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Show The Blind Man's Eyes By WILLIAM MacHARG EDWIN EALMER Copyright by Little, tlrowa and Company BASIL SANTOINE Gabriel Warden, Seattle capital-la.. capital-la.. tcllH h'a buuer he Is exp-':lliiff a caller, to be Rlmllt-'J without j-.n8t.lofi. He Informs his wife of dantrer trjat thr'-u'ena him if he pumuH k course hu considers the only r.r.norable one. Wanton leaves the r.ou la his car and meets a man Mom he takt-a Into tne machine. ma-chine. When the car returns home. Warden U found da.l, murdered, and alone. The caller, a younn man, has been at Warden's house, but leaven unobserved. iob Con-nery, Con-nery, conductor, receives orders to hold train for a party. Five men and a fcirl board the train, the Karttern Mxpres. The father of the K'rl, Mr. Dome, is the person for whom the train was held, f hlllp D. Katon, a youri man. nl.'o boarded the train. Dome tells Ids dauithter and tils Be retary, Don Av.ry. to Hud out what they can concerning him. The two make Eaton's acquaintance. CHAPTER IV Continued. A Th canyon tliroi:yli the snowdrifts, bored by tlie Blunt rotury plow the night before, vuis ulmost lilleil ; drifts of stiiiw elht or ten feet hlh nnd, In pieces, pointing still higher, cnnie up to the rear of the train; the end of th platform Itself wn.3 burled under un-der tr.ree feet of snow; the men standing stand-ing on the platform could barely look oyer (lie higher drifts. "There's no way from the train In that direction now," Harriet Dome lumer.ted as she saw this. "What shall we do with ourselves?" "CMbbnge, Harriet? Yon and I?" Avery Invited. She shook her head. "If we have to play cards, get a fourth and muke It euctltiii ; but must it be cards? Isn't there some way we can get out for a walkV "There's the top of the cars. Miss ronm," Katon suggested. "If we could get up these, we'd get a fairly decent walk and see everything." "t!God 1" the girl applauded-. "How do we get up?" "I'll see the conductor about It," Eaton offered ; and before Avery could dlscuns It, he started buck through the train. . - " CHAPTER V The Hand In the Aisle. Thft man whose Interest In the pns-nenger pns-nenger In Section Three of the last eleepor was most definite and understandable under-standable and, therefore, most openly cute, was Conductor Conner. Con-nery Con-nery had passed through the Pullman everul times during the morning, had een the hand which hung out Into the aisle from between the curtains; but the only definite thought that came to him was that Dome was a ound sleeper. Nearly nil the passengers had now breakfasted. Connery, therefore, took seat la the diner, breakfasted leisurely lei-surely and after finishing, walked back through the train. Dome' by now must be up, and might wish to ee the conductor. A Connery entered the last sleeper Ills gaze fell on the dial of pointers which, communicating with the pushbuttons push-buttons In the different berths, tell the porter which section Is calling him, nd lie snw that while all the other arrows were pointing upward, the arrow ar-row marked "3" was pointing down. Dome was up, then for this was the rrov denoting his berth or at least was Kake and had recently rung his bell. Conomy looked In upon the porter, who wn cleaning up the washroom. "Section Three's getting up?" he asked. "No, Mlstah Connery not yet," the porter answered. "What did he ring for?" Connery looked to the dial, and the porter came out of the washroom and looked t It also. "Fo' the lan's sake. I didn't hear Bo ring. Mistah Connery. It rnus' have been when I was out on the platform." plat-form." "Answer It, then." Connery directed. As the negro started to obey. Connery Con-nery followed him Into the open car. He could see over the negro's shoulder shoul-der the hand sticking out Into the Isle, and this time, at sight of It, Connery started violently. If Dome bad rung, he must have moved ; a man who Is awake does not let bis hand ba.ng out In the aisle. Yet the hand had not moved. The long, sensitive fingers fell In precisely the same position posi-tion as before, stiffly separated a llttlo one from another; they had not changed their position at all. "Walt !" Connery seized the porter by the arm. "I'll answer It myself." He dismissed the negro and waited until he had gone. He looked about and assured himself that the car, except ex-cept for himself and the man lying behind the curtains of Section Three, was emply. Walking briskly as though he were carelessly passing up the aisle, he brushed hard against the hand and looked hack, exclaiming an apology