The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-02-13

-. I'LL |A7IY t|T<7UI/k0
+, err grimmer than ever. Where the
upper stories were 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 pediment or Intel or archi-
volt, delicate iron tracery of rejas, re-
lief Of arcature and colonnade-all
these the dusk blurred if it did not
obliterate; the great dark bulk of the
house with it's massive buttresses, it's
pyramidal copings and receding upper
stories, was the more boldly sill
houetted on the violet sky; yet be-
cause of the very fairness of the pic
turc, the very lack Of shadow and pro-
| lection, it seemed unsubstantial, hard
ly more of reality than the giant shadow
1t cast upon the hillside. Electric
lights wavered and bristled dazzling
beams on either side of the street;
not CLEAN, red, white or yellow,
leaked through the shattered windows
| OF the house. In it's blackness, it's 81
lence, its determined isolation it re-
newed, but with a greater force, the
first sinister thrill which the sight of
it had given the man who came to
rifle it of its secrets.
Lonesome-looking old shanty, isn't
lt?" said the Harvard boy: Seems al
most indecorous to speak out loud.
Here's where we cache the car and
make a gentle detour by aid Of the
shrubbery up to the arroyo to the
north side of the patio. Seer
He directed the colonels 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
i sprawled, and purple and white flow.
cred vines had made their own I'm.
tended tangle. Before they reached
the level the colonel was breathing
hard, every breath stab. Tracy, a
famous track man who had won his
H in a wonderful cross-country run.
felt no distress-until he heard his
companion gasp.
"Jove! But that hills ferce!" he
breathed, explosively. do you mind
resting a minute?"
Hardly, colonel was just able
to hold his voice steady-"I 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 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; I 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. 1t fingered there
as he stood in the f1ower-scented
gloom. 1t was there as Tracy stun.
bled to halfremembered 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 stuff has Kito
! spilled on this floor ?"-and instantly
flooded the court with light. Then he
saw the black, Shiny pool and the
q long slide of Tracy's nailed sole in It.;
! and just to one side, almost pressing
! against his own foot, he saw a man
in gray suit huddled into the shape
Of a crooked U, 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 Cod" whispered Tracy,
growing white. tits Keatcham!
they've killed him! Oh, why didn't
| come back before!"
| CHAPTER XIII.
Whose Feet Were Shod with Silence.
Get out your revolver" ordered the
colonel; "look sharp! there may be
some one here"