SALE OF BOOTS AND SHOES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 333, 8 March 1910, Page 6

SALE OF BOOTS AND SHOES

111. Blake hurried so far and so long that '' it was nearly half-past four when he reached his rooms in Messenger Square, ; and asked Simmons if there were any telegrams for him. 1 "Two, sir." said Simmons. '' Blake tore them open, The first ope • evidently afforded his satisfaction, but 1 when his eyes fell on the second, he gave a cry of dismay, oast a liurrieu 1 glance at the clock, and bolted into the street, where the taxi that had brou.-ht I him was in the act of moving oil'. ° "Thrcadneedhi Street!" he yelled in frenzied tons. '"And a fiver if vo u do it • in a quarter of an hour! - ' The taxi leapt forward, and Blake, collapsing into his seat, re-read his tek'-' , gram. [ "Arriving home, found wife decoyed ky false telegram from me to go' to office to meet me there five o'clock. ! She left message, asking me to communieate with you if I came home. Am i going at once to office. Understand noj thing.—Hugh Collier." Blake had not the slightest doubt as to the intent of the lure or its origin. ' The telegram he had first opened settled that, together with various scraps of information he had gathered during '• theaftcrnoon at the Venezuelan Ministry, and among old West Indians. There was no doubt that James Harper had married Ferdnand Pereira's mother. But there was no doubt also that J-.unes Harper had been tricked into a marriage by a quadroon as worthless ns she was lovely, and whose conduct drove him, within three days of his marriage, to leave her to her caprices and fly the country. Pereira had been born two years later, and with the stubborness duo to the half-savage mind, had persisted in regarding himself as James Harper's Son. The rest was easy to divine. Revenge and avarice prompted the removal of Harpers niece and heiress, and of Harper himself. And the estate at once intestate, who was to gainsay his claim? The first stroke of five was booming out as Blake leapt from the car opposite Mortimer's Building in Threadneedle Street, and raced up the stairs t» the vacant offices he had seen that morning, and the keys of which he had adyisedly retained. He turned the lock noiselessly, and stepped into the room. At the wall to his right a man was standing, his eye fixed to a long hollow tribe that was pressed against the wall. At his feet, on two trestles, a machine was whirring softly, but driving round with a vertiginous rapidity a wheel that was connected with an extremely thin tube that was inserted in the wall. This tube was fitted with a magazine like a rifle's, and was easily movable in any desired direction by means of a pair of tight forceps the man held in his right hand. "Ah, at last!" said the man, in Spanish, moving the tube quickly to the left, while a look of suppressed eagerness and fierce hatred overspread his face. But before he had focussed, Blake had sprung, sent the machine flying with a well-directed kick at the trestle, and caught the mulatto by the throat. The fight, was fierce, for the assassin was no mean antagonist, but in two minutes it was over, and Ferdnand Pereira lay handcuffed on the floor. "I don't think the subsequent" proceedings will amuse vou." said Blalce drily, as he handed him a few minutes •later to a constable, and saw- him off to Bow Street. Then he went up to Mr. Hai per'; office to report progress, and to show Mrs. Collier and her astounded husband how nearly they had come into the zone of death when they had moved towards the fatal chair. "I'll make tint cheque five thousand." said Mrs. Coliler. snd she did.- "Answers."

At the MELBOURNE. Advancing costs oi all leather goods make the majority of our March sale items less than wholesome. Prices will be very much higher, but they'll not be as low again this year. Do you understand why? Because the boo'ts we now offer are ma_d u from leathers that soid in the raw 50 per cent, lower than similar hides could be bought for to-dav. The foresighted and thrifty are called lucky! It it's lucky to be wise, be wise and profit by this sale. Buy NOW while you can at such prices as these: Men's 25s welted boots for lCs 9d; ladies' 17s fid Gflbson shoes, in tan and black, 14s Cd; ladies' box calf shoss, with patent caps, 8s lid; ladies' 2-bar chrome siloes, 5s lid; chrome ward shoes, 5s lid; leather slippers, with sewn soles, 3s lid; men's strong bluchers, 4s lid; men's kip shooters, 7s fid; men's solicl kip waFeftights, 14s Gd; jnen's grand wearing heavy chrome shooters 13s 6d; men's light chrome boots, 10s (id; men's heavy willow calf and box calf Derby balmorals, standard, screwed and and stitched, half-inch, thick out-soles, and steel heel-plates, beautifully finished, TGs 9d; absolutely the cnampion boot of Taranaki; sold elsewhere at- 255. There are hundreds p of other astonishing baragins. Come and see them.