for his carelessness. The band fell back heavily, Inertly, and resumed Its former position and hung as white and lifeless as before. No response to the apology came from behind the curtains; the man In the berth had not rot ed. Connery rushed back to he curtalnj and touched the hand wlrh his fingers. It was cold! Me seized the hand and felt It all ver; (hen, gasping, he parted the cur-ralns cur-ralns and looked Into the berth. He aitretl; Uls breath whistled out; his . shoulders Jerked, and he drew back, Instinctively pressing his two clenched hands against his chest and the pocket which held President Jurvls' order. The man In the berth was lying on his right side facing the aisle; the left side of his face was thus exposed; and It hud been crushed In by a violent vio-lent blow from some heavy weapon which, too blunt to cut the skin and bring blood, had fractured the cheekbone cheek-bone and bludgeoned the temple. The proof of murderous violence was so plain that the conductor, as he saw the face In the light, recoiled with staring eyes, white with horror. lie looked up and down the aisle to assure himself that no one had entered the car during his examination; examina-tion; then he carefully drew the curtains cur-tains together again, and hurried to the forward end of the car, where he had left the porter. "Lock the rear door of the car," he commanded. "Then come back here." He gave the negro the keys, und himself waited to prevent anyone from entering the car at his end. Looking through the glass of the door, he saw the young man Eaton standing in the vestibule of the car next ahead. Connery hesitated ; then he opened the door and beckoned Eaton to him. "Will you go forward, please," he requested, "and see if there Isn't a doctor " "You mean the mini with red hair In my car?" Eaton Inquired. "That's the one." Eaton started off without asking any questions. The porter, having locked the rear door of the car, returned re-turned and gave Connery back the keys. Connery still waited, until Eaton Ea-ton returned with the red-haired man. lie let thera In and locked the door behind them. "You are a doctor?" Connery questioned ques-tioned the red-haired man. "I am a surgeon; yes." "That's what's wanted. Doctor " "My name is Sinclair, I am Douglas Doug-las Sinclair of Chicago." Connery nodded. "I have heard of you." He turned then to Eaton. "Do you know where the gentleman Is who belongs to Mr. Dome's party? Avery, I believe his name Is." "He Is In the observation car," Eaton Ea-ton answered. "Will you go and get him? The car-door car-door Is locked. The porter will let you In and out. Something serious has happened here to Mr. Dorne. Get Mr. Avery, If you can, without alarming Mr. Dome's daughter." Eaton nodded understanding nnd followed the porter, who, taking the keys again from the conductor, let him out nt the rear door of the car and reclosed the door behind him. Eaton went on into the observation car. Without alarming Harriet Dorne, he got Avery away and out of the car. "Is it something wrong with Mr. Dorne?" Donald Avery demanded as Eaton drew back to let Avery precede pre-cede him Into the open part of the car. "So the conductor says." Avery hurried forward toward the berth where Connery was standing "You See Him as We Found Him, Sir." beside the surgeon. Connery turned townrd him. "I sent for you, sir, because you are the companion of the man who had this berth." Avery pushed past him, nnd leaped forward as he looked past the surgeon. sur-geon. "What has happened to Mr. Dorne?" "You see him as we found him, sir." Connery stared down nervously beside him. Avery leaned Inside the curtains and recoiled. "He's been murdered !" "It looks so, Mr. Avery. Yes; If he's dead, he's certainly been murdered," mur-dered," Connery agreed. "You can tell" Connery avoided mention of President Jarvls' name "tell anyone who asks you, Mr. Avery, that you saw him Just as he was found." He looked down again at the form In the berth, and Avery's gaze followed fol-lowed his; then, abruptly, It turned away. Avery stood clinging to the curtain, his eyes darting from one to another of the three men. "Will you start your examination now. Doctor Sinclalr7" Connery suggested. sug-gested. The surgeon, before examining the man In the berth more closely, lifted the shades from the windows. Everything Every-thing about the berth was In place, undisturbed ; except for the mark of the savage blow on the side of the man's head, there was no evidence of anything unusual. It was self-evident that, whatever had been the motives of the attack, robbery