RECREATION 



VOL. XXIII 



SEPTEMBER 1905 



No. 3 



THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE GOOSE 



FOREWORD 



By DAN BEARD 



HERE used to be a 

 mystery about the 

 old building at No. 

 36 Maiden Lane, a 

 mystery which for 

 many people re- 

 mains unsolved to 

 this day. 



In the building 

 there was a certain 

 room which was 

 connected with the 

 common passage- 

 way by a door, but 

 only a favored few were ever allowed 

 to pass the threshold. The door was 

 invariably locked and the bolts were 

 only withdrawn in response to a knock, 

 but the stranger always found when 

 the door was open that the entrance 

 was blocked by the form of a grim old 

 man whose stalwart figure had not yet 

 bowed to time. 



The old fellow wore his shirt sleeves 

 rolled up above his elbows, displaying 

 a pair of muscular arms which were a 

 source of envy to many a young ath- 

 lete. Likely enough the old man's face 



and hands would be smeared with the 

 grime that comes from contact with 

 machine grease and forge smoke ; but 

 the eyes which peered through the 

 grime were the eyes of an artist. 



Few, if any, strangers advanced fur- 

 ther than the threshold of the room and 

 the interior was unknown to all save 

 the exclusive set whom the old man 

 chose to admit to his den. The interior 

 of the apartment was not tidy, and a 

 good housekeeper would have called it 

 dirty. A forge, a lathe and a number 

 of tools suggested a workroom of some 

 sort, and the contents of the grimy 

 glass cases at one side of the room re- 

 moved all doubt on the subject, for the 

 dingy glass protected from dust a lot 

 of scrupulously clean guns. 



This was the gunsmith shop, or more 

 properly speaking, the studio where 

 the famous Patrick Mullins turned out 

 those gems of artistic and mechanical 

 skill so highly prized by sportsmen. 

 Mr. Mullins' ambition in life was to 

 make the best gun that skill and con- 

 scientious loving care could produce. 



Guns forged in England of Bernards 



19s 



