The other detective dashed out into the car. The car porter pushed his head in the door. “What yo’all want? The gen’man what— ”

  “Say, what’s the idea?” Sergeant Acklev held up the lapel of his coat to emphasize the significance of his badge. “Get the hell out of here,” he said.

  “Where’s Leith?” Sergeant Ackley asked. The porter backed out, his jaw and lips moving, but no words coming.

  “Why, I don’t know. Who are you? Why, hello, Beaver. What is this?”

  Sergeant Ackley slammed the door shut.

  said. Sergeant Ackley said, “Come on! Where’s Leith?”

  “Let’s take a look in that suitcase,” he

  “I haven’t seen him for a while. I was reading and—” The officers unstrapped the suitcase, opened it. Sergeant Ackley pawed through the clothes.

  “How did that suitcase get here?”

  “A redcap brought it in. He said Leith told him to put it aboard.”

  “O.K.,” he said to the girl, “where are those two gems?”

  “What two gems?” “Where was that?”

  “This last stop.” “Don’t stall. The two gems that were in there.”

  “What did Leith say after we pulled out of that last stop?”

  “You’re nuts!” she said.

  “Why, I haven’t seen him since the suitcase was delivered here.” “ I’ll show you whether I’m nuts or not,” Sergeant Ackley said. “You’re an accomplice in this thing right now. You give me any more of your lip, and I’ll arrest you as an accessory after the fact.”

  “ After what fact?” she asked. reach this stateroom. Remember, he was one car ahead of me. No one else could have done the thing any differently. How was I to know he was going to jump off?”

  Sergeant Ackley’s gesture was one of irritation.

  “Mr. Leith thought he’d left you in the city,” she said to Beaver. Sergeant Ackley whirled to Evelyn Rae. “I’m going to get those two stones,” he said, “if I have to search every stitch you have on. So you’d better come through with them.”

  “ What Lester Leith thinks doesn’t count right now,” Sergeant Ackley observed. “I want those two emeralds.”

  “Those two emeralds?”

  “Yes.” “I tell you I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. Beaver said significantly: “Remember that piece of glass in the chewing gum, sergeant. I’ll bet they were just trying to find out whether a wad of chewing gum would hold—”

  Before she could answer, the door of the drawing room burst open, and the detective who had been sent to find Leith said:

  “ Say, sergeant, here’s a funny story from the porter of the second car back. That’s the one that Leith hopped when the train pulled out. I grabbed the one behind. I went back and asked the porter what happened to the man who got aboard and—”

  “ Never mind all that palaver,” Sergeant Ackley interrupted irritably. “Go ahead and tell me the answer. What happened?”

  “ He said that Lester Leith climbed aboard all right, and then jumped right back off again.”

  Sergeant Ackley’s face darkened. “So you let him give you the slip, did you?” The detective said indignantly: “Let him give me nothing! He got aboard the train all right, and I saw the vestibule door shut. The train damn near jerked my arms off when I got aboard the next car back. I hurried up to follow Leith to his stateroom here, but before I could get through the car, he’d had plenty of time to

  “ Now,” Sergeant Ackley said, “you’re talking sense.” He grabbed the table, swung it up on its hinges, looked at the assortment of gum gobs which studded the under side of the table. Suddenly a flash of green light caught his eye. With a whoop of triumph, he grabbed at the blob of gum. It stuck to his fingers, but pulled away enough to show the surface of a huge green object which was embedded in the sticky depths. “Hooray,” Sergeant Ackley cried. “Caught at last. Snap the handcuffs on that woman.”

  CHAPTER VI THE TWO TRICK CANES

  There were lights in the building occupied by the Explorers’ Club. From time to time could be heard bursts of laughter or spatterings of applause. The curb around the building was crowded with parked automobiles. Here and there chauffeurdriven cars showed a driver huddled over the steering wheel dozing or, perhaps, listening to the radio.

  Lester Leith, swinging along the sidewalk, spotted the license number of Peter B. Mainwaring’s automobile without difficulty. The chauffeur of the car was slumped over the wheel.