was not one; whoever had struck had done no more than reach In and deliver his murderous mur-derous blow; then he had gone on. Sinclair made first an examination of the head; completing this, he unbuttoned un-buttoned the pajamas upon the chest, loosened them at the waist and prepared pre-pared to make his examination of the body. "How long has he been dead?" Connery Con-nery asked. "He Is not dead yet. Life Is still present," Sinclair answered guardedly. "Whether he will live or ever regain consciousness Is another question." "One you can't answer?" "The blow, as you can see" Sinclair Sin-clair touched the man's face with his deft finger-tips "fell mostly on the cheek and temple. The cheekbone Is fractured. He is In a complete state of coma ; and there may be some fracture frac-ture of the skull. Of course, there Is some concussion of the brain." Any Inference to be drawn from this as to the seriousness of the Injuries was plainly beyond Connery. "How long ago was he struck?" he asked. "Some hours. Since midnight, certainly; cer-tainly; and longer ago than five o'clock this morning." "Could he have revived half an hour ago say within the hour enough to have pressed the button and rung the bell from his berth?" Sinclair straightened and gazed at the conductor curiously. "No, certainly cer-tainly not," he replied. "That is completely com-pletely Impossible. Why did you ask?" Connery avoided answer. But Avery pushed forward. "What Is that? What's that?" he demanded. "Will you go on with your examination. exami-nation. Doctor?" Connery urged. "You said the bell from this berth rang recently I" Avery accused Connery. Con-nery. "The pointer In the washroom, Indicating In-dicating a signal from this berth, was turned down a minute ago," Connery had to reply. "A few moments earlier ear-lier all pointers had been set In the position Indicating no call." "That was before you found the body?" "That was why I went to the berth yes," Connery replied; "that was before I found the body." "Then you mean you did not find the body," Avery charged. "Someone, passing through this car a minute or so before you, must have found him!" Connery attended without replying. "And evidently that man dared not report It and could not wait longer to know whether Mr. Mr. Dorne was really dead ; so he rang the bell I" "Ought we keep Doctor Sinclair any longer from the examination, sir?" Connery now seized Avery's arm In appeal. "The first thing for us to know Is whether Mr. Dorne Is dying. Isn't" Connery checked himself; he had won his appeal. Eaton, standing quietly qui-etly watchful, observed that Avery's eagerness to accuse now had been replaced by another Interest which the conductor's words had recalled. Whether the man In the berth was to live or die evidently that was momentously mo-mentously to affect Donald Avery one way or the other. "Of course, bv all means proceed with your examination, Doctor," Avery directed. As Sinclair again bent over the body Avery leaned over also; Eaton gazed down, and Connery a little paler than before and with lips tightly tight-ly set. CHAPTER VI "Isn't Thle Basil Santolne?" The surgeon, having finished loosening loos-ening the pajamas, pulled open and carefully removed the jacket part, leaving the upper part of the body of the man In the berth exposed. Conductor Con-ductor Connery turned to Avery. "You have no objection to my taking tak-ing a list of the articles in the berth?" Avery seemed to oppose; then, apparently, ap-parently, he recognized that this was an obvious part of the conductor's duty. "None at all," he replied. Connery gathered up the clothing, the glasses, the watch and purse, and laid them on the seat across the aisle. Sitting down, then, opposite them, he examined them, and, tnklng everything every-thing from the pockets of the clothes, he began to catalogue them before Avery. He counted over the gold and banknotes In the purse and entered the amount upon his list. "You know about what he had with him?" he asked. "Very closely. That Is correct. Nothing Is missing," Avery answered. The conductor opened the watch. "The crystal is missing." Avery nodded. "Yes; It always that Is. It was missing yesterday." Connery looked up at him, as though slightly puzzled by the manner of the reply; then, having finished his list, he rejoined the surgeon. Sinclair was still bending over the naked torso. It had been a strong, healthy body; Sinclair guessed Its age at fifty. As a boy, the man might have been an athlete a college track-runner track-runner or oarsman and he had kept himself In condition