tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">166

XIX.   'STRANGE! MISTAKEN! HEARTLESS!' 172 XX.   'WE MUST UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER' 178 XXI.   'LET ME LAUGH!' 191 XXII.   'THERE IS DANGER—NEAR!' 202 XXIII.   'YOU ARE SUFFERING IN MY STEAD' 215 XXIV.   'IT IS OUR FIRST CLUE' 222 XXV.   'IT'S A SNARE' 228 XXVI.   A COLUMBIAN GUARD 234 XXVII.   'I'D SWEAR TO THEM HANDS ANYWHERE' 238 XXVIII.   'NOW DOWN!' 249 XXIX.   'FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!' 257 XXX.   'IT SHALL NOT BE ALL SUSPENSE' 263 XXXI.   SIR CARROLL RAE 267 XXXII.   FOUND DEAD 272 XXXIII.   'A MERCYFUL DISPENSAYSHUN' 281 XXXIV.   'EUREKA!' 293 XXXV.   AFTER ALL 302

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AGAINST ODDS:

A DETECTIVE STORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR

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CHAPTER I.

'CHICARGO GITS MY MONEY.'

'Eureka!'

It was I, Carl Masters, of the secret service, so called, who uttered this exclamation, although not a person of the exclamatory school; and small wonder, for I was standing beneath the dome of the Administration Building, and I had but that hour arrived at the World's Fair.

I was not there as a sight-seer, not on pleasure bent, and even those first moments of arrival, I knew well, were not to be wasted.

I had come hither straight from the Terminal Station, seeking this stately keystone to the great Fair, not to steep my senses and fill my eyes with beauty in myriad forms, but to seek out the great man whose masterful hand was to create for me the passport which was to be my 'open sesame' to all within this fair