Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1900-02-22

CHAPTER x1x-(continued1

son to doubt them, the murdered man
was simply an imposter who had per-
sonated the real Luke Arncwood. and
that, too. with considerable cleverness.
The thing was. obviously, quite posi-
bic. One had only to suppose him i'll
innate eLough With the real man to
learn his true parcntage, to have access
to his papers, and to dave seen my adj
vertisement. n clever scoundrcl would
quickly see his chance. The subSe-
quGnt correspondence. backed up by
the stolen documents and the photo
graph, would follow, as a matter Of
course. No one over here knew Luke
Arnewood: the game seemed n safe
one to play. provided the real man did
not subsequently turn up. Had the
alyertUler taken this risk. or w;ls Luke
ArreMood dead:
1t flashed across my mind that the
man who had returned by the Wairoa
had caused himself to be tattGOed on
board by quartermaster. He had
chosen the initials l.. A. for his ARM
and the running r. n. (woGD upon his
breast. clearly IN imitation of the man
he was personating. And now these
very same letters, with precisely the
same DESIGNS, were found upon the arm
and breast of tho imbacile digger.
whom Diclly had pulled out of the
shaft! Taken in conjunction with the
fact that Nat RainSforth had. that very
day, been tracked to within Il mile or
so of this very shaft. the conclusion
seemed as inevitable as it WAS start
ling. Rainsforth must have watched
his opportunity to push Dicky's protege
down the Shaft, and had left Queens
land in the fill belief that his victim
was lying dead at the bottom. And
moreover. the evidence seemed to lndl-
cate, very strongly that this resuscita'-
ed victim was the real heir to Afne-
wood Hall. Well, il all this were i'll
deed so. the vengeance OF Heaven had
already Overtaken the would-be MUIR
lerer. Was it still my duty to hunt
down his slayer. CT did my task END
here?
1 thought of my promise to Mad@t.
that answered the question Her Drptn-
ther was still wanted for the Greek
street murder. and. even though i'll
sane. q criminal lunatic asylum would
still be his doom. upon the fnnln@ OF
the ccroner's jury. So far as O Rrel,
and Grudgery were concerned 'ahu
Hawkins Il Co.. too, for the matter %!
that, the case might. perhaps. be re-
carlled as concluded. But for ne. it
would end only with ,he ful1llmcnt OF
any mission
needed help. Why not take the
kindly little Strong Man entirely into
my confidence: He was sitting oppo-
site to me, also deep in thought.
MIR. Dicky." said, abruptly. light
up your pipe. mix yourself some gro2,
and listen to me- l need your advice.
and it may be l shall need the help Of
those strong arms of yours Il few hours
hence
Both are at your service. sir. he an
swcred. "And. by the way (not that it
nlatters;, my real name is Dirk VAN
stcn.''
Without further preface | told him
ali the main facts of the case. as |
knew them. supplemented by such
plain deductions as seemed to arise
from his own narrative. He listened
intent1y. but never put in Il word until
I had finished.
"And yet have heard men say there
is no God" was his con.ment "Whv.
blame me- il His hand amt plain To h.
seen throughout the whole niece. " g
s'Youll pardon me. sir but can't hard
ly realize vet the wonder of it all. Ned
n gentleman of family AID fortune.
Nat Rainsforth (who. no doubt. tired
to kill him) murdered here in London.
and poor. silly Tom suspected of iii"
crime! 1t just fair dazcs me to take it
all in. just at first"
II quite agree with you there. DIX.
/ assented. Eve must accept the facts
as they are THOUGH. and see if we can
not bring everything to a satisfactory
termination SO far as l can judge,
the u. Getting at the house in Ro!nay av-
enue between the stranger and Bto".
Is almost certain to result in conversa-
ton of a compromising character: not
;npossibly. the whole scheme of the
murder may leak out. especially il they
should quarrel We mrst contrive to
90 present. or. at Ill events. within car
shot at the interview. and we must be
prepared, if need be. to seize the two
confederates One of them is a power
. f,iI man, and both may be armed
Every good" said Dirk quietly: tho
sN, lad better go armed, also. But
.ilink if I once get my grip or til"
!. !slogg shall need nothing more than
y piece of cord to tie him Up with. Car
Sou manage the othcr?'
Yes" | answered, you may safely
leave The stranger to me-
4 MAY as Just one question:" he i'll
! CURED. little awkwardly. would il
not be simpler. and even safer. to leave
\ the arrest of these two villains to the
police?"
EYES," answered. sit would. and In
/ spector Trail would only be too pleased
& to have the job thrown into his hands.
But my personal pride and-weil. {,
great many reasons-impel me to see
fine thing through without police help"
sss .sSay no more. SIR rejoined Dirk.
\ ',Your reasons. whatever they are. are
4 more than sufficient for me. Only tell
me at what time and where I am to
meet You tomorrow, and I'll be there.
fully prepared, to the minute. Luckily.
we don't show tomorrow, and l can
take a day off without any reference to
the boss. AS for Ned and Tom. it'll be
\ d sort OF Sunday for them. and they'll
4 be as right as trivets until get back
VERY well, Dirk" said. "Meet me
Il here MT 2 o'clock. Take couple of my
cards. In case you forget the address.
"a "A :. I, nI,, vO,, r0n1f fn n nfOhf.O0n