as I tell you." 
 
 "In other things, perhaps, but in that 
 no." 
 
 "We shall see," he said. 
 
 She moved uneasily. 
 
 ".You have strange ways of showing affec- 
 tion," she said. "You threaten; you rage; 
 you ask me to do dangerous things. This 
 evening I was to have heen an accomplice in 
 a murder, was I not?" 
 
 "Why be brutal? Call it an elimination." 
 
 "And suppose I had refused? Suppose 
 I had called for the police ?" 
 
 "In that case, Morn, you would have suf- 
 fered great regret." 
 
 "And you call it love that inspires you! 
 You speak of love and yet you do not trust 
 me!" 
 
 "If we were married, Morn, I would trust 
 you, though you did not love me. But as it 
 is- Enough of that!" 
 
 "Yes. Let it be enough," said Mora
 
 94 LOOT 
 
 crossly. "I'm tired; I've worked hard; I 
 want to go to bed. Why did you make me 
 stay up, anyway ? ' ? 
 
 "To tell you what I've already told you." 
 
 ' ' And you have heard my answer. Is that 
 all you came for?" 
 
 "Wait a bit!" he ordered sternly. She 
 had risen, but she sat down again. "Would 
 it create much comment if you missed a per- 
 formance at the Yandergelt?" 
 
 "The house wouldn't close, if that's what 
 you mean." 
 
 "Then don't let your ankle recover too 
 quickly. You may need it as an excuse." 
 
 "A headache would do as well," she told 
 him. "Why?" 
 
 "There is a man with whom you may yet 
 go automobiling," he replied. "He eluded 
 us to-night, but " 
 
 "The Englishman you spoke of? What 
 was his name?" 
 
 "I didn't say," he replied. "The English- 
 man will identify him well enough. Names
 
 LOOT 95 
 
 are dangerous things at times. Don't forget, 
 Morn, we are not married yet." 
 
 He rose and picked up his hat. She rose, 
 too, and faced him. He drew a step closer 
 to her. Apparently without design she put 
 a table between them and picked up a paper, 
 knife and toyed with it. 
 
 "And you'd use it, too, little spitfire!" he 
 laughed, as though the idea pleased him. 
 
 She made no answer, but merely looked 
 at him. 
 
 "Yes, you would!" He chuckled, but his 
 eyes grew hard. * ' But you would not betray 
 me, Morn. I can rely on you as I can on no 
 one else. You hate me. "When you, hating 
 me, hoping to see me caught, cornered, set 
 out to obey my commands, I know that your 
 very hate will make you do exactly as I com- 
 mand. No enthusiasm for me will make you 
 think for yourself and try to improve on my 
 plans. No greed for self will cause you to 
 read into my orders an interpretation that 
 is not there. . . . Yes, Morn, hate will do
 
 96 LOOT 
 
 for the present. It means exact obedience 
 no more. And exact obedience, unthink- 
 ing obedience, is what I need." He walked 
 to the door. ' ' Pleasant dreams, Morn. ' ' 
 
 He passed out. Not until she heard the 
 outer doors close on him did she move. Then 
 she dropped on the divan he had vacated, to 
 lie there, brow ruffled, hands clenched, star- 
 ing fixedly at the wall. 
 
 Atchison walked briskly down the one 
 flight of stairs to the entrance hall of the 
 apartment house. Now that he was out of 
 her sight, the jealousy that had consumed 
 him since the moment of his silent entrance 
 into Morn's apartment held full sway in his 
 heart. He had concealed it fairly well from 
 Horn. At least, though he had broken into 
 anger a couple of times, though he had 
 threatened the elimination of Mr. Daly, he 
 did not believe that Morn took him seriously 
 just now. 
 
 Atchison smiled grimly. It was very un- 
 fortunate that Morn should be interested in 
 any man unfortunate for the man if the
 
 A place ot security with Morn at his side
 
 LOOT 97 
 
 interest continued. Morn hated Atchison, 
 she said; but, unless another man occupied 
 her heart, it would not be impossible for At- 
 chison to turn her hate into love. That there 
 was a certain promise, of which Morn had 
 reminded him, in the way of such an attempt, 
 was not to be considered. He, Rennold At- 
 chison, the Gray; Ghost, had thought for 
 many years that a woman could have no 
 place in his affairs. 
 
 But now recently he had begun to won- 
 der whether ambition should not well be set 
 aside in favor of Morn Light. That his ca- 
 reer must end if he won Morn he knew, but 
 somehow his career no longer seemed to mat- 
 ter. The one great incident, coup, planned 
 for the near future, then a place of secur- 
 ity with Morn at his side. This had begun 
 to seem infinitely more desirable than the 
 mere continuance of his career. It was more 
 desirable ; it did not merely seem to be. And 
 now Morn was telephoning a man in the mid- 
 dle of the night! 
 
 But it would be a very simple matter to
 
 981 LOOT! 
 
 send a wire to Cincinnati, to one of those 
 who had served the Gray Ghost in a certain 
 Ohio matter. That person could decide on 
 what sort of message would assure Mr. Ted 
 Daly's immediate departure for the city of 
 his residence. The telegram which would be 
 sent to Daly might say that his father was 
 dying, that his office had burned anything ; 
 it could be well left to the judgment of the 
 Gray Ghost's Cincinnati follower, who 
 would look up Mr. Daly and find out what 
 would be most imperative, most compelling. 
 Meantime it was necessary to find out 
 Daly's address, and to have asked it from 
 Morn Light would have been to rouse her 
 immediate suspicion. If Morn was really 
 interested in the man Morn could be 
 trusted in the great matters impending, but 
 where her heart was concerned, and in a mat- 
 ter where action by her would not partake of 
 treachery to those greater affairs well, she 
 might do as her heart dictated, might warn 
 Daly. And it was better that Daly should
 
 LOOT 99 
 
 be got out of the city at once, without Morn's 
 knowing the reason why. 
 
 The hall boy was asleep over his desk as 
 Atchison gained the ground floor. But it 
 was not necessary to wake him and ask what 
 number Morn had called. There were his 
 record sheets, with all the day's calls. There 
 was only one opposite Morn's name, and the 
 time was marked next the number, so that 
 Atchison could make no mistake. He made 
 a mental note of it and passed out of the 
 building without disturbing the sleeping hall 
 boy. 
 
 At a drug store on the nearest corner he 
 used the telephone, giving the number he had 
 just observed. He made use of a simple ruse. 
 
 "Is this the Grand Central ticket office ?" 
 
 "No ; this is Bishop's restaurant," was the 
 reply. 
 
 Atchison frowned as he hung up. This 
 made it awkward. Confident as he was that 
 his followers would apprehend Hildreth 
 soon, until he knew that the Englishman had
 
 100 LOOT 
 
 been located lie was not anxious to divert any 
 of his men to another trail. Yet, if he would 
 find Daly this night and jealousy urged 
 him to do so he must send a man to Bish- 
 op's restaurant at once to trail the young 
 man to his hotel. For, of course, Daly was 
 not living at Bishop's, which was merely a 
 restaurant. 
 
 He lifted the receiver again and called 
 Patello's restaurant. 
 
 "Ask Mr. Brant or IMr. Ashby to come to 
 the phone," he said. 
 
 "Ashby ?" he asked a moment later. 
 
 "No; this is Williams," came the excited 
 reply. "I just called you up at Morn's 
 this very minute almost and she said you'd 
 gone." 
 
 "Well?" said Atchison, as Williams hesi- 
 tated. 
 
 "Don't lose your temper with me at what 
 I'm going to tell you, will you?" demanded 
 Williams. 
 
 "Have you lost Hildreth? Has he made 
 his way to the police? To Arabin?" cried
 
 LOOT 101 
 
 Atchison, in f ury that he could not control. 
 " Answer me!" 
 
 "No not that I know of," said Williams ; 
 "but but Morn Light knows where he is I" 
 
 "What? You 're insane!" 
 
 "I told you not to get sore," said Will- 
 iams. "It's the truth." 
 
 "How do you know?" 
 
 "He visited her dressing-room to-night. 
 It was there he went when he left his coat 
 and stick behind him in his seat at the the- 
 ater." 
 
 "Williams," said Atchison menacingly, 
 "if you're lying if you're even mistaken 
 'Go on!" His voice was hoarse. 
 
 "Why should I lie? And I can't be mis- 
 taken," said Williams. "I was in Merton's 
 cafe, opposite the Yandergelt, directing my; 
 end of the search from there. A man in uni- 
 form came in the uniform of the Vander- 
 gelt attaches. I bought him a drink; told 
 him that a friend of mine had unaccount- 
 ably disappeared, a stranger in the city. 
 Didn't suppose it would lead to anything,
 
 103" 
 
 but I wasn't overlooking a single bet. The 
 man was the stage door-tender. I described 
 Hildreth as well as I could from Ashby's 
 description. He said my description sound- 
 ed something like that of a man who'd come 
 round to the stage door just after the first 
 act the very time that Hildreth went out. 
 And he asked for Miss Light said she had 
 sent for him." 
 
 ' 'Rot ! ' ' cried Atchison. ' ' I know the man 
 'you mean. Regular Johnny's trick to get 
 inside. She hadn't sent for him; but she 
 knew him and received him. His name is 
 Ted Daly, and he's at Bishop's restaurant 
 now, and it's about him that I was calling 
 up Ashby. I want you to find out his hotel 
 
 "Daly?" said Williams. "But if his 
 name is Daly, why did he tell the door-tender 
 his name was Hildreth?" 
 
 "What!" Atchison 's voice rose almost to 
 a scream. "You say he gave the name of 
 Williams, you're right ! You must be right ! 
 Morn has I can't believe I do believe it!
 
 LOOT 103 
 
 I know it! She's double-crossed me, tlie 
 lying, treacherous I'll make her pay! 
 I'll Williams!" ~By an effort he calmed 
 himself. 
 
 "Williams," he began again, more calmly, 
 "he was at Bishop's restaurant within an 
 hour. Get over there at once! Ashby and 
 Brant with you ? Take them. Wait ! Have 
 one of them phone the house and get every 
 one there on the trail. If Hildreth isn't 
 there and Daly is a name that might pos- 
 sibly help you in identifying him find out 
 where he went." 
 
 "And where '11 you be?" asked Williams. 
 
 "Here." He gave the name and address 
 of the drug store. "I don't want to start 
 down-town. Hildreth may be gone from 
 Bishop's. I'd only have to follow after you 
 then. You telephone me the moment you Ve 
 jeither landed him or found where he went; 
 or, if you haven't learned that, phone any- 
 way." 
 
 "And if it has to be done in a hurry; and 
 ain't easy shall we take chances!"
 
 1(M LOOT 
 
 "The biggest chance we're taking is in 
 letting him go," snapped Atchison. "Take 
 any chance, no matter how wide open. 
 That's why I want you to get the crowd at 
 the house. No one, by any chance, could 
 identify any of them. Have plenty of taxis, 
 and if you can't kidnap him do the other. 
 Quick!'' 
 
 Atchison hung up the receiver and left 
 the booth. 
 
 ".Waiting for a call," he told the sleepy 
 clerk, who nodded uninterestedly. 
 
 He leaned against a show case ; and now, 
 when there was something tremendous on, 
 when any wrath he had hitherto felt against 
 Morn was made infinitesimal by comparison 
 with the wild fury that possessed him now, 
 his face was devoid of any expression save a 
 granitelike hardness. 
 
 That he did not rush at once to Morn 
 Light's apartment proved his great control 
 of self. Morn had betrayed him, played 
 with him, laughed at him, snatched his prey
 
 LOOT 105 
 
 from his grasp. Williams' words fitted in 
 beautifully with the other evidence the 
 overheard telephoning, Morn's false reason 
 for the call, her later story that was the more 
 plausible because it contained half truths. 
 
 He even remembered, with a flash of scorn 
 for himself, that he had overlooked its po- 
 tentiality love had blinded his attitude 
 toward Morn; in another he would have 
 weighed these things that Morn wore the 
 same shoes she had on when she arrived at 
 Patello's. Even the sprained ankle, then, 
 was fictitious. She had pretended in order 
 that she might have an opportunity to send 
 for Hildreth. The latter had probably told 
 the truth to the stage door-tender that 
 Morn wished to see him. 
 
 But why? Morn knew nothing of Hil- 
 dreth 's unwitting connection with the plans 
 of the Gray Ghost. At least, Atchison had 
 told her nothing of it. Morn knew nothing 
 definite, save that something tremendous 
 impended that is, from the lips of Atchison
 
 106 LOOT 
 
 she had learned no more than that. lAJnd she 
 could not have guessed names and details. 
 Somebody must have told her I Who ? 
 
 He was still expressionless as he came thus 
 far in his reasoning, but his rage, was di- 
 rected away from Morn for a moment 
 toward the unknown who had yielded up the 
 'Gray Ghost's secrets to a scheming woman. 
 His thoughts went back to Morn. 
 
 A scheming woman! How dared she? 
 How dared she! Had she pretended com- 
 plaisance all along ? Had even her questions 
 of to-night been deeply thought out, uttered 
 with a hope of winning knowledge from him 
 that later she might hand over to some one 
 else ? It was impossible ; but what else did 
 her connection with Hildreth mean ? 
 
 Still, he did not go to her apartment. If 
 Morn was treacherous it would be better to 
 keep her in ignorance of his suspicions, so 
 that she might unwittingly inform the 
 many who would watch her from to-night on 
 of the identity of those who profited by her
 
 LOOT 107 
 
 treachery. As soon as "Williams phoned 
 again he would have watchers stationed out- 
 side the Glenworth. Meantime he could 
 wait.
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 HILDRETH LEARNS OF THE GRAY GHOST; AND 
 AVOIDS SOME CALLERS 
 
 HILDRETH rang for a servant and re- 
 quested to see Jacques. The head waiter 
 came in a moment. 
 
 "Miss Light," said Hildreth, "just tele- 
 phoned me. The end of her speech sounded 
 queer ; not merely her words they; were 
 disconnected, entirely foreign to what she 
 had been saying but her voice was queer. It 
 was as though some one had quietly entered 
 the room and she had discovered his pres- 
 ence just in time." 
 
 "It is probable, monsieur," said Jacques. 
 
 "And is she in danger at the hands of that 
 person?" 
 
 Jacques hesitated. 
 
 "Mademoiselle is a brilliant actress; far 
 108
 
 LOOT 109 
 
 more brilliant than her comic-opera efforts 
 require. If she heard this some one in time 
 she can be trusted to play a part well. She 
 is of quick wit, monsieur." 
 
 "But if she didn't hear his entrance in 
 time? ;Whatthen?" 
 
 Jacques' swarthy face grew a shade 
 lighter. 
 
 "I do not like to think of that, monsieur," 
 he said slowly. 
 
 "That's enough, Jacques," said Hildreth. 
 
 He started for the door, but the waiter 
 barred his path. 
 
 "Monsieur ! Monsieur, I beg of you !" 
 
 "But you yourself said that she was in 
 danger 1" cried Hildreth. 
 
 "But if she were monsieur would be too 
 late ! He would only expose himself." 
 
 "And you'd have me make that a reason 
 for sitting quietly here?" cried Hildreth. 
 
 He pushed the Frenchman aside, but 
 Jacques clung to his arm. 
 
 "But listen, monsieur ; but listen !" gasped 
 Jacques. "Mademoiselle is wonderful but
 
 I1Q LOOT, 
 
 wonderful! The chances are a hundred to 
 one that she is not suspected yet ; and, if she 
 is, the chances are still the same that she will 
 carry off the situation. She has brains. She 
 has poise. Suppose she is not suspected and 
 that monsieur goes to her apartment what 
 then?" 
 
 " L Well, what then! I'm a grown man, 
 capable of taking care of her!" 
 
 "Against the Gray Ghost? Monsieur is 
 big, is strong, doubtless, has courage of a 
 surety; but against the Gray Ghost " 
 
 ,The Frenchman released his grip of Hil- 
 'dreth's arm; he leaned again the wall and 
 mopped his forehead with a handkerchief. 
 Hildreth stared at him, amazed. 
 
 "You don't mean to tell me Look here, 
 Jacques ; I'm not a child, afraid of the bogy- 
 man. You're talking sheer nonsense, aren't 
 you?" 
 
 "Monsieur has heard of the Gray Ghost, 
 has he not?" 
 
 "As I've heard of Arsene Lupin, Raffles 
 and others. He doesn't exist, does he? I
 
 LOOT; 111 
 
 thought lie was a myth, a scapegoat when the 
 police Johnnies over here came a cropper." 
 
 "Yet has not Scotland Yard permitted 
 him to take the blame for certain affairs 
 that have happened in England?" 
 
 "I thought they were taking a leaf out of 
 the book of the police over here. You don't 
 mean to tell me that there really is such a 
 You don't mean to say that he might be with 
 Miss Light now?" 
 
 Jacques nodded. 
 
 "It is not impossible, monsieur. [And if 
 monsieur should go up to her apartment now 
 and the Gray Ghost should be there Mon- 
 sieur is, as I have said, of a strength and 
 .courage most admirable; but the Gray 
 Ghost is the Gray Ghost ! Monsieur would 
 sign his death-warrant. That is monsieur's 
 business. But he would also sign the death- 
 warrant of Mademoiselle Light, who has 
 risked much in his behalf." 
 
 He straightened up and moved away from 
 the wall. He touched Hildreth on the arm 
 and his eyes pleaded.
 
 112 LOOT 
 
 "But he's only; one man, if he's not a myth 
 and is a reality. One man ! ' ' 
 
 "But such a man!" cried Jacques. "And, 
 though he seems to be alone who can tell 
 who lurk in the shadows I [Who knows how 
 many; score of his followers are within a 
 dozen yards? Monsieur, if you have any 
 gratitude for a lady who has faced danger 
 for you, you will stay here." 
 
 Swiftly Hildreth moved between the 
 Frenchman and the door. 
 
 "I'm not a child, Jacques, 7 ' he said 
 warningly. "I've been playing puss-in-the- 
 corner, darting from one place to another, 
 long enough. iWhat is Miss Light's connec- 
 tion with the Gray Ghost ? Who is the Gray 
 'Ghost ? Where do I belong in his scheme of 
 things f [You know ; t ell me ! " 
 
 Jacques shrugged his shoulders. He 
 shook his head. 
 
 "Yery well," said Hildreth. "I shall 
 leave here. I shall go to the nearest police- 
 man, as I should have done some hours ago. 
 I shall tell him all I know or suspect. The
 
 LOOT 113 
 
 police aren't helpless! They 6an round up 
 this Gray Ghost in an hour, can't they?" 
 
 "They have been trying to round him up 
 for ten years, monsieur." 
 
 "But Miss Light can identify him, can tell 
 where he.is to be found, can't she?" 
 
 "And suppose she did? [What then? 
 Monsieur, I know, the police know, other 
 people know, what the Gray Ghost has done 
 here and in Europe. [We know it! But, 
 monsieur, it can not be proved. There is no 
 evidence ; has never been any evidence." 
 
 "But his gang a confession " 
 
 Jacques laughed harshly. 
 
 "A confession ! Monsieur, there is not one 
 of his gang that would confess. [Why ? Be- 
 cause they know they would not live long 
 to enjoy the fruits of treachery to him. 
 Monsieur is not familiar with events here ? 
 Listen : Four years ago, in Chicago, a bank 
 was robbed. A certain man was arrested on 
 suspicion. Certain securities were found in 
 his lodgings. Monsieur, he was an ignorant 
 criminal, of the class called yeggmen. Aiy*
 
 114 LOOT 
 
 the robbery; it is not good to admire crime, 
 but one can admire genius. And genius had 
 directed that robbery. Only the fact that 
 this yeggman drank, and, in his cups talked, 
 caused his arrest. 
 
 "Monsieur, it was evident that, though 
 this man possessed some of the fruits of the 
 robbery, he could not have planned it and 
 carried it through alone. The Gray Ghost's 
 hand showed in every way. Yet, monsieur, 
 a week after his arrest, he confessed ! And, 
 monsieur, it was not robbery alone that he 
 had to answer for ; it was murder, for a night 
 watchman had been slain. Yet he confessed ! 
 Confessed and swore that he, and he alone, 
 had planned the robbery, committed it and 
 murdered the watchman. 
 
 "Monsieur, he was sentenced to death. 
 Monsieur, he was in the death house ! And 
 then oh, by the veriest of accidents a 
 sheriff from another county visited the death 
 house. He saw the yeggman and recognized 
 him. Monsieur, at the time the bank was
 
 LOOT 115 
 
 robbed this criminal was serving the last day 
 of his sentence in a workhouse, a sentence 
 imposed the previous month for drunken- 
 ness. So he could hardly have planned the 
 crime and certainly not have executed it. 
 
 " There was a- stay of execution obtained. 
 The man was examined again. Still, he 
 maintained that he had done the crime for 
 which he was to die. Monsieur, it was so 
 palpably false that he was pardoned by the 
 governor ; it had to be. To have let him die 
 for a crime he had not committed would 
 have been a travesty on justice. He was 
 given a sentence for perjury in the hope that 
 he would, under constant watch, betray his 
 associates somehow. He never did. He was 
 released two years ago. And while he stayed 
 in jail, both in the death house and later, his 
 wife and children moved into better quar- 
 ters; the wife hired a servant; she bought 
 her own house. Where did the money come 
 from? She would not say, nor could it be 
 discovered. But she received it."
 
 116 LOOT 
 
 "You mean to tell me that this yeggman 
 would have died for the reward his wife re- 
 ceived?" demanded Hildreth incredulously. 
 
 "I will tell you what is believed by those 
 who should know, ? ' answered Jacques. ' ' The 
 man was of the gang ; his arrest for drunk- 
 enness had prevented him from taking part 
 In the robbery, but he received his share of 
 the profit. Again he drank. His drinking 
 had jeopardized the Gray Ghost. And so, 
 monsieur, he was told that he must bear the 
 whole guilt. His wife and family would be 
 looked after. But that was not all. So 
 surely as he told the truth, he would die. 
 And he knew that he would die. He had to 
 choose between death with poverty for his 
 'family and death with comfort for his fam- 
 ily. He chose the latter." 
 
 "But if the Gray Ghost is. so well 
 known " 
 
 "Have I said he was well known? I I, 
 monsieur, have long wanted to see him. Per- 
 haps I have! I do not know it. Mademoi- 
 selle Light undoubtedly has seen him, but is
 
 LOOT 117 
 
 she certain that the man she knows is the* 
 Gray Ghost ? I do not think so. Men have 
 gone to jail and the police have said; 'This 
 is the Gray Ghost T And the next week a 
 crime has been committed that only the Gray 
 Ghost could have planned, and they realize 
 that they have been wrong. " 
 
 "But why don't the police arrest the man 
 that Miss Light thinks is the Gray Ghost?" 
 
 "The police?" -Jacques laughed scorn- 
 fully. "The police are not in Miss Light's 
 confidence. Bunglers I If they knew what 
 she knew doubtless they would arrest him 
 if they found him. !And what have they 
 against him? What proof? None, mon- 
 sieur. But if the 'Gray Ghost could be lo- 
 cated, if he could be watched as he planned 
 a crime, if he could be seized at the very 
 moment of its consummation then, mon- 
 sieur, a nation, a world, would be rid of the 
 most damnable " He coughed violently 
 ^and when he removed his handkerchief from 
 his mouth he was very white. "I am ex- 
 cited," he said. "It is not well for me.
 
 LOOT 
 
 . . . Monsieur appreciates the delicacy of 
 mademoiselle 's position 1 ' ' 
 
 " You mean tliat she is a spy, a detective ?" 
 exclaimed Hildreth. 
 
 "In the ordinary; sense, no. Monsieur, I 
 known little. Mademoiselle has entrusted me 
 with little commissions occasionally. To you 
 and to you alone have I ever mentioned her 
 name in connection with that of the Gray 
 Ghost. To have it known, even to the police, 
 would be to sign her death-warrant. The 
 Gray Ghost would know. Le T)on Dieu alone 
 knows how she has deceived him thus far; 
 but I must talk no more ; I have said too 
 much. Only for some reason I know not 
 what mademoiselle is interested in mon- 
 sieur. I understand that monsieur is in dan- 
 ger and that mademoiselle has tried to avert 
 it. More than that I do not know. I would 
 tell monsieur if I did, for monsieur is hon- 
 est. But yes, it is apparent in monsieur's 
 face. I, Jacques, who was not always a head 
 waiter, read faces. Monsieur is honest. So 
 I have trusted him; and so I beg him, if the,
 
 LOOT 119 
 
 safety of mademoiselle is aught to him, to 
 remain here." 
 
 "And the police?" said Hildreth hope- 
 lessly once more. 
 
 " Monsieur could find no swifter way of 
 assuring mademoiselle's death than to in- 
 form the police. While the Gray Ghost lives 
 until he is behind steel bars, at least 
 there is no safety for those who war against 
 him. And a premature arrest without 
 proof but I have explained. Monsieur will 
 wait?" 
 
 "Ill do it," said Hildreth. "At least 111 
 wait an hour or so." 
 
 "And doubtless monsieur will have word 
 of mademoiselle before then. Will monsieur 
 eat now ? I could recommend " 
 
 "Oh, bring me anything at all, Jacques," 
 said Hildreth despondently. "I'm not par- 
 ticularly hungry." 
 
 "Yet food is good when one must do with- 
 out sleep, ' ' said Jacques. * * I will bring mon- 
 sieur something that will tempt his appe- 
 tite."
 
 120 LOOT, 
 
 His manner immediately; became that of a 
 waiter again. He looked at the cloth on the 
 table, found it not to his liking, and removed 
 it. iWith a jerky bow he opened the door, 
 and passed out of the room, taking the cloth 
 with him. He was back again in a moment. 
 
 "Monsieur!" he whispered, white of face. 
 "Hen whom mademoiselle has indicated to 
 me at times! with whom, of purpose, she 
 has dined here that I may, observe them! 
 they are coming along the hall. Monsieur - 
 quick!" 
 
 He pointed to the velvet curtains. Like a 
 flash Hildreth had drawn them aside and 
 was through the doorway they concealed. 
 Swiftly, yet cautiously, he shot the bolts on 
 the other side, then pressed his ear against 
 the upper panel. He heard a key scrape and 
 turn in the door, and blessed the quick wit 
 of Jacques that had made him lock it. He 
 heard the key withdrawn. Then he heard 
 Jacques begin humming a little French air, 
 and could tell that the waiter was replacing 
 the cloth on the table. Then the farther door,
 
 LOOT 121 
 
 opened. There was a rush of feet that sud- 
 denly halted, as though the intruders, in- 
 tending to take somebody by surprise, were 
 astounded to find only a waiter. 
 
 "You, waiter! ^Where's the man who was 
 inhere?" 
 
 Hildreth thrilled at the voice. It was that 
 of the man who had crossed in front of him 
 at the theater on his way to get a smoke ap- 
 parently, and who had begged Hildreth 's 
 pardon for incommoding him. 
 
 "Man who was in here, monsieur?" an- 
 Bwered Jacques. "There has been no one 
 here for half an hour." 
 
