r\_ |
THE
TEETH OF THE TIGER L
C bt P
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSLATED BT
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS
CHAPTER ELEVEN (Continued,)
This time, he knew where he
Was. The exit, which was not
secret, as it led to the Place du
Palais-Bourbon, but nevertheless
very safe, was that which Sauver
and generally used when Florence
admitted him.
Don Luis therefore went
through the entrance hall and
down the steps and, a little way
before the pantry, came upon the
cellar stairs. He ran down these
and soon recognized the low door
that served to admit the wine
casks. The daylight filtered in
through a small, grated spy-hole.
He groped till he found the lock.
Glad to have come to the end of
his expedition, he opened the
door.
“Hang it all!” he growled,
leaping hack and clutching at the
lock, which he managed to fasten
again.
Two policemen in uniform were
guarding the exit,, two policemen
who had tried to seize him as he
appeared.
Where did those two men come
from? Had they prevented the
escape of Sauverand and Flor
ence? But in that ease Don Luis
would have met the two fugitives,
as he had come by exactly the
same road as they.
‘No,” he thought, “they
effected their flight before the
exit was watched. But, by Jove!
it's my turn to clear out; and
that’s not easy. Shall I let my
self he caught in my burrow like
a rabbit?”
He went up the cellar stairs
again, intending to hasten mat
ters. to slip into the courtyard
through the outhouses, to jump
into his motor, and to clear a way
for himself. But, when he was
just reaching the yard, near the
coachhouse, he saw four detect
ives, four of those whom he had
imprisoned, come up waving their
arms and shouting. And he also
became aware of u regular uproar
near the main gate and the por
ter’s lodge. A number of men
were all talking together, raising
their voices in violent discussion.
Perhaps he might profit by this
opportunity to steal outside under
cover of the disorder. At the risk
of being seen, he put out his head.
And what he saw astounded him.
Gaston Sauverand stood with
his hack to the wall of the lodge,
surrounded by policemen and de
tectives who pushed and insulted
him. The handcuffs were on his
wrists.
Gaston Sauverand a prisoner!
What had happened between the
two fugitives and the police?
His heart wrung with anguish,
he leaned out still farther. But
he did not see Florence. The girl
had no doubt succeeded in eseap
ing.
Weber’s appearance on the |
steps ami the deputy chief’s first
words confirmed his hopes. Weber
was mad with rage. His recent
captivity and the humiliation of
his defeat exasperated him.
“Ah!” he roared, as he saw the
prisoner. “There’s one of them,
at any rate! Gaston Sauverand!
Choice game, that! . . . Where
did you catch him?”
“On the Place du Palais-Bour
bon," said one of the inspectors.
“We saw him slinking out
through the cellar door.”
“And his accomplice, the Le
vasseur girl?”
“We missed her, Deputy Chief.
She was the first out.”
“And Don Luis? You haven’t
let him leave the house, I hope?
I gave orders.”
“He tried to get out through
the cellar door five minutes
after.”
“Who said so?”
“One of the men in uniform!
posted outside the door.”
“Well?”
“The beggar went back into the
cellar.”
Weber gave a shout of delight.
“We've got him! Aud it's a
nasty business for him! Charge
of resisting the police! . . . Com
plicity! . . . We shall be able to
nnmask him at last. Tally-ho, my
lads, tally-ho! Two men to guard
Sauverand, four men on the; Place
du Palais-Bourbon, revolver in
hand.- Two men on the roof. The
rest stick to me. We’ll begin
with the Levasseur girl’s room
ami we'll take his room next.
an
Hark, forward, my lads!”
Don Luis did not wait for the
enemies’ attack. Knowing their
intentions, he beat a retreat, un
seen, toward Florence’s rooms.
Here, as Weber did not yet know
the short cut through the out
houses, he had time to make sure
that the trapdoor was in perfect
working order, and that there was
no reason why they should dis
cover the existence of a secret
cupboard at the back of the al
cove, behind the curtains of the
bed.
