Show P 7 th G green i reen gin cloak ak by ly YO YORKE R 1 E DA DAVIS a service copyright 1926 v CHAPTER ill continued evidently n doctor Mc I Allster cAlister find bad no share lit in tills idon idea for lie lost interest in the young nitin man the moment lie was wag satisfied ills his ident identification I 1 flea final of jilin lind had been correct when the train stopped nt at oak ridge and we followed ll 11 I 1 harvey haney out of the cir car the doctor did not cast n single glance after fits retreating figure by rare good fortune we found nn an auto pulled up beside the station platform waiting for the train a n lapping flapping dilapidated mud stained ramshackle affair with a driver to match after a moment or two of canny bargaining on the doctors part we found ourselves ourse hes jolting along over oer a n frozen rutty road toward our destination theres the house said paid the driver nt last rut but youre pretty late inte for the lie funeral if lf lathat that 9 what youve come for it must be about over oer hv by tills this time neither of us had thought of ohp funeral and the sight eight of a hearse and a single car waiting there in the windswept road gave gae us with our errand a rather disagreeable sense of incongruity that feeling was heightened when leaving our hags bags lit in the hall we were shown by the lie undertaker into it a large dim front parlor here we siw saw deith death in its most con form forin A little group of people sitting lit in rows in little folding ch chairs n minister reading tile the service it a quartette from the village choir ready to sing another hymn when lie should have love done when nt tile the end of the service con ice tile customary opportunity was offered for B n last look lonk nt at the body hedv which lay there in its block casket my mv companion li rose and nodding to me to follow jilin him took tonic his placa in tile alip little that was filing round tile the coffan I 1 could not do it tint that ad act somehow seemed to put the crowning touch upon our intrusion oil oh I 1 know how you felt about it said paid my chief when the sen service ice wis was 01 over er the people gone and we were left alone in the alip old house alone tint that Is with the addition of mallora im glad I 1 to go through it again though im plad glad I 1 did even cen tit at some porn violence to what they nil our better instincts I 1 have hae missed my m look into that atice for a good deal you recognize I 1 cried tie lie anyone you know long iong no ago out there in new Zen lanill not individually sald s ild tile doctor with n smile nt at my mv sudden I 1 at the sudden recession of those he better t instincts of mine not inah id d unity though flint I 1 might ml alit have hae was well within the possibilities but lie he belongs to a type that I 1 knew till all too well did it ever eier occur to you ion to in won der why it Is that full gray bear heanes and spectacles tire are always ans regarded as infallible indications of benevolent r rc rut but theres n sir sear ile be neath thit that pray gray heard beard thit that was not conle come by bv in any peaceful pence ful occupation and even without it the lie whole construction st of the skull and jaw tile facial angle the shape of the ears cars all proclaim him film it rough customer tild sort of man who might well liae have a past that lie he was vainly trying to es cupe cape from no upon the whole I 1 nm nin glad that ashton left us free to work out tills this problem without holding wit us responsible to him film for our re knits 4 our conversation was interrupted d there by the appearance of tit at file doctors elbow it was rather to ills his face ns as lie re read ad the note from miton amiton A that the doctor handed film it was easy to see from ills his suppressed smile of contemptuous 9 that the district attorney ind atod us ns as a couple ot of cranks who might safely be 1 P knitted tu to anilse themselves upon scene of crime ns as they chose ml right he be said folding up till the ahe 2 u wd ud thrusting it in ian n litz lifa flu pocket chet malf yourselves yours eliea selves tit nt home do you plan to spend the night lieret two or three nights perhaps said tho the doctor we want to do a little looking about well sali said mallory with jocular sare asni if you ou flud tho the secret of the old mails pasti past or meet up with that mysterious woman that ono olio of the witnesses about nt at the inquest why le ie me ine know you mean to spend the night here yourself dont you I 1 asked well part of it perli tips ive ie pot got some looking clout to do hut but you sou mind me ive pot got a key and can lot myself in nt at uny aline an hour later after a bountiful but bat vilely cooked men nt at n little restaurant near the ballway santion we e returned to the house art and began our in in earnest the first arst room of course to attract our attention was the lie room where liere the murder took or place tile the study on oil the lie third floor across one end of the lie room ran lun it a rude set bet of homemade home mado shelves helves occupied perhaps per hops ii liv by two or 0 three hundred undred li nondescript volumes ol ume A very large lii ifie antich littered lost dusk stood in the lie middle of the larger pirt of tile room while in the alcove was it hapli deal table of the sort used by b draughts men A stool enod i brime le lafiro firo it and a swivel chair lit in front of the lie desk in one of the lie numerous corners of tile lie room was uns till nn immense tin inper which seemed to lime have served the purpose of n waste griper basket the detectives tec tives lind had evidently examined the 4 a I 1 was holding one of them out in my hands and poring over it contents of it in their search for it clue to the murdered mans identity identify but find not dot thought the content 3 worth preserving there was a litter of small scraps about it and that was nit nil A rusty oil off stove store completed the lie tale of the furniture and then there were ills his maps map they were curiously disposed for a llla annn who made a habit of geography they lay about the floor in great brent rolls tb the one or two I 1 looked nt after roy my preliminary flint nury glance about the apartment were of recent flate date and bore tile stamp of the british board ot of trade I 1 was holding one of them