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except into the water where my men will see him." ered old man that we called Robin, came to our aid. The inquest was to be held three days later, after the heavy as a sledgehammer, and yet not hard like a sledgchammer. Anyâ€" thing very hard would have broken the skull into pieces, at the speed that it must have come. Those queer scratâ€" the swamp. I!f he‘s on the highlands yonder, he can‘t get off them either, He examined the cuffs of the silken shirt that Hayward wore. "It‘s his cuff, too," he said shortly. "Broken off when he fell." f There was nothing more to be said on this point. The link in the left sleeve was the mate of the broken jJink we had found. He heard our story, and we walked down with him to show him where the body had lain. He listened very attentively to our theoryâ€"that Hayâ€" ward had attempted to fiee from his we‘ve got the murderer pretty well sewed up. If he‘s in this house he can‘t get away â€" because already "It‘s a queer case," he toid us then. "I don‘t know of any like it. As you say, he must have used something as meets Mr. Southley, whom a detecâ€" tive friend, Alexander Pierce, had told him to watch, and his son Ernest Southley, Mr. Hayward and his son Vilas, and then Josephine Southley, whom he had seen faint on the train. AJosephine tells him the story of Southley Downs and its ghost, which is not the ghost of a human being but of a tiger. "I don‘t mean to infer your motives weren‘t the best," he went on with a world of tact, "but amateur aid doesn‘t help any, as a rule. The hat is evidently the property of the murâ€" dered man. ‘This cuffâ€"linkâ€"" "We were careful about that, inâ€" spector," I assured him. Southley and I were with the inâ€" spectorâ€"his name turned out to be Freeman â€" when he examined the body. He made no comment. Since I had given up all hope of a greater detective coming to our aid, I turned over all the clues I had gathered to him. He was entirely scornful. "Like as not you and young Southâ€" ley spoiled a whole lot more clews thc_n you found, tramping around the at the edge of the city, and he had heard of Sam‘s inquiries.. But he inâ€" sisted that he be carried along to handle his own boat. The reason was rather obvious. The old man was eviâ€" dently in need of the few extra dollars that his own services would bring. "And what‘s the old fellow‘s name ?" ‘Robinâ€"and he talked like a cockâ€" ney." The question drew a long and deâ€" tailed explanation. The motor craft, it seemed, had been procured by the coroner, and was to be used to convey the body. The duck cance was not large enough to bring any supplies, so Mr. Southley had ordered Sam to procure a large, wellâ€"made rowboat to go back and‘forth in. At first he had despaired of finding anyp until the old man who had steered on the way back to the house encountered him and offered his own â€"boat and services for the hire. He was a quaint old character that lived by the river Sam‘s other errands he had done with dispatch. : "And where did you pick up the rowboat"? I asked. "You went over in Mr. Southley‘s duck canoe." once. Dr. Long and Etnest go out on the road in the rain looking for the tracks of a tiger that Ernest says are there. They find the tracks. Later Ernest and Dr. Long see a prowling creature in the hall of Southley Downs. This frightens the elder Hayward, who also sees it. Ernest begins to feel that Ahmad Das is perpetrating some deviltry. The coroner and police arrive in order to investigate. NowW GO ON wWITH THE sTORY The elder Hayward is later dead, his neck broken as if giant‘s blow. Dr. Long has a quarrel with Vilas Hayward over Josephine, and finds that the Haywards have a strange authority over the Southleys. He is ordered to ‘leave Southley Downs. The rain prevents him leaving at Soon after this the body was carâ€" "It will be wWHAT HAPPENED BEFORE Dr, Long is visiting Southley Downs, which is conducted by Ahâ€" mad Das, an Oriental. There he for me to found by a Weâ€"could say no more. We had reached the boat. I shook hands with were knocking at the door of my fall when I could have saved youâ€" because I loved Vilas Hayward?" "I would soomer attribute it to that than to some less worthy reason. At least it showed me that your love for him was everythingâ€"that nothâ€" ing in the world could stand in its be be a little sorry. If you‘d only stay, that time might be soonâ€"before it is too late." a little tremulous. "I don‘t think you are very kind, doctor," the words came back. "You don‘t understand." "Unkind because I wish you hapâ€" piness? At least I can do thatâ€"with propriety. There has been enough beâ€" tween us that I can do that. The walks we hadâ€"they will be very beauâ€" tiful to think about." "I wish you‘d not say any more." But I went on remorselessly; "And don‘t think I‘m going to be bitter. Women have always sacrificed for the men they lovedâ€"everything they had to sacrifice. No man can blame them if he is one of the sacrifices, as I wasâ€"in the denâ€"last night." She stopped as if I had struck her. "You meanâ€"that you think I reâ€" nounced you lut_nigfit. that I let you ""You‘ve afready been very kind and sweet," I said. "I‘m s'l'nd that you cared at all. But I don‘t see any use of keeping up the sorry game any longer. It can‘t help but come to unâ€" happiness in the end. I want you to have all happinessâ€"" I could scarcely hear her answer. The tone was so lowâ€"hardly more than a whisper. Perhaps it was just "I‘m past all horror of that." She led the way out of the great door and down the path. What a slight, slim creature she was! "And I suppose there is nothingâ€"that I can tell you â€"that would make you stay?" "And how much has happened since." "How muchâ€"and this is the end." I stretched out my hand, and she gave me hers. I had always wondered at that hand. It was so yielding, seemingly so tender. But I dropped it quickly, wondering at the tremor on her lips. "Goodâ€"by, Miss Southley." ‘‘May I walk with you down to the boat 1" "If you wish. But you rememberâ€" what is in the boat." .. "Perhaps you have -forgottenâ€"bl:; we promised frankness. The first night at Southley Downs!" "I had forgotten. Forgive me. And how long ago it was." I told them, and asked them to wait until I got my bag. Jt was all packed and ready. And as 1 came down from my room I met Josephine in the hall. She started back at the sight of me. I couldn‘t read the look that leaped to her face, except that it was a hurt look, almost a look of pleading. It was a surprise to me. Evidently she felt that she would miss whatever support I had been in these last nights of trial. "You‘re going, after all," she said. She didn‘t put it as a question. She spoke as if it were some unbelievable circumstance. "Of course I‘m going. I‘m afraid I do not surpass as a detective. Beâ€" sidesâ€"I‘ve got to get back to my practice. Probably a hundred