Gunnison news-champion., 1923-02-23
CHAPTER Xxx
VIVA. One Can Do wf,hou. Eyes.


Three men-at least three men
presence. Eaton. l; WAS certain. had
been the only one from the house pres
ent when the hrs; shots were fred
Had Eaton been alone against the
other two5 Had Eaton been with one
Of the other two against the thlrdi
/; appeared probable TO Santoine that
Eaton had been alone. or had come
enemies there
SHntoine felt that the probabilities
were that EatonIs enemies had opened
the safe and had been surprised by
Eaton. But II they bad opened the
safe, they were not only Eaton's enc
mics: they were also Santolne's; they
were the men who threatened San
TONES trust.
Those Ohom Eaton had fought In
the room had had perfect opportunity
for killing Santolne. II they wished.
But Santoine felt certain no one had
made any attack upon him at any
moment In the room: he had had no
the shots fired had been directed nt
him. Blatchtord, too. had been una,-
tackled until he had made IL plain that
he had recognized one of the intru.
ders: then. before giatchford could
call the name. he had been shot down.
1t was clear. then. that what had
protected SHntoine was his blindness I:
A. 49, -. -, a. ~
able to see and recognize the men in
the room after the lights were turned
on, he would have been shot down
also. But Santolne recognized that
this I'D not fully account for his I'm
munlty. Two weeks before. an at
tack which had been meant for Eaton
had struck down Santo'ne instead I:
and no further attempt against Eaton
had been made until II had become
publicly known that Santolne wns not
going to die. II Santolne's death
would have served for Eaton's death
two weeks before. why was Santolne
Immune now? Did possession Of the
contents Of Santoine's safe accomplish
the same thing as Santolne's death:
For what men?
II was rot. Santoine was certain.
Ea;Jn's presence In the study which
had so astounded Blatchford. Wallace
and Eaton had passed days together,
ard BlatchfGr,i was accustomed to Ea.
tons presence In the house. Someone
whom Bln.cb.ord knew and whose
.lu
whose presence IN the room was so
s'-nnge and astonishing that Blatch-
ford had tried to prepare Santolne for
the announcement. had been there
The man whose name was on Blatch-
fo-d's tongue, or the companion Of
that man. had shot Blatchford rather
than let Santoine hear the name.
He was beginning to find events fit
themselves together: but they fitted
imperfectly ns yet
Santolne knew that he lacked the
key. Many men could profit by pos
sessing the contents Of SantoIne's safe
and might have shot Blatchford rather
than let Santolne know their presence
there: II was impossible for SantoIne
10 tell which among these many the
man who had been in the study
might be. Who Eaton's enemies were
was equally unknown to Santoine
But there could be but one manor
at most one small group of men-who
could be at the same time Eaton's
enemy and Santoine's. To have
known who Eaton was would have
pointed this man to Santoine
Gabriel Warden had had an ap-
pointment with a young man who had
come from Asia and who-warden
had told his wife-he had discovered
lately had been greatly wronged
Eaton. under Conductor Connery's
questioning, had admitted himself to
be that young man: Santoine had veri
fed this and had learned that Eaton
was at least, the young man who had
gone TO Warden's house that night
But Gabrle, Warden had not been al
lowed to help Eaton: so far from that
he had not even been allowed to meet
and talk with Eaton; he had been
called out. plainly. TO prevent his
meeting Eaton. and killed
Eatnn disappeared and concealed
himself at once after warden's nur-
der. apparently fearing that he would
also be attacked. But Eaton was not
man whom this personal fear would
have restrained from coming forward
later to tell why Warden had been
killed. He had been nrEed to come
forward and promised that others
vould give him help ID warden's
place: still, he had concealed himself
This must mean that others than War.
den could not help Eaton; Eaton evi-
IDENTIFY nd noe knsw. o. eiss epuld not
hope to prove. that Warden had dis-
covered
Santotpe held .this tho1SAt p absy;
ance: Ae would 80 Atae heN u
chseked viii ~ fa16 " a