Once inside the passage, he
went up the first staircase, fol
lowed the long corridor contrived
in the wall, climbed the ladder
leading to the boudoir, and, per
ceiving that this second trapdoor
fitted the woodwork so closely
that, no one could suspect any
thing, he closed it over him. A
few minutes later he heard the
noise of men making a search
above his head.
And so, on the 24th of May, at
5 o’clock in the afternoon, the
position was as follows: Flor
ence Levasseur with a warrant
out against her, Gaston Sauverand
in prison, Marie Fanville in
prison and refusing all food, and
Don Luis, who believed in their
innocence and who alone could
have saved them, Don Luis was
being blockaded in his own house
and hunted down by a score' of
detectives.
As for the Mornington inherit
ance, there could be no more ques
tion of that, because the legatee,
in his turn, had set himself in open
rebellion against society.
“Capital!” said Don Luis, with
a grin. “This is life as I under
stand it. The question is a simple
one and may be put in different
ways. How can a wretched, un
washed beggar, with not a penny
in bis pocket, make a fortune in
24 hours without^*tting foot out
side* his hovel ?^^^v can a gen
eral. with no s.JWrs and no am
munition left, win a battle which
he has lost? In short, how shall
1, Arsene Lupin, manage to be
present tomorrow evening at the
meeting which will be held on the
Boulevard Suehet and to behave
in such a way as to save Marie
Fanville, Florence Levasseur,
Gaston Sauverand, and my ex
cellent friend Don Luis Perenna
in the bargain?”
Dull blows came from some
where. The men must be hunting
the roofs and sounding the walls.
Don Luis stretched himself flat
on the floor, hid his face in his
folded arms and, shutting his
eyes, murmured:
“Let’s think.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“HELP!”.
When Lupin afterward told me
this episode of the tragic story, he
said, not without a certain self
complaeeney:
“Wlmt astonished me then, and
what astonishes me still, as one
of the most amazing victories on
which 1 am entitled to pride my
self, is that I was able to admit
Sauverand and Marie Fauville's
innocence on the spot, as a prob
lem solved once and for all. It
was a first class performance, I
swear, and surpassed the most fa
mous deductions of the most fa
mous investigators both in psy
chological value and in detective
merit. *
“After all, taking everything
into account, there was not the
shadow of a fresh fact to enable
me to alter the verdict. The
charges accumulated against the
two prisoners were the same, and
were so grave that no examining
magistrate would have hesitated
for a second to commit them for
trial, nor any jury to bring them
in guilty. I will not speak of Ma
rie Fauville: you had only to
think of the marks of her teeth to
be absolutely certain. But Gaston
Sauverand, the son of Victor Sau
verand and consequently the heir
| of Cosmo Mornington—Gaston
| Sauverand, the man with the
"ebony walking stick and the mur
■ derer of Chief Inspector Ancenis
—was he not just as guilty as
j Marie Fauville, incriminated with
I her by the mysterious letters, in
loriminatcd by the very revelation
of the husband whom they had
killed!
“And yet why did that sudden
change take place in me!’’ he
asked. “Why did I go against
the evidence! Why did I credit
an incredible fact! Why did I
admit the inadmissible! Why!
Well, no doubt, because truth has
an accent that rings in the ears in
a manner all its own. On the one
side, every proof, every fact,
ever}- reality, every certainty; on
the other, a story, a story told by
one of the three criminals, and
therefore, presumptively, absurd
and untrue from start to finish.
But a story told in a frank voice,
a clear, dispassionate, closely j
woven story, free from complica
tions or improbabilities, a story 1
which supplied no positive solu
tion, but which, by its very hon
esty, obliged any impartial mind
to reconsider the solution arrived
at. I believed the story.’’
The explanation which Lupin
gave me was not complete. I
asked:
“And Florence Levassetirt”
“Florence?”
“Yes, you don’t tell me what
you thought. What was your
opinion about her? Everything
tended to incriminate her no^ only
in your eyes, because, logically
speaking, she had taken part in
all the attempts to murder you,
but also in the eyes of the police.
