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THE MAELSTROM By FRANK FftOEST. Lats Superintendent of the C rhntaal Investigation partmerrt of S toiland Yard. Oe He gave a number into the tele- phone and hours seemed to elapse liefore he got Menzies. In quick rush of words he made himself known to the detective and recited happenings of tective and recited the happenings of the evening. He was not to know that oareiy a Scren dTsecnaocted words bad reached the detective. His strength was waning and he wanted Menzle to know everything before he ? ave way. As he finished the re- ceiver dropped listlessly from his hand, and for the first time i his lite Jimmle Hallett fainted. \t the other end of the wire Weir Merczies was left with one of those harassing little problems that he hated It was an irregular hour- ail hour when he had reckoned on being eafely on nts way iiome. For all the insistence of the voice at the telephone it might be quite a trivial affair. Menzies did not like losing *leep for trivlalties. People in trouble axe apt to take distorted views of the importance of their dif- t'iculties. That is why private in- quiry agencies flourish. Menzies had once been askfd to investigate a highly important West Knd robbery at the house of a duke. The duchess herself had demanded the services of "the ablest and most experienced detective possible," and ad refused to give details to any one nlse. Menzies went to discover that a pet Pomeranian had strayed. "Madam," he had remarked after a frigid five minutes, "at one psriod I should have been delighter to try to find your dog. I was then paid for such matters. I am now paid tor other things. There are many men as competent as I for the in- vestigation to which you attach such importance. I regret that it would be a breach of duty for me to under- take it, I am merely a detective, but the salary I am paid for the use of my time would be out of propor- tion to the result, even if successful I must refer your grace to the local police-station. Good evening." Since then he nad been very cau- tious of ambiguous messages. He thought of his well-aired bed and ..n'.ied. Half was he tempted to turn over the affair to tlie local di- vision of police to deal with the case or leave it to the night stxff of the criminal investigation department. Tha fact that he had been appealed to by name ultimately swayed him. In two minutes he had set in mo- irm the machinery which would re- veal the point from which the voice originated. It needed no complex reasoning, no swift flash of inspira- tion. He broke up a gauio of dom- uain OJM W-* paSwuw PUB sjoui on to extract from the Kensington ilirector a list of thoroughfares end- ing in "Gardens." and the names of parsons wbo resided at the respec- tive thirty-fours, and the other with a telephone directory to eliminate all .hose not on the telephone " Vnd got a move on.'' he addod. don't want to hang about all niglH. Ask Riddle to come, up and 'phone 'am through the local people as you check 'em off. Tell 'em they'll ob- '.i<e me by sending out as many spare men a* they've got to ask at oaoh ad- dress if any one ratvt me up." H adjusted his coat with precision, lit a cigar, and sauntered over to the underground station opposite. Bar- ing ac-cidenta the address would be rt>ady for him by the time he reached Kenslngto*. His anticipation WM not iltsap- !>ointed. One of the advantages which 'chef criminal investigation, depart- ment has over the individual amateur detective, beloved by Magersfontein Hoad, Is the co-operation at need of, i practically unlimited number of trained men. True, the detective staff at Ken- sington had long since gone home, sinoe there was no extraordinary business to detain them, but ii: this case a dozen ordinary constables I served as well. Nlns of them had re- turned whp>n Menzies walked in There was only one who interested liiui. He had reported that lie could set no reply from Llnstone Terrace Gardens. "Did you find who lives there? questioned the chief inspector. The reply wag prompt. "Yes, sir. Old gentleman named Groye-Stratton. He lives alone. Had two servants ntil last week, when he sacked 'em both, because he said they had been bribed to poison him." "Ah!" Menzies nodded approval. "You're got your wits about you, my lad. Where did you get all this from?" The constable flushed with pleas- ure. He was young enough in the ^ INK WHITEST, OLB. BAKING