Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1891-01-24

until they became liked on req stain on
the sleeve of the others coat. Did he
possess the animal scent of bloodhound?
What is that?" he sharply asked. He
seized the arm and smelt Of the spotted
fabric. 1T Is bloodi Let me see your
knife"
Quito mechanically Gerald thrust one
hand into his trousers pocket and
brought out the knife which he had
taken from Ravelli, whose blood was on
It yet.
The storm was overhead. A first peal
of thunder broke loudly It came at tho
instant when Gerald Heath was aghast
with the revelation Of his awful jeopardy
at the instant Of his exposure as
murderer. 1t impressed them and him
with shock of something supernatural
The reverberation rumbled into silence.
which was broken by OReagan
.'There'll be no need to catch Eph.'
he said in a tone Of professional gleo.
"This man is the murderer"
Again thunder rolled and rumbled
angrily above Overlook, and the party
stood aghast in the presence of the man
dead and the man condemned
Bring him to the telegraph station"
O'Reagan commanded
Nobody disputed the detectives meth
ods now-not even Gerald, and . prison
er as completely as though manacled.
although not touched by any one. he
went with the rest.
hnd toH tvn
tarpaulin front of her shed when the
men approached. In the ordinary course
of her early morning doings she would
wait an hour to dispatch and receive the
first kilograms of the day. and then go
to breakfast alone at the table where the
engineers and overseers would by that
time have had their meal She was as
tonished to see nearly the whole popula-
ton of Overlook crowd around her quar-
ters, while few entered. But she went
quickly behind the desk and took her
place on the STOOL The soberness of the
faces impressed her. but nothing indi-
Gated that Gerald was in custody, and
her quick thought was that some dis
aster made it necessary to use the wire
importantly.
II wish to send q message" said
O'Reagan, stepping forward.
The eyes of the girl rested on him in
quiringly. and he palpably dinched, but
as obviously nerved himself to proceed,
and when he spoke again the Irish accent
became more pronounced to hear, al
though not sufficiently to be shown in
the printed words: II will dictate it
slowly. so that you can transmit it as
speak Are you ready?'
Marys fingers were on the key and her
bright, alert face was an answer to the
query.
ITO Henry Deckerman. president, !" the
detective slowly said, waiting for the
clicks of the instrument to put his Ian
guage on the wire; Tonic Ravelh, q
sub-contractor here. was murdered last
night"
Mary's hand slid away from the key
after sending that, and the always faint
tint in her cheeks faded out and her
eyes fiickered up in q scared way to the
stern faces in front of it. The shock Of
the news that man had been slain. and
that he was q man who only the pre-
vious day had proffered his love to her,
was for a moment disabling. But
the habit of her employment controlled
her and she awaited the further dicta-
ton.
His body was found this morning in
the furnace Of the steam boiler" O'Rea-
gan resumed deliberately. where it
had evidently been placed in vain at
tempt to destroy it."
A shudder went through Mary, and
she convulsively wrung her small hands
together. as though to timber them from
. cramp But her fingers went back to
the key.
"The murderer has been discovered"
the detective slowly continued, and the
operator kept along with his utterance,
word by word He killed Ravelli for
revenge. It was . love affair" Here
the girl grew winter still. and the clicks
became very slow. but they did not
cease O'Reagan's voice was cold and
ruthless "The motive of the murderer
was revenge His name was Gerald
Heath"
All but the name flashed of on the
wire. Mary Mariners power to stir
the key stopped ut that. She did not
faint. She did not make any outcry.
For . moment she looked as though the
soul had gone ont of her body. leaving q
corpse sitting there. A grievous wall Of
wind came through the trees, and u
streak OF lightning zigzagged down the
blue clouded sky.
go on, said O'Reagan.
Il will not" was the determined re-
sponse.
why notY
Because it is not 60. Gerald Heath
never murdered Ravelli."
Gerald had stood motionless and silent.
Now he gave way to an impulse as re-
markable as his previous composure had
been singular. If there had been stag
nation in his mind it was now displaced
by turbulence. He grasped Mary's hands
in fervid grip. then dropped them. and
faced the others.
Il did not kill the Italian" he said.
He attacked me with my knife, which
he had stoler In the struggle his hand