Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1916-12-07

alternating with periods of steady.
| strong blowing. At times the shining
! lances of the rain seemed to drive
almost horizontally. Whitaker poked
his head into the kitchen. In that i'm
maculate place, from which every
hint CT breakfast had disappeared as
| II by magic, Sum Fat was religiously
cleaning his teeth-for the third time
that morning, to Whltakers certain
knowledge.
When he had finished, Whitaker put
a question:
"Sum Fat. which way does the wind
blow, do you know"
Sum Fat flashed him a dazzling
smile.
Easily" he said in cheerful,
clucking voice. Il think vely fine
three-day blow"
"Atlleast," said Whitaker, you're a
high-spirited prophet Of evil. l thank
you"
He selected book from several
shelves stocked with discriminating
taste, and settled himself before the
fire.
The day wore out before his patience
did, and with every indication of full
| filling the prognoSis of Sum Fat; by
nightfall the wind had developed into
an enthusiastic gale driving before it
sheeted rain and great ragged wastes
of mist.
And the second day was like unto
| the first. The third day broke full of
the spirit of the second; but toward
noon the rain ceased. In the evening,
| weary of the sedulOus attentions of a
cloud of famished mosquitoes, Whita-
I, ker sat in darkness, not tired enough
to go to bed, too tired to bestir himself
and seek distraction from q tormenting
train of thought.
A pool of limpid moonlight lay like
milk upon the floor beneath a window
and held his dreaming gaze while MEM
DRY marshaled for his delectation a
pageant of wasted years, infinitely des-
olate and dreary in his vision.
How long he sat unstirring, preoccu-
pied with fruitless inquiry, he did not
guess. But later he reckoned it could
not have been long after ten o'clock
when he was disturbed. The sound of
a football, hushed and stealthy on the
veranda, reused him with a start, and
almost at the same instant he became
aware of a shadow that troubled the
! pool of moonlight, the foreshortened
! shadow of a mans head and shoulders.
! He sat up, tense, rigid with surprise
/ and wonder, and stared at the silhou-
cited body at pause just outside the
/ window. The fellow was STOPPING TO
peer in. Had Drummond hunted him
down to this isolate hiding place? On
the thought he leaped up, in two
/ strides slammed out through the door.
Il sayl" he cried loudly. But he
cried, apparently, to empty air. The
man was gone-vanshed MS strangely
end as quietly as he had appeared.
Pausing and glaring round the clear
ing In. complete bewilderment, he de-
I tected or else fancied a slight move
| ment in the shadows on the edge Of the
encompassing woodland. Instantly,
needless of the risk he ran If the man
were indeed Drummond and If Drum
mond were indeed guilty of the assault
now four nights old, Whitaker broke
for the spot. 1t proved to be the en-
trance to one of the woodland paths,
and neutrality-suspicious. or no his imag-
| ination were In fault--there was mo-
body waiting there to be caught.
| But If anyone had been there, he had
unquestionably fed along the trail.
\ Whitaker in a rage set himself TO fol
\ low. Before he realized he could have
covered half the distance, he emerged
abruptly into the clearing of the Fiske
| place.
Here he pulled up, for the first time
alive to the intrinsic idiocy OF his con
duct. and diverted besides by the dis
covery that his impression Of the early
evening, that the cottage was tenanted,
had been well founded.
| The ground floor windows shone with
a dim but warm illumination. He could
see distinctly part Of a living room
rather charmlngly furnished In o SUM
merry way. At its farther end dark
! haired woman In a plain black dress
with a short apron aud lace cap sat
reading by mplight-eyidently
maid. Her mistress-judging by mp
/ pearances-was outside on the lawn
below the yeranda, strolling TO and fro
In company with a somewhat short and
1aawv man who wore an autorn0bilp
buster and visored cap. BY contrast,
her Whitehead figure. invested with
the illusion of moonlight, seemed I'M
usually tall. Her hair was fair, shin
ing like a headdress Of palest gold as
she bent her head, attentive to her
companion. And whitaker thought to
discern an unusual quality In her