Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-05-05

| every way " Soh'Sy IN
of having come more recently from
the civilized, habitable portion OF the
world than his companions. He car
ried a rifle slung by a strap over his
shoulder, evidently foreseeing no Inn
mediate use for it, and a flask.
Cayley was too far aloft for their
conversation to be audible to him, but
he could hear that they were talking.
The leather-clad man appeared to be
doing the most of 1t, and, from the
infection OF his voice. he seemed to
be speaking In English.
Presently he noticed that the leath-
er-clad man had forged a little ahead
of his companions, or, rather-like a
flash, this idea occurred to Cayley-
that the others were purposely lag
ging a little behind.
And then, before that sinister idea
could formulate itself into a definite
suspicion, his eyes widened with
amazement. and the cry he would
have uttered died in his throat; for
this man, who had SO innocently al
lowed the others to fall behind him.
suddenly staggered, clutched at some
thing-it looked like a thin ivory dart
that had transf1xed his throat,
tugged it out in a sudden flood OF
crimson, reeled a little and then went
backwards over the CLASSY edge of a
| assure in the ice, which lay just to
| the left Of the path where he had
been walking.
From the instant when Cayley had
| noticed the others dropping behind, to
| the last glimpse he had of the body
of the murdered man could hardly
I nave been five seconds.
The instant the murdered man dis
appeared, another, who had not previ-
ously been with the party, 1t seemed,
appeared from behind a hummock Of
ice. There could be no doubt either
that he was the assassin, or that he
was the commander Of the little group
of skin-clad figures that remained.
The ambush appeared to have been
| perfectly deliberate. There had been
no outcry, not ever a gesture of sur
prise or of remonstrance.
Cayley looked at the assassin curl
ously. He was dressed exactly like
the others, but seemed very much
bigger; seemed to walk with less Of
a SLOUGH, and had, even to Cayley's
limited view Of him. an air of authori-
ty. Cayley was surprised at his not
being armed with a bow, for he knew
of no other way in which a dart could
have been propelled with power
enough, ever at close range, to have
transf1xed a mans throat. The assas-
sins only weapon, except for a CULVER
full Of extra darts, seemed to be a
short blunt stick, rudely whitfield,
perhaps ten inches long.
Obedient, apparently, to the order
Of the new arrival, the party changed
its direction, leaving what was EVIL
IDENTIFY a well-known path to them, for
a seemingly more direct but rougher
route. And they moved now with an
appearance of haste. Presently they
scrambled over a p%recipitous ledge of
ice and, in a moment, were lost to
Cayley's view.
The world was suddenly empty
again, as If no living foot had ever
trod len it; and Cayley. lowering
there, a little above the level of the
ice. rubbed his eyes and wondered
whether the singular, silent tragedy
he had just witnessed were real, or a
trick the mysterious arctic light had
played upon his tired yes. But there
remained upon that vacant scene two
material reminders Of the tragedy to
which it had afforded a setting. One
was smudge of crimson on the snow;
the other, a little distance OF, just
this side of the icy ridge over which
the last of the party had gone scram-
bling a moment before, was the
strange looking blunt stick which he
had seer in the assassin's hand.
Cayley few a little lower, his wings
almost skimming the ice. Finally.
reaching the spot where the thing had
fallen, he alighted and picked 1t up.
Whether its possessor had valued it.
or not, whether or not he might be
expected to return for it, Cayley did
not know, and did not much care.
He stood for some time turSing the
thing over in his hands, puzzling over
it, trying to make out how it could
have been used as the instrument of
propulsion to that deadly ivory dart.
| There was a GOV on n side of 1t,
with a small ivory plug at the end.
The other end was %curiously shaped.
misshapen, rather, for, though 1t was
obviously the end one held, Cayley
could o make it fit his hand. what
| ever position he held 1t in.
Giving up the problem at last. he
tucked the stick into his belt, slipped
his arm through tine strap in the
framework of his a%eroplane. and pre-
pared for fight. He had a little diff
Guilty getting up. owing to the absence
If a breeze at this point. Finally ne
was obliged to climb, with a good deal
OF labor. the icy ridge up which he
had watched the little party of muir
derers scrambling.
At the crest he cast a glance
around, looking for them, but saw no
signs of them. Then, getting a favor
able slant of the wind, he mounted
again into the element he now called
his own.
Five years before Philip Cayley
would have passed for a good exam
pie OF that type of clean-limbed, clean
! minded. likable young man which the
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