The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1909-05-27
eT OGT4E NXANT
7 n s2 zAx nav se@eSHoUR o


doomed against the dim horizon. dark.
er. grimmer than ever. Where the
upper stories we're pierced with semi
circular arches, the star-sown sky
shone through with an extraordinary
effect OF depth and mystery. All the
lighter features OF the architecture.
carving on pedlment or Intel or archi.
volt, delicate iron tracery OF rejas. re-
lief OF arcature and colonnade-all
these the dusk blurred II II did not
obliterate: the great dark bulk OF the
house with its massive buttresses, its
pyramidal copings and receding upper
S9ries. was the more boldly sill.
houetted on the violet sky; yet be
cause Of the very fairness OF the pic.
rare. the very lack Of shadow and pro
lection. IL seemed unsubstantial, hard
ly more of reality than the giant shadow
1t cast upon the hillside. Electric
lights wayered and bristled dazzling
beams on either side OF the street:
not a CLEAN, red. white or yellow.
leaked through the suffered windows
Of the house. In its blackness. its ST.
lence. its determined isolation II TO
newed. but with greater force. the
first sinister thrill which the sight of
II had given the man who came TO
rife II of its secrets.
"Lonesome-looking old shanty. isn't
it," said the Harvard boy: seems al.
most indecorous to speak out loud.
Here's where we cache the car and
make gentle detour by aid OF the
shrubbery up to the arroyo TO the
north side of the patio. See!"
He directed the colonel's course
through an almost imperceptible open
ing in the hedge along sharp turns and
oblique and narrow ways into a small
vacant space where the vines covered
an adobe hut. Jumping out. Tracy I'M
locked the door OF this tiny building
so that the colonel could run the car
inside; and after Winter had emerged
again. he re-locked the door. As there
was no window, the purpose Of the hut
was effectually concealed.
Very neat" the colonel approved:
whereat Tracy flashed his smile at
him in the moonlight and owned with
ingenious pride that he himself was
the contriver of this reticent garage.
From this point he took the lead.
Neither spoke. They toiled up the hill.
in this part of the grounds less OF the
nature OF a hill than OF an arroyo or
ravine through which rocks had thrust
their rugged sides and over which
spiked semi-tropical cacti had
sprawled, and purple and white flow
cred vines had made their own un-
tended tangle. Before they reached
the level the colonel was breathing
hard. every breath a stab. Tracy. a
famous track man who had won his
II in a wonderful cross-country run.
felt no distress-until he heard his
companion gasp.
"Jove! But that hills fiercel" he
breathed, explosively. Do you mind
resting a minute?"
Hardly. the colonel was Just able
to hold his voice steady--'T have a
Filipino bullet In my leg somewhere
which the X-ray has never been able
to account for; and I'm not exactly a
mountain goat"
why. OF course. I'm a brute not to
let you run up the drive in the ma
chine. Not rat watching us tonight,
either; but | wanted you to see the
place; and you seem so fit"
you oughtn't to give away your
secrets TO me, an outsider"
You're no outsider; | consider you
the treasurer OF the band" laughed
Tracy. They had somehow come to
an unexpressed but perfectly under
stood footing OF sympathy. The colo
mel even let the younger man help
him up the last stiff Chamber OF the path.
He forgot his first chill. as Of a witness
approaching a tragedy; there was a
smile on his lips when the two OF them
passed into the patio. II fingered there
as he stood in the fiower-scented
gloom. II was there as Tracy STUN
bled TO half-remembered push-button,
wondering aloud what had become OF
Cary and Kito that they shouldn't have
answered his whistle; It was there.
still, when Tracy slipped. and grum-
bled: What sticky stun has Kito
spilled on this floor 2T-and Instantly
flooded the court with light Then he
saw the black. Shiny pool and the
long slide Of Tracy's nailed sole In Il;
and just 20 one side. almost pressing
against his own foot. he saw a man
in gray suit huddled into the shape
OF a crooked y, with his arms limp at
his side and his head of iron-gray
fallen back askew. The light shone
on the broad dome OF the fore
head. He had been stabbed between
the shoulders, in the back; and one
side OF the gray coat was ugly to see
Good God" whispered Tracy.
growing white. cts Keatcham!
they've killed him, Oh. why didn't
| come back beforel"
CHAPTER XIII.
Whose Feet Were shod with silence.
Get out your revolver" ordered the