The Argosy, April 1916 — page 39: what you’re looking at

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

A MYSTERY OF ROSCOE CONKLING PARK. “We'll see about that,” said Yale, rising. “T shall find Miss Wayne, dead or alive, if it takes every able man in Utica to help me.” He rushed out, half frantic. Of course, a force consisting of every able-bodied man in Utica would be so unwieldy that it would be useless. But Yale was in a desperate mood. It did not take him long to reach the park, and his boyhood memory stood him in good stead. He found Greenland at the water gate of the reservoir talking to the keeper. “What do you know?” he demanded, ignoring greetings and introductions. “Nothing definite, Yale,’ replied Green- land gloomily. ‘‘Miss Wayne was seen standing on the bank of the reservoir taking a snapshot of the aerator. You know, this reservoir is the last of a chain, and as the water enters from the one above it is thrown high in the air by its own pressure, and falls in a spray. This is to purify it with the oxygen of the air. When the keeper looked again she was gone. He thought nothing of it till I reached here with Wat- son’s story.” “What do you think?” asked vay Wayne’s agitated bondsman. “T think simply that she has run away? answered Greenland. “What do you think?” asked Yale of the - keeper. “T don’t know anything about it. I told what I saw.” Yale stood a moment in deep thought. ‘“‘Come and show me just where you saw Miss Wayne stand,” he said. The three walked along the high green bank of the reservoir, till Yale could hear the splashing of the spray as it fell from the fountain. “Right here.” “Now about where did Watson find the camera?’”’ Neither of his auditors knew, and with- out waiting for a reply Yale walked to the country road called Old Third Street. He stood and looked back toward the reser- voir. “Miss Wayne is not in that water,” he said with a finality that amazed the other two. “How do you know that, Yale?” asked Greenland. “Tf Miss Wayne had leaped into the res- ervoir after being seen on the brink, her 29 camera would have been left on the brink, not here. If she had been thrown in by enemies, the camera would have been thrown in with her, and not left here as a telltale.” ‘Then you think she has run away?” “YT do not. I think she has met with foul play. There is nothing for us to do here. I am going down to see the chief.” “Do you want me to go with you?” asked Greenland. “No. Go back and take care of that houseful of incompetents. I’ll manage this affair myself. It is mine, not yours.” He strode away, leaving Greenland peer- ing after him in the increasing darkness, feeling excedingly ill at ease. CHAPTER XV. COULD IT BE POSSIBLE? W HEN Yale reached police headquar- ters the chief had gone home to din- ner. A telephone message brought him to Pearl Street at once. It did not take Yale as long to tell his story as it had taken him to drag Mrs. Raymond’s from her. “You say the camera was éstally smashed?” “Ves,” answered Yale. ‘Looks as if a train had run over it.’’. | “On Old Third Street, eh? Well, we'll get right at it. What is your candid opinion?” “I think Miss Wayne has met with foul play.” ‘Murdered, do you mean?” asked the chief. “Either that or abducted.” “ am inclined to think she has run away.” “She would not have left the camera behind.” The chief laughed. “She certainly would leave her camera. As a matter of fact, the camera being found as it was strengthens my belief that she has run away from you—and justice, if she had anything to fear. That girl is no fool, Mr. Yale. Leaving the camera was a shrewd trick to make you believe, and me, too, I suppose, that she had been attacked and carried off. Had anybody with brains -enough to rob Raymond’s house as it was robbed attacked Miss Wayne that camera would not have been left in the road.” MICLOOOK C©