Detective Bob Bridger — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

RAT tee) DETECTIVE BOB BRIDGER CHAPTER I. THE NIGHT EXPRESS MYSTERY. ‘““See-ree-go! ’e, ’e, ’e! See-ree-go!” It was the wild, meaningless cry of an idiot under the lash for the crime of garroting. As imitated by Detective Bob Bridger, it sounded to me like the screaming note of a sea bird which I had once heard while hanging on, and bereft of all hope, in the rig- ging of a wrecked ship. The bird’s discordant cry seemed then to be the exulta- tion of a demon. It now lingers in my memory asif it had been the mes- gage of an angel. For barely had it sounded when the fierce hurricane subsided, the toppling waves became long and rounded, and ~ our wrecked ship rode safely until succor approached. I had asked Detective Bridger to tell me the tale of the Scotch Detective, and I begin my version of the story, as he began his, with the cry of the silly garroter, as above. Detective Bob Bridger has been for years one of the most active and successful secret service officers in the employ — of the United States Government. He has amassed a comfortable fortune, married a Phila- . delphia girl, and now takes things easy. On his shirt-front he sports, at times, a solitaire gem of great value, cComicbooks (E(0)