Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-29
By
Gardner
Hunting.
night. Hence his fright had some deep

night Hence his fright had some deep
er origin.
Curious how one could overlook such
thing; but there had been other
things to think of then. Now Van
Wrinkles story, which had seemed a
| commonplace repetition of its kind. Of
fered endless possibilities for asSocia-
ton with that Of crook like Homer.
And Brainard began making records on
the beach. all around the index Of that
one he had called Van Wrinkles resur-
rection. He spent hours, and more
hours at it. But at the end of long
persistence he Wrenched out of the
gloom of that night burial Scene-in
which three dark figures put fourth,
limp and unconscious. into the sand
from which Van Wrinkle afterward had
been seen to rise.
Here was something normal enough,
If criminal. PerSiStently he followed
those figures away down the beach till
they emerged into the lights of street
and separated One of them was
Honer-Without his beard. Then Brain
ard went back and patiently recorded
and watched the arrival of boat on
the beach. from which the burial party
took what they seemed to consider
| their corpse. Beyond that he followed
T
obscure inlet on the coast; thence the
devious ways of the party by motor
down from the hills. and finally he
| looked once more into their faces by
lamplignt in a cabin hidden far back
among the rocks.
He dropped them instantly here.
shutting of his protector and rushing
to his condenser. He had leaped to the
conclusion that such a hiding place as
this, once frequented. would unques-
tionably be sought again by man who
wanted concealment
Having the location index, he set his
timer within the present hour and
found Jeffry Homer now once more in
the mountain cabin. as he had guessed.
buSl!y engaged in trying to set up what
was Enthusiastically the frame OF a Brain
ard condenser.
He could hardly contain himself
Even after he had investigated and
found that spare parts of condenser
had actually been carried off piecemeal
from a storage room downstairs, and
that Homer might actually have in his
possession much of the material TO
make his enterprise a success. Brainard
eXulted He exulted in this first test of
his weapon. He did not trouble to trace
The method by which ne had been
robbed. He could do that at his leisure.
He had well in mind the method by
which he hoped to reach the man, and
he cared little for the machine. The
game was exciting enough to make him
forget his WEAKNESS and nearly every
thing else.
For days then Ushigi had to force
ucon him things to eat. Night after
night he awoke to find that he had
fallen asleep over his machine But
day after day and night after night he
worked on. He began by searching the
little mountain cabin, among the effects
of the man who sat there absorbed i'll
work and utterly unconscious OF the
forces in movement around him. He
found what he wanted at last-a clue
to past career-in an old letter bear
ing postmark of a Nevada town.
BrCadcasting there. he at last picked
up Homer again--the Homer of two
years preyious-in jail. It was easy
then to learn the accusation that had
put him there. and Brainard came upon
a piece Of unnatural cruelty that chilled
even his accustomed nerves.
1t appeared at length that Jeffry
Homer and brother of his, most fire.
quently called Spike" had been rivals
for the favor of the same girl-a pretty
little brainleSS thing she was, happier
when her flirting with the two had
brought its hideous result than ever in
their lovemaking, though she had
seemed partial to Spike. This brother
was rough. Woodworking. decent
spoken chap, to an outsiders eye and
ear at least-an outsider who looked
upon and listened to his doings ard his
words some two years after them and
some hundreds Of miles away
The story was long and fragmentary
as Brainard got it, but 1t ended In a
night when Brainard watched Jeffry
Homer leave tin box in the path by
which his brother would come home
from calling on the girl. And he saw
Spike Homer later pick it up and open
it to look inside-and explode charge
Of fiashlight powder in his eyes.
Afterward he saw the scene in which
Spike Homer came home. nearly deliri-
Gus with pain, staggering, fumbling
along familiar ways till he reached his
door-and met his brother. And
Brainard heard what the stricken man