POWDER force to appreciate a compliment from the veteran detective. "The servant next door, sir," he answered. "That will do. Thank yon." Men- Klcs rubbed his hand with satisfaction as he turned on the uniformed inspec- tor by his side. "It begins to sound like a eaee," he muttered. All his petulance had gone. When he came to the point, the man was an enthusiast in his pro- fession. "I'll get you to come along with me, inspector. It sounds un- commonly like a case." CHAPTER III. The* First Step. The eminent Tooting churchwar- den, perched on the stalwart shoul- ders of his uniformed colleague, wrig- gled his way on to the roof of the porch with an agility that was jus- tifiable neither to his years nor his weight. He was taking ^ certain amount of risk if there were so ser- ious emergency within the place, for even a chief detective inspector may not break into a house without justi- fication. He worked for a while with a big clasp knife on the little landing win- dow with a skill that would have done credit to many of the profes- sional practitioners who had passed through his hands, and at last threw up the sasli and squeezed himself in- side. "\\'ondor if I'm making a damned fool of myself after all?" he mutter- ed with some misgiving as he struck a match and softly picked his way along the corridor.- He was pe- culiarly sensitive to ridicule, and he knew the chaff that would descend on his head if it leaked out that he had elaborately picked out and brok- en into a house_ empty for quite a plausible reason. There would be no way of keeping the matter dark, for every incident of the night would have to be embodied in reports. Every detective in Lon- don is bound to keep an official diary of his work, however free a hand he is given in his methods. He burned only one match to enable him to get his bear- ing*. Noiselessly he descended ;he stairs into the hall, and his lulck eye observed a splash of light across tte floor. It came from un- der a doorway. He turned the han- dle and pushed. The door resisted. "Locked." he murmured, and knock- ed thunderously. "Hello in there- vny one about?*' Only the muffled reverberation of his own voice came back to him. Frowning, he strode to the doorway, slipped back the Yale lock and ad- mlttPd the uniformed mill. "If I had nerves, Mr. Hawksley. his place would give me the Jumps," he observed. "There's something wrong here and I guests it's in that room. See, there's a light on." "That's queer." commented the other. "It cou'd only just have bee-n switched or.. I didn't notice it out- side." "Sh-utters." said Menzies. "Shut- ters and drawn curtains. Come on. I'm goicg to see what's behind tluit door. There was no finessa about forcible entry this time. Half a dozen well directed kicks shattered tie hasp of the lock and sent the door flying open. Menziee and his companion moved inside. For the moment the blaze of the electric light dazzlwi them. Menzies shaded his eyw with his hand. Then his glance fell from the overturned telephone down to the prostrate fig- ure of Jlmiuie Hallett. He was across the room in au instant, and made swift examination of the prostrate man. 'K'nocked clean out of time!" he diagnosed. "Help me get him on the couch. Hello, there's another of 'em." He fcad observed the body on the hearth rug. -He bent over the murdered man in^ close scrutiny, but without touching the corpse. His lips pursed into a whistle as he marked tha bullet wound that showed among the gray locks at the back of the head. He was startled, but scarcely shocked. He straightened himself up. "This looks a queer business altogether. Hawfi.sley. You'd better got back to the station. Send up the divisional surgeon and phone through to Che Yard. They'd better let Sir Hilary Thornton and Mr. Foyle know. I shall need t'ougreve and a couple of men* and you'd better send for Car- lees and many of his staff as can be reached quickly. They'll know the district The faculty of quick organization Is one of the prime qualities of a chief of detectives, and Menzies was at no loss. The first steps in the Investigation of most great mysteries are automatic -the determination of the facts. It is a klnd^of circle from facts to possibilities, from possibilities to probabilities, and from probabilities to irresistible inferences. But the original facts must bo settled first, and for any person to fix them sin- glo-handod is an Impossibility. There are certain