The Holly chieftain., 1898-04-01

chain OF circumstances began to uuroll,
and was 10 easy to follow that i feit
as II were playing With . toy. could
have kicked myself for having to sp-
pear to take Il all SO seriously. Twas
tempted to make q joke Of II. When l
was half through. l wanted to throw
down my hand and say: Look here,
bold 20 and 20. and III bet my reputs-
ton you haven't a thing!'"
s.l'm still In deep water" said Welsh.
II saw the bullet hole. her tracks, the
fellows trucks, and that was all. The
nervousness Of the ladies and the may
or's anxiety absorbed me-"
~ did not 10 there to sympathize
with anyone" answered the detective.
II was looking for facts. But follow me
now, and draw your own couciusions
as we 60. Well, what was the frat In
congruous thing that 'happenef after
we arrivcd?' Why. II you remember.
Mrs. Walters said abe was sure she
beard the report before she felt the ball
rnss through her sleeve. The distance
was about 100 yards. and II the diffcr-
ence were noticeable at ail 1t would
have been, scientifically, you know. ex-
nctly the reverse"
''But surely, !. protested Welsh. you'd
hardly expect an excited woman to be
correct about such . minor detail as
that"
"Mrs. Walters was not excited"
Hendricks answered. You must have
noticed that. II she had been, should
not have made point there. However.
that was only little thing to start
from. but II was sufficient, as found
ont later. The next thing did was to
examine the hole IN her sleeve. What
did do that for? To find out II it were
made by bullet. 1t was rather too
dark in the house to see we'll. but out
in the sunlight got another look.
saw that It really was u bullet hole.
noticed few black specks on the cloth.
hut, without being openly impertinent. /
could not decide whether they had been
caused by powder or SCOT, for the gown
was gray"
"At that distance? Who ever heard
Of"
Hold onl not 10 fast! All. sec you
are not following me; but you'll catch
on in moment, so let's continue. She
next showed us her tracks. Did you
notice how deep and distinct they were?
1t was the first thing that struck me.
Her mother is twice as heavy as she is.
and stood in the same sort of soil, but
her feet made hardly any Impressions.
Don't forget that l marked the spot
VU-i
umbrella; after that. you know, we
went over to the fence. There is a
minor point here in Mrs. Walters
being the first to see the footprints be-
| yond the fence. but we will pass that.
and come to the footprints themselves.
Did you notice nothing remarkable
about them, captain? No? Well. in
Ill my experience never saw such com
icai footprints. was tempted to laugh
outright, but it would have spoiled
everything, 80 xmothered my amuse-
inent."
II saw nothing remarkable about
them," said Capt. Welsh, impatientiy.
They were nude, captain, by mems
slippers, number ten, with very thin
soles. The heels had been well pressed
down into the soft clay, and 80 were the
middle parts Of the solcs, but the thin
edges allround had turned up 30 easily
that only q faint Impression Of the bot
tom was left y
what did you, deduce from that?''
asked Welsh. still perplexed.
"That they were worn by feet not
half large enough for them, though
they had doubtless been drawn ON over
o pair Of boots. saw by the shape OF
the track that the right ono had como
on once a. the weerer drew It from the
mud"
-Ahl curiousi~ exclaimed the cap
tain; .but don't yet see what you are
driving at, though I think you suspect
but how could you? Why
"But that is not all," the detective
went on, smiling. you remember. per
haps, that asked II 1t had rained ou,
there recently. Well. was trying to
account, since there has not been any
rain iateIy, for that naturally dry spot
Of clay being soft enough to have re.
ceived such distinct footprints. On
close examination, detected the faint
semicircular mark of vessel In the
edge Of the grass. and. at exactly the
right distance from it, spot where q
little water hnd trickled down from the
spout on the clay"
"Ah, the watering pot!" cried Welsh.
Wonderful! wonderful! Now Iknow
what all that rigmarole to the garden
er meant"
"ycs, and found q little water in it,
too, and learned that 1t had last night
been left on the floor when Robert de-
clared that he usually hung it up. and on
the bottom of 1t the stupid rninmaker
had left a trace Of the very clay in
which we found the footprints. But !
aIn too fast; foryou remember, as stood
at the big tracks, ! sighted along over
the fence at my umbrella on the lawn
II remember" said Welsh, with u
|.lnugh. "And / own thought you
were making blooming ass of your
self. and simply pretending to make
Investigations when you knew yot
were wholly ut sea. But what were you
doing It for?"
when / got my bearings in that
way, calculated that the handle Of
my umbrella was just about where her
sleeve must have been when she was
bending over. As l sighted along at
1t. I saw that IL q bullet were fired from
where l stood and passed through her
sleeve II must-as !. would naturally
60 in strnight line-strike O certain
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