1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: The Ubliette by Ellis Parker Butler. The discovery that Marilla 2 00:00:10,279 --> 00:00:13,599 was the daughter of Jonas Meadobrook born Jones was a 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,839 great triumph for Philo Gubb, But while the Riverbank Eagle 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,000 made a great hurrah about it, Philo Gub was not 5 00:00:21,399 --> 00:00:24,519 entirely happy over the matter. Having won a reward of 6 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,399 ten thousand dollars for discovering Sorilla and five hundred dollars 7 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:32,719 for recovering mister Meadowbrook's golf cup, mister Gubb might have 8 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,759 ventured to tell Marilla of his love for her, but 9 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,960 for three reasons. The first reason was that mister Gubb 10 00:00:40,119 --> 00:00:42,920 was so bashful that it was impossible for him to 11 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:47,799 speak his love openly and immediately. If Marilla had returned 12 00:00:47,799 --> 00:00:50,840 to Riverbank with her father, mister Gubb would have courted 13 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:54,560 her by degrees. Or if Marilla had weighed only two 14 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,719 hundred pounds, mister Gubb might have had the bravery to 15 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,399 propose to her instantly, But she weighed one thousand pounds, 16 00:01:02,719 --> 00:01:05,640 and it required five times the bravery to propose to 17 00:01:05,719 --> 00:01:08,640 a thousand pounds than was required to propose to two 18 00:01:08,719 --> 00:01:13,040 hundred pounds. The second reason was that mister Dorgan, the 19 00:01:13,239 --> 00:01:16,319 manager of the side show, would not release Sorilla from 20 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:20,680 her contract. She's a beauty of a fat lady, said 21 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,680 mister Dorgan, and I've got a five year contract with her, 22 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,959 and I'm going to hold her to it. Mister Meadowbrook 23 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,239 and mister gubb would have been quite hopeless when mister 24 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,000 Dorgan said this if Marilla had not taken them to 25 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:37,480 one side. Listen, dearies, she said, He's a mean old brute. 26 00:01:37,599 --> 00:01:39,840 But don't you fret. I got a hunch how to 27 00:01:39,879 --> 00:01:42,280 make him cancel my contract in a perfectly refined and 28 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,200 lady like manner. Right now, I start in banton and 29 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,840 diet in in the scientifickest manner, and the way I 30 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,640 can lose three or four hundred pounds when I set 31 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,480 out to do it is something grand. It won't be 32 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,200 no time at all until I'm thin and wisp like, 33 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,799 and mister Dorgan will be glad to get rid of me. 34 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:06,719 This information greatly cheered mister Gubb. Well. He admired Sorilla 35 00:02:06,879 --> 00:02:10,039 just as she was. A rapid mental calculation assured him 36 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,240 that she would still be quite plump at seven hundred pounds, 37 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,280 and he knew he could love seven tenths of Sorilla 38 00:02:16,599 --> 00:02:19,120 more than he could love seven tenths of any other 39 00:02:19,199 --> 00:02:22,680 lady in the world. The third reason had to do 40 00:02:22,879 --> 00:02:27,080 with the ten thousand dollars reward. When mister Gubb and 41 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,479 mister Meadowbrook were proceeding homeward on the train, mister Meadowbrook 42 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,319 brought up the subject of the reward again. I'm going 43 00:02:34,319 --> 00:02:37,000 to pay you that ten thousand dollars Gub, he said, 44 00:02:37,439 --> 00:02:39,159 but I'm going to pay it so it will be 45 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:43,520 worth a lot more than ten thousand dollars to you. 46 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:48,680 You are very overly kind, said mister Gubb. It's because 47 00:02:48,719 --> 00:02:52,639 I know you are fond of Sorilla, said Meadowbrook. Mister 48 00:02:52,719 --> 00:02:56,199 Gubb blushed. So I ain't going to give you ten 49 00:02:56,199 --> 00:02:59,479 thousand dollars cash, said mister Meadowbrook. I'm going to do 50 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,680 a lot better by you than that. I'm going to 51 00:03:01,719 --> 00:03:06,759 give you gold mine stock. The only trouble gold mine 52 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:12,560 stock sounds quite elegantly nice, said mister Gubb. The only trouble, 53 00:03:12,599 --> 00:03:15,159 said mister Meadowbrook, is that the gold mine stock I 54 00:03:15,199 --> 00:03:16,800 want to give you is in a block of twenty 55 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,840 five thousand dollars it's nice stock. It's as neatly engraved 56 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,639 as any stock I ever saw, and it is genuine 57 00:03:23,759 --> 00:03:28,360 common stock in the Utterly Hopeless gold Mine Company. The 58 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:33,960 name sounds sort of unhopeful, ventured mister Gubb timidly. That 59 00:03:34,039 --> 00:03:36,719 shows you don't know anything about gold mines, said mister 60 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,280 Meadowbrook cheerfully. The reason I the reason the miners gave 61 00:03:41,319 --> 00:03:43,960 it that name, is because this mine lies right between 62 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,319 two of the best gold mines in Minnesota. One of 63 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:50,719 them is the utterly good gold Mine and the other 64 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:54,840 is the far from Hopeless. So when I so, when 65 00:03:54,879 --> 00:03:57,840 the miners named this mine, they took part of the 66 00:03:57,919 --> 00:04:00,080 names of the two others and called this one on 67 00:04:00,199 --> 00:04:04,240 the utterly hopeless. That's the way I the way it's 68 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:10,759 always done. It's very cleverly bright, said mister Gubb. It's 69 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,919 an old trick, I should say, an old and approved method, 70 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,439 said mister Meadowbrook. So what I'm going to do, mister Gubb, 71 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:19,839 is let you in on the ground floor of this mine. 72 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,720 It's a chance I wouldn't offer to everybody. This mine 73 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,040 hasn't paid out all its money and dividends. I tell 74 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:30,040 you as an actual fact, mister Gubb that so far 75 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,120 it hasn't paid out a cent in dividends, not even 76 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,800 to the preferred stock. No, sir, And it ain't one 77 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,000 of those minds that has been mined until all the 78 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,160 gold is mined out of it. No, sir, Not an 79 00:04:42,199 --> 00:04:44,319 ounce of gold has ever been taken out of the 80 00:04:44,399 --> 00:04:48,480 utterly hopeless mind, not an ounce. It is all there yet, 81 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:54,399 exclaimed mister Gubb. All there ever was, said mister Meadowbrook. Yes, sir, 82 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:56,879 if you want me to, I'll give you a handwritten 83 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:59,879 guarantee that the utterly hopeless mind has never paid us 84 00:05:00,319 --> 00:05:02,600 and dividends, and that not an ounce of gold has 85 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,560 ever been taken out of the mind. That shows you 86 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,720 I'm square about this. So what I'm going to do, 87 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,360 he said, impressively, is turn over to you a block 88 00:05:12,399 --> 00:05:15,360 of