aspects that mus! be settled by specialists: there may be a thousand and one inquiries to make in rapid succession. Meuzies h.ul no idea of playing a lone hand. For a eoupl of hoars a steady stream of officials and others des- cended on the house, and Linstonc Terrace Gardens became the centre of such police activity as it had nev- er dreamed of in its respectability and retirement. Men worked from house to house Interviewing servants, masters, mis tresses gleaming sucr facts as oould be obtained of the lonely, ccentri- okl man, bis babits, his visitors friends and relations. Inalde the house the divlsiona surgeon had attended to Hallett ("N aetioua Injury; may oome round e.n moment") nd waited till nasbllgh photographs of the room had beei taken from various Biig'.es ere xam- Inlng the dead man. (To b continued.) THE ROUND TABLE "WHERE WE MAKE FRIENDS OF BOCKS." "Stronger Thau Hia Sea," by Rob- ert Watson. Published by Mc- Clelland and Stewart, Toronto. Readers in search, of homespun en- tertainment will find in "Stronger Than His Sea," a cheery chronicle of a Scotch lad's boyhood and the romance of his youth. For any one not greatly concerned with the liter- ary quality of his reading, Mr. Wat- son's factory furnishes au ideal com- panion fcr a dull evening; there is something indefinably warming about the rich pages of the book are so gen- erously sprinkled, sometimes hearten- ing in the author's adventures of a band of high-spirited schoolboys. Few will keep their hearts sealed against the appeal of the hero. "Ser- ious Sandy' 'Porter, who particularly tndears himself to us as the organiz- er of a "strike" among his school- mates. The demands of these unique "strikers" touch a responsive chord in the reader's memory of his own school days. The "terms'' on which the pupils of Piershaw's School would consent to return to their classes, as set forth in the scrawled declaration which greeted the flabbergasted Dominie Toderick from the gatepost of the school-house, read: No homework. No kept-in punishment. A Half-holiday every \Vednesday. Cushioned seats for the Lassies. A Ha-penny a Week for Pocket- money. \Vhen the reader first meets Sandy the death of his ne'er-do-well father has just left him. at the age of -5. in the position of manof-the-faniily to hi* mother and sister. Courageous- ly he struggles to lighten the finan- cial burden of his widowed and im- poverished mother He delivers milk, runs errands and does odd jobs whenever he gets a chance. And every penny that he earns helps with the iioutieho'.d expenses. It is a com- mentary on the different sources from which affection and admiration spring that Sandy is leas lovable and less <x>nvincing, too, in his character , as stalwart paragon of all the filial virtues than in his role of the rebel- ; lions ringleader of the "strikers." The hero's transition from boyhood to manhood is arrestingly abrupt. In one chapter he is a schoolboy and in th next a man. The years of growth '"elapse" almost as arbitrarily at* they do in a theatre programme, and ! the suspicion intrudes that their passage has been hastened by the author's impatience to introduce his : "love interest." The hiatus is more easily ignored than it might be, how- ever, because of the tenderness with which Mr. Watson tells t!ie simple I love story of Sandy and Doreen Tel- ! ford. There is nothing unfamiliar in this pastoral romance, but the luthor has successfully skirted the pit of sentimentality. "Stronger Than His Sea" illus- trates perfectly the difference be- tween the novel that is literature and the story that is simon-pure enter- tainment. It is good of its kind "light fiction" that scarcely aspires to the artistic dignity of holding tie mirror up to life. Now Is the Time for Gardening on Paper YOUNG WOMEN AVOID PAIN This One Tells How She Was Benefited by Taking Lydia EL Pinkham's Veg- etable Compound. Regina, Sask. - "For two years I suf- fered from periodic pains and nausea so I was unable to get around. My mother had me take Lydia EL Pinkham'tj Vegetable Compound, and I am much better and able to go about all the time, which I could not do before. I recom- mend Vegetable Compound to ray friends if I know they suffer the same way, and you may publish my letter if it will help any one, as I hope it will." Miss Z. G BLACKWELL, 2073 Osier Place, Regina. Sask. < If every girl who suffers as Miss Black- well did, or from irregularities, painful periods, backache, sideache, dragging down pains, inflammation or ulceration would only give this famous root and herb remedy a trial they wAuld soon find relief from such suffering. 