The Washington times., 1912-08-24
CHAPTER X.--(Continued.)


T)WARD morning, dropping back
on the bed, he fell into a fit
i full sumber-a ray of sunlight
shot in at last and touched
MS face and woke him from a
dream. wherein Lloyd, with a
crushed and bloody head hanging
from his neck, was stalking him
through the streets of a great city.
Hollins felt sick, i'll, and miserable
lie plunged his head into cold water;
ne tried to pull himself together; at
last he was sufficiently master of
himself to go down to the coffee-room.
he TOOK the seat which the waiter
neld out for him and gazed with
iToWnlng eyes at the bill of fare.
.Ordinarliy he was a great eater; on
taste for food. His mouth was parch
ca, ms hands shaking. The waiter
eEed him all over and drew his own
Il don't know" said Hollins, "Im
hot 1eeling SO well this morning"
.. BEG pardon, sir" said the waiter
AloW me 10 suggest something, sir
"a lew hsg,S strips OF anchoyy toast, now, sir.
slr, II properly made, and I'll see to the
making myself. And some strong cof-
zee, SIR with a liqueur brandy in it?"
aye. mats the ticket" said Hollins
waiter discreetly unfolded for him. The
print swan before his eyes, and he did
Mot see single word in its columns
men the waiter reappeared he took a
greedy suip at the laced coffee and felt
almost childish gratitude because it re-
NlVed him; he drank the cup off and
asked for another, and he managed to
eat feW strips of the anchovy toast
lie was then persuaded to try a kip
pered herring, and he eventually rose
from the table feeling very much bet
Ter than when he sat down to it. But
his legs carried him straight into the
bar attached to the smoking room, and
there he had three brandy and sodas in
quick succession, and it was in drinking
these that he made up his mind to go
straight to Castleford.
After that he paid his bill and went
to the station. He had nearly an hour
to wait before he could get an express
to Yorkshire, and he employed that hour
by visiting various saloon bars in the
vicinity and drinking more brandy.
And feeling that liquor was his only
friend, he purchased leather-cased
the station refreshment room.
Hollins was in this station when he
opened the newspaper in the train and
saw the heading relat to what the
newspaper folk called "Rema rkable
Chain of Murders in South Devonshire."
His nerves. jumpy and unstrung, al
most collapsed as his eyes fell on the
bold lettering at the head of the col
that he was alone N his compartment,
for his hands shook so much that the
sheet fell from them. He picked 1t
up again-after a pull at his flask
and read the article from start to
finish.
1t narrated a strange and startling
story. On certain night of that week
the bodies of two men had been found
in Plymouth, under circumstances and
in situations which showed that they
had, without doubt been murdered. One
man, well-known pawpbroker, named
Aaron Josephs. was discovered in his
paror strangled by a silken rope; an
other, a Hindu. of unknown name, was
found in a low district of the town, in
a room which he had only rented that
very afternoon, stabbed to death Next
district which set forth an equally
strange story.
A hut on the moor had taken fire,
and when some neighboring folk had
gone to 1t they had discovered the half
burned body of an unknown man who
had been killed by a violent blow on the
head. He had been stripped of his
clothes, and close by him lay a con-
link in the chain of strange events
there was an easy connection.
A convict named Stefano Vassalli had
escaped from, the convict prison at
had lurked about the moor all night
There was no doubt that he had found
the unknown man sleeping in the hut,
had taken him unawares and had killed
him for the sake of his clothing.
Vassalli himself leaving the hut, had
been overtaken by the pursuing ward
ers and shot dead, and his body had
been recovered and taken back to the
prison. Such was the bald narrative
Of the events as set forth in the news
paper.
1t was the theory of the newspaper
people that between the first two MUIR
W
that the half-burnt body found in the
hut was that of the murderer. Hollins,
after one or two more nips at his 1ask
OF brandy. worked out theory Of his
own.
The man in the hut must have muir
dered either the pawnbroker or the
Hindu, or both, for the diamonds
Vassalli having killed the man in the
found the y diamonds in them. He
breathed more freely when he found
that there was no mention of the dia-
monds; their existence was evidently
unknown to the newspaper people. 1t
seemed to him that as far as the dia-
mands were concerned he was abso-
lutely safe.
At that moment another headline, in
print OF a smaller type, caught his eye,
and at the sight his nerve fell all to
pieces again. 1t announced the strange
disappearance of two warders from
Princetown. Hollins grasped the paper
firmly between his trembling fingers
and read.
1t was a bare announcement that
william Hollins and David Lloyd, two
Warders employed at the convict prison
on Dartmoor. had mysteriously disap-
peared and set forth ali that was known
10 Hollins himself up to the time he had
quilted his quarters. But it also told
more.
1t had been found out already that
Lloyd had not called in at any farm
stead or cottage to seek for assistance