The Daily Alaska empire., 1930-06-04

on your own responsibilities.
 Four or five pistols were avail able. I did not secure one of them. There were enough torches to go around, however. Celia. Mrs Parados, and Miss Jahries declared their intention of combing the ground immediately beyond the edge of the developed estate in which the house stood.
 Manning. afraid to be left alone in the house, attached herself to Miss Jahries.
 As I started at a fast clip down to the beach by way of one of the cove trails, my head and ears were pounding. I arrived at the beach in a father of sweat.
 Not more than a dozen feet of wet sand divided the breakers from the sandstone cliff. The beach curved and I followed it's arc at top speed, coming to the mouth of the Gut, where I stood, drenched with spray and deafened with the sound Kissing water and an un- scalable cliff guarded this side of The Gut.
 Coming back I threw my light along the jetty, into the boathouse, and over the Parados cruiser and police boat, then along the cement breakwater Parados had built half way across the mouth of the cove.
 A shoulder of rock jutted into the surf at the northwest corner of the cove. It took me ten minutes to get around it to the west beach. Once I thought I was trapped. The water was up to my waist, then to my shoulders. It swept me off my feet and hurled me against the cliff. The water receded and I stag gered through.
 My head throbbed and after l had touched it I found blood on my hand The wound did not ap- pear to be deep, however, and I started down the beach. Fortu- nately the torch was not broken.
 Turning, I raced back along the beach, playing the light beam upon the face of the cliff with a view to discovering a trail that would take me to the top.
 The trail proved sleeper than I had expected and halfway up I had to stop, or I would have fallen from exhaustion. was losing more blood than had supposed.
 I was on the point of starting up again when beam of light, evil dently from an electric torch, shot out over the top of the cliff in a horizontal direction a little to the right of me.
 It vanished, reappeared, vanished again; again it reappeared and vanished. Each time the light flashed with the regularity of a signal.
 So far as I knew everybody had left the house. The women might have returned, but if they had I could conceive of no reason why they should signal out to sea. h. land, or to me on the beach-that would have been understandable
 ''It looks queer" muttered.
 As pulled myself over the edge of the cliff the light flashed again once. A hundred yards south of where I stood was the house. The light had seemed to come from the parapeted roof. This time I caught an answering gleaIn somewhere south of the house and not far off shore.
 My first impulse was to approach the roof by way of the outside stair but I quickly suppressed it. wanted to see the signaler before he saw me.
 Skirting the cypress trees, I made my way to the northwest corner of the house and to the rear door where I had left my shoes. The door was ajar. I entered, glideo across the kitchen to the hall ana arrived noiselessly at the foot oi the stair
 Here I paused and listened. The hall and most of the lower rooms were lighted. I saw no one anc heard nothing. Nevertheless I knew that I was not alone in the house My certainty sent me up the stail like shadow.
 At the top I paused once more Caroline's room was lighted anc the door was ajar. slipped acros. the corridor and looked into tht room. It was empty.
 My own room was the next anc I had stopped in front of it wher my eyes were drawn to the dool at the end of the corridor. It fas cinated me-because the bodies O Parados and Grainger were behins it, perhaps. At any rate fount