The Stolen White Elephant | Page 9

great pleasure; when it

was finished the chief made a little speech while he put his share in his
pocket, in which he said, "Enjoy it, boys, for you've earned it; and,
more than that, you've earned for the detective profession undying
fame."
A telegram arrived, which read:
MONROE, MICH., 10 P.M. First time I've struck a telegraph office in
over three weeks. Have followed those footprints, horseback, through
the woods, a thousand miles to here, and they get stronger and bigger
and fresher every day. Don't worry-inside of another week I'll have the
elephant. This is dead sure. DARLEY, Detective.
The chief ordered three cheers for "Darley, one of the finest minds on
the force," and then commanded that he be telegraphed to come home
and receive his share of the reward.
So ended that marvelous episode of the stolen elephant. The
newspapers were pleasant with praises once more, the next day, with
one contemptible exception. This sheet said, "Great is the detective! He
may be a little slow in finding a little thing like a mislaid elephant he
may hunt him all day and sleep with his rotting carcass all night for
three weeks, but he will find him at last if he can get the man who
mislaid him to show him the place!"
Poor Hassan was lost to me forever. The cannonshots had wounded
him fatally, he had crept to that unfriendly place in the fog, and there,
surrounded by his enemies and in constant danger of detection, he had
wasted away with hunger and suffering till death gave him peace.
The compromise cost me one hundred thousand dollars; my detective
expenses were forty-two thousand dollars more; I never applied for a
place again under my government; I am a ruined man and a wanderer
on the earth but my admiration for that man, whom I believe to be the
greatest detective the world has ever produced, remains undimmed to
this day, and will so remain unto the end.

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