They knew that she used to pay
Sauverand clandestine visits at
his house on the Boulevard Rich
ard-Wallace. They had found her
photograph in Inspector Verot’s
memorandum book, and then—
and then all the rest: your accu
sations, your certainties. Was all
that modified by Sauverand’s
story? To your mind, was Flor
ence innocent or guilty?”
He hesitated, seemed on the
point of replying directly and
frankly to my question, but could
not bring himself to do so, and
said:
“I wished to have confidence.
In order to act, 1 must have full
and entire confidence, whatever
doubts might still assail me, what
ever darkness might still en
shroud this or that part of the
adventure. I therefore believed.
And, believing, I acted according
to my belief.”
Acting, to Don Luis Perenna,
during those hours of forced in
activity, consisted solely in per
petually repeating to himself Gas
ton Sauverand’s account of the
events. He tried to reconstitute it
in all its details, to remember the
very least sentences, the appar
ently most insignificant phrases.
And he examined those sentences,
scrutinized those phrases one by
one, in order to extract such par
ticle of the truth as they con
tained.
For the truth was there. Sau
verand had said so and Perenna
did not doubt it. The whole sin
ister affair, all that constituted
the case of the Mornington inher
itance and the tragedy of the
Boulevard Suchet, all that could
throw light upon the plot hatched
against Marie Fauville, all that
could explain the undoing of Sau
verand and Florence—all this lay
in Sauverand’s story.- Don Luis
had only to understand, and the
truth would appear like the moral
which we draw from some obscure
fable.
Don Luis did not once deviate
from this method. If any objec
tion suggested itself to his mind,
he at once replied:
“Very well. It may be that I
am wrong and that Sauverand’s
story will not enlighten me on any
point capable of guiding me. It
may be that the truth lies out
side it. But am l in a position to
get at the truth in any other way?
All that I possess as an instrument
of research, without attaching
undue importance to certain
gleams of light which the regular
appearanch of the mysterious let
ters has shed upon the case, all
that I possess is Gaston Sauver
and’s story. Must 1 not make use
of jt?” * -
And, once again, as when one
follows a path by another person’s
tracks, he began to live through
the adventure which Sauverand
had been through. He compared
it with the picture of it which he
had imagined until then. The
two were in opposition; but could
not the very clash of their oppo
sition be made to produce a spark
of light?
“Here is what he .said,” he
thought, “and there is what I be
lieved. What does the difference
mean? Here is the thing that was,
and there is the thing that ap
peared to be. Why did the crim
inal wish the thing that was to ap
pear under that particular aspect?
To remove all suspicion from him?
But, in that case, was it necessary
that suspicion should fall precise
ly on those on whom it did?”
The questions came crowding
one upon the other. He somet imes
answrered them at random, men
tioning names and uttering wrords
I
in succession, as though the name
mentioned might be just that of
the criminal, and the words
uttered those which contained the
unseen reality.
Then at once he would take up
the story again, as schoolboys do
when parsing and analyzing a
passage, in which each expression
is carefully sifted, each period
discussed, each sentence reduced
to its essential value.
Hours and hours passed. Sud
denly, in the middle of the night,
he gave a start. He took out his
watch. By the light of his electric
lamp he saw that it was 17 min
utes to 12 o’clock.
“So at 17 minutes to 12 at
night,” he said, “I fathomed the
mystery. ”
He tried to control his emotion,
but it was too great; and his
nerves were so immensely stag
gered by the trial that he began
to shed tears. He had caught
sight of the appalling truth, all
of a sudden, as when at night one
half sees a landscape under a
lightning flash.
There is nothing more unnerv
ing than this sudden illumination
when we have been groping and
struggling in the dark. Already
exhausted by his physical efforts
and by the want of food, from
which he was beginning to suffer,
he felt the shock so intensely that,
without caring to think a moment
longer, he managed to go to sleep,
or, rather, to sink into sleep, as
one sinks into the healing waters
of a bath.
When he woke, in the small
hours, alert and well despite the
discomfort of his couch, he shud
dered on thinking of the theory
which he had accepted; and his
first instinct was to doubt it. He
had, so to speak, no time.
