The Strand 1912-11 Vol-XLIV № 263 November mich

DEAD MEN'S SHOES. 583 \"Ulli TATTtKUIi.MAUOIs's K1G111 ARM WAa LltTliL), A.Nb IT SWUNG.\" to him. \" Oh, what a sportswoman ! She's gone after him to get him to give up the shoes.\" Alas ! Roger was wrong. Margot walked, now, by the tatterde- malion's side. The wretch seemed trying to outpace her ; but in vain. Roger saw her press something into the man's reluctant palm. Then she turned back towards the headland. Roger collapsed upon the grass. \" She's tipped him !\" he told himself. \" She's actually given him money for taking away my shoes ! \" And for just one minute the thought of this cynical rejoicing in his misery made him hate the woman he loved. Meantime Margot advanced quickly; as always, most gracefully. Roger forced him- self to his feet. He assumed what he flattered himself was a look of scorn. But Margot did not seem to see. \" Roger ! \" she cried. \" How splendid of you—how splendid ! \" \" Splendid ! \" \" Yes ; splendid! It's the most unselfish thing I've ever known. You gave that poor man the very shoes off your feet. And I called you a humbug ! Roger, I'm sorry. Forgive me, there's a dear.\" \" Forgive you ! \"

5&4 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. A great lump rose in Roger's throat; whether of tears or laughter he did not, will never, know. Then—he had fallen on to the grass again—Margot dropped at his side. \" Your poor feet! \" she said. \" Oh, your poor, poor feet! \" Roger gave a gasp. There was no doubt about the nature of that lump—now. It was cer- tainly laughter—and he could have hugged the tramp. It seemed to him that he could—and would —hug Margot. But marvellously, miraculously, he did not — for, though he had imagination, he had a conscience, and he felt he must tell the truth. Meantime—it was all so jolly and unexpected and difficult — Margot was tremendously pretty — and she was sitting ex- ceedingly close. \" What are you going to do, Roger —d ear?\" she asked, after a pause. \" Do ? \" Roger's heart went bump, bump at the sound of the adjective and at the thought that affection might not survive the appalling truth. \" Do ? Oh, I suppose I shall walk to the cot- tage—and borrow a pair of hobnails —and cycle home. You won't mind, Margot — riding with me into St. Ives and up to the hotel ? \" \"Mind-/ mind? you ; oh, so proud. \" What did you say ? \" \" Nothing. Margot. Nothing.\" Poor Roger ! The dusky cream of cheek and chin was close, so close to him ; he adored her—and she was ready to accept him whenever he chose to ask her—because of that noble deed he had not done. Again, poor Roger! He had a conscience; he could not, would not, win her by a trick. He HIS ARM ROUND MARGOT's WAIST, HER ARM ROUND HIS.\" you selfish, Roger ! I ever saw ! \" \" Good Lord !

DEAD MEN'S SHOES. 585 couldn't help it—and I do love you very much ! \" \" I must do it—I must say it—nmo\" said Roger to himself. \" If I don't I shall never have the pluck.\" And, as an unconscious preliminary to his confession, he sighed. \" What's the matter ? \" she asked. \" Oh, something awful ! \" Roger's tone tvas terrific and glum. Margot stared. She loved him truly, deeply. That was why, for just one fraction of a second, she wondered if he were going to tell her that he was engaged to another girl. \" What is it, Roger ? Are you—are you thinking about that poor man ? \" \" Margot \"—it was now or never, and Roger put his hand on the hand nearest to him, covering it, gripping it hard—\" Margot, I didn't give the tramp those shoes ! \" \" What ! \" \" No ; I put them on the cliff for you to find them—and the tramp came along \" \" And stole them ? \" Margot's hand started, but was not withdrawn. \" Yes. 1—I was hiding to see if you'd be upset when you found them, and to see if you'd think I'd killed myself—and the tramp came along, and he—he p-put them on, and he's got clean away ! \" \" With your shoes !r \" And with your- Margot ? \" \" Five shillings ! \" \" Five shillings ! -how much was it, gave him five You shillings, Margot ? \" \" Yes, Roger. How could I do less ? Your—your nobility inspired me.\" Margot said no more. Her young, light laughter rose and woke the skies. Roger looked at he. ; then his laugh echoed hers. Seven seagulls, three gannets, and a northern diver fled, squawking, out to sea. And Roger moved slowly, but not imper- ceptibly, towards Margot's side. And Margot looked at him. Her smile was delicious to see. The humour had saved the situation; all was over but one thing now. That thing Roger proceeded to do. \" Then you—you don't hate me ? \" he said, as he got, if anything, closer to her still. \" No ; I don't—hate you, Roger.\" Margot did not edge away. \" It was a rotten thing to do ! \" said Roger. \" But it was magnificent to tell the truth about it, Roger, dear. Oh, Roger—Roger— there are two tourists—look ! \" There were two tourists; two bright- stockinged creatures with knapsacks, coming down the fields. They went by—not incuri- ously. But they went by. Roger and Margot sat on for twenty minutes, twenty-five minutes, half an hour. Then Margot rose. \" We must be going,\" said she.