'If It hardly seems possible that there is a woman in this country who will con- tinue to suffer without giving Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound a trial after all the evidence that is continually being published, proving beyond contra- ek-tion that this grand old medicine has relieved more suffering among women *han any other medicine in the world. * For special advice women are asked to write the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co., Lynn, Mass. The result of forty years experience is at your se \\'MM I ifeM* H-Nfi* * <M* ^ta^Wv >* . * irM M I hMvMnM * iifirin i tki *>* ** M* !*. ,M* ; u* it* MM b.lM< Tto m**m MM AMI* t^m *r THE WALKER HOUSE. BUST IS COSTLY. FUxrn implements either wear oat, rust out or break. A break, as* a rule, . does not permanently disable the machine u new part repairs the damage. A machine does uot wear out for a long time unless rust is permitted to get in its deadly work. And rust is so easily prevented. A little good metal paint having rust inhibiUve properties will prevent rust. A small supply of it kept on every farm and used to touch up bare, spota aa cast as they appear would double the life of most farm machinery. Lumberman's Friend The Original and Only Genuine. By Edward Not much actual garden work can be done out of doors in February, but it is an excellent month in which to begin preparations for the coming season' 1 !, activities. A. well-thought-out- plan will go to way toward making the home vegetable garden a success. Space tht-n can be utilized to the best ad- vantage, and seed supplies and equip- ment provided in advance cf the planting days, thereby saving much m^ and confusion. This is the month most of the seed I catalogues are cut. It pays well to study t.h a m carefully. They coil- tain a great deal of valuable iiiior- 111:11 Sou. The garden plan should be set down on paper and should show where each, vegetable, is to be planted, the num- ber of rows of each kind, and whether is to be grown as an inter-crop, u succession crop, or will occupy -the during the whole season. So f?r as space will permit, tb/e garden turuish a supply of fresh veg,-> tables for table use throughout t!i growing season and a surplus for van- and storing. In making the ;il:"-s these points must be consider- i! Size, location, and arringr?- nc'.nt of the garden; kind of cu'.tlva- t.i:)ti to be practicad; soil; crops. .: :ul iietles. am: their adaption to l-n.'.l i c itlon. Size of Garden. A garden one- eighth of an acre in size, if very productive and inten- sively cropped, s-honld supply the av- nu?e> family with fresh vegetables all the summer and fall and leave a sur- plus for winter use. Ourdens as small is tifweu fe?t square will yield salads aud herbs sufficient for a small fam- j ily. Oentyally too little attention is j given to the needs and preferences ol the family when the garden is I planned. Crops that are not relish- j eel s-hould never be grown unless for experimental purposes. In many gardens there Is a to > srreat supply of lettuce and .string beaaiM and not nougth of beets, carrots, and other j vegetables. In studying vegetables ' to be planted, especially where the spa.ee is limited, the food and th money values, ad well as the space required, should be considered. Owen Dean. lu a limited area quick maturing crops and those producing large yields In proportion to the space re- quired tliould be planted for exam- ple, tomatoes, beans, lettuce, beets, carrots, parsnips and onions. Af- ter early crops have been removed other vegetables may be planted in the sanit? space. Radishes*, lettuce, ouions. or early beets may be follow- ed by suing beans, late cabbage, or celery In some locations the second crop may be flowed by a fall crop of spinach, lettuct or beets. In a small garden it wo-ild be unwise to plant such crops as potatoes, com. and cucumbers. Th-eso crops re- quire a large space in ijro|Krtiou to the food produced. Quality of Seed to Buy. Before ordering seeds or plants it is important to consider th size of the garden and the number of persons to be s-upplies. Most of thf inespiT ienced gardeners order and plant more seeds than ao-e needed. This results not only in a waste of * < <1 but