 "Maybe he's telling the truth," said an- 
 other voice, as though to restrain the first 
 speaker from attacking the waiter. "The 
 phone girl down-stairs said that Daly was in 
 this room, because she'd connected him for 
 a call. But that was over half an hour ago. ' ' 
 
 "Messieurs are noisy," said Jacques 
 coldly. "May I ask why they intrude and 
 threaten?" 
 
 "If you're wise you'll ask nothing,"
 
 122 LOOT 
 
 snarled a third voice. "You say the man 
 who was here left half an hour ago?" 
 
 "But, yes, certainly," responded Jacques. 
 
 "Then why did you step out, see us andX 
 step quickly back?" 
 
 "I shook my cloth in the hall," said 
 Jacques. "Monsieur will not remark it, I 
 beg. But it is late and I am tired, and I 
 wish not to walk down-stairs to shake the so- 
 few crumbs from it." 
 
 "This is the fourth time to-day," said the 
 second speaker. "He's got away again. If 
 we lose him " He whistled softly. ' ' I don 't 
 want to be the one to tell him !" 
 
 "Nor I," said the first speaker. "But if 
 the waiter lies " 
 
 ' ' Oh, come on, Ashby. "Why should he lie ? 
 Where does he come in ? Come down-stairs 
 and" 
 
 Hildreth waited for no more. If it had 
 been possible, after hearing Morn's voice 
 over the telephone and after listening to 
 Jacques, to have had any doubts, they would 
 have been swept away by his certain evi-
 
 LOOT 123 
 
 denee thai the actress labored under no mis- 
 apprehension, that he himself was not over- 
 alarmed. Proof piled on proof that he was 
 the victim of some deadly plan. 
 
 He darted down the stairs at which he had 
 looked sometime earlier. He would beat the 
 others to the street. And as he ran a thought 
 came to him. If these men emissaries, of 
 course, of the Gray Ghost knew that he 
 was to be at Bishop's, they must have 
 learned it from only one person. That per- 
 son was Morn Light ! So then, while he had 
 listened to Jacques, been persuaded by the 
 Frenchman, Morn had beten in danger; fou 
 the Gray Ghost must have won the secret of 
 the appointment from her. 
 
 How ? Hildreth shuddered. If the Gray 
 Ghost really existed and were one-tenth as 
 evil as repute made him., the manner of his 
 forcing Hildreth 's whereabouts from Morn 
 would not bear contemplation not if the 
 Englishman wished to preserve his reason. 
 And there was a chance that the Gray Ghost 
 was still with Morn, had directed his fol-
 
 124 LOOT 
 
 lowers by telephone from her apartment, 
 .was even now gloating over the tortured vic- 
 tim of his horrifying wickedness. It was 
 no time to appeal to the police; it was no 
 time to hesitate. It was the time for Hil- 
 clreth, regardless of his own danger, to rush 
 lo the girl's aid and, if too late, to die in the 
 effort to exact vengeance if need be. He for- 
 got everything save Morn. 
 
 "The Glenworth like the "devil!" he said 
 fo the startled chauffeur of a taxi drawn up 
 opposite the side, entrance from which he 
 had emerged.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HILDRETH MEETS THE GRAY GHOST 
 
 THE hall boy slept over the telephone desk 
 in the Glenworth. Hildreth shook him into 
 surprised wakefulness. 
 
 "Miss Light's apartment jfjuick!" 
 
 ' ' Next floor, suh, ' ' said the boy. " I '11 ring 
 her right away, suh." 
 
 ' l Never mind ringing ! ' ' snapped Hildreth. 
 "Tell me, do you know whether she has any 
 Other callers?" 
 
 "Dere was a gemmen went up 'bout a 
 liouah ago, suh. Mebbe he come down, but I 
 ain't seen him. [But if I lets you up wifout 
 ringin' I might lose my job, suh." 
 
 "Ill see that you don't," said Hildreth. 
 "Left or right hand apartment?" 
 
 "Eight, suh right at de top of de stairs," 
 replied the boy, his fingers closing OYgr the 
 
 125
 
 126 LOOT 
 
 bill Hildreth placed in his palm. He was 
 nodding again before the Englishman had 
 got half-way up the stairs. .What did he care 
 about the' eccentricities of Miss Light's 
 caller, his wildness of manner, or the late- 
 ness of the hour, when his fingers had felt 
 palm oil! He was smiling cheerfully; as he 
 nodded. The bill was a five. 
 
 Hildreth tried the door gently. It was 
 locked. He could not, then, if the Gray 
 jGrhost was inside, hope to surprise him. He 
 wished he had a weapon, but the fact that he 
 'did not have one did not deter him. He rang 
 the bell. In a moment the door opened and 
 he beheld Morn Light. 
 
 His knees felt suddenly weak. He felt 
 suddenly dizzy, reaction clouding his brain ; 
 but only for a second. Then he was inside, 
 the door closed behind him, her hands in his. 
 
 "You!" he said. "You! And I was 
 afraid that he might have you're not hurt? 
 'Surely he knew that you had warned me, 
 were planning to warn me further?" He 
 dropped her hands. ' l You didn 't tell him to
 
 LOOT 127 
 
 save yourself? But forgive me, Morn." 
 And neither he nor she seemed to find it ex- 
 traordinary that he should use her first 
 name. "Of course you didn't! You couldn't, 
 you brave " 
 
 Again he reached for her hands ; but she 
 put them behind her, backing away. She, 
 was very white in the glow of the electric 
 bulbs. 
 
 1 i Why did you come ? I told you to wait, ' ' 
 she whispered. 
 
 ' * Is he here ? ' ' queried Hildreth. ' If he 
 is " 
 
 He pushed by her into the drawing-room ; 
 but it was empty. 
 
 "Why did you come?" 
 
 "They knew I was at Bishop's. I barely 
 avoided them," he answered. "Didn't you 
 know? "We Jacques and I They came 
 and he got me away. I was afraid that he 
 the Gray Ghost, I mean ; Jacques told me of 
 him had somehow found out from you " 
 
 ' ' That I had betrayed you ? And still you 
 came?" Her eyes were wondering.
 
 128 LOOT 
 
 "What if you had? And I really didn't 
 think at all I was afraid to; I only knew 
 that if they knew where I was they must 
 suspect your connection with my being 
 there " 
 
 "And he must; he must!'' cried Morn. 
 " Unless he might still think you Daly, and 
 out of jealousy " She blushed. 
 
 "It couldn't be that," Hildreth answered, 
 puzzled. "I heard one of them say that this 
 was the fourth time they'd lost me they 
 meant me Hildreth. But how did he 
 know?" 
 
 "I didn't tell him." 
 
 "Of course not I OBut if you had I 
 shouldn't blame you. i5Tou've done enough 
 for me. [But he knew. How ? ' 9 
 
 She looked the picture of amazed despair. 
 She shook her head. 
 
 "I can't guess. The usher that took my 
 note to you he wouldn't have told. I 
 warned him not to. Why should he have 
 connected Ted Daly with Wade Hildreth? 
 And if he did do that and he must have
 
 LOOT 129 
 
 he knows that I You must go at once! 
 I am safe. But you " 
 
 "For how long?" demanded Hildreth. 
 "If he knows that you " 
 
 The fright on her face, which she bravely 
 attempted to hide, but which was still so vis- 
 ible, made his heart ache. 
 
 ' ' Sit down, ' ' he said bruskly. ' ' Have you 
 anything to drink?" 
 
 She pointed to a desk". He opened the 
 upper part and found a decanter and glasses. 
 He poured out some liquor and gave it to 
 her. 
 
 "Drink it!" he ordered. 
 
 He went into the hall and came back in a 
 moment with the coat and hat he found 
 hanging there. 
 
 ' ' Put these on ! " he commanded. 
 
 She had sipped the brandy and there was 
 some color in her cheeks. 
 
 "If I should do that," she said, "it would 
 mean the end of hope. I can not. But 
 you " 
 
 "I tried the front door just now," he in-
 
 130 LOOT 
 
 terrupted. "It is locked. If lie should 
 .come and we think that there are others with 
 }rim, it will be a simple matter to open a 
 svindow and call for the police." 
 
 "You don't understand 1" she eried. "It 
 isn't my; safety that matters; I'm willing to 
 risk my; life to expose him. But your stag- 
 ing jeopardizes that end/' 
 
 "Now, listen," said Hildreth, "if this man 
 returns here we will do what I have just 
 Said; we will call for help. That it jeopar- 
 dizes your end means nothing to me, for the 
 attainment of that end endangers your life 
 and the end simply can't be worth anything 
 like that. Whatever your connection with 
 this .Gray Ghost Johnny may be, it ends to- 
 night. Do you understand me ? It has ended 
 already. If I do not get your promise to 
 Cease all attempts to land him in jail I shall 
 simply go directly to the police, tell them all 
 I know, and insist that a guard be put over 
 you. The presence of a detective in your 
 wake will certainly put an end to your trj;-
 
 LOOT 131 
 
 Ing to blind the Gray Ghost. You'll with- 
 draw from this mess." 
 
 "You assume a great deal of authority, 
 'don't you?" 
 
 "Because I feel that some one ought to. 
 There seems to be no one else capable of 
 assuming it, so I do so. Now then, if he 
 suspected you he would certainly not have 
 left you to your own devices. That he has 
 so left you makes it seem pretty certain to 
 me that his suspicions aren't definite enough 
 for him to act on as yet, which brings me 
 back to what I said a few moments ago. This 
 is the last place he 'd look for me. Now then, 
 if his suspicions become definite at any mo- 
 ment and he comes here looking for you, my; 
 presence can not make matters any worse. 
 Indeed, my presence may deter him from 
 'doing anything rash. ' ' And Hildreth smiled 
 grimly. 
 
 She eyed him appraisingly. 
 
 "If he came alone- perhaps." 
 
 "And if he doesn't taere are the windows
 
 132 LOOT 
 
 to call from, ' ' he said. ' ' Now then, I'm con- 
 vinced that it adds nothing to your danger 
 for me -to remain. If he comes at all he 
 comes for evil. I propose to be here to block 
 that evil. Unless you'll come away with me 
 now?" 
 
 "And give up? You don't understand, 
 Mr. Hildreth. I have power over him ; a 
 little. I could persuade him that he 's wrong, 
 somehow, and be able to continue *" 
 
 "Oh, no, you won't. Tou evidently don't 
 understand me," he interrupted. "From 
 Jacques I obtained a pretty clear idea of 
 your plans. Where men have failed, you, a 
 woman, try to succeed. For some reason or 
 other you have determined to bring the Gray 
 Ghost to justice. Such a proceeding is too 
 fraught with danger for me to permit you to 
 attempt it. Tou may drop now and for 
 all time, Miss Light, any idea of prosecuting 
 your plans against the man. Jacques said 
 that a word to the police would spoil every- 
 thing. I shall give the police that word." 
 
 "But why? Why? I have risked some-
 
 LOOT 133 
 
 thing for you! Why should you wish to 
 spoil my chances for success?" 
 
 "That, Miss Light," he answered, "is 
 something I can not explain without seeming 
 presumptuous." Then, as she Mushed, 
 whether with anger or from other reasons 
 he could not tell, he continued: "We're 
 alone now, at any rate. Your maid is evi- 
 'dently safe in her room. The Gray Ghost 
 isn't in the apartment. Don't you think it's 
 about time I received an explanation? I've 
 obeyed orders pretty well, except in coming 
 up here, and circumstances must apologize 
 for that breach. 
 
 "I must tell you this : If I do not receive 
 an explanation from you it is my intention 
 at once to put the police in possession of the 
 knowledge of all that has happened to me 
 this evening. I will do so, not from fear for 
 myself but because it is my duty. I am 
 here on missions of considerable importance. 
 I can not permit them to suffer interference. 
 Furthermore, I can not permit you, a young 
 girl, to undergo the dangers that so evidently
 
 131 LOOT 
 
 beset you. Now then, Miss Light, why did 
 you send for me to come to your dressing- 
 room?" 
 
 "To warn you." 
 
 "Of course I understand that ; but against 
 what ? Where does this Gray Ghost Johnny 
 come in with me ? And how did you know 
 who I was?" 
 
 "I recognized you from your picture." 
 
 "My picture! But where on earth had 
 you seen it?" 
 
 "In England. If I tell you what I know, 
 will you go? And hide? And not inform 
 the police, but leave me to" 
 
 ' l Pace this Gray Ghost ? Not much 1 ' ' 
 
 "But can't you trust my brains? I can 
 handle the situation, no matter what he sus- 
 pects. I can explain that you had a letter of 
 introduction to me under the name of Daly 
 from an English actress; that I told him 
 you were an old friend because I was afraid 
 he would permit me to gain no new friends 
 just now; that I didn't dream you were 
 Hildreth."
 
 LOOT 135 
 
 ' ' Too thin ! He 'd not believe you. ' ' 
 
 * i No ? ' ' Morn looked at him, and he drank 
 in her beauty. * ; You think he woul dn 't 1 ' ' 
 
 A flush of resentment possessed him. 
 
 1 'Even if he should, I don't intend that 
 you shall be put in a position to have to 
 lie" 
 
 "You don't? Mr. Hildreth, you assume 
 a lot." 
 
 "Forgive me," he stammered. "I mean 
 but how can I tell whether or not I'll con- 
 sent until I know more? You recognized 
 me?" 
 
 "I knew very vaguely that something 
 tremendous, the biggest crime of the century 
 of any century was planned. That was 
 all. But I also knew that an Englishman 
 had something to do with it ; that he was to 
 be decoyed somehow and killed, I guessed. 
 I did not know the details. I did not know 
 his name or how he was connected with the 
 affair. I had nothing to go on. I would 
 have saved this man, but how could I ? . 
 
 "There was no evidence that would go
 
 13 LOOT 
 
 with the police, with the courts. I had to 
 wait until I knew all. That this English- 
 man would suffer was dreadful to contem- 
 plate, but how could I warn him I If I said 
 that the man whom I believe to be the Gray; 
 Ghost w y as the Gray Ghost I should have 
 been laughed at, for I had no proof! And 
 such prematureness meant failure of 
 everything. This Englishman, whoever he 
 might be, would not be saved by any dis- 
 closures I might give the police, even though 
 they were willing to act on what would seem 
 the hysteria of a silly girl. So I could do 
 nothing, but pray. 
 
 "Then, to-night at the theater I found a 
 note from " 
 
 "The Gray Ghost ?" queried Hildreth 
 excitedly. 
 
 Her shoulders sagged wearily. 
 
 "I don't know for certain. In my heart 
 I call him that I do know but I have no 
 proof. . . . His note told me that I 
 should be needed to-night to entertain a 
 young Englishman. It was a command that
 
 LOOT 137 
 
 could not be disregarded. I was told to go 
 directly to a restaurant known as Patello's 
 as soon as my performance was over. 
 
 "I was horrified, but glad. I might in 
 some way, now that I was to meet this Eng- 
 lishman face to face, warn him. Then, in 
 the audience, I saw you. I played in London 
 last year in The Rose Garden." 
 
 "I saw it, but I don't remember you," said 
 Hildreth. 
 
 "I wasn't starring then. I had a minor 
 part. Moreover, when did you see it ? The 
 first month?" 
 
 "No," said Hildreth. "It was in the sec- 
 ond month. My cousin, Alice Beaumont, 
 had a part in it. But I was in Scotland on 
 business for a month after the play 
 opened " 
 
 "I know. Alice told me. We were rather 
 good friends. She showed me your picture 
 and spoke of you often. I spent many 
 nights at her apartment. Then, at the end 
 of a month, I had to return to New York. 
 A chance for a better part well, that's why
 
 138 LOOT 
 
 you didn't see me. Even if you'd ha\e re- 
 membered me " 
 
 t 'I think I should," he said dryly, and at 
 his tone she colored faintly. 
 
 "I saw you," she resumed. "I'm not al- 
 together certain that I'd have recognized 
 you but for the fact that next you I saw a 
 man who is one of his followers a man. 
 called Ashby. Ashby's face suggested the 
 young Englishman; that helped me in 
 placing you, and then I knew. Ashby was 
 spying on you, keeping close to you. It was 
 more now than warning an utter stranger; 
 it was a matter of warning the cousin of a 
 dear friend of mine. And I had to do it 
 quickly; it might already be too late, but I 
 didn't think so. Ashby didn't seem to have 
 made your acquaintance and I prayed that 
 he would not. 
 
 "I knew that I must warn you; so I pre- 
 tended to hurt my ankle. Once in my dress- 
 ing-room, I got rid of Celia, my maid, and 
 got a stage hand to give a note to an usher. 
 The usher used to be a newsboy ; I got him
 
 LOOT 139 
 
 his place ; he would not give me away. But 
 I dared not put my warning in the note I 
 sent you. You might be alarmed and take 
 the matter up with the police. And when 
 you came to me I dared not explain; Celia 
 might return at any moment ; she might be- 
 come suspicious she is of his followers. So 
 I made the appointment and warned you not 
 to go back to your seat. During the second 
 act, when I was not on stage, I got rid of 
 Celia again and used the telephone back 
 stage to call up Jacques, whom I could trust 
 I have had dealings with him and 
 warned him of your coming. 
 
 "I had to keep my appointment at Pa- 
 tello 's. I did so, thinking that, as they would 
 have lost you, I should be free. But I was 
 told to go to my apartment and wait. I 
 dared not leave. I sent Celia out for another 
 headache cure. Then I telephoned you, beg- 
 ging you to wait, thinking that after they 
 were through with me I could still see you 
 and make you understand how deadly was 
 your danger. He came in as I was phoning
 
 140 LOOT 
 
 and you know how I acted. Then I lied to 
 him, saying that you had called me up. 
 !When I discovered that he had overheard 
 the hall boy getting the connection for me I 
 made him think I was a little ashamed at be- 
 ing caught apologizing to a man. I pre- 
 tended you were an old friend and that I'd 
 been rude to you, and then that you'd pre- 
 sumed on my apology to insist on my going 
 out. I thought that satisfied him. 
 
 "I was afraid, after he had gone, to use 
 the telephone again. I could not be sure 
 that he was deceived; he might be waiting 
 down-stairs to overhear my message. Negro 
 hall boys can be bribed, you know. And then 
 you came ! And you tell me that he knows. 
 Will you go now?" 
 
 "But you've told me nothing," he pro- 
 tested. 
 
 "I've told all I know about you. You 
 probably can guess why they should be in- 
 terested in you." 
 
 "I imagine that a two-million-dollar neck-
 
 LOOT 141 
 
 lace would interest the Gray Ghost and his 
 precious gang," said Hildreth. 
 
 "Two million dollars! .Oh, you must 
 go ! [Why y our life ' ' 
 
 "Your life! Let's consider that," cried 
 Hildreth. "If his plans, whatever they are, 
 go astray through you, what will your life 
 be worth ? 
 
 matter how wicked, does not easily destroy 
 that which he loves." 
 
 "You mean that he " 
 
 She nodded wearily. 
 
 "He thinks so. I did not realize it until 
 recently. He had made a promise never to 
 speak to me of love. I hoped he had got over 
 it. But to-nighi>-" 
 
 "And you will submit to his love mak- 
 ing?" 
 
 "I must." 
 
 "Because of your plan to But you speak 
 of his orders, his commands. Is there more 
 than your plan ? Has he a hold over you ? ' '
 
 "Not enough to make me marry him; I 
 cauld die, you kntfw," she said quietly. 
 ' l But, except for that yes. Or, he has had ; 
 I can't explain now!" 
 
 "A hold over you!" he repeated wonder- 
 ingly. "And yet you work against him? 
 Risking your life at every moment ! Morn, 
 Morn, you can't ! Listen ! You know some- 
 thing of him. Not enough for proof, you 
 say; but let the police judge of that." 
 
 ' i I must wait, ' ' she answered. ' i If things 
 are as I think they are and if I can deceive 
 him once more about you and I'm sure I 
 can within three days by Thursday I 
 will have the proof I need. And then " 
 
 Her eyes lighted with exultation \ but 
 there was none in Hildreth's eyes. 
 
 "And you think I'll let you continue in 
 danger until then ? Risk his wrath ? Morn, 
 listen to me ! You say you are not sure that 
 this man who holds you in his power is the 
 gray Ghost?" 
 
 "He may only be the agent of the .Gray 
 Ghost," she replied.
 
 LOOT 143 
 
 "But the agent could lead us to liis mas- 
 ter. Tell me this man's name. Where does 
 he live ? You and I will leave here now. I 
 will put you somewhere in some hotel 
 where he can't find you. ' Then I'll go not 
 to the police, but to a detective agency. They 
 may laugh at me, but I'll pay them well. 
 We'll go to this man's lodgings. We'll take 
 him. We'll wring the truth from him. 
 Morn, tell me his name. What is the name 
 of this man you think is the Gray Ghost?" 
 
 "Yes, Morn; tell him my name," said a 
 yoice from the doorway. 
 
 Hildreth turned. Gray of hair, of com- 
 plexion, of clothing, JTildreth had only time 
 to realize that the intruder, if he were not 
 the Gray Ghost, certainly looked that 
 wraithlike part. He snatched at a chair, but 
 the Gray Ghost stepped aside. Men filled 
 the little drawing-room.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 UERRY TEYON GOES TO HEADQUARTERS; HEAD- 
 QUARTERS GOES TO HIM 
 
 FORMER Police Lieutenant Jerry Tryon 
 moved away from the hospital bed on which 
 lay Jacques, head waiter at Bishop's. He 
 spoke to the young interne. 
 
 "He doesn't seem to be getting better," he 
 eaid. 
 
 The interne looked aggrieved. 
 
 "Man, dear, don't you realize that it's a 
 wonder he's alive at all? Nine men out of 
 ten, after receiving the blow that he re- 
 ceived, would have been the chief features 
 of funerals." 
 
 "But it doesn't seem natural, him lying 
 there, glassy-eyed, able to understand what 
 we're saying you're sure of that, eh? and 
 not able to say a word or even to wink an 
 eyelash." m 
 
 144
 
 LOOT 145 
 
 For the dozenth time the interne patiently 
 explained. 
 
 "A nerve center was struck at the base 
 of the brain. Paralysis was instant. And 
 men aren't cured of paralysis in a couple of 
 days, you know. It may be months it may 
 be years before he can speak or move a 
 muscle. One can never tell in cases like this. 
 He may be all right that is to say, he may 
 be able to communicate by signs move a 
 finger, you know by next week." 
 
 "And next week '11 be too late," comment- 
 ed Tryon. 
 
 "Too late for what?" asked the interne 
 curiously. 
 
 "Oh, nothing," said Tryon. "You're 
 giving him the best treatment? You're not 
 sparing any expense ?" 
 
 "Not so long as you'll guarantee his 
 bills," replied the interne. 
 
 "I'll guarantee 'em all right. [Wait till 
 you hear me call a halt," growled Tryon. 
 "All I want is that you'll do everything 
 possible and let me know the second he's
 
 146 LOOT 
 
 able to move. I could arrange signals with 
 him then, all right. Mind, day or night I 
 .want to know." 
 
 "You will, Mr. Tryon," promised the in- 
 terne, and the ex-lieutenant left the hospital. 
 
 He took a car, down-town and went to 
 police headquarters. There he was warmly 
 welcomed by his old associates. 
 
 "How's the spiritualist?" demanded De- 
 tective Captain Kenney. "Seein' any mys- 
 terious figures wrapped in shrouds these 
 flays?" 
 
 * ' L Quit your kidding ! ' ' said Tryon. * ' Any- 
 thing new on that French- waiter case?" 
 
 "Well," said Kenney, "there must be 
 more money in private detectin' than down 
 here, at that, if you're so pally with waiters 
 at a place like Bishop's. Suppose you can't 
 eat without him servin' you. Loads of class 
 to you, Jerry." 
 
 "Forget it," counseled Tryon. "The little 
 man was simply a friend of mine. Sure, I 
 eat at Bishop's once in a while and he al- 
 svays saw I got the best. I liked him. Can't
 
 LOOT 147 
 
 I be land of interested in finding out who 
 bumped him off, or tried to, without you 
 'trying to be funny?" 
 
 "Sure you can!" said Kenney heartily. 
 "But there ain't a blessed thing that's new. 
 The case is just the same. Some people 
 came into Bishop's late [Monday night; it 
 was really Tuesday morning. They in- 
 quired in what room a Mr. Daly was dining. 
 They were told. They said he expected 
 them and went right up. 'A. little later they 
 came down, and some little while after that 
 Jacques was found on the floor of the pri- 
 vate dining-room where this Daly guy had 
 been, with his clothes all torn apart, like 
 he'd been searched, and dead to the world. 
 Hone of Bishop's employees can give very 
 good descriptions of the men that went up- 
 stairs. They give a fair description of the 
 man who was waiting for them, the Daly 
 person. 
 
 "And we located the chauffeur that drove 
 Ihis Daly away from the side entrance of 
 [Bishop's just about the time his friends
 
 148 LOOT 
 
 went up-stairs. The chauffeur swears that 
 Daly told him to drive to the Pennsylvania 
 ^Station. The restaurant porter at the side 
 'door swears to the same thing. The chauf- 
 feur claims he did drive Daly where he was 
 told. And there Mr. Daly disappears at 
 the Pennsylvania Station. [Whether he did 
 the work, or his friends that came up later 
 did it, doesn't matter much. We can't lay 
 hands on any of them. Course we've 
 flashed Daly's description wherever we 
 'thought it would do any good, but there 
 ain't much in that, Jerry, as you know." 
 
 "No, there isn't," agreed Try on thought- 
 fully. He sighed. "Well, much obliged to 
 you, Captain. If anything does turn up in 
 the case let me know, will you?" 
 
 "Certain sure," said Kenney; " but the 
 Lord only knows where it'll turn up from. 
 The little Frenchman didn't seem to have 
 any enemies not that his neighbors knew 
 of, at any rate. He's been in this country 
 four years and worked hard, so they say.
 
 LOOT 149 
 
 Bishop's give him a good character. If he 
 was an Italian^ now, I'd be thinking of the 
 Black Hand; but there's nothing like that 
 among the Frenchies. I think it was a souse 
 party, myself, and they rough-housed the 
 little man harder than they meant. " 
 
 "Maybe so," said Tryon. "Well, much 
 obliged again, Captain. So long." 
 
 He passed out of the room and at sight of 
 a familiar figure in the hall he saluted. 
 
 "Kot forgotten how, have you, Tryon?" 
 smiled the commissioner of police. 
 
 "]STo, Commissioner," said Tryon. "Sa- 
 lutin* you comes natural." 
 
 "And I wish that seeing you were more 
 natural, Tryon," said the commissioner. 
 "Thinking of coming back to us? There's 
 a lieutenancy still waiting, you know. We've 
 missed you. Might make it a captaincy, 
 eh?" 
 
 1 With a roving commission to capture the 
 jGrray Ghost?" demanded Tryon. 
 
 "Dear me, are you still thinking of grave-
 
 150 LOOT . 
 
 yards?" laughed the commissioner. "Seri- 
 ously, Try on, you ought to drop it. There's 
 BO such man, no such individual." 
 
 "That's your opinion, Commissioner. You 
 don't mind my keeping mine?" 
 
