Speaker 1: The Eagle's Claws by Ellis Parker Butler. As Filo Gubb
Speaker 1: boarded the train for Riverbank. After recovering the silver loving
Speaker 1: Cup from the interior of the petrified man, he cast
Speaker 1: a regretful glance backward. It was for Cyrilla. There was
Speaker 1: half a ton of her pink, white beauty, and her
Speaker 1: placid cow like expression touched an echoing cord in Philo
Speaker 1: Gubb's heart. Philo felt, however, that his admiration must be hopeless,
Speaker 1: for Syrilla must earn a salary in keeping with her size,
Speaker 1: and his income was too irregular and small to keep
Speaker 1: even a thin wife. Five hundred dollars was a large
Speaker 1: reward for a loving cup that cost not over thirty dollars.
Speaker 1: It is true, but mister Jonas Meadowbrook had afford to
Speaker 1: pay what he chose, and as he was passionately fond
Speaker 1: of golf and passionately poor at the game, and as
Speaker 1: this was probably the only golf prize he would ever win,
Speaker 1: he was justified in paying liberally, especially as this cup
Speaker 1: was not merely a tankard, but almost large enough to
Speaker 1: be called a tank. Detective Gub hastened to the home
Speaker 1: of mister Meadowbrook. But when the door of that palatial
Speaker 1: house opened, the colored butler told mister Gubb that mister
Speaker 1: Meadowbrook was at the golf club, attending the annual banquet
Speaker 1: of the fifty worst Duffers. Mister Gubb started for the
Speaker 1: golf club. As he walked, he thought of Sorilla, and
Speaker 1: he was at the gate of the golf club before
Speaker 1: he knew it. He walked up the path toward the clubhouse,
Speaker 1: but when halfway he stopped short. All his detective instincts aroused.
Speaker 1: The windows of the clubhouse glowed with light, and sounds
Speaker 1: of merriment issued from them. But the cause of Philo
Speaker 1: Gub's sudden pause was ahead, silhouetted against one of the
Speaker 1: glowing windows. As mister Gubb watched, he saw the head
Speaker 1: disappear in the gloom below the window. Only two reappear
Speaker 1: at another window. Mister Gubb, following the directions as laid
Speaker 1: down in less than four of the correspondences, Lessons, dropped
Speaker 1: to his hands and knees and crept silently toward the
Speaker 1: Paul Prye. When within a few feet of him, mister
Speaker 1: Gubb seated himself tailor fashion on the grass. As Filo
Speaker 1: sat on the damp grass, The man at the window
Speaker 1: turned his head, and mister Gubb noted with surprise that
Speaker 1: the stranger had none of the marks of a sodden criminal.
Speaker 1: The face was that of a respectably benevolent old German
Speaker 1: American gentleman. Kindliness and good nature beamed from its lines,
Speaker 1: but at the moment the plump little man seemed in trouble.
Speaker 1: Good evening, said mister Gubb. I presume you are taking
Speaker 1: an observation of the dinner party within the inside of
Speaker 1: the club. The old gentleman turned sharply. Jess, he said,
Speaker 1: I look at their people's eating and drinking, as I
Speaker 1: like to see that unsouch good at e thes dot
Speaker 1: Man mit Der Blackbeard, he vas es splendid e There
Speaker 1: mister Gubb raised himself to his knees and looked into
Speaker 1: the dining room. That he said, is the honorable mister
Speaker 1: Jonas Meadowbrook, the wealthiest rich man in Riverbank Metterbrook Mehta Krook,
Speaker 1: said the old German American. Not Chon's ah not Jones
Speaker 1: to my present personal knowledge at this time, said Philo Gubb.
Speaker 1: Not Chons repeated the plumply benevolent looking German American dot
Speaker 1: vas strange, you vas sure I vas not Johns. I'm
Speaker 1: quite almost positive upon that point of knowledge, said Philo Gubb.
Speaker 1: For I have under my arm a golf cup. I
Speaker 1: am returning back to mister meadowbrook to receive five hundred
Speaker 1: dollars reward from him. For so queried the stranger fife
Speaker 1: hundr dollars. Wouldn't it is his cup? It is, said
Speaker 1: Filo Gubb. He raised the cup in his hand that
Speaker 1: the stranger might read the inscription, stating that the cup
Speaker 1: was Jonas Meadowbrooks. The light of the window made the
Speaker 1: engraving easy to read, but the old German American first
Speaker 1: drew from his pocket a pair of gold rimmed spectacles
Speaker 1: and adjusted them carefully on his nose. He then took
Speaker 1: the cup and moved closer to the window and read
Speaker 1: the inscription. Jez jesz, he agreed, nodding his head several times,
Speaker 1: and then he smiled at mister Gubb, a broadly benevolent smile.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, he added, and with gentle deliberation, he removed
Speaker 1: mister Gubb's hat. Just a minute, please, he continued, and
Speaker 1: with his free hand, he felt gently on the top
Speaker 1: of mister Gubb's head. He turned mister Gubb's head gently
Speaker 1: to the right, so he exclaimed, dat vaskuld. He raised
Speaker 1: the cup above his head and brought it down on
Speaker 1: top of mister Gubb's head in the exact spot he
Speaker 1: had selected. For two moments, mister Gubb made motions with
Speaker 1: his hands resembling those of a swimmer, and then he
Speaker 1: collapsed in a heap. The kindly looking old German American gentleman,
Speaker 1: seeing he was quite unconscious, tucked the golf cup under
Speaker 1: his own arm and waddled slowly down the path to
Speaker 1: the club gates. Ten minutes later, a small automobile drove
Speaker 1: up and young doctor Anson Briggs hopped out. Mister Gubb
Speaker 1: was just getting to his feet, feeling the top of
Speaker 1: his head with his hand as he did so. Here
Speaker 1: said doctor Briggs. You must not do that. Why can't
Speaker 1: I do it? Mister Gubb asked Crossley. It is my
Speaker 1: own personal head, and if I wish to desire to
Speaker 1: rub it, you are not concerned in the occasion. Whatever,
Speaker 1: Oh rub your head if you want to, exclaimed the doctor.
Speaker 1: I say you must not stand up a man that
Speaker 1: has just had a fit must not stand up. Who
Speaker 1: had a fit, asked Filo Gub. You did, said doctor Briggs.
Speaker 1: I am told you had a very bad fit and
Speaker 1: fell and knocked your head against the building. You're dazed,
Speaker 1: lie down. I prefer to wish to stand erect on
Speaker 1: my feet, said mister Gubb firmly. Where's my cup? What
Speaker 1: cub who told you I was suffering from the symptoms
Speaker 1: of a fit, demanded Philo Gubb. Why a short, plump
Speaker 1: little german did, said the doctor. He sent me here
Speaker 1: and he gave me this to give to you. The
Speaker 1: doctor held an envelope toward mister Gubb, and the detective
Speaker 1: took it and tore it open. By the light of
Speaker 1: the window, he read received of J. Jones golf cup
Speaker 1: worth five hundred dollars p H. Schrekenheim. Filo Gubb turned
Speaker 1: to doctor Briggs. I am much obliged for the hastiness
Speaker 1: with which you came to relieve one you considered to
Speaker 1: think in trouble, Doctor, he said, but fits are not
Speaker 1: in my line of sickness, which mainly is dyspeptic to date. Now,
Speaker 1: what is all this, asked the doctor. Suspicion. What is
Speaker 1: that letter anyway? It is a clue, said Filo Gubb,
Speaker 1: which connected with the bump on the top of the
Speaker 1: cranium of my skull, will no doubt land somebody into jail.
Speaker 1: So good evening, doctor. He picked his hat from the
Speaker 1: lawn and in his most stately manner, walked around the
Speaker 1: clubhouse and in at the door. Inside the clubhouse, mister
Speaker 1: Gubb asked one of the waiters to call mister Meadowbrook,
Speaker 1: and mister Meadobrook immediately appeared. As he came from the
Speaker 1: dining room rapidly, the napkin he had tucked in his
Speaker 1: neck fell over his shoulder behind him, and mister Meadowbrook,
Speaker 1: instead of turning around, bent backwards until he could pick
Speaker 1: up the napkin with his teeth, after which he resumed
Speaker 1: his normal upright position. Excuse me, Gub, he said, I
Speaker 1: didn't think what I was doing. Where's the cup, the
Speaker 1: detective explained. He handed mister Meaderbrook the receipt that had
Speaker 1: been sent by mister Schrekenheim, and the moment mister Meaderbrook's
Speaker 1: eyes fell upon it, he turned red. That infernal dutchman.
Speaker 1: He cried, although mister Schrekenheim was not a Dutchman at all,
Speaker 1: but a German American. I'll jail him for this. He
Speaker 1: stopped short, Gubb. He said, did that fellow tell you
Speaker 1: what his business was? He did not, said Filo Gubb.
Speaker 1: He failed to express any mention of it. That man,
Speaker 1: said mister Meadowbrook bitterly. Is Schrekenheim the greatest tattoo artist
Speaker 1: in the world. He is the king of them all,
Speaker 1: a connoisseur in tattooish art Cantella Schrekenheim as easily as
Speaker 1: a picture dealer Cantella corot. But no matter, mister Gubb.
Speaker 1: You are a detective, and I believe what is told
Speaker 1: detectives is held inviolable. Yes, you and all Riverbanks see
Speaker 1: me an ordinary citizen. Wealthy perhaps, but ordinary. As a
Speaker 1: matter of fact. I was once, he looked cautiously around.
Speaker 1: I was once a contortionist. I was once the contortionist,
Speaker 1: and now I am a wealthy man. My wife left
Speaker 1: me because she said I was stingy, and she took
Speaker 1: my child, my only daughter. I have never seen either
Speaker 1: of them since. I have searched high and low, but
Speaker 1: I cannot find them. Mister Gubb, I would give the
Speaker 1: man that finds my daughter, if she is alive, a
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. You don't object to my attempting to try,
Speaker 1: said Filo Gubb. No, said mister Jonas Meadobrook. But that
Speaker 1: is not what I wished to explain in my contortion act.
Speaker 1: Mister Gubb, I was obliged to wear the most expensive
Speaker 1: silk tights. Wiggling on the floor destroys them rapidly. I
Speaker 1: had a happy thought. I was known as the man serpent.
Speaker 1: Could I not save all expenses of tights by having
Speaker 1: myself tattooed so that my skin would represent scales? Look,
Speaker 1: mister Meadowbrook pulled up his cuff and showed mister Gubb
Speaker 1: his arm. It was beautifully tattooed in red and blue,
Speaker 1: like the scales of a cobra. The cost continued, mister
Speaker 1: Meadowbrook was great. Herr Schreckenheim worked continuously on me, and
Speaker 1: when he reached my manly chest, I had a brilliant
Speaker 1: thought I would have tattooed upon it an American eagle.
Speaker 1: Imagine the enthusiasm of an audience when I stood straight,
Speaker 1: spread my arms and showed that noble emblem of our
Speaker 1: nation's strength and freedom. I told Herr Schreckenheim, and he
Speaker 1: set to work. When and the contract price, by the way,
Speaker 1: for doing that eagle was five hundred dollars. When the
Speaker 1: eagle was about completed, I said to Herr Schreckenheim, of
Speaker 1: course you will do no more eagles. More eagles, he said,
Speaker 1: questioningly on other men. I said, I want to be
Speaker 1: the only man with an eagle on my chest. I
Speaker 1: am doing an eagle on another man now, he said.
Speaker 1: I was angry at once. I jumped from the table
Speaker 1: and threw on my clothes cheater. I cried, not another
Speaker 1: spot or dot shall you make on me? Go? I
Speaker 1: will never pay you a cent. He was very angry.
Speaker 1: It is a contract, he cried, five hundred dollars you
Speaker 1: owe me. I owe it to you when the job
Speaker 1: is complete. I declared that was the contract. Is this
Speaker 1: job complete? Where are the eagle's claws? I'll never pay
Speaker 1: you a cent. We had a lot of angry words.
Speaker 1: He demanded that I give him a chance to put
Speaker 1: the claws on the eagle. I refused. I said I
Speaker 1: would never pay. He said he would follow me to
Speaker 1: the end of the world and collect He said he
Speaker 1: would do those eagle claws if he had to do
Speaker 1: them on my infant daughter. I dared him to touch
Speaker 1: the child. And now, said mister Meadowbrook, he has taken
Speaker 1: the golf cup I value at five hundred dollars. He
Speaker 1: has won. At the mention of the threat regarding the child,
Speaker 1: Filo Gubb's eyes opened wide, but he kept silent. Gubb
Speaker 1: said mister Meadobrook. Suddenly, I'll give you one thousand dollars
Speaker 1: if you can recover my poor child. The detecative profession
Speaker 1: is full of complicity of detail, said mister Gubb. And
Speaker 1: the impossible is quite possible when put in the right hands.
Speaker 1: The cub bother the cup, said mister Meadowbrook carelessly. I
Speaker 1: want my child. I'll give ten thousand dollars for my child.
Speaker 1: Gub with difficulty, could Filo Gub restrain his eagerness to depart.
Speaker 1: He had a clue. Ordinarily, mister Gubb would have taken
Speaker 1: any disguise that seemed to him best suited for the
Speaker 1: work in hand. But now he was going to see
Speaker 1: and be seen by Sorilla. Mister Gub ran down the
Speaker 1: list number seven card sharp number nine Minister of the
Speaker 1: Gospel number twelve, Butcher number sixteen, Negro hack driver number seventeen,
Speaker 1: Chinese laundryman number twenty. Cowboy Filo Gub paused he would
Speaker 1: be a cowboy, for it was a jaunty disguise. Chaps, sombrero, spurs,
Speaker 1: buckskin gloves, holsters and pistols, blue shirt, yellow hair, stubby mustache.
Speaker 1: He donned the complete disguise, put his street garments in
Speaker 1: a suit case, and viewed himself in his small mirror.
Speaker 1: He highly approved of the disguise. He touched his cheeks
Speaker 1: with red to give himself a healthy outdoor appearance. Early
Speaker 1: the next morning, before the earliest merchants had opened their shops,
Speaker 1: Filo Gubb boarded the train for West Higgins, for it
Speaker 1: was there the world's greatest combined shows were to appear.
Speaker 1: The few sleepy passengers did not open their eyes. The conductor,
Speaker 1: as he took mister Gubb's ticket, merely remarked joining the
Speaker 1: show at West Higgins and passed on. Boys were already
Speaker 1: gathering on the West Higgins station platform when the train
Speaker 1: pulled in, and they cheered mister Gubb, thinking him part
Speaker 1: of the show. This greatly increased the difficulty of mister
Speaker 1: Gubb's detective work. He had hoped to steal unobserved, to
Speaker 1: the circus grounds, but a dozen small boys immediately attached
Speaker 1: themselves to him, running before him and whooping with joy.
Speaker 1: Boys said mister Gubb sternly, I wish you to run
Speaker 1: away and play elsewhere than in front of me, continuously
Speaker 1: all the time, and they cheered because he had spoken.
Speaker 1: Only the glad news that the circus trains had reached
Speaker 1: town finally dragged them reluctantly away. Detective Gub hurried to
Speaker 1: the circus grounds. The cook tent was already up and
Speaker 1: the grub tent was being put up presently, the side
Speaker 1: show tent was up and the big top rising. It
Speaker 1: was not until nine o'clock, however, that the side show
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen began to appear. And when they arrived,
Speaker 1: they went at once to the grub tent and seated
Speaker 1: themselves at the table. From a corner of the big
Speaker 1: top's side wall, Detective Gub watched them. Look there, deary,
Speaker 1: said Marilla suddenly to Princess Zozo. Don't that cowboy look
Speaker 1: like mister Gubb that was at Bardville and got the
Speaker 1: golf cup. It don't look like him, said Princess Zozo.
Speaker 1: It is him. Why don't you ask him to come
Speaker 1: over and help at the eats? You seem to like
Speaker 1: him yesterday. I thought he was a real gentlemanly gentleman, dearie,
Speaker 1: if that's what you mean, said Sorilla, and raising her voice,
Speaker 1: she called to mister Gobb. For a moment, he hesitated,
Speaker 1: and then he came forward. We knowed you the minute
Speaker 1: we seen you. Mister Gubb, Come and sit in beside
Speaker 1: me and have some breakfast. If you ain't dined, I
Speaker 1: thought you went home last night. You ain't after no
Speaker 1: more criminals, are you. There are variously many ends to
Speaker 1: the detecative business, said mister Gubb, as he seated himself
Speaker 1: beside Sorilla. I'm upon a most important case at the
Speaker 1: present time. Sorilla reached for her fifth boiled potato, and
Speaker 1: as her her arm past mister Gubb's face, he thrilled
Speaker 1: he had not been mistaken. Upon that arm was a
Speaker 1: pair of eagle's claws tattooed in red and blue. How
Speaker 1: little these had meant to him before, and how much
Speaker 1: they meant now? I presume you don't hardly ever long
Speaker 1: for a home in one place, miss Sorilla. He began,
Speaker 1: with his eye fixed on her arm, just above the elbow.
Speaker 1: Well believe me, dearie, said Sorilla. You don't want to
Speaker 1: think that just because I travel with a side show,
Speaker 1: I don't long for the refinements of a true home
Speaker 1: just like other folks. Some folks think I'm easy to
Speaker 1: see through and that I ain't nothin but fat and appetite.
Speaker 1: But they've got me down wrong, mister Gubb. I was
Speaker 1: unfortunate in getting lost from my father and mother when
Speaker 1: a babe. But many as the time I've said to Zozo,
Speaker 1: I've got a refined strain in my nature, haven't i? Zozo?
Speaker 1: You say it every time we begin to rag you
Speaker 1: about falling in love with every new thin man you see,
Speaker 1: said Princess Zozo. You said it last night when we
Speaker 1: was joshing you about mister Gubb. Here, Sorilla colored, but
Speaker 1: mister Gubb thrilled joyously just the same, Deary Sorilla said
Speaker 1: to Princess Zozo, I've got myself listed right when I
Speaker 1: say I got a refined nature, I've got all the
Speaker 1: instincts of a real society lady, and sometimes it irks
Speaker 1: me awful not to be able to let myself loose
Speaker 1: and bant like pant, asked mister Gubb. Bant was the
Speaker 1: word I used, mister Gubb, Sorilla replied, maybe you wouldn't
Speaker 1: guess it looking at me shovelin' in the etibles this way.
Speaker 1: But eating food is the cruelest thing I have to do.
Speaker 1: It charged me something terrible, yes, dearie. What I longed
Speaker 1: for day and night is a chance to take my
Speaker 1: place in the social stratums I was born for and
Speaker 1: bant off the fat like other social ladies, is to
Speaker 1: ride along. I don't eat food because i'd like it,
Speaker 1: mister Gubb, but because a lady in a profession like
Speaker 1: mine has got to keep fat it up. My outside
Speaker 1: may be fat, mister Gubb, but I got a soul
Speaker 1: inside of me as skinny as any fashionable lady would
Speaker 1: care to have. And as soon as possible, I'm going
Speaker 1: to quit the road and bant off six or seven
Speaker 1: hundred pounds. Would you believe it possible that I ain't
Speaker 1: dared to eat a pickle for over seven years because
Speaker 1: it might start me on the thin word road. I
Speaker 1: presume to suppose, said mister Gubb politely, that if you
Speaker 1: was to be offered a home that was rich with wealth,
Speaker 1: and I was to take you there and place you
Speaker 1: beside your parental father, would you refuse. Mister Gubb awaited
Speaker 1: the reply with eagerness. He tried to remain calm, but
Speaker 1: in spite of himself, he was nervous. Watch me, said Marilla,
Speaker 1: if you could show me a nook like that, you
Speaker 1: couldn't hold me in this show business with a tense
Speaker 1: steak and a bull. But that's a rosy dream. You
Speaker 1: ain't got a locket with the photo of your mother's
Speaker 1: picture into it, asked mister Gubb. No, said Marilla. My
Speaker 1: pa Ma was unknown to me. I dare say they
Speaker 1: got sick of hearin me ball and left me on
Speaker 1: a doorstep. The first I knew of things was that
Speaker 1: I was travelin with a show representing a new born
Speaker 1: babe in an incubator machine. I was incubated up to
Speaker 1: the time I was five years old and got too
Speaker 1: long to go into the glass case. But some one
Speaker 1: was your guardian in charge of you, no doubt, asked Gub.
Speaker 1: I had forty of them, deary, said Sorilla. Whenever money
Speaker 1: run low, they quit because they couldn't get paid on
Speaker 1: Saturday night. Huh, said mister Gubb. And does the name
Speaker 1: Jones bring back the memory of any remembrance to you? No,
Speaker 1: mister Gubb, said Sorilla, regretfully, seeing how eager he was.
Speaker 1: It don't in that state of the case of things,
Speaker 1: said mister Gubb. I've got to go over to that
Speaker 1: wagon pole and sit down and think. Awhile, I've got
Speaker 1: a certain clue. I've got to think over and make
Speaker 1: sure it leads right, and if it does, I'll have
Speaker 1: something important to say to you. The wagon pole in
Speaker 1: question was attached to a canvas wagon near by, and
Speaker 1: Detective Gub seated himself on it and thought the side
Speaker 1: show ladies and gentlemen, having finished, entered the side show tent,
Speaker 1: with the exception of Sorilla, who remained to finish her meal.
Speaker 1: She ate a great deal at meals. Before meals and
Speaker 1: after meals, Mister Gubb, from his seat on the wagon pole,
Speaker 1: looked at Sorilla thoughtfully. He had not the least doubt
Speaker 1: that Sorilla was the lost daughter of mister Jones, or Meadowbrook,
Speaker 1: as he now called himself. The German American tattoo artist
Speaker 1: had sworn to complete the eagle by putting its claws
Speaker 1: on mister Jones's daughter if need be, And here were
Speaker 1: the claws on Marilla's arm. But just as it is
Speaker 1: desirable at times to have a handwriting expert identify a
Speaker 1: bit of writing, mister Gubb felt that if he could
Speaker 1: prove that the claws tattooed on Marilla's arm where the
Speaker 1: work of mister Schrekenheim, his case would be complete. He
Speaker 1: longed for mister Schreckenheim's presence, but lacking that, he had
Speaker 1: a happy idea. Mister Enderberry, the tattooed man of the
Speaker 1: side show, should be a connoisseur and would perhaps be
Speaker 1: able to identify the eagle's claws. Leaving Marilla still eating,
Speaker 1: mister Gubb entered the side show tent. Mister Enderberry, seated
Speaker 1: on a blue property case, was engaged in biting the
Speaker 1: entire row of finger nails on his right hand, and
Speaker 1: a frown creased his brow. He was enwrapped by a
Speaker 1: long purple bathrobe which tied closely about his neck. As
Speaker 1: he caught sight of mister Gubb. He started slightly and
Speaker 1: doubled his hand into a fist, but he immediately calmed
Speaker 1: himself and assumed a nonchalant air. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: mister Endburry led a dog's life for years. He had
Speaker 1: loved Sorilla devotedly, but he was so bashful he had
Speaker 1: never dared to confess his love to her. And year
Speaker 1: after year he saw her smile upon one thin man
Speaker 1: after another. Now it was mister Lonardon. Again it was
Speaker 1: mister Winterbury, or it was mister Gubb, or Smith, or
Speaker 1: Jones or Doe. But for mister Enderberry, she seemed to
Speaker 1: have nothing but contempt. Mister Enderberry had first seen her
Speaker 1: when she was posing in the infant incubator, and had
Speaker 1: loved her even then, For he was twenty when she
Speaker 1: was but five. The coming of a new rival always
Speaker 1: affected him, as the coming of mister Gubb had, But
Speaker 1: for good reason. He hated mister Gubb worse than any
Speaker 1: of the others. Excuse me for begging your pardon, said
Speaker 1: mister Gubb. But in the detecative business, questions have to
Speaker 1: be asked. Have you ever chanced to happen to notice
Speaker 1: some tattoo work upon the arm of Miss Sorilla of
Speaker 1: the side show, I have, said mister Edinbury. Shortly a
Speaker 1: pair of eagle's claws, said mister Gubb. Can you tell me,
Speaker 1: from your knowledge and belief if the work they're done
Speaker 1: was the work of mister Harrer Schreckenheim. I can tell
Speaker 1: you if I want to, said mister Enderburry. What do
Speaker 1: you want to know for? If those claws are the
Speaker 1: work of mister Harrer Schreckenheim, said mister Gubb. I am
Speaker 1: prepared to offer to miss Sorilla her daughterly place in
Speaker 1: a home of wealth at Riverbank, Iowa. If those claws
Speaker 1: are Schrekenheim clause, Miss Sorilla is the daughter of mister
Speaker 1: Jonas Meadowbrook of the said Bergh. Beyond the question of
Speaker 1: a particle of doubt. Mister Enderburry looked at mister Gubb
Speaker 1: with surprise. That's not he began. And if Schrekenheim did
Speaker 1: those claws, You'll take Sorilla away from this show forever,
Speaker 1: he asked. Asked, I will, said Filo Gubb. If she
Speaker 1: desires to wish to go, then I have nothing whatever
Speaker 1: to say, said mister Enderburry. And he shut his mouth firmly,
Speaker 1: nor would he say more. Do you desire to wish
Speaker 1: me to understand that they are not the work of
Speaker 1: mister Herr Schreckenheim persisted mister Gubb, I have nothing to say,
Speaker 1: said mister Enderberry. I consider that conclusive, circumstantial evidence that
Speaker 1: they are, said Detective Gubb, and he clanked out of
Speaker 1: the side show. Marilla was still seated at the grub table,
Speaker 1: finishing her meal, and mister Gubb seated himself opposite her.
Speaker 1: As delicately as he could, he told of Jonas Meadowbrook
Speaker 1: and his lost daughter, of the home of wealth that
Speaker 1: awaited that daughter, and finally, of his belief that Cyrilla
Speaker 1: was that daughter. It was clear that Marilla was quite
Speaker 1: willing to take up a life of refinement and dieting
Speaker 1: if she was given an oper tunity such as mister
Speaker 1: Gubb was able to offer in the name of Jonas Meadowbrook.
Speaker 1: And this being so, he questioned her regarding the eagle's claws,
Speaker 1: Mister Gubb, she said, I wish to die on the
Speaker 1: spot if I know how I got them claws tattooed
Speaker 1: on me. If you ask me, I'll say it was
Speaker 1: the mystery of my life. They've been on me since
Speaker 1: I was a little girl, no bigger than why who
Speaker 1: is that? Mister Gubb turned his head quickly, but he
Speaker 1: was not in time to see a plump, good natured
Speaker 1: looking little German Americans slip quickly out of sight behind
Speaker 1: the cook tent. Neither did he see the glitter of
Speaker 1: the sun on a large silver golf cup the plump
Speaker 1: German American carried under his arm. But the German American
Speaker 1: had recognized mister Gubb, even through his disguise of a cowboy.
Speaker 1: No matter, said Marilla. But these claws have been on
Speaker 1: my arm since I was a wee little girl, mister Gubb.
Speaker 1: I always thought they was a trade mark of a hospital.
Speaker 1: I was not knowingly aware that hospitals had trade marks,
Speaker 1: said mister Gubb. Maybe they don't, said Zyrilla. But when
Speaker 1: I was a small child, I had an accident and
Speaker 1: had to be took to the hospital, and it wasn't
Speaker 1: until after that that anybody saw the eagle's claws on me.
Speaker 1: I considered that maybe it was like the mark the
Speaker 1: laundry puts on a handkerchief it has laundered. I don't
Speaker 1: know much about the manners of the ways of hospitals,
Speaker 1: admitted mister Gubb. And that may be so, but I
Speaker 1: have another idea. Did you ever hear of mister Harrer Schrekenheim,
Speaker 1: Only that mister Enderburry has always cross on the days
Speaker 1: of the month that he gets mister Shrekenheim's statements of
Speaker 1: money too. Mister Shrekenheim is the man that tattooed mister
Speaker 1: Enderburry so beautiful, but poor mister Enderberry has never been
Speaker 1: able to pay him in full. Filo Gubb arose, I
Speaker 1: am going to telegraph mister Meadowbrook to come on to
Speaker 1: wes Higgins immediately by the three p m. Afternoon train,
Speaker 1: he said, and you will meet him as your perternal father,
Speaker 1: and arranged to make your home with him as soon
Speaker 1: as you desire to wish it. At five o'clock that afternoon,
Speaker 1: mister Meadobrook, escorted by mister Gubb, entered the side show tent.
Speaker 1: The lady and gentlemen freaks were resting. Before evening, Grubb
Speaker 1: and all were gathered around Marilla's platform for the news
Speaker 1: that she was to leave the show to enter a
Speaker 1: home of wealth and refinement had spread quickly. Marilla herself
Speaker 1: was in tears. Now that the time had come, she
Speaker 1: was loath to part from her kind companions. I tell you,
Speaker 1: mister Gubb, mister Meadobrook said, as they entered the side show.
Speaker 1: If you have indeed found my daughter, you have made
Speaker 1: me a happy man. You cannot know how lonesome my
Speaker 1: life has been. Now which is she? She is the
Speaker 1: female lady in the pink satin dress on the platform,
Speaker 1: said mister Gubb. Mister Meadobrook looked towards Marilla and gasped,
Speaker 1: Why that that's the fat woman. That's the fat woman
Speaker 1: of a side show, he exclaimed. I thought, I why
Speaker 1: my daughter wouldn't be a fat woman in a side show.
Speaker 1: But she is, said mister Gubb. Great Scott, exclaimed mister Meadowbrook.
Speaker 1: For years, mister Meadobrook had retained a memory of his
Speaker 1: daughter as he had seen her last, a tender babe
Speaker 1: in long clothes as he rode toward West Higgins. However,
Speaker 1: he had thought about his daughter, and he had revised
Speaker 1: his conception of her. She was older now, of course,
Speaker 1: and he had finally settled the matter by deciding that
Speaker 1: she would be a dainty slip of a girl, probably
Speaker 1: a tight rope walker or one of the toe dancers
Speaker 1: in the Grand Spectacle, or perhaps even engaged as the
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollar beauty. But a fat lady, jes said
Speaker 1: a voice. Suddenly, you'll bet i've us here. Well, I
Speaker 1: fand my money years I have been collecting dot bill
Speaker 1: un Still you owe me. Now I come and you
Speaker 1: pay me all that you owe me, or I make trouble.
Speaker 1: The voice came from outside the tent, and with surprising agility,
Speaker 1: Detective Gubb dived under the platform and wriggled under the
Speaker 1: canvas wall. I don't know you a cent, exclaimed the
Speaker 1: voice of mister Enderburry. I've paid you for every bit
Speaker 1: of tattoo I have on me. Seven hundred dollars vas
Speaker 1: der contract, cried the voice of Herr Schreckenheim. Ound ten
Speaker 1: dollars is due me? Yet I wanted? Well, you'll keep
Speaker 1: on wanting it, said mister Enderberry's voice. Look here, look
Speaker 1: at my chest. There's the eagle you did on me.
Speaker 1: Do you see any claws on it? No? You don't. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to pay for claws that are not
Speaker 1: on me. No, sir, claws. I'd do some claws on you,
Speaker 1: don't I ven i'd do that eagle, asked the German American. Yes,
Speaker 1: but they're not on me now are they asked mister Enderburry.
Speaker 1: You can go and collect from the person that has them.
Speaker 1: What do I care for her? Now? She's going to
Speaker 1: quit the circus business. I've paid for all the tattoo
Speaker 1: that's on me. You go and collect ten dollars for
Speaker 1: those claws from Cyrilla. Und how does she get those
Speaker 1: claws on her, asked harr Schreckenheim. Shrewdly, I'll tell you how,
Speaker 1: said mister Enerbury. You remember when Griggs and Barton's circus
Speaker 1: burned down years ago. Well, Sorilla was burned in that fire,
Speaker 1: burned on the arm, and they took her to a
Speaker 1: hospital and her arm wouldn't heal. So somebody had to
Speaker 1: furnish some skin for a skin grafting job. And I
Speaker 1: did it. The piece they took had those claws on it.
Speaker 1: That's what happened. I gave those eagles claws to cure her.
Speaker 1: And I've hung around her all these years like a
Speaker 1: faithful dog, and she don't care a hang for me.
Speaker 1: And now she's going away. Go and collect for those
Speaker 1: claws from her. I haven't got them. She's going to
Speaker 1: be rich. She can pay you. Simultaneously, there was an
Speaker 1: exclamation from mister Meadowbrook, a cry from Syrilla, and a short,
Speaker 1: sharp yell from outside the tent. Mister Gubb entered, spurs first,
Speaker 1: creeping backward under the canvas. As he backed from under
Speaker 1: the platform, it was observed that he held a shoe
Speaker 1: about number eight size in one hand, and that a
Speaker 1: foot was in the shoe, and the foot on a leg,
Speaker 1: and the leg on a short, plump elderly German American,
Speaker 1: who yelled as he was dragged into the tent on
Speaker 1: his back. In one hand of the German American was
Speaker 1: a large silver golf cup with a deep dent on
Speaker 1: one side. As mister Gubb arose to his feet, still
Speaker 1: holding the German American tattoo artist's foot in his hand,
Speaker 1: he said, mister Meadowbrook, the detecative business is not always
Speaker 1: completely satisfactory in all kinds of respects. And it looks
Speaker 1: as if it appeared that the daughter I found for
Speaker 1: you is somebody else's. But if you will look at
Speaker 1: the other end of the assaulter and batterer I have
Speaker 1: in hand. You will see that I have recovered the
Speaker 1: silver golf cup trophy once again for the second time.
Speaker 1: And that, said mister Meadowbrook as he took the cup
Speaker 1: from the German American's hand, is remarkable work. The ordinary
Speaker 1: detective is usually satisfied to recover stolen property once, but
Speaker 1: you have recovered this cup twice. The motto of my
Speaker 1: detecative business, said mister Gubb, modestly is perfection. No matter
Speaker 1: how many times mister Gubb might have said more, but
Speaker 1: he was interrupted by Princess Zozo, the snake charmer, who
Speaker 1: had walked around Soyrilla and unhooked two of the hooks
Speaker 1: at the top of Sorilla's low necked gown. Look, she exclaimed,
Speaker 1: and she pointed to a second pair of eagle's claws
Speaker 1: tattooed between Marilla's shoulder blades. Without a word, mister Meadowbrook
Speaker 1: took five hundred dollars from his purse and handed them
Speaker 1: to mister Schrekenheim. That pays you for the cup, he said,
Speaker 1: and then turning to Cyril, come to my arms, my
Speaker 1: long lost daughter. After Sorilla had hugged her father affectionately,
Speaker 1: mister Gubb and the freaks laid him on the ground,
Speaker 1: and by fanning him vigorously, were able to bring him
Speaker 1: back to life. Mister Meadowbrook's first act, upon opening his
Speaker 1: eyes was to hold out his hand to mister Gubb.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Gub, he panted. It's a big price, but
Speaker 1: I'll keep my word. The ten thousand dollars shall be yours.
Speaker 1: Into ordinary circumstances, said mister Gubb gravely. Ten thousand dollars
Speaker 1: would be a largely big price to pay for recovering
Speaker 1: back a lost daughter, mister Meadobrook. But into the present case,
Speaker 1: it don't amount to more than ten dollars per pound
Speaker 1: of daughter, which ain't a largely great rate per pound.
Speaker 1: And of the eagle's claus by Ellis Parker Butler