WHAT THE TELEPHONE TOLD All West's indifference vanished instantly.

He had to pry the paper out, so closely had it been wedged in beneath the closed knife blade, and it required a moment in which to straighten it out so that the writing was discernable.

Even then the marks were so faint, and minute, he could not really decipher them until he made use of a magnifying glass lying on the desk.

A woman's hand, using a pencil, had hastily inscribed the words on a scrap of common paper, apparently torn from some book--the inspiration of an instant, perhaps, a sudden hope born of desperation.

He fairly had to dig the words out, letter by letter, copying them on an old envelope until he had the message complete: "_Please notify police to search Seminole quick_." West read this over, word by word, again and again.