Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-13

he stopped and listened; fortunately there
was no moon. or in turning about as he
did once or twice he would have observed
us. The field sloped downward just before
US and there was another hedge at right
angles, leading down to slight hollow.
To this hollow the man made his way, and
in the shade of the new hedge We follow
ed. Presently he stopped suddenly, stoop-
ed. and deposited his bundle on the ground
before him. Crouching before ii he pro-
duced matches from his pocket, struck
one, and in a moment had a fire of twigs
and small branches that sent up a heavy
white smoke. What all this portended
could not imagine, but a sense of the
weirdness of the whole adventure came
upon me unchecked. The horrible corpse
in the wood with its severed wrist, Hew-
tits enigmatical forebodings, the mysteEi-
Gus tracking of the man with the broken
shoe, the scene around the gipsies' fire. and
now the strange behavior of this man,
whose connection with the tragedy was so
intimate, and yet so inexplicable-all these
things contributed to make up tale OF
but a few hours duration. but of an In
scrutable impressiveneSs that I began to
feel in my nerves.
The man bent a thin stick double, and,
using 1t as a pair of toEgs, held some in
distinguishable object over the flames be-
fore him. Excited as I was 1 could not
help noticing that he bent and held the
stick with his left hand. We crept stealth
lily nearer, and as I stood scarcely three
yards behind him and looked over his
shoulder the form of the object stood out
clear and black against the dull red of the
flame. 1t was a human hand.
CHAPTER v.
I suppose I may have somehow betrayed
my amazement and horror to my COM
panion's sharp eyes, for. suddenly, felt
his hand tightly grip my arm Just above
the elbow turned and found his face
close by mine and his finger raised warn
ingly. Then 1 saw him produce his wrist
grip and make a motion with his palm to-
ward his mouth, which understood to re-
mind me of the gag. We stepped forward.
The man turned his horrible cooking over
and over above the cracking sticks, as
though to smoke and dry it in every part.
I saw Hewitt's hand reach out toward him,
and in a flash we had pulled him back over
his heels and had driven the gag between
his teeth as he opened his mouth. We seiZ-
ed his wrists in the cords at once, and l
shall never forget the mans look of ghast-
ly. frantic terror as he lay on the ground.
When / knew more l understood the rea-
son Of this.
Hewitt took both wrist holds in one hand
and drove the gag entirely into the mans
mouth, so that he almost choked. A piece
of sacking lay near the fire. and by Hew-
tits request l dropped that awful hand
from the wooden tongs upon 1t and rolled
1t up in a parcel-it was no doubt, what
the sacking had been brought for. Then
we lifted the man to his feet and hurried
him in the direction of the cart. The whole
capture could not have occupied thirty sec
onds and, as l stumbled over the rough
field at the mans left elbow, 1 could only
think of the thing one thinks Of a
dream that one knows all the time is
dream.
But presently the man. who had been
walking quietly, though gasping, smiling
and choking because Of the tightly rolled
handkerchief in his mouth-presantly he
made a sudden dive. thinking, doubtless,
to get his wrists free by surprise. But