by S. §. VAN DINE Copyright 8S. S. Van Dine WNU Service SYNOPSIS Philo Vance, famous detective and John F. X. Markham, district attorney for New York county are dining in Vance's apart: ment when Vance receives an anonymous telephone message informing him of a “dis. turbing psychological tension at Professor Ephriam Garden's apartment” advising that he read up on radio-active sodium, consult a passage in the Aeneid and coun. seling that “"Equanimity is essential.” Pro- fessor Garden is famous In chemical re. search. The message, decoded by Vance, reminds him that Professor Garden's son Floyd and his puny cousin, Woode Swift, are addicted to horse-racing. Vance says that “Equanimity’’ is a horse running next day In the Rivermont handicap. Vance is convinced that the message was sent by Dr. Siefert, the Gardens’ family physician. He arranges to have lunch next day at the Gardens’ penthouse. Vance is greeted by Floyd Garden and meets Lowe Hammle, an elderly follower of horse racing. Floyd ex presses concern over Swift's queer actions, CHAPTER II—Continued ee Fp At this moment we heard the sound of light footsteps coming up the hall, and in the archway, which constituted the entrance from the hall into the drawing-room, ap- peared a slight, pallid young man of perhaps thirty, his head drawn into his slightly hunched shoulders, and a melancholy, resentful look on his sensitive, sallow face. Thick- lensed pince-nez glasses emphasized the impression he gave of physical weakness, Garden waved his hand cheerily to the newcomer. “Greetings, Woody. Just in time for a spot before lunch. You know Vance, the eminent sleuth; and this is Mr. Van Dine, his patient and retiring chronicler.” Woode Swift acknowledged our presence in a strained but pleas- ant manner, and listlessly shook hands with his cousin. Then he picked up a bottle of Bourbon and poured himself a double portion, which he drank at one gulp. “Good Heavens!” Garden ex- claimed good-humoredly. “How you have changed, Woody! . Who's the lady now?” The muscles of twitched. “‘Oh, pipe down, Floyd,” he plead- ed irritably. Garden shrugged indifferently. “Sorry. What's worrying you to- day besides Equanimity?”’ “That’s enough worry for one day.” Swift managed a sheepish grin; then he added aggressively: “lI can't possibly lose.” And he poured himself another drink. “How's Aunt Martha?" Garden narrowed his eyes. “She's pretty fair. Nervous as the devil this morning, and smok- ing one cigarette after another. But she’s sitting up. She'll probably be in later to take a crack or two at the prancing steeds . . . ” At this point Lowe Hammle ar- rived. He was a heavy-set, short man of fifty or thereabouts. He was wearing a black-and-white checked suit, a gray shirt, a brilliant green four-in-hald, a chocolate-colored waistcoat with leather buttons, and tan blucher shoes the soles of which were inordinately thick. “The Marster of 'Ounds, b’Gad!” Garden greeted him jovially. ‘““Here’'s your scotch-and-soda; and here also are Mr. Philo Vance and Mr. Var Dine.” “Delighted—delighted!” Hammle exclaimed heartily, coming for- ward. In a few minutes the butler an- nounced lunch. The conversation was almost entirely devoted to horses, the history of racing, the Grand National, and the possibilities of the various entrants in the after- noon's Rivermont Handicap. Vance contented himself mainly with listening and studying de oth- ers at the table. We were nearing the end of the luncheon when a tall, well-built and apparently vigorous woman, who looked no more than forty (though I later learned that she was well past fifty), entered the room. She wore a tailored suit, a silver-fox scarf and a black felt toque. “Why, mater!” exclaimed Ga>- den. “I thought you were an invalid, Why this spurt of health and en- ergy?” He then presented me to his moth- er: both Vance and Hammle had met her on previous occasions. “I'm tired of being kept in bed,” she told her son querulously, after nodding graciously to the others. “Now you boys sit right down—I'm going shopping, and just dropped in to see if everything was going all right . . . I think I'll have a creme de menthe frappe while I'm here.” The butler drew up a chair for her beside Swift, and went to the pantry. Mrs. Garden put her hand lightly on her nephew's arm. “How goes it with you, Woody?” she asked in a Swift's face | for me on the big race today, in case I'm not back in time.” ‘Name your poison,’ smiled Gar- den. “I'm playing Grand Score to win and place—the usual hundred.” “Right - o, mater.” Garden glanced sardonically at his cousin. “Less intelligent bets have been made in these diggin’'s full many a time and oft . . Sure you don't want Equanimity, mater?” “Odds are too unfavorable,” re- turned Mrs. Garden, with a canny smile. “He's quoted in the over-night line at five to two.” ‘“He won't stay there.’ There was authority and assurance in the wom- an's tone and manner. “And I'll get eight or ten to one on Grand Score." “Right you are,” grinned Garden. “You're on the dog for a century win and place.” The butler brought the creme de menthe, and Mrs. Garden sipped it and stood up. “And now I'm going,” she an- nounced pleasantly. She patted her nephew on the shoulder. “Take care of yourself, Woody . . . Good afternoon, gentlemen.” And she went from the room with a firm masculine stride. “Sneed,” Garden ordered, “fix the set-up as usual.” I glanced at the electric clock on the mantel: It was exactly ten min- utes after one. “Fixing the set-up” was a com- paratively simple procedure, but a more or less mysterious operation for anyone unfamiliar with the pur- pose it was to serve. From a small closet in the hall Sneed first wheeled out a sturdy wooden stand about two feet square On this he placed a telephone connected to a loud speaker which resembled a midget radio set. As I learned later, it was a specially constructed amplifier to enable every one in the room to hear distinctly whatever came over the telephone. On one side of the amplifier was attached a black metal switch box with a two-way key. In its upright position this key would cut off the A Slight, Pallid Young Man. voice at the other end of the line without interfering with the connec- tion; and throwing the key forward would bring the voice on again. The butler then brought in a well- built folding card-table and opened it beside the stand. On this table he placed another telephone of the conventional French, or hand, type. This telephone, which was gray, was plugged into an additional jack in the baseboard. The gray telephone was not connected with the one equipped with the amplifier, but was on an independent line. When the two instrumen*s and the amplifier had been stationed and tested, Sneed brought in four more card-tables and placed them about the drawing-room. At each table he opened up two folding chairs. Then, from a small drawer in the stand, he took out a long manila envelope which had evidently come through the mail, and, slitting the top, drew forth a number of large printed sheets approximately nine by sixteen inches. There were 15 of these sheets—called “cards” in racing parlance-—and after sorting them he spread out three on each of the card-tables. When the butler had gone Gar- den lifted the receiver from the hook of the telephone and dialed a num- ber. After a pause he spoke into the transmitter: ‘Hello, Lex. B-2-9-8. Waiting for the dope.” And, laying the receiver down on the stand, he threw the switch key forward. A clear-cut, staccato voice came through the amplifier: “0. K., B-2- 9.8.” Then there was a click, fol- lowed by several minutes of silence. Finally the same voice began speak- ing: “Everybody get ready. The ex- act time now is one-thirty and a quarter.—Three tracks today. The order will be Rivermont, Texas, and Cold Springs. Just as you have them on the cards. Here we go. Rivermont: weather clear and track fast. Clear and fast. First post, 2:30. Sneed has probably got it arranged for you." Swift rose with alacrity. “Damned glad of the chance,”’ he returned surlily. “Your manner to- day rather annoys me, Floyd.” And he led the way down the hall and up the stairs to the roof-garden, Vance and I following. The stairway was narrow and semicircular, and led upward from the hallway near the front entrance. In glancing back up the hall, to- ward the drawing-room, I noticed that no section of that room was visible from the stair end of the hall. I made this mental note idly at the time, but I mention it here because the fact played a very defi- nite part in the tragic events which were to follow. At the head of this narrow stair- way we turned left into a corridor, barely four feet wide, at the end of which was a door leading into a large room—the only room on the roof. This spacious and beautiful- ly appointed study, with high win- dows, on all four sides, was used by Professor Garden, Swift informed us, as a library and private experi- mental laboratory. Near the door to this room, on the left wall of the corridor, was another door, of calamine, which, I learned later, led into a small storeroom built to hold the professor's valuable papers and data. Half-way down the corridor, on the right, was another large cala- mine weather door which led out to the roof. This door had been propped open, for the sun was bright and the day mild. Swift preceded us into one of the loveliest skyscraper gardens I have ever seen. We walked leisurely about the garden, smoking. Swift was a dif- ficult man to talk to, and as the minutes went by he became more and more distrait. After a while he glanced apprehensively at his wrist- watch. “We'd better be going down,” he said. “They'll be coming out for the first race before long.” Vance gave him an appraising lock and rose. “What about that sanctum sanc- torum of yours which your cousin mentioned?’ he asked lightly. “Oh, that . . . " Swift forced an embarrassed smile. “It's that red chair over there against the wall, next to the small table . . . But I don't see why Floyd should spoof about it. The crowd down- stairs always rags me when I lose, and it irritates me. I'd much rath- er be alone when I get the results.” “Quite understandable,” nodded Vance with sympathy. “You see,” the man went on rath- er pathetically, “I frankly play the ponies for the money-—the others downstairs can afford to take heavy losses, but I happen to need the cash just now. Vance had stepped over to the little table on which stood a desk telephone which had, instead of the ordinary receiver, what is known as a head receiver—that is, a flat disk ear-phone attached to a curved met- al band to go over the head. “Your retreat is well equipped,” commented Vance. “Oh, yes. This is an extension of the news-service phone down- stairs; and there's also a plug-in for a radio, and another for an electric plate.” He took the ear-phone from the his head, listened for a moment. ‘Nothing new yet at Rivermont,” he mumbled. He removed the ear- phone with nervous impatience and tossed it to the table. we'd better get down.” And he walked toward the door by which we had come out in the garden. man and a woman-—seated at one of the tables, poring over the rac- ing cards and making notations. duced to them by Garden. The man was Cecil Kroon, about thirty-five, immaculately attired tures and a very narrow waxed mustache. He was quite blond, and his eyes were a cold steely blue. The woman, whose name was Madge Weatherby; was about the same age as Kroon, tall and slen- der, and with a marked tendency toward theatricalism in both her at- tire and her make-up. Her cheeks were heavily rouged and her lips crimson. Her eyelids were shaded with green, and her eyebrows had been plucked and replaced with fine penciled lines. Garden looked up and motioned to us—he was holding the receiver of the black telephone to his ear. Kroon went to the small bar and mixed two drinks which he took back to his table, setting one down before Miss Weatherby. “1 say, Floyd,” he called out to Garden, *“Zalia coming today?” “Absolutely,” Garden told him. “She was all stirred up when she phoned this morning. Full of sure things." “Well, what about it?” came a vivacious feminine voice from down the hall; and the next moment a swaggering, pretty girl was stand- ing in the archway, her hands on her muscular boyish hips. “I've concluded I can't pick any winners myself, so why not let the other UNCOMMON AMERICANS 0 —@ By Elmo Scott Watson ® Western Newspaper Union Father of the Cattle Trails IF, IT had not been for Joseph G. McCoy, there might never have occurred that epic migration over the cattle trails from Texas to the north during the seventies eighties. In that case the history of the Lone Star state—and the have been very different. a native of Springfield, Ill.,, was a stockman and of Abilene, Kan., Civil war was over. That conflict had ruined the cat tlemen in Texas. Shut off from the Northern markets by the Union control of the Mississippi river, their herds had increased enor- mously, but without a place to sell the animals, they were compar- atively worthless. Then the Kan- sas Pacific railroad, which was building west, reached Abilene and McCoy was inspired with a wonder- ful idea. If he could get the Texas drovers across soon after the they came, Abilene would be the market place and shipping center and Kansas City buyers could Despite many obstacles, in- the prevalent belief that as good as that grown in the Middle West, Mc- cluding In July, 1867, he began raising money to build a ‘shipping yard,” a barn and office and to begin the construction of a large, three-story frame hotel for the accommodation of Texas drovers and eastern buy- ers. His next ‘ask was to get word to the cattiemen more than 400 miles away to the south. Al- though the time was short he man- aged to persuade enough of them to make the experiment so that they marketed 35,000 head of cattle in Abilene that fall and received approximately $15 a head for their steers. Previous to that time steers were selling for $5 a head in Texas. The next year more than 75,000 cattle were marketed there. By 1871 that number had jumped to 120,000 and by the next year to 236,000. From that time on Texas cattle poured north by the hundreds of thousands over the original cattle trail from the Red river to Abi- lene and other trails which were laid out. Other Kansas ‘‘cow towns’ began to boom with activity as the railroad was pushed farther west and southwest and there was added to our history that thrilling chap- ter when the cattleman was king. And all of this was due to the vision of one man—Joseph G. McCoy, the “Father of the Cattle Trails.” Mr, Currier and Mr. Ives day the equivalent of the news historians of contemporary newspapers contained little or no picture material except an oc- casional fashion print. When a steamboat blew up, a other disaster occurred, Mr. Cur- When issued splendid battle pictures with plumed generals on prancing horses (and plenty of gory detail as to dead There were of swift clipper ships and pictures of the first transcontinental trains running amidst Indians and buffalo. there were even ‘comic strips” ~caricatures of life among the ne- groes, called “Darktown Comics.” It all started back in 1830 when young Nathaniel Currier, working ton, who had returned from Europe with the new art of lithography, be- business. So he went to New York and staried as a lithographer in partnership with a young named Stoddard. This partnership fortune came to them. fves were ‘‘printmakers to the American people’’ and Currier and : Sen Lobb Zhuimks aboul; ANTA MONICA, CALIF. — With the Barnum show