The Dolores star., 1921-07-22

many ana terriDie had been the av,..
at work upon them. The clo,has
ever, particularly the coat, vera NV wv
tlcally intact. Gripping hImsel, ny ny
thrust his fingers into Its pocket, ~
into the pockets OF the shirt and t,o, ~
ers. All paper that would In
way serve to Identify the mnra.~
man, or tell what his purpose had.
In journeying down the trail the NJ
Of the murder had been removed ~,
one explanation presented ,,a; %
Cranston had come before hin =.
searched the body himself.
Dan looked about for tracks. and
was considerably surprised to find a.
blurred. indistinct imprint Of n ~.
other than his own. He hadn, a.
least hope that the tracks themsa,,,.
would offer clue to defects.
They were too dim for that. Tba s.,
prising fact was that since the mn,
Ger had been committed immedIa,s.
before the fall rains. the water h.
not completely washed them out n.
only possibility remaining was M.
Cranston had returned to the h0a.
after the weeks rainfall. The ina
had been dimmed by the lighter p,,
that had fallen since.
But yet 1t was entirely to be r
pected that the examination o, "A,
body would be an afterthought
Cranston's part. Possibly at first 4,
only thought was to kill and. follo,
ing the prompting that has sent
many murderers to the gallows n
had afterward returned to the Seer.
of the crime to destroy any clues NJ
might have left and to search n.
body for any evidence against a,
arson ring.
Dams next thought was to fol~
along the trail and find Crans,ou,
ambush OF course 1t would be In M
direction Of the settlement from tt
body, as the bullet had entered frr
the front He found It hard to bellsr
that Hildreth had fallen In the er,c
spot where the body lay. Men jous
neying at night keep to the trail, All
the white heap itself was fully for,
feet back from the trail In the thd
cts. Perhaps Cranston had dragged
there to hide 1t from the sight Of any,
one who might pass along the lone,
trail again: and 1t was a remote ps
sIbility that Whisperfoot. coming b
the night, had tugged 1t into the thIcs
cts for dreadful purposes OF his or
Likely the shot was fired when Hl
dreth was In an open place on IL Z
trail; and Dan searched for the az
bush with this conclusion In mind H \
walked back, looking for thiCkg
from which such spot would be vs
ible. Something over fifty yards dow
he found 1t: and he knew It by b.
empty brass rifle cartridge that h,
half buried In the wet leaves.
The shell was Of the same calibs /
as Cranston's rifle. Dams hand Shot
as he put It 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 len
some of his testimony-perhaps sucs
rudely scrawled letters as Cranstm
had written HMM some forgotte.
drawer in his hut. 1t was but shon
walk for Dams hardened legs. and b
made 1t before midafternoon.
The search itself was wholly with
out result. But because he had tin.
to think ms he climbed the ridge, bel
cause as he strode along beneath th,'
wintry sky he had chance to cor
slider every detail of the case, he wsi
able to start out on new tack whei
Just before sunset, he returned to ths
body. This new train Of thought a.
as its basis that Cranston's shot hsi
not been deadly at once; that, wOunG
ed, Hildreth had himself crawled Into
the thickets where Whisperfoot hat
found him. And that meant that Be
had to enlarge his search for sue,
documents ns Hildreth had carried 70
include all the territory between ts
trail and the location of the body
1t was possibly distance of fort
feet, and getting down on his hans
and knees, Dan looked for any bress
in the shrubbery that would indlcae
the path that the wounded Hildre'a
had taken. And II was ten minutes
well rewarded. as far as clearing up
certain details of the crime. hs
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 cleH
to the clearing on the trail where ne
had first fallen. But as no clues pre-
sented themselves. he started to turn
home.
He walked twelve feet, then turnN
back. Out Of the corner of his eye
seemed to him , nt he had caught
flash of white, near the end of greaI
dead log beside the path that R
wounded Hildreth had taken. For
moment he searched in vain. EvldenF
ly yellow leaf had deceived nin
Once more he retraced his steps, W
ing to find the position from when ~
eye had caught the glimpse of wnl'e