twenty five thousand dollars worth of utterly hopeless gold 89 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,879 mine stock and apply the ten thousand dollars I owe 90 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:20,879 you as part of the purchase price. All you need 91 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,800 to do then is pay me the other fifteen thousand 92 00:05:23,879 --> 00:05:29,040 dollars as rapidly as you can. That's very kindly generous 93 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,759 of you, said mister Gubb gratefully, and that isn't all, 94 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,959 said mister Meadobrook. I own every single share of the 95 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,600 stock of that mine, mister Gubb, And as soon as 96 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,240 you get the fifteen thousand dollars paid up, I'll advance 97 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:46,240 the price of that stock one hundred percent. Yes, sir, 98 00:05:46,399 --> 00:05:49,199 I'll double the price of the stock, and what you 99 00:05:49,319 --> 00:05:53,720 own will be worth fifty thousand dollars. There were tears 100 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,079 in Philo Gubb's eyes as he grasped mister Meadowbrook's hand. 101 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,720 And all I ask, said Meaderbrook, is that you hustle 102 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:03,959 up and pay that fifteen thousand dollars as quickly as 103 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,040 you can. So that, he added, you'll be worth fifty 104 00:06:07,079 --> 00:06:11,920 thousand dollars all the sooner. Upon reaching Riverbank, mister Meadowbrook 105 00:06:11,959 --> 00:06:14,160 took mister Gubb to his home and turned over to 106 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,160 him the stock in the utterly hopeless mind. And here, 107 00:06:18,519 --> 00:06:21,240 said mister Meadowbrook, is a receipt for ten thousand, five 108 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:23,439 hundred dollars. And you can give me back that five 109 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,279 hundred I paid you for recovering my golf cup. That's 110 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:28,839 to show you everything is fair and square when you 111 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,439 deal with me. Now you owe me only fourteen thousand 112 00:06:32,439 --> 00:06:36,279 five hundred dollars. Well, mister Gubb was handing the five 113 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,639 hundred dollars back to mister Meadowbrook. The colored butler entered 114 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:44,079 with a telegram. Mister Meadowbrook tore it open hastily. Good 115 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,519 news already, he said, and handed it to mister Gubb. 116 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,079 It was from Syrilla, and said, be brave have lost 117 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:56,160 four ounces already. Kind regards and best love to mister Gubb. 118 00:06:57,399 --> 00:07:01,279 With only partial satisfaction, mister Gubb left mister Meadowbrook and 119 00:07:01,319 --> 00:07:05,639 proceeded downtown. He now had a double incentive for seeking 120 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,199 the rewards that fall to detectives, for he had Cyrilla 121 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:12,600 to win and the utterly hopeless gold minestock to pay for. 122 00:07:13,399 --> 00:07:16,360 He started for the pie wagon, for he was hungry. 123 00:07:16,639 --> 00:07:20,319 But on the way, certain suspicious actions of Joe Henry, 124 00:07:20,519 --> 00:07:23,519 the liveryman, who had twice beaten him up while he 125 00:07:23,639 --> 00:07:27,160 was working on the dynamiter case, stopped him. And it 126 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,800 was much later when he entered the pie wagon. As 127 00:07:30,839 --> 00:07:33,680 Philo Gubb entered, Billy Gets sat on one of the 128 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,279 stools and stirred his coffee. He held a dime novel 129 00:07:37,319 --> 00:07:40,639 with his other hand, reading but pie wagon Pete kept 130 00:07:40,639 --> 00:07:43,120 an eye on him. He knew Billy Gets and his 131 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:46,839 practical jokes. If unwatched for a moment, the young whipper 132 00:07:46,839 --> 00:07:49,480 snapper might empty the salt into the sugar bowl, or 133 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,800 play some other prank that came under his idea of fun. 134 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:57,639 Billy Getz was a good example of the spoiled only son. 135 00:07:58,279 --> 00:08:00,519 He went in for all the vice that there was 136 00:08:00,519 --> 00:08:03,079 in town, and to occupy his spare time, he planned 137 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,639 practical jokes. He was thirty years old, rather bald, had 138 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:12,040 a pale and leathery skin and a perternaturally serious expression. 139 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,399 In his pranks. He was aided by the group of 140 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:19,959 young poker playing cigarette smoking fellows known as the Kidders. 141 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:23,680 Billy Gets, as he read the last line of the 142 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,600 thrilling Tale of the Pale Avengers, tucked the book in 143 00:08:27,639 --> 00:08:30,920 his pocket and looked up and saw Philo Gubb. The 144 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:36,639 hawk eyes of Billy Getz sparkled, Hello, detective, he cried, 145 00:08:37,159 --> 00:08:39,960 sit down and have something. You're just the man I've 146 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,519 been looking for. Was asking Pete about you not a 147 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:47,519 minute ago, wasn't I Pete pie Wagon. Pete nodded, yes, Sir, 148 00:08:47,879 --> 00:08:51,399 said Billy Gets eagerly I've got something right in your line, 149 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:55,559 something big, mighty big, and say, detective, have you ever 150 00:08:55,600 --> 00:09:01,039 read The Pale Avengers. I ain't had that pleasure, mister Getz, 151 00:09:01,399 --> 00:09:06,120 said Filo Gubb, straddling a stool. What's the matter, You're 152 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:10,440 out of breath, said Pie Wagon. I've been running, said 153 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,879 Filo Gubb. I had to run a little. Detecatives have 154 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:18,559 to run at times occasionally, you bet they do, said 155 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,919 Billy Gets, earnestly. You ain't been after the dynamiters, have you. 156 00:09:23,159 --> 00:09:25,960 I am from time to time working upon that case, 157 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:30,960 said Filo Gubb with dignity. Well you be careful, you 158 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,559 be mighty careful. We can't afford to lose a man 159 00:09:33,759 --> 00:09:37,159 like you, said Billy Gets. You can't be too careful. 160 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:41,600 Got any of the ghouls yet? Not yet, said Filo 161 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:45,480 Gubb stiffly. It's a difficult case for one that's just 162 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:49,159 graduated out of a detecative school. It's like less than nine, 163 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:52,960 says I. Got to proceed cautiously when working in the dark, 164 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:57,399 or they'll get you before you get them, said Billy Gets. 165 00:09:57,799 --> 00:10:00,799 Like in the Pale Avengers here, I want you to 166 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:03,519 read this book. It'll teach you some things you don't 167 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:07,919 know about crooks. Maybe, thank you, said Filo Gubb. Taking 168 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,080 the dime novel. Anything that can help me in my 169 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,919 detecative career is real welcome. I'll read it, mister Gatz, 170 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:17,840 and look out, he shouted, and in one leap was 171 00:10:17,879 --> 00:10:21,440 over the counter and crouching behind it. Billy Getz turned 172 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,000 toward the door, where a short, red faced man was 173 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:27,600 standing with a pine slab held in his hand. Intense 174 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:30,759 anger glittered in his eyes, and he darted to the counter, and, 175 00:10:30,919 --> 00:10:34,000 leaning over, brought the slab down on Filo Gubb's back 176 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:39,519 with a resounding whack. Here here, none of that's stuffing here, Joe, 177 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:44,360 cried pie Wagon Pete, grasping the intruder's arm. I'll kill him, 178 00:10:44,399 --> 00:10:48,200 That's what I'll do, shouted the intruder, snooping around my 179 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:50,600 place and following me up and down all the time. 180 00:10:50,759 --> 00:10:52,399 I told him I wasn't going to have him dog 181 00:10:52,399 --> 00:10:54,799 in me and pesterin me. I beat him up twice, 182 00:10:54,799 --> 00:10:56,519 and now I'm going to give him the worst licking 183 00:10:56,559 --> 00:10:59,399 he ever had come out of there. You half baked 184 00:10:59,399 --> 00:11:04,840 ostrich you Now you stop that, said pie Wagon Pete sternly. 