Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1912-12-26
CHAPTER H.

Rife Shots Echo In the Woods.
OF conveying even 1.-THE Of the hor-
ror ! experienced at Cameron's dis
closure am nigh hopeless. The more
we discussed the occurrence the less
susceptible It seemed OF explanation.
And what is so terrifying as the In
explicable. or so dreadful as the In
tangible? Here, apparently. was an
enemy Of calm and cunning malignity,
who chose to manifest his power in
manner almost ludicrously puerile-
save as It pointed with significant fin
ger 20 some dire and inevitable sequel
yet with such crafty secrecy as com
pletely 10 mystify and dismay.
Cameron showed me the mutilated
portrait. lie had taken It down al.
most Immediately, and had hidden 1t
away in a closet OF the hall behind an
array OF raincoats. The cutting had
been done, evidently, with an exceed.
fngly keen blade. and very dexterous-
ly done. But that 1t should have been
accomplished in twelve minutes. while
Cameron sat in the room, not fifteen
feet distant, was beyond our compre-
hensiCn. Absorption In his book was
the nearest We came to a solution, and
that was scarcely tenable. For there
was the crowded top of the book.
shelves. To cut the canvas, the van
dial must either have stood upon that
or have reared a ladder. There was
not room for the foot OF child on the
sheif-top: and as for the ladder, 1t was
unthinkable. How could a ladder have
been carried In and out without Cam.
eron being conscious OF It? From
every possible angle we viewed the in.
c!dent, making every conceivable con,
,cession, and no halfway plausible an
swer TO the riddle presented itself
And though our common-sense told us
that the time of miracles was long
past, that no Gyges' ring nor Abe
Tich's cloak survived to this day &c
make invisible their wearers, theirs
persisted, nevertheless, a chill, uncan
ny sense OF the supernatural, quite
evident to me In Cameron's husheC
voice and furtive manner, and in my
own unwonted nervous disquietude.
We sat very late. / wished, If pos
sible, TO learn II at any time in ny
friends life he had done aught to en-
gender an enmity to which thes,
strange developments could be traced
whether, for instance, in the no
blood Of his youth in some far land h,
had provoked the vengeance Of on
whose humor it is never to forget. A
we talked ! came to know Cameron
Y l
fore. He barred TO me much Of hi
early career; be gave me a cleare
view Of his temperamental qualities
snd yet ! could not but feel that h
left the vital point untouched, that bt
meath his seeming frankness there la
hidden, shielded, some one episod,
perhaps. which might let the light /
upon our darkness. For my questio
was evaded rather than answered.
Presently. We went back to the le
tiers and dissected them, coldly an
critically. sentence by sentence, an
while the weird influence which the
had eXerted upon me at the first reat
fng increased, stimulated possibly b
the incident Of the portrait, still "
reached certain practical, common
sense view as TO their origin; for "
came TO see in them what We b
lieved TO be the hand OF a religion
fanatic. Certain expressions, we CO.
cluded, were quotations. II they wei
not Biblical, they were certainly
sacred genesis. And the discover
was not reassuring. II lent, indee
an added prick to the perturbation v
already experienced.
Nor did the absence OF a specific
date for the second promised demo
straion Of power tend 10 relieve OF
uneasiness. In this silence We four
the acme Of cunning cruelty. ANY da
at any hour, some other mystifyin
eoultorturing incident was liable
occur
] tried TO argue that the seventh d.
was implied, inasmuCh as the EecoI
note was received on the same day
the month as the first, and was me
continuation Of the original threi
But my contention lacked the intrlns
strength W. carries convictio
and, as Cam % put il, we could on
watch anC ats" for the cOmmul
cations offered no alternative. TIT
made no demand which being col
piled with would avert penalty. On
implacable and inevitable retributio
calm, patient, and determined, effus
from every line.
But, in spite Of Cameron's cvide
auNiety-aRd in using that term a
very mildly stating hfs obvious CONF
zion Of miud-he sternly refused
consult either the police or the priya
detectives.
You may not know" he eXplaine
that ! am largely interested in a c.
tain line OF industrial enterprises, q
shares Of which are listed on the Ne
York Stock Exchange. Should the pu