Show 0 NV WA von E 0 0 0 ja josg allyon gwm 0 0 0 service copyright by W 0 CHAPTER IX continued 12 lie ile did not care to gaze at it too long what a place she must never never come liero here again turning too quickly he slipped but instantly regained his balance by a violent lurch backward in the same moment lie he felt the heavy impact of something against his shoulder a glancing blow and wheeled around to rind find his hands bands violently and instinctively clutch ing at the square green base that he knew very well indeed the base to which was attached tile the old tree at tile the other end of 0 the tree was aalders Dal nal ders dark and angry face watchful keen cen and sly wilton had a bluema flash of events converging to and diverging from this encounter moving across this screen were figures both familiar and strange berenice in her patient beauty haskell roaming the old academy like ilke some werewolf were wolf the immobile waxen wasen children that glancing blow alow on his shoulder was it an accident t lie he would soon know and along the avenues of his mind approached pro ached another figure himself tragically magically snared see here balder he tried to speak with friendly indifference be a little attle mc careful when youre throwing rubbish into tile the whirl you tou might hurt somebody Y what fire are you ton in the way for the words conveyed more than their obvious meaning and were accompanied by a sound half laugh half aalt snarl over balders Bald erg broad lank blank countenance something passed like ike a cloud obliterating even his purpose but wilton instinctively felt elt that he was in greater danger than he had ever been in his life life it might be measured only to moments now then a terrible fear had this nan man been sent to kill them both lad had he already killed berenice he tried to think calmly and to pher the black shadows on that auge e face balder said let go that end 11 give it another throw you let go your end I 1 am nearest the stream for answer balders hand gripped the tree trunk tighter wilton noticed the bits of tinsel still wound about one dry stump of a limb its time that christmas tree is thrown away lie he said realizing in the same instant that such comments could not but make the situation worse its my business not yours turn around now what for wilton asked tra trains in to speak carelessly do as youre told balder roared waltons Wil tons thoughts raced on to make biake a sudden dart for liberty was impossible the fellow could overtake him blin with three swings of his great legs only strategy availed now dalder balder seated himself on a fallen limb and in this position so BO steep was the cliff lie he seemed almost hanging above waltons Wil tons head the latter thought best to drop the ROM 19 V f f ia jol I 1 L at the other end of the tree was badders Ba iders dark and angry face base and lie be let it down gently so as not to jerk the trunk out of balders hand Ilea saut spot wilton remarked though it must have looked different the day the bracebridge children were drowned A grunting voice came from a bove above this aint an easy place to leave I 1 1 I mean to leave it you do do you certainly I 1 must get back before dark suppose you never went back what do you mean suppose Su you stayed here 1 I 1 lave have no intention ot of staying here ile he spoke firmly but his inner terror revealed to him at last what connection lay between his own imminent danger and a long ago tragedy the withered tree was the link again to be an instrument ment of death throw in your tree when you choose I 1 am going home Ba balders iders laughter echoed even above the roar of the rail fall 1 I weigh t two wo hundred and ten pounds I 1 am six feet three in my socks my muscle Is iron and you you are just a schoolroom plant you dont deserve to live you dont and maybe I 1 dont deserve to tile die any more than he paused then hurled his boom boomerang erang the bracebridge children am I 1 to have the same execution ile he knew lie he had signed ills his own death warrant but at least he could bring for one instant into stark daylight the suspected crime whose shadow lay alon along the corridors of Lost loftland land academy and haunted its decaying rooms the tha great face above him grew quite livid for an instant but no rebound of denial came from his lips how much Is lie he going to give you for this job the boldness of the question disturbed even raiders poise his snarl came slowly uncertainly ne ile dont make no bargains lie ile aint open and square like that ile he hints walks all around his design never comes out bold and free with it but lie he pays high for little jobs moving trunks or books five hundred for moving his books after P after you struck one of t the he bracebridge children with this weapon and cost the lives of the others wilton finished deliberately lie ile knew he had taken away forever his chance for life but in this last grim hour it was a satisfaction to wring out the truth and lt it comforted him to add to the indictment your tour master haskell never wanted to go with those four young people to protect