 "You're no longer on the force, Try on," 
 said the commissioner, and now his voice 
 was cold. "If you wish to spoil what prom- 
 ised to be a most brilliant career by chasing 
 a chimera, why do it. When you can for- 
 get your obsession; when a crime can be 
 committed in another city without your 
 making this department a laughing-stock by 
 announcing that you see the eerie fingers of 
 the Gray Ghost in it come back." 
 
 "Yet I notice that this department is will- 
 ing to lay the blame of certain matters on 
 him even if he doesn't exist," said Try on 
 with a smile. 
 
 "You mean that when the department is 
 puzzled by a case, and the newspapers at- 
 tribute the crime to the Gray Ghost, this 
 "department doesn't bother to deny it, don't 
 you?"
 
 LOOT 151 
 
 "Does it matter?" queried Try on. 
 
 "Indeed it does! If a criminal thinks 
 we're chasing your mythical wraith he won't 
 be so careful. The Gray Ghost is a good her- 
 ring to draw across our trail ; but that's all." 
 
 "And I still maintain that he is a real per- 
 son," asseverated Try on. "And, further- 
 more, before I come back to the department 
 you'll admit it, Commissioner." 
 
 "Well," and the commissioner smiled 
 rather frostily, "I'm sorry that you're never, 
 coming back, Try on. .Good morning." 
 
 He entered Captain Kenney's room and 
 Tryon made his way down-stairs. Lounging 
 in the front hall of the building were several 
 newspaper men, known of old to the former 
 lieutenant. They greeted him with cheerful 
 acclaim. 
 
 "Lieut," cried one, "news is scarce. Shoot 
 us something about the Gray Ghost. Do 
 you see his fine and spooky hand in any- 
 thing that's happened recently?" 
 
 "Come on, Lieut," pleaded another. "Is 
 it true that the Gray Ghost has planned to
 
 152 LOOT 
 
 loot the Treasury at Washington! [What's 
 the straight dope on it?" 
 
 "Take a run," advised Tryon, grinning. 
 "You lads may string me, but some day " 
 
 Smiling at the chaff: they hurled at him 
 he had been a general favorite when with 
 the department and the newspaper men 
 liked him, and their liking was returned 
 he walked out of the building. But, once on 
 the street, his smile left him. He frowned 
 and was still frowning when he entered the 
 two-room office on lower Broadway on the 
 door of which was painted the sign : 
 
 JEREMIAH TRYOX 
 Detective Agency, Inc. 
 
 !& young man much younger than Tryon, 
 with the manner of one who has never 
 known what it is to struggle against misfor- 
 tune 's buffets, looked up from the chair by 
 the window of the inner room, where he sat, 
 legs crossed, idly smoking. 
 
 "Cheer up, Jerry!" he said. "Any new 
 developments?"
 
 LOOT 153 
 
 "None, Mr. Pelham," said Try on. 
 
 "Been to the hospital?" 
 
 "Uh-huh! He's just the same. No word 
 to be got from him, and here it is Thurs- 
 day." 
 
 "Well, what of it? You can't he certain 
 that anything is going to happen this week, 
 you know. Learn anything over at head- 
 quarters?" 
 
 "Nothing more. They haven't any idea 
 who slugged him. Oh, yes; I learned that 
 I'm a nut, same as usual. Brainerd said 
 I could have my job back offered me a 
 captaincy if I'd become sane and forget 
 about the Gray Ghost." 
 
 "What did you tell him?" 
 
 "I'm here, ain't I?" 
 
 Young Pelham tossed his cigarette into a 
 receiver. 
 
 "Buck up, Jer !" he said. "I'm still with 
 you, am I not?" 
 
 "You sure are, Mr. Pelham," said Tryon 
 gravely. "If it wasn't for you and your 
 
 coin "
 
 154 LOOT 
 
 " Forget the coin. You and I've been 
 friends since you used to tramp a beat in 
 front of my house. When I told you that I 
 was sick of doing nothing but spend the 
 money dad left me you proposed that I back 
 you in a hunt for the Gray Ghost. And 
 though the newspapers joked you, and 
 though you told me that even your friends 
 In the police department thought you were 
 a bit cracked over the matter, I believed in 
 you. I believe in you still." 
 
 "I appreciate it," said Try on. "But 
 you've put up dollar for dollar with me, Mr. 
 Pelham. Now I've about reached my last 
 dollar. Taking care of Jacques, the waiter, 
 will bust me. I don't know as I ought to let 
 you dig any deeper. Maybe I ought to ac- 
 cept some of the private business that's of- 
 fered me or go back to the force. I don't 
 know." 
 
 "And give up? Just because a French 
 waiter was batted on the bean? I've never 
 stuck to anything in my life. I'm going to
 
 LOOT 155 
 
 make a record; I'm going to stick to you till 
 the Gray Ghost is caught." 
 
 "And suppose Brainerd is right? Sup- 
 pose that all my dope is crazy and that there 
 isn't any such person?'' 
 
 "Then the drinks will be on you, Jerry. 
 But that's a long time off my being con- 
 vinced that youVe been wrong. You've 
 shown it to be a hundred times; gone over 
 crimes in minutest detail to prove that one 
 brain conceived them all. I believe it and 
 I'm with you till the bench breaks. As to 
 money I'll put ten thousand to the com- 
 pany's credit this very day. Does that en- 
 courage you ? Now then, where do we stand 
 to-day?" 
 
 "Same as yesterday; same as Tuesday; 
 same as Monday. Jacques can't talk, and 
 whoever the woman is she don't make a 
 sign." 
 
 "You're sure it is a woman, aren't you? 
 Jacques wasn't deceiving you?" 
 
 Tryon unlocked a small safe. He drew
 
 156 LOOT 
 
 out an envelope and extracted several pieces 
 of paper from it. 
 
 " There they are," he said. "Tell me a 
 woman didn't typewrite them! I know a 
 woman's touch on a machine. And why 
 should the little Frenchman deceive me?" 
 
 ' ' I don 't know, ' ' said Pelham vaguely. ' ' I 
 was merely figuring it out. But I don't sup- 
 pose he would. No reason for his doing 
 that." 
 
 "Didn't he or she make good?" de- 
 manded Tryon. "Here's the first note, 
 dated three months ago. I remember the 
 night Jacques handed it to me. I got a 
 phone message to step into Bishop's that 
 night and ask for table six. Tell me it 
 'wasn't a woman's voice! I know! I went 
 there, wondering what the game was. The 
 head waiter came to my table and asked me 
 whether I was Mr. Tryon. I told him yes 
 and he gave me this note. 
 
 " 'Hay and Grain National, Chicago, to- 
 night, ' was all it said. "When I asked him to 
 explain he shrugged his shoulders. He tells
 
 LOOT 157 
 
 me that if I ask any questions I'll kill the 
 goose that's laying golden eggs. I thought 
 it was a josh of some sort till the next day, 
 when I read in the morning papers that the 
 Hay and Grain National Bank of Chicago 
 had been looted the night before looted 
 right while I was trying to pump the little 
 Frenchman! And looted, unless I'm the 
 crazy guy the conimish and others think me, 
 by the Gray Ghost's gang ! I know his work. 
 He did it! 
 
 "And still Jacques won't explain. He 
 Bays that if I try to make him tell it will 
 result in my getting no more information. 
 He said that I had been chosen to capture 
 the Gray Ghost because of my well-known 
 theories about him. He said that if I 
 weren't content to work in the dark I'd be 
 'dropped quick. [Well, you know how we 
 reasoned it. If the party who sent that note 
 to me knew of the Chicago affair before it 
 happened, that party must have some great 
 dope cooked up for me, and I'd get it sooner 
 or later. And when Jacques tells me that
 
 158 LOOT 
 
 any attempt to find out who's slipping him 
 the info would cause all bets to be called off 
 I give him my word not to try to find out. 
 And I have kept my word, too. 
 
 "Here's the next note, dated eight weeks 
 ago. 'Tielman's Automobile Factory, De- 
 troit.' We know what happened there the 
 very night this note was handed to me. The 
 automobile place was busted into and the 
 pay-roll amounting to almost two hundred 
 thousand dollars was taken. 
 
 "And then there was the Memphis affair 
 and the Chattanooga matter. All of them 
 Gray Ghost work, or I'm a Dutchman! And 
 gach time the straight dope coming to me 
 just about the time the stunt is pulled, too 
 late for me to have it stopped. It wasn't 
 "Gray. Ghost brag ; I'm dead sure of that. It 
 was somebody on the inside tipping me off 
 merely to show she was reliable. That's 
 what it was. 
 
 * ' Then, four weeks ago I get a line : ' New 
 York next!' That's all. Two weeks ago 
 [Jacques hands me another note. 'Within a
 
 LOOT 159 
 
 fortnight,' it said. Last Sunday night an- 
 other said: 'During the coming week.' 
 Monday morning some one telephones me 
 and tells me to drop into Bishop's twice a 
 day after this. That's all the voice said. I 
 went up there Monday evening about six. 
 Jacques hands me a note. 'By Thursday at 
 the latest,' it says. 
 
 "I know better than to try to pump him, 
 but I ask him if I'll be wanted again. I'd 
 been there once before, at noon. He tells me 
 no, but to keep in readiness. He says that 
 the minute the time is ripe I'll get the whole 
 works and I'll land the man I'm after. 
 
 " 'The Gray Ghost,' says I. 
 
 "And for the first time he really slips me 
 something, himself. 'The writer of those 
 notes, monsieur, without doubt has impor- 
 tant knowledge that it is intended monsieur 
 shall have. I advise monsieur to sleep in his 
 office; not to leave it save for his trips up 
 bere, so as to be in readiness if the call 
 comes.' 
 
 "It was a cinch that it was intended to
 
 160 LOOT 
 
 pass me the good word before to-day. And 
 then, that same night, Jacques is slugged 
 and I can get nothing. Can you wonder, 
 with something big in readiness to be pulled 
 it must be big and the Gray Ghost himself 
 must be in on it that I feel like quitting? 
 Never got a thing on him myself in the year 
 you've been backing me. Spent my savings 
 and made you dig into your roll. Ready to 
 quit and admit I'm a sucker for thinking I 
 can ever lay my hands on him, and then he's 
 delivered into my clutches. And then he 
 slips out! For it's a cinch that the Gray 
 Ghost tumbled to the double-cross being 
 handed him and Jacques is the one who 
 has paid the penalty. Maybe the woman, 
 too. Oh, I'm a fool ! I could have got some 
 slick shadow to look after Jacques ; I might 
 have figured that no French waiter could 
 hand the Gray Ghost the toss, with any 
 woman to help him! But if I'd protected 
 the little man 
 
 "Mr. Pelham, maybe I'm a nut after all. 
 This evidence wouldn't make you think so,
 
 LOOT 161 
 
 though, would it? This evidence makes it 
 seem certain that there is a Gray Ghost and 
 that I was on the way to land him. But now 
 the little Frenchman is d. and o. I don't 
 hear from the woman " 
 
 He stopped suddenly as the telephone 
 rang. He leaped to the instrument and held 
 the receiver to his ear. Pelham watched 
 him. Over the ex-lieutenant's face came an 
 expression of incredulity. 
 
 "And you'll give me complete charge? 
 I'll be right over." 
 
 He slammed the telephone on the desk 
 and turned to Pelham, with eyes ablaze. 
 
 "It's Brainerd the commissioner. The 
 biggest thing that ever happened on Man- 
 hattan Island! The thing that I'd have 
 squelched if the little Frenchman had 
 played it safer." 
 
 "You mean the Gray Ghost >" 
 
 "Brainerd doesn't say so; but he says 
 that he's agreeing with me at last ! He says 
 that no one but a genius could have pulled 
 this trick. 'Call him the Gray Ghost or
 
 162 LOOT 
 
 what you will,' lie says to me. 'Come get 
 himi' he says. 'If he isn't the Gray Ghost 
 he might as well be, for he's done the big- 
 gest thing that ever was done/ 
 
 "Full powers over every detective on the 
 Island he's given me. And all the earmarks 
 of preparation, of organization, that have 
 made the Gray Ghost what he is are there ! 
 And Brainerd has come to me!" 
 
 "But what's he done?" cried Pelham. 
 
 "Done?" cried Tryon. "Done! He's 
 looted Arabin's that's what he's done!"
 
 .CHAPTER X 
 
 LOOT 
 
 AT PEECISELT ten on Thursday morning, 
 as lie had done every business day annual 
 vacations, trips in the interest of the con- 
 cern, and rare illnesses causing the only ex- 
 ceptions James F. Arabin, president and 
 practically sole owner of one of the greatest 
 jewelry houses in the world, passed through 
 the front entrance of his establishment. He 
 exchanged a pleasant good morning with the 
 jebony attendant at the door, nodded in 
 'friendly fashion to what clerks caught hia 
 eye, and strode, majestic in well-cut frock 
 coat and silk hat, and bland and serene with 
 his mutton-chop whiskers, along aisles bor- 
 'dered by show cases that held the wealth of a 
 pirate's dream, to the private offices that 
 occupied one corner the corner most re- 
 
 163
 
 164 LOOT 
 
 mote from the side street at whose confluence 
 with the avenue Arabin's was situated of 
 the first floor. 
 
 A pretty stenographer in the outer room 
 of the double suite blushed as he stopped 
 short and stared at her with mock amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 ".What!" he exclaimed. "Another day 
 gone and no bold man has run off with you ? 
 My, my! Miss Leonard, what's happened to 
 the youth of this generation? [Why, if I 
 were thirty years younger if I were twenty 
 years younger By George ! If old Father 
 Time would set the clock back only ten years 
 Well, well, well!" 
 
 He shook his head solemnly, as though 
 greatly puzzled, and walked into the inner 
 office. The pretty Miss Leonard dimpled, 
 colored some more and wondered how soon 
 a certain young man would screw his cour- 
 age to: the proposing point. She would 
 wager something that Mr. Arabin would do 
 the handsome thing by way of a wedding 
 gift! It would be odd If he did not; for,
 
 LOOT 165 
 
 'despite the fact that captious critics poked 
 fun at his whiskers, at his pomposity, at his 
 love of publicity, there was no one among his 
 employees who did not know that old Ar- 
 abin's heart was as golden as the choicest of 
 his wares. 
 
 "Good morning, Williams," said Arabin 
 to his private secretary. 
 
 Williams looked up from his desk in a 
 corner of the room and returned his em- 
 ployer's greeting. 
 
 "No word from Carlow yet?" asked Ar- 
 abin. 
 
 "Nothing, sir." 
 
 "And it is now nearly two weeks since we 
 cabled him," said Arabin. He sat down at 
 his desk and pursed his lips. ' l Oh, well ; he ? s 
 probably written by now and we'll hear 
 shortly. Anything of especial importance 
 In the mail?" 
 
 He always asked this question and always 
 [Williams made the same reply. 
 
 "I've marked those I thought needed your 
 attention, sir," said the secretary.
 
 166 LOOT 
 
 Arabin picked up the letters on his desk, 
 each marked with a blue cross, and stared at 
 them a moment. Then, as though he had 
 just thought of it, he rose and walked swift- 
 ly to the safe against one wall. He bent over 
 it and worked at the combination, which he 
 alone knew and which was not committed to 
 paper. If Arabin were ill or should die the 
 safe could be opened only by mechanics 
 had the jeweler failed to tell the combina- 
 tion. 
 
 Thus far Arabin had acted on schedule ; so 
 had "Williams. Habit is a mighty thing and 
 the jeweler was its creature. Always he 
 made some jocose remark to the stenog- 
 rapher in the outer room ; always he picked 
 up his letters as though intending to read 
 them at once, and always he put them down 
 hastily and walked over to his private safe. 
 It was the container of his private papers, 
 but it also held cash ; and to-day it held the 
 'Carlow necklace. 
 
 This was another of Arabin 's habits. If 
 his firm had designed ^ anything of great
 
 LOOT 167 
 
 beauty he wanted it near him as long as 
 possible. Usually it held one or more trink- 
 ets that he loved to fondle and from which 
 he parted with regret. The Caiiow neck- 
 lace, worth a fabulous sum, should have been 
 in the vaults down-stairs, but Arabin always 
 pooh-poohed the idea that his establishment 
 could be robbed. 
 
 "If they can get in at all," he was wont to 
 say, "I'd just as soon have all my stuff right 
 in the show cases, handy for them to cart 
 away; because no burglar can ever get in! 
 And if he does get in well, I guess the auto- 
 matic alarms will attend to him or them." 
 
 So, since the last bit of the design had 
 been made and the last matched and gradu- 
 ated jewel set in it, the Carlow necklace had 
 reposed days and nights in the safe in the 
 private office, where Arabin could look at it, 
 play with it, admire it. Of course Arabin *s 
 vaults down-stairs were the finest in the 
 world, possibly. They were flooded with 
 light at night; they were electrically con- 
 nected with a private detective agency. And
 
 168 LOOT 
 
 in those vaults reposed at night and during 
 the daytime too the bulk of the Arabin 
 valuables. But the safe in the private office 
 would have resisted dynamite. The best 
 burglar on earth, with the best appliances, 
 and with a gallon or several gallons of nitro- 
 glycerin, could not have broken it open in- 
 side of twelve hours. [Moreover it, too, was 
 electrically connected with the detective 
 agency. 
 
 Save for its lack of bulk, this private safe 
 would have been as good a depository as the 
 yaults down-stairs. Arabin had never felt 
 any nervousness about it. He bent over it 
 now, humming a little tune to himself. Ac- 
 cording to schedule he would open the front 
 door, take a swift glance at whatever eye- 
 entrancing trinket was there the Carlow 
 necklace to-day then return to his desk and 
 attend to his mail. The whole business, 
 timed by Williams a hundred times, never 
 took less than forty minutes. And it was a 
 rule of the establishment that neither Mr. 
 Arabin nor his secretary was to be dis-
 
 LOOT 169 
 
 turbed, for any cause short of fire or an 
 earthquake, for at least three-quarters of an 
 hour after the jeweler had entered his pri- 
 vate office. After that, when his mail had 
 been attended to, he would receive the heads 
 of departments, salesmen, buyers. 
 
 As the small but heavy door of the safe 
 swung open, things ceased to happen ac- 
 cording to time-honored schedule. Some- 
 thing wet and odorous fell between the face 
 of Mr. Arabin and the open safe. A knee 
 was pressed into the small of his back ; an 
 arm went beneath his chin, bending it up- 
 ward ; a hand pressed the chloroform-soaked 
 cloth tightly against his nostrils. The 
 jeweler did not struggle long; he was fleshy 
 and soft of muscle. .Williams let him gently 
 to the floor, with the cloth still lying across 
 his face. 
 
 From inside his own desk the secretary 
 brought a small silken bag. Into it he 
 swiftly put the Carlow necklace and what 
 money he found in the safe. He worked 
 calmly, methodically, with no indication of
 
 170 LOOT 
 
 haste. A swift glance assured him that the 
 figure of Arabin was not visible, would not 
 be visible, from the door. Leisurely, carry- 
 ing a sealed and addressed envelope that he 
 took from his desk, he passed into the outer 
 office. 
 
 "An errand for Mr. Arabin, Miss Leon- 
 ard," he said, smiling pleasantly at the girl. 
 "Bather important, I judge. At least he 
 didn't care to trust an ordinary messenger. 
 !Mr. Arabin thinks highly of you, Miss Leon- 
 ard." 
 
 "Oh, thank gou, Mr. [Williams!" bridled 
 the girl. 
 
 She took the letter, noted that it bore a 
 !Pine Street address, put on her hat and coat 
 and left the office. "Williams smiled. It 
 would take Miss Leonard at least half an 
 hour to reach Pine Street and discover that 
 there was no such firm or address as those 
 indicated on the envelope. If she telephoned 
 for instructions then "Williams' smile 
 broadened. 
 
 He pressed a button on the wall and a uni-
 
 LOOT 171 
 
 formed boy at once responded. Williams 
 received him in the outer office. 
 
 "Tell Mr. MacDonald that Mr. Arabia 
 wishes to see him at once. Mind, at once!" 
 
 "Yes, sir," said the boy, and sped away. 
 
 Three minutes later the superintendent of 
 the vaults, a rawboned Scotchman, entered 
 the outer office. Williams carefully closed 
 the door. 
 
 "Mr. Arabin wants me ?" demanded Mac- 
 Donald. 
 
 Williams nodded carelessly. 
 
 "Inside," he said. 
 
 He preceded the superintendent to the 
 inner door, then stepped aside. MacDonald 
 Opened the door ; something swished through 
 the air, struck heavily at the base of the 
 Scotchman's brain, and MacDonald pitched 
 forward into the inner office. Williams 
 stepped after him and closed the door. He 
 ]bent over the fallen superintendent. It was 
 not necessary to use the blackjack again. 
 MacDonald would be a very lucky man if 
 he spoke or moved for twenty-four hours.
 
 172 LOOT 
 
 The secretary seemed to know exactly in 
 which pocket ..the prostrate superintendent 
 kept a bunch of keys and where he kept cer- 
 tain papers on which were written figures, 
 combinations of the various vaults down- 
 stairs. Swiftly, silently, Williams possessed 
 himself of these. Again he stepped into the 
 outer, office, this time taking with him the 
 stuffed silken bag, which he placed on Miss 
 Leonard's desk, dropping an open news- 
 paper over it. 
 
 He had hardly done so when a knock 
 sounded on the door. He opened it, to face 
 the boy who had summoned MacDonald. 
 
 "Two gentlemen to see Mr. Arabin, sir," 
 said the boy. ' 1 1 told them it was impossible 
 for at least half an hour, but they showed me 
 their cards, sir; and I thought maybe " 
 
 He handed Williams two cards, which 
 bore the imprint of the detective agency that 
 protected Arabin 's from burglarious assault. 
 
 "You did well, Johnny," said Williams 
 approvingly. "But be very careful not to 
 mention where these gentlemen came from.
 
 LOOT 173 
 
 Let it be a secret between you and myself. 
 I '11 explain it later. Show them in. ' ' 
 
 "Yes, sir; and a-course I won't say; 
 nothin'," said the boy.. 
 
 ,Williams smiled. He had measured 
 'Johnny very carefully and knew that the 
 boy would say nothing ; and it did not matter 
 greatly if he did. He received the two 
 callers blandly and motioned them to seats. 
 'Johnny closed the door and departed. 
 
 The secretary uttered not a single word, 
 nor did his callers. [Williams took out his 
 watch. He held its face toward the two men 
 and they produced their watches. All showed 
 exactly the same time and Williams nodded. 
 He lighted a cigar and smoked half an inch 
 of it before he made a move. Then he looked 
 at his watch again, nodded, and to one of the 
 visitors he passed the keys he had taken 
 from MacDonald, and to the other the slips 
 of paper. There was perspiration on their 
 faces, but not on his. He was calm > 
 'debonair even. He rang the bell and Johnnyj 
 appeared again.
 
 174 LOOT 
 
 "Show these gentlemen to the vaults, 
 Johnny," he said. "Tell Mulready and 
 Johnson I sent them down and that they are 
 to be admitted inside the outer gate. Mr. 
 MacDonald will be down in a few minutes. 
 And, Johnny, come right back, as there is 
 something I wish you to do." 
 
 " Trust you don't find anything, gentle- 
 men, "said he then to the visitors. * * Mr. Ar- 
 abin and I shall await your examination 
 with interest." 
 
 He nodded and they departed in the wake 
 of Johnny. Two minutes later the boy re- 
 turned, to find TVilliams still in the outer 
 office. 
 
 "Johnny," said Williams, "I want you to 
 round up all the store detectives on this 
 Boor and on the second floor. You know 
 them all?" 
 
 "Yes, sir," said Johnny breathlessly. 
 
 "Go up-stairs first and speak to each man 
 quietly. Tell each one that Mr. Arabin 
 wants him at once. Then go about this floor.
 
 LOOT 175 
 
 Do it quietly, but do it quickly. Under- 
 stand?" 
 
 ".Gee, yesl" breathed Johnny. "Is there 
 sumpin on, Mr. Williams ? Sumpin big ? ' ' 
 
 "No questions, Johnny," said Williams 
 sternly. "I rely on you, you know. Later 
 you and 111 have a little talk." 
 
 "Yes, sir; yes, sir," said the ecstatic 1 
 'Johnny. 
 
 There was some mystery in the air and* the 
 boss' private secretary knew enough to trust 
 Johnny McEntoe to help him out. It was 
 a proud boy that obeyed Williams' orders. 
 
 Within a minute the store detectives, won- 
 dering, began starting for the private office. 
 ^Within five minutes, so quickly had Johnny 
 rounded them up and so imperative had he 
 made his quiet message, all those employed 
 to guard the first and second floors, twenty 
 in all, were in the private office, the outer 
 One, shuffling their feet, coughing deprecat- 
 ingly behind their hands, using handker- 
 chiefs, each one nervous, wondering whether
 
 176 LOOT 
 
 lie had been called here for some unexpected 
 censure. The secretary stared from one to 
 another sternly, accusingly. The most inno- 
 cent men become nervous under such scru- 
 tiny;. Blushes and perspiration ruled. Will- 
 iams cleared his throat. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he said sternly, "I believe 
 there is a plan on foot to rob this store to- 
 day." 
 
 "What!" Half a dozen ejaculated the 
 word; the others started, but stared in 
 silence. 
 
 "I have very good reason to believe so," 
 said Williams, "and so has Mr. Arabin. He 
 wishes to question each man of you alone, for 
 he has reason to believe that one among you, 
 at least, is implicated in the plan." 
 
 Dumb confusion and amazement reigned 
 among them. Williams continued: 
 
 "Naturally I am not taking any chances 
 with Mr. Arabin 's life. If he should elicit 
 proof from one of you that he is concerned 
 in the plot, that one might think it possible 
 to escape ; might shoot Mr. Arabin in the at-
 
 LOOT 177 
 
 tempt to do so. I prefer that you go un- 
 armed into his presence. If there is any; 
 man among you who is unwilling to sur- 
 render his revolver to me, let him say so. 
 And let the rest of you disarm him at once, 
 for he is the guilty man. [You will kindly 
 place your revolvers on this desk. You, 
 Phinny, unless " 
 
 Phinney, the man nearest the desk, gasp- 
 ed, started and immediately placed his re- 
 volver on the desk. Williams swiftly ejected, 
 the shells and placed them in his pocket. 
 
 "You, Deering!" he said sharply. 
 
 One by one, crowding one another lest lag- 
 gardness be taken as a sign of guilt, they 
 placed their weapons on the desk; and 
 Williams ejected the shells. 
 
 "I'm taking no chances that the guilty 
 man get hold of his gun again," he 
 said; "so I'm making them useless. But I 
 have my own weapon." He took an auto- 
 matic pistol from his pocket. "It looks as 
 though none of you is guilty, and yet I am 
 certain there is a plot, though all of you have
 
 178 LOOT 
 
 surrendered jour guns. Yes, I am certain 
 of it." 
 
 He opened the outer, door and peered 
 through it. He turned back. 
 
 "Yes," he said; "so absolutely certain 
 that you might call it exact knowledge. So 
 certain that IVe rounded you all up where 
 you can't interfere!" 
 
