Show E B 0 N Y WA 9 FE R n 0 by anna mcclure copyright by W a 0 chapman service CHAPTER IX continued 24 you talk as if the establishment down there set anybody spy ing the in I 1 tin was up now obliterating even his sense of daner in to the effort to trad tract down the curious stites of mind of G adon hasi last ell and his confederate ai at d when I 1 find an old christmas tree in its stand carefully carp fully preserved behind a lol ed door I 1 w that fear Is baik back of its being there you v were ere afraid to burn iti somebody might be lo 10 king on and you were afraid they would see in y ur face that this tree Is a horrible tree a tree of or death oh a murderer Is always seeing trifles as huge signposts the not verse is one grent eye and the e ee e Is n him you bring it awn with its nig flag on because yon you don t dare not to notice it wl en jerry Is with you if you youre re careless t ward ard that tree if it you leave it up here its very look took will tell some passer by there a something wrong with it balder baider grunted you know a lot you dol do I 1 yes I 1 know that undiscovered murderers can poison the very air abut ah ut them the infection of small pox would be hot t in c mp arlson people t afraid of those figures they were afraid of what they stood for horror and a strange hidden kill ing and a krecl arec ing of all the joy and innocence of life you ve talked too much I 1 you 11 never talk again 1 he ile rose slowly then with a spring pring like a jun gle beast he lea teal ed for his prey wll wit ton had already alre idy calculated that he had but one chance for life ilfe to face his foe never taking his eyes from him and when he sprang to dodge him with the hundredth chance of him self hurling into the whirlpool As the huge creature jumped wilton dodged balder bolder had over calculated the width of the ledge and landed on its extreme lie ice covered edges he ile slipped and for a fraction of time per formed a stran strange e wild pirouette pi his long arms like the huge bue wings of a sawmill in motion ahen then with a shriek tint that echoed and echoed reechoed re between the black walls of the gorge he plunged into the whirl his ills great body was swung around and around me e a cork for a moment then disappeared shouts at the same moment everberg abed above the roar of the fall 11 wilton ilton I 1 wilton I 1 wilton had sud lenly sunk down on the rock feeling faint raint not really sure tl at balder baider had been gulped down the black icy ley throat of the whirl he ile turned his head and saw arthur and jerry hurrying up 1 I bank god ere not too late too late I 1 he pointed to the whirl he ile s gone there s no getting him out of there now I 1 you don t want him out do you he sprang at me he meant to throw me in plain enough we saw it alit we came up like mad nearly tell fell in ourselves once how on earth did you track tract me up here you dropped this he held out the note I 1 missed you by five minutes this bit of paper was lying near the I 1 bate gate looked to me like Beren lees handwriting and I 1 couldn coulden it help but read it I 1 went in and asked jerry jerr y if you had gone to the whirl because it seemed strange to inel mel berenice Is sick in bed with a cold the whirl I 1 I 1 sas I 1 broke in jerry no man in his senses would go up that ravine in dead of winter it its s known to be dangerous A man in love might I 1 told jerry but as it happens miss bracebridge could rit t keep this appointment it if its a gei get alne one I 1 knowel it wan t when I 1 read the bit of paper it had a queer fishy look to me I 1 says to your friend aliss MISS berenice never wrote this note who did then miltn broke in im I 1 asked that same question said arthur jerry wanted to know if I 1 had seen balder anywhere and then we vie both a agreed reed that whoever wrote the note only balder could keep an ap ment at the whirl haskell has never been up the ravine since the bracebridge children were drowned there jerry tells me we decided at once to c me to the mouth of the gore and look took for footprints ve N e both felt that it if balder had decoyed you up there with a fake note it was vas for nothing short of murder we found the prints at once balder balders s hu huge foot steps and the smaller ones we knew were yours then we hurried ille mad wilton grasped their hands god bless you youl I 1 I 1 made him know I 1 knew ta stat at he had killed the bracebridge chit trent his ills two companions gasped cheres his weapons weapon 1 he ie never denied the charge charle there s his weapons weapon 1 he ile po anted to the tree jerry and arthur gabed in horror at it I 1 always knew so methin was wrong jerry muttered he ile struck me first with the base agali st the shoulder but I 1 slipped on tl e ice and the blow glanced off you can picture him when all the foliage was as on these trees darting out against those innocents with all his great strength to shove them over I 1 well he has paid the man back of balder chasn t paid jerry ook a step toward arthur his ills kindly face was stern and solemn Is his name gordon haskell who else unless balder bolder lied he ile told me come straight back to the farm jerry commanded cutting him short we ve got to talk and we can t talk against this fill fall no use lookin tt ere he added as wilton glanced fearfully down at the whirl they never come up under twelve or eight een hours he can swing ar und and around until mornin I 1 in the sheriff of this lonesome county and tl ti e cor oner ner of this neglected township and III take down your deposition by a hot fire raider he added sol emaly lou jumped too tar far and too fast it was twilight when they reached th the e f farm arm J jerry e r r y ana made d e some ste steaming amIn if c coffee 0 afe e and 0 over v e r a re red d h hot stove wll ton told the whole story from his first suspicions of Has ll askell to the conversa kelal tl ti n with balder above bove the wh whirl now he concluded Is there the slightest chance of bringing this man to justice jerry rocking in his chair the big gray cat on his lap pr p the ques tion no there haintl ain 11 he answered at last not the ghost of a shadow first place hes probably just what balder says an evader lie ile was an gry with those children he wanted power money great caesar 1 wilton ejaculated suddenly arthur do you remember what I 1 told you about the diary and the sums of money stolen and doctor bra bracebridge C suspecting balder bolder why yes suppose it was not balder after all haskell was the doctors secretary had constant access to the desk in the library where money had to be kept for the servants pay and other ex benses this this about a diary jerry asked wilton related what berenice ha had d requested him to do and of his read t V t 0 t A go he plunged into the whirl ing of her fathers journal and the thief was never found he added addel jerry was looking from one to the other in astonishment things come up in my memo memory ry things I 1 d clean forgot I 1 heard beard about them robberies at the time I 1 remember now an incident just before the accident murder well we 11 call it and what was this incident arthur asked I 1 was down with a load of apples to the academy little norman was in the kitchen and I 1 remember sayin to him caught the thief yet he ile an up right bright and smart I 1 caught caugh it him red handed this mornin well have fun with him now we were re goin to keep him on the rack a bit before we tell I 1 then he laughed and ran off I 1 says to the servant Is it true norman amans s caught the thief she laughed and said she guessed norman w was as str stringing ingin me haskell askell ti was passin the kitchen entrance and I 1 says to him norman says he caught the thief red handed I 1 remember he lle gave me an awful stare he hes s a little liar he says his face queer and white the girl she looked after him and laughed he ile hates em he ile d like to kilt kill em all four of em I 1 A profound silence followed this reminiscence then wilton spoke do you think he did this awful crime because he be was afraid saw his finish when norman found him if he did find him with his hand on the money till even so the child might have been very much en as to the meaning of the Inel incident dent doctor bracebridge probably sent haskell as his secretary many times to tm unlock the money drawer in the desk we cant say certainly that haskell was the thief and had four children killed to protect himself no more than we can prove ar thur interposed that balder bolder corn matted the murder at the instigation of haskell and not tor for his own ter satisfaction TO BE CONTINUED |