Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-05-05

! II, The sun was low when Darrel got up and staggered on. He must have food and had hopes that he could se- cure 1t in some covert way at the War l Eagle mine
 Still pushing from covert to covert through the rough country that paral- leled the trail, he kept consistently westward. The sun went down and darkness began to fall but, although his head swam for weariness and his l limbs almost refused to support him. l the fugitive continued to struggle on. Just as he felt that he must sink to the ground and lie there for the rest of the night, the whinnying of a horse reached his ears. The sound did not come from the trail, but from some point on his left.
 Turning in that direction he made his way painfully through a small 1 coulee whose steep banks flung heavy shadow about him. The pas sage was short and he came out abruptly into cleared space lying full l in the moonlight
 Before him stood a horse secured by a stake-pin and length of rope Be- hind the horse was an old, ruinous log l hut-evidently relic marking back to earliest pioneer days.
 Darrel advanced closer to the horse, which whinnied again and tramped im- patiently A shock of surprise passed l through him when he came near l enough to see that it was the "calico cayuse" ridden by the man in cordu- ] roys.
 What was there about the customer that kept him constantly in Darrel's mind? Was 1t the subtle working of destiny:
 On approaching Gryce in the War Eagle trail Darrel had taken note of the dull suspicion in the foreman's mind, and the man in corduroys was first to occur to the fugitive as foil. Now, standing beside the peculiarly marked horse, a weird sensation thrilled through Darrel's nerves.
 After brief pause he passed to the hut. The door was closed and he halted and listened.
 1 No sound came from within. The silence was intense and even the deep breathing of a sleeper might have been heard.
 Pushing open the door Darrel l stepped quickly across the threshold Through an unglazed opening the moonlight fell and trailed across the rotting floor, but everywhere else how cred mysterious and ominous shadows. I Darrel groped his way forward and ran against table After a pause he took q match from his pocket and struck it against the tabletop.
 In the dim light he saw the old traveliNg-bag open before him. Clean linen met his startled gaze razor and shaving materials, sole leather case containing toilet articles and a small round mirror
 A bit of candle, planteds in it's own drippings, stood in the center of the table. while two other candles, un- used, lay near it. Darrel applied the fickering match to the candle-wick and then, from sheer weariness, fell on an old stool at the table side.
 For a space he rested, his eyes talk ing in the objects spread out before them and growing keen for the slight est detail One-half of the opened traveling-bag lay over some papers. PRggbpf Rgab of s eefss sas aside ahd 5e ts % f%al book, well worn and marked in tar nished gilt: ''Junius McCloud."
 His gaze roved elsewhere and in an instant he was brought up standing, limbs rigid and eyes staring. Near the papers, and lying so that 1t had been hidden by the opened travelling bag, was a revolver whose ebony stock was carved with deaths head.
 Murgatroyd's! Sudden strength Swept through DarrePs body and he plucked the candle from the tabletop and whirled around, holding the light above his head.
 At the other end of the room was a bunk built against the wall. Beside the bunk, across another stool, were the cordnroys, neatly folded.
 A form lay in the bunk-a still form whose wide, unmoving eyes seemed fixed upon the intruder. Darrel heaved deep breath The form was not that of Mursatroyd but of the customer.
 How came Murgatroyd's revolver there? There were doze1l things Darrel wanted to do, all at once, but he set his hand to the thing nearest him.
 Picking up the,reYolver he examined , it. That it was the same weapon he had held in his hands few hours before five cartridges. their lead tips marked with an M. convinced him beyond all peradventure.
 The weapon was AS and the empty shell of the sixth cartridge lay under the hammer Darrel's breath came hard and 0llicly al he laid Inc .ray0Ivav. back on the table.
 He knew it. Murgatroyd had com mitted the murder for the purpose Of Involving him and fate, working cir cu1tously, had developed Mlrgatroyd s guilt through the agency of Junius Mc- Cloud, otherwise the man in corduroys.
 Life is a game of chance, Darrel reasoned, and every man plays 1t through with Fate for an opponent 1t iS perforce an honorable game for | Eafn k110 <~n