 From beneath the newspaper he snatched 
 the silken bag. He leaped to the door, cover- 
 ing the amazed and disarmed detectives with 
 his pistol. 
 
 "If one of you moves " 
 
 Then he was through the doorway and 
 they heard the lock click. There came an 
 amazed bellow from their throats ; then they 
 hurled themselves on the door. But it was 
 of stoutest oak, and it held. And there were 
 no windows in the private offices. An over- 
 head skylight the building was but one 
 story high in this corner afforded light and 
 ventilation, and that was fourteen feet high. 
 The partitions that separated the rooms 
 from the main floor were solid and strong.
 
 LOOT 179 
 
 It would take a long time to break them 
 down. And the other walls were those that 
 adjoined the next buildings, and they were 
 almost cannon-proof, built to resist any sty 
 burglarious tunneling. The men were 
 trapped ! 
 
 Outside, on the main floor, the other em- 
 ployees of Arabin's were in no better case. 
 There were twenty counters, topped with 
 show cases, on the floor. Behind each of 
 these were at least two clerks, in some in- 
 stances three. And at each of these counters 
 had stood a well-dressed customer who, at 
 the moment Williams had looked through 
 the doorway, had flashed an automatic pistol 
 and cried the ancient command: " Hands 
 lip!" 
 
 A clerk at the watch counter hurled the 
 timepiece his customer had been looking at 
 'directly at the muzzle of the threatening 
 Weapon. The bandit dodged ; the clerk went 
 down, with a bullet through his chest. The 
 example, the cry of the clerk and the wicked 
 spat of the automatic were enough. The
 
 180 LOOT 
 
 frightened employees noted that the detec- 
 tives were gone from the floor. They cowed 
 before the muzzles of the automatics. Then 
 Williams ran down the aisle, a gun in his 
 hand. And an outside aisle clerk, running 
 toward him for help, was shot as he came ! 
 
 IWilliams gained the center aisle, and 
 those who had known him as the soft-spoken 
 private secretary to the jeweler could hard- 
 ly recognize him now, for his mouth was 
 contorted in a wicked sneer. He mounted a 
 chair. In the presence of his weapon, which 
 somehow seemed much more menacing than 
 the score of other automatics that threat- 
 ened, the clerks were silent and the custom- 
 ers stilled their cries of alarm. 
 
 "Employees will line up against the rear 
 wall I ' ' cried Williams. ' i All customers will 
 line up against the right-hand wall. Those 
 who do not start instantly will be shot at 
 once!" 
 
 A woman shrieked and collapsed in a 
 faint. The negro guardian of the main en- 
 trance, who had stood stock-still in amaze-
 
 LOOT 181 
 
 ment from the moment of the first shot, 
 loosed a mighty yell and sprang through the 
 .doorway. He gained the top step, staggered, 
 spun round and pitched back into the room. 
 He had been shot from outside. 
 
 There was not a semblance of protest now. 
 The clerks fairly ran to line up against the 
 ]back wall and the shoppers fought to be the 
 'first to reach the side wall. Two men at once 
 Stood, guns in hands, before the clerks. An- 
 other pair stood before the dazed patrons of 
 ihe store. Sixteen other men produced sacks 
 ^silken sacks that, though stout, had been 
 easily hidden beneath their coats and the 
 work of ransacking the show cases began. 
 
 Two men, those who had posed as detec- 
 tives, appeared at the head of the stairs that 
 led to the vaults, each staggering beneath a 
 bulky silk sack. Straight down the 'main 
 aisle these two men passed. 
 
 "Everything all right?" asked [Williams 
 as they passed him. 
 
 "Just where you said they'd be," grinned 
 one of them.
 
 182 LOOT 
 
 The other, more surly, grunted: 
 
 "Wish we'd been able to get more." 
 
 "You have enough," grinned Williams. 
 
 They passed by him, and went out through 
 the main entrance. A man entered as they 
 left. His face worked with excitement and 
 the sweat rolled from it. 
 
 "Crowd running for help!" he said to 
 [Williams. ' 1 Haven 't we got enough ? ' ' 
 
 Williams glanced at the nearest workers. 
 The show cases were practically denuded. 
 
 "Never mind that silver I" he eried, and a 
 man instantly dropped the massive silver 
 dish he carried. "Never mind any morel" 
 cried Williams. "This way." 
 
 Like trained soldiers the men ceased work. 
 (Due of the two men who had been guarding 
 the employees rasped an oath up the stairs 
 leading to the second floor. His circling 
 automatic had kept the unarmed clerks up- 
 stairs from making a rush, but one of them 
 ventured too near now. A bullet drove him 
 back. 
 . The men with the sacks debouched from
 
 LOOT 183 
 
 side aisles into the main aisles. Above the 
 racket that came now from up-stairs, from 
 the private office, where the tricked store de- 
 tectives had improvised a battering-ram out 
 of a desk, and from the street, Williams' 
 orders sounded clear. 
 
 The men with the sacks rushed through 
 the entrance. The last of them passed 
 through as a perfect cataract of shouts 
 Sounded from outside. Williams barked an- 
 other order. The four men who guarded 
 .clerks and customers backed down the aisles 
 toward the entrance. Dazed by their ruth- 
 lessness, their apparent willingness to fire, 
 by the absence of the store detectives, by 
 the bewildering defection of Williams, the 
 employees, even though only four armed 
 men instead of more than a score faced them 
 
 now, made no rush. 
 i 
 
 As for the customers it was not their 
 loss. They considered themselves lucky not 
 lo have suffered the fate of the rash clerk 
 behind a counter, the clerk who had run to 
 Williams for aid, and the negro attendant
 
 184: LOOT 
 
 at the door. The four men gained the door. 
 Williams motioned them through. They; 
 went. Like a good general he was last in re- 
 treat as first in advance. No, not like a gen- 
 eral ; like a field officer. Generals nowadays 
 remain far behind the firing line, directing 
 operations. Williams was but the field com- 
 mander. The real general who had planned 
 this action was some miles from its scene. 
 
 "Get him! Get him!" cried a clerk, now 
 that Williams was alone. 
 
 He made a step forward, then dodged 
 hastily as Williams' gun lifted. He shrank 
 back among his fellows. Williams laughed 
 loudly. He turned and disappeared through 
 the doorway. A moment later and the mob 
 of clerks fought to be first through it, but the 
 iron gate beyond the, door had clanged to 
 and was securely locked. They could only 
 rave impotently at the automobiles dashing 
 up and down the avenue and disappearing 
 round corners.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE GRAY GHOST '& HANDIWORK 
 
 As JAMES F. ARABIN had entered his es- 
 tablishment the clock on the Metropolitan 
 Tower, some blocks south, had struck ten. 
 Also, the watches of a dozen men who rode 
 in limousines and touring cars were put 
 hastily into waistcoat pockets, and the driv- 
 ers of the cars were given orders. At the 
 same moment four huge motor trucks turned 
 toward the Avenue two from the avenue 
 east of it and two from the one west. One 
 from each of those avenues headed toward 
 each other along a cross street five blocks 
 south of Arabia's jewelry establishment. 
 The other pair advanced to meet each other 
 along a street five blocks north of Arabia's 
 place. It was a peculiar thing that each 
 chauffeur should have found something the 
 
 185
 
 186 LOOT 
 
 matter with Ms car and been compelled to 
 halt only a door from the Avenue. 
 
 The dozen limousines and touring cars, 
 from as many different points of the com- 
 pass, began to converge on Arabin's. Six 
 of them reached the jewelry concern and 
 halted before it. It was not an unusual 
 sight. Often scores of cars were drawn up 
 before Arabin's. It was rather odd, how- 
 ever, that all of them should fail to shut off 
 their engines. However, it was not odd 
 enough to excite attention then. 
 
 In fact, the gathering of the cars caused 
 no remark until four of the six passengers, 
 leaping to the ground, drew weapons and 
 halted the passers-by in both directions. The 
 other two men left their machines by "the 
 street door. Weapons in hand they halted 
 the stream of automobiles and carriages and 
 turned them back. It was not hard to do. 
 The drivers and occupants of the carriages 
 and cars might have been brave enough, but 
 a man needs to know for what he is fighting, 
 when the two men, one advancing north
 
 LOOT 187 
 
 and one south, each fired his automatic above 
 the heads of the people he threatened, there 
 was evidenced a marked haste to get out of 
 the way. In panic-stricken droves they fled, 
 north, south, and to east and west along the 
 cross streets, screaming, most of them, 
 loudly for the police. 
 
 Faster than they, however, fled the car- 
 riages and automobiles. In almost no time 
 there was a cleared space cleared of ve- 
 hicles, that is for half a dozen blocks in 
 each direction from Arabia's along the Ave- 
 nue. It was precisely then that the four 
 dray chauffeurs started across the Avenue. 
 Each dray paused when it had gone half- 
 way. Their drivers descended, monkeyed a 
 moment with the engines, and quietly saunt- 
 ered off. Approach to Arabia's by car was 
 effectually cut off along Fifth Avenue, for 
 the huge drays completely blocked the street. 
 
 Three blocks above Arabin's, Policeman 
 Grogan was attracted by the cries of excited 
 foot passengers, the yells of the held-up and 
 turned-round vehicles, and the spat of a
 
 188 LOOT 
 
 shot; but as he started to run toward the 
 place of commotion an auto pulled up along- 
 side the curb. 
 
 " Jump in, officer," called the man in the 
 tonneau, swinging wide, the; door, "You'll 
 save time. " 
 
 Officer, Grogan jumped in and the subse- 
 quent events ceased to be of immediate in- 
 terest to him. He was neatly blackjacked as 
 he stood swaying in the car calling for more 
 speed. He got more speed, though he did 
 not know it only it was along a side street, 
 away; from Arabin's. 
 
 At about the same time, four block's south 
 of Arabia's, Officer Bacigalupo was also at- 
 tracted by the noise. Unfortunately for him 
 he started running without looking where 
 he stepped. He stumbled over an out- 
 stretched foot, and when he went down he 
 did not get up. Another blackjack had ef- 
 fectually taken care of him and its wielder 
 had climbed into a car that careered madly 
 'down a cross street. 
 
 Nor did those who on foot, on the two
 
 LOOT 189 
 
 nearest parallel avenues, sought the as- 
 sistance of the police find a wearer of the blue 
 uniform for many blocks; for it happened 
 that Officer Schmidt, whose beat at this time 
 took him almost directly across from Ara- 
 bin's on the corresponding block on the next 
 avenue to the west, was drawn into a hall- 
 way by screams that issued therefrom. He 
 woke up an hour or so later to discover that 
 It was a vacant house and that his head 
 ached severely. And Officer Jennings, on the 
 corresponding block to the east, was acci- 
 dentally run over by an automobile just as, 
 in the middle of the street, he stood gazing 
 toward Fifth Avenue, wondering whether 
 the screaming people hurrying his way 
 meant him. The automobile did not wait to 
 ascertain the extent of the officer's injuries. 
 Across the street from Arabin's the porter 
 of the Avenue Bank heard the shots fired, 
 took cognizance of the screams issuing from 
 the upper windows of the jewelry establish- 
 ment and the panic in the street, and rushed 
 out, revolver in hand. One of the men
 
 LOOT 
 
 guarding the sidewalk in front of Arabin's 
 turned carelessly. He must have been an 
 expert marksman, for he shot from the hip 
 and the bank porter rolled over three times 
 before he finally came to a sprawled repose. 
 
 Calmly, matter-of-f actly, the six men who 
 held the street awaited the coming of their 
 colleagues inside the jewelry store. And the 
 chauffeurs of the six cars, though nervously 
 alert, seemed indifferent to their peril. No 
 car made a false start. The chauffeurs held 
 the levers in readiness, but showed no over- 
 anxiety. 
 
 A hundred telephones at least were at 
 work; but, strangely enough, central re- 
 turned to one and all the amazing answer 
 that police headquarters could not be 
 reached. The police did not answer. Nor 
 did the central's frantic attempts to call up 
 the nearest police stations result any better. 
 The calls were unanswered there too. 
 
 It was at least five minutes after the first 
 alarm before an automobile stopped before 
 an officer far down Fifth Avenue and told
 
 LOOT 191 
 
 him what was going on. It was ten minutes 
 more before lie had managed to summon, 
 by beating his stick on the pavement, three 
 other officers. With a lesser force the occu- 
 pants of the car who had brought the warn- 
 ing insisted that it would be insane for him 
 to attempt an attack on the unthinkably au- 
 dacious marauders. It was five minutes 
 more before they descended from the auto- 
 mobile at the barricade of abandoned drays. 
 They ran gallantly up the street, but it was 
 empty of waiting automobiles now. At win- 
 dows and doors panic-stricken observers of 
 the robbery shouted encouragement to them. 
 From behind the locked gates of Arabin's, 
 employees shouted incoherently to them. It 
 was a couple of minutes more before the of- 
 ficers understood that the automobiles con- 
 taining the looters and their booty had shot 
 down cross streets, some going east, some go- 
 ing west. 
 
 It took one of the officers a good five min- 
 utes, in a commandeered machine that he ob- 
 tained after running to the next avenue east,
 
 192 LOOT 
 
 to explain to the lieutenant at the nearest 
 police station what had happened. It was 
 ten minutes more before plain-clothes men 
 and reserves from this station reached Ara- 
 bin's. It was twenty minutes before an of- 
 ficer from this station the lieutenant find- 
 ing it impossible to get headquarters on the 
 telephone reached the commissioner's of- 
 fice by means of a taxi. And it was half an 
 hour after that before the first of the head- 
 quarters men reached the scene of the rob- 
 bery and took intellegent command over the 
 precinct men. 
 
 At the end of another half hour Arabin 
 had been revived sufficiently to gasp out his 
 story. By that time, also, the loss to the 
 concern had, in great measure, been esti- 
 mated, and twenty detectives were faring 
 along the cross street inquiring of every one 
 for news of the loot-laden automobiles. 
 
 The trouble with the police telephone lines 
 was located shortly, and the company's su- 
 perintendent had promised to send to head- 
 quarters immediately; those responsible,
 
 LOOT 193 
 
 either culpably or negligently, for the amaz- 
 ingly fortuitous or deliberate happening. 
 Detectives, armed with a complete descrip- 
 tion of Williams and varying descriptions of 
 some of the others, were stationed at every 
 ferry, at the railroad stations, and were sent 
 to the bridges leading from the Island of 
 Manhattan. The detective agency that was 
 supposed to guard Arabin's began an imme- 
 diate investigation to discover, if possible, 
 who had informed the robbers where to look 
 for wires that connected with the agency's 
 offices and should automatically give an 
 alarm if certain details in connection with 
 the unlocking of the vaults were not at- 
 tended to. Even if armed with the combina- 
 tion and with the correct keys, it would have 
 been impossible to open those vaults without 
 alarming the agency, unless one knew how 
 to avoid certain little buttons and innocent- 
 appearing little levers. It was not possible 
 that MacDonald had given this information 
 to the robbers. His bashed skull was proof 
 of his innocence. It was not possible that
 
 194 LOOT 
 
 MacDonald had told Williams. The super- 
 intendent had never been at all friendly with 
 the treacherous private secretary. Who, 
 then, employed by the agency, could have 
 given information? 
 
 All told, besides the uniformed police, 
 some five hundred men were engaged on the 
 case by noon; yet a certain hopelessness 
 seemed to pervade headquarters. It was 
 "Captain Kenney who first openly voiced it to 
 the commissioner. 
 
 "I'm thinkin', Commissioner," he said, as 
 the two sat in the superior's office receiving 
 reports and giving orders, "that maybe 
 Jerry Try on ain't the nut we % was thinkin' 
 him." 
 
 "You mean that the Gray Ghost has done 
 this?" 
 
 "I mean, if he didn't, it's the sort of work 
 Jerry would say the Gray Ghost has had his 
 hand in. I wish Jerry were back with us. 
 Sure, he's the best detective th force ever 
 knew, sirj and 

 
 LOOT 195 
 
 An officer entered with the- word that a 
 score of newspaper men wished to interview 
 the commissioner. Brainerd wiped the 
 sweat from his forehead. He scoured his 
 spectacles painstakingly witli a cigarette 
 paper. 
 
 1 i The Gray Ghost ! ' ' he murmured. ' ' Cap- 
 tain Kenney, what '11 I say to the report- 
 ers?" 
 
 i 'Why, if you ask me, Commissioner," an- 
 swered Kenney, "I'd say that you believe 
 the Gray Ghost is behind this and that Jere- 
 miah Tryon, the man who left the force to 
 devote his life to the Gray Ghost's capture, 
 is back on the job. Good Lord, Commis- 
 sioner, there ain't nothing else to be done ! I 
 couldn't catch this bird, I'm frank enough to 
 say not unless I'm awful lucky; and luck 
 don't ever seem to be with those chasin' the 
 Ghost. I I for years I've heard Jerry 
 talk about the Ghost ; I've heard him outline 
 how the Ghost would go to work. And if 
 this day's stunt don't fit them outlines It
 
 196 LOOT 
 
 ain't pleasant takin' water, Commissioner, 
 but this thing is so big it's staggerin'. If any 
 man was ever needed, Jerry Tryon is needed 
 
 now.' 
 
 It was then that Commissioner Brainerd 
 telephoned Jerry Tryon.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 JERRY TYRON MAKES SOME DEDUCTIONS 
 
 "AND you're certain that Williams, the 
 secretary, isn't the Gray Ghost?" inquired 
 Brainerd. ' i Yet it was an inside job. ' ' 
 
 "And an outside job, and an underneath 
 job, and an overhead job !" snorted Tryon. 
 
 "Then, if it isn't Williams, who is the 
 0ray Ghost?" 
 
 "If I knew that I'd have him behind the 
 jbars in a week," said Tryon. 
 
 "But why isn't Williams the man?" in- 
 sisted the commissioner. 
 
 "Listen!" said Tryon. "Williams has 
 been employed as Arabin's secretary for five 
 years. His job has taken between eight and 
 ten hours of his time six days a week. Let 
 me tell you, the Gray Ghost couldn't have 
 afforded to give that much time to a secre- 
 
 197
 
 198 LOOT 
 
 tarial job. Every waking moment he's had 
 has been devoted to plotting, planning and 
 watching his tools execute. Here's the dope 
 on Williams as I've got it from Arabin and 
 from the men who've made a hasty investi- 
 gation of him. He came of a decent Ohio 
 family. At seventeen he got a job with Ara- 
 bin as office boy. He's never worked any- 
 where else and five years ago was made Ara- 
 bin 's secretary. Five years ago he rented an 
 apartment on Riverside Drive. We learn 
 that, though he's kept a servant there, he's 
 not slept there, hardly eaten a meal there, 
 in six months. Explained to the servant that 
 he'd been married secretly, didn't want any 
 one to know ; so was living elsewhere. She's 
 a faithful old woman and believed him. I 
 guess he paid her well. She kept up the 
 bluff that he lived there. Why shouldn't 
 she? [Very soft for her. Still, Williams 
 continued to work for Arabin. His daytime 
 was just as open as ever." 
 
 "But his nights during those six 
 months?"
 
 LOOT 199 
 
 "Man, dear, he couldn't have arranged 
 this crime in six months. It took nearer six 
 years. " 
 
 "But other crimes, in other cities, which 
 you say the Gray Ghost must have engi- 
 neered, have taken place within months." 
 
 "The Gray Ghost had several irons in the 
 fire at the same time," replied Try on. 
 "While one matter was progressing, another 
 was being finished, and another was being 
 started. If I'm right about him and I'm 
 satisfied I am he sets a thing in motion, 
 goes off to start something else, returns and 
 shoves the first thing along a little faster, 
 looks after the details, goes off and starts a 
 third, takes a look at the second, winds up 
 the first, starts a fourth and Williams 
 couldn't have done that. Up until six 
 months ago all his time is fairly well ac- 
 counted for. Another thing: In no crime 
 that bore the Gray Ghost's peculiar touches 
 and I've studied a plenty of them has 
 there been any evidence that the leader of 
 the active work the actual doer of the
 
 200 LOOT 
 
 crime, not the remote organizer was the 
 same man who did the active work, was the 
 on-the-ground leader of a previous crime. 
 Each crime shows a different leader, but the 
 same brain in the background. 
 
 "And it stands to reason that in this, the 
 biggest thing of all, the Gray Ghost would 
 take no chances by appearing on the scene 
 himself. You asked me a while ago why I 
 didn't believe that the men watching the fer- 
 ries and stations would get any results. 
 Here's the answer: The Gray Ghost is 
 clever enough to know that egress from the 
 city will be guarded. Therefore, he won't 
 attempt egress ; nor will he permit his gang 
 to do so. Now then, the minor workers un- 
 der him will simply lie low not in thieves' 
 haunts the Gray; /Ghost isn't foolish but 
 quietly, as decent citizens in homes and with 
 apparent occupations, friendly with their 
 neighbors, not skulking in the shadows. Be- 
 lieve me, every worker in this stunt of to-day 
 has an identity well fixed in the minds of a 
 good many innocent people who'd never
 
 LOOT 
 
 dream of connecting their honest friends 
 with the criminals who pulled this stunt. 
 
 "But Williams! Williams was the sole 
 insider at Arabin's. For Williams to go to 
 a hotel or rent an apartment, or even a fur- 
 nished room, to-day, or after to-day, is as 
 dangerous, with the hue and cry raised, as it 
 would be for him, very well described, to try 
 to leave the city. Well, do you see it? Six 
 months ago Williams quietly rented an 
 apartment or rooms somewhere and began 
 living there. He's had six months in which 
 to establish himself thoroughly in the good 
 graces of his neighbors, to fix himself as an 
 ordinary citizen going to work every morn- 
 ing. All he's had to do was pretend that his 
 job was somewhere other than Arabin's. 
 He's right here in the city." 
 
 "Well, Tryon, I hope $ou land him. I'd 
 be satisfied if we landed Williams. Twelve 
 million dollars in jewelry stolen in broad 
 daylight! Whew!" The commissioner 
 sighed wearily. " What have you learned so 
 far, Tryon?"
 
 202 LOOT 
 
 * 
 
 "Only things that go to clinch the Gray 
 Ghost's connection with the crime," an- 
 swered Try on. "The detective agency 
 which furnished the store operatives, and 
 whose offices were connected with the Ara- 
 bin vaults by electric signals, reports that 
 one of their most trusted employees has dis- 
 appeared. He left the office at nine this 
 morning. He'd been with the company five 
 years, and before that had been four years 
 with a rival agency. Good record ! Yet he 's 
 the only man who knew the secret of those 
 little push buttons and levers connected with 
 the Arabia vaults except the two owners 
 of the agency, who are beyond suspicion, and 
 MacDonald, who certainly wasn't in on the 
 plot. It means that the Gray Ghost had an 
 aid in the very detective agency which pro- 
 tected Arabin ! 
 
 "That aid has disappeared. This agency 
 man made the electric connections himself! 
 Luck? Luck nothing! Part of the Gray 
 Ghost 's long-thought-out plan ! If he didn 't 
 plant that man he corrupted him, and he
 
 LOOT 203 
 
 probably did that first of all. And the man 
 Enwright is his name has vanished. The 
 agency sends me word that he hasn't lived 
 at his last known address for three months. 
 
 "The telephone company! Half a dozen 
 of their mechanics have quietly slid away 
 from view the men who, on some pretext 
 or another, pretending that they had been 
 sent to report on the condition of the wires, 
 managed this morning to disconnect the tele- 
 phones here at headquarters and at the five 
 police stations nearest Arabin's ! Those men 
 can't be found at their last known addresses ; 
 moved away some time ago. 
 
 "Understand the cleverness of it? The 
 men who would naturally be suspected at 
 once and whose identities were known- 
 these have planted alibis, arranged new 
 identities. The others, the men who drove 
 the Blank Furniture Removing Company's 
 drays and left them where they'd block any 
 automobile dash on the looters, forcing any 
 sudden police arrivals to come on foot 
 same thing with them. Eleven men who
 
 204 LOOT 
 
 would at once be suspected twelve, count- 
 ing Williams we learn have moved away 
 from their old quarters. Williams, who 
 might have been telephoned by Arabin, 
 maintained his old address, with instruc- 
 tions, if he were telephoned or called for, to 
 say that he was out. And once a day he 
 phoned his servant to ascertain whether any 
 one had inquired for him. 
 
 "Now then, do you think that in six 
 months Williams could have arranged all 
 these details, when all his days except Sun- 
 'days were spent in Arabin 's office ? Hardly ! 
 Why, Commissioner, I tell you if he'd been 
 capable of planning this affair he'd have 
 shown flashes of genius that so shrewd a 
 man as Arabin would have recognized before 
 this. But he didn't. He didn't plan it." 
 
 "I'm as convinced of that as you are 
 now," sighed Brainerd. "Have you any- 
 thing else to go upon?" 
 
 "Only this : All the automobiles that bore 
 the looters away have been abandoned. Peo- 
 ple in the bank across the way and adjacent
 
 LOOT 265 
 
 buildings got those numbers. The cars have 
 been found, all widely separated; and in 
 them were found the hats and coats of the 
 chauffeurs. They simply got out, left their 
 outer clothing, put on other hats and coats, 
 and walked off. Deserted streets they chose 
 simple ! And the numbers they used were 
 stolen. The rightful owners proved alibis 
 for themselves and their cars ; but the Gray 
 Ghost was too foxy merely to substitute new 
 numbers on the looters' cars. They might 
 be recognized by other means. He simply 
 had them abandoned. 'And the cars that 
 were used to put the patrolmen on their 
 beats out of the way abandoned too." 
 
 "Well, you've spent some years studying 
 the Gray Ghost's methods," rejoined Brain- 
 erd. "You ought to know how to go about 
 getting him." 
 
 "I ought to," said Tryon; "but I'm not 
 sure that I do." 
 
 The commissioner stared. 
 
 "But you've devoted the last several 
 months "
 
 206 LOOT 
 
 "On my own and a friend's money, and 
 I took care not to dip too deep into his," 
 replied Try on. "And I had no power. I 
 could get no authorization to act for the 
 department authorization that would have 
 helped me in other cities. Not a line. I 
 was a joke ! Now, when my prophecies have 
 come true, when right in New York has been 
 pulled a crime that shows years of patient 
 organization, which shows that thousands 
 upon thousands of dollars were spent in per- 
 fecting the plan, you expect, I imagine, that 
 I'll pull the brainiest crook that ever set his 
 face against society like I would a common 
 drunk! Commissioner, if you expect any 
 stunt like that from me I quit right here." 
 
 The commissioner wiped his dry lips. 
 
 "No, no, Try on. Don't be touchy. Only 
 with the whole city roused, alarmed, with 
 every merchant and banker asking whether 
 he's to be the next, I I " 
 
 "The trouble is," said Tryon mercilessly, 
 "you're thinking of your job, and how to 
 placate the people and the press. I'm not
 
 LOOT 207 
 
 going to bother about them at all. I've been 
 the joke of the papers for a long time. Now, 
 when they've got to realize that I knew what 
 J. was talking about, if they want to yammer 
 and hammer let 'em! I don't care about 
 anything except one thing the Gray Ghost ! 
 And I'll get him if I do get him in spite 
 of the cries for haste not because of them." 
 
