Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-06-06


Himself. he went down and was seen
and spoken to by others. SO that when
the discovery was made il would ap'
pear that he had been about the hotel
at the time. Perhaps he even told
some Of them that he had been In ms
rooms during the earlier evening
Thus he hoped to build up fictitious
alibi to account for his time.
"And he might have succeeded
had it not been for the watchiul stars.
But the stars, gentlemen. said SO
plainly that foul murder had been
committed that they inspired me TO
search for the one who had killed, and
his motive. Save for the stars. Dr.
Osborne's diagnosis of snake'blte
would have been accepted, and the
mystery of the idol and the jewel
might never have been cleared up
"Surely there was nothing To point
to the true solution in the surface
seeming. But my calculations showed
the murder clearly They, | may add,
even showed an astral picture OF the
one who killed. and long years of
study have taught me, my friends,
that the stars do not lie; that If error
creeps in, it lies in their reading, and
must be charged, not to them, but to
human failure to see and understand
He paused, and we all sat silent. |
think we were each picturing for hlnl-
self the scene as Dual had described
it. As he spoke it had seemed not any
theoretical structure, but an actual ac-
count of the thing as it had occurred.
Dayton sat brooding over its log.
ical phases Osborne, scientific,
trained in deductive diagnosis, wore
Il slight frown as he weighed its parts
and sought to find some vital error.
Quite slowly he shook his head.
Heffy simply sat staring at Semi
as though he had met something he
found totally beyond his comprehen
sion. Laredo's face seemed to wear
something like swarthy pallor to
me, as he perched on the edge of his
bed, his feet drawn back beneath it,
his hands thrust down into his peck
cts, his shoulders dropped from their
square breadth, his head slightly
bowed.
AT length he shrugged slightly. rose
and walked over to window which
gave on the grounds of the hotel. He
stood there with his back to the room,
looking out at the sunshine, and the
canon off beyond, and after bit be
spoke:
There Is no saying thai your pic
ture of the thing may not be what ac-
tually occurred, senior. But you have
asked that we who listen should point
ont flaw in the case you built up, If
we saw one, perhaps. All which you
say might YER well have occur.
'lf-an' mark me well now,
senores-if that one who is supposed
to have waited-an' to have bribed
the Indian to act the decoy-an' who
slew-an' took the jewel an the image
had known of these things in adj
vance. But | know that Wingarde
had but come two days ago to this
hotel from his trip. | knew him in
Mexico. senores, yet even to me he
spoke not of what he had found. The
Senior Duals ingenious description
would presuppose a previous knowl-
edge on the part of the one whom he
would accuse. in my estimation. An
we have not seen this image.
I'VE do not know that it contains
a dagger. Let us not be blind to that.
Yet Senior Dual says plainly that the
one guilty knew the image sheathed a
weapon. 'Then that one must have
known of this image before. Senior
Dayton, did the professor know of
any dagger in this image?'
mot that | know Of" Dayton re-
piled.
"You never saw him take 1t OUT"
Good Lord. no."
"Dd the indians. perhaps, see him
do so?"
81 don't know, Laredo All L
know Is | never saw II or Heard Wiz.
garde say word about it."
Laredo turned directly toward
Semi. sTtis ! claim, senior. is flaw
In your deduction. None but one who
knew fully OF this image could have
known of the dagger, il it existed.
Are you justified in presupposing such
knowledge"
Dual raised his head and met his
challengs fully.
Il think So" he made answer slow.
ly. Il shall know in moment. !
Senior Laredo, 1t is not, perhaps. an |.
uniting time to ask you for exactly /
what motive YOU killed Professor
Wingarde last night"