The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-08-27

breath. The figure moro and more clearly
defined itself. The. man was upon one knee,
his back in the angle Of the wall, his shout
ders elevated to the level of his ears, his
hands before his face, palms outward, the
finger spread and hooked like claws. The
white face turned upward on the retracted
neck had an expression of unutterable
fright, the mouth half open, the eyes incred-
IDLY expanded. He was stone dead dead
Of terrorl Yet. with the exception Of knife
which had evidently fallen from his own
hand, not another object was in the room,
In the thick dust which covered the floor
were some confused footprints near the
door and along the wall through which il
opened. Along one of the adjoining walls,
trail made by the man himself in reaching
his corner. Instinctively in approaching
the three men now followed that trail. The
sheriff graaped one of the outthrown arms;
it was rigid as iron, and the application of
q gentle force rocked the entire body with
out altering the relation of its parts.
into the distorted face. dcd Of Mercy
he suddenly cried, lit 10 Manton!'
"You are right" said King, with an evil
dent attempt at calmness: II knew Man
ton: He W. wore 2 2 2 full beard and his hair
He might have added: II recognized
him when he challenged Rosser. I told
Rosser and Sanchez who he was before we
played him this horrible trick. When Rosser
left this dark room at our heels, forgetting
his clothes in the excitement and driving
away with us in his undershirt-all through
whom we were dealing with, murderer and
coward that he WASH But nothing of this
did Mr.. King say. With his better light he
was trying to penetrate the mysteries Of the
mans death. That he had not once moved
from the corner where he had been sta
TONED; that his posture WAS that of neither
attack nor defense; that he had dropped his
weapon; that he had obviously persisted of
sheer terror Of something that he saw
these were circumstances which Mr.. Kings
disturbed intelligence could not rightly
comprehend. Cropping in intellectual dark
ness for clew to his maze of doubt, his
gaze, directed mechanically downward, az
is the way Of one who ponders momentous
matters. fell upon something which, there
in the light of day and in the presence of
living companions, struck him with in
vincible terror. In the dust Of years that
lay thick upon the Aoor-leading from
the door BY which they had entered.
straight across the room to within yard
of Manton's crouching corpse--were three
parallel lines of footprinta-light but def
mite Impressions of bare feet, the outer ones
those Of small children. the inner a
woman's. From the point at which they
ended they did not return; they pointed all
at the same moment, was leaning forward
in an attitude Of fapt attention.
Look at that!" he cried, pointing with
both hands at the nearest print of the wo-
mans right foot, where she had appar-
emily stopped and stood. The middle toe
is missing-it was Gertrude!''
Gertrude was the late Mrs. Manton, sister
to Mr.. Brewer. Another moment, and
that gentleman, staggering and clutching
at nothing, sank awkwardly to the floor in
dead faint. Under strong emotions men
will sometimes do that.