Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1912-09-10
CHE
ADVENTURE
or TIE
DEVILS FOOT
(Continued.)


Our next obvious step is to check
SO far as we can. the movements OF
Mortimer Tregennis after he left the
room. In this there is no difficulty
and they seem to be above suspicion.
knowing my methods as you do, you
were, or course, conscious of the some
what clumsy waterproof expedient by
which obtained clearer impress of
his foot than might otherwise have
been possible. The wet, sandy path
took 1t admirably. Last night was
also wet, you will remember, and it
was not dittlcult-having obtained a
sample print-to pick out his track
among others and to follow his move
ments. He appears to have walked
swiftly in the direction of the vicar
age.
II, then. Mortimer Tregennis disap-
Deared from the scene, and yet some
outside person affected the card play
ers, how can we reconstruct that per
son, and how was such an impression
of horror conveyed? Mrs. Porter
may be eliminated. She is evidently
harmless. Is there any evidence that
some one crept up to the garden win
dow and in some manner produced so
terrific an effect that he drove those
who saw 1t out of their senses? The
only suggestion In this direction
comes from Mortimer Tregennis him.
self, who says that his brother spoke
about some movement in the garden.
That is certainly remarkable, as the
night was rainy, cloudy and dark.
Anyone who had the design to alarm
these people would be compelled to
place his very face against the glass
before he could be seen. There is a
three-foot flower border outside this
window, but no indication of a foot
mark. 1t is difficult to imagine, then,
how an outsider could have made so
terrible an impression upon the COM
pany, nor have we found any motive
for so strange and elaborate an at
tempt. You perceive our difficulties,
Watson ?"
They are only too clear" / an
swered, with conviction.
'And yet, with a little more mate
rial, we may prove that they are not
insurmountable," said Holmes. 81
fancy that among your extensive ar
chives, Watson, you may find some
which were nearly as obscure. Mean
while, we shall put the case aside I'M
til more accurate data are available,
and devote the morning to the pursuit
of neolithic man."
may have commented upon my
friends power of mental detachment.
but never have l wondered at 1t more
than upon that spring morning In
Cornwall when for two hours he dis
coursed upon celts, arrowheads and
shards as lightly as If no sinister mys-
terry was waiting for his solution. 1t
was not until we had returned in the
afternoon to our cottage that we found
a visitor awaiting us, who soon
brought our minds back to the matter
in hand. Neither of us needed to be
told who that visitor was The huge
body, the craggy and deeply scanned
face with the fierce eyes and hawk
like nose, the grizzled hair which
nearly brushed our cottage ceiling,
the beard--golden at the fringes and
white near the lips, save for the nico-
tine stain from his perpetual cigar
all these were as well known in Lon
don as in Africa, and could only be
associated with the personality of
DIR. Leon Sterndaae, the great lion
hunter and explorer.
We had heard Of his presence in the
district, and had once or twice caught
sight of his tall figure upon the moor