Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-04-06

SOAAO |
the civilized, habitable portion Of the
world than his companions. He car
ried a rife slung by a strap over his
shoulder, evidently f%Oreseeing no i'm
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 it, 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 q
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
arnazement, 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 transfxed his throat,
tugged 1t 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 mar could hardly
have been FIVE seconds.
The instant the murdered man dis
appeared, another, who had not prevt
ously been with the party, It 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 even 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, ven 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, even at close range, to have
transhxed a mans throat. The assas-
sims 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 o 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
trodden 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 eyes. 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 q moment before, was the
strange looking blunt stick which he
had seen in the assassin's hand.
Cayley few a little lower, his wings
almost skimming the Ice. Finally
reaching the spot where the thing hat
fallen, he alighted and picked 1t UP
Whether its possessor had valued it
or not, whether or not he might bt
expected to return for 1t, Cayley die
not know, and did not much care.
He stood for some time turning thu
thing over In his hands, puZzling owe
1t, trying to make out how 1t coult
have been used as the instrument O
propulsion to that deadly ivory dart
There was a groove on one side of 1t
with a small ivory plug at the end
The other end was curiously shaped
m~isshapen, rather, for, though 1t wal
obviously the end one held, Gayle.
could not make 1t fit his hand, what
ever position he held 1t in.
Giving up the problem at fast, h
tucked the stick into his belt, slipped
his arm through the strap In tn,
framework Of his aeroplane and pre-
pared for flight. He had a little diff
Guilty getting up, owing to the absenc'
Of a breeze at this point. Finally b,
was obliged to climb, with a good dea
OF labor, the icy ridge up which HI
had watched the little party of mur
derers scrambling.
At the crest he cast q glanc'
around, looking for them, but saw n
signs of them. Then, getting a favor
able slant Of the wind, he mounte'
again into the element he now Gale,
his own.
Five years before Philip Gayle,
would have passed for a good exam
pie of that type Of cleanlimbed, clean
minded. lirable young mar whiah tn