 "And you have some idea of how to go 
 about it ?" 
 
 "Hardly one," said Try on frankly. "All 
 I'm doing is trying to digest what happened, 
 to get every last detail fixed in my brain 
 and to find a weak spot somewhere. I 
 haven't yet." 
 
 "And the order you gave? You ordered 
 that every officer on the force should en- 
 deavor to find out what houses in the city 
 had been visited by half a dozen machines 
 between eleven-forty-five and twelve-fif- 
 teen. Have you heard? And what's the 
 idea?" 
 
 "I've heard from at least twenty police- 
 men," answered Try on; "but none of the
 
 208 LOOT 
 
 
 
 places would do. Musicales, society break- 
 fasts well-known people, all of them. And 
 a few dentists and physicians. Not worth 
 investigating. The same with two places in 
 the Bronx. Too far away." 
 
 "But I don't see " 
 
 "Listen," said Try on impatiently. "The 
 Gray Ghost took care of the police tele- 
 phones; but he couldn't take care of every 
 telephone in the city now, could he ? What 
 would be more natural than that everybody 
 who witnessed the robbery would call up his 
 wife and family, and his friends, to tell them 
 about the big thing he 'd seen ? Most natural 
 thing in the world. "Within half an hour 
 after his men made their getaway thousands 
 of people would know about the matter. 
 Also, the first officers on hand telephoned to 
 drug stores and saloons and shops up-town, 
 down-town, east and west, telling these peo- 
 ple to run to the nearest station or the near- 
 est officer they could find, and tell that Ara- 
 bin's had been looted, and to watch out for 
 half a dozen or more machines. Now, the
 
 LOOT 209 
 
 Gray Ghost must have known that when the 
 police wires were found to be out of commis- 
 sion the police would do that very thing. 
 I'm giving him credit for brains. Not that 
 I have to," he went on grimly; "he's proved 
 he has 'em. 
 
 "Figure it out for yourself. The Gray 
 Ghost knew that, with all his precautions, 
 the best he could hope for was a clear half 
 hour from the time they finished the job 
 maybe less. And men lugging sacks through 
 the streets would be just as conspicuous as 
 the automobiles; more so, wouldn't they? 
 Well then, wouldn't he figure that they'd 
 have to get into hiding and rid themselves of 
 their loot within half an hour? Certainly! 
 Another thing : As soon as this got abroad, 
 officers on their beats would remember any 
 speeding, wouldn't they? Motor police 
 might even have hauled some of them for 
 speeding might have tried to; and the 
 scrap they'd have put up would have left a 
 clear trail, wouldn't it? Therefore, he'd not 
 have his men try to make for any distant
 
 210 LOOT 
 
 point. He'd take no chances. He'd have 
 them meet somewhere within an easy twenty 
 minutes 7 ride of Arabin's. And that means 
 within half a dozen miles of Arabin's and 
 not way up in the Bronx, where autos were 
 reported." 
 
 Brainerd's mouth opened in admiring 
 amazement. 
 
 Tryon lapsed into silence, studying the 
 notes he had made of the robbery, his 
 shrewd brain searching, searching, search- 
 ing for the weak spot. Brainerd, nervous 
 and excited, wondering how this gigantic 
 crime would affect his political future, for- 
 bore to ask any more questions. The tele- 
 phone rang. Tryon answered it. 
 
 "Yes? ... Yes? ... at five after 
 twelve, as nearly as they can tell you ? Very 
 good. . . . No ; do nothing but stand near 
 there. I'll be up as soon as possible." 
 
 He hung up and turned to the commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 "Officer Deegan has found a house that 
 seems to fill the bill off Lexington Avenue,
 
 in the nineties; not three miles from Ara- 
 bin's." He smiled. "We'll soon know 
 whether my deductions are worth anything, 
 'Commissioner. I'll phone you in half an 
 hour or so." 
 
 Tryon snatched up his hat and hurried 
 out of Brainerd's office.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 TYRON TKACES THE GRAY GHOST ; FOR A SHORT 
 DISTANCE 
 
 FROM the curb, at the wheel of a racy- 
 looking roadster, Jimmy Pelham hailed 
 Tryon as the latter hurried down the steps 
 of headquarters, ^he detective immediately 
 stepped into the vacant seat and the car slid 
 up-town. 
 
 " Right direction ?" queried Pelham. 
 
 "Lexington Avenue, and when you reach 
 it keep on going until I tell you to stop. And 
 never mind the speed laws." 
 
 Pelham took him at his word. Briefly 
 Tryon told the young millionaire the latest 
 developments ; but, terse as he was, so great 
 was the roadster's speed that they were at 
 the appointed meeting place with Officer 
 
 212
 
 LOOT 213 
 
 
 Deegan when lie finished. The policeman 
 
 hurried to the car as Tiyon and Pelham 
 climbed down from it. 
 
 " House next the corner, Lieut 'nant," he 
 said. "Six autos drove up there at a few 
 minutes past noon. Men got out and lugged 
 bags of stuff inside. People didn't think 
 anything about it only a few women no- 
 ticed them until the afternoon papers got 
 out. Then they didn't say anything till I 
 happened to question the right parties. You 
 know how people are don't want to make 
 fatheads of themselves ; afraid of being fools 
 waiting till their husbands come home, to 
 tell them, and " 
 
 "Which house?" demanded Tryon 
 bruskly. 
 
 Deegan pointed. 
 
 "Sure you don't want more men, Lieut '- 
 nant?" 
 
 "Scared?" asked Tryon. 
 
 For answer Deegan flushed and walked 
 swiftly up the stoop. 
 
 "You're all right, Deegan," said Tryon
 
 214 LOOT 
 
 kindly; "but there'll be no 'ruckus' not 
 if I know my Gray Ghost, and I think I do. " 
 
 He shook the door-knob and rang the bell. 
 
 " Learn anything about the people sup- 
 posed to live here ?" he asked. 
 
 " Bachelor name of Peters," answered 
 Deegan. ' ' No one knows his business. ' J 
 
 "Huh!" said Try on. "Not much infor- 
 mation in that, but as much as could be ex- 
 pected." He rang the bell again. "Bad 
 business breaking into a house without a 
 warrant, but Your lady friends didn't 
 see the men who went in come out, eh?" 
 
 "They didn't notice them," said Deegan: 
 "but, of course, they weren't watching and 
 didn't see anything odd at the time, so " 
 
 He stopped short as Tryon pulled a jimmy 
 from his pocket. 
 
 "If there are any innocent people inside 
 they ought to answer the bell," said Tryon. 
 "As they don't" 
 
 He heaved upon the jimmy and the door 
 burst open. The three men crowded inside.
 
 LOOT 215 
 
 "You stay by the door here, Mr. Pelham, 
 and keep people away/ 7 
 
 Already a curious knot had gathered on 
 the sidewalk. 
 
 "They'd mind Deegan better," suggested 
 Pelham. * ' He wears a uniform. ' ' 
 
 Tryon chuckled at the plea for action. 
 
 "You stay here, then, Deegan. Come on, 
 Mr. Pelham." 
 
 Together they went through the house 
 from cellar to roof. They found plenty of 
 evidence of recent occupation, but none of 
 the occupants. In a room on the second 
 floor they found a score of stout silk sacks 
 and piled heaps of suits of clothes and hats. 
 
 "Slick!" commented Tryon to the excited 
 Pelham. "Sacks might cause remark. 
 Shifted to suit-cases probably. 'And the 
 clothes changed to help hide their identi- 
 ties and defy descriptions. Oh, well; I ex- 
 pected as much." He picked up a jacket 
 and looked for a maker's name. There was 
 none. "Still," he mused, "maybe the store
 
 216 LOOT 
 
 it came from could be traced. Slow work, 
 and even if it could be some more vague 
 description. It wasn't bought by any regu- 
 lar customer of any place, that's a certainty. 
 But there isn't a doubt this was the ren- 
 dezvous." 
 
 "And you're a marvel to have discovered 
 itl" cried the admiring Pelham. 
 
 "You forgot that all my time for a long, 
 long while has been spent in figuring how the 
 Ghost would pull a stunt like this. I don't 
 mean Arabin's in particular any big stunt. 
 Come on down-stairs ; maybe I can find out 
 something from the neighbors." 
 
 The first question he addressed to the rap- 
 idly augmenting group on the sidewalk, at- 
 tracted thereto by the policeman's uniform, 
 brought a response. An urchin cried : 
 
 "There's no wagon been pulled up here, 
 or auto, neither, mister. I been playin' on 
 this street all afternoon. But the people 
 round the corner moved this afternoon 
 early this afternoon. A big van. I saw it."
 
 ttK.HI 
 
 And the clothes changed to help hide their identities
 
 LOOT 217 
 
 house?" demanded Try on ea- 
 gerly. 
 
 The urchin pointed to it. It was just 
 round the corner and its side walls formed 
 one side of the house that had been used as 
 the rendezvous. Tryon laughed shortly. 
 
 "Wait here, son," he said, tossing the 
 proud youngster a coin. With Pelham he 
 reentered the house. 
 
 "Easy guessed, if I hadn't been dumb!" 
 he commented. "The Gray Ghost had to 
 get hold of the loot. Also, knowing there 
 was a good chance that his rendezvous 
 would be found out, he had to get the loot 
 away again. And there was enough of it so 
 that it couldn't very well be piled into one 
 automobile. It might be noticed even in 
 a limousine. Besides, about every closed 
 auto in the city has been searched to-day. 
 That's one routine trick the force is busy 
 at holding them all up, and taking slants 
 into the backs of open cars too. He'd ex- 
 pect that. But a furniture van if that
 
 218 LOOT 
 
 backed up to his rendezvous, and by any 
 chance somebody had grown suspicious of 
 the autos well, it wouldn't do. But a van 
 round the corner, where the people on this 
 cross street wouldn't notice it Come on 
 up-stairs, Mr. Pelham. You noticed there 
 was a big dresser with a tall mirror on the 
 second floor. Let 's push it aside. ' ' 
 
 It was an easy task, and behind it was 
 found what Tryon had expected a door 
 that led into the house which opened on 
 Lexington Avenue. And this house was 
 empty, too, though, like the other, showing 
 signs of recent occupation. 
 
 "I suppose," said Tryon, "that it 
 wouldn't be bad business to get a line on 
 what sort of people lived here. It'll only be 
 more descriptions, but come on, Mr. Pel- 
 ham." 
 
 Leaving Officer Deegan to guard the two 
 houses and having bestowed another coin 
 upon the quick-witted urchin, after learning 
 the name printed on the van, he led the way 
 to a drug store.
 
 LOOT 219 
 
 "You call up headquarters and get the 
 commissioner. Say I told you to. Tell him 
 to send half a dozen men up here at once. 
 Tell him I 'm busy on another line. Quick 1 ' ' 
 
 And as Pelham stepped into the public 
 booth, Tryon requested the use of the drug- 
 gist's private line, which was immediately 
 granted at sight of his shield. They met 
 again in the front of the store in a moment. 
 
 "The commissioner will send them right 
 up," said Pelham. "To whom were you 
 telephoning?" 
 
 "The van people the Manhattan Furni- 
 ture Removing Company, of course!" re- 
 plied Tryon. "There's a fifth of the com- 
 pany's chauffeurs disappeared. One man 
 was ordered to drive to Brooklyn to do some 
 moving. The family over there haven't no- 
 tified the company that he failed to arrive, 
 but he should have reported back over an 
 hour ago. I asked them to send somebody 
 over to Brooklyn and find out whether the 
 family that wanted to be moved really ex- 
 isted. Of course they don't I"
 
 220 LOOT 
 
 "You mean that " 
 
 "The loot had to be moved again. It 
 couldn't remain in this Lexington Avenue 
 house. The Gray Ghost is not so conceited 
 that he underestimates other people's intel- 
 ligence. There was an excellent chance that 
 his rendezvous would be discovered. So, of 
 course, his knowledge of human nature 
 crook human nature in especial making it 
 imperative that there should be a rendez- 
 vous, the thing to do was get the spoils to an- 
 other place as soon as might be. Autos 
 would be dangerous. But an innocent mov- 
 ing van only the driver of it must not be 
 innocent! Therefore the false call from 
 Brooklyn." 
 
 "But the helpers on those vans? That 
 makes four five more that have disap- 
 peared." 
 
 Tryon shook his head. 
 
 "He doesn't cumber his machine with too 
 many auxiliary parts. How easy to invite a 
 man to have a drink! I'll wager anything 
 you care, Mr. Pelham, that five van helpers
 
 LOOT 221 
 
 report tomorrow with a very hazy idea of 
 what happened to them after they were in- 
 veigled into saloons. Knockout drops are 
 cheap and easily administered. Most sa- 
 loons have rooms up-stairs. An apparently 
 drunken man will be accommodated there 
 while he sleeps it off. . . . Something like 
 that. Will you drive me down-town?" 
 
 "You're not going to investigate here? 
 The descriptions of the people who rented 
 these two houses " 
 
 Tryon laughed. 
 
 "I thought I'd made you understand that 
 descriptions would get us nowhere not in a 
 hurry, at any rate. The men coming will do 
 that." 
 
 ' ' But the van with the loot ? Aren 't you 
 going to trace that ? To try ? " 
 
 "The company has already notified head- 
 quarters. They're at work on that by now, I 
 imagine. But it won't lead to anything. The 
 van ^rill be discovered empty somewhere." 
 
 "But the loot had to be transferred, didn't 
 it?" protested Pelham. "And that would
 
 222 LOOT 
 
 be a rather public operation. Maybe it was 
 done in still some other house. If you could 
 find that, wouldn't it bring you so much 
 nearer the man you want?" 
 
 Tryon grinned. 
 
 1 'Just try and remember that no child 
 engineered this job, Mr. Pelham. Try to 
 remember that he's always shown himself 
 as brilliant after the fact as before. Do you 
 think he's bothered about an endless chain 
 of houses for retransf erence of the stuff ? I 
 said a while ago that I didn't believe he'd 
 cumber his machine with useless parts. We 
 know that he's abandoned the silk sacks 
 which held the stuff. Put it into suit-cases 
 probably. Maybe trunks. Did that in the 
 house that faced Lexington Avenue. Noth- 
 ing funny about trunks coming out of a 
 house that's being vacated, is there? 
 
 "And there's so much confusion about 
 moving, that half a dozen men could easily 
 slip away without being noticed. One of 
 them could pose as the helper that had been 
 disposed of. The others would simply walk
 
 LOOT 223 
 
 off. And when a good part of your loot 
 most of it is in jewels those men that 
 walked off could carry; their pay without 
 showing it, couldn't they;? The bulky stuff 
 watches and the like that would go into 
 the suit-cases or trunks. As a matter of fact, 
 however, I'm prepared to believe that the 
 men who brought that stuff here didn't take 
 away a single stone with them. I believe 
 they were handed a bunch of cash." 
 
 "But their shares and the shares of the 
 others that much cash? It's incredible I" 
 
 "The Gray Ghost isn't a fly-by-nighter," 
 said Tryon. "He's been operating some 
 time. Listen I There's never been a piece 
 of jewelry stolen by the Gray Ghost's gang 
 that turned up in a pawn-shop or with a 
 fence. Get what that means ? It means that 
 he pays cash! 'Maybe not all in one pay- 
 ment. A big deal like this one would mean 
 that he'd probably have to distribute two or 
 three million dollars. He'd not have that 
 much with him. But the people that work 
 for him know him. They, trust him. The
 
 224 LOOT 
 
 way I feel is that lie handed a good sizable 
 bunch over to them, to be distributed. He 
 attends to the marketing of the spoils him- 
 self. Later on, when he's disposed of the 
 stuff and probably not in this country at 
 all they get a larger slice. Meantime 
 they're busy doping out a new trick. 
 They're sort of on salary, with an interest in 
 the firm, and dividends are declared when 
 it's convenient. That's how I figure it. He 
 wouldn't take the risk of letting his men try 
 to market the stuff. They might deal with 
 fences friendly to the police. They might 
 get drunk and he might not be able to put 
 the fear of God into them." 
 
 "But still," objected Pelham, "a van is 
 too conspicuous. He'd have to transfer the 
 suit-cases or trunks. If you could find the 
 house where he did that " 
 
 "What makes you think he used a house? 
 Suppose he has the van pulled up in a nice, 
 lonely neighborhood; there's plenty of them 
 still in New York. Suppose an ordinary 
 wagon draws up alongside the van. Sup-
 
 LOOT 225 
 
 pose the trunks are pitched into that wagon 
 quick I The wagon drives off inaybe to 
 the railroad station, maybe to some dock, 
 maybe to some hotel. If to either of the first 
 two, they're shipped aboard a train or boat, 
 like any other baggage. If to a hotel they 
 belong to some guest who just came in from 
 out of town. Doesn't that sound a bit more 
 like what a brainy man would do ! 
 
 "And how are you going to identify those 
 trunks? There's law, you know, Mr. Pel- 
 ham. And that law provides that you can't 
 open a man's trunks without due process of 
 law. Of course if I found those trunks and 
 knew them to be the ones but what I'd have 
 to do would be to search every single trunk 
 that arrived at the different railroad sta- 
 tions or docks to-day. I'd have to search the 
 effects of every guest who had baggage 
 brought to a New York hotel to-day. And 
 inside of six hours there 'd be a roar that 
 would just about turn this city upside down. 
 It's too big; it couldn't be done." 
 
 Tryon got into the roadster and Pelham
 
 226 LOOT 
 
 drove him down-town. Neither of them 
 spoke until headquarters was reached. Then 
 Pelham said: 
 
 "I don't want to butt in, Jerry; and, now 
 that you're back with the force, I don't feel 
 like bothering you with my presence. It 
 wouldn't do. But I'm just as much inter- 
 ested a hundred times more, of course !" 
 
 "The Tryon Agency ain't abandoned 
 yet," said Tryon. "I'm back on the force 
 because I can do more good there just now. 
 But when I land this Ghost if I do I 
 guess the advertisement will be good enough 
 to assure that Tryon stock will soon pay 
 dividends. I guess I can quit the force for- 
 ever then, and begin to accept private busi- 
 ness. And meantime you ain't a detective, 
 Mr. Pelham; but you think straight, and 
 precedent and red tape don't cloud your 
 brain. You eould help me lots by talking 
 things over. And you've got lots of spare 
 rooms in that big Madison Avenue house of 
 yours, haven't you?" 
 
 "By George! You said it!" cried Pel-
 
 LOOT 227 
 
 ham. "Give me your keys and I'll get my 
 man and we'll transfer your things over to 
 my place right away." 
 
 "And you might give me a key to your 
 house," suggested Tryon. 
 
 Swiftly Pelham detached his own latch- 
 key from his ring. 
 
 "There you are!" 
 
 "With a handshake they parted, Pelham 
 to drive up-town and Tryon to go to the 
 commissioner's office. lAt seven o'clock he 
 received word that the missing van had been 
 found in a garage in Greenwich village. The 
 owner of the place had dropped in to see how 
 the person who had recently rented it was 
 getting along. He had found it deserted, 
 save for the van. Casual inquiry at a near- 
 by saloon had developed the fact that, far 
 from seeking business, the new tenant had 
 been turning it away recently. The owner 
 had reexamined the van and found it loaded 
 with household effects. He had become sus- 
 picious and telephoned the moving company, 
 which had notified the police.
 
 228 LOOT 
 
 Detectives, rushed to the spot, had learned 
 that an ordinary express wagon, drawn by 
 one horse, had driven up to the garage dur- 
 ing the afternoon and gone away with some 
 trunks loaded aboard. Try on 's reasoning 
 had been proved correct in every detail. 
 
 But at eleven o'clock there had been found 
 no further trace of the express wagon. 
 Those who had seen it, only remembered that 
 a tarpaulin had been hanging over its si^es 
 as it stood before the garage, and the name 
 had been invisible. To find it was like look- 
 ing for a needle in a haystack. Tryon knew 
 absolutely that his men could not locate it. 
 
 At one in the morning, having pored over 
 every report that came in to him, having 
 sought again and again to find the weak spot 
 in the plot without result, he turned to the 
 anxious commissioner. 
 
 "Well, what do you think V queried 
 Brainerd. 
 
 "I think it's time I went to bed and slept 
 on this," replied Tryon. 
 
 "But, man alive," cried Brainerd, "every
 
 LOOT 229 
 
 moment you delay gives him so much more 
 time to " 
 
 "Commissioner, for the mental exercise 
 not because I thought it would lead to any- 
 thing I traced the Gray Ghost's gang's 
 movements for an hour or so after the rob- 
 bery. I'm really rather tickled I was able to 
 do that much ; but, having done that much, 
 I know there's no more to be done along 
 those lines. It was naturally impossible for 
 the Ghost to make the first part of his get- 
 away so clean that there 'd not be a trace to 
 show his passage; but it wasn't impossible 
 for him to hide his trail when he started the 
 second part of the getaway. He's done it; 
 he's hidden it, as I knew he would. 
 
 "In every crime he's committed he's never 
 left a trail that could be followed. He 
 planned too carefully, too cleverly. And 
 he'd plan more carefully than ever in this, 
 the biggest trick that he or any one else ever 
 pulled. He can't be traced." 
 
 "Then you're beaten right off?" 
 
 "I didn't say that. I said that his get-
 
 23Q LOOT 
 
 away; was too well-thought-out for me to 
 hope to land him by studying it. There isn't 
 a weak spot in it. Why, Commissioner, at 
 this moment I don't believe that a single one 
 of his gang those at least who figured in the 
 actual robbery know where he is. The 
 head ones those who helped him plan 
 they may know; but the others they don't 
 even know who he is. That's how I feel 
 about him. With the exception of Williams, 
 perhaps, and we don't know where he is ; and 
 he's one of the main guys at that !" 
 
 "But surely some of the many who took 
 part in the crime can be found by our detec- 
 tives!" cried the commissioner. "It's im- 
 possible that thirty or forty men should all 
 disappear." 
 
 I don't agree with you," said Tryon. 
 
 I've explained how it's possible. It looks 
 big, but remember the Gray Ghost is big!" 
 
 "Well, what does it all lead to ? That he'll 
 never be caught?" 
 
 "It leads to this," answered Tryon 
 that there's no weak spot in his getaway 
 
 H 
 It 
 
 t(
 
 LOOT 231 
 
 and no weak spot in the crime itself. It's 
 useless to study either. But before be- 
 fore! If there's a weak spot anywhere it 
 will be found in some action of his before 
 the crime." 
 
 "But if you can't find any in the crime, 
 or in his escape, how on earth do you expect 
 to do so in his actions before the crime? 
 When you don't even know where he was or 
 who he was ! Where's your weak spot to be 
 found?" 
 
 "In a bed at the Emergency Hospital, 
 Commissioner," answered Tryon "sick, 
 wounded, paralyzed. A bit of luck 
 planned luck; planned by somebody else."
 
 JERKY TRYON CALLS AT MORNS APARTMENTS; 
 AND READS A CABLEGRAM 
 
 PROPPED against the sugar bowl was a 
 morning paper ; Tryon read it gloomily. Op- 
 posite him Pelham read his paper on this, 
 the second morning after the crime. He 
 turned the leaves and noticed Try on 's face. 
 
 "What's new?" demanded Pelham. "I 
 waited up for you until two last night, but 
 you hadn't come in then. Any develop- 
 ments? Is the French waiter any better?" 
 
 "A little worse, if anything," grunted 
 Tryon. 
 
 "Well, what did you do yesterday?" 
 
 "Do? What could I do? I mulled over 
 the proposition. I did the usual obvious 
 things the routine things. A hundred men 
 from the force, and I guess as many more 
 
 232
 
 LOOT 233 
 
 private detectives, are running round the 
 city. Lord, I had to do something! But it 
 won't amount to anything. I know that 
 much. As if routine work would land the 
 Gray Ghost 1 Land him, who planned every 
 move like an expert chess player !" 
 
 He gulped some coffee. 
 
 "You see, Mr. Pelham, every act of his 
 was planned; planned way ahead. If I 
 could lay my finger on some one thing that 
 he didn't plan ahead but where is it? 
 Jacques, who could have tipped me off, is 
 practically dead, as far as helping me is con- 
 cerned. The woman who phoned me twice 
 and who wrote me the notes there was the 
 weak spot, Mr. Pelham. It lay in the hap- 
 penings before the crime was committed, in 
 treachery. But he must have tumbled to 
 it. Of course he did. And the crime itself, 
 and the escape nothing there for me. If I 
 could only find some one who had seen Will- 
 iams some one who knew him outside of 
 Arabin's before the crime ! But I can't, and 
 BO one has come forward to volunteer the in-
 
 234 LOOT 
 
 formation. Yet Williams must have con- 
 ferred if not with the Ghost himself, with 
 some high agent of his. If I could trace Will- 
 iams some apparently innocent conversa- 
 tion before the crime some little meeting 
 but I can't." 
 
 "What about the assault on Jacques?" 
 asked Pelham. "Who was the woman that 
 gave those notes to him?" 
 
 Tryon snorted disgustedly. 
 
 "As if I hadn't wondered that a hundred 
 times 1" 
 
 "Wondered it yes. But Jacques had 
 told you that you'd spoil everything if you 
 attempted to find out who she was. You took 
 his word for it; you didn't try. And since 
 Thursday you've forgotten about her. At 
 least you've not thought of trying to find 
 her, have you?" 
 
 "The Gray Ghost must have tumbled to 
 her; that's why Jacques was laid out," re- 
 plied Tryon. "He's taken care of her. If 
 she's not dead, he's got her hidden away. In- 
 stead of wasting time trying to find her, I've
 
 LOOT 235 
 
 been busy thinking of him. Jacques had no 
 intimates at all. No one seemed to know of 
 any woman friend he had. He was never 
 known to call on any women or to take one 
 out anywhere. That 's according to his land- 
 lady and the waiters at Bishop's. But, any- 
 way, if I know anything of handwriting, the 
 woman who wrote those notes was a lady. 
 Ladies don't pal round with waiters. They, 
 only come into contact with waiters at res- 
 taurants. Therefore, it's a pretty safe bet 
 that she handed the notes to Jacques at 
 Bishop's. That's where she'd see him. 
 
 "Of course she might have mailed them; 
 but Jacques' landlady said that, so far as she 
 could remember, Jacques had never received 
 a letter at his lodgings. And at Bishop's 
 they mentioned, as proving they knew little 
 about his personal affairs, that he never re- 
 ceived any letters there. She must have 
 handed them to him. And I'd never have 
 thought of it but for you. . . . "Well, 
 let's not congratulate each other too soon. 
 Care to come along with me to Bishop's?"
 
 236 LOOT 
 
 " Rather!" exclaimed Pelham. 
 
 Bishop's did not do much of a breakfast 
 business; at least those who breakfasted 
 there did so at an hour that approximated 
 the majority's lunch-time, and the manager 
 was free. He received Tryon and his com- 
 panion at once and evinced every willingness 
 to aid the detective. At Try on 's request he 
 summoned several head waiters and cap- 
 tains to his private office. One by one Tryon 
 questioned them, and when the last of them 
 had departed he had a list of eleven names 
 on paper. 
 
