Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1921-04-22

white heap of bones remained, foI
many and terrible had been the agents
| at work upon them. The clothes, how,
| ever, particularly the coat. were prac-
| tically intact Gripping himself, Dan
| thrust his fingers into its pockets then
into the pockets of the shirt and trous-
/ ers. All paper that would in any
way serve to identify the murdered
man, or tell what his purpose had been
in journeying down the trail the night
of the murder had been removed. Only
one explanation presented itself.
Cranston had come before him and
searched the body himself.
Dan looked about for tracks, and he
was considerably surprised to find the
blurred, indistinct imprint of shoe
other than his own. He hadn't the
least hope that the tracks themselves
would offer clue to detective.
They were too dim for that. The sur
prising 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 it was entirely to be ex-
| pected that the examination of the
body would be an afterthought on
| Cranston's part. Possibly at first his
| only thought was to kill and, follow
ing the prompting that has sent so
! many murderers to the gallOws, 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
| arson ring.
Dams next thought was to follow
along the trail and find Cranston's
ambush. OF course it would be in the
| direction of the settlement from the
| body. as the bullet had entered from
| the front. He found it 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 it
| there to hide it from the sight of any
| one who might pass along the lonely
| trail again; and it was remote pos
| sibility that WhisperfoOt, coming in
| the night. had tugged it into the thick
| cts for dreadful purposes of his own.
Likely the shot was fired when Hill
| dreth was in an open place on the
| trail; and Dan searched for the am
bush with this conclusion in mind. He
walked back. looking for thicket
| from which such a spot would be Wis
| ible Something over fifty yards down
| he found it; and he knew it by the
empty brass rifle cartridge that lay
| half buried in the wet leaves.
The shell was Of the same calfber
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. It might be possible,
| he thought, that Hildreth had left
some of his testimony-pe perhaps such
rudely scrawled letters as Cranston
| had written HMM some forgotten
| drawer in his hut. 1t was but a short
walk for Dams hardened legs, and he
made it 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
| wntry sky he had a chance to con-
| slider every detail of the case. he was
| able to start out on a new tack when,
| just before sunset, he returned to the
body. This new train of thought had
as its basis that Cranston's shot had
| not been deadly at once; that, wound
| ed. Hildreth had himself crawled into
the thickets where Whisperfoot had
| found him. And that meant that he
had to enlarge his search for such
documents as Hildreth had carried to
| include all the territory between the
| trail and the location of the body.
| 1t was possibly a distance of forty
| feet and getting down on his hands
| and knees, Dan looked for any break
| in the shrubbery that would indicate
| the path that the wounded Hildreth
had taken And it was ten minutes
| we'll rewarded, as far as clearing up
| certain details of the crime. His
| senses had been trained and sharp
| ened by his months in the wilderness,
| and he was able to back-track the
| wounded man from the skeleton clear
| to the clearing on the trail where he
J had first fallen. But as no clues pre-
sented themselves, he started to turn
| home.
He walked twelve feet, then turned
back. Out of the corner of his eye it
| seemed to him that he had caught q
| flash of white, near the end of great,
Nead log beside the path that the
| wounded Hildreth had taken. For
moment he searched in vain. Evident
| ly yellow leaf had deceived him.
/ Once more he retraced his steps, try
ing to find the position from which his
eye had caught the glimpse of white.
Then he dived straight for the rotten
| end of the log.
+ (TO BE CONTINUED)
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