Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1900-12-06

at a draught; and presently, when he
had breath TO speak. he sat down and,
leaning towards me, said slowly:
You don't leave this roos until 1
have heard everything o have to
tell. What dc you know Of those ac-
cursed cards? What do you know OF
the fiends who handled them?"
He rose quickly from his hair and
walked to the door and locked 1T, and,
resuming his seat. said, almost fierce
ly:
Nov, go on"
81 must begin" I said, by reminding
you that only three cards were picked
up at Oldburg. In this last case there
were five. When / came here first /
came on the evening of the day on
which a foul crime had been perpe-
rated in London. 1t was styled "A
Suburban Mystery and it Is very like
ly you were so taken up with your
studies that you never read or heard
anything about ii. Is that SOP"
IT don't in the least know what you
are talking about"
Let me tell you, then. A man was
found by the police in a h~alf-empty
| IlOliSC. ut ndu eNlutHlly MET WIFI d
violent death at the hands Of some per-
son or persons unknown. That man
had five cards precisely similar in all
respects to those found upon this man
at Manchester. The police know moth
ing of this popularity of the London
case, because the cards were taken
dway before they discovered the body.
My father took them away, and / have
them now"
Good Heavens! Tremayne!" he ex-
claimed, who are you? And what
fresh horror is this?"
Il am The son of a man who, I verify
believe, is Mr.. Travers' greatest friend,
n Who is involved, just as Mr.. Trav-
ers is, in some terrible manner that I
cannot understand. My father has
left the country; I have no idea where
he is, or by what name he calls him
self. He sent me here, and I should
never nay known who you are, or
who Mr.. Travers is. had he not left be-
hind him a small parcel containing
some extracts referring to what hap
pened at Oldburg. and the five cards
he had picked up near the man.
He forbade me to speak of anything
L saw that night to the police, or to
IN stranger; but I don't look upoh
you as a stranger, for you are as deep
ly concerned in the matter as I; and !
have found out several other things
bearing upon the doings of these
fiends-for there must be more thai
n in it-and 1 shall put them before
you as briefly as possible"
And with that, I told him what I
had heard at O'Brien's, and gave him
more complete details of what had hap
pened in our house in London, not
emitting to mention, also, the deaths
of the men who had, as I firmly be-
lieved, been assassinated abroad.
He heard me to the end without in
~terruption.
Il can see now" he said, ''why nei-
Their your father mormon Mr.. Travers
would let us inform the authorities.
They were both convinced that the
publicity would bring these-well, we
can't call them men, and they're too
bad for demons-these assassins down
upon them, when the police protection
was withdrawn. What can it all
mean? Why are they taking h lives
of men that your father, on his own
showing, doesn't know. and that Mr..
Travers doesn't know? You say the
fellows who were here with you talked
Of this DIR. James, and my uncle didn't
seem to recognize the name at all? Do
you really think that it was a coinci-
dence that this doctor was killed in
your house?"
"My father did" 1 said. IT saw him
examine the poor fellow closely, and
I'll swear he had never seen him be-
fore. Now, Travers, Til tell you what
you must do. You must get that
strong brain of yours in working order.
Go to bed now and sleep as long as
you can. I'll take care of Mr.. Travers
tonight, and tomorrow we'll put our
heads together and settle on some def
mite plan of action"
I had the stronger will, and I per-
suaded him to come with me to his UNI
Gle, n when he a hidden him good
night / took him away, and having
seen him comfortably bestowed, I re-
turned to Mr.. Trayers' room to begin
my long vigil.
Had I needed any stimulus for the
efficient carrying of my self-im-
posed task, I should only have to look
at the pinched face and the bright eyes
Of the man who had been so good to
me. His voice was very weak, but so
clear hat one could easily hear every
word he spoke.
I'm glad you've come, Tremayne,"
he said. "Ive been expecting you, and
you're going to stay with me tonight.
It's very good of you, but I hope I
shall soon be about again, and not be
a nuisance to you young people,"
/ told him that he could never be
that, and as ] looked at his worn fea-
lures. and as the bright CLEAN tina my
coming had called up began to fade
away, l thought within myself that
here was a man suffering from the
burden of some secret that was too
great for him to bear, and, at all haz-
ards. | determined to let him know that
l was perfectly cognizant of what had
caused his illness. / gave him the med
icine that he had prescribed for him
seif-and he was no mean master OF
the healing art-and shook up his pill
lows, all the while trying to think of
some opening that might give me the
chance of leading up to what I wished
to say,
The opening came from him.
Il feel very restless, Tremayne," said