Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-06-08
The Strange Ride
MOrrOWbie JukeS,
BY RUDYARD KIPLING.
BY RUDYARD kIpLING.
(Continued from last week !

clad in an olive green hunting suit
much stained and worn. with leather
pads on the shoulders-was that of .
man between 80 and 40. above middle
height. with light. sandy hair. long
mustache and rough, unkempt beard.
The left canine Of the upper Jaw was
missing, and portion of the lobe of the
right ear was gone. On the second fin
ger OF the left hand was a ring-a shield
shaped bloodstone set in gold. with a
monogram that might have been either
b. X. or "B. l. On the third fin
ger Of the right hand was a silver ring
In the shape of a coiled cobra, much
worn and furnished. Gunga Dass de-
posted handful of trifes he had pick
ed out of the burrow at my feet, and.
covering the face of the body with my
handkerchief, | turned to examine these
give the full list in the hope that it
may lead to the Identification of the un-
I fortunate man
l. Bowl of brier wood pipe, serrated
al the edge, much worn and blackened,
bound with string at the screw
2. Two patent lever keys, wards Of
both broken.
3. Tortoise shell handled penknife
silver or nickel name plate. marked
with monogram "B. X
4 Envelope postmark undecipher-
able. bearing a Victorian stamp, ad-
dressed to Miss Mon '-(rest illegi-
ble)-''ham mt
8. Imitation crocodile skin notebook
with pencil First As pages blank. AZ
illegible, 10 other filed with private
memoranda relating chiefly to three
persons-a Mrs. L. Singleton, abbrevi-
ated several times to Lot Single.
Mrs S. May" and "Garmison, re.
ferred to in places as Jerry" or
Jack. ="
6. Handle of small sized hunting
knife. Blade snapped short. Buck 5
horn. diamond cut, with swivel and
ring ON the butt fragment of cotton
cord attached.
1t must not be supposed that l inven-
toried all these things on the spot as
fully as | have here written them down.
The notebook first attracted my atten-
ton, and | put it in my pocket with a
view to studying il later on. The rest
Of the articles / conveyed to my bur
row for safety's sake and there. being
methodical man, inventoried them.
/ then returned TO the corpse and or
dered Gunga Dass to help me 10 carry
il out to the river front. While we
were engaged in this the exploded shell
of an old brown cartridge dropped out
of one of the pockets and rolled at my
feet Gunga Dass had not seen il, and
fell 10 thinking that man does not
carry exploded cartridge cases, espe-
cially "hrowns. which will not bear
loading twice. about with him when
shooting. In other words. that cartridge
case had been fired inside the crater
Consequently there must be gun some
where. was on the verge of asking
Gunga Dass, but checked myself, know
ing that he would lie. We laid the body
down on the edge of the quicksand by
the tussocks IL was my intention TO
push il out and let il be swallowed mp,
the only possible mode of burial that
| could think of ordered Gunga Dass
to go away
Then | gingerly put the corpse out
on the quicksand. In doing so-it was
living face downward-I tore the frail
and rotten khaki shooting coat open.
disclosing hideous cavity in the back,
| have already told you that the dry
sand had, as il were, mummitied the
body. A moments glance showed that
the gaping hole had been caused by a
punshot wound. The gun must have
been fired with the muzzle almost
touching the back The shooting coat,
being intact, had been drawn over the
BODY after death, which must have been
The secret of the poor Z
wretch 5 death was plain TO me IN
fash. Some one of the crater, presum-
ably Gunga Dass. must have shot him |
with his own gun-the shot that fitted 1
the brown cartridges He had never at
tempted TO escape in the face OF the /
rife fire from the boat
pushed the corpse out hastily and
Jaw il sink from sight literally in a
lew seconds. / shuddered as / watched.
In A dazed, half conscious way | turned
% peruse the notebook. A stained and
iiscolored slip of paper had been insert
d between the binding and the back
md dropped out as | opened the pages.
This is what il contained: Pour out
rom crow clump; left; Q out; 2
light; 8 back; left; IA out; 2 left'
mi; left; 0 back; 2 right; 8 back; 4
light; 7 back. The paper had been
burned end charred at the edges What
I meant / could not understand. SAT
Iown on the dried bents, turning 1t
,ver and over between my fingers until
was aware Of Gunga Dass standing
behind me with glowing
YES and outstretched hands
"Have you got itT' he painted;
will YOU not let me look at it alsof l
wear that will return it. II
"Got WHAT Return whatr' | asked
THAT which you have in your hands.
I will help us both. He stretched out (