Widnes Examiner. — 1906-10-20 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

CHAPTER XXVII.  IT was the figure of John Stirling propped up in a corner of the carriage, dead, with a dagger in his heart and his pockets all turned inside out. The Grafter saw the whole thing atlauep. Marcas had stabbed him, robbed him, and escaped, closing the carriage door behind him. He had escaped probably at the last steep hill where they had gone at a foot pace, and where the trees over-shadowing the road had made it as dark as a cave.  Marcas must have planned the whole thing. He saw now why he had held his handkerchief to his face, why he had not entered the hotel at Lydeard, why he had induced Stirling to order a closed carriage. Then he suddenly saw his own terrible position. • He had entered the hotel at Lydeard and been recognised; he had told the landlord that tale, he had given himself completely away, and he had brought no effective disguise, for he had not intended extreme measures. Satisfied that the two men were cowards, he had considered that the sight of his revolver would be sufficient to make them disgorge their plunder, and now he had fallen into this terrible trap. He shut the door of the carriage on its awful occupant, then he led the horse to the side of the road. Flight. That was the idea, that filled his brain. Flight, but where should he fly to? Blue Anchor was impossible; it was bounded by the sea, but it was only a small place where there were only a few fishing boats. Lydeard was impossible, for obvious reasons; the only o6urse open was to strike across the country towards Taunton and endeavour to get an early morning train to town. . . . . .  First he determined to examine the interior of the carriage and see if there were any bloodstains; if not, it might be worth while to attempt to conceal the crime by burying the body in some ditch or hiding it in some copse. He took a silver matchbox from his pocket, struck a light, and opened the carriage door. The carriage was lined with brown holland, ;and the brown holland was covered with 'bloodstains. It was useless to attempt any concealment of the body. Before he closed the door a question that had flashed across his mind was answered. How Was it that Stirling had not cried out ? A man stabbed nearly always cries out. The question was answered by a something lying upon the murdered man's shoulders; it was a loop of White cord. The sudden strangulation caused' by the pressure of a cord paralyses the rec.Arrent laryngeal nerve! and consequently the larynx ; a stifled groan, a faint gurgle is all that the victim can utter.  The Grafter knew this, and closing the door of the carriage and opening the gate of a field he led the horse and trap in. He sheltered the carriage under a group of trees, and hastily unharnessing the horse let it go free. By doing this he prevented the chance of some night policeman ineeting the trap on the road and instantly raising the hue and cry. Then he struck across the eountry in a direction, as near as he could ,reckon, to that in which-Taunton lay. As he pursued his way a rhyme came up in his head. It was the mysterious inscription on the back of the fire opal: " Who holds me tempts fate Who in darkness doth wait; To my keepers I gave The sword and the grave; The same I give thee . If my keeper thou ,be,"