Evening star., 1927-12-02


b.ste He swore and snarled, making
low yenomous sound in the fury that
rossessed him. There was no longer
room for the fear that last night. here
in his rooms had gnawed at his soul
ftself-the fear of the unknown; there
was no longer room for fear in any
sense, whether born of the intanglple'
or whether it knew it's source in man.
or God. or devil--there was only mur'
der, that alone. in his heart.
The blows were coming nearer ana
nearer home. Too near! And MS ell
forts to strike one in return had re-
suited in little to boast about SO tar.
Disaster, ruin, that dangling giboet
chain. were inevitable If this went on.
He had been too cautious perhaps
Well that was ended now! He swore
sgain-bitter, sacrilegious in his rage.
The luck had been running against
him. Even an old fool had tricked
him--even maniac. cracked
Drained idiot, and one almost in MS
dotage besides, had tricked him! Last
night after he had read that internal
message at the hut he had made no
effort to uncover the madmans
horde--he had lain there waiting.
Hours of waiting. patient waiting
listening-his revolver in his hand
not have gone away, might have
fingered, hidden in the foliage, to
gloat-and die. He had waited in
vain. Tonight he had gone back to
the hut only to find after hours of
search that the old madman's money,
wherever else it might be, was not
there. And then he had returned
here--and again the unknown had
struck swiftly. viciously. cunningly.
When, where, how would the next
blow fall?--unless he could now strike
the quicker. and strike surely! How
much farther was 1t to the abyss of
exposure? Tonight he had stood peril
ously close to its edge. hadn't he? If
he had not been able to pull the wool
over Pollys eyes with the specious ex.
PLANTATION that 1t was old Marlin who
had telephoned. he would
He stood suddenly motionless, tense,
with his coat half on, his working lips
drawn for the moment tight together.
Had it been. after all. merely spe-
cious explanation? Was he so sure
that 1t wasn't old Marlin. after all,
who had telephoned? The old mad
man was cunning; and, granting that
fact as a premise, his act last night
In pretending to go to his money in
the hut must have been prompted by
suspicion OF some sort. The money
had never been in the hut. The bit of
flooring that. was loose was flush
with the ground beneath, and the
ground had never been disturbed
and this was true Of everywhere else
in the hut. The old maniac, then,
was suspicioue that he was being
followed by somebody. and had set
false trail. OF whom would he be
suspicious? The question answered
itself. The newcomers on the island.
of course. And. being suspicious Of
them, he would want to- drive them
away To frighten Polly into the be.
lief that her mother was dead might
very easily appeal to an insane brain.
and even to one that wasn't. as a
very clever and effective means of
accomplishing this end surreptitiously.
Polly might very logically be ex-
pected in her grief to wish to bring
her visit here TO an end. even IL she
did not, indeed, insist on returning
to England at once-and the result
would be that all who had come here,
Locke, RunnelIs and himself, would
naturally leave with her. Why moi? +?
The madman was certainly cunning
enough; he could have telephoned-
and the motive was there. ~
No! With an angry, self.contemp.
tuous snarl. Capt. Francis Newcombe
5erked on his coat. Was he trying to
qualify for an insane asylum himself?
The old maniac could have done this
tonight, otherwise the explanation
made to Polly would have been merely
an absurdity; but old Marlin had not
been on the liner and could not have
fired that shot through the cabin
window--nor could the old man have
known, as instanced by that voice
in the woods, that he, Newcombe, was
Shadow Varne--or known anything
of the murder of Sir Harris Greaves
The man who had telephoned tonight
making the fourth mysterious blow
that had been struck--was the mar
who had showed his hand on those
three former occasions. This was sc
blatantly obvious that to have allowed
his brain to shoot off at a tangent sc
idiotic but increased his anger now
He sneered at himself as he finished
dressing. There was only one man or
the island could be made to fit into
each and every one OF the four inches
Runnells! Runnells had been on board
ship, even though at the time Run
nells had apparently been asleep; Run
nells was in q position to know, ant
to know what now appeared to bs
certainly too much about Shadow
Varne: and Runnells. though the mar
could prove nothing. was. more thar
any one else. in position to enter
tain suspicious in reference to tn,
murder of the baronet who meddlet
30 gratuitously with the affairs o
others.
Capt. Francis Newcombe slipped ;
hashlight and a revolver into hi
pocket. and made for the door Of hi
room. Quite so! All this was nothln,
new--no new angle--he had MULE
this over a hundred times before. Blu
up to now he had held his hand-an
for two very good reasons. In tn
first place, he had not been able t
bring himself to believe that 1t wa
Runneils would profit by any sue
game; and, secondly. as he had a
ready argued with himself. should
not prove to be Runnells, he almos
inevitably disclosed his own hand an
his real purpose in coming here t
Manwa Island, and 1t would in tha
case make partner of Runnells-
and partners shared profits! But tn
time for hesitation on any sue
score as that was gone now; not onl
because the ice he was treading on, a
ready thin, had nearly broken throug
tonight, and the promise of imminer
ard final disaster was forcing his han,
but because. in respect Of Runnell
the absence of apparent motive-Rul
neIis would be made to explain tha
counted for nothing now in view (
the fact that he, Newcombe, had MOI
to go on tonight than he had befor
Not only was Runnells one who fitte
into the role of the unknown" G
each of the four occasions. but Ru
nells. as though to clear the matte
OF all doubt, knew what surely no OF
else on the island could possib
know-that Mrs. Wickes actually WI
dead. He. Newcombe. had himse
to blame for that. and it appear'
now that he had trusted Runnel