The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-05-12

ing on the upper one, Boyd carefully
examined the hole In the panel. He was
obliged tot stand on tiptoe to examine
it closely, despite that he was a tail
man.
1T was made by driving wire nail
through the wood, and then Withdraw
ing it, he muttered, with increasing in
terest- Here are the marks left by the
head of the hammer. Evidently design
ed for a peep-hole, and it enables one
to peer through and see the front door.
Newly made, too. But the motive
that's the question:"
Boyd fingered there only a moment,
devoting it to searching glance on all
sides for some sign of a box, a block of
wood, or suitable stone, on which a
man shorter than himself might have
stood in order to peer through the hole.
There's not so much as a bit of
hoard about here, he grimly muttered.
Here's one point nailed, with no rea-
sonable room for doubts. and it may
lead to Others"
Returning TO the front door. he quiet
ly entered. taking care that his move
ments should not be heard bv.~ Cook
and his daughter. His discovery at the
back door now led him to examine the
front one. About an inch from an up
per corner OH the inside he quickly de-
tected a faint discoloration. as of oil
or grease, and in the middle of the stain
was a tiny round spot. Mounting to a
chair, Boyd studied il closer.
1t was another tiny hole This one,
however, had been filled with putty, the
oil from which had caused the slight
surrounding discoloration. Finding 1t
fresh and soft, Boyd dug out a portion
of the putty with the point of a tooth
pick. then examined the tiny hole.
BY Jove." he mentally exclaimed.
This was made with a small screw
eye. Hello. yonder is another. Was
this crime as treacherous and cowardIy
as these Indicate? By heaven, it looks
as if I was right"
His face had grown hard and severe.
CHANGING at the entry wall. he had de-
tected, within an inch of the ceiling, a
second oily spot, as if soiled thumb or
finger had filed hole with putty, then
wiped away the loose filling. Two feet
beyond was a third, while on the front
wall of the adjoining sitting-room, in
a direct line with the others, were a
fourth and fifth.
Boyd glanced about the room. The
walls were sheathed. instead of plas-
tered, with a molding running around
them level with the lower casing of the
windows In the top of the mOlding on
more of the puttied holes.
In other respects the room was only
ordinary, with a cheap picture here and
there on the walls a few ornaments on
the wooden manteI. and a parlor stove
in one corner. Yet the general clean
Illness and orderly appearance, the
neatly adjusted antimacassars on sew
eral of the chairs, spoke well for the
seaman's daughter.
Through an open door leading into
the kitchen, Boyd next noticed a dou-
ble-baTreled fOwling piece in two brack-
cts attached to the wall. He took il
down and ran his little finger into the
muZzle &c each barrel 1t was fairly
clean when he drew it from the first.
He drew it soiled and black from the
other, however
"Humphi I guess there's but little
doubt about all this" he grimly solilo-
quized. "One barrel has been recently
fired. Here is the empty shell still in
the breech. BY Jovel the whole job has
a nasty look! How to get at the guilty
miscreant-that's now the question:"
He replaced the gun in the brackets.