them but to steal up behind them as you did he urged them not to tie lie themselves together in this alpine game they were so ton fond of playing he be urged them not for their safety he knew their aversion to him and knew do exactly the opposite of what he told them balder regarded him with round ugly eyes in which a tiny gleam of admiration flickered youre a psycho what theres some thin in it IL debbe its gospel truth and mabe its gospel truth that when jerry found you in the ve vegetable garden you had beaten him there by about twenty minutes I 1 calculate and maybe its gospel truth when he said all four drowned aou ou knew right away it was children not sheep I 1 you ask one question you dd d d spy you I 1 I 1 knew youve been sayin on us ever since the first afternoon when you walked in the ever evergreen green walk with bour our cloak alyin like a great bat you talk as if the establishment down there set anybody spying the psychologist in him was uppermost now obliterating even ills his sense of danger in the effort to track down the curious states of mind of gordon haskell askell tl and his confederate and when I 1 find an old christmas tree in its stand carefully preserved behind a locked door I 1 knew that fear fea r Is back of its being there you were afraid to burn somebody might be looking on and you were afraid would see sec in your face that this tree is a horrible tree a tree of death oh a murderer Is always seeing trifles as huge signposts the universe Is one great eye and the eye is on him you bring being it down with its flag on because you dont dare not to notice it when jerry Is with you if youre careless toward that tree if you leave it up tip here its very look will tell some passerby passer by theres something wron wrong with it raider balder grunted you know a lot you do I 1 yes I 1 know that undiscovered murderers can polson poison the very air about them the infection of smallpox would be light in comparison people afraid of those fl figures they were afraid of what they stood for horror and a strange hidden killing and a wrecking of all the joy and inno cence of life ya ahl bouc talked too much never talk again ue lie rose slowly then with a spring like a jungle beast he leaped for his prey wilton had already calculated that he be had but one chance for life to face hla his foe when he sprang to dodge him with the hundredth chance of himself hurling balder into the whirlpool whirl pout As the huge creature jumped wilton dodged balder had over calculated the width of the ledge and lauded landed oil oi its extreme ice covered edges lie ile slipped and for a traction fraction of time performed a strange wild pirouette ills hta long arms like the huge wings of a saw saiN mill in motion then with a shriek that echoed and re echoed between the black walls of tile the gorge he plunged into the whirl his great body was swung around and around like a cork for a moment then disappeared shouts it at the same moment reverberated above the roar of the fall wilton Wilto nl wilton Wilto oll 1 wilton had suddenly sunk down on the rock feeling faint not really sure that balder had been gulped down the black ley icy throat ot of the whirl ue he turned his head and saw arthur and jerry hurrying up thank god were not too late too latel he be pointed to the whirl hes gone theres no getting jilin him out of there bowl you toil dont want jilin him out do you 71 1 ue ile sprang at me he be meant to throw me in plain enough we saw it all aall I 1 we came up like mad nearly tell fell in ourselves once now how on earth did you t track rack me up here you dropped this be hold held out the note 1 I missed you by five minutes this bit of paper was F 1 di 11 i va he plunged into the whirl lying near the gate looked to me like handwriting and I 1 help but read it I 1 went in and asked jerry if you had gone to the whirl because it seemed strange to me berenice Is sick in bed with a cold the shirll I 1 says br broke oke in jerry no man in ills his senses would go up that ravine in dead winter its known to be dangerous A man in love might I 1 told jerry but as it happens miss bracebridge keep this appointment if 1 its a genuine one 1 I knowel it when I 1 read the bit of paper it had a queer fishy look to me I 1 says to your friend hiss berenice never wrote this note who did then wilton broke in 1 I asked that same question said arthur jerry wanted to know if I 1 had seen balder anywhere and then we both agreed that whoever wrote the note only balder could keep an appointment at the whirl haskell askell II has neer been up the ravine raline since the bracebridge children were drowned there we decided at once to come to the mouth of the gorge and look for footprints we both felt that if balder had de coyed you up there with a fake note it was for nothing short of murder we found the prints at once Da balders iders huge footsteps and the smaller ones we knew were yours then we hurried like mad wilton grasped their hands god bless you I 1 I 1 made jilin him know I 1 knew that he had bad killed the bracebridge children ills two companions gasped theres ills his weapon