The daily Alaskan., 1922-04-08
lSSISsHaeSaGesNsskeSNSRSSs The Voice of the Paek iGG1aa1 sBu Q aHHHa.
 
By EDISON MARSHALL
Copyright, l0.0, Little, Brown q o9uPaaD

Dams next thought was 10 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 Hlldreth had fallen In the exact spot where the body lay. Men jour neylng 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 lt from the sight Of any one who might pass along the lonely trail again; and it was remote pos slblllty that WhisperfOot. coming In the night had tuggpd lt Into the thick cts for dreadful purposes of his own. Likely the shot wRs fired when Hil- dreth was ID 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 he vis- Ible. Something over fifty yards down he found it: and he knew lt by the empty brass rifle cartridge that lay half buried in fhe wet leaves.
 The shell was of the same callher as CranStOn's rife. Dams hand shook as he put lt in his pocket.
 Encouraged by this amazing find. he turned up the trOn toward Hll- dreth's cabin. It might he possible he thought. that HiIdreth had left some of his teStlmOny-perhaps such rudely scrawled letters as Cr0nSton had written hlm-In some forgotten drawer in hIS hut. Tt was hut a short walk for Dams hardened legs. and he made It before mldafternOon.
 The search itself was wholly with out result. But hpCause he had time to think as he climbed fhe ridge be cause as he strode along beneath that wlntry sky he had a chance 10 con. slider every detail of the case, he was able Co start out on new tack when, mst before sunset, he returned to the body. This new train Of thought had as its hasls that CranStOn'S shot had not been deadly at once; that wound. ed. Hildreth had himself crawled into the thIokpts where WhIsperfool had found him. And that meant thai he had to enlarge his search for such documents as Hndrerh had carried to Include all the territory between tho trail and the location of the hOdv.
 It was possibly a distance of forty feet. and getting down on his hands and knees. Dan looked for any break In the shruhhery that would indicate the path that the wounded Hildrrth had taken. And it was ten minutes well 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 Co hack-trHck the wounded man from the skeleton clear to the clearing on The traIl where he had arSr fallen. But as no clues pre- spnred themselves, he started 10 turn home.
 He walked twelve feet. then turned back. Out Of the corner of his eve it seemed to him that he had caught flash of white, near the end of a great dead log beside the path that the wounded Hidreth had taken. For moment he searched in vain. Evident ly a yellow leaf had decelved him. Once more he retraCed his steps. try ing to find the position from which hiS eye had caught the glimpse or white. Then he dIved straight for the rotten end of the log.
 Into little hollow In the bark, on the underslde of the log, some hand had thrust small roll of papers. They were raIn-s0aked now. and the Ink had dimmed a2d plotted; hut Dan realized their significance. They were the complete evidence that HIldreth had accumulated against the arson ring-letterS that han passed back and forth between himself and CranstOn a threat of murder from the former fl Hndreth turned states evidence. and a signed statement of the arson artiv- tiles of the ring by Hildreth himself. They were not only enough to break ID the rIne and send Its memherS 10 prison: with the aid of the empty shell and other circumStautial evidence, they could in all probability convict Bert CranstOn Of murder.
 For a long time he stood with the shadows of the pines lengthening about him. his gray eyes in curious shadow. For the moment glimpse was given him into rhe deep wells of the human soul; and understanding came to him. Was there no balm for hatred even in the moment of deathI Were men unable to forget the themes and motives of their lives, even when the shadows closed down upon them? Hildreth had known what hand had struck him down. And even on the frontier of death. his first thought was to hide his evidence where Cranston could not find it when he searched the body. but where later 1t might be found by the detectives that were sure to come. It was the old creed of a life for a life He wanted biS evidence