The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1911-05-25

| NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
every way to convey the impression
| of having come more recently from
the civilized, habitable portion of the
world than his companions. He car
ried a rife slung by strap over his
shoulder, evidently foreseeing no i'm
mediate use for it, and 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 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 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 thin ivory dart
that had transf1Xed 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 man could hardly
have been five seconds.
The instant the murdered man dis
appeared, another, who had not previ
ously been with the party, it seemed,
appeared from behind 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 cutlery, not even a gesture of sur
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 bow, for he knew
al, ,I.s L, i
have been propelled with power
enough, even at close range, to have
transfiXed a mans throat. The assas-
sins only weapon, except for culver
full of extra darts, seemed to be
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 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 PERCEPTIONS ledge of
ice and, in 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, 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 setting. One
was smudge of crimson on the snow;
the other, little distance off, just
this side of the icy ridge over which
the last of the party had gone scram-
bling moment before, was the
strange looking blunt stick which he |
had seen in the assassins hand
Cayley flew a little lower, his wings |
almost Swimming the ice. Finally, |
reaching the spot where the thing had !
fallen. he alighted and picked it up. |
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 turning the |
thing over in his hands, puzzling over |
it, trying to make out how it could |
have been used as the instrument of |
to that deadly ivory dart.
There was a groove on one side of it,
with small ivory plug at the end.
The other end was curiously shaped, |
rather, for, though it was
obviously the end one held, Cay1ey |
could not make it fit his hand, what |
ever position he held it in.
Giving up the problem at fast, he
tucked the stick into his belt, slipped |
his arm through the strap in the |
framework of his aeroplane and pre-
pared for flight. He had little diff |
Guilty getting up, owing to the absence
of a breeze at this point. Finally ne
was obliged to climb, with a good deal I
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
- h0 he