The Arvada enterprise., 1911-04-20

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of having come more recently from
the civilized. habitable portion OF tho
world than his companions. He car.
ried rife slung by strap over his
shoulder evidently foreseeing no i'm
mediate use for 1t, 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 q little ahead
Of his companions. or. rather-like =
fash, 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 thin ivory dart
that had transn1ed his throat
tugged 1t out in a sudden flood Of
crimson, rseled little and then went
backwards over the CLASSY edge of a
fssure in the ice, which lay Just to
the loft Of the path whore he had
been walking.
From the instant when Cayley had
noticed tho others dropping behind, to
tho last glimpse he Had Of the body
OF the murdered man could hardly
have been five seconds.
The instant tho murdered man dis
appeared, another. who had not previ.
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 slouch, 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, even at close range, to have
transfixed mans throat. The assas
sins only weapon. except for 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 evi.
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 precipitous ledge OF
Ice and, In moment, were lost to
Cayleys view.
The world was suddenly empty
again, as II 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 q
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 1t had afforded setting One
was smudge of crimson on the snow
the other, a 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 assassin's hand
Cayley flew little lower, his wings
almost skimming the ice. Finally,
reaching the spot where the thing had
fallen, he alighted and picked It up.
Whether its possessor had valued II,
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
1t. trying to make out how II could
have been used as the instrument Of
propulsion to that deadly ivory dart.
There was groove on one side Of It,
with small ivory plug at the end.
The other end was curiously shaped,
misshapen, rather, for, though II was
obviously the end one held, Cayley
could not make It ft his hand, what
ever position he held II In
Giving up the problem at fast, Re
tucked the stick into his belt slipped
his arm through the strap in tho
framework Of his aeroplano and pro,
pared for flight. He had little dim
Guilty getting up. owing to the absence
OF breeze at this point Finally no
was obliged to climb, with good deal
OF labor the 10y ridge up which he
had watched the little party OF mur.
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, ho mounted
| again into the element he now called