185 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:07,159 You're going to be sorry if you beat him up. 186 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,519 He don't mean no harm. He's just foolish. He don't 187 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:12,960 know no better. All you got to do is explain 188 00:11:13,039 --> 00:11:18,159 it to him, right, explain, said Joe Henry. I'd look nice, 189 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,679 explainin anything, wouldn't I hand him over here? Pete, now listen, 190 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:27,639 shouted Pie Wagon Pete angrily. You ain't everything. I'm your partner, 191 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:31,120 ain't I? Well, you let me fix this, He winked 192 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,039 at Joe Henry. You let me explain to mister Gubb. 193 00:11:34,039 --> 00:11:38,000 And if he ain't satisfied, why it's all right. For 194 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,399 a moment, Joe Henry studied Pie Wagon's face, and then 195 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:47,000 he put down the slat all right, you explain, he said, ungraciously, 196 00:11:47,519 --> 00:11:50,919 and Filo Gubb raised his white face above the counter. 197 00:11:52,759 --> 00:11:56,279 Upon the passage of the state prohibitory law, every saloon 198 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,480 in Riverbank had been closed, and there had been growlings 199 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,519 from the balloon Element. Five of the leading prohibitionists had 200 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:07,039 received threatening letters, and a few nights later, the houses 201 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:10,240 of four of the five were blown up. Kegs of 202 00:12:10,399 --> 00:12:12,799 powder had been placed in the cellar windows of each 203 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,919 of the four houses, wrecking them, and the fifth house 204 00:12:16,039 --> 00:12:19,679 was saved only because the fuse there was damp. Luckily 205 00:12:19,759 --> 00:12:22,320 no one was killed, but that was not the fault 206 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,919 of the dynamiters, as everyone called them. The town and 207 00:12:27,039 --> 00:12:30,080 state immediately offered a reward of five thousand dollars for 208 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:34,000 the arrest and conviction of the dynamiters, and detectives flocked 209 00:12:34,039 --> 00:12:38,480 to Riverbank. Real detectives came to try for the Nobel prize, 210 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:42,879 amateur detectives came in hoardes citizens who were not detectives 211 00:12:42,879 --> 00:12:45,759 at all tried their hands at the work. For the 212 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,919 first few days, rumors of the immediate capture of the 213 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:53,399 ghouls were flying everywhere. But day followed day, and week 214 00:12:53,519 --> 00:12:58,039 followed week, and no one was incarcerated. The citizen detectives 215 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:02,519 went back to their ordinary occupations, the amateur detectives went home, 216 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,000 The real detectives were called off on other and more 217 00:13:06,039 --> 00:13:09,519 promising jobs, and soon the field was left clear for 218 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:15,240 Philo Gubb, not that he made much progress. Each night, 219 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,440 he hid himself in the dark doorway of Wilcox Hall, 220 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:22,559 waiting to pick up lesson for rule for some suspicious 221 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:25,799 looking person, and having picked him up, he proceeded to 222 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:30,000 trail and shadow him lesson four rules four to seventeen, 223 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:34,519 six times twice by Joe Henry. He was well beaten 224 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:37,960 by those he followed. It became such a nuisance to 225 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,039 be followed by Philo Gubb in false mustache or whiskers, 226 00:13:41,039 --> 00:13:43,600 that it was a public relief when Billy Getz and 227 00:13:43,759 --> 00:13:46,679 other young fellows took it upon themselves the duty of 228 00:13:46,799 --> 00:13:50,720 being shadowed. With hats pulled over their eyes and coat 229 00:13:50,799 --> 00:13:53,799 collars turned up, they would pass the dark doorway of 230 00:13:53,879 --> 00:13:57,840 Wilcox Hall, let themselves be picked up, and then lead 231 00:13:57,919 --> 00:14:02,120 poor Detective Gub across rubbish. She encumbered vacant lots, over 232 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,159 mud flats or among dark lumber piles, only to give 233 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:08,600 him the slip with infinite ease when they tired of 234 00:14:08,639 --> 00:14:12,360 the game. But Philo Gubb was back the next night 235 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:15,279 waiting in this shadow of the doorway of Wilcox Hall. 236 00:14:15,919 --> 00:14:18,759 He did not progress very rapidly toward the goal of 237 00:14:18,799 --> 00:14:22,399 the reward, but he counted it all good practice. But 238 00:14:22,759 --> 00:14:26,840 being beaten twice in succession by Joe Henry aroused his suspicion. 239 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,320 Joe Henry ran a small carting business. He had three 240 00:14:31,399 --> 00:14:34,919 teams and three dres and a small stable on Locust 241 00:14:34,919 --> 00:14:38,360 Street on the alley corner. He was a great friend 242 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:41,000 of pie Wagon Pete and he ate at the pie Wagon. 243 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:46,240 Philo Gubb, after leaving mister Meadowbrook, had not intentionally picked 244 00:14:46,279 --> 00:14:49,039 up Joe Henry on his way to the pie Wagon. 245 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,360 It had been necessary for him to pass the alley 246 00:14:51,399 --> 00:14:55,080 opposite Joe Henry's stable, and his detective instinct told him 247 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:57,879 to hide himself behind a manure bin in the alley 248 00:14:57,919 --> 00:15:01,840 and watch the stable. In the warm June dusk. He 249 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:06,639 had crouched there, watching and waiting. Mister Gubb could see 250 00:15:06,639 --> 00:15:09,279 into the stable, but there was not much to see. 251 00:15:09,639 --> 00:15:12,639 The stable boy sat at the door, his chair tipped 252 00:15:12,679 --> 00:15:15,120 back until a few minutes after eleven, when one of 253 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:18,279 Joe Henry's drays drove up with a load of baled hay. 254 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:21,720 Philo Gubb heard the voices of the men as they 255 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,240 hoisted the hay to the hay loft, and he saw 256 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,919 Joe Henry helping with the hoisting rope. The hay was 257 00:15:28,039 --> 00:15:31,080 wood soaked. Wood dripped from it on to the floor 258 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:35,399 of the stable, but nothing exciting occurred, and Philo Gub 259 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,240 was about to consider this a dull evening's work. When 260 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:41,759 