All the proofs came rushing to
his mind of their own accord and
at once transformed the theory
into one of those certainties
which it would be madness to
deny. It was that and nothing
else. As he had foreseen, the
truth lay recorded in Sauverand’s
story. And he had not been mis
taken, either, in saying to Maze
roux that the manner in which
the mysterious letters appeared
had put him on the track of the
truth.
And the truth was terrible. He
felt, at the thought of it, the same
fears that had maddened Inspec
tor Verot wrhen, already tortured
by the poison, he stammered:
“Oh, I don’t like this, I don’t
like the looks of this! . . . The
whole thing has been planned in
^uch an infernal manner!”
Infernal was the word! And
Don Luis remained stupefied at
the revelation of a crime which
looked as if no human brain
could have conceived it.
For two hours more he devoted
all his mental powers to examin
ing the situation from every point
of view. He was not much dis
turbed about the result, because,
being now in possession of the
terrible secret, he had nothing
more to do but make his escape
and go that evening to the meet
ing on the Boulevard Suchet,
where he would show them all
how the murder was committed.
But when, wishing to try his
chance of escaping, he went up
through the underground passage
and climbed to the top of the
upper ladder—that is to say, to
the level of the boudoir—he heard
through the trapdoor the voices of
men in the room.
By Jove!” he said to himself,
“the thing is not so simple as I
thought! Tn order to escape the
minions of the law I must first
leave my prison; and here is at
least one of the exits blocked
Let’s look at the other.”
He went down to Florence’s
apartments and worked the mech
anism, which consisted of a coun
terweight. The panel of the cup
board moved in the groove.
Driven by hunger and hoping
to find some ^rovistfms" which
would enable him to withstand a
siege without being reduced to
famine, he was about to pass
through the alcove, behind the
curtains, when he was stopped
short by a sound of footsteps.
Some one had entered the room.
“Well, Mazeroux, have you
spent the night here! Nothing
new! ’ ’
Don Luis recognized the Prefect
of Police by his voice; and the
question put by the Prefeet told
him, first, that Mazeroux had been
released from the dark closet
where he had bound him up, and,
secondly, that the sergeant was in
j the next room. Fortunately, the
! sliding panel had worked without
the least sound; and Don Luis was
; able to overhear the conversation
between the two men.
“No, nothing new, Monsier le
Prefet,” replied Mazeroux.
“That’s funny. The confounded
, fellow must be somewhere. Or
; can he have got away over the^
| roof!”
tCaatinuecl Next Week.)
Opportunity Is Knocking. j
- .... . .....4
From an Address by Francis H. Sisson, Vice President Guaranty Trust Co.,
of New York, at Atlanta, Ga.
The national debts of the powers now fighting are multiplying
at a prodigious rate. To be sure, our own debt is mounting rapidly,
but by virtue of our unequalled wealth, we are certain to be in a
sounder and stronger position financially, industrially and economic
ally than auy other nation when peace finally comes.
Requests for credit must necessarily accompany the demands
for goods which Europe will make in this country after the.war,
and we shall be asked to take in partial payment, at least, securities
which will give us an interest in foreign enterprises of all kinds.
The policy will be new to us, although we should not forget that
Great Britain gained the foremost rank in foreign trade by this
method, and Germany, her chief rival, adopted the same plan in
reaching out for foreign markets.
Latin-America was a large borrower of European capital before
the war, and the development of the potentially great commercial
empires to the south was arrested when the fiscal flow from over the
seas was interrupted. But just as Latin-American countries have
been compelled to seek funds in increasing quantity here during the
last three years, so they will seek money in the United States after
the war.
South America, with its vast wealth in forest and mineral
resources, and its ability to feed the world for centuries, is perhaps
the most promising virgin soil for investment in all the world.
Gratifying results are rewarding those who have devoted themselves
to the development of the dormant wealth of the southern continent.
