The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1915-07-10

nlgntgown, makes IL alone In her room
on the Thursday night, lights a fire.
not to destroy It; two of her fellow
servants are prying outside her door.
and she knows better than to make a
smell Of burning and to have a lot Of
finder to get rid of-lights a fire. l say,
to dry and iron the substitute dress
after wringing 1t out. keeps the stained
dress hidden. probably on her, and Is
at this moment occupied in making
away with it in some convenient place
on that lonely bit of beach ahead of us.
l have traced her this evening to your
fishing village and to n particular cot
tage, which we may possibly have to
visit before we go back. She stopped
In the cottage for some time, and she
came out with, as l believe. something
hidden under her cloak. / had to
choose between taking Rosanna in Gus
tody on suspicion or leaving her for the
time being. For reasons which I won't
trouble you with I decided on making
any sacrifice rather than give the alarm
as soon as tonight to a certain person
VIM Sndli We liuicitSS ttNtt ur. L
came back to the house to ask you to
take me to the north end of the beach
by another way. Sand-in respect of
its printing off peoples f~ootsteps-is
one Of the best detective officers I
know. If we don't meet with Rosanna
way the sand may tell us what she has
been at II the light only lasts long
enough. Here is the sand"
l followed him, with my heart in my
mouth, and waited at a little distance
for what was to happen next.
As IL turned out / found myself
standing nearly in the same place
where Rosanna Spearman and l had
been talking together when Mr.. Frank
lin suddenly appeared before us on ar
irving at our house from London.
The last of the evening light was fad
ing away. and over all the desolate
place there hung a still and awful
calm.
I saw the sergeant start as the shiv-
er of the sand caught his eye. After
looking at it for a minute or so he
turned and came back to me.
"a t~reacherous place, Mr.. Better
edge" he said, and no signs of Rosanna
Spearman anywhere on the beach, look
where you may
He took me down lower on the shore.
and I saw for myself that his footsteps
and mine were the only footsteps print
ed off on the sand.
How does the fishing village bear,
standing where we are nowT asked
Sergeant Cuff.
"Cobb's Hole" I answered. that be-
ing the name of the place. bears as
near assmay be due SOUTH"
II saw the girl this evening walk
ing northward along the shore from
Cobb's Hole" said the sergeant. "Con-
%sequently she must have been walk
ing toward this place. Is Cobb's Hole
on the other side of that point of land
there? And can we get to it-now fits
low water-by the beach?'
1 answered Yes to both those ques-
tons.
IF you'll excuse my suggesting it
NC sup u Diiskl.s says tuc ser
geant. 81 want to find the place where
she left the shore before it gets dark"
We had walked, l should say, a cou-
pie of hundred yards toward Cobb's
Hole, when Sergeant Cuff suddenly
went down on his knees on the beach,
to all appearance seized with a sudden
frenzy for saying his prayers.
saTb - 4 - III g.
your marine landscape here. after ALL"
remarked the sergeant. Here are a
woman's footsteps, Mr.. Betteredge!
Let us call them Rosanna's footsteps
until We find evidence to the contrary
that we can't resist. Here's one foot
step going from Cobb's Hole, and here
is another going back to it. Isn't that
the toe of her shoe pointing straight to
the waters edge? And don't l see two
heel marks farther down the beach,
close at the waters edge also? 1t looks
as if she had determined to get to that
place you and l have just come from.
without leaving any marks on the sand
TO trace her by. Shall we say that she
walked through the water from this
point TIL she got TO that ledge of rocks
behind us and came back the same
way and then took to the beach again
where those two heel marks are still
left? Yes. We'll say that. 1t seems to
fit in with my motion that she had
something under her cloak when she
left the cottage. No, not something to
destroy-for, in that case. where would
have been the need of all these precau-
tons to prevent my tracing the place
at which her walk ended? Something
to hide is, | think. the better guess of
the two. Perhaps. if we go on to the
cottage, we may find out what that
something Isl
On the sergeant describing the place.
I recognized it as a cottage inhabited
by a fisherman named Yolland. with
his wife and two grownup children. a
son and a daughter. Rosanna Spear
man occasionally varied her walk 10