ue lie never denied the charge theres ills big weapon 1 ue lie pointed to the tree jerry and arthur gazed in horror at it 1 I always knew hiu was wrong jerry muttered lie ile struck me first with the base against the shoulder but I 1 slipped on the ice fee and the blow glanced off you can picture him nhen all the foliage was on these trees darting darling out against those innocents with all his great strength to shoie shoe them overl over I 1 well he has paid the man back of balder baider paid jerry took a step toward arthur ills kindly face was stern and solemn Is ills his name gordon alas lell kell iwho who else unless battler balder lied lie de told tile me come straight back to the farm jerry commanded cutting him short abort weve got to talk and we cant talk against this fall no use lookin there he added as wll wit ton glanced tearfully fearfully down at the whirl they never come up under twelve or eighteen hours lie he can swing around and around until mornin im the blier lif of this lonesome county and the coroner of this neglected township and ill take down your deposition by a hot hoi are balder he be added solemnly you jumped too farand far tar and too fast it was twilight when they reached the farm jerry made some steaming coffee and over a red hot stove store wilton told tho the whole story froni from ills his first suspicions of 0 haskell askell II to the conversation with balder above the whirl now he concluded is there the slightest chance of bringing this man to justice jerry rocking in hla his chair the big gray cat in his lap pondered the question no there aint he answered at last not the ghost of a shadow first place hes probably just what hat balder says an evader lie ile was angry with those children he wanted power money great caesar wilton ejaculated suddenly arthur do you remember what I 1 told you abo about ut the diary and the sums of money stolen and doctor bracebridge suspecting calder balder why yes suppose it was not balder after all haskell askell II was the doctors secretary had constant access to the tha desk in the library where money had to be kept for the servants pay and other expenses this this about a diary jerry asked wilton related what berenice had requested him to do and of his reading her fathers journal and the thief was never found he added jerry was looking from one to the other in astonishment things come up in my memory things id clean forgot I 1 heard beard about them robberies at the time I 1 remember now an incident just before the accident murder well call it 11 and what was tile incident arthur asked 1 I 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 ue he answered up right bright and smart 1 I caught him red handed this well have fun with him now were coln to keep him on the rack a bit before we tell 11 then he laughed and ran off I 1 says to the servant Is it true Nor normans maris caught the thief she laughed and said she norman was string str ingin in me haskell askell II was passin the kitchen entrance and I 1 says to him norman says he caught the thief red handed I 1 remember lie he gave me an awful stare lies iles a little liar he says ills his face queer and white the girl she looked after him and laughed lie hates em hed like to 1 kill 1111 em all four of em A profound silence followed this s reminiscence then wilton spoke do you think he d did id if this jig a awful crime because he was afraid saw his finish when norman found him it he did find him with his hands on the money till even so the child might have been very much mistaken as to the meaning of the incident doctor bracebridge probably sent haskell askell II as his secretary many times to unlock the money drawer in the desk we cant say certainly that haskell askell II was the thief and had four children killed kopro to protect himself no more than we can prove arthur interposed t that hat balder committed the murder at the instigation of haskell askell II and not for LIS his own terrible satisfaction ought we to tell the authorities what we suspect we cant have him arrested lie push the brac bracebridge abridge children into the whirl and we have absolutely no proof except the word of balder that lie he was instrumental in the tragedy its instigator a its capitalist so to speak it may be it a strange sentiment wilton remarked but I 1 have a distinct aversion to knowing that her brothers and sisters were killed the added dreadfulness of realizing t that hat their murderer was her fathers confidant her trusted guardian we want him to ghe her up yet ret if we have a weapon capon strong enough to make him hill relinquish her we have one which reacts on our own conscience we have to accuse him publicly there was no gainsaying gain saying this its like looking at a murder out of the tall tail of ones eye it remarked arthur knowing some one has passed a window when you halt half see him lie ile glanced through the window looked again with a blank expression that gradually changed to distinct horror wilton jerry he whispered theres a man looks like haskell II askell coming up tile the lane blow BIOW out tile the lamp TO BE CONTINUED |