  Slow comprehension began to dawn on Deekin’s face. The right hand which had been hovering near his chest moved away to rest on the steering wheel.

  Leith walked around the car, and tapped him on the shoulder.

  “What’s this about unscrewing the head of the cane?” he asked. Leith said, “Let me show you.” The man snapped to quick attention as he felt the touch of Lester Leith’s finger. His right hand started toward his left coat lapel.

  Lester Leith said easily, “You’re Mainwaring’s chauffeur?” The man’s thin, hatchet face was without expression as he said, from one side of his mouth, “What’s it to you?” His right hand was held hovering over the left coat lapel.

  With deft fingers, he unscrewed the head of the cane, showed a cottonlined receptacle on the interior. He pushed two fingers down into the cavity to show its depth. “There you are,” he said. “Four and a half inches deep as ordered, and I defy anyone to look at this cane and tell that there’s anything phony about it. Here it is.”

  “What’s that other cane you’ve got?” Deekin asked. “ I have the cane that Mainwaring ordered,” Lester Leith said. “He told me to deliver it to you, and to show you the secret compartment.”

  “One I’m delivering to another customer,” Leith told him.

  “Secret compartment?” Deekin said. “Say, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Say, what do you want me to do with this?” Leith said: “Well, I don’t give a damn whether you do or not. You don’t need to be so short about it. I’m a working man, same as you are, and a damn good cane maker. I’m carrying out instructions, that’s all. Now, here’s the cane for Mainwaring. You tell him when he wants to get at the hidden receptacle, all he has to do is unscrew the top.”

  “ What does he want a receptacle in a cane for?” Deekin asked, his voice more friendly.

  Lester Leith smirked and said: “Probably to carry liver pills in. How the hell do I know? I have about a dozen clients who give me orders like this, and I’m paid enough to keep my mouth shut. Do you understand?”

  “ Just give it to Mr. Mainwaring, that’s all,” Leith said. “It’s all paid for. Mainwaring will understand. He told me to be at the Explorers’ Club, but not to ask for him, that his car would be waiting outside, and I was to leave the cane with his chauffeur. Don’t be so damn dumb.”

  “ I’m not so damn dumb,” Deekin said, inspecting the cane with approval. “Say, buddy,” with increasing friendliness, “that’s a neat job.”

  “ You’re damn right it’s a neat job,” Leith said. “You ain’t telling me anything… Say, I wonder if Mainwaring is interested in knowing that they’ve caught the guy that robbed him.”

  “What do ya mean, robbed him?” Deekin asked. Leith laughed scornfully. “I wasn’t born yesterday,” he said. “That story about the priests of Hanuman who showed up to avenge the monkeydeserter from the temple is a lot of hooey that might go with some people, but you can save your breath as far as I’m concerned. They cut that monkey open to get at the smuggled gems. If your boss had had this cane with him, they wouldn’t— Oh, well, never mind.”

  “What’s this about catching the robber?” Deekin demanded. “ Well, they’ve just as good as caught him,” Leith said. “They found out he wasn’t a fat man at all. That was just a disguise. The guy stole a car just to pull the stickup, then he ran the car down to the Ninetythird Street Station, went in the men’s room and took off his clothes. He had a specially constructed rubber lined suit. All he had to do was put an air hose on it and blow it up so he looked as though he weighed about three hundred pounds. He stuck that suit in the suitcase, bought a railroad ticket to Beacon City, and checked the suitcase on the ticket. He figured no one would pay any attention to it there, and he’d have a chance to pick it up sometime later.”

  Well, buddy, I’ve got to be going. Be sure Mainwaring gets this cane. So long.”

  “So long,” Deekin said.

  Lester Leith walked down the street, swinging the other cane behind him. The chauffeur mopped cold perspiration from his forehead. He looked apprehensively up at the Explorers’ Club, then apparently seized with a sudden inspiration, jumped out of the car, pulled up the front seat, and attacked the body of the automobile with a screwdriver. A few moments later, he had lifted up a cleverly concealed plate and removed two blazing green stones from a hidden receptacle. He unscrewed the head of the cane, dropped the two emeralds into the cottonlined hollow, and screwed the head of the cane back on. He replaced the front seat in the automobile, jumped out, and started walking rapidly toward the corner, swinging the cane casually in his hand.