also in extra labor of thinning, or else growch is seriously checked by crowding of the plants. Two oiusces of beet seed will plant one hundred feet of row; an eighth ni un ounc^ of celery seed will yk-ld about 2*0 plants, and a. quarter of au ounce of lettuce seed will produce ap- proximately 150 had^. Planting of Fruit Trees. It. is getting time now to order fruit trees. Fall planting of fruit trees has become popular in recent years, but after all. the spring of tlie year is the real growing season. A vague unnamed something is felt in the air. in. the soil everywhere that seems to compel life and action. In Australia the Invention is claim- ed of a chemical solution for treat- ing apples and some other fruits which einables them to be kepi for long periods without refrigeration v An inventor 1m patented a wedge of rubber to be nailed to a worn shoe heel to make it level again. Sir Frank Baillie. K.B.E.. a prom- inent financier, died suddenly at Wellesley Hospital, following an ill- ness of several weeks. He was in his forty-sixth year Old Age Deferred BY L)U. LEE H. SMITU. Business men who must speed up the worlzs and make business boom during these days after the war must recognize the neces- sity of keeping tit. When rnind is befogged, when you have dull headaches or feel logy, when not "up to snuff/' keep the bowels free with a mi'd laxative. In the morning take a tepid sponge bath (cold water may be used if it does not chill), follow with a brisk rub do'vn, a sufficient "setting up" exercise in good air until you are ia a warm glow. Have you tried it lately? Don't Idt the poisons accumulate in the intestines either, but try a dose of castor oil the first thing on arising, or a pleasant laxative occasionally, such as one made up of May-apple, aloin and jalap, rolled into a tiny sugar-coated pill, and sold in every drug store as Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets. Then a cup of hot water before breakfast, and you'll feel better than a king! If you continue in life thus, you can pass a Life Insurance examination at sixty. If you wish to prevent old age coining on too soon, or if you want to increase your chances for a long life, you should drink plenty of soft (rain) or distilled water daily between meals. Then procure at the drug store Dr. Pierce's Anuric (anti-uric-acid). This "Anurio" drives the uric acid out and relieves backache and rheumatism, u well as kidney trouble. Anoric diwolves uric acid. Try it now\ _^_ I ! SHORT NEWS ITEMS During last year the population of Walkerville jumped to 7,400, an in- crease of 1.190, whi'.e assessment of property values increased to $8.701,- 58U, an advance of $:M47,4!X>. An order has been officially ga- zetted fixing February 1 as the date on and after which importation of alcoholic liquor into Nova Scotia. Alberta, Saskatchewan ajid Manitoba will be illegal The Perth Shoe company, limited one of the largest manufacture re in Canada of women's fine shoe*, has announced the reopening o all de- partaients of their factory. That there will be an increase ia egg production this year in Canada was the prediction made by William A. Drown, chief of the pou'.try divis- ion of the livestock branch cf the department of agriculture. Albert Jackson and lieorge Gran- dine. South Dumfries;, farmers, both aged fifty and each with five chil- dren were killed wheu a beam fell on them and crushed them to death. The barn raising was on the farm of Fred Charlton. The fue! commissioner estimate* that the mild weather has saved To- ronto householders |l,i)7'J.OOO in coal. A further reduction In prices on the menu in the dining cars and ho- tels of the Canadian National Rail- ways was announced by Walter Pratt. Toronto, manager in chief of the sleeping, dining, parlor cars, hotel aud news department. New menu cards will be issued within the nest two weeks showing the reduction. Mr. Pratt stated that while prices have been most reasonable despite the high cost of commodities and expenses, he anticipated a further re- duction during the year. WHiain Fitzgerald, former super- intendent of insurance far the Do- minion Government in the finance de- partment, died at Ottawa in his TSth year. He was a native of London. Out. uid came to Ottawa as assistant leputy minister and superintendent >f insurance on December 1, 1885. Previously ha had practised law in Toronto. The contract between the Ontario Government and the