Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1906-01-11
CHAPTER VT.

my discovery. All the facts
 pointed one way, and l was dumfounded at my previous obtuse ness. For what but a hidden store of treasure would explain these incessant attempts upon the house itself or the insistent efforts to take it out of my hands? And what again but treasure could supply so natural a key to old Kesteven's death and his mysterious secret? It seemed to me, too, that Hip on this hypothesis several facts hither- to ineyplicable might be referred t0 reason. The eccentricity of my host in choosing me for his heir became not so much an eccentricity as q studious piece of policy He was in the general verdict, devoid of living relatives, and had so long fallen out of the world as to be practically friendess. He had made up his mind to my honesty, possibly to my capabilty. and was resolved to trust me If this were 50, as 1 saw it now, the making of the will had been an inevitable act in the game he in tended to play.
 I could hot imagine that he had fore seen his sudden death, yet With his knowledge that he had an organic dis ease it was wise to take punetual pre- cautions. It was probable also that the news he had evidently received upon the morning of that fatal day had conduced to his visit to the Ia wyer T lo tn fJ Twice he had been interrupted in the very nick of his narrative-the second time by the interpOsition of Death himself Tn these considerations my thoughts were naturally dra wn to the events of that evening. Why had keS- teven retired to his room? Obviously there was connection between his CT rand and the sheet of parchment which I had detached from his clutch
 I opened my dispatch box and spread out the paper on the table once more. boring over it with my pulse throbbing to my finger tips The meaning was now plain, though the main secret was yet to find. The parchment was clear ly the second sheet only of the docu- ment which MT. Kesteven had desired to bring down for my perusal. I sat up at new and more alarming discovery Where was the first sheet?
 That open window how offered up it's secret That desperate cry was no longer now the scream of mortal ago ny, but an appeal for help. From the dead fingers I had taken the second sheet of the mysterious document, so pregnant with interest. but from the hands of the living l could not doubt that the first had been violently torn in the course of struggle in that silent chamber Terror had surprised the ras, cal at his work-thc terror of that sud den and fearful dissolution, of that bumped and pitiful body fallen on the floor. And here now with two ends of the secret, whatever it might be, rent asunder and secluded in separate hands, tue hoard of treasure still lay buried in it's ancient hiding place as in tact and private as fl had lain maybe through hundreds of years of silence
 M y lldulc W dS Ittttl. ludl ctIldiIiy was a great step, and in the heat of my discovery. as sat palpitating with strange emotions of adventure, avarice even of ferocity. 1 had no intention to leave the matter where it stood. l was resolved to confront fate and to enter the lists against those undetermined enemies. So far they had kept very silent, working only in the dark, but swore then and there to meet them drag them forth into the broad daylight and contest my rights in the hidden treasure, if it existed, against dozen sorry knayeS. am a patient mau and not overquick to take resolution but do not easily lay down a task which I have once undertaken sworc upon the spot 10 undertake this
 In the circuit Of my fancy came HdGenly upon this' coaaitl, i;lt:on whie! pQ!iell me up Gattc siar. !y, even witl little breath}es sncSS .ihsst. unknown p..a9eonists Were =6ahe3ed in af.n> r;s.zs5'lst s.se, &a4 VII a.9ae. I lad haA repeated evi}"ne4 th9t l wa2 peia Os.A=' - AAt .' a=. -' .ttta-.} 'tiii lI lN Ways. Gu the oHe haAd l Wa to be cTictrd froia ny OWL ieCsr. a4l .m5u taEHeuS!y ny b.rcau WJS rit,a. TX cead not Row doHiH, far the pusI tn=l,. seG"!i"s my remnant of the r:aet8z. teeHn "at. Whet w92.'! la tho Hp5, step which the8n rso.ent trlcH~te@ woald essay: had no one in the est=, tie beyond the estimabjc Mrs Mai and neat housemad, neither of whgn was to be counted in warfare sue. as the situation promised to my inagj nation.
 The one man that was daily visibl about the place slept at Llanellan, a Mir. Kesteven had informed mo. Wha puzzled me at this point was the iso,a tion in which my host had enwrappe himself He had taken no pains f protect himself Exposed. as he mus have known he was to the treachpr of an unscruDulous foe. he was throw absolutely upon his own resources ur less indeed he relied upon the nea proximity of Hood in times of einer kency But Hood perplcXed me. re curing in my thoughts, a haunting fa