  He heard running steps behind him.

  “Hey,” Lester Leith called. “I’ve made a mistake in that cane.”

  “Say, how about this?” Deekin interrupted. “Who did it?” Deekin stopped, bracing himself ominously. His right hand once more sought the vicinity of his necktie.

  “ I don’t know who did it. I heard this other stuff come in over the radio just a little while ago,” Leith said, “and I thought Mainwaring would probably be interested.”

  “How long ago?” the chauffeur asked. Leith, drawing closer, said, “Gosh, I entirely forgot about the difference in length. The colonel is a longlegged guy, and the long cane is for him. I think I gave you the long cane, instead of the short one.”

  “ Oh, I don’t know; ten or fifteen minutes ago. The police said they were working on some hot clues and expected an arrest to be made before midnight. You know how it is, the news announcers don’t hand out too much information over the radio in a crime like that until the police tell them it’s O.K. to release it.

  Deekin said ominously, “Well, what you think, don’t count. I think this is the cane that Mainwaring wanted.”

  “ By gosh,” Leith said, with relief in his voice, “I guess you’re right. That is the short cane after all.”

  Deekin clutched the cane firmly in his left hand, but appeared somewhat mollified as Leith made the announcement.

  At that moment, Lester Leith shoved his cane down and to the left. It caught in between Deekin’s legs just as the chauffeur was taking a long step forward.

  “Just a minute,” Leith said; “let’s measure them, just to be sure.” Still holding his cane firmly in his left hand, his right hand ready to dive under the lapel of his coat, Deekin stood perfectly still while Leith compared the canes. The one which Leith was holding was a full inch longer than the other.

  Leith heaved a sigh. The cane was wrenched free from Leith’s grasp. Deekin fell heavily forward, losing the grip on his own cane. At the same time, an ugly bluesteel automatic shot from its holster under his left armpit and slid for a foot or two along the sidewalk.

  Leith said: “Good heavens, man, are you hurt? I’m so sorry. I was polishing that cane and—”

  “ By gosh,” he said, “I didn’t realize that I was as longlegged as I am. You know, after I left you and started out to deliver this cane to the colonel, I swung it around a couple of times and damned if it didn’t almost fit me. So then I got scared and—”

  Deekin grabbed for the gun. “Say,” he said, “I’ve seen enough of you. Beat it!” “ But, my heavens!” Leith said. “It was an accident, purely and simply. Great heavens, man, what are you doing with that gun? I suppose Mainwaring makes you carry it, but—”

  “Well, it’s all right now,” Deekin said. “ I’ll say it is,” Leith told him, twisting the ferrule of the cane in his gloved hands as though to polish it. “What were you doing, taking a walk?”

  Deekin said: “Never mind all that talk. Just pass over that cane of mine.” “ Oh, yes,” Leith said, “a thousand pardons. I’m so sorry. Here, let me help you to your feet.”

  “Yes,” Deekin said shortly.

  “Well,” Leith told him, “I’ll go with you as far as the corner.”

  Deekin hesitated a moment, then said shortly, “All right, as far as the corner.” “ You keep your distance,” Deekin said, menacing him with the gun. “Give me that cane. Hold ‘em out so I can see both of them. Don’t try any funny stuff now. Give me that shorter one. O.K., that’s it. Pass it over, and don’t come close.”

  The two men walked side by side. Lester Leith took out his handkerchief and polished the glass surface of the cane which he held in his hand.

  “ But I don’t understand,” Leith said. “After all, this was just an accident. Perhaps the blunder was on my part, but still—”

  Deekin, after a hundred feet, surreptitiously turned to cast an apprehensive glance over his shoulder.

  “ Go on,” Deekin said. “Beat it. I’ve seen all of you I want to see. I crave to be alone. I don’t want to have anyone tagging around. Turn around and walk back the other way, and keep walking for ten minutes.”

  “ But I simply can’t understand,” Leith said, “why you should adopt this attitude. Man, you’re pointing that gun at me! You’re—”

  “ What do you mean, they couldn’t have been?” Sergeant Ackley shouted. “Where else could they have been?”