South America is too large and its population too small, its means
of transportation too limited and imperfect, its labor too unskilled, its
banking facilities too inadequate, to permit rapid systematic develop
ment of its resources. To recognize this fact, however, is to realize
the immense possibilities which these regions offer to the patient
explorer and promoter—be he individual or corporation, be he backed
merely by his own energy and capacity, or by the millions of powerful
interests; be he forester, cattle breeder, engineer, merchant, banker,
or investor.
j B UT FEW FOREIGNERS j
j VO TE IN ARGENTINE j
Buenos Aires (by mail).—Only 21
citizens of the United States registered
for the municipal elections in Buenos
Aires under the new law which gives
the vote to foreigners in municipal
elections. The census of 1914 showed
that there were 3,4-19 Americans in the
Argentine republic. It is estimated that
this number has double since the war
began and that most of them are living
in Buenos Aires.
The newspapers commented unfa
vorably on the fact that, of the 120,000
foreigners in the city who- were en
titled to vote, only 13,615 registered
and said this showed that they had no
interest in the city beyond making as
much money as possible and then re
turning to their native countries. The
papers argued from this that the for
eigner's collaboration in the city gov
ernment could never be depended
upon.
The census of 1914 showed that
there were nearly as many aliens in
Buenos Aires as natives, 777,845 for
eigners and 797,969 natives. In order
to give this great foreign population a
voice in the city government a law was
passed recently extending the vote to
all aliens who were married to Argen
tine women, or who had children born
in Argentina, or who paid a specified
amount of house rent. This included
nearly all the married foreigners in
the city. Unmarried foreigners were
entitled to the vote if they paid aa
much as 50 pesos a year in taxes.
The nationalities most largely repre
sented in the registration were lialians,
6,447; Spaniards, 5,004; French. 508;
Russians. 481; Uruguayans, 377; (!er
mans, 195; English, 144.
One of the newspapers in comment
ing unfavorably on this rejection of
the ballot by the foreigners, said it
was an “inexplicable social phenome
non.”
UNCLE SAM PRACTICES I
ECUNOMY HE PREACHES
Partly Worn Clothing of Sol
diers Is No Longer Allowed
to Be Thrown Away.
Louisville, Ky.—Some of the econ
omies practiced by Uncle Sam in these
spendthrift days would make a thrifty
housewife envious. The good old days
in the army when the soldier was al
lowed to overdraw his clothing allow
ance without an explanation are past.
A "busted" pair of trousers and half
worn out shoeB are rejuvlnated at the
army camps and cantonments and
made to serve again. Even the manes
of army horses are scrupulously saved
and sold to upholsterers.
Torn trousers and worn shoes must
be produced before a like article in
good order is issued. No limit is placed
on the amount of clothing a man can
get so long as he wears out that which
is issued to him.
At Camp Zachary Taylor, near
Louisville, and at every other training
center in the country no condemned
article is allowed to go to the scrap
heap if some part of it can be salvaged
and used to repair some other piece of
equipment. No waste of materials
about the camp is allowed to go un
noticed or unchecked.
Too many broken pieces of bread in
a garbage can will bring to the com
mander of the unit a notice from the
commanding general of the camp to
have his cooks issue bread in smaller
slices so that none will be wasted. The
general has learned of the waste
through daily reports laid on his desk.
Every pair of shoes condemned as
unfit for further use passes under eyes
of skilled shoemakers In olive drab,
drawn from the ranks. A surprisingly
large percentage find their way back
into the quartermaster’s stock to be
reissued. Some of them are practically
reconstructed.
A soldier wears the seat out of a pair
of khaki trousers, and g£ts a new pair.
The soldier-ttjilor in the shops of
the conilemnation and reclamation
division finds another pair which have
faded to about the same shade and re
places the missing seat. The garment
itself goes back into store and is re
issued for garrison wear.
As with trousers and shoes, so with
every piece of personal equipment is
sued to a soldier. Nothing is wasted,
nothing is scrapped that possibly can
be of use. and the scrap material itself
is carefully conserved for sale.