there phant named Helen. Now, Helen had wearied of traipsing to and fro in the land. the season ended, she went rejoicing back home to Bridgeport, Conn. Nobody ever knew the date of depar- when There was no more bustle about winter- Quarters on that morning than for weeks past. d But always, when j.vin 8. Cobb the handlers en- tered the ‘“‘bull barn’ to lead forth the herd, kered down on her voluminous haunches, which, under that vast Tot's Party Frock Is Easy to Crochet She'll be proud of this dainty, crocheted frock, in a clover leaf pattern. In one piece, gathered to a contrasting yoke, it's effective in string or mercerized cotton. Pattern 1388 contains directions for making the dress in sizes 4 to | 8 (all given in one pattern): an | illustration of it and of all stitches | used; material requirements. | Send 15 cents in stamps or coins | (coins preferred) for this pattern | to The Sewing Circle Needlecraft | Dept., 82 Eighth Ave., New York, NY. on a hot griddle. She would be uttering shrill sobs of defiance. And neither prodding nor honeyed words could budge her. So they'd wrap chains around her and two of her mates would hitch on and drag her bodily, she still on her rubbery flanks, aboard a wait ing car. She'd quit weeping then and wipe her snout and accept what fate sent her. So please don’t come telling me that the sit-down strike is a new notion or that somebody in Europe first thought it up. Thirty years ago I saw my lady elephant friend, Hel- en, putting on one, all by her four- ton self. * * * Taxes and More Taxes. Just when everybody is taking the yodelled prom- ises of that happy optimist, Chair- man Harrison of the senate finance committee, that the government will be able to get by for 1837 with- out asking congress to boost taxes, what happens? Why, in most Governor serve board keeps proc treasury receipts near meeting ghout the year, this annoying way, Eccles of the federal re- laiming that, come treasury to make anywhere disbursements throu he's afraid it's going to be neces- sary to raise the rates on incomes and profits higher than ever And meanwhile state governors and civic with agony at th are prospect of any reductions in Sam’s allot- ments for local projects A balanced budget would seem to be like Santa Claus, something everybody talks about but nobody ever expects to see. » 2 - Self-Determination, ORMERLY the states jealously guarded their sovereign per- quisites. Once-—but that was so long ago many have almost forgot- ten it—they fought among them- selves one of the bloodiest civil wars scream Uncle rights, Now we see them complacently surrendering to federal bureaus those ancient privileges—and may- be, after all, that's the proper thing to do, if in centralized authority lies form of government. Still, one wonders what English- men would do under like circum- stances, since Englishmen are fussy about their termination. tion is this: In democracies there exists TRADE MARK REG. biliousness, sour stomach, bilious indigestion, flatu. lence and headache, due to constipation. 10c and 25c¢ at dealers Talent and Genius Talent is that which is in a man's power. Genius is that in whose power a man is.—Lowell. You Mi ble? You iserapie: Mm Raymond Thomas of 148 Clarkson St, Baki more, Md, said: “1 was weak after one of my ba bies came. 1 bad ne tite, very little and 1 was all ‘on Dr. Pierce's Favorite Pre- scription was recommended to me as a tonic. | had a real appetite after its use, gained strength and felt fine New size, tablets SOc Liguid $1.00 & $1.35. Buy now of your near-by drugzist Consult Dr. Pierce's Clinic, Buffalo, N. Y. L — Great Wealth He who owns the soil owns up to the sky.—Juvenal Do something about Periodic Pains Take Cardul for functional pains of menstruation. Thousands of wom- en testify it has helped them. If Cardul doesn't relieve your monthly discomfort, consult a physician. Don't just go on suffering and put off treatment to prevent the trouble. Besides easing certain pains, Car- dul gids in building up the whole system by helping women to get more strength from their food. Cardul is a purely vegetable medicine which you can buy at the drug store and take st home. Pronounced “Card-ud.™ In the Strength of Youth It is good for a man that he bear | the yoke in his youth. Miss REE LEEF free and equal. the idea of equality. Whereas, the American abandons his individual freedom provided he may cling to the fetish of equality. Yankee tweedledee and British tweedledum may be brotivers under the skin, but they have different skin diseases. » * * The Parole Racket. I IS astonishing but seemingly true that, of five young gang- sters recently caught red-handed in a criminal operation, not a single one was a convict out on parole. Is there no way to bar rank amateurs from a profession calling for prior experience and proper background? And can it be that the various pa- turning loose qualified practitioners mand? Maybe we need self-open- Those sentimentalists who abhor the idea that a chronic offender be "CAPUDINE relieves The wavering mind is but a base possession.—Euripides. KILLS INSECTS Demand original seoted botties, from pour dealer
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers