"I saw ye snakin" in an" ye didn"t latch the door after yez," blurted Phelan, taking a step nearer the j.a.p and still watching him with profound suspicion.
"What you want?" asked the j.a.p with a slight tremor of apprehension.
"Information!" cried Phelan. "What are yez doin" in here?" Phelan"s eye swept the room for some evidence of an attempt to despoil. Though he saw none he did not relinquish his att.i.tude of suspicion. The j.a.p seemed about to speak and then stopped. As Phelan continued to glower at him, he snapped out:
"I no can tell."
Triumph blazed in Phelan"s eyes. Now he was sure he had a thief and he determined to handle the situation with all the majesty of his official person.
"So yez can"t tell what yez"re doin" in this house," he said with fine sarcasm.
The j.a.p shook his head emphatically and returned a positive, "No tell!"
Phelan balanced his club for a moment and strode toward the j.a.p.
"Yez better come with me," he said through compressed lips.
The j.a.p started back with a frightened exclamation.
"You no take me to jail?" he uttered, while his yellow features twitched with fear.
"In a minute," replied the elated officer, "if yez don"t tell me what yez"re doin" here. I"ve been lookin" out for this place while Mr.
Gladwin was in foreign parts, and"----
"You know Mr. Gladwin?" broke in the j.a.p, excitedly.
"No, I ain"t never seen him," said Phelan, "but I know this is his house an" I been keepin" my eye on it fer him."
"Mr. Gladwin--he my boss!" and the j.a.p grinned from ear to ear.
This solution of the mystery never entered the policeman"s head and he resented the surprise.
"Do yez mean yez"re his valley?" he asked vindictively, refusing to relinquish his suspicion.
"Ees!" and again the j.a.p grinned.
Phelan read the grin as a distinct insult to his intelligence and he pounced upon the little brown man in an even more caustic tone:
"If yez"re are Mr. Gladwin"s valley, what are ye doin" here an" him thousands o" miles away across the ocean in Agypt an" Jerusalem an"
the like?"
Now it was Phelan"s turn to grin as he saw the j.a.p shrink and turn upon him a pair of wildly alarmed eyes.
"Come! Come! I"m waitin" fer an answer," The cat had his mouse backed into a corner and mentally licked his chops.
"I no can tell," stammered the j.a.p, desperately.
"That"s enough!" ripped out Officer 666, grabbing the j.a.p by the shoulder and yanking him toward the doorway.
"No--no--wait!" gasped the struggling prisoner. "You no say if I tell you, plees?"
"Tell me first," grunted Phelan, releasing his grip.
The j.a.p ducked his head in every direction as if fearful that the walls had ears, then said in an impressive whisper:
"My boss--Mr. Gladwin--home!"
"Misther Gladwin home! Here in New York!" There was both incredulity and amazement in Phelan"s voice.
"Ees!" bleated the j.a.p and his grin returned.
"Well, why didn"t you say so before?" said Phelan angrily, at which the fidgety little brown son of Nippon hastened to explain:
"No one should know. He come all in much secret. He go boat to Boston.
No use name. No one know he Mr. Gladwin. He say, "Bateato"--me Bateato--"Bateato," he say, "no tell I come home--sure," he say, and Bateato he no tell."
Officer Phelan yielded to the grip of the mystery and his att.i.tude toward the j.a.p changed.
"What did he want to snake home that away fer?"
"I no know," nodded Bateato.
"Yez no know, eh? Well, is he comin" here?--do yez no know that?"
"He tell me--come here and wait--feex thees room--he come here or telephone."
The straightforward manner of the little j.a.p had almost completely disarmed the policeman"s suspicion, but he surrendered reluctantly.
"Did he give yez a key to get in here?" Phelan fired as his last shot.
"Ees--he give me all bunch keys--look!" and Bateato produced a gold key ring with a gold tag and a number of keys attached. Phelan examined it and read aloud the name Travers Gladwin engraved on the tag. Handing them back to the j.a.p, he addressed him impressively, gesturing his emphasis with his baton:
"I guess yez"re all right, but I"ll have me eye on yez from the outside, mind that--and if yez"re foolin" me or tryin" to get away with anythin""----
Phelan snapped his lips together and with a mighty lunge plucked an imaginary prisoner out of the atmosphere and shook it ferociously.
Then stepping back to the doorway he shut one eye with a fierce wink and jerked out:
"Are yez wise?"
The profound pantomime was too much for Bateato, who stared after the vanishing officer in open-mouthed amazement.
CHAPTER VIII.
ART, MYSTERY AND LOVE.