Joe Henry appeared in the doorway, a pitchfork in one 261 00:15:41,799 --> 00:15:44,600 hand and the slab of pine in the other. He 262 00:15:44,679 --> 00:15:47,759 looked up and down the street, and then, with surprising agility, 263 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,759 sprang across the street towards where Philo gub lay hid. 264 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:55,679 With a wild cry. Philo gub fled. The pitchfork clattered 265 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,080 at his feet but missed him, and he had every 266 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,960 advantage of long legs and speed. His heels clattered on 267 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,200 the alley pave, and Joe Henry's clattered farther and farther 268 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:11,000 behind at each leap of the correspondence School detective. All right, 269 00:16:11,279 --> 00:16:16,320 you explain, said Joe Henry, sullenly. Now you ain't to 270 00:16:16,399 --> 00:16:19,279 breathe a word of this cross your heart. Hope to die, 271 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:24,399 Filo Cub nor you neither, Billy, said pie Wagon Pete. Listen, 272 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:27,240 Me and Joe Henry ain't what we let on to be. 273 00:16:27,759 --> 00:16:30,840 That's why we don't want to be followed. We're detectives, 274 00:16:31,279 --> 00:16:34,960 regular detectives from Chicago, and were hired by the Law 275 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:38,399 and Order League to run down them Guls. We're right 276 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:40,879 close on to them, now, ain't we. Joe and That's 277 00:16:40,879 --> 00:16:43,039 why we don't want to have no one bothering us. 278 00:16:43,559 --> 00:16:46,080 You wouldn't want no one's shadowing you when you was 279 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:50,360 on the trail, would you, Gubby? No, I don't feel 280 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,960 like I would, admitted Philo Gubb. That's right, said pie 281 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,279 Wagon Pete approvingly. And when these here dynamite ghouls is 282 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:01,799 the kind of murderers they is, and me and Joe 283 00:17:01,879 --> 00:17:04,240 is expecting to be murdered by them any minute. It 284 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:08,279 makes Joe nervous to be followed and spied on, don't it, Joe? 285 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:13,119 You bet? Said Joe. I'm liable to turn and moller 286 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,680 up anybody I see sneakin' up on me. I can't 287 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:19,839 take chances. So you won't interfere with Joe in the 288 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,920 pursuit of his duty no more, will you, Gubby, said 289 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:27,880 pie Wagon Pete. I don't aim to interfere with nobody, Peter, 290 00:17:28,279 --> 00:17:31,359 said Filo Gubb. I just want to pursue my own 291 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,480 duty as I see it. I won't follow mister Henry 292 00:17:34,519 --> 00:17:36,680 no more if he don't like it. But I got 293 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,119 a duty to do. And a full graduate of the 294 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:43,680 Rising Sun Detecative Agency Correspondence School of Detecting, I got 295 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,960 to do my level best to catch them dynamiters myself. 296 00:17:48,039 --> 00:17:51,000 Joe Henry frowned, and pie Wagon Pete shook his head. 297 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,440 If you'll take my advice, Gubby, he said, you'll drop 298 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,319 that case right here. And now you don't know what 299 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:03,000 dangerous characters them ghouls are. If they start to get you. 300 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,599 You want to read that book the pail Avengers I 301 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:10,960 just gave you, said Billy Getz, and then you'll know more. Well. 302 00:18:11,319 --> 00:18:14,440 I won't interfere with you, mister Henry, said Filo Gubb, 303 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:17,799 but I'll do my duty as I see it. Fear 304 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,240 don't frighten me. The first words in less than one 305 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:24,839 is these the detecative must be a man devoid of fear. 306 00:18:25,279 --> 00:18:27,880 I can't go back on that. If them ghules want 307 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:32,039 to kill me, I can't object. Detecting is a dangerous employment, 308 00:18:32,079 --> 00:18:35,359 and I know it. He went out and closed the 309 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:39,920 door there, said Pye Wagon Pete. Ain't that better than 310 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:45,559 beatin him up? Maybe, said Joe Henry grudgingly. Chances are 311 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,279 he's such a dummy he'll go right ahead followin me 312 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,920 and needs a good scare thrown into him. Billy gets 313 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:54,279 slid from his stool and ran his hands deep into 314 00:18:54,319 --> 00:18:58,119 his pockets, jingling a few coins and a bunch of keys. 315 00:18:58,839 --> 00:19:03,440 Want me to scare him, he asked, pleasantly. Say you 316 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,680 can do it too, said Joe Henry eagerly. You're the 317 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:09,519 feller that can kid him to death. Go ahead, if 318 00:19:09,559 --> 00:19:11,240 you do, I'll give you a case of six star. 319 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:16,680 Ain't that so? Pete absolutely said, Pye wagon, that's a bet, 320 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:21,279 said Billy Getz, pleasantly. Leave it to the kidder's Filo. 321 00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:23,880 Gubb went straight to his room at the Widow Murphy's, and, 322 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,599 having taken off his shoes and coat, leaned back in 323 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,400 his chair with his feet on the bed, and opened 324 00:19:29,599 --> 00:19:33,759 the Pail Avengers. He had never before read a dime novel, 325 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,759 and this opened a new world to him. He read breathlessly. 326 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,960 The style of the story was somewhat like this. The 327 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,039 picture on the wall swung aside, and Detective Brown stared 328 00:19:45,079 --> 00:19:47,920 into the muzzles of two revolvers and the sharp eyes 329 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:51,359 of the youngest of the pail Avengers. A thrill of 330 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,759 horror swept through the detective. He felt his doom was 331 00:19:54,799 --> 00:19:59,119 at hand, but he did not cringe. Your time has come, 332 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:05,039 said Avenger. Be not too sure, said Detective Brown, haughtily, 333 00:20:06,039 --> 00:20:11,240 Are you ready to die? Ever? Ready? The detective extended 334 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,640 his hand toward the table on which his revolver lay. 335 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:17,119 A cruel laugh greeted him. It was the last human 336 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,960 voice he was to hear. As if by magic, the 337 00:20:20,039 --> 00:20:23,440 floor under his feet gave way, down, down, down, a 338 00:20:23,519 --> 00:20:26,839 thousand feet. He was precipitated. He tried to grasp the 339 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,960 well like walls of masonry, but in vain nothing could 340 00:20:30,039 --> 00:20:32,599 stay him. As he plunged into the deep water of 341 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,960 the ubliet, a fiendish laugh echoed in his ears. The 342 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:41,519 pail Avengers had destroyed one more of their adversaries. Until 343 00:20:41,559 --> 00:20:44,640 he read this thrilling tale, Philo Gubb had not guessed 344 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:48,799 the fiendishness of malefactors when brought to Bay, and yet 345 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,319 here it was in black and white. The ubliet, a dark, 346 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,920 dank dungeon hidden beneath the ground, was a favorite method 347 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:01,720 of killing detectives. It seemed. Generally speaking, the ubliet seemed 348 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:06,119 to be the prevailing fashion and vengeful murder. Sometimes the 349 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:10,160 bed sank into the ubliet, Sometimes the floor gave way 350 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:13,559 and cast the victim into the ubliet, and sometimes the 351 00:21:13,599 --> 00:21:17,400 whole room sank slowly into the ubliet, but death for 352 00:21:17,519 --> 00:21:21,519 the victim always lurked in the pit. Before getting into bed, 353 00:21:21,599 --> 00:21:24,839 Philo Gub examined the walls and the floor and the 354 00:21:24,839 --> 00:21:28,440 ceiling of his room. They seemed safe and secure, but 355 00:21:28,559 --> 00:21:31,240 twice during the night he awoke with a cry, imagining 356 00:21:31,319 --> 00:21:35,440 himself sinking through the floor. Three nights later, as Philo 357 00:21:35,519 --> 00:21:38,079 Gub stood in the dark doorway of the Wilcox Building 358 00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:42,400 waiting to pick up any suspicious character, Billy Getz slipped 359 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:44,960 in beside him and drew him hastily to the back 360 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:49,480 of the entry. Hush, not a word, He whispered. Did 361 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:51,480 you see a man in the window across the street, 362 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:56,200 the third window on the top floor, No, whispered Philo 363 00:21:56,319 --> 00:22:01,039 Gub was was there one with a rifle? Full? Whispered 364 00:22:01,039 --> 00:22:04,599 Billy gets ready to pick you off. Come. It is 365 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:06,599 suicide for you to try to go out the front way. 366 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,880 Now follow me. I have news for you. Step quietly. 367 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,559 He led the paper hanger through the back corridor to 368 00:22:13,599 --> 00:22:16,160 the open air and up the outside back stairs to 369 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,880 the third floor and into the building. He tapped lightly 370 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:22,759 on a door, and it was opened. The merest crack. 371 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,720 Friends whispered billy gets, and the door opened wide and 372 00:22:27,799 --> 00:22:31,920 admitted them. The room was the club room of the kidders, 373 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:34,799 where they gathered night after night to play cards and 374 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,799 drink illicit whisky. Green shades over which were hung heavy 375 00:22:38,839 --> 00:22:42,640 curtains protected the windows. A large round table stood in 376 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:44,880 the middle of the floor under the gas lights. A 377 00:22:45,079 --> 00:22:47,720 couch was in one corner of the room, and these 378 00:22:47,759 --> 00:22:50,680 with the chairs, and a formless heap in a far corner, 379 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,640 over which a couch cover was thrown, constituted all the 380 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:58,160 furniture except for the iron cuspidors. Here the young fellows 381 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,440 came for their sport, feeling safe from intrusion. For the 382 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,839 possession of whisky was against the law. There was a 383 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,880 fine of five hundred dollars one half to the informer 384 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,920 for the misdemeanor of having whisky in one's possession, But 385 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,799 the kidders had no fear. They knew each other for 386 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,559 the moment. The cards were put away and the couch 387 00:23:18,599 --> 00:23:21,759 cover hid the four cases of six star that represented 388 00:23:21,759 --> 00:23:25,440 the club's stock of liquor. The five young men already 389 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,960 in the room were sitting around the table sit down. 390 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:33,759 Detective Gub said, Billy Gets here. We are safe here, 391 00:23:33,799 --> 00:23:36,559 we may talk freely, and we have something big to 392 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,759 talk to night. Filo Gubb moved a chair to the table. 393 00:23:41,319 --> 00:23:43,559 He had to push one of the cuspidors aside to 394 00:23:43,599 --> 00:23:46,079 make room, and as he pushed it with his foot, 395 00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:49,000 he saw an oblong of paper lying in it among 396 00:23:49,039 --> 00:23:52,359 the sand and cigar stubs. It was a six star 397 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,599 whisky label. He turned his head from it with his 398 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,079 bird like twist of the neck and let his eyes 399 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:02,920 rest on Billy Gets. We know who dynamited those houses, 400 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:07,759 said Billy Getz. Suddenly, do you know Jack Harburger? No, 401 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:12,079 said Filo Gubb. I don't know him. Well we do, 402 00:24:12,519 --> 00:24:15,720 said Billy Getz. He's the slickest ever. He was the 403 00:24:15,759 --> 00:24:19,440 boss of the gang. Read this. He slid a sheet 404 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,680 of notepaper across to Filo Gubb, and the detective read 405 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:27,160 it slowly. Billy send me five hundred dollars quick. I've 406 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:31,039 got to get away from here. J h. And we 407 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:35,599 made him our friend, said Billy Gets resentfully. Why he 408 00:24:35,759 --> 00:24:37,920 was here the night of the dynamiting, wasn't he? Boys? 409 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:43,599 He sure was, said the kidders. Now he's nothing to us, 410 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:47,279 said Billy Getz. Now what do you say, Detective Gub. 411 00:24:47,319 --> 00:24:49,440 If we fix it so you can grab him, will 412 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:53,200 you split the reward with us, half for you and 413 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,759 half for me, asked Filo Gubb, his eyes as big 414 00:24:56,799 --> 00:25:00,759 as pokerchips. Three thousand for you and two for us 415 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,640 was what we figured was fair, said Billy Katz. You 416 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:06,880 ought to have the most you put in your experience 417 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:11,079 and your education and detective work, and that ought to 418 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:15,640 be worth something, admitted Philo Gubb. So it was agreed. 419 00:25:16,079 --> 00:25:19,119 They explained to Philo Gubb that Jack Harburger was the 420 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,559 son of Old Harburger of the Harburger House at Durlingport, 421 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,119 and that they could count on the clerk of that 422 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,640 hotel to help them. Billy Getz would go up and 423 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,759 get things ready, and the next day Filo Gubb would 424 00:25:31,759 --> 00:25:34,880 appear at the hotel in disguise, of course, and do 425 00:25:35,039 --> 00:25:37,680 his part. The clerk would give him a room next 426 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,440 to Jack Harburger's room and see that there was a 427 00:25:40,519 --> 00:25:44,039 hidden opening in the partition, and Billy gets pretending he 428 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,200 was bringing the money, would ring a full confession from 429 00:25:47,279 --> 00:25:50,880 Jack Harburger. Then Filo Gubb need only step into the 430 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:54,039 room and snap the handcuffs on Jack Harburger and collect 431 00:25:54,039 --> 00:25:58,359 the reward. They shook hands all around finally, and Billy 432 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:00,720 Getz went to the window to see that no ghoul 433 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,559 was lurking in the street ready to murder Philo Gub 434 00:26:04,559 --> 00:26:08,000 when he went out. As he turned away from the window, 435 00:26:08,079 --> 00:26:10,079 the toe of his shoe caught in the fringe of 436 00:26:10,079 --> 00:26:12,559 the couch cover and dragged it partially from the odd 437 00:26:12,599 --> 00:26:15,680 shaped pile in the corner. With a quick sweep of 438 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,000 his hand, Billy Getz replaced the cover, but not before 439 00:26:19,079 --> 00:26:21,640 Philo Gubb had seen the necks of a full case 440 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,559 of bottles and had caught the glint of the label 441 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,279 on one of them, bearing these six silver stars like 442 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:32,200 that in the cuspidoor. Billy Getz cast a quick glance 443 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,759 at the correspondent school detective's face, but Filo Gubb, his 444 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,440 head well back on his stiff neck, was already gazing 445 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:43,240 at the door. Two days later, Philo Gubb, with his 446 00:26:43,319 --> 00:26:47,400 telescope valise in his hand, boarded the morning train for Durlingport. 447 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,000 The river was on one of its rampages, and the 448 00:26:51,039 --> 00:26:54,279 water came close to the tracks here and there on 449 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:57,079 the way to Durlingport, the water was over the tracks, 450 00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:00,160 and in many places the wagon road which followed the 451 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:04,039 railway was completely swamped, and the passing vehicles sank in 452 00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:07,640 the muddy water to their hubs. The year is still 453 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,400 known as the year of the Big Flood. In Riverbank, 454 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,200 the wooter had flooded the front street cellars, and in 455 00:27:13,279 --> 00:27:16,880 Durlingport the sewers had backed up, flooding the entire lower 456 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:21,359 part of town. When the train reached Durlingport, Philo Gubb, 457 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:26,039 with his telescope volice, which contained his twelve correspondence school lessons, 458 00:27:26,079 --> 00:27:29,759 the pail avengers, a pair of handcuffs, his revolver, and 459 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:34,359 three extra disguises, walked toward the Harburger House. He was 460 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:38,400 already thoroughly disguised, wearing a coal black beard and a 461 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:41,880 red mustache and an iron gray wig with long hair. 462 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:46,119 Luckily he passed no one with that disguise. He would 463 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:49,079 have drawn an immense crowd, nothing like it had ever 464 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,559 been seen on the streets of Durlingport, or elsewhere for 465 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:56,440 that matter. A full block away, Philo Gubb saw the 466 00:27:56,559 --> 00:27:59,720 sign of the hotel, and he immediately became cautious as 467 00:27:59,759 --> 00:28:03,960 a detective should he crossed the street and observed the exits. 468 00:28:04,599 --> 00:28:08,160 There was a main entrance on the corner, a lady's 469 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:11,400 entrance at the side, and an entrance to what had 470 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,799 once been the bar room. From the fire escape, one 471 00:28:14,799 --> 00:28:18,599 could drop to the street without great injury. Filo Gubb 472 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,119 noted all these and then walked to the alley. There 473 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:25,440 were two doors opening on the alley, one a cook's door, 474 00:28:25,559 --> 00:28:29,000 and the other evidently leading to the cellar. At the 475 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:32,559 latter a drey stood, and as Filo Gub paused there, 476 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,400 two men came from this door and laid a bale 477 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:39,400 of hay on the dray, pushing it forward carefully. They 478 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:42,079 did not toss it carelessly on to the dray, but 479 00:28:42,319 --> 00:28:46,920 slid it onto the dray, and the hay was wet. Moreover, 480 00:28:47,039 --> 00:28:49,720 the two men were two of Joe Henry's men, and 481 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,599 that was odd. It was odd that Joe Henry should 482 00:28:53,599 --> 00:28:56,359 send a dray the full thirty miles to Durlingport to 483 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,720 get a load of wet hay. When he could get 484 00:28:58,759 --> 00:29:02,200 all the dry hay he won it in Riverbank, but 485 00:29:02,279 --> 00:29:05,680 it did not impress Philo Gub. He hurried to the 486 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,920 main entrance of the hotel and entered the lobby of 487 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,359 the Harburger House was large and gloomy in its old 488 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:16,920 fashioned black walnut woodwork, except for one man sitting at 489 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,160 a desk by the window and writing industriously, and the 490 00:29:20,279 --> 00:29:24,920 clerk behind the counter. The lobby was untenanted. To the left, 491 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,000 a huge stairway led to the gloom above, for the 492 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:32,200 hotel boasted no elevator except the huge baggage lift, which 493 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:34,680 had been put in in the palmy days of the 494 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,480 house when the Great River packets were still a business factor. 495 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,480 Philo Gub walked across the lobby to the clerk's desk. 496 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:46,160 The industrious penman by the window glanced over his shoulder. 497 00:29:46,559 --> 00:29:49,160 He looked more like a hotel clerk than like a 498 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,559 traveling salesman, but Philo Gub gave this no thought. The 499 00:29:53,599 --> 00:29:56,240 clerk behind the desk put his fingers on his lips. 500 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:01,839 Sh He whispered, are you, Detective Gub good, I've been 501 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:06,240 expecting you. Have you a gun in my telescope case? 502 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:10,920 Whispered Philo Gub, take this one, said the clerk, handing 503 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:15,880 the paperhanger. Detective, a glittering revolver be careful. Come, I'll 504 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:19,279 show you the room. He came from behind the desk 505 00:30:19,319 --> 00:30:22,200 and picked up Philo Gubb's telescope valise and led the 506 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:26,160 way up the dingy stairway. Luckily for Billy gets his 507 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,720 great practical joke. Filo Gubb had never seen Jack Harburger, 508 00:30:30,079 --> 00:30:32,359 or he would have recognized him in the plump little 509 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:37,000 man carrying his telescope valise up three flights of dark stairs. 510 00:30:37,079 --> 00:30:40,200 Jack Harburger led Filo Gub and at the landing of 511 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,839 the fourth floor, he stopped. You were taking a risk, 512 00:30:44,079 --> 00:30:49,759 a big risk. Coming undisguised, he said. But I am disguised, 513 00:30:50,079 --> 00:30:55,119 said Filo Gub. These here is false whiskers and hair. What, 514 00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:01,599 exclaimed Jack Harburger. Wonderful work. Splendid make up, Detective. You 515 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,440 fooled me with it, and I was on my guard. 516 00:31:05,039 --> 00:31:10,000 You'll do bent down like an old man. That's it now. Listen, 517 00:31:10,559 --> 00:31:13,000 I have cut a hole through the wall from your 518 00:31:13,079 --> 00:31:16,359 room into Jack's. You can hear every word he speaks. 519 00:31:16,759 --> 00:31:20,079 Have you a pencil and paper, good a jot down 520 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:23,160 every word you hear, and don't make a sound if 521 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:28,759 you are discovered. Well, they're a desperate gang. Come, he 522 00:31:28,839 --> 00:31:31,519 led the way through a long, dark corridor that turned 523 00:31:31,559 --> 00:31:34,920 and twisted At the extreme end. He stopped, put down 524 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,759 the telescope, folie, and drew a key from his pocket. 525 00:31:38,759 --> 00:31:43,720 That's Jack's room, he breathed softly. And you go in here. Sorry, 526 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,640 it isn't a better room. We had to use it. 527 00:31:46,799 --> 00:31:50,400 And you be here long anyway. He opened the door. 528 00:31:50,799 --> 00:31:53,440 It was a large door that swung outward, and it 529 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,000 occupied one half of one side of the room. The 530 00:31:57,039 --> 00:32:00,240 floor of the room was carpeted and the walls were paper, 531 00:32:00,359 --> 00:32:03,160 as was the ceiling. There was no window, but an 532 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,799 electric light burned in the center of the ceiling. Across 533 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,400 the far side of the room stood a narrow iron 534 00:32:09,519 --> 00:32:13,680 bed with a small bureau beside it. Jack Harburger pointed 535 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,279 to a hole in the wall paper. That's your ear hole, 536 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:21,799 he whispered, and Filo gub stepped into the room. Instantly, 537 00:32:21,799 --> 00:32:24,599 the door slammed behind him. The key turned in the lock, 538 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,079 and he heard a heavy iron bar clank as it 539 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:31,799 fell into place. Outside. He was a prisoner, caught like 540 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,559 a rat in a trap, and he knew it. He 541 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:36,960 threw himself against the door, but it did not give 542 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,559 The electric light above his head went dark. He put 543 00:32:40,559 --> 00:32:44,000 out his hand and the wall gave slightly. He drew 544 00:32:44,039 --> 00:32:48,039 the revolver and waited, dreading what might next occur. He 545 00:32:48,039 --> 00:32:51,440 heard soft footsteps outside the door, and raising the revolver, 546 00:32:51,559 --> 00:32:55,799 pulled the trigger. The trigger snapped harmlessly. He had been tricked, 547 00:32:56,240 --> 00:33:02,160 tricked all around. Is the ubliet prepared, whispered a voice outside, 548 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,279 all ready for him, twelve feet of water. He'll drown 549 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:10,880 like a rat. Good, a slow death, like a rat, 550 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:14,119 in a trap, like we served the other two. Then 551 00:33:14,319 --> 00:33:17,599 get rid of his body the same way, a stone 552 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,640 on it and the river. Yes, they'll never come up again. 553 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,880 The voices died away along the corridor, and Filo Gub 554 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:30,880 was left in utter silence. Ohobliette, the fate of the 555 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:35,279 detectives of the Pale Avengers was to be his. Suddenly 556 00:33:35,319 --> 00:33:38,200 the room began to quiver. The floor and the walls 557 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,240 trampled and creaked, and Filo Gub threw himself once more 558 00:33:41,279 --> 00:33:44,279 against the door. He shouted and beat upon it with 559 00:33:44,319 --> 00:33:48,119 his hands, inch by inch, creaking and swaying, the room 560 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:52,359 glided downward. The door seemed to glide upward beyond the ceiling, 561 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,839 giving place to a solid wall. Pete turned and beat 562 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:57,680 on the side of the room, and it gave forth 563 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,920 a hollow sound. As he moved, the room swayed under 564 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:06,599 his feet. He was doomed alone in the darkness. His 565 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:10,360 fear suddenly gave way to a feeling of pride. He 566 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,760 was dangerous enough then to be thought worthy of death. 567 00:34:14,679 --> 00:34:17,440 His last drop of doubt oozed out of his mind. 568 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:22,639 He was he must be a great detective, or such 569 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,519 means would not have been taken to get rid of him. 570 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:29,039 He felt a sort of calm joy in this. His 571 00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:33,840 murderers knew his prowess. Locked in the room, going down 572 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:37,360 to certain death, he exalted. And if he was as 573 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,079 great as all that, it could not be that his 574 00:34:40,159 --> 00:34:44,800 position was hopeless. Time and again Carl Carroll, the boy detective, 575 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,800 had been in equally precarious positions, But in the end 576 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:51,440 he had brought the pail of angers low. And what 577 00:34:51,559 --> 00:34:54,719 a boy undrained could do, a graduate of the Rising 578 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:57,480 Sun Correspondent School of Detecting ought to be able to do. 579 00:34:58,519 --> 00:35:00,800 He drew his knife from his pocket and cut into 580 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,679 the wallpaper of the side wall, being a paper hanger. 581 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:06,760 The first touch of his hand against the side wall 582 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,480 had told him the wallpaper was pasted on canvas and 583 00:35:09,599 --> 00:35:12,599 not on a solid wall. And now he ripped the 584 00:35:12,679 --> 00:35:17,719 canvas away. The wall was of rough boards, scarred and barred. 585 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:21,199 The opposite wall was the same. He kneeled on the 586 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:24,480 bed and tried the rear wall. He felt the plastered 587 00:35:24,519 --> 00:35:27,800 wall gliding upward. He stood on the bed and ripped 588 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:31,119 the canvas ceiling away. As he ripped the ceiling away, 589 00:35:31,199 --> 00:35:34,239 light entered the cage from a dirty skylight far above. 590 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,599 Just over his head, a heavy iron grating covered the cage, 591 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,960 barring him in. But high up he could see the 592 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,880 great drum from which the cable slowly unwound as the 593 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:49,320 car descended. He was in an elevator, but this knowledge 594 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:54,000 gave him small comfort. Cage room or elevator, call it 595 00:35:54,039 --> 00:35:57,639 what he choose. It was relentlessly descending into the flooded cellar. 596 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,320 He watched the drum with fasct eyes as the wire 597 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:05,119 cable unwound itself. He lay back on the bed, his 598 00:36:05,159 --> 00:36:08,519 feet hanging to the floor, and stared upward. He could 599 00:36:08,559 --> 00:36:11,519 not take his eyes from the revolving drum. It was 600 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,159 like a clock marking the moments. He still had to live. 601 00:36:16,159 --> 00:36:19,960 But suddenly he was galvanized into action. Over his feet, 602 00:36:20,039 --> 00:36:22,920 something cold ran, making him jerk them from the floor. 