A Matter of Welgkt. By BERTRAM SMITH. Illustrated by MV. Dewar. HAVE never supposed that there was any real harm in \" Hopegood's Banking Com- pany.\" When the matter came to my ears I thought it best to suppress the enter- prise ; but this was not lie- cause of any suspicion of fraudulent inten- tions on the part of the manager. The truth is that, among small boys, financial trans- actions are to be deprecated. Hopegood himself was a born trader. Several boys of this type have passed through my hands, and they have not, as a rule, been the most satisfactory of my pupils. Some of them carried on dark practices as money-lenders —others introduced a system of barter and exchange. I remember one, many years ago, who made a successful \" corner \" in straw berries, taking over .^he entire stock at the tuck-shop at a moment when no further supplies were expected for twenty-four hours ; but the most ingenious financial transaction in my experience is the one I am about to relate, and the hero of it was \" Pick-axe,\" alias Hopkins minimus. He was an unlovely little urchin of fourteen at the time, with a somewhat unkempt appearance, and long, rebellious hair, but with a sudden smile that came and went like a flash. In his ordinary form work he was found to be practically unteachable, but he was always clever with his hands—an engineer in miniature, an inventor. Hopegood's bank was largely pat- ronized at first, chiefly, it is true, by new boys, but among the investors were Pick-axe and his pal, Hadfield. One and all found it both pleasant and convenient to be able to draw money when required, and when, at the end of a few weeks, accounts began to run dry and cheques were dishonoured, they supposed, as Pick-axe told me later, \"that it was all right. He kept accounts and we didn't, you see. So he ought to know.\" However, the net result of all these transactions was that most of the boys in the South Passage were reduced to a state of absolute penury. As Hopegood put it, \" Money was tight,\" Especially did the small corner room feel the pinch of straitened circumstances, for all four of them had invested largely, and Hadfield was one of the shareholders. On a free afternoon in early November Pick-axe sat on his bed with black despair writ large upon his countenance. He had never before been so hard up. The term had yet seven weeks to run, and there opened before him a long vista of teas without jam, and a haunt- ing vision of the tuck-shop \" so near and yet so far.\" He knew it was no use applying to home for supplies ; and he ran over in his head all the uncles and aunts who had ever shown the slightest tendency to contribute to the exchequer. It was no use. He had already played his trump-card—Uncle Joseph —and failed. He had hoped to realize a sub- stantial sum by the sale of his camera, but

A MATTER OF WEIGHT. 587 \" Any new scrap, Mr. Brown ? \" he asked, machine, inanely recording twelve stone with a professional air. three. \" Take a look round, sir,\" was the reply. \" What's the use of that beastly thing ? \" \" I don't suppose, though, there's anything inquired Hadfield. much in your line.\" \" Can't you see,\" said Pick-axe, \" it's the \"'TAKE A LOOK ROUND, SIR,' WAS THE REPLY, 'r DON'T SUPPOSE, THOUGH, THERE'S ANYTHING MUCH IN YOUR LINE.' \" But Pick-axe very soon came upon some- greatest idea we ever had ? We'll buy it thing that arrested his attention. He turned to Hadfield, glowing with excitement. \" I say, look at this, Had,\" he said, point- ing to a dilapidated penny-in-the-slot weight and stick it up near the school, and rake in the tin when chaps weigh themselves.\" \" But it's broken.\" \" We'll get it mended.\"