Provincial Pa- per Mills. Limited, whereby the com- pany gets a pulp limit of 1.2^0 square miles and agrees to erect a paper mill In Port Arthur, includes a cl:iu> to the effect that the tnlil will supply all the book, paper wanted by the Ontario Department of Education for a period of twenty-one years. An announcement is made from the sales offices of Ames. Holden, Mac- Cready. Ltd., of Montreal, that com- pared With iwices quoted big reduc- tions in wholesal? prices of shoes would be made a!l along the line in leather footwear to accord witih re- ici-ment values. The company has 111:11 uiioi'd tli.it it is basing its rices on a net profit of four per cent. :u turnover. The company's plants .i;ive bpen closed clown since early .lutumn. but it is now proposed to re- iimmence production on an active basis. A Pill That Ifl Prized. There have boon many pi'Js put upon the market uid pressed upon public attention, but few have endured ao long or met with -*o much favor as Parmelee's Vege- table Pills. Widespread use of them us attestod their great value, and they need no further advertlseawnt than this having furmly established .heniselve* in public *teein, they now raaik as one of toe bet in tile list of vegpetable prpa>ratioas. An Eoglteh inventor's padlock Js formed -like tWh, th laws doing th* YARMOUTH, N. S. SOMETHING SIMtLAft. "Are scientists still trying to learn toe monkey language?" askedi Mr. Dipping. "1 don't know.'' said Dr. Dubwaite. "but if they want to fcear a pretty farr substitute they ought to listen to my youugeet daughter tallting to one of her 'rah-rah' friends over U teJe phone." Spanking Doe^n t Care! Don't think children can be cored of bed- TrettiRg'oy spanking theic. The trouble if can- s'ilutiunal the child caacot help it. 1 wiilsead ^Qj7C" %o::iy mothci my successful horns- r rl&& treatment, with full intnleUuag. . y-~'..r;hiUiren trouble you in Ibis wy. send ic mercy, biu write me Unlay. My treatment -. <.*< -.mii:ctii*<--l '*' :".-;.:s troubled until bjr a*>* or r.ijb). W\~ltc toe fM Mro. M. Siurmwrt BOX8 ' JUDICIAL COWVTESY. First Au:oLst I thought you said if I were sociable with. Che jndjrw I could get off? Second Autoist Were yon? First Autoist Yes. I said "Good> morning. Judge, how are you to-day?" >nd he replied. "Fine twenty-Hvo dollars.'' PHOSPHODINE. The (jV'.if EnglnJi Preparation. T.oncs aud invigorates the whole icrvous system, mafces ne-vv Blood in old Veim. I'seil for tHenvaS .'rrtitity. Mentel and Brain Wc-ry, Despt nJeacv, Loa of Cnergy, Palpitation itf the Hcjrt, failing Memory. Price $2per box, 3. for $5. Sold by all druggists, or nuiled in plain pkfr on receipt of vnco. New pampht&jniMtctl fiet. THE WOOD HCOICtNI CO.JORONTO.OICr. THE HARDEST PART. Judge Uid your wife hit you wltll a piece of bric-a-brac? Mulligan Divli a brack abont it, yet honor, just a brick. Cook's Cotton Koot Compound A taft, rrl'ahle re McUoMU, Sulil.ia tUrco do> Krixa of strength No, 1. SI I No. 2. $3; No. 3, 5 ytr bo*. Sold by nil drurcuiU. or M-ct prtpaiu on r^rxipt of price. 1 ! ' i:i...,- . . AJtlrrsar THE COOX MCOtCINE CO, IOBONTO. ONT. (FuBtf,'; Wife*.) CARRIES 4 TON OF BONE. The record yield of bone taken from one whale was 8.110 pounds. This occurred in 18S3. M -.1 tioiescmc. CIcansiog. Kclresblnq ant* Jlsalu-a Loltoo Murine for Red- ness, Soreness, Granula- 3?jr f tion,Itchirrgand Burning .vwr. J.I t3of the Eyes or Eyelids: "2 Dropi 1 * After the Movie*, Motorin* ov Golf will win your confidence. Ask Your Dnuiitst f ,ir Murine when your Kjta NeeO Care. Bismarck, who was an ardent lover of the same of checkers, had what was without doubt the most valuable checker-board that ever was. It squares were mudo of gold and silver to represent the dark and light squares; the men were made of some precious metal, with the addi- tion of a diamond in the centre of each gold one. Bismark fold some friends once that it was practice of the game on that valuable board that gave him the strategy be displayed in building the Oernmu Umpire. Oread of Ajthma makes countless thousands mitserabie. Night liter night the attacks return and wen wheu brief peapdte is given the mind is still in torment flrom couturaal an- ticipation. Dr. J. B. Keak>g"s Asthma Remedy changes all this. Relief come*, and at on* wftite tulure at- tacks are wanted off, leaving: tte af- flicted on* In a state of peaee and happiness ha oace believed fee coal* nvr enjoy. laeipenaiTe MM) almost