 They were the names of women who had 
 shown a decided partiality for Jacques, who 
 had insisted that he personally look after 
 their orders, had invited suggestions as to 
 their orders from him. Having cautioned 
 the manager to keep quiet and told him to re- 
 peat the order to his employees, Tryon led 
 the way from the restaurant and in the lobby 
 of a near-by hotel sat down and looked at the 
 list studyingly.
 
 LOOT 237 
 
 "We can cross off these four," he said in- 
 dicating them. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Well, three of them are the wives of well- 
 known gamblers. The other is rather no- 
 torious." 
 
 " Just the sort of women who " 
 
 "Think harder," counseled Try on dryly. 
 "Would the Gray Ghost choose, for any of 
 his gang, notorious people people in the 
 bad books of the police; people who create 
 suspicion wherever they're seen; who cause 
 their companions to be suspected as not quite 
 the right sort? And especially w r omen of 
 that type? Hardly! We needn't bother 
 with these four. That leaves seven. Well, 
 there's Mrs. Billy Crapaud. Cross her off. 
 Her husband's got four million dollars his 
 father left him, and they're a silly couple 
 who love to think they're Bohemians. 
 Neither she nor he is in this deal. And this 
 Mrs. Ellington her husband is the dentist 
 with the big Broadway practise. She's all
 
 238 LOOT 
 
 right. Silly little woman with peroxide 
 hair. I know them both. Count her out. 
 That leaves five. And about these five 
 well, come on with me while I have a little 
 talk with four of them." 
 
 "Do you expect them to own right up?" 
 inquired Pelham mischievously. 
 
 "Whoever slipped those notes to Jacques 
 Intended to tip me to the whole game," said 
 Tryon with certainty. "She stopped, let's 
 say, because she was afraid to go any further. 
 Why was she afraid to go any further ? Be- 
 cause Jacques had had it handed to him. 
 Now then, if she wasn't afraid to slip me the 
 rest of the works, it was because she couldn't 
 because the Gray Ghost has silenced her. 
 And the woman who was game enough to 
 take the risk of double-crossing him could be 
 silenced in only two ways by kidnaping or 
 death. I don't take much stock in the afraid 
 theory. 
 
 "And you'll notice that I said I'd talk 
 with four of them ? If the fifth is missing 
 Well, we can do some thinking then that is,
 
 .LOOT 239 
 
 if this dope we 're following is the right stuff. 
 Come on!" 
 
 He used a simple formula. He introduced 
 himself under his own name and said that he 
 understood the lady on whom he was calling 
 had wished to see him. From four houses 
 and apartments he dismissed himself with 
 apologies for his mistake and a promise to 
 make it unpleasant for the person who had 
 sent him on a wild-goose chase. At the fifth 
 stop it was not necessary to make apologies ; 
 for Morn Light, the actress, whose name had 
 heen last upon the list of those who had 
 shown a preference for Jacques' services 
 when dining at Bishop's, had gone away, 
 said the bell boy of the Glenworth. 
 
 No ; she had not given up her apartment. 
 He understood that she was sick. No; he 
 had not been on duty when Miss Light went 
 away. He hadn't seen her since Monday 
 afternoon, when she went out, presumably 
 on her way to dine and thence to the theater. 
 The hall boy went off. duty at six o'clock. 
 Maybe the night hall boy knew something
 
 240 LOOT 
 
 about the time when Miss Light had gone 
 away. Yes ; he knew the night hall boy's ad- 
 dress that is, the old one's; the one who 
 had left on Monday morning and never come 
 back. He wasn't intimate with the boy who 
 had come to work on Tuesday and didn't 
 know his address. 
 
 Tryon asked for the superintendent of the 
 apartment. That worthy knew nothing 
 about Miss Light's present whereabouts. He 
 simply knew that her maid had told him that 
 Miss Light had left The Sunlight Girl Com- 
 pany owing to a nervous indisposition, of 
 which a sprained ankle had been the capping 
 climax, and was going out of town to rest. 
 
 This was on Tuesday morning. Did not 
 the hall boy remember seeing Miss Light 
 leave on Tuesday ? Well, the boy might have 
 gone outside to sneak a smoke; such things 
 happen. It was hardly probable that Miss 
 Light had left while the night boy was on 
 duty, at before six in the morning. The day 
 boy simply didn't want to admit that any- 
 thing could have occurred of which he was
 
 LOOT 241 
 
 ignorant. The apartment? Certainly he'd 
 show the gentleman from headquarters 
 through it. 
 
 But there was nothing in Miss Light's 
 apartment to give any proof of her connec- 
 tion with the mystery. And, as the superin- 
 tendent protested, it was natural that she 
 should go away without giving much notice. 
 Why not ? She rented the apartment by the 
 year; she could do as she wished stay, or 
 go away on a vacation. What was the 
 trouble anyway ? 
 
 But Try on returned an evasive Answer to 
 this, and shortly he and Pelham left the 
 Glenworth. The young millionaire was ex- 
 cited. 
 
 " Doesn't it look as though she's the one ?" 
 he asked. 
 
 Tryon shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "Not yet. It's perfectly natural that she 
 shouldn't make a fuss about going away 
 that is, if she's really sick. Actresses don't 
 quit playing the star parts in successful 
 shows like The Sunlight Girl unless they are
 
 242 LOOT 
 
 sick or in love; or unless she were mixed 
 up in something like this Arabin affair. And 
 that doesn't seem likely. Still it's plausible 
 enough that one of the women on this list 
 slipped the notes to Jacques, and I ? m satis- 
 fied it was none of the others. And Jacques 
 was knocked out shortly after midnight on 
 Monday. Miss Light if the hall boy tells 
 the truth must have left her apartment be- 
 fore six on Tuesday morning. Some connec- 
 tion there, eh ? 
 
 " Still, her maid saw the superintendent 
 during Tuesday forenoon, which makes it 
 look as though the hall boy was mistaken and 
 that Miss Light left during the forenoon. 
 The boy may have gone out for a smoke, as 
 the superintendent suggests. However, if 
 Miss Light did leave before six A. M V and her 
 maid later stalled the superintendent so he'd 
 not think anything funny of such an early 
 departure if the maid remained behind to 
 make things look' natural well, the night 
 boy who quit his job on Tuesday morning
 
 LOOT 243 
 
 and has not yet returned for his pay might 
 know something, eh? We'll look him up." 
 
 But the ex-hall boy of the Glenworth was 
 not at the address given. His colored land- 
 lady said that he had come to his room on 
 Tuesday morning and packed up his things, 
 announcing that he had won a large sum in 
 a lottery and was leaving town. No; she 
 had no idea where he'd gone. 
 
 11 Looks funny, doesn't it?" said Pelham, 
 as they left the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood 
 where the missing hall boy had lived. 
 
 " There still are lotteries running, you 
 know/' said Try on warily, "and the negroes 
 play them a lot. I don 't know ; but let 's go 
 to the Vandergelt Theater." 
 
 But ten minutes' conversation with the 
 box-office man convinced Try on that he had 
 found a mare's nest. Doctor Lawrence, well 
 known to the theatrical world Doctor 
 Adams "W. Lawrence had sent a note to the 
 managers of the theater on Tuesday after- 
 noon saying that Miss Light was suffering
 
 244 LOOT 
 
 from nervous breakdown brought on by 
 overwork and helped to its crisis by her 
 ankle injury of Monday night. He had for- 
 bidden her to continue with her perform- 
 ance, he wrote, and had ordered her to go 
 from the city. " Just as the advertisements 
 say," ended the box-office man. 
 
 "Well, what do you think?" asked Pel- 
 ham when they were in the street again. 
 
 Tryon grunted. 
 
 "I hate to think that your idea ours, 
 then" and he chuckled "is all to the bad. 
 It looked all to the good. Still, the hall boy 
 may have been telling the truth about that 
 lottery business. It doesn't necessarily fol- 
 low that he took a large piece of money for 
 keeping his mouth shut. It doesn't seem to 
 me that the Gray Ghost would take chances 
 with an ignorant negro knowing his plans." 
 
 "You want to remember that evidently 
 this was one of the impulsive things, the 
 things not planned the sort of thing you 
 were looking for. He'd have to take chances 
 then. Besides, the hall boy may not have
 
 LOOT 245 
 
 seen anything that would naturally make 
 him connect the later stunt at Arabia's with 
 Hiss Light. A little rough-house, maybe, 
 and he was told to keep his mouth shut, and 
 bribed; and told to leave town." 
 
 ' ' Huh ! Maybe, "said Try on. * ' Anyway, 
 let's call on Doctor Lawrence." 
 
 They did so ; and when they left him their 
 hopes that they were on the right scent had 
 risen again, for, under Try on 's aggressive 
 questioning, the physician yielded some in- 
 formation that might be important. He 
 said smirkingly that he always liked to 
 oblige the ladies. Miss Light's maid Celia, 
 he thought her name was had called on him 
 Tuesday morning. She had said that her 
 mistress was going to elope with a young 
 man whose father was a multi-millionaire. 
 They wanted to keep it from the papers, be- 
 cause the prospective groom's father might 
 be very angry. They wanted to break it to 
 him gently later on. 
 
 Also, the young couple did not wish to 
 wait any longer. But Miss Light had her
 
 246 LOOT 
 
 contract with the theatrical company. Only 
 sickness would permit her to break that. If 
 she tried to break it for any other reason 
 there might be newspaper talk leading to the 
 discovery of her marriage. Would Doctor 
 Lawrence write a certificate stating that 
 Miss Light was too ill to act and must go 
 away for a rest? And the physician had 
 done so. He hoped that the detective 
 Tryon had mentioned his profession would 
 not find it necessary to confer undesirable 
 publicity upon a man who had erred merely 
 because of his desire to help a most estimable 
 young woman achieve happiness. It was a 
 fishy yarn. 
 
 Tryon merely grunted a disgusted re- 
 sponse to his plea and departed with Pel- 
 ham. 
 
 "How about it now?" demanded Pelham. 
 
 "I think enough of it," replied the detec- 
 tive, "to have a search instituted for that 
 hall boy. If we could find him and well, 
 even though he has four days' start, it ought 
 not to be difficult to locate a bow-legged
 
 LOOT 247 
 
 negro youth whose face is pitted by smallpox 
 and who has a permanently twisted neck. 
 Cinch, eh?" 
 
 It was too; for no sooner had Tryon 
 finished describing, over the telephone to a 
 headquarters detective, the details that he 
 wanted wired to every police chief in the 
 country, than the answer came. 
 
 "Why, you needn't look any farther than 
 the morgue, Lieutenant Tryon. You've been 
 away from the department and wouldn't be 
 likely to know ; but a negro who exactly an- 
 swers that description was found floating in 
 the East River on Wednesday with his head 
 caved in." 
 
 Tryon repeated the news to Pelham. 
 
 "That," said the detective, awed, "is how 
 the Gray Ghost cures the weak spots." 
 
 "Yes," rejoined Pelham excitedly; "but 
 it's proved one thing, hasn't it? that Miss 
 Morn Light is the woman we want?" 
 
 "Yes," said Tryon ; "and all we have to do 
 is find her. All Peary had to do was find the 
 North Pole, you know. Very soft !"
 
 248 LOOT 
 
 "But her friends" 
 
 When that morning had merged into 
 afternoon, and afternoon had rolled into 
 evening, and evening had become late night, 
 Tryon had learned one certain fact Morn 
 Light had not a single known intimate in 
 the city. Acquaintances, fellow actresses 
 who occasionally lunched or dined with her ; 
 but no one else. It was true there were peo- 
 ple who had called on her at the Glenworth 
 men; but who were these men? Their 
 names were Smith, Jones, Brown, Eobinson, 
 Clarke and the like commonplace names. 
 At least, such were the names her callers had 
 given to the day hall boy at the Glenworth. 
 And who could pick the right Smith, Jones, 
 Brown or Robinson from the many in the 
 city who bore those names, even assuming 
 what probably was not the fact that those 
 visitors gave their right names ? 
 
 In Morn Light lay the solution of the 
 Gray Ghost's identity. Of that Tryon was 
 now certain. But those people of the thea- 
 trical world who knew her could give him
 
 LOOT 249 
 
 no real information, themselves possessed 
 none, being patently innocent of any connec- 
 tion with the Gray Ghost. And her myster- 
 ious men callers, who never dined out with 
 her, so far as Try on could learn and a hun- 
 dred men had been working for hours on 
 this new angle of the case not one of them 
 was known to Morn's theatrical friends. 
 
 Weary, baffled, at about eleven o'clock 
 Tryon went down to headquarters to give his 
 personal scrutiny to what new data had 
 come in. But there was only one thing that 
 stood out as really important. This was a 
 cablegram that had been sent to Arabin and 
 had been turned over to the police. It was 
 from Brenner Carlow in London and voiced 
 his extreme anxiety. It read : 
 
 "Just read of robbery. Did Hildreth get 
 necklace ? Answer. ' ' 
 
 Tryon knew the necklace to which Carlow 
 referred, of course. He called for a cable 
 blank and wrote :
 
 250 LOOT 
 
 is Hildreth? .Wire full details at 
 once. Necklace lost." 
 
 He signed Brainerd's name to the mes- 
 sage ; then, leaving orders that any reply to 
 it should be telephoned to him the moment 
 it arrived, he went disconsolately home to 
 Pelham's house and so, as Mr. Pepys 
 would say, to bed.
 
 CHAPTER XVi 
 
 'JIMMY PELHAM POINTS OUT [WEAK SPOT; 
 TRYON TOUCHES IT 
 
 A SERVANT interrupted a silent breakfast 
 on Sunday morning to tell Tryon that he 
 was wanted on the telephone. The instru- 
 ment was in the hall outside the dining-room, 
 and from it in a moment Tryon called for 
 pencil and paper. Pelham leaped from his 
 chair and provided his guest with the re- 
 quested writing materials. Then he re- 
 turned to his breakfast and the Sunday 
 newspapers. He heard Tryon order who- 
 ever spoke to him to repeat something slow- 
 ly, and heard the detective's pencil move 
 across the paper. 
 
 "'Signed Carlo w, '" said the detective 
 finally. Then: ' 'Get busy, Rafter! I want 
 a report on this Hildreth in one hour no 
 
 251
 
 252 LOOT 
 
 less. If lie's registered at any hotel in New 
 York you should find it out in that time. I '11 
 be here waiting for your report." 
 
 He rang off and reentered the dining- 
 room. 
 
 " Well?" said Pelham. 
 
 Tryon placed before him the paper on 
 which he had taken down the telephone mes- 
 sage. Pelham read it eagerly.; 
 
 "Brainerd, Police, New York : Wade Hil- 
 dreth, London solicitor connected with firm 
 handles my affairs here sailed Lucantia due 
 last Monday intended return St. Louis 
 Thursday held my proxy for stockholders' 
 meeting New York & Middle Western also 
 two million check payable Arabin for neck- 
 lace mailed pictures of him same time so no 
 hitch about identification or right to receive 
 necklace shade under six feet light hair blue 
 eyes smooth-shaved good color straight nose 
 large mouth cleft chin high forehead muscu- 
 lar weight about one seventy keep quiet 
 about proxy matter as understand meeting 
 postponed and will request New York attor-
 
 LOOT 253 
 
 neys to handle matter if Hildreth is missing 
 spare no expense offer reward any reason- 
 able amount for his discovery fear foul play 
 as absolutely honest keep me informed. 
 Signed Carlow." 
 
 "What do you make of it?" asked Tryon. 
 
 "You don't think," hazarded Pelham, 
 "that this Hildreth could have been mixed 
 up with the Ghost?" 
 
 "You mean one of his gang?" Tryon 
 shook his head. "I'm willing to concede 
 that the Ghost has brains and that he's al- 
 mighty lucky too; but it's too much to be- 
 lieve that either brains or luck made it pos- 
 sible for him to plant one of his gang in the 
 office of Carlow 's London attorneys and 
 have that member of his gang chosen as Car- 
 low 's messenger to retrieve the necklace Ar- 
 abin has been constructing for Carlow. Hil- 
 dreth may have been mixed up with the 
 Ghost, but not as an ally. The Ghost may 
 have put him out of the way." 
 
 "How could he have known of Hildreth 's
 
 254 LOOT 
 
 coming ? I don't imagine Carlow advertised 
 it, did he?" 
 
 "Carlow says that he sent pictures of Hil- 
 dreth to Arabia, doesn't he? Yet Arabin 
 said last night that he didn't understand 
 Carlow 's cable ; that he had received no pre- 
 vious word from Carlow. Yet letters don't 
 of ten go astray, do they? [Well then?" 
 
 " Williams," said Pelham softly. 
 
 "Sure thing!" said Tryon. "Williams, 
 we know, opened all of Arabin 's mail. Per- 
 fect cinch for him to hold back anything if 
 he chose, eh ? And we know that the robbery 
 of Arabin 's wasn't any haphazard affair, 
 planned in a moment. It was the outcome of 
 a long-planned scheme. Undoubtedly the 
 day had been fixed weeks ahead and the 
 very hour. The time and date wouldn't be 
 changed if the Ghost could avoid it. Such 
 a change might seem a minor thing, but it 
 might prove mighty important. The Ghost, 
 I imagine, wants things to go through on 
 schedule. Well then, he learns from Will- 
 iams that Carlow is sending a man over for
 
 LOOT 255 
 
 the necklace and that the man would arrive 
 last Monday. 
 
 "Arabia has told us that the necklace was 
 finished a week or so earlier than was ex- 
 pected. Undoubtedly, in his original plan, 
 the Ghost had contemplated capturing that 
 necklace/ He knew that the Arabin work- 
 shops are in a different building from the 
 store. He'd not want to plan two robberies 
 at the same time, and he couldn't hope to 
 rob the workrooms after robbing the store, 
 or vice versa. And he knew through Will- 
 iams, of course that the necklace wouldn't 
 be brought from the shops and the shops 
 are mighty well guarded too until entirely 
 finished. But he probably wanted that neck- 
 lace. Two million dollars' worth of 
 diamonds was worth while planning for. So 
 he fixed a date on which it was pretty certain 
 that the necklace would be either in the pri- 
 vate safe or in the vaults. 
 
 "Then he learns that the workmen have 
 been quicker than he expected and a mes- 
 senger is coming to snatch the prize away.
 
 256 LOOT 
 
 He couldn't change the date of his opera- 
 tions so as to snatch the necklace before Hil- 
 dreth arrived. What would he naturally 
 do? "What, considering that Hildreth's 
 coming was kept from Arabin's knowledge, 
 is the natural assumption that he did do ?" 
 
 "Snatched Hildreth away," answered 
 Pelham. 
 
 "Exactly! Carlow says Hildreth is hon- 
 est. We've got to believe that he is. But he 
 doesn't arrive at Arabin's store at all. You'd 
 naturally expect that he'd have dropped into 
 Arabin's on Tuesday anyway. And as the 
 St. Louis sails at ten in the morning he'd 
 have had to be at Arabin's round nine on 
 Thursday to get the necklace. Too early for 
 the Gray Ghost's plans. Oh, the Ghost 
 nicked him, all right. If he hadn't " 
 
 The telephone interrupted his reasoning. 
 Tryon answered it and came back in a mo- 
 ment. 
 
 "This is a fine note," he said to Pelham. 
 "It was easy to locate where Hildreth went 
 on arriving in New York. Name and de-
 
 LOOT 257 
 
 scription both fit. He went to the Batten- 
 berg. The clerk just told Captain Kenney 
 over the telephone that a room was engaged 
 for Mr. Wade Hildreth on last Monday. A 
 man who said he was a clerk at Arabin's 
 store engaged it in Arabin's name for Hil- 
 dreth. Hildreth didn't take the room as- 
 signed to him, but took one on a lower floor. 
 That doesn't seem to mean much, though. He 
 didn't like elevators, the clerk said. Hil- 
 dreth dined alone ; about eight he asked the 
 way to the Vandergelt Theater and went out. 
 He didn't come back; but next morning, 
 Tuesday, the same guy who had engaged the 
 room, the man who said he was a clerk from 
 Arabin's, came down to the Battenberg and 
 said that Mr. Hildreth had decided to stop at 
 Mr. Arabin's house during his stay in New 
 York. Brought a note from Hildreth ask- 
 ing that the man be given his things. 
 
 "It seemed plausible enough, and the 
 clerk quick-witted guy he is too com- 
 pared the handwriting of the note with 
 Hildreth 's writing on the register, and gave
 
 258 LOOT 
 
 Ug tHe Englishman's things at once. The 
 man paid for the room and drove off with 
 Jlildreth's bags in an automobile and the 
 clerk promptly forgot all about Hildreth. 
 iWhy wouldn't he? Arabin's clerk had en- 
 gaged the room and Arabin's clerk came to 
 get Hildreth 's things. Nothing fishy about 
 that and nothing in it to make the clerk later 
 think that there was any connection be- 
 tween this piece of business and the looting 
 Of the jeweler's store." 
 
 "How do you suppose they were able to 
 imitate Hildreth 's handwriting?" asked 
 !Pelham. 
 
 "[Well, it's perfectly natural to suppose 
 that the Gray Ghost, along with his other 
 talents, can do a little forging, isn't it? If 
 lie can't he's probably got round him a few 
 men who are handy with a pen. They'd be 
 rather necessary at times. And they had 
 plenty of opportunity to study Hildreth 's 
 signature on the register. Anybody could 
 fiip the leaves of that. Or, Hildreth may
 
 LOOT 259 
 
 have had some writing of his own on his per- 
 son. That's simple enough. But what have 
 they done with him? It isn't reasonable to 
 suppose that the Gray Ghost would burden 
 himself with a prisoner. He might do so 
 with a woman like Miss Light, but hardly 
 with a man. He 'd put him out of the way. 
 
 "Yet, so far as I know, there's been no 
 man answering his description turned up as 
 the victim of any crime or accident. And 
 last night, realizing from the murder of that 
 hall boy that I might find other clews I 
 didn't know what, but I spent a little time 
 on the off chance I went over the descrip- 
 tions of all the persons that are known to the 
 police to have died violent or mysterious 
 'deaths since the beginning of the week. But 
 nobody that I can remember now was at all 
 like this description of Hildreth. But any- 
 way, my brain's buzzing with descriptions, 
 like I said the whole force would be. Eead 
 Carlow says about Hildreth." 
 
 Pelham stared at the words Tryon had
 
 260 LOOT 
 
 written. He repeated the part of Carlow's 
 cable that described Hildreth, aloud. He 
 repeated it a second time. 
 
 "I may be all off, Jerry," he said; "but 
 'doesn't it sound like the description of the 
 man Daly?" 
 
 .Tryon pounced on the paper. He read it 
 again. 
 
 "Daly? It sure does sound like him, Mr. 
 Pelham. More than that it is he ! And the 
 check boy to whom Daly refused to sur- 
 render his hat and coat said he talked like a 
 Bostonian. Broad 'a,' you know. Well, 
 that would be English, too. . . . But 
 great grief ! Mr. Pelham, why should Hil- 
 dreth call himself Daly?" 
 
 "We know that Hildreth went to the Yan- 
 dergelt Theater," suggested Pelham. "We 
 know that Morn Light was playing at that 
 theater. We are pretty certain that Morn 
 Light knew something about the Gray Ghost 
 and that she was passing along information 
 to you intended to pass on more. We know 
 that that information passed through the
 
 LOOT 261 
 
 hands of Jacques. Now then, if Hildreth 
 was Daly, and was in a private room to 
 which he had been conducted by Jacques, 
 had gone to Bishop's under a false name 
 isn't there a connection there?" 
 
 Tryon stroked his chin. 
 
 "There 're only two reasons why a man 
 like Hildreth should assume a false name," 
 he said slowly. "One is that he might be a 
 crook. Carlow's cable and our own common 
 sense make us drop that idea. The other 
 reason would be that he did it out of fear 
 or caution. Hildreth, the Vandergelt, Morn 
 Light! . . . Morn Light and Jacques 
 the waiter ! . . . Jacques and Hildreth ! 
 
 "Morn Light, unless we're way off. our 
 trolley, was warning me. She might have 
 warned Hildreth. Might have sent him to 
 Jacques but Daly got away I A taxi chauf- 
 feur told the police, when questioned, that he 
 had driven the man answering to Daly's de- 
 scription and also to Hildreth 's to the 
 Pennsylvania Station at just about the time 
 the strangers went up to the private dining-
 
 262 LOOT 
 
 room at Bishop's after inquiring for Mr. 
 Daly. If Daly was Hildreth, and made his 
 getaway, what's kept him silent from early 
 Tuesday morning to to-day, Sunday?" 
 
 "But you have only the words of a chauf- 
 feur and a door porter at Bishop's that Daly 
 was driven to the Pennsylvania Station. 
 And on Tuesday morning the police ques- 
 tioned all the station attaches who had been 
 on duty at the time when Daly was driven up 
 there. No one remembered seeing a man of 
 that description. He hadn't bought a ticket 
 anywhere." 
 
 "He might have had a ticket already," ob- 
 jected Tryon. 
 
 "If he were really a man named Daly, and 
 not [Wade Hildreth, an Englishman, a 
 Stranger in this city and country ! But what 
 would Hildreth be doing with a ticket on the 
 Pennsylvania road ? If Daly were Hildreth 
 and went out of town, would he, a man 
 trusted with important work by Brenner 
 Oarlow, be the sort of man to remain hidden
 
 LOOT 263 
 
 and silent when he had his duty to do? 
 Especially since the robbery of Thursday?" 
 "But, granting that Daly was Hildreth," 
 said Try on, "and that the Gray Ghost had 
 discovered, that the Gray Ghost's gang had 
 learned that Hildreth was at Bishop's and 
 went there after him, and, not getting him 
 there, slugged Jacques because they were 
 suspicious of him, and then went after Hil- 
 dreth. Grant that. Yet Hildreth was taken 
 to the Pennsylvania Station. And a kid- 
 naping couldn't occur there, even in the late 
 hours, without people noticing it, you know. 
 Yet Hildreth, if it is Hildreth whose move- 
 ments we are figuring, was set down in the 
 Pennsylvania Station. And there's no rec- 
 ord of his being attacked there ; nor any dis- 
 turbance on any train. Of course he might 
 have been captured at some station, some 
 town, along the Pennsylvania's lines; but 
 why was he there I Why did he go there ? 
 Of course Jacques may have warned him to 
 go out of town, but it doesn't seem likely that
 
 264 LOOT 
 
 Hildreth would obey such a warning. He'd 
 be more likely to go to the police if he knew 
 something was up than to run out of town." 
 " Why assume that he even started for out 
 of town?" questioned Pelham. "As I said 
 a moment ago, you have only the words of 
 the porter and chauffeur that he did drive to 
 the Pennsylvania Station. Logic suggests 
 that Daly was Hildreth. Logic tells us that 
 Hildreth wouldn't be likely, a stranger in 
 this country, to take a train out of town at 
 an hour after midnight, attired in evening 
 clothes. Logic tells us that there's a pos- 
 sibility that the chauffeur and porter lied. 
 If Daly was Hildreth, and not a party to the 
 assault on Jacques, it is certain that he 
 would have communicated with the police 
 before this if he was able. If he was one of 
 the Gray Ghost's gang well, in that case 
 our reasoning falls flat. But does it seem 
 plausible that he was one of the gang? His 
 description Hildreth's having gone to the 
 theater where Morn Light was playing, and 
 then this man who looked so like Hildreth
 
 LOOT 265 
 
 having been closeted with Jacques what 
 does logic tell you, Jerry?" 
 