588 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. \" Where will you raise the money ? \" \" Off Hopegood ; we'll get him into it, and we three'll go shares.\" Then, raising his voice, \" Five bob for the weight machine, Mr. Brown ? \" \" It's no use to you, sir.\" said Mr. Brown. \" Well, if you can make it work, I'll give you five bob for it.\" \"If I could make it work—correct—I could get fifty.\" \" But it needn't be correct, as long as it's somewhere near. Let's see her inside.\" Hadfield left Pick-axe and Brown hard at it trying to restore the works, and went off to find Hopegood. The banker, having inspected his purchase, consented to advance the sum required, and the trade was soon satisfactorily concluded, an extra shilling being paid for carriage. The machine was to be deposited on the common near the school gates that night after dark. It was estimated to be generally correct within half a stone, but it varied curiously from day to day. It is not unlikely that the weather affected its old bones. It now only remained to introduce it to the public under the most favourable con- ditions. Hopegood had undertaken to be a sleeping partner, and take no action in the matter. \" I don't mind betting you \"—it was Pick- axe who s[>oke, the following day, on the way back from games—\" I don't mind betting a pot of jam there isn't a forward in the Third over nine stone seven.\" \" Why. Tim weighs over ten stone,\" retorted Boyd. \" Rot! \" said Pick-axe. \" Will you take my bet ? \" \" All right, if we can ever get them weighed.\" \" Why, here's the very thing ! \" said the innocent Hadfield. \" Has anyone got any pennies ? \" A rapid calculation was going on in the head of Pick-axe—something after this fashion: \" Pot of jam, if I lose, eightpence—the other two will have to go shares in that. Nine forwards in the Third at a penny each. Profit to the firm, a penny if I lose and nine- pence if I win.\" But it was one of the low recording days with the machine, and even the massive Tim only made nine stone five. W'hile the test was going forward Hadfield was busy inducing other people to try their weight, and most prodigal of his own pennies. (The firm was to refund all incidental expenses.) He began v/ith the simple formula, \" Bet I weigh more than you,\" and when this was worn out he suggested a good means of \" doing the man the thing belonged to \" by three boys getting on in succession with the same penny. This had to be done very cautiously or the penny dropped, and one trio spent sevenpence before they brought it oft. Business was remarkably brisk, and more than one scout was sent in to get change for a shilling before the tea-bell cut short the proceedings.

A MA1TER OF WEIGHT. 589 would sometimes occur within a few hours. There was nearly always a surprise in store. The pool was divided every Saturday night, and it seemed that a regular income was and it led to Pick-axe, forgetful of the inte- rests of the firm, ducking Hopegood in the dam. Things were very uncomfortable in the corner room for some days. Hadfield assured. When receipts began to fall off was particularly anxious to restore peace. Hadfield and Pick- axe were always ready to stimulate interest by a variety of devices. The best of these was a typewritten list, inserted in the front of the machine, and showing \"What one should weigh —if in health.\" The week after its appearance there was a record haul of four and nine- pence. It was de- cided at a meeting early in December that the money should now be allowed to accumu- late to the end of the term, for it would clearly be much more excit- ing to feel that it was mounting up for three whole weeks. By this time a large num- ber of boys were weighing them- selves three times a week, and keep- ing an accurate table of the re- sults, for Hadfield had suggested a new and simple diet, which he had \"got out of a book,\" consisting chiefly of giving up potatoes and eat- ing as much por- ridge and butter as possible ; and he found a number of people willing to give it a trial. Then there was that unfortunate row between Pick-axe and Hopegood. It seems to have begun on one of the hockey sides, THREE AND SEVENI'ENCE. BY JOVK, WHAT A HAUL To him Hopegood made a magnanimous offer in the following terms :— \" I'll sell my share in the weighing show for four shillings,\" he said. \" I don't want to

