Then the master bent over his desk without a leg to stand on.
SNAPSHOT ARTILLERY.
By BERTRAM LEBHAR.
(This interesting story was commenced in No. 153 of Nick Carter Stories. Back numbers can always be obtained from your news dealer or the publishers.)
CHAPTER XII.
THE FRAME-UP.
During the two hours in which Hawley had been confined in a cell at police headquarters, waiting to be taken to court, Gale had suggested to Chief of Police Hodgins that it would be a good plan to take the prisoner’s camera to a professional photographer and have the film developed so as to make the case against the Camera Chap as complete as possible.
The chief had agreed that this would be a wise precaution. He had a friend who ran a portrait studio a few doors from police headquarters, and he and Gale proceeded to this place.
Without the slightest suspicion as to its contents, they handed Hawley’s camera to the photographer and accompanied him into his dark room so as to be able to swear conscientiously in court, later on, that they had been present when the film was taken out and developed, and could positively identify it.
Great was their astonishment when the camera was opened and out popped a jack-in-the-box, with its fingers derisively extending from its nose.
In addition to the cheap film camera—the one which Chief Hodgins now held as evidence—the Camera Chap had also purchased a toy which is to be found in every toy shop in the world.