603 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,760 It was the water of the Obliette, and he gazed 604 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,599 on it with horror as it rose inch by inch 605 00:36:28,639 --> 00:36:32,760 toward him slowly. As the car dropped, the water crept up. 606 00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:36,119 It reached the first drawer of the small bureau. It 607 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:38,599 crept up to the side rails of the bed. It 608 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:42,239 wet the mattress, and still it rose. He stood on 609 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:46,119 the bed and grasped the iron grating above his head. Stop, 610 00:36:46,639 --> 00:36:49,760 whispered a voice above his head, and the creaking cage 611 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:55,679 stopped Gub. Detective Gub whispered the voice, and Filo Gub 612 00:36:55,719 --> 00:37:00,559 looked upward. Listen. Detective Gub said the voice. One touch 613 00:37:00,559 --> 00:37:02,039 of my hand on the lever, and you will be 614 00:37:02,119 --> 00:37:05,920 dropped beneath the wooters, never to appear again except dead. 615 00:37:07,079 --> 00:37:10,480 One only chance remains for your life, and blackened with 616 00:37:10,639 --> 00:37:14,320 crime though we are. We offer you that chance. If 617 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:16,920 you will swear to leave the state, never to return, 618 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:21,320 we will spare you. What say you, Philo Gub. It 619 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:25,199 was an offer no mortal could refuse. Life, after all, 620 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:30,280 is sweet, Philo Gub, the relentless correspondent school detective, opened 621 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:32,960 his mouth, but as he turned his head upward, he 622 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:38,679 closed it again and licked his lips twice. No durn ye, 623 00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:41,760 he shouted angrily. I won't ever do no such thing. 624 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:46,639 There was a hurried whispering of many voices above him. 625 00:37:47,159 --> 00:37:50,320 Think well, said the voice again. We will give you 626 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:55,000 until midnight to reconsider your rashness. Until midnight, Detective Gub, 627 00:37:56,199 --> 00:38:02,239 You can't scare me, shouted Philo Gub. Until midnight, repeated 628 00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:06,760 the voice, and then there was silence. Philo Gub immediately 629 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,239 drew his heavy pocket Knight from his pocket and began 630 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:11,280 cutting out one of the panels of the door that 631 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:15,360 shut him in on one side. He did not work hurriedly. 632 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,840 He was not at all frightened. Looking up, he had 633 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:20,960 seen the drum, and there was no more cable on 634 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:25,159 the drum to be unwound. The car could descend no farther. 635 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,400 His feet were as wet as they could get unless 636 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:31,639 the river rose to unbelievable height. He could not be 637 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,920 drowned in the makeshift dubliette unless he voluntarily lay down 638 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:39,159 in the shallow water and inhaled it. He worked on 639 00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:42,440 the panel slowly, but with the earnestness of a very 640 00:38:42,519 --> 00:38:46,519 angry victim of a hoax. The panel fell outward with 641 00:38:46,559 --> 00:38:50,679 a splash and floated away. Filo gubb bent sideways and 642 00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:54,159 squeezed out of the small opening into the cellar. The 643 00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:57,320 huge cellar was dusky in the dim light that entered 644 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:00,599 through the cobwebbed panes high in the wall. It was 645 00:39:00,639 --> 00:39:04,039 an immense place and now knee deep in wooter, except 646 00:39:04,039 --> 00:39:07,239 for a gangway of boards laid on low tressels, which 647 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:10,199 led from one side of the cellar to the cellar door. 648 00:39:11,119 --> 00:39:15,079 There were cold bins and vegetable bins like woody bays 649 00:39:15,199 --> 00:39:19,559 leading from the general cellar sea, and strange appliants to 650 00:39:19,599 --> 00:39:23,239 discover in a hotel cellar. A small hay baling press 651 00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:27,840 stood on an extemporized platform against one wall, and alongside 652 00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:31,079 it on a long table. Such are seen in factories 653 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:36,320 bales of hay, some complete and some torn open, and cases. 654 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:41,000 The cases were labeled Blue River canned tomatoes, but one 655 00:39:41,079 --> 00:39:43,840 split across the end gave evidence that their contents were 656 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:47,280 not canned tomatoes at all. Through the crack in the 657 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:51,239 case glittered these six silver stars of the six Star Whisky. 658 00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:56,039 There were twenty six of the cases. Philo Gub waded 659 00:39:56,079 --> 00:39:58,920 to the raised gangway and walked to the cellar door. 660 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,039 It was double barred on the inside, and he lifted 661 00:40:02,039 --> 00:40:05,119 the bars cautiously and stepped into the alley, closing the 662 00:40:05,159 --> 00:40:08,920 door carefully behind him. He pulled his false whiskers and 663 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:11,320 wig from his face and stuffed them in his pockets 664 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:15,599 and hurried down the alley. When he returned, Billy Getz, 665 00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:19,159 Jack Harburger, and six of the kidders were holding high 666 00:40:19,199 --> 00:40:22,199 revel in the closed bar room of the Harburger house, 667 00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:25,280 but they all fell silent when the door opened and 668 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:29,119 the Sheriff of Durling County entered with Philo Gubb and 669 00:40:29,199 --> 00:40:33,159 three deputies in company. It was evident that the sheriff 670 00:40:33,239 --> 00:40:38,079 did not consider Philo Gubb a joke. Search warrant Jack. 671 00:40:38,559 --> 00:40:42,639 He said to Harburger, Detective Gub of Riverbank has been 672 00:40:42,639 --> 00:40:46,079 doing some sleuthing in your hotel. He says, we want 673 00:40:46,119 --> 00:40:49,320 to have a look at the cellar. The next morning, 674 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:53,440 the Riverbank Eagle was full of Philo Gub again through 675 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,960 the superback human of that wonderful detective. Three stores of 676 00:40:57,039 --> 00:41:00,840 whiskey had been discovered and confiscated. Why in the cellar 677 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:04,719 of the Harburger House at Durlingport, one in Joe Henry's 678 00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:07,639 stable at Riverbank, and a smaller one in the room 679 00:41:07,679 --> 00:41:11,840 in the Wilcox building frequented by the Kidders. How I 680 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:15,280 done it, said Filo Gub to one of his admirers. 681 00:41:16,079 --> 00:41:19,559 I done it like a detecative, does it. A detecative 682 00:41:19,599 --> 00:41:23,719 that wants to detect, picks up some feller that looks suspicious, 683 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:27,159 like like it says in lesson for rule for, and 684 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:29,400 then he shadows and trails him, like it says in 685 00:41:29,519 --> 00:41:33,719 lesson four rules four to seventeen, and then something's bound 686 00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:38,000 to happen. But how can you tell what's going to happen, 687 00:41:38,599 --> 00:41:44,000 asked his admirer. Well, sir, said Filo Gubb. That's the 688 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:47,199 beauty of the detecative business. You don't ever know what's 689 00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:56,320 going to happen until it happens. And of the Oubliette 690 00:41:56,679 --> 00:41:58,480 by Ellis Parker Butler