The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1921-04-01

white heap Of bones remained. for
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 journeylng 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 ne
was considerably surprised to find the
blurred. indlstinct Imprint Of a shoe
other than his own. He hadn't the
least hope that the tracks themselves
would offer a clue TO detective.
They we're too dim for that The sur
prlsing fact was that since the muir
Ger had been committed Immediately
before the fall rims. 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 tImmed by the lighter rains
that had fallen since.
But yet Ii 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, ne
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 1t would be In the
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 II
there to hide II from the sight Of any,
one who might pass along the lonely
trail again; and 1t was remote pos
slbility that WhisperfoOt, coming In
the night. had tugged II into the thick
cts for dreadful purposes Of bis own
Likely the shot was fred when Hill
dreth was in an open place on the
trail; ana Dan searched for the am
bush with this conclusion in mind. He
walked back, looking for thicke
from which such spot would be Wis
ible. Something over fifty yards dowr
ne found 1t; and he knew 1t by th'
empty brass rife cartridge that la!
half buried in the wet leaves.
The shell was Of the same callbe
as Cranston's rifle. Dams hand SHOOT
as he put 1t In his pocket.
Encouraged by this amazing find
he turned up the trail toward Hi
dreth's cabin. 1t might be possible
he thought, that Hildreth had lief
some OF his estimony-perhaps sucl
rudely scrawled letters as Cranstol
had written HMM some forgottel
drawer in his hut. II was but shor
walk for Dams hardened legs, and h
made II before midafternoon.
The search itself was wholly witt
out result. But because he had tim
to think as he climbed the ridge, b.
cause as he strobe along beneath tina
| wlntry sky he had chance to cor
| slider every detail Of the case, he wa
| able to start out on new tack whei
lust before sunset, he returned to tn
| body. This new train Of thought ha
| as its basis that Cranston's shot ha
not been deadly at once; that, woun'
\ cd. HIldreth had himself crawled Inf
the thickets where Whisperfoot ha
| found him. And that meant that !
had TO enlarge his search for sue
documents as Hildreth had carried
; include all the territory between q
train and the location Of the body.
II was possibly a distance OF fort
feet, and getting down on his hant
and knees, Dan looked fer any brea
In the shrubbery that would indica
the path that the wounded Hildref
? s,ad taken. And It was ten minut
W wen rewarded, as far as clearing
ID certain details of the crime II
s. senses had been trained and shar
u ened by mis- months in the wilderness
he and he was able to back-track q
BIT wounded man from the skeleton Gle
e 10 the clearing on the trail where
tn had first fallen. But as no clues ~
al sented themselves. he started to tn
lie home.
W He walked twelve feet. then turn
ut back. Out Of the corner OF his eye
BY seemed to him that he had caught
OF fash of white, near the end Of gre
5, dead log beside the path that [
he wounded Hildreth had taken. For
he moment he searched In vain. Evidel
ly yellow leaf had deceived hi
Mt Once more he retraced his steps. Il
lie ing to find the position from which
Id ave had caught the glimpse of VIII