  “Beat it,” the chauffeur ordered. “Right in Lester Leith’s pockets,” Beaver said. Leith, apparently realizing all at once the menace of that gun, turned and took to his heels, the cane held under his arm.

  “Bosh and nonsense,” Sergeant Ackley Deekin took four or five quick steps, then paused to dust off his clothes, walked another fifteen or twenty feet, and then apprehensively twisted the head off the cane, and peered into the interior. The street light reflected in reassuring green scintillations from the interior, and Deekin, breathing easier, swung into a rapid walk.

  snapped. “If that’s all you have to offer in the way of suggestions, I’m—”

  “ Just a moment, sergeant,” Beaver said. “You forget that Leith told the baggageman to look through the suitcase in order to familiarize himself with the contents. Now, if those emeralds had been in there, the baggageman certainly would have seen them, and then he wouldn’t have let the suitcase go for any fifty dollar deposit. He’d have got in touch with the claim department and—”

  CHAPTER VII BEAVER’S DEDUCTIONS

  Beaver, the undercover man, coughed significantly until he caught Sergeant Ackley’s eye, then motioned toward the door.

  They held a conference in the car vestibule.

  “There’s something fishy about this, sergeant,” the undercover man said. “ I’ll say there’s plenty fishy about it,” Sergeant Ackley said suspiciously. “I’m going to put that guy who let Leith give him the slip back to pounding pavements.”

  “ He couldn’t have helped it,” Beaver said, “but that isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about, sergeant.”

  “Well, what is it?”

  “Those two emeralds couldn’t have been in that suitcase.” Sergeant Ackley’s expression of dismay showed that he appreciated only too keenly the logic of the undercover man’s words.

  “ So you see what that means,” Beaver said. “If those gems weren’t in the suitcase, then Leith must have brought them; and if Leith brought them, he’d never have stuck them to the under side of that table and then got off the train.”

  “Well, then the girl stuck them there,” Ackley said.

  “No, she didn’t, sergeant. That girl is just a plant.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just a red herring to keep us occupied while Leith is actually getting the stones.”

  “You’re crazy!” Sergeant Ackley said. “We have the stones.” “ No, we haven’t, sergeant. You left the chewing gum on them so they’d be evidence, but if you’ll pull that chewing gum off and wash those stones in gasoline, I’ll bet you’ll find they’re two of the imitation stones that I got for Leith. He fixed this whole thing so that we’d be carried away on the train ‘way past Beacon City while he was doubling back by an airplane to shake down the guy who has those stones.” at the wad of moist chewing gum. The motion of the stopping train pitched him forward, threw him off balance. His hat was jerked from his head. With gumcovered fingers, he retrieved the hat, clamped it back on his head, and then, feeling a lump between his hair and the hatband, realized too late that he had pressed the wad of moist gum into his hair.

  “ Who?” Sergeant Ackley asked.

  “ The chauffeur,” Beaver said. “Can’t you see? The chauffeur was a thin guy. He had a board with some nails in it planted so he could puncture a tire on the car right where he wanted to. No one knows that the jack was broken. They only have his word for it. He said he was going out to get another jack. What he really did was climb in this stolen car which he’d planted before he went down to the dock to meet the boat. He slipped this rubberized suit of clothes over his others, drove into a service station, blew himself up, put on a mask, went over to the stalled automobile, stuck them up, killed the monkey, took the stones, drove back, parked the car, deflated the suit, put it in the suitcase, checked it up, salted the emeralds somewhere, and then came back to the car. To keep suspicion from centering on him, he said that he’d seen this fat man and gave the license number of the car. He—”

  Sergeant Ackley groaned. “You’re right! But, by gosh, we’ll get a plane, we’ll telephone, we’ll—” His hand shot up to the emergency air cord.

  CHAPTER VIII BEAVERS BIG MOMENT

  Sergeant Ackley, Beaver, and the two detectives burst into Leith’s apartment to find Lester Leith sprawled in a lounging robe, reading. He looked up with a frown as the men came charging through the door.