Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1912 — The Grand Babylon Hotel [ARTICLE]

The Grand Babylon Hotel

(Copyright The Frank A. Munsey CoJ CHAPTER XIV. “It seems to me,” remarked Racksole with cold sarcasm, “that you behaved rather clumsily in choosing this bedroom as the scene of your operations.” “Not at all,” said Rocco. “There was no other apartment so suitable in the whole hotel. Who would have’guessed that anything was going on here. It was the very place for me.” “I guessed,” said Racksole succinctly. —“Yes, you guessed, Mr. Racksole, but I had not counted on you. You are the only smart man in the business. You are an American citizen, and I hadn’t counted to have to deal with that class of person.” “Apparently I frightened you this afternoon.” “Not in the least” “You were not afraid of a search?" “I knew that no search was intended. I knew that you were trying to frighten me. You must really credit me with a little sagacity and insight, Mr. Racksole. “Immediately you began to talk to me in the kitchen this afternoon *1 felt that you were on the track. I was not frightened, however. I merely decided that there was no time to be lost; that I must act quickly. “I did. act quickly, but, it seems, not quickly enough. Let us go.” Rocco rose and moved toward the door. With an instinctive action Racksole rushed forward and seized him by the shoulder. “No tricks!” said Racksole. “You’re in my custody, and don’t forget it.” Rocco burned on his employer a look of gentle, dignified scorn. “Have I not informed you,” he said, “that I have the intention of going quietly?” Racksole felt a'lmost ashamed for the moment. It flashed across him that a man can be great even 'in crime. “What an ineffable fool you were,” observed Racksole, stopping him at the threshold, “with your talents, your unique talents, to get yourself mixed up in an affair of this kind.” “Suppose I am sent to prison. When I emerge I shall be no jailbird. I shall be Rocco, the great Rocco. And half thd hotels in Europe will want me.” “Let me tell you, as man to man, that you achieved, your own degradation. There is no excuse.” j;“I know it,” said Rocco slowly. “Let us go.” And so, side by side, the captor and the captured, they passed into the vast, deserted corridor of the hotel. Rocco stopped at the grating of the first lift “It will be locked,” said Racksole. “We must use the stairs tonight” "Burihaveakey. 1 always carry one,” said Rocco, and he pulled one out of his pocket, and, unfastening the iron screen, pushed it open. Racksole smiled at his readiness and aplomb. “After you,” said Rocco, bowing in

hlsfinest manner, and Racksole stepped into the lift. With the swiftness of lightning Rocco pushed forward the iron screen, which locked itself automatically. Theodore Racksole was ho<plessly a prisoner within the lift, while Rocco stood free in the corridor. “Goodbye, Mr. Racksole,” he remarked suavely, bowing again, lower than before. “Goodbye, I hate to take a mean advantage of you in this fashion, but really you will allow that you have been very simple. You are a clever man, as I have already said, up to a certain point. It As. past that point that my own cleverness comes in. Again, goodbye.

“After all, I shall hate no rest tonight, but perhaps even that will be better than sleeping in a police cell. If you make a great noise you may wake up some one and ultimately get released from this lift. But I-advise you to compose yourself and wait till morning. It will be more dignified. For the third time, goodbye.” And with that Rocco, without hastening, walked down the corridor and" so out of sight 4 Racksole said never a word. He was too disgusted to speak. He clinched his hands and put his teeth together, and held his breath. In the silence he could hear thedwlndling sound of Rocco's footsteps on the thick carpet It was the greatest blow of his life. The next*'morning the high-born guests of the Grand Babylon were amused by a rumor that by some accident the millionaire proprietor of the hotel had been locked up in the lift all night It was also stated that Rocco had quarreled with his new master and incontinentally left the place. As for Racksole, he sent a message for the detective in charge of the Dimmock affair, and bravely told him the

happenings of the previous night. “A strange story!" commented Detective Marshall, and he could not avoid a smile. “The climax was unfortunate, but you have certainly got some valuable facts.” “I myself have a clue,” added the detective. “When your message arrived I was just coming up to see you. I want you to accompany me to a certain spot not far from here. Will you come now, at once?” “With pleasure,” said Racksole. At that moment a page entered with a telegram. Racksole opened it and read: “Please come instantly. Nella. Hotel Wellington, Ostend.” He looked at his watch. “I can't come,” he said to the detective. “I’m going to Ostend.” “But really, Mr. Racksole,” protested the detective. “My business is urgent.” “So’s mine,” said Racksole. In 10 minutes he was on his way to Victoria. CHAPTER XV. The End of the Yacht Adventure. We must now return to Nella Racksole and Prince Aribert of Posen on board the yacht without a name. The Prince’s first business was to make Jules, otherwise, Mr. Tom Jackson, perfectly secure by means of several pieces of rope. Although Mr. Tom Jackson had been stunned into complete unconsciousness and there was a contused wound under his ear, no one could say how soon he might come to himself and get very violent. So the prince, having tied his arms and legs, made him fast to a stanchion. “I hope he won’t die,” said Nella. “He looks very white." “The Mr. Jacksons of this world,” said the prince sententiously, “never die till they are hung. By the way, I wonder how it is that no one has interfered with us. Perhaps they are discreetly afraid of my revolver —of your revolver, I mean.” Both he and Nella glanced up at the imperterbable Aeersman, who kept the yacht’s head straight out to sea; By this time they were about a couple of miles from the Belgian shore. > Addressig him in French, the prince ordered the sailor to put the yacht about and make again for Ostend harbor, but the fellow took no notice whatever of the summons. The prince raised the revolver, with the idea of frightening the steersman, and then the man began to talk rapidly in French. He said that he had received Jules’ strict orders not to interfere in any way, no matter what might happen on the deck of the yacht, and he had to make for a certain English port, the name of which he would not divulge; he was to keep the vessel at full steam ahead under any and all circumstances. He seemed to be a very big, a very strong and powerful man, and the Prince was at a loss what course to pursue. He asked several more questions, but the only effect of them was to render the man taciturn and 111humored. 'ln vain~Fflhce Aribert explained that Miss Nella Racksole, daughter of Millionaire Racksole, had been abducted by Mr. Tom Jackson; in vain he flourished the revolver threateningly; the surly but courageous captain said merely that that had’nothing to do with him; he had his instrqc-