through middle age. There was no mark or bruise upon the body, except that on the right side and Just below the ribs there now showed a scar about an Inch and a half long and of peculiar crescent shape. It was evidently a surgical scar and had completely healed. Sinclair scrutinized this carefully and then looked up to Avery. "He was operated on recently?" "About two years ago." "For what?" "It was some operation on the gallbladder." gall-bladder." "Performed by Kudo GarrtJ" Avt hesitated. "I believe so." He watched Sinclair more closely ss he continued his examination. Connery Con-nery touched the surgeon on the arm. "What must be done, Doctor? And where and when do you want to do It?" Sinclair, however. It appeared, had not yet finished his examination. "Will you pull down the window curtains?" cur-tains?" he directed. As Connery, reaching across the body, compiled, the surgeon took a matchbox from his pocket, and glancing glanc-ing about at the three others as though to select from them the one "He Was Operated On Recently?" one most likely to be an efficient aid, he handed It to Eaton. "Will you help me, please? Strike a light and hold It as I direct then draw It away slowly." He lifted the partly closed eyelid from one of the eyes of the unconscious uncon-scious man and nodded to Eaton : "Hold the light in front of the pupil." Eaton obeyed, drawing the light slowly away as Sinclair had directed, and the surgeon dropped the eyelid and exposed the other pupil. "What's that for?" Avery now asked. "I was trying to determine the seriousness se-riousness of the Injury to the brain. I was looking to see whether light could cause the pupil to contract There was no reaction." "His optic nerve Is destroyed." "Ah! He was blind?" "Yes, he was blind," Avery admitted. admit-ted. "Blind I" Sinclair ejaculated. "Blind, and operated upon within two years by Kuno Garrt !" Kuno Gartt operated operat-ed only upon the all-rich and powerful or upon the completely powerless and poor; the unconscious man In the berth could belong only to the first class of Gartt's clientele. The surgeon's sur-geon's gaze again searched the features fea-tures in the berth ; then It shifted to the men gathered about him In the aisle. ' "Who did you say this was?" he demanded de-manded of Avery. "I said his name was Nathau Dorne, Avery evaded. "No, no I" Sinclair Jerked out Impatiently. Im-patiently. "Isn't thin " He hesitated, hesi-tated, and finished in a voice suddenly lowered: "Isn't this Basil Santolne?" Avery, If he still wished to do so, found it Impossible to deny. "Basil Santolne !" Connery breathed. To the conductor alone, among the four men standing by the berth, tin name seemed to have come with the sharp shock of a surprise; with It had come an added sense of responsibility and horror over what had happened to the passenger who had been confided con-fided to his care, which made him whiten as he once mora repeated the name to himself and stared down at the man In the berth. Conductor Connery knew Basil San-toine San-toine only in the way that Santoine was known to great numbers of othei people that Is, by name but not by sight. Basil Santolne at twenty-two hao been graduated from Harvard, though blind. His connections the family was of well-to-do southern stock his possession of enough money for his own support, made it possible for him to live idly if he wished ; but Santolne had not chosen to make his blindness an excuse for doing this. He had at once settled himself to his chosen profession, which was law. He had not found It easy to get a start In this, and he had succeeded only after great effort In getting a place with a small and unimportant firm. Within a short time, well within two years, men had begun to recognize that In this struggling law firm there was a powerful, clear, compelling mind Santoine, a youth living In darkness, unable to see the men with whom he talked or the documents and books which must be read to him, was beginning be-ginning to put the stamp of his personality per-sonality on the firm's affairs. A year later his name appeared with others of the firm; at twenty-eight his was the leading name. He had begun to specialize long before that time. In corporation law; he married shortly after this. At thirty the firm name represented to those who knew Its particulars only one personality, the personality of Santolne; nnd at thirty-five thirty-five though his Indifference to money was proverbial he was many times a millionaire. "A sound came to his ears a young flirl suddenly eryinp. In abandon." tTO BB CONT1NUKUJ |