 "About what it's told you, Mr. Pelham," 
 said the lieutenant. ' t But there 's something 
 that's a whole lot more dependable in police 
 work than logic. " 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 "The third degree," said Try on. "You 
 never saw it worked? It's interesting. And 
 you're entitled to take a slant at its work- 
 ings, I think. Wait till I use the telephone 
 and have that chauffeur rounded up, and the 
 porter, too. Then we'll ride down-town." 
 
 It was noon before the chauffeur who 
 claimed to have driven Daly to the Pennsyl- 
 vania Station on the night of the assault on 
 Jacques was brought to headquarters. But 
 the side-door porter at Bishop's had been 
 apprehended an hour earlier and had con- 
 fessed, before the chauffeur's arrival, that 
 he had been given a hundred dollars by a 
 stranger to say, if he was questioned, that he 
 had heard the man answering to the descrip- 
 tion of Daly order that he be driven to the
 
 266 LOOT 
 
 Pennsylvania Station. The porter did not 
 know the man who had asked him to do this ; 
 he only knew that he had received a hundred 
 "dollars for so doing, and had been promised 
 that if he said anything else he would regret 
 It very soon. 
 
 Confronted by this confession the taxi 
 chauffeur broke down. He said that he had 
 been accosted, on his return to Bishop's 
 after discarding his fare, by a man who gave 
 him two hundred dollars on condition that 
 he make the statement he had since made to 
 the police. He, too, had been threatened. 
 He had assumed that some gamblers' war 
 was in progress and he did not care to be 
 mixed up in it. He thought that the best 
 thing he could do was to keep his mouth 
 shut. He had known of chauffeurs who 
 talked too freely after deeds of violence had 
 been committed, and those chauffeurs later 
 'figured as unfortunate principals in other 
 deeds of violence. He had conferred with 
 the door porter and both of them had de- 
 cided to pocket their bribes and do as they
 
 LOOT 267 
 
 were told. Doing as one had been told was 
 often profitable in the Tenderloin. Squeal- 
 ing to the police was quite the antithesis of 
 profitable. The chauffeur told the truth 
 now. He had driven the man who, under the 
 name of Daly, had occupied the private 
 dining-room with Jacques to the Glenworth 
 Apartments I 
 
 "[WTiere Morn Light lived!" ejaculated 
 Pelham. 
 
 Tryon nodded grimly ; his eyes blazed with 
 excitement. 
 
 "Now then," he addressed the shrinking 
 frightened chauffeur, "the porter says that 
 he had never before seen the man who had 
 bribed him. He says that he was stocky and 
 stout. Is that the way you'd describe the 
 man who accosted you?" 
 
 The chauffeur nodded. 
 
 "Had you ever seenhim before?" queried 
 Tryon. 
 
 "Listen, boss," whimpered the chauffeur. 
 "You know what a squealer gets in this 
 burg, don 't you ? Ain 't I told you enough f ' '
 
 268 LOOT 
 
 "And you'll have a chance to learn what 
 happens to a man who refuses information 
 to the police, " threatened Tryon. "I can 
 put you in a cell and keep you there until 
 you've forgotten what a taxi looks like, you 
 know! Loosen up quick! Had you ever 
 seen this man before ? Bid you know him 1 ' ' 
 
 "I don't know him," said the chauffeur, 
 "but I'd seen him before. He I was 
 hangin' round in front of the Yandergelt 
 earlier in the evening hopin' for a fare, and 
 this same man comes out and has me drive 
 him to Patello's restaurant. But that's the 
 only time in my life I ever saw him before, 
 boss ; and that's gospel 1" 
 
 He seemed to be telling the truth now and 
 Tryon ordered him taken to a cell, along 
 with the porter, pending his decision as to 
 what should be done with them. They might 
 prove very valuable witnesses. 
 
 Outside, in the swift roadster, on their 
 way to Patello's restaurant, Pelham cried 
 excitedly: 
 
 "It looks as though you're on the track,
 
 LOOT 269 
 
 Jerry! Tell me, you don't think for a min- 
 ute that that porter and that chauffeur were 
 in the gang?" 
 
 " They'd never have talked if they were," 
 grunted Try on. ' 1 That 's where I 'm landing 
 in the only way I could land hy finding a 
 weak spot before the crime. With your help, 
 Mr. Pelham. No; those two men aren't in 
 the gang. But something happened the as- 
 sault on Jacques the flight of Daly of 
 Hildreth, for I'm certain they're one and the 
 same now that hadn't been expected, 
 hadn't been planned for. The old tried tools 
 couldn't be used. The porter and the chauf- 
 feur knew something where Hildreth had 
 gone. It didn't seem necessary, probably, to 
 bump them off the way the Glenworth hall 
 boy was used. Restaurant people and chauf- 
 feurs in the Tenderloin are used to queer 
 happenings and usually a piece of money 
 will seal their lips. They don't want any 
 bad actors after them. So they were bribed. 
 They are the weak points in the Ghost's ma- 
 chine, the weak points I've prayed for,"
 
 270 LOOT 
 
 "But if this Daly-Hildreth drove to the 
 Glenworth " began Pelham. 
 
 But Tryon cut him short. 
 
 "If Daly was Hildreth and got the tip to 
 go to Bishop's, Jacques could have told him 
 what little Jacques knew; could have told 
 him that Morn Light knew more. Somehow 
 the Gray Ghost tumbled to the warnings 
 that had been given Hildreth. Hildreth es- 
 caped from Bishop's. He drove to: Miss 
 Light's apartment. Heaven knows why! 
 But he went there. From the side-door 
 porter the gang that had settled Jacques 
 learned where Hildreth had gone. They, 
 went up there, too. 
 
 "What followed whether Hildreth and 
 Morn Light were killed there's no need for 
 us taking any stock in what Miss Light's 
 maid told Doctor Lawrence or whether 
 they were kidnaped well, the night hall boy 
 could perhaps have told us something about 
 that. But evidently the Ghost was afraid 
 that a negro hall boy couldn't keep his mouth 
 ; closed, IWe know what happened to the
 
 LOOT 271 
 
 young negro. But the chauffeur and the 
 porter well, the Ghost evidently didn't 
 want too many killings pulled off before he'd 
 attended to the Arabin matter. 
 
 "A wave of crime, violent crime, always 
 causes the police to be extra watchful > 
 about everything. He thought he could 
 safely trust the Tenderloin instinct which 
 is never to give information about any one 
 to the police, lest your relatives report you) 
 missing of the chauffeur and porter. He 
 slipped up there. It was a little matter, un- 
 connected, he thought, with the Arabin 
 affair or with any of his doings. And so it 
 would have been but for the fact that Morn 
 Light or some woman, but we know prettyj 
 well it was she was already giving out in- 
 formation about him. If I land Jiim at all* 
 well, it will be because of her and Jacques. 
 . . . Well, let's hear what Patello can 
 tell me."
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 JERRY TRYON TALKS WITH A RESTAURATEUR; 
 
 AND A HOTEL CLERK ; AND PELHAM 
 
 LISTENS 
 
 ENRICO PATELLO, proprietor of the res- 
 taurant that bore his name, turned a nor- 
 mally sour face toward his visitors and tried 
 to smile. He did a fair business on week- 
 days, but his Sunday trade was practically 
 nothing at all ; so it was policy, though diffi- 
 cult for one of his disposition, to seem cor- 
 dial to whomever patronized him to-day. 
 But Tryon bruskly waved aside Patello's 
 suggestion as to a well-situated table. 
 
 " We didn't come to eat, Patello," he said. 
 "We came to get a little information from 
 you. My name is Tryon; I'm from head- 
 quarters. I want to know if you can tell me 
 the name of a short stout man that was here 
 
 272
 
 LOOT 273 
 
 well, lie was here last Monday; night at 
 about eleven." 
 
 Patello sneered. 
 
 "Does the signor think me a camera?" he 
 demanded. ' ' How should I know who comes 
 here ? My business is to feed people, not spy; 
 on them." 
 
 Tryon laughed. 
 
 "A man isn't a spy because he recognizes 
 his customers, is he?" He fixed the Italian 
 with hard eyes. "I haven't a moment to 
 waste to-day, Patello," he said. "You've 
 read about me in the papers, eh ? You know 
 what case I'm on, I think. Well, then, you 
 can understand that I'm in no mood to waste 
 any time with you. Now then, the restau- 
 rant business isn't any too good for you these 
 days, considering that you haven't any cab- 
 aret is it ? But it's better than loafing in a 
 cell while your business goes to pot, eh ? And 
 that last is exactly what you'll be doing, be- 
 ginning within twenty minutes, if you can't 
 tell me who that man is. 
 
 "Now, it's too bad if you really don't
 
 274 LOOT 
 
 know who this fat man is, Patello. If you 
 don't you'll go to jail through no fault of 
 your own, just the same as if you were the 
 ugly cuss you've the reputation of being. 
 For I'm a hard man when I want to be, 
 Patello. I don't take no for an answer when 
 I want yes. You understand me ? I thought 
 so. Well then, do you think you can possi- 
 bly tell me the name of the short stout man 
 who came in here Monday night ? Can you 
 remember that far back? If you can't, say 
 so right on , and I'll ring for a wagon to take 
 you down-town. If you can, speak up, and 
 maybe I won't send for that wagon." 
 
 The sneer had left Patello 's face; he was 
 cowed. 
 
 "The signor is harsh," he said; "but if I 
 can aid him I will. How was this stout man 
 dressed?" 
 
 "Black derby, grayish-checked light over- 
 coat, brown suit underneath." 
 
 "His name is Ashby," said Patello. "He 
 used to come here quite often he and his 
 friends."
 
 LOOT 275 
 
 "Oh! He had friends, eh? Were they 
 with him Monday night ?" 
 
 "One entered with him; another was here 
 already. But, signor, I do not understand. 
 These are respectable patrons of my place. 
 t5Tet you hint of the case of which the news- 
 papers are so full the Arabin robbery. 
 How can these " 
 
 ".What are the names of the two men who 
 were with this Ashby on Monday night?" 
 interrupted Try on. 
 
 "I only know what they called one an- 
 other," said Patello. "One was called 
 Brant and the other Atchison. These three 
 are were quite regular patrons here. 
 They have not been here, however, since 
 Monday night. Occasionally there were 
 other men who ate or drank with them, but 
 I never heard their names." 
 
 "Anything unusual happen here Monday 
 night?" demanded Tryon. 
 
 "Except that Mr. Atchison used the tele- 
 phone more frequently than usual noth- 
 ing."
 
 276 LOOT 
 
 "He ordinarily used it quite a lot, then?" 
 
 "Two or three times in an evening per- 
 haps," said Patello. 
 
 "What do these men Atchison and Brant 
 look like?" 
 
 "Brant somewhat of a dandy, signor. 
 Young not over thirty ; maybe a little less, 
 signor. Slim, light-complexioned ; with a 
 mouth that drooped that seemed loose, if 
 the signor understands." 
 
 "Yes; and the other?" 
 
 "Mr. Atchison? The gray gentleman? 
 
 "What! The gray gentleman?" cried 
 Tryon. 
 
 The Italian crossed himself swiftly. 
 
 "I never thought, signor! Why should 
 171 swear to you, signor, that I know noth- 
 ing, suspected nothing " 
 
 " Go on ! " said Tryon harshly. His mouth 
 quivered with excitement. "You called him 
 the gray gentleman ? Go on ! " 
 
 ' * Signor, you believe me ! I never knew 
 how could I ? We the waiters, the cashier
 
 LOOT 277 
 
 we called him the gray gentleman because 
 his hair, his complexion and his clothing 
 were all gray. Atchison, his friends spoke 
 to him as ; but we always referred to him as 
 I have said. But that he should be the Gray; 
 Ghost " 
 
 "Who said he was?" demanded Tryon. 
 "And keep your mouth shut after I'm 
 gone." 
 
 "Surely!" cried Patello. "If the Gray 
 Ghost if he should be the one and if he 
 knew that I Again I swear to you, signor, 
 that I knew noth " 
 
 "All right; you've said it enough," 
 snapped Tryon. "How long have these 
 three men been coming here ?" 
 
 "Off and on for a couple of months, may- 
 be," said Patello. 
 
 "Not here since Monday?" 
 
 "No, signor." 
 
 "Any idea where they live?" Then, as 
 the Italian hesitated, Tryon gripped his 
 wrist with steely fingers and wrenched his 
 arm. "Look here, Patello, you've given me
 
 278 LOOT 
 
 some news. I won't forget it. And I won't 
 forget it if you try to stop giving me infor- 
 mation now. Another thing: Until the 
 Gray Ghost is caught not a soul shall know 
 that you've helped me. Afterward, when 
 you've nothing to fear from him, there'll be 
 a little piece of change coming to you if 
 you've helped me get him. Now then, do 
 you know where he lives?" 
 
 "Not that, signor," stammered Patello, 
 rubbing his injured wrist ; "but I know that 
 he used to telephone the Ever Heady Taxi 
 Company for a machine if it happened to be 
 late or a rainy night. He did so on Monday 
 night." 
 
 "Good for you, Patello," said Tryon. 
 "Come on, Pelham." 
 
 But at the door the Italian called them. 
 
 "Signor," he said, "I forgot. There wag 
 a lady joined them for a moment on Monday 
 night. A beautiful woman, with the hair 
 and eyes of the women of Sicily. Graceful, 
 tall, dark." 
 
 "Eh?"
 
 LOOT 279 
 
 Pelham and Tryon exchanged glances. 
 
 "Miss Light!" breathed Pelham. "You 
 are getting warm, Jerry." 
 
 "I hope so," grunted the detective. 
 
 They left the restaurant with a last in- 
 junction to Patello not to mention their 
 presence or inquiries. 
 
 "Of course he isn't of the gang," said 
 Pelham. 
 
 "Patello? Certainly not. But the Gray 
 Ghost had to eat once in a while, and he 
 wouldn't meet his fellow conspirators al- 
 ways in a secret hiding-place before the big 
 crime was committed. Why not Patello 's? 
 And a lucky accident put us on Patello 's 
 trail." 
 
 "You think the gray gentleman is the 
 Ghost?" 
 
 "Well, look here!" said Tryon. "The 
 'Gray Ghost has been called the Gray Ghost 
 for a good many years. But the newspapers 
 didn't give him the name ; nor did the police. 
 It came from the underworld ; a big 'gun' of 
 that nickname, or monniker, has been gos-
 
 280 LOOT 
 
 siped about for a long time ; but none of the 
 underworld gang knew him, had ever seen 
 him. But they'd heard of him. News of 
 him had filtered down from the high pin- 
 nacle of crookedness he occupied. They re- 
 ferred to him as the Gray; Ghost. When a 
 big trick was turned it was underworld 
 chatter that the Gray Ghost had done it. So 
 his nickname got to the police and papers/' 
 
 "And he may return to Patello's at any 
 moment, you think?" 
 
 Tryon shook his head. 
 
 "Not this time. This is by far the biggest 
 thing he ever did. He probably employed 
 many times as many men as ordinarily. The 
 risk is ten times as great as it ever was be- 
 fore. He 's probably lying low now, and will 
 lie low for a good while yet, until he's dead 
 certain that every one of his helpers is in no 
 danger of being caught, of giving anything 
 away that would lead to the man high up, 
 and the man higher up, and finally the man 
 highest up the Gray Ghost himself. He 
 won't come back; to Patello's, but it's a hun-
 
 LOOT 281 
 
 dred to one he was there. Ashby was con- 
 cerned in the Hildreth matter ; Ashby comes 
 to Patello's; Ashby meets a man there who 
 certainly might be termed a Gray Ghost in 
 appearance. Morn Light meets that gray 
 man there." 
 
 "It sounds good, Tryon, and you're 
 a wonder!" exclaimed Pelham enthusias- 
 tically. "But how did you know that Pa- 
 tello would recognize the man this Ashby 
 person?" 
 
 "I didn't," grinned Tryon. "But I did 
 know this : Patello has moved up-town twice 
 since he started in business. Each time the 
 Black Hand tossed a bomb into his place. 
 It's a cinch that an Italian who's in the bad 
 graces of the Black Hand will observe close- 
 ly the features of every person who enters 
 his place, eh?" 
 
 They turned into the Ever Ready Taxi 
 Company's garage. Swiftly Tryon made 
 his errand known to the proprietor. The 
 latter called to a group of lounging chauf- 
 feurs.
 
 282 LOOT 
 
 "Any of you answer a call at Patello's 
 restaurant Monday night?" 
 
 One of them had. Yes ; his fare had worn 
 gray garments and otherwise answered the 
 Italian's description of the man Atchison. 
 
 "I took him to the Hotel Nestor," said 
 the taxi driver. "I remember it because an- 
 other machine came down the wrong side of 
 the street just as I reached there and I had 
 to drive with two wheels on the sidewalk. 
 The other machine was pinched and the 
 'driver got thirty days for drunkenness. 
 He'd oughta got thirty years!" he added 
 virtuously. 
 
 "Ever drive that man before?" queried 
 Tryon. 
 
 "Not as I remember, boss." 
 
 Nor did any of the other chauffeurs re- 
 member having driven Atchison, though 
 several of them had answered calls at Pa- 
 tello's recently and might very well have 
 done so. 
 
 "The Nestor now?" asked Pelham as they 
 reached the street again.
 
 LOOT 283 
 
 "Where else? It's a slim chance, but 
 we've got to take it. There's nothing else." 
 
 "You've dropped Ashby, then?" 
 
 "For a while. Ashby 's chief is bigger 
 game. iWe'll follow this lead until it ends; 
 then, if we've gained nothing, we'll try for 
 Ashby." 
 
 The clerk at the Hotel Nestor, however, 
 knew nothing of Atchison, either by name 
 or description. He certainly did not live 
 there. But the taxi starter, under the porte- 
 cochere, remembered perfectly the incident 
 of the drunken auto driver whose erratic 
 guidance of his car had caused an approach- 
 ing taxi to climb on the sidewalk. 
 
 "It was last Monday night, about twelve 
 or thereabouts," he said. "I remember be- 
 cause the fare in the taxi went inside and 
 came out again in about five minutes, as 
 though he'd gone inside to telephone or 
 maybe buy a drink. And then he took a 
 taxi from here." 
 
 "Do you know where he went?" asked 
 Tryon.
 
 284: LOOT 
 
 "I can find out in a jiffy,'* said the starter. 
 
 He entered the little cubby-hole beneath 
 the porte-cochere, which was his office. 
 There he ran over a ledger. 
 
 "Ryan was the man who drove him," he 
 announced in a moment, "and Ryan is down 
 here, at that day and time, as having driven 
 a man to the Granada. Ryan isn't here 
 now, sir, but I could give you his address." 
 
 Tryon took it and tipped the starter. 
 
 "Granada or Ryan's address?" asked 
 Pelham. "Doesn't it begin to look like a 
 game of tag?" 
 
 "Granada," advised Tryon. 
 
 They entered the Granada, and Tryon 
 went directly to the desk. Comprehensively 
 yet briefly he describee! the Gray Ghost as 
 Patello had described him. 
 
 "Any such person stopping here ?" 
 
 "Yes," said the clerk; "but he isn't here 
 now. He had his things sent away last Mon- 
 day. He dropped in Monday night to see if 
 they were all gone if anything had been 
 left behind. He hasn't been here since. But
 
 LOOT 285 
 
 certainly a detective you're one, aren't 
 you? can't want anything with Mr. Peter 
 Ballantyne! Why, he's a well-known re- 
 tired business man. Been stopping here off 
 and on for a couple of years. And now he's 
 gone on a yachting trip and " 
 
 His speech was interrupted by the gale 
 of laughter, almost hysterical laughter, that 
 burst from the lips of Pelham. 
 
 "What's the joke?" demanded Tryon 
 gruffly. 
 
 Pelham wiped the tears from his eyes. 
 
 "Joke? Why, the joke is on me, I sup- 
 pose. Do you know, Jerry, I almost re- 
 fused to charter my yacht because the man 
 who wanted her proposed supplying the 
 crew. I'm glad now that the extra payment 
 I demanded, to make up the loss of pay to 
 my own crew while the yacht was on charter, 
 didn't stop the deal. Otherwise it would be 
 Lard. But now when we know the 
 yacht " 
 
 Again laughter overcame him. Tryon 
 shook him by the shoulder.
 
 286 LOOT 
 
 "You mean you know this Peter Ballan- 
 tyne? That he " 
 
 "I never met him," gasped Pelham; "but 
 my lawyers did. They turned over the 
 yacht. And the man to whom they turned 
 over the Sorella was Mr. Peter Ballantyne I"
 
 CHAPTEE XVII 
 
 MORN" THINKS OVER A PROPOSITION ; BUT DOES 
 NOT HAVE TO ANSWER IT 
 
 [WAN, listless, suffering graved on her 
 features, Morn Light sat in a lounging chair 
 on the after deck of the Sorella. Down in 
 the saloon the Gray Ghost was busy; on the 
 work that had engrossed him since the yacht 
 steamed her undisputed way out of New 
 York Harbor five days before ripping jew- 
 els from their settings. The first moments 
 of panic had left Morn's heart; something 
 worse had taken wild panic's place, a shud- 
 dering wonderment of what the Gray Ghost 
 she no longer had the slightest doubt but 
 that Atchison, or JBallantyne as it now 
 seemed he preferred to be addressed by his 
 gang, was the Gray Ghost intended to do 
 
 287
 
 288 LOOT 
 
 with her had taken its place. To her state- 
 ment that she would die before marrying 
 him he had returned only an enigmatic smile. 
 
 Her chin resting on her palm, she stared 
 out across the smooth swelling expanse of 
 the waters glistening beneath a warm spring 
 sun. She stirred restlessly as a shadow fell 
 across the deck. She looked up to meet the 
 shifty glance of Brant. Uninvited he drew 
 up a chair and sat down beside her. 
 
 "Don't go," he whispered. "I've got 
 something to say to you something impor- 
 tant." 
 
 She stared at him coldly, repugnance and 
 disgust in her eyes. 
 
 "Do you hate me so much as that?" he 
 stammered. 
 
 "One doesn't hate a wild beast who has 
 gone mad with the lust for killing," she 
 answered. "One merely wishes that one 
 might destroy it." 
 
 "But suppose I wasn't so bad as Lis- 
 ten, Miss Light! Will you promise not to 
 repeat anything I say?"
 
 LOOT 289 
 
 "I can't imagine any one to whom I'd 
 want to repeat it," she answered. 
 
 " That's enough for me," he said. " Lis- 
 ten! Suppose I hadn't killed Hildreth? 
 Would you feel a little different toward me 
 then?" 
 
 "But you did! I heard you boast that 
 you'd thrown him " 
 
 "But suppose I was lying? Suppose I'd 
 done nothing of the sort, but was merely 
 pulling the wool over Ballantyne's eyes? 
 And suppose I should show you that Hil- 
 dreth was safe prove it to you ? And sup- 
 pose I showed you a way to get out of Bal- 
 lantyne's clutches? "What would you say?" 
 
 "You must be mad!" she answered. 
 
 "Maybe; but there's method in it." He 
 rose and looked inside the cabin, outside of 
 which they sat. He resumed his seat and 
 spoke quickly, whispering. 
 
 "Ballantyne's crazy! Lots of us sus- 
 pected it when he planned this Arabin stunt. 
 It was too big. But we didn't dare cross him 
 and he got away with it. But since he's
 
 290 LOOT 
 
 been glooming like a madman. And this 
 yacht idea all very well maybe; but sup- 
 pose the word did get out? We're trapped 
 aboard a ship ! See ? Wouldn't dare enter 
 any port on the globe. Ballantyne laughs at 
 the idea of any one suspecting who we are, 
 but it's possible. Another thing he's not 
 sane! We're afraid Ashby, Seeley and 
 the rest of us afraid that when he does put 
 in he'll give the snap away himself. 
 
 "He's muttering to himself all the time 
 and hasn't a civil word nothing but curses 
 and growls for all of us. And the way he 
 looks at me do you know what we think? 
 We think' he intends wrecking the yacht 
 somehow, seeing to it that not a soul es- 
 capesexcept you perhaps and keeping 
 the loot for himself. Bince he discovered 
 how cleverly you'd been playing him, he 
 suspects every one especially me; for he 
 believes that I dropped you hints. Maybe 
 I did; but not with the idea of double- 
 crossing him. But a madman wouldn't rea- 
 Boru And if I told him what I thought of
 
 LOOT 291 
 
 you he'd kill me out-of-hand. But I don't 
 propose to let him. ' ' 
 
 "What do you propose ?" asked Morn. 
 
 " There are twenty-two men aboard this 
 boat, counting the stokers," said Brant. 
 "Each of them is naturally one of his fol- 
 lowers; but twelve of us, the ones with 
 brains and including the captain and the 
 two engineers, feel the same way that I do. 
 It's twelve against ten thirteen against ten 
 If you'd help us." 
 
 "What do you want me to do?" 
 
 "At night Smithers sleeps in Ballantyne's 
 cabin with him. Smithers wouldn't turn 
 against him. Malloy and Landon sleep out- 
 side his cabin ; or, rather, they watch there. 
 Those three men are like servants old faith- 
 ful servants. They've been with him since he 
 began his business. They'd die for him. 
 And the other six men they'd prefer to 
 stick with Ballantyne, who's always come 
 clear in the past, than join with us. They 
 couldn't be convinced that he's insane or 
 that he plans getting rid of the whole ship's
 
 292 LOOT 
 
 crew. But if Ballantyne was a prisoner if 
 he was in our power they'd come round 
 without a fight. And the only way we can 
 get him in our power without a battle that 
 might end in all of us getting killed is with 
 your help." 
 
 "How!" 
 
 "Suppose you went down to the saloon 
 now and were nice to him? He's alone. 
 Suppose you put your arms about his neck? 
 You're strong. You could hold him for one 
 minute, couldn't you? And in that time, 
 while you cried out, there 'd be several of us 
 jump in. We'd have his gun in no time, and 
 well, it would be all over. Once he's a 
 captive, taken by surprise, those that are 
 faithful to him would see reason." 
 
 "And what do you propose to do with 
 him?" asked Morn with a shudder. 
 
 "There's an island off the Maine coast. 
 It's deserted. We'd put him ashore there 
 we wouldn't kill him, I promise that and 
 leave him. Later on we'd let it become 
 known that there was a shipwrecked man
 
 LOOT 293 
 
 there. He wouldn't starve. "We'd leave him 
 food. He'd be rescued. But it would be 
 too late for him to catch us; we'd have scat- 
 tered. And even if he goes entirely; crazy, 
 and blurts out who he is, it would be too late 
 for us to be caught by the police. We'd just 
 put quietly into some port and drift away 
 that's all." 
 
 "But how about me ?" 
 
