Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-09-12
Mystery Of the
Bayou Woods
By WALKER KENNEDY.
Copyright, 1903. by A. N. Kellogg Newspaper Co.
CHAPTER VII.-CONTINUED.

IHAB1ER Nu.-OONTINUED,
'That looks ugly for Wright said
Warde, regretfully.
"Ordinarily it would, but there is
something behind all this"
What do you mean"
"Why, when l took out this pistol
Mrs. Wright was dumfounded for a
moment. Then she daclared that it
was not her husbands pistol, and that
when she had left the house this
afternoon that weapon had not been
there, for she had examined the one
that was-an old affair-in order, she
said, to see whether it had been fired
or not. She asserted positively that
some one had changed the pistols in
her absence"
by Jove!" cried Warde, 'this
grows exciting"
Il don't claim to be an extra good
judge Of human nature" said the de-
tective, ''but in my opinion the wo-
man was telling the truth. She led
me to the pistol without particle
of hesitate and l never saw any
persons face fall as hers did when I
took out the shining revolver. / put
it up this way, that the man who
changed these revolyers must have
taken a hand in the murder, or else
is bitter enemy of young Wright.
At any rate, my idea of the case has
changed considerably since this
morning.
Il have an idea," said Warde, land
if you will help me perhaps we can
hit on a solution of this riddle
Il will do anything consistent with
my official duty"
81 ask nothing more. It is your
duty, as | conceive it not to bolster
up any pet theory or anybody's hob
by, but to get at the truth and I'M
mask the real criminal
'You are right. I agree with you
thoroughly"
Let me make a suggestion to you.
Go back to Mrs. Wright tomorrow
and find out whether she has any
proof that the old pistol was there
yesterday morning; if she has not,
perhaps some of her neighbors could
tell whether anybody visited the
house while she was away. If you
can find the man who put-the pistol
there, you are in a fair way to find
the man who killed John T. Wright"
I'll go out there tomorrow and
l must turn in this new link of evil
dence against that young fellow
The detective retired, and Warde
unused awhile before resuming his
work. 1t was indeed singular that
while the mystery was deepening, at
the same time the visible proofs were
accommodating against Wright. He had
more reason nowthan ever to believe
that a still darker crime that involved
something besides murder lay beyond
the prima facie case that had been
made out. For the first time he felt
that he was contending with an I'M
seen antagonist, and that while he
was endeavOring to clear the name
of Herbert Wright some one was
fighting him step by step and was
trying to fasten the guilt upon the
young man. 1t could net be the au-
thorities. They were, of course, mere
~ doing their duty to the best of
their ability and they could not be
expected to yield anything to the
sentimental side of the case.
From this time on Warde never
ceased to feel that he and the unseen
were engaged in desperate game,
in which a human life was involved.
He silently accepted the unwritten
challenge to battle and made up his
mind that he would not be defeated.
The next morning Nilus was treat
ed to a sensation, the startling evil
dence obtained by the authorities be-
ing supplemented by an exclusive
piece of news published in the Jour
nal. When Warde sat down to break
fast and picked up that paper he was
cold with amazement at what ne
read, for in large, glaring headlines,
he saw that Herbert Wright, 'stung
by guilty conscience, had endeav
ored to take his own life The at
tempt, it seemed, was discovered by
the "alert and tireless jailer," who
had promptly sent for physician,
and the young mans life was saved.
Wright had taken morphine, but the
physician, who had arrived prompt
1y, administered an emetic, and SO
checkmated the would-bc suicide.