The evening world., 1914-02-23


From moment to moment Caylsy
kept meaning to hall them, but from
moment to moment he kept deferring
the action. 1t amused him q little to
think how much In one way or an.
other that hail might mean to those
plodding figures down below.
Presently he noticed that the leath.
sr.clad man had forged little ahead
nash this idea occurred to Cayley--
that the others were purposely lag.
And then, before that sinister idea
could formulate itself into q definite
suspicion. bis eyes widoned with
amusement. and the cry he would
have uttered died In his throat: for
this man. who had 20 innocently AL
lowed the others TO fall behind him.
suddenly staggered, clutched at some
thing-it looked like n thin ivory dart
that had transfixed his throat,
tueRed Il out In q sudden Hood OF
crimson, reeled . little and then went
backward over the CLASSY edge OF q
fissure in the Ice, which lay Just to the
left Of the path where he had been
The instant the murdered man dis
appeared, another, who had not pre-
viously been with the party. II seemed:
appeared from behind hammock OF
ice. There could be no doubt either
that ne was the assassin. or that ne
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 gesture OK sur
prise or Of remonstrance.
Cayley looked at the assassin curl
ar
the others, but seemed very much big
ger: seemed TO walk with ,ss OF
slouch. and had, even to Cayley's linn
tied view Of him, an air OF authority
Cayley was surprised at his not peinS
armed with a bow, for he knew OF no
other way In which q dart could have
been propelled with power enough
even at close range. to nave tran;
fixed q mans throat. Tho assassin
only weapon, except for Quivertui OF
extra darts, seemed 70 DC sns
blunt stick. rudely wnittieo' po'"s's
ten inches long.
Obedient. apparently, TO the order
Of the new arrival, the party changeo
its direction, leaving what was ev,-
IDENTIFY n well-known path to them.
for n seemingly moro direct put
rourhcr route, And they moved now
with an appearance Of haste. Present.
iy they scrambled over a prtcipitous
ledge OF Ice and. In q moment were
lost to Cayley's view. But tnoro
remained upon that vacant scene W.
material reminders OF the uakooy ~
w,hich n hac afforded a setting. one
was n smudge Of crimson on the
.now. the other, q little distance on.
iust this side the Icy ridge over wnicn
the last Of the party had gone scram-
hing a moment before, was tne
strange looking blunt stick which ne
had seen in the assassin's hand. =
Cavley aew q little lower. his wings
almost skimming the ice. Finaly
reaching the SPOT wnero tne .m". y
hcd fallen, no alighted ana packed "
nn Whether its possessor had val.
ued II or not, whether or not ne
.nnieft be- expected to return for II
Cayiey did not know and did not
HE He stood for some time turning the
thing over In his hands. puzxling over
IL. trying to make out how II couI1
have been used as the invtrument OF
There was a groove on one side OF II
with a small ivory plug at the enc.
THE other end was curiously shaped.
missbapen rather, for though IT was
obyiously the end ono held. Cayiey
could not make It fit his hand. what
ever position no held It In.
Giving up the PRO problem hss bsI ~ 'ss. siirped
his arm through the strap In the
framework OF his aeroplane and pre-
nared for Night. He had little dlf-
f,cuNy getting UP owing to the alb
sence Of a breeze at this point Final-
ly he was obliged to climb. with q
good deal Of labor. the Icy ridge up
which ne had watched the little party
- ~
At the crest he cast . glance
around, looking for them, but saw no
signs OF them. Then. getting . fav-
orahie slant Of the wind, he mounted
again into the element he now called
his own.
He began wheeling q great spiral
in the upper air, higher and higher,
until the Intensity OF the cold ana
the drumming OF the blood In his
temples warned him to descend again.
But high or low. some invisible
magnet held him over the spot where
he had witnessed that unexplained
tragedy; an intense curiosity that
would not let him 80 until ne had. In
some way, accounted for the flying
fate that, 40 silently. had overtaken
the leather-clad man down there on
the Ice.
would have passed Tor q Bood ex-
ample Of that type Of clean-limbed.
clean minded, likable young man
which the b(pt OF our civilization
seems to be n wing into. Physically.
II would havS been hard to suggest
an Improvement In him. he ap-
preached 30 near the ideal standards.
He was fine grained. supple. slender.
small -jointed. thoroughbred from
head TO heel.
intellectually. ne had been good
enough to 30 through the Academy
at West Point with credit, and to
graduate high enough In his class to
. be assigned to service In the cavalry.
His standards Of conduct. his ideas
Of honor and morality had been
about the same a. those Of the best
third of his classmates. For three
generations they had taken wealth
for granted In tho Cayley family.
and with II had come breeding. Sc
curity Of social position. simplicity
end ease In making friends. both
among mon and women. In short.
there could be no DOUBT at all that
I up 70 his twenty ninth wear Fate
had been ironically kind to Philip
Cayiey. She had given him no hint.