 "There's an answer to that. Kendricks, 
 captain of this boat, is a captain! True, 
 since there was a scandal about the insur- 
 ance of his last regular ship he's not had a 
 berth ; but his license has never been taken 
 from him. !And captains can perform mar- 
 riages at sea. Now don't shudder! That's 
 a lot better than dying or worse." 
 
 "Perhaps," said Morn. "But I'd not do 
 it. Why do you want me to?" 
 
 "Well, for one thing, I love you," he said 
 brazenly. "You know that. But there's 
 another. [You, as my wife, would hardly be 
 liable to try to hand out any more informa- 
 tion about the gang. iTou'd not like it
 
 294 LOOT 
 
 known that your husband was a thief. Also, 
 you'd give me your word to keep everything 
 silent. " 
 
 "And marry you a murderer!" 
 "That's another thing. This job was a 
 big one, the biggest the Ghost ever framed. 
 It was bad enough, as it was planned to be ; 
 but I didn't take any hand in the actual 
 robbery. It wasn't planned that I should. 
 I never have. I simply rounded up the 
 rough-workers. The worst I could ever get 
 would be a stretch in jail. And I didn't in- 
 tend to take any chances of going to the 
 chair. The night we came on you and Hil- 
 dreth, Ballantyne left it to me to settle Hil- 
 dreth lef t it to me and Ashby ; but Ashby 
 was nervous. He 'd just slugged that French 
 waiter a bit harder than he'd intended. He'd 
 turned back to the private dining-room, sus- 
 picious that the Frenchman might be hep in 
 some way, and determined to pump him; 
 but when the waiter tried to get past him 
 Ashby lost his head and dropped him with a 
 blackjack. He hadn't intended to. He was
 
 LOOT 295 
 
 simply all wrought up. But when we were 
 left alone in your apartment, with instruc- 
 tions to finish Hildreth as he lay; there un- 
 conscious and dump him in the river* well, 
 Ashby didn't feel like another killing. He 
 thought the Frenchman was dead, you know, 
 "And I wasn't anxious to have a murder: 
 charge hanging over my head. If we should 
 get caught and the Arabia matter was so 
 big that I was nervous about it it might 
 help if I 'd spared Hildreth 's life. So Ashby 
 and I came to an agreement. !We couldn't 
 leave Hildreth to recover; we couldn't put 
 him anywhere that he'd be safe except 
 aboard this boat. And aboard this boat we 
 took him that night, very quietly, known 
 only to those of us who stood together. And 
 here he's been ever since. He's in a cabin 
 now, bound and gagged. And, now that we 
 have got away or seem to have and 
 there'll be no trouble about Hildreth if you 
 shouldn't marry me, and if Hildreth 
 shouldn't agree to keep silent and didn't 
 convince me that he meant what he said
 
 29Q LOOT 
 
 well, It's a large ocean and a long swim to 
 shore." 
 
 "You'd kill him now?" she whispered. 
 
 "Why not? It would never be known un- 
 less we've already been traced, and I don't 
 think we have. I only saved him because 
 the Arabin affair might have slipped up. 
 He'd have been something to have helped my 
 case. But now oh, we'll get Ballantyne 
 without your help, I guess. But it would 
 be so simple you'd hold his arms, I'd have 
 his gun. And you've promised not to men- 
 tion this. You mean it ? " 
 
 "I'll not tell him," she answered dully. 
 "And if I don't agree you you'll kill Hil- 
 dreth?" 
 
 "Have to, anyway, unless he promises to 
 say nothing that will lead to our capture. 
 He can tell a cock-and-bull story about be- 
 ing knocked on the head and forgetting who 
 he was for a week or two." 
 
 "But how can I tell that you're telling the 
 truth about him?"
 
 LOOT 297 
 
 "He's in a cabin forward. Come along !" 
 
 Silently she followed him forward and 
 down a companionway. He led her to a 
 cabin and unlocked it. There, upon a bunk, 
 bound and gagged, was Hildreth. But even 
 as she exclaimed with pity Brant pulled her 
 roughly back and locked the door. 
 
 "Don't fret your pretty head about him," 
 he sneered. "That gag is taken out twice a 
 day while he eats. But a gun is held at his 
 head and he doesn 't holler. Don't fret about 
 him. He could be worse off, you know. . . . 
 iWell, what do you say ? Ballantyne is in the 
 saloon now. None of his faithful servants" 
 and he sneered "are near him. We'd 
 have him in five minutes. I 'd risk a pot shot 
 at him only he's lightning with his gun, 
 and if I missed What do you say?" 
 
 "Let me think," said Morn. "Give me 
 time." 
 
 "I'll give you half an hour," said Brant. 
 "If you don't agree by then, why well, 
 we'll have to chance a rush on Ballantyne.
 
 298 LOOT 
 
 Some of us will get hurt; it won't make us 
 feel tender, you know. Hildreth is in the 
 way; I'd have difficulty " 
 
 "Let me think," she repeated. 
 
 He left her leaning over the stern. What 
 should she do? Was there the slightest 
 prospect that Brant would continue to 
 spare Hildreth 's life? Now that there had 
 been a safe escape from New York, would 
 he bother to keep Hildreth as a sop to 
 justice ? The answer was that he would not. 
 If she agreed to do as he said ; if she humili- 
 ated herself by letting Ballantyne caress 
 her She shuddered. And the man would 
 insist on her marrying him ! Well, she could 
 'die, as she had resolved before. But that 
 meant that Hildreth had not the slightest 
 hope. If she could temporize But to 
 what end, out here on the [Atlantic, with 
 no possible chance for help to come, even 
 though she managed to delay for a day; or sa 
 Hildreth 's death? 
 
 Hildreth 's death! She had to clutcK the 
 rail to keep from falling to the deck. In
 
 LOOT 299 
 
 that moment in her apartment when he had 
 thrown himself in front of her, had gone 
 down trying to protect her, she knew that 
 she loved Hildreth. His own manner to- 
 ward her had shown that, incredible as was 
 love at first sight, it had happened to him 
 as well as to herself. "With difficulty she 
 had restrained herself, on seeing just now; 
 the light of glad recognition in his eyes, 
 from throwing herself on him. But instinct 
 had warned her that, if Brant suspected 
 anything sentimental in her attitude toward 
 Hildreth, the loose-lipped young man would 
 not hesitate a moment to kill the. English- 
 man. 
 
 Brant was a weakling, moral and mental ; 
 but he had dared to pit himself against the 
 Gray Ghost, the master criminal of all time. 
 She had a sudden feeling, not of pity but 
 of regret, that if Ballantyne must lose he 
 could not lose at the hands of his natural 
 enemies, the police, and not through the 
 treachery of those who had sworn to stand 
 by him. For Brant had worked with Bal-
 
 300 LOOT 
 
 lantyne of choice, not of necessity as had 
 Morn Light, who could, with a clear con- 
 science, betray the Gray Ghost. In a way 
 trying to look at the matter dispassion- 
 ately, it was too bad that men he had trusted 
 must work the ruin of Ballantyne. Too bad 
 that that great brain, which could have 
 achieved a great legitimate success, must 
 at the end be defeated by men with not a 
 tithe of his ability, but on whom he relied. 
 She thought only a moment of Ballantyne, 
 however. Her thoughts went back to her 
 plight, to Hildreth. She sank her head 
 lower on her arms, staring down at the 
 flashing foam of the Sorella's wake. From 
 far across the water a dull boom startled her. 
 She looked up. Smoke that she had ob- 
 served an hour before in the distance was 
 nearer now; the vessel from whose funnels 
 it came was close enough to be seen now. 
 Long, rakish, she must have almost twice 
 the "heels" of the Sorella. Morn's heart beat 
 fast. Could it be possible that It was! 
 It was ! For a cry from forward reached her
 
 LOOT 301 
 
 ears. She ran round the cabin and came to 
 the bridge. At the foot of it stood the Gray; 
 Ghost. 
 
 "I tell you to give her steam !" he cried to 
 Kendricks, the ex-merchant captain. 
 
 As he spoke another boom sounded; and 
 Morn, looking backward along the deck and 
 across the smooth oily sea, saw a white puff 
 at the bow of the oncoming boat. Another 
 cannon shot had been fired. She saw the 
 missile touch the waves and throw up a 
 cloud of spray. Though it dropped a mile or 
 more short, in a few moments the guns would 
 be within range. Hope bloomed in her 
 bosom. 
 
 "And have her blow us out of the water ?" 
 cried Kendricks, his voice shaky. "She's a 
 destroyer; she'll go an easy thirty to our 
 best nineteen. She's coming up hand over 
 foot. There's no use trying to dodge her. 
 She's got us. If we run she'll sink us. I'm 
 going to heave to." 
 
 A revolver flashed in Ballantyne's hand. 
 
 "You 11 signal the engine room to give
 
 302 LOOT 
 
 her full speed and you'll steer a straight 
 course ahead, Kendricks! If she's after us 
 let her catch us! And if she catches us let 
 her sink us! I'll not surrender and go to 
 jail." 
 
 "Better that than being shelled!" cried 
 Kendricks. 
 
 "But it won't be jail for me!" cried Bal- 
 lantyne. "Are you going to give that order 
 or am I to blow >" 
 
 He did not finish his sentence. Unob- 
 served, Ashby and Brant had stolen upon 
 him. Together they leaped and it was Brant 
 who knocked the weapon from his hand. 
 
 "It's no use," said Brant. "If they're 
 firing cannon at us they know who and what 
 we are. And I don't propose to be gun- 
 meat. It 's only jail that I 'm facing. ' ' 
 
 "You fool!" cried Ballantyne. "You'll 
 go to the chair for the killings in Arabin's. 
 3Tou helped plan them." 
 
 "Those of us aboard here will turn state's 
 evidence," said Brant coolly, though his
 
 LOOT 303 
 
 loose lips quivered. "The others will pay 
 for the killings.'* 
 
 "ButHildreth!" 
 
 "Down below; we didn't kill him, thank 
 'God 1 ' ' said Ashby. 
 
 The Gray Ghost stared from one to the 
 other of them. For a moment it seemed 
 that he would risk their weapons, unarmed 
 though he was. His features worked with 
 maniacal fury. 
 
 "You whelps!" he said. "You treacher- 
 ous whelps!" 
 
 He turned upon his heel. Before his in- 
 tention could be realized he had vaulted over 
 the Sorella's rail ; and, though they turned, 
 though they lowered a boat, they found no 
 trace of him. He must have sunk like a 
 stone. 
 
 Half an hour later the destroyer ranged 
 up alongside. A file of marines tumbled 
 into a boat and a moment later they 
 swarmed over the side of the Sorella. They 
 met with no resistance.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 MORN TELLS HER STORY; AND HILDRETH DOES 
 THE REST 
 
 BELOW, in irons, were the members of the 
 Gray Ghost's gang; a crew from the De- 
 stroyer Wasp worked the Sorella toward 
 Boston, a good day's journey, where Pelham 
 would have his old crew take possession of 
 her. The Wasp itself was headed for New 
 York. Tryon had explained to Morn how 
 she had been traced; how it had been dis- 
 covered that the Gray Ghost was aboard the 
 Sorella; how wireless had traced the yacht ; 
 how the Navy Department had offered the 
 Wasp to the New York police ; and how, with 
 her great speed, informed by vessels that 
 had sighted the Sorella^ it had taken less 
 than forty-eight hours for the destroyer to 
 catch up with the yacht, which had seemed 
 to have no definite objective point, but had 
 
 304
 
 LOOT 305 
 
 cruised back and forth a few hundred miles 
 from New York. 
 
 " Hanging near to land, so if he inter- 
 cepted any wireless that would tip him off. 
 to the fact that we knew he was aboard a 
 boat, the Gray Ghost would know where to 
 dash for. The Sorella's wireless is weak ; no 
 great radius. That's the answer to that/' 
 Try on said. "He didn't dare get too far 
 out at sea ; he hoped to intercept land mes- 
 sages. But the yacht proposition was one 
 thing we didn't tell the papers. " 
 
 This was in the Wasp's saloon, where were 
 gathered several of the officers of the de- 
 stroyer, Tryon and Pelham, two secret-serv- 
 ice agents, and Hildreth. Aside from a stiff- 
 ness in his movements of arms and legs, and 
 some court-plaster on his mouth, the young 
 Englishman showed no ill effects from being 
 bound and gagged so long. 
 
 "And now, Miss Light, I'd like to have 
 you tell your story," said Tryon. 
 
 Quietly Morn told him of the Gray 
 Ghost's entrance into her apartment; of
 
 306 LOOT 
 
 Hildreth's subjugation ; of her own gagging 
 and binding, and of being carried aboard the 
 Sorella; of her helplessness and fears there ; 
 of Brant's proposal to-day of everything 
 in fact 
 
 "But back of all that, Miss Light," per- 
 sisted Tryon. "Of course, " he added hasti- 
 ly, "if you're too tired " 
 
 "I'd rather tell it now if I must," said 
 Morn. "But will it be necessary for me to 
 repeat it in court ? Will it be necessary to 
 publish my connection with the affair?" 
 
 "If we can get a conviction without it 
 no," replied Tryon. "And I think we can. 
 If you'll begin at the beginning " he sug- 
 gested. 
 
 She drew a long breath and the younger 
 officers looked angrily at Tryon; but even 
 they, and Hildreth also, knew that there 
 must be much which ought to be explained. 
 Though they pitied, they hung breathlessly 
 on her words. 
 
 "My father," said Morn, "was named 
 Abner Light. He was cashier of a bank in
 
 LOOT 307 
 
 Ohio. About five years ago he seemed dread- 
 fully worried and nervous. I put it down 
 to the fact that my mother had recently died. 
 Later but I shall come to that. At about 
 this time an old friend of his, a man with 
 whom he had gone to school and college, Mr. 
 Peter Ballantyne, came to visit us and 
 stayed a few weeks. After his departure 
 a week or two after the bank was robbed. 
 A large sum, almost two hundred thousand 
 dollars, was taken. It upset father so that 
 his nervousness became threatening. It was 
 necessary to put him in a sanitarium not 
 an insane asylum, but a place where he might 
 be nursed back to health. The bank officials 
 very kindly offered to continue his salary 
 while he was ill they did not blame him in 
 any way for the robbery ; there was no rea- 
 son why they should. Father went to the 
 sanitarium ; and as it took almost all of his 
 salary to pay his expenses there I decided 
 to make use of a certain dramatic talent I 
 possessed. 
 "I obtained a position with a traveling
 
 308 LOOT 
 
 company and played many parts even went 
 to England, where I made something of a 
 success; so much so that I was called back 
 to New York, given a larger part, featured 
 and finally starred. Meantime, as I was 
 making a large salary, I had the bank dis- 
 continue father's salary. I am glad that I 
 did that much before I knew what I learned 
 soon after that ; glad that I was able to con- 
 tinue supporting him myself; glad that I 
 had begun to do so before my very conscience 
 would have made me forbid him, to receive 
 any more money from the bank. 
 
 "For, during my second year in New 
 York, Mr. Ballantyne came to call upon me. 
 He invited me to dine with him. I accepted 
 out of courtesy to an old friend of my fa- 
 ther's. In a short time he was paying me 
 more attentions than I cared to accept from 
 him. I asked him to discontinue them. In 
 answer he proposed marriage. When I was 
 curt with him he told me a few things. He 
 told me that my father had connived at the 
 robbery of the bank in which he had been
 
 LOOT 309 
 
 employed. Oh, it was so! He showed me 
 letters that my father, had written him, as 
 an old friend supposed to be wealthy, in 
 which my father confessed that he had gam- 
 bled, lost and stolen from the bank. These 
 letters were dated at about the time my fa- 
 ther 's nervous depression commenced. They 
 were not forgeries. They were real. 
 
 "Mr. Ballantyne explained to me that he 
 had, with my father's aid, planned the rob- 
 bery of the bank, which had not only ac- 
 counted for some thirty thousand dollars my 
 father had taken but, as I've said, a great 
 many scores of thousands more. Naturally, 
 the robbery covered the shortage caused 
 through my father's thefts. Mr. Ballantyne 
 told me that, though he admitted to me that 
 he Ballantyne had caused the robbery of 
 the bank and profited thereby, he would deny 
 it if I told of his confession, and informed 
 me confidently that there was no possible 
 proof of his connection with the crime. He 
 hinted that he was the Gray Ghost of whom 
 I had heard and read.
 
 310 LOOT 
 
 "He told me that if I refused to marry; 
 him he would expose my father's dishonesty ; 
 would show the letters, begging for. aid, 
 which my father had written him, and which 
 confessed his fault. When I retorted that I 
 would endeavor to prove that he had robbed 
 the bank he laughed at me, and I knew my 
 threats were weak. We had a most violent 
 scene, however, and he finally promised that 
 I should not again be asked to marry him ; 
 but he said there were many services that a 
 well-known young actress might perform 
 for him, and he would insist that I should 
 perform them, whenever he requested them, 
 my father's liberty being the price; of my 
 refusal. 
 
 "I suppose I should have gone at once to 
 the police ; but, as Ballantyne said, the only 
 evidence against him was that he had once 
 paid a visit to my father and the fact that 
 he had failed to inform the bank of his old 
 friend's dishonesty. That was no great of- 
 fense ; no jury would sentence him to. any- 
 thing for that.
 
 LOOT 311 
 
 "Another reason: I felt that Ballantyne 
 was a most wicked man. Though I could 
 not bring myself to deliver my own father; 
 over to justice though I would have done, 
 anything to keep him from jail I knew 
 that Ballantyne was a million times morel 
 wicked. Father had sinned through weak- 
 ness and again through desperation. Bal- 
 lantyne sinned deliberately, premeditatedly, 
 gladly. I made up my mind I would deliver 
 him over to the authorities if I could. 
 
 "So, after a while, I pretended not to bq 
 so shocked. I agreed to help him if I could, 
 though not too willingly, pretending to be 
 afraid of what would happen to my father 
 if I refused. And month after month I 
 tried to get hold of evidence against him. 
 I felt that it was my duty if he really was 
 the Gray Ghost. At times I believed he 
 was, and at times I thought not. I could not 
 be sure. I knew that among certain people 
 he was always called Atchison. That, hq 
 told me, was a mere detail, in case strangera. 
 should overhear anything and should try to
 
 312 LOOT 
 
 locate the speakers. Yery few of his friends 
 iwent by; their own names. At least, they 
 would be addressed by one name when with 
 Ballantyne, and by another by persons who 
 couldn't know of their wicked participation 
 in Ballantyne 's plots. It was a mere pre- 
 caution. 
 
 "I permitted Ballantyne to bring his 
 fellow plotters to my apartment. And al- 
 ways, when Ballantyne asked after my fa- 
 ther, I answered that he was improving. 
 JSven when my father died six months ago 
 I kept right on with the play in which I was 
 then appearing, rather than let Ballantyne 
 know that at last he had lost his hold over 
 me, for it never occurred to him to make 
 inquiries about my father. Little by little 
 he grew accustomed to the idea that I'd not 
 dare refuse him anything. He even pro- 
 posed marriage again on that Monday night 
 but never mind that. 
 
 "I could get no evidence which would 
 prove that he was the Gray Ghost, but once 
 in a while a word would be dropped by some
 
 LOOT 313 
 
 one. I would know that something tremen- 
 dous was impending in some other city. At 
 first, I thought of telling the police, and then 
 I would realize how hopeless it would be to 
 attempt to convict him on the flimsy evi- 
 dence I had. But I knew that something 
 was planned to happen in New York. I felt 
 pretty certain that when that business came 
 off I should know enough to enable the po- 
 lice to trap the whole crowd, including At- 
 chison-Ballantyne, or, if he was not the Gray 
 Ghost, whoever was. 
 
 "But I knew that I ought to inspire con- 
 fidence in my word. I had read of Lieuten- 
 ant Tryon. I had read that he had resigned 
 from the police force because of his interest 
 in the Gray Ghost. I read that his superiors 
 disapproved of him because, as the Gray 
 Ghost had never operated in New York, they 
 did not think that he should study his opera- 
 tions to the exclusion of routine work, that 
 Lieutenant Tryon believed that the New 
 York police should prepare themselves 
 somehow in advance of the Gray Ghost's
 
 LOOT 
 
 coming; that Lieutenant Tryon examined 
 every major crime in New York from only 
 one standpoint had the Gray Ghost been 
 concerned in it? And I had heard Ballan- 
 tyne and his friends laugh at Tryon. They, 
 did not fear him in the slightest. 
 
 "But I thought he was the man to aid me. 
 iYet I dared not communicate with him 
 openly. I dared not even write him letters. 
 He might try to trace me by them. I didn't 
 know how, but I'd heard detectives could do 
 strange things ; and if he traced me I knew 
 that Ballantyne would discover it. He had 
 bribed my maid, I knew, and I would be use- 
 less as a weapon against the Gray Ghost. 
 Moreover, I would suffer personal danger 
 and I am only a woman. I did not wish to 
 invite that. And I could take no chances 
 of losing the man who had inveigled my 
 poor, weak, brain-sick father into a greater 
 crime than his first. 
 
 "It happened that I frequently dined at 
 Bishop's. There a waiter, a rather superior 
 man for his position, had told me how he
 
 LOOT 315 
 
 happened to be a waiter. I had done him 
 some kindness, inquired for him when he 
 was sick, sent him some flowers; he was a 
 man, after all, though a waiter. And he told 
 me once that he had been a fairly prosperous 
 merchant in Lyons, Prance. His brother 
 had emigrated to America and had thrived 
 as an importer in San Francisco. Then his 
 brother's place of business had been robbed 
 and the brother murdered. Jacques had 
 come to America to investigate, after the 
 police had failed, and had spent all his small 
 fortune in trying to trace the murderers, 
 who, he said, he was convinced, after much 
 study, were adherents of the Gray Ghost. 
 Now he was a waiter, hopeless of ever dis- 
 covering his brother's murderers. 
 
 "Here was a tool ready to my hand. I 
 didn't tell him much, and told him that that 
 little he must swear not to reveal. He was 
 some one I could trust, I felt. I told him 
 that I, too, was trying to land the Gray Ghost 
 in jail and that I had hopes of succeeding. I 
 arranged with 'him that he should forward
 
 316 LOOT 
 
 notes which I would write to Mr. Tryon. 
 Then I got Mr. Tryon on the telephone and 
 told him to go to Bishop's. He received 
 from Jacques notes about crimes to be com- 
 mitted on the very nights he received them. 
 I did not warn Mr. Tryon in advance of those 
 crimes because I wanted to land the Gray 
 Ghost not his mere agents in other cities ; 
 and I knew that could be done only when 
 some New York crime was committed. 
 Meantime the fact that I possessed correct 
 information would cause Mr. Tryon to trust 
 me> make him ready to jump; in at a second's 
 notice. 
 
 "Then, as little by little, from -chance re- 
 marks, from shrewd questions, I learned 
 that a great New York crime impended, I 
 began sending hints to Mr. Tryon. Soon 
 I learned that the date was on a Thursday. I 
 warned him of that. And then well, then 
 I recognized Mr. Hildreth. Ballantyne 
 learned that I had warned Mr. Hildreth that 
 he was in danger I am very tired. Mr. 
 Hildreth can explain all that to you, Mr.
 
 LOOT 317 
 
 Tryon. Is it necessary that I continue ? You 
 know all that is important now. Will it be 
 printed about my father ?" 
 
 "It certainly shall not, Miss Light," said 
 the detective. "And and don't feel badly 
 about your father. He was probably sick 
 when he took the first money and crazy when 
 he let Ballantyne hook him for the robbery. 
 Don't fret. And you've more than made 
 good for anything your father did. If you 
 think he sinned, just remember that you 
 tried to repay did repay. Without you I'd 
 never have landed the Gray Ghost, and " 
 
 He stopped; she was staring into Hil- 
 dreth's eyes. It was as though she heard 
 not a word that Tryon said, but wanted only 
 to know what the Englishman thought of her 
 and what she had done. What he thought 
 was plainly to be read in his eyes. 
 
 Tryon looked from the girl to the man and 
 back again. Then he turned to the captain 
 of the Wasp. 
 
 "Fine, bracing breeze on deck, gentlemen. 
 Shall we sample it?"
 
 318 LOOT 
 
 Silently they filed out of tlie saloon, leav- 
 ing Hildreth and the girl alone. They looked 
 at each other. 
 
 "Is it true?" he asked. "What I read in 
 your eyes?" 
 
 "What do you read?" she parried. 
 
 "That you would not mind my doing - 
 this." 
 
 And with the last word he pressed his lips 
 against hers. 
 
 Three things happened in the next few 
 months, two of which occupied much space 
 in papers on both sides of the Atlantic. One 
 was the round-up of every single member of 
 the Gray Ghost's gang, including the maid, 
 Celia, the retreats of those not captured on 
 the Sorella being betrayed by thotee who 
 were. Another was the wedding of Lady 
 Gwendolyn Brathwaite and Brenner Car- 
 low. The third was the marriage of Wade 
 Hildreth to Morn Light; but as Morn had 
 retired from the stage, the papers made little 
 of it, being occupied with greater things.
 
 LOOT 319 
 
 Moreover, it was a very quiet wedding, 
 and the only; witnesses were Tryon, Pelham 
 and Jacques, the ex-waiter at Bishop's, who, 
 cured of paralysis now, had purchased an 
 interest in the business with his share of the 
 reward paid by; Arabin for the recovery of 
 his property, in which reward Tryon had 
 insisted the Frenchman should participate. 
 A very quiet wedding, not at all to be com- 
 pared with the elaborate affair of the Car- 
 lows, whose wedding presents, exclusive of 
 the famous Carlow necklace, were estimated 
 at being worth a hundred thousand pounds. 
 
 But, though a smaller wedding, it was 
 none the less satisfactory to its participants. 
 Indeed, Brenner Carlow nowadays, when he 
 meets Hildreth, senior partner in the law 
 firm that attends to the Carlow English in- 
 terests, member of Parliament with a pros- 
 pect of soon becoming Under Secretary for 
 Foreign Affairs whose charming American 
 wife has helped him politically as well as 
 socially Carlow sometimes wonders 
 whether a marriage purely for love has not
 
 320 LOOT 
 
 its advantages. Of course the Lady Gwen- 
 dolyn plays fair ; still, if he had not had the 
 Caiiow millions But what's the use? 
 Brenner Carlow is very popular in English 
 society now; and, after all, that counts for 
 quite a bit. 
 
 And, because he is rather proud that a 
 rising statesman should handle his affairs, 
 he quite frequently drops into the House late 
 at night and persuades Hildreth to go out 
 and have a bite with him. And always he 
 says, as a sort of stock joke : 
 
 "Care to run over to New York and get 
 another necklace for me, Hildreth?" 
 
 "What's the use ?" asks Hildreth. "There 
 are no more Morns. I have the only one." 
 
 And Carlow sighs sometimes. However, 
 he perks up when Hildreth asks him about 
 his latest social triumph, and is quite elated 
 when Hildreth remarks on how well Lady 
 Gwendolyn looks in her wonderful diamond 
 necklace. 
 
 THE END
 
 from which it was borrowed 
 
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 DUE 2 WKS FROM DATE 
 SEP 1 2 1991 
 
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