The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-11

LIZ l1y1lA1N III III
ment. eh2 Wen. Wen wait till the sun goes
down, and then we shall soon know all
about It,
The time passed slowly enough. but at
Bile to breathe Then they started, leaving
me behind; for felt weak and i'll, and
dared not venture in the sun:
They were gone a long while IL seemed
hours to me. And when they returned
saw that Valley appeared deeply affected.
while. the doctor was even more cheerful
than before.
you can ease your mind away" he
said, in reply to my look of inquiry. The
hemorrhage or apoplexy-cal it which you
like
you are quite satisfied that the death
Quite I opened the Uranium and salts
"Ant You found that there was blood on
the brain?"
Enough to fill pint pot: and when you
remember that single clot the size of a
minutes. that ought to satisfy you.''
You have no doubt whatever about it?"
l asked vaguely.
Absolutely none"
Gould such a death have been caused by
certain verl but m nat y this case for
you see. the skull is not damaged"
Then the mischief was probably auto
sUnquestionably"
Then the doctor smiled.
aad Aany trin else you want to ask" he
There was not so we spoke of other
things, and my spirits rose, for a CHASTITY
rear was taken off-my mind.
That evening | succeeded in pulling my
self together. Dick. too was in high spirits
after dinner I felt fit to Join in game of
cards which lasted till midnight. Then we
went to bed; after seeing the doctor de-
posted in a hammock slung in the tent in
which Freddy Martingale passed away.
In the morning I rose as usual early,
feeling better than I had done since Wrot-
lesley died. I reused Valley and then went
to the doctor to wake him, but he lay so
sound asleep that I thought it kinder to
let him rest after his long ride So I drew
back and went with Dick to battle We
took our time and returned to find the doc
tor still abed, whereupon we entered his
tent.
AS passed the opening 7 noticed that he
had not altered his position since I had
looked in two hours before I happened to
catch Dicks eye as gazed at the figure
in the hammock. We neither spoke. bat
going to the sleeper, my companion laid
his hand on the Doctors brow Then he
uttered one word, without anything of sur
prise or comment:
fDeadr'
So 1t was that the third victim of fate
% had passed away. The circumstances
were an exact repetition of those that had
accompanied his predecessors No mark or
sign Of violence; no tell-tale weapon. The
man had gone to rest in the prime of life.
hale. hearty, and in perfect health Now
he lay dead. And that was ALL
1t would prolong my story unnecessarily
We're to detail all the incidents of that
day. We realized that we had beheld a.
fresh victim to the awful, the inscrutable
vengeance which was being hurled at us by
some unseen hand. We knew that as with
the others, a medical exa animation would
point but 10 a natural cause of death. We
believed in our hearts that the truth, could
we only discover it, would point a very diff
ferent tale.
How were we to test our theories? How
oury mystery meath the flood of truth?
We drew up the report we knew so we'll
and sent it off. And then we held a council
OF war 1t was evident that the murderer
III murderer there were-must be astute
IiuSL nave secret means of inficting
oeatn unknown to medical SKILL and sought
10 work his will on white men wherever
The two nights when nothing had happened
had been those when Valley and i had
kept together. We agreed that had we
separated then we should have met our
tate. The question remained what means
couio we take to remain together while our
mysterious enemy should believe US to be
apart? We discussed the problem at length
and at dusk retired to rest, each to his
own tent, leaving the patrol outside in
l had closed the entrance, and fastened it
securely, too, l lay down on my stomach,
ana by dint OF much struggling succeeded
In forcing my body underneath the double
skin OF canvas at. the back of the tent
ana, after having ascertained that 1 was
not being watched I turned to Valleys
quarters and wriggled under his canvas
until | stood by his side. We had already
agreed as to our course of action. If L
had succeeded in evading the unseen eye
that we felt convinced was watching u.s.
1t was probable that an attempt would be
one of the tents. If it CHANGED that Wal
ley'S tent was the one visited, of US
was bound to see and deal with the Dacoit
thug. or whatever he was. We had care
fully loaded our revolvers, and had agreed
to to take 1t in turns to watch and sleep.
sound during the night, unless it became
necessary to rouse the sleeper.
As soon as 1 joined Valley, he extin-
guished the lamp It was a clear night
and it was possible to distinguish the fur
niture and various objects in the tent dis
tinctly. In consideration of my weakened
state L was to have the first rest. l ac-
cordingly lay down on the bedstead. while
VALLEY sat on his camp stool tired
out and soon fell into a dreanless sleep.
Valley told me subsequently that it took
five minutes to wake me when my time
was up: but / speedily pulled myself to-
gether and rose to allow of his taking his
turn of bed. 1t occurred to me as I moved
to the seat he had occupied that his posi-
ton had been far too prominent for our
purpose 1t was absolutely necessary. if
our vigil was to have any chance of sue
cess. that any intruder should not see that
he was being watched soon as he en-
tered the tent / shifted the stool on one
side, and carefully moved the drawers and
bath away from the side of the tent so
as to have sufficient space to conceal my
self between them and the canvas. Then.
with a spare rug 10 lay on, and kit-bag
for my back. | slowed myself behind the
furniture. fairly concealed but able to
command a view of anything that might
transpire.
There is nothing more trying or more ex-
hausting than solitary vigil One soon
tires of keeping the faculties on the alert,
and hears all sorts of imaginary sounds
sees all kinds of nonexistent things AS I
lay wedged in that eighteen inches of re-
cess I fanced I could discern all sorts of
hideous outlines, and kept hearing whs-
pered voices and mysterious breathings
But my judgment prevailed and / re-
strained my iInpetuosity. And so the min
utes sped on, seeming hours. and nothing
happened. Then new terrCr struck me. /
felt that 7 was being watched. / could not
see anything. No particle of evidence of
fered to justify the idea, but / could not
shake it off. did not picture a human eye
gazing at me- but felt its impact con-
hot r