The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1921-03-25

al WOTk upon tHeIu. u CiOlue1s now.
ever, particularly the coat. were prac-
ticaliy intact. Gripping himself. Dan
thrust his fingers into Its pockets. then
into the pockets Of the shirt and tfous-
ers. All paper that would In any
way serve TO identify the murdered
man, or tell what his purpose had been
in journeyiDg down the trail tie night
Of the murder lad been removed Only
n explanation presented itself.
Cranston had come before him and
searched the body himself.
Dan looked about for tracks, and he
was considerably surprised to flnd the
blurred. indistinct imprint OF a shoe
other than his own. He hadn't the
least hope that the tracks themselves
would offer a clue to q defective.
They were too dim for that. The sur
prlsing fact was that since the muir
Ger had been committed Immediately
before the fall rains. the water had
not completely washed them out. The
only possibility remaining was that
Cranston had returned to the body
after the weeks rainfall. The track
had been dimmed by the lighter rains
that had fallen since.
But yet 1t was entirely to be
pected that the examination Of the
body would be an af~terthought on
Cran.tOn's part. Possibly at FIRST his
only thought was to kill and. follow
ing the prompting that has sent SO
many murderers to the gailOws, he
had afterward returned to the scene
of the crime to destroy any clues he
might have left and to search the
body for any evidence against the
moor ring.
Dams next thought was to follow
along the trail and find Cranstoc's
ambush. OF course 1t would be In tie
direction Of the settlement from the
body. as-the bullet had entered from
the front. He found 1t hard to believe
that Hildreth had fallen In the exact
spot where the body lay. Men Jour-
neying at night keep to the trail. and
The white heap itself was fully forty
feet back from the trail In the thick.
cts. Perhaps Cranston had dragged 1t
there to hide II from the sight Of any
n who might pass along the lonely
trail again and II was a remote pos
sihillty that Whisperfoot. coming In
the night. had tugged II INTO the thick
cts for dreadful purposes Of his own
Likely the shot was fred when Hill
dreth was In an open place on the
trail and Dan searched for the am
hush with this conclusion In mind. He
walked hack. looking for a thicket
from which such q spot would he wis.,
lille. Something ver fifty yards down
he found It: and he knew It by the
empty hrass rife cartridge that lay
hall buried In the wet leaves.
The shell was Of the same caliher
as Cranston's rifle. Dams hand shook
as he put It In his pocket.
Encouraged by this amazing find.
he turned up the trail toward Hill
| dreth's cabin. II might he possible.
he thought. that HIldreth had left
some Of his neutrality-suspicious. such
rudely scrawled letters as Cranston
had written HMM some forgotten
| drawer In his hut. It was but a short
walk for Dams hardened legs. and nc
made II before midafternoon.
The search Itself was wholly with
out result. But because he had time
to think as he climbed the ridge. be-
cause as he strobe along beneath that
wintry sky he had a chance to eon
slider every detail Of the case. he was
able 70 start out on a new tack when.
iust before sunset. he returned to the
body. This new train OF thought had
as its basis that Cranston's sho1 had
not been deadly at once: that. wound.
cd. Hldreth had himself crawlea into
the thickets where Whispprfoot bad
found him. And that meant that he
had to enlarge his search for such
documents rs Hildreth he'd carried to
include all the territory between the
trail and the location of the hodv.
It was possibly a distance of forty
feet, and getting down m his HANDS
and knees. Dan looked for any break
In the shrubbery that would indicate
/ the path that the wounded EIildreth
0AO lHKGu. ANU u WuS tcU iltEIule<
well rewarded. as far as clearing uI
certain details Of the crime. His
senses had been trained and sharp.
eDed by his months In the wilderness
and he was able to hack-track the
wounded man from the skeleton clear
to the clearing on the trail where he
had first fallen. But as no clues pre-
scented themselves. he started to turn
, home.
He walked twelve feet. then turned
hack. Out Of the corner Of his eve Il
seemed to him that he had caught q
flash Of white. rear the end of . great
dead log beside the path that the
wounded Hildreth had taken. For q
moment he searched in - Evident
u q yellow leaf had deceived him
Once more be retraced his steps. try
ing to find the position from which hi.
eye had caught the glimpse Of white
Then he Owed straight for the rOtter