All horses used by the army have
their manes reached. White and grey
hair is kept together while all sorrel,
bay and black hair goes into another
lot Each kind of hair is also divided
into two lots, that from southern horses
and that from northern horses. Dark
horses' hair brings about 70 per cent
more than light. Southern horses have
coarse heavy hair in the mane which
is not so valuable as that from the
finer haired northern type.
Besides the condemnation and re
clamation division is ceaselessly at
work in every training center pushing
a campaign of publicity, and many of
Uncle Sam's soldiers when they go
back to civil life will go back better
business men because they have been
trained to watch the little “leaks."
CALIFORNIA HAS BIG
EXPOSITION PLANNED
Oakland, Cal.—The Pacific coast
land and industrial exposition, which
will open here on September 9 to run
for a period of 2* days, is the most pre
tentious exhibit devised since the Pan
ama-Pacific International exposition.
held in San Francisco during the year
1913. Thirty acres of ground will bo
required for the various pavilions and
buildings which will contain the ex
hibits. One-half million square feet of
floor space will be devoted to the show
ing of these exhibits, which includes
all the products of the field and man
ufactory.
The site selected surrounds the great
civic auditorium, which will be one of
the main buildings of the exposition.
This building is 400 feet long and 200
feet wde and cost $1,000,000 to build.
It will seat 10,000 persons. The acre
age fronts on I-ake Merritt, consid
ered one of the beauty spots of the
city.
The principal buildings will be two
states and counties pavilions, each 250
feet long and 150 feet wide; the man
ufacturers’ department, 200 feet
square; the automobile department,
200 feet square; tractor department,
100 feet square; live stock, 480 feet
long and 140 feet wide. A stadium with
a seating capacity of 5,000 persons
will be constructed in which to hold
athletic games as well as to parade
live stock.
A section 700 feet long and 120 feet
wide has been set apart for amuse
ments of various sorts. This will in
clude the concessions with all the latest
novelties offered for the entertain
ment of the public.
The exposition is a ronmoney mak
ing scheme designed to exploit the re
sources of the Pacific coast. One hun
dred and forty business men of the city
constitute the advisory board and they
are contributing their services. No
salaries are attached to any of the
offices. Any profits which may accrue
will be donated to organizations active
in war work.
The scheme of architecture will be
the Old Mission, which is typical of
California. The streets, avenues and
courts will be embellished by trees,
flowers, statuary, groups and foun
tains. New ideas on illumination are
being evolved, the plan being to make
this as much a feature as it was in
the case of the San Francisco exposi
tion three years ago.
According to the promoters, the ex
position sprang from the belief that
an actual display of the products of
the farming and manufacturing ac
tivities of the Pacific coast will ac
complish results which will materially
aid in winning the war.
An awards committee is compiling
a premium list covering awards in all
departments and selecting competent
Judges.____
Sea Heroes.
Herman Whitaker, In the Independent.
"A radio to the bridge of our destroyer
told of a steamer being shelled by a sub
marine. She was too far away" for us to
help, but It drew a reminiscence from the
skipper, who had joined us on the
bridge.
"Someone will go to her assistance and
If she puts op a fight like the old I,
they’ll stand a fine chance to be saved.
We were 90 miles away when we got her
first call and while we were smokins it
over the ocean, just hitting the tips of
the wave, the L- kept us posted on the
fight. It was like reading the rounds of
a championship battle on a bulletin board:
Bridge shot away" ‘On fire In two
places!' Have extinguished the fires!'
We have thrown code books and papers
overboard!’
"We were still It) miles away when this
happened, but we wirelessed her not to
surrender and received a reply that would
make a fine subtitle for a movie melo
drama—‘Never!’ And she did not—thanka
to the American naval gunners who re
fused to stop firing when the captain
deemed it time to haul down his- flag ”
On Board the Transport.
From Harper's Magazine.
Sympathetic Friend—How do you feet
now, Fd?
Seasick Soldier—Don't ask me, but If
you know any guy that wants the tree
! dom o' the seas, tell him he can have It.
[ i aint got oo use for It.
