Page:Under three flags; a story of mystery (IA underthreeflagss00tayliala).pdf/103

 untalkative for jovial Jack Ashley, the interviewer has again drawn on overcoat and gloves and is leaving the entrance to the Hemisphere office when a hand is dropped on his shoulder, as Detective Barker earnestly greets him:

"You're just the man I want to see. Where can we indulge in a quiet talk for half an hour?"

"Come right up to the cable editor's room. He won't be in for an hour or two."

CHAPTER XVIII.

BARKER DECIDES TO STRIKE.

"Well, my boy," begins Barker, "it's a long lane that has no turn, and I think we have reached the beginning of the end of this Hathaway mystery. There is the weapon that sent Roger Hathaway to eternity Memorial Day of last year," handing it to Ashley, with a complacent air. "I am not a betting man, or I would wager a reasonable sum that, ere the anniversary of the crime rolls around, the murderer will be safely incarcerated in the Mansfield County jail in Vermont."

Ashley examines curiously the weapon Barker has produced. It is an ordinary 32-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, of the bull-dog variety, covered with rust, and all of the five chambers, with possibly one exception, contain unused cartridges.

"Yes, there is one empty chamber," responds Barker, as Ashley attempts ineffectually to turn the rusty cylinder, "and that sent poor old Hathaway out of the world. And now I will tell you of some important clews that I have succeeded in running down since I saw you last.

"You know I subscribed for the Raymond local newspaper, and a mighty good investment that $1.25 proved. Week before last the paper contained a local item about a boy's finding a revolver on the bank of Wild River. It was only a ten-to-one shot that the revolver picked up by the river bank was Hathaway's missing gun, but I