tions and he should carry them out “I wonder where the whole crew is?” observed the Prince. Just then Mr. Jackson, prone and bound on the deck, showed signs of recovering from his swoon. His eyes opened and he gazed vacantly around. At length he caught sight of the Prince, who approached him with the revolver well in view. > “It’s you, is it ” he murmered faintly. “What you doing on board. Who’s tied me up like this?” “See here,” replied the Prince. “I don’t want to have any arguments, but this yacht must return to Ostend at once, where you will be given up by the authorities,”

“Really!” snarled Mr. Tom Jackson. “Shall If Then he called out in French to the man at the wheel: /‘HI, Andre, let these two pe put off in the dingey." It was a peculiar situation. Certain of nothing put the possession of Nella’s revolver, the Prince -scarcely knew whether to carry the argument further, and with stronger measures, or to accept the situation With as much dignity as the circumstances would permit “Let us take the dingey,” said Nella. “We ca nrow ashore in an hour.” He felt that she was right To leave the yacht in such a manner seemed somewhat imnomlnous, and it certainly involved the escape of that profound villain—Mr. Thomas Jackson. But what else could bo done? The Prince and Nella consituted one party on the vessel; they knew their own strength, but they did not know the strength of their opponents. They held the hostile ringleader bound and captive, but this man had proved himself capable of giving orders, and eveq to gag him would not help them If the captain of the yacht

persisted in his obstinate course. Moreover, there was a distinct objection to promiscuous shooting. The Prince felt that; there .was nd telling how promiscuous shooting might end. “We shall take the dingey,” said the Prince quickly, to the captain. A bell rang below and a sailor and the negro boy appeared on deck. The pulsations of the screw grew less rapid. The yacht stopped. The dingey was lowered. As the Prince and Nella prepared to descend into the little cockboat, Mr. Tom Jackson addressed Nella, all bound as he lay: “Goodbye,” he said, “I shall see you again, never fear. I always get what I want.” In another moment they were in the dingey and were afloat. The yacht’s screw churned the water and the beautiful vessel slipped away from them. As it receded a figure appeared at the stern. It was Mr. Tom Jackson. He had been released by hls mlnlons. He held a white handkerchief to his ear and offered a calm, enigmatic smile to the two forlorn but victorious occupants of the dingey. Jules , had been defeated for once in his life, or, perhaps, it would be more Just to say that he had been outmaneuvered. Men like Jules are incapable of being defeated. It was characteristic of his luck that now, in the very hour when he had been caught red-handed in a serious crime against society, he should be effecting a leisurely escape—an escape which left no clue behind. And yet-V-and yet, neither of them wished that that voyage of the little boat on the summer tide should come to an end. Each, perhaps unconsciously, had a vague desire that it might last forever, he lazily pulled, she directing his course at intervals by a movement of her distractingly pretty head. Nor was of affairs to be explained? Well, they were both young; they both had superb health, and all the ardor of youth, and —they were together. The boat was very small indeed; her face was scarcely a yard from his. She, in his eyes, surrounded by the glamour of beauty and vast wealth; he, ‘in her eyes, surrounded by the glamour of masculine intrepidity and the brilliance of a throne. Is it strange that they should linger on that brief voyage out of the kingdom of romance to the homely and unpoetical quays of Ostend? Is it strange? But all voyages come to an end, either at the shore or at the bottom of the sea, and at length the dingey, passed between the stone- jetties of the harbor. The Prince rowed to .the nearest steps, tied up the boat and they landed. ' • --

It was fl o’clock in the morning, and a day of gorgeous sunlight had opened. Few people were about at that early hour, and no one seemed to notice their debarkation. When they had mounted to the quay byth, with a simultaneous movement, gazedout to sea. Only a faint smear of smoke was visible oh the horizon. “And now, what next?” said the Prince. “I must take you to a hotel.” “I am in your hands,” she acquiesced, with a smile which sent the blood racing through his veins., He perceived now that she was tired and overcome, suffering from a sudden and natural reaction.

At the hotel Wellington the Prince told the sleepy doorkeeper that they had come by the early train from Bruges, and wanted breakfast at once It was absurdly early, but a' common English sovereign will work wondets In any Belgian hotel, and in a very brief time Nella and the Prince were breakfasting on the veranda upon chocqlate that had been specially and hastily brewed for them. “I never tasted such excellent chocolate,” exclaimed the Prince. The statement was wildly untrue, for the Hotel Wellington is not celebrated for its chocolate. Nevertheless, Nella replied enthusiastically, “Nor I.” Then there was a silence, and Nella, feeling possibly that she had been too ecstatic, remarked in a very matter of fact tone: “I must telegraph to papa instantly.” Thus it was that Theodore Racksole received the telegram which hurried him away from Detective Marshall. (To be continued