Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1907-04-16
Darrell Of THE
BLESSED ISLES
By IRVING BACHELOR.
of Holden" "D'ri and l." Etc
COPYRIGHT 1905 PUBLISHING COMPANY
COPYRIGHT 1905 BY LoTHRop PUBLISHING COMPANY

with suppressed feeling. "Said you
was arrested for murder"
II presume you were surprised"
"Waal," said he, "Ez amt said a
word before in six months"
Tunk opened the horses mouth and
stood moment peering thoughtfully
at his teeth.
"Kind Of unexpected to be spoke to
by Ez Tower" he added, turning his
eyes upon them with the same curious
look.
The Interrogation of Tunk and the
two boys began Immediately. The
story of the fowl corroborated, the
sugar bush became an object of investi.
cation. Nlilldam was ten miles away,
and it was quite possible for the young
man to have ridden there and back be-
tween the hour when Tunk left him
and that of sunrise, when he met Mrs.
Vaughn at her door. Trove and Tunk
Hosely went with the officers down a
lane to the pasture and thence into the
wood by a path they followed that
night to and from the shanty.
They discovered nothing new save
one remarkable circumstance that baf-
fed Trove and renewed the waning
suspicion Of the men of the law. On
almost straight line from bush to
barn were tracks of a man that showed
plainly where they came out of the
grass upon the garden soil. Now, the
strange part Of 1t lay in this fact-the
boots Of Sidney Trove exactly fitted
the tracks. They followed the foot
prints carefully into the meadow grass
and up to the stalk of the mullen.
Near the top of 1t was the abandoned
home Of the spider and around it
were the four snares Trove had OBJ
served, now full of prey.
do not disturb the grass here" said
Trove, land will prove to you that
the tracks were made before the night
in question. Do you see the four
webs?"
YES" said the attorney.
'"The tracks go under them," said
Troye, "and must, therefore, have been
made before the webs. l will prove to
you that the webs were spun before
2 o'clock of the day before yesterday.
At that hour saw the spinner die.
See, her lair is deserted"
He broke the stalk of MULLEN and
the cables of spider silk that led away
from it, and all inspected the empty
lair. Then he told of that deadly bat
tie in the grass.
But these webs might have been
the work of another spider" said the
attorney.
1T matters not" Trove insisted, 'for
the webs We're spun at least twelve
hours before the crime. One of them
contains the body of red butterfly
with starred wings. We cut the wings
that day, and Miss Vaughn put them
In book she was reading"
Paul brought the wings, which ex-
actly fitted the tiny torso Of the but
tert1y. They could discern the foot
prints, one of which had broken the
ants road, while another was com
pletely covered by the butterfly snare.
"Those tracks were made before the
webs, that is evident" said the attor
ney. "Do you know who made the
tracks?"
Il do not" was the answer Of the
young man.
Troye remained at Robins Inn that
night, and after the men had gone he
recalled circumstance that was like
a flash Of lightning in the dark Of his
great mystery.
Once at the Sign of the Dial his
friend the tinker had shown him pair
Of new boots. He remembered they
were Of the same size and shape as
those he wore.
1--WE could wear the same boots"
he had remarked to Darrell.
Had to do such penance I should
be damned" the tinker had answered.
"Look, boy, mine are the larger by far.
There's man coming to see me at the
Christmas time. man O busy feet.
That pair in your hands I bought for
him"
"Day before yesterday" said Tunk
that evening, Il was up in the sugar
bush after a bit O. hickory, an see
man there, an I didn't have no idee
who twas. He was tall and had white
hair an whiskers an a short blue
coat. When l first see him he was set
tin on log, but fore 1 come nigh he
got up an made Off"
Although meager, the description
was sufficient. Trove had no longer
any doubt of this-that the stranger
he had seen at barrels had been hid
ing in the bush that day whose events
were now so important.
Whoever had brought the money, he
must have known much of the plans
and habits Of the young man, and, the
night before Trove's arrival at Robins
Inn, he came probably to the sugar
woods, where he spent the next day in
hiding.
The young man was deeply troubled.
Polly and her mother sat we'll into the
night with him, hearing the story Of
his life, which he told in full, saving
only the sin Of his father. OF that he
had neither the right nor the heart to
tell.
God only knows what is the next
chapter" said he at last. "It may rob
me Of all that 1 love in this world"
But not of me-" said Polly, whis-
pering in his ear.
II wish I We're sure of that" he an.
swered.
Among those who got off the train