out in my hands and poring over tt it wondering rather idly what possible interest tills this group of tiny corall coral reefs could have had tor a ninn who lived us as henry morgan tin had lived here in till ahli village hinge of oak illdage whet a sharp exclamation from doctor INIc Allster drew my attention away froin it ile he was standing close beside a bl b green lamp and bending over oer something which lie lind had just taken from the lie top drawer of tile desk I 1 shivered a little when mien I 1 saw what it was wag saw flint it was it alln string the express loll of the doctors tors race fico as lie turned toward tile me betrayed both indignation und excitement IT the ile of crime still goes on oil the alisis that telling the truth Is till an easy thing filing to do that it 21 man does tell let tile truth unless lie to lie tile the inin who culic caine up tip herr here field found tile the body of henry morgan testified that tanu lie lind had been strangled by it noose they thought it was waa true hv by a enose if 19 11 alie 0 ony only 00 aind land they ever heard of put nut look oo ic a at t tills this ile he held it out to me file and my repugnance pug nance ilance forgotten foi gotten I 1 took tonic it in iland instead of one the string contained two one near the end the other about fifteen inches away awas they were led ailed just alike and were knots knot s of tile ived fixed loop var variety lety very tery like a bowline if there were only a knot tit at the end said the lie doctor tile lie rest of the string could have been drawn through it to form it noose but of conrat with tills second knot ot of equal elz alzi that becomes impossible the mal was strangled not by a noose at all 11 II but by a tourniquet a little stick 11 lead pencil perhaps run through ill atu two loops and twisted 1 look herol here I 1 lie he cried the next nest moment with rising excitement heres tle rest of the lie 11 ile he held out for my inspection a 0 ion lung straight stemmed briar pipe and an I 1 was able to see just tit at the base ol of the bowl it shiny circular indetta In denta tion ion tile tho ghastly clearness of tit th demonstration of the lie murderers method sickened me it little and I 1 dropped the pipe rother rather quickly my chief was pacing up tip and down tile the roon talking to himself 1 I nevet ici believed in that hat noose boose not really believed in it you tire are undoubtedly right about it said 1 I siut but Is the discovery lin fill por tant does it make tiny any real difference depends on the point of view sald said lie to the lie late henry morgan I 1 sup suppose jose tt it ninde no dirre difference rence at nit all to an ethnologist it makes till all tile the it in tile lie world the cull call aslan uses tile lie noose with him it tins has been the instrument of execution of nf murder and all of sti suicide feldo from time immemorial nut but there are other pitres that never heard of it the tn lit my part of the world acu r did with them it was always tills 11 lie he up tip the string as ai lie spoke all and jerked it taut flint in both hands its it the lie instrument of ceremonial murder mi iKler they used to send widows out of the world tills way until flat alio british government put it stop to that etiquette then and only omy then did I 1 realize the importance of the discovery and art tile girl tit at the lie ImpI till I 1 questioned bould those two loops be familiar to her UP ile nodded gravely 1111 ill tell you tills this said lie im glad im under no obligation to report to asleton until im ready then ile he did a characteristic thing lie ile put the tiling thing back in tile the drawer where lie he had found it closed the drawer Irn wor up tit with n R shrug of its ills broad shoulders and salt said in obviously good falth faith come lets begin rather to my surprise the lie doctor made straight for the wastepaper waste paper basket growled n little at the fools who had emptied it and patiently gathered together the lie few scraps that were left some clinging in the interstices of the basket some littered about the floor outside As I 1 bent over to help jilin he held out tin nn irregular bit of thick white paper for my inspection he was waa et a queer geographer sure enough was waa fits comment lie ile tore up his fits maps tills Is part of one theres a fact which might well lime have previous investigators as curious cu ilous but apparently y did lit not if lie tore them up tip it was because lie he was through with them and if lie ou could get through with thein so that lie he could be suro sure lie he want them any more it was because they were meant to serve seno him film somo some single definite purpose when they had so served it or land had failed to serve sene it then lie destroyed doMio cd them to pet get them out of the way logical it absolutely so far fair as I 1 can see se e presently he enri can led another scrap over to the draugh ting table scrutinized its bare surface rather minutely rind and ill then ten offered this feconda moi moisol set ot of paper for my inspection well lints one thing lie he did with ills his maps lie he pinned them bliem down on tills table of ills hia with thumbtacks thumb tacks ile HP pulled open a little drawer in tile table took out first some pencils rulers and compasses and finally a tangular ninde of worden rods with flexible double joints tit at tile the corners do you know what tills this Is he waked for a wonder I 1 did and lie ho did not that was a situation which arose but rarely its n pantograph said aid I 1 its used for cop in on nn tin en enlarged or i eja deduced educed ceI scale you can set the scale scala to anything an tiling you vou like what h it it means then sald said the doctor turning away front from the anble with n nod of satis facCon no he spread ills maps out here and when they on a large enough scale to suit stilt film lie he drew them up tip bigger and then lien tore them up no flint wont do theres some intervening pi icess ile he needed those thop tho p charts on in a langr scale than lip lie could got of and cul enlarged arged chent until they suited that tha unknown purpose of ill ills nut but of that purpose itself weve found no trace we ve may never neer find ft trace lilt if it lies 8 left a clew to it anywhere I 1 think we inny hope to find it TO BE CONTINUED |