Evening star., 1921-09-05

threw down his cards.
I'll open it." Cutter pushed three
chips into the center of the table.
Anybody with me!"
II will-er-traiL" Terhune fol-
lowed suit.
Same here" Wayerly drew
stertorous breath.
Nothing stirring" Inspector Druet
relinquished his hand and sat back.
Raise you five, Mr.. Cutter" NC
Carly remarked.
Il know when I've had enough"
O'Rourke dropped his cards upon the
table.
Little action at last. eh?' Cutter
smiled and showed ten chips forward
! fright back at you, Mr. McCarty!"
Il will drop" said Terhune. 'Th(
psychology Of success in cards as in
all things"
I'm staying right with-you-
| both" Waverly breathed rapidly.
"Only we-three-in it?"
McCarty nodded.
How many cards?" he asked.
Before Cutter could reply Waverly's
| head fell forward again and his great
! body seemed to slump in his chair.
He had thrown one card aside and the
pudgy hand holding the remaining
four dropped inertly on the table.
Not any, thanks; I'll play these"
Cutter spoke with cold annoyance and
! his eyes turned once more ~ Eaver-
, ly, who. he was now convinced. had
been indulging too copiously in stim-
! ulants. just as the latter crumpled
forward in his chair and his head.
| with the flabby. twisted face turned
| sidewise toward the inspector and Nc
Carly and rested upon the table.
For an instant they all sat spell
bound and McCarty darted a swift.
keen glance at the strangely relaxed
| form aud the unclouded surface of the
mirror-lined tray which those gross.
| half-parted lips all but touched.
| No breath issued from them! Nc
Carly held his own as the startling
fact surged through his consciousness.
! and watched the surface of the tray
with straining eyes. 1t remained un-
! dimmed. and there was not the slightest
stir of that bulky mound of inert
! flesh.
Great God in Heaven, A reverential
awe went up with that silent cry
| from McCarty's heart and a pean of
| thankfulness and swift-rising exulta-
| tion. That which but a moment be-
i fore had been man was now but
! thing. an inanimate substance. in
capable forevermore of betrayal. for
out of his body with the passing of
| life had gone the secret which would
| always have imperiled McCarty's plan.
i 1t had not been accident, not the nor
| NAL result of his own evil passions
| and dissipation which had stilled the
heart in that gross body, but the
hand of God Himself that had been
laid upon it. and miraculously the
way lay clear before McCarty to a
solution of which he had not even
| dreamed.
Alive. Waverly had been a menace,
but dead he was priceless, The others
did not yet realize the situation and
McCarty gathered his forces for the
| greatest coup of his career.
| "One card. Mr.. Waverlyv' he cried.
and at the ringing quality Of his tone
| an electrified start ran around the
| table. There is your card, your lucky
| card. but you lose with it now! 1t Is
| stained with the blood of the man you
| killed. / arrest you. in the name OF
! the law. for the murder of Eugene
Creveling."
AS he thundered the accusation to
dead ears to clay. he had slipped
quickly from the bottom of the deck
+! the nine of diamonds which. torn and
blood-stained. he had found beneath
| the strip of tapestry on the table be.
side the body of Creveling. and now
he flung il down before that which
had been Douglas Waverly.
A moment of silence followed his
denunciation and then stifled Shrek
from Mrs. Kip broke the hideous ten
sion and o'Rourke leaped to his feet
"Waverly," he cried. For Gods
sake. waverly,"
$50 that was the game, the real
gamet" Cutter kicked his chair aside.
| Doug. do you hear this maniac? Sit
up and answer him, or by heaven
Watt Terhune had bent forward
hands upon the shoulders of that inert
figure, and together they raised it
il once more to an erect position.
CONTINUED in Tomorrow's Star)