590 THE STRA.XD MAGAZINE. The bargain was concluded and peace was apparently restored, but there were moments of misgiving, as when Hopegood was found one day struggling with suppressed laughter, for which he could give no explanation. \" He's got some game of his own on hand,\" said Pick-axe; \" but I can't find out what it is.\" \" Keep your eye on him, Picky. Why is he always in the workshop with the door locked ? \" now. What are you going to do with all yours ? \" \" Spend it in the holidays. I think I'll buy a revolver.\" So the hoard went on accumulating, and Pick-axe used to hang about the school gates —counting his victims and chuckling with an unholy joy. From time to time he \" tuned it up \" so that weights seemed to be getting greater day by day. \" We must give the poor fools something for their money,\" he HOPEGOOI) WAS FOUND ONE DAY SIRUUGL1NU WITH SUITKESSE1) LAUGHTIiK.\" Hopegood was kept under strict observa- tion, but very little information transpired, beyond the fact that he undoubtedly had \" a game on of some sort.\" \" He's selling something,\" Hadfield reported at the next conference, \" and everyone who buys it signs a paper not to tell anyone. It looks pretty fishy.\" \" Well, I'm jolly glad we bought him out. The machine is simply burbling. I counted eight fellows in a quarter of an hour to-day. Isn't it ripping ? \" \" Rather. I like to lie awake in bed and think of it piling up every day. Why, there must be pounds in it. Let's open it to-night.\" \" No ; we'll hold on. It's only five days said. But two days before the end came he grossly overdid it. When Tim Barclay found that he had leapt, in the night, from eleven stone three to thirteen stone, credulity could stand it no longer. A deputation went over to the station to compare results with the machine there, and when they returned to the common there was an indignation meet- ing. Pick-axe saw that the game was up, and was loud in condemnation of the fraud. When he went to visit his little treasure next morning he found the indicator wagging stupidly in the wind. Some disgusted in- vestor had clearly put his foot through it. Hadfield came up as he was mourning his loss.

A MATTER OF WEIGHT. 591 \" Well, it's a pity, but it has done pretty well,\" he said. \" When most of the fellows are gone to-morrow we'll come and clear it out.\" \" Must we wait till to-morrow ? I want to buy a lot of things this afternoon.\" \" Yes, we'll have to wait. It's a vow.\" \" But we ought to have a bust-up to-night to celebrate it.\" \" All right. There's always travelling money. We may just as well spend part of that. We'll get it all back to-morrow.\" The whole of the corner room—even Hope- good was included—took part in the great farewell tea that night. There were eggs and gingerbreads and three sorts of jam, and the guests kept the ball rolling for three- quarters of an hour. Pick-axe made a short speech when the hall was empty, except for the revellers themselves, explaining that the reason of the festivity was that he and Hadfield had \" come into a block of money \" —further explanations were deferred till the following term. Under the influence of these inspiring viands Hadfield afterwards approached Hopegood and brought about a complete reconciliation between him and Pick-axe. \" Opened it yet ? \" asked Hopegood. \" No. To-morrow, when the chaps are gone.\" \" There must be a lot in it.\" \" Pounds ! \" said Picky. \" Why did you sell out so cheap ? \" \" Well, you two had done all the work, and I thought you deserved a haul,\" said Hopegood, and I trust, as he said it, he felt himself to be a. worm. It was nearly midday before the last of the crowd had gone and the coast was clear. Then, with boxes packed and everything ready to start by the twelve - seventeen train, the two treasure-seekers, in a state of exuberant anticipation, started for the common. \" Shall I bring a wheel-barrow and a sack ? \" asked Pick-axe. \" No. Hang it, my black bag'll do it. We can count it in the train.\" \" But I want some of it for my ticket. Won't the station man be stuck up with so many pennies ? \" \" What would you sell your share for ? \" \" What'll you give for it ? \" asked Pick-axe. Hadfield made a rapid calculation, and chose the side of caution. \" I'll give seven-and-six for half of it,\" he said. \" Rot! It must be worth twice that; but I won't sell at any price. I know of sixteen chaps who were weighing themselves twice a week—and that's only a small part of it.\" \" Let's have the key.\" There was some elbowing and pushing, but at last the little door opened, and Pick- axe dived into the dark interior. \" Golly ! \" he said. \" Put your paw in there.\"

PERPLEXITIES. By Henry E. Dudeney. 106.—THE FOUR KNIGHTS' TOURS. IF a chessboard be cut into four equal parts, as indicated by the dark lines in the illustration, it is not possible to perform a knight's tour, either re-entrant (that is, returning into itself) or not, on one of the parts. The] best re-entrant attempt is shown, in which each ' knight has to trespass twice on other parts. The puzzle is to cut the board differently into four parts, each of the same size and shape, so that a re-entrant knight's tour may be made on each part. Cuts along the dotted lines will not do, as the four central squares of the board would be either detached or hanging on by a mere thread. 107.—TORPEDO PRACTICE. IF a fleet of sixteen men-of-war were lying at anchor and surrounded by the enemy, how many ships might be sunk if every torpedo, projected in a straight ik t 7 t 6 t 5 line, passed under three vessels and sank the fourth ? In the diagram we have arranged the fleet in square formation, where it will be seen that as many as seven ships may be sunk (those in the top row and first column) by firing the torpedoes indicated by arrows Anchoring the fleet as we like, to what extent can we increase this number ? Remember that each successive ship is sunk before another torpedo is launched, and that every torpedo proceeds in a different direction— otherwise, by placing the ships in a straight line, we might sink as many as thirteen ! It is an interesting little study in naval warfare, and eminently practical —provided the enemy will allow you to arrange their fleet for your convenience and promise to lie still and do nothing ! 108.—THE FOUR SONS. READERS will recognize the diagram as a familiar friend of their youth. A man possessed a square- shaped estate. He bequeathed to his widow the quarter of it that is shaded off. The remainder was to be divided equitably amongst his four sons, so that each should receive land of exactly the same area and exactly similar in shape. We arc shown how this was done. But the re- mainder of the story is not so generally known. In the centre of the estate was a well, indi- cated by the dark spot, and Benjamin, Charles, and David complained that the division was not \" equitable,\"since Alfred had access to this well, while they could not reach it without trespassing on somebody else's land. The puzzle is to show how the estate is to be apportioned so that each son shall have land of the same shape and area, and each have access to the well without going of! his own land. Solutions to Last Month a Puzzles. 103.—THE HONEYCOMB PUZZLE. THE required proverb is, \" There is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.\" Start at the \" T \" on the

A STORY FOR CHILDREN. EONARD SURTEES did not at all want to go and stay with his cousins in the country. It was holiday - time, and Leonard and his brother had plans of their own, which in- cluded an organized digging for treasure in the back garden of their father's yellow-brick villa, being explorers, and the thorough damming of the Kidbrooke, a stream which runs beyond the brickfield. Uncle James, well known to be rich, had invited Leonard to spend a month at Varden Court, and his parents had accepted for him. And so, with a new leather trunk and a hat-box, with a shilling's worth of stamps for writing home with, and a new umbrella, he was seen off by his mother, and, in charge of a red-faced guard, set out for the unknown. His cousins met him at the station with a little pony-cart, which Rupert, the eldest, drove himself. \" We've got four others, for riding,'' said Rupert, \" and there's one for you.\" Vol. xliv.—52. By E. NESBIT. Illustrated by H. R. Millar. The girls made room for him in the cart and talked to him quite kindly. But he was very shy, and the four, who had never known what shyness was, secretly feared that he was a prig. Rupert sig- nalled this to Arthur, and I air sorry to say Leonard saw and understood the signal. \" I shall have to do something rather splendid, just to show them.\" he thought; and for the rest of the drive his thoughts were busy with the idea of saving his cousins (i.) from drowning, (n.) from mad bulls, (m.) from a burning house, (iv.) from bandits, (v.) from the Germans, in the event of an invasion—so that he was more silent than before, and their opinion of him was confirmed. While they were driving through the green lanes, and afterwards while he was being shown the rabbits, the guinea-pigs, the tortoise, and the hedgehog, about none of which could he find much to say, he felt half-sorry that he had brought the brand- new Eton suit and the stack of white collars. But when, later on, he met his cousins on the stairs, and saw how very black and white were the boys, and how lacey and blue- ribbony were the girls, he was not sorry. The drawing-room seemed to be full of people all in evening dress and very smart. A large, black-haired man, with a pointed nose, said :— \" Well, young man,\" and Leonard sup- posed it was his uncle ; and when a languid

THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 594 lady in sea-green satin said, \" How do you do, dear ? \" and added that he was the image of his mother, Leonard had no difficulty in concluding that she was his aunt. The other children were busy talking to the grown-ups, and Leonard managed to creep to cover behind the corner of a large settee, and a plant in a pot concealed him almost entirely from public view. \"I wish I hadn't come,\" he told himself. It was a dreadful evening, in spite of the kaleidos- cope and the stereoscope and the other things that he was from time to time dragged from his retirement to look at. He had that dismal feel- ing which we all know that he was really quite a decent sort of chap, and that it would be very hard to make his cousins see what a decent chap he was. And his mind dwelt more and more on the thought of doing something extra noble so as to convince his cousins that he really wasn't the muff they plainly took him for. ''Suppose there was to be a burglary,\" he thought, looking at the jewels that sparkled and gleamed on the necks and heads of the ladies,\" and I was to catch the burglars on the stairs and compel them to surrender their prey single-handed ! \" He thought of this till it was time to go to bed, in a room much bigger than the drawing- room at home. Next morning a man-servant solemnly LATER ON HK MKT HIS COUSINS ON THE STAIRS. told Leonard the time, and he got up, con- vinced that he had before him a melancholy and misunderstood day, of which the falling off a pony would be not the least pleasant part. They had breakfast in the schoolroom, a pleasant room with French windows opening on to a lawn en-

THE SLEUTH-WORM. 595 The whole house buzzed like a hive. Ladies and their maids wept with equal violence. Gentlemen and footmen rubbed their chins and told each other again and again exactly how it must have happened. \" Oh, bother it all ! \" said Rupert. \" Now we sha'n't hear of anything else for years. Let's go fishing.\" Cook found getting rid of the children and their questions cheap at the price of packing a luncheon basket; the grown-ups welcomed the idea of a fishing expedition with absent- minded but unmistakable enthusiasm; so presently the children set out, with baskets and rods and books of flies, and a spade. \" I suppose there wasn't any clue,\" said Leonard, as they went. \" Now look here,\" said Rupert, \" I bar any more jaw about that burglary. I vote the one that mentions it again does all the worm- digging.\" Leonard fell into meditation, and was silent for about five minutes. \" A penny for your thoughts,\" someone said, suddenly. \" I was wondering,\" said Leonard, \" whether they'd found any rope ladders or jemmies or dark lanterns, and whether \" \" You've got it right in the meat this time, old chap,\" said Arthur. \" Come on, old worm-digger. We'll find you a nice soft place. And the can won't take you more than an hour to fill, unless the birds are shy— the worms, I mean.\" \" We'll go on. The river isn't much farther,\" said Rupert. \" We'll throw a fly or two till you're ready.\" They gave him the spade and the empty, yawning can, and they found a soft-looking place under a lime tree with a molehill quite near to sit on if he was tired, and they left him there to dig. The spade was heavy and the day was hot, and the worms were, as Arthur had suggested, shy. Leonard looked at his watch and found that it was fourteen minutes and three- quarters since his cousins had left him, and he had only found one worm—a large one, it is true—and a small piece of pink string. He dug again, and, pausing to mop his forehead with one of his new handkerchiefs, perceived that he had in his struggles with the spade kicked over the can, so that now it lay on its side, a position of which the worm had taken advantage. Its long red length was almost free of the tin, and a stout black- bird, with its head on one side, was looking at the worm with a more than friendly interest. \" Hi! stop that! \" said Leonard to the blackbird ; and to the worm he said, as his eye fell on the pink string, \" I shall have to tie you up, old chap.\" Leonard was not a cruel boy, and I cannot tell you why it seemed to him that it would be amusing to tie the string round the middle of the worm and to hang it to a twig. And there the worm hung, limp and lonely, and

596 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. HE FKI.T THAT HE WAS NO 1.ONGF.R ON THE GROUND, BUT WAS SWINGING AT THE ENU OF A LONG ROPE ABOVE A LIMITLESS PIT.\" in Beastland. Well, I'm sorry I did. if that's all.\" He stopped at that, hoping perhaps that the Power which had changed him to a worm would let him off now that he had said he was sorry. But nothing happened. \" I may as well go on,\" he said, drearily. And now the earth got looser and looser and more and more stony. And the stones were very sharp and painful. Leonard had to twist this way and that to avoid being hurt rather badly. And then, quite suddenly, he felt himself held fast by the suffering middle of him. The more he pulled the tighter the hold was. Slowly and with much caution he wriggled himself round among the stones to see what was holding him. It was the little piece of pink string. Its end had caught on something, and there he was, a prisoner, perhaps for ever. \"Oh,\" said Leon- ard, \" if only I can get out I'll never put anything in prison again! Not even flies in paper cages. Oh, if I could only get free ! \" He writhed and he pulled, and he thought the string gave a little as he twisted and wriggled among the strange-shaped stones. It had given a little, for now he could move to a more open space, between a wall of silver and heaps of great, gleaming green crystals. There were other heaps of white crystals, and blue and pink, and great smooth rocks of silver and gold. Leonard thought of gnomes and enchanted mountains. Perhaps he had wormed his way into one of these. He lay still a moment striving to take a quick worm's-eye view of

THE SLEUTH-WURM, 597 from his waistcoat parts down to where his knees would have been if worms had knees, and then to his ankles. And then, once again. detective success which had been denied to the bov Leonard had been achieved by Leonard the worm. a fierce pain in his feet, if a worm could have \" I've been thinking about the burglarv feet. He knew now that the other pain in I've been worming my way into the secrets of the criminals. No, it's no shoving me, any of you. I'm going to ' fishing. his feet had hap- pened when the bird pecked at the hang- ing worm. He writhed forward, and now the string no longer held him. He saw daylight. There was sunshine, and Someone was kicking his boots and saving: — \" Well, of all the rotten slackers! I believe you've been asleep!\" \" I haven't,\" said Leonard, looking down with an in- describable joy at his boots and hands and his waistcoat buttons, at every part of himself which he could see. Boots, hands, legs, clothes, all seemed beautiful to him, it was all so unworm- like. \" What have you been doing, then ? \" asked Rupert, who had been the kicker. \" I've been—•—\" Leonard saw that it was quite useless, as well as impossible, to tell all the truth. So he told the only bit of it that he thought his cousins would believe. \"I've been thinking.\" he said, and even that they didn't seem to think likely. \" Yes, I have,\" he said, and then, in one glorious flash, he saw that he had not been a worm for nothing. That \\ way

THE STRAND MAGAZINE. \" I say, you do do it well ! \" said Mabel. \" Go it, Leonard, old sleuth-worm ! \" said Arthur. Then Leonard said, \" Look here. While you were away I found out where the bur- glars have hidden the things they took last night. But some of the caitiffs may be hang- ing about, so I'd rather not touch the treasure till we've got grown-ups here. You just go and tell uncle what I said. I'll stand the row if he makes one. But he won't. He'll come, if it's only to give it me if I was kidding.\" It took a quarter of an hour to persuade the others that he wasn't. Leonard was right. The uncle did come, and brought two gar- deners with him. \"What's all this?\" he asked, crossly. Then Leonard said : \" Look here, there are footmarksall about here. Men's. And the earth's been disturbed, and I found a piece of pink string.\" Then, for the first time, the thought came to him that per- haps he had dreamed it all. So then he trembled and hesitated, and then began to cry and said:— \" I daresay it's all nonsense, but I do wish you'd dig just to see.\" He pointed to the spot of earth underneath the twig where the worm had hung by the pink string. \" Might as well, sir,\" said the head gardener. \" The earth have been disturbed here, that's true enough.\" So they dug, and Leon- ard looked anxiously at the bushes, expecting every moment that the burglars would return for their prey. But they didn't. At first the spade only turned up soft brown mould—but the seventh spadeful was enriched by a diamond necklace and the ninth by a ruby pendant, and then, thick and fast, came gems and jewels, plate and ornaments, gold and silver, and the very last thing to be pulled out of the hole was a silver fork with a bit of pink string entangled in its prongs. So now Leonard was a hero indeed. The uncle and the aunt, and the ladies and gentle- men who had got their things back, praised and petted him almost more than he could bear. It was in vain that he said it was nothing, and he hadn't done anything. \" Ah, that's just his modesty, dear child,\" they said.



\"STRETCHING OUT HIS HAND AND CARESSING THE CHEEK OR NECK OF SOME PASSING GIRL, LAUGHING LOUDLY AS SHE WINCED AWAY FROM HIS TOUCH.\" (See fuge 609.)