Produced by David E. Brown and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) LANAGAN [Illustration: “TWO MORE SHOTS TORE THROUGH AND SPRAYED US WITH SPLINTERS”] LANAGAN _AMATEUR DETECTIVE_ BY EDWARD H. HURLBUT _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY FREDERIC DORR STEELE_ New York STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY 1913 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1913 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I WHITHER THOU GOEST 3 II THE PATHS OF JUDGMENT 31 III THE CONSPIRACY OF ONE 63 IV WHOM THE GODS DESTROY 93 V THE AMBASSADOR’S STICK-PIN 121 VI WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWETH 151 VII THE PENDELTON LEGACY 181 VIII AT THE END OF THE LONG NIGHT 209 IX THE DOMINANT STRAIN 235 X OUT OF THE DEPTHS 263 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS BY FREDERICK DORR STEELE “Two more shots tore through, and sprayed us with splinters” _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE “Then Lanagan took his leisurely turn, drawing up an easy chair” 96 “He lit a match” 260 “On the floor they placed the figure they bore, a stalwart figure of a man” 280 LANAGAN _AMATEUR DETECTIVE_ I WHITHER THOU GOEST I WHITHER THOU GOEST Jack Lanagan of the San Francisco _Enquirer_ was conceded to have “arrived” as the premier police reporter of San Francisco. This honour was his not solely through a series of brilliant newspaper feats in his especial field, but as well by reason of an entente that permitted him to call half the patrolmen on the force by their given names; enjoy the confidences of detective sergeants, a close-mouthed brotherhood; dine tête-à-tête in private at French restaurants with well-groomed police captains on canvasback or quail out of season, and sit nonchalantly on a corner of the chief’s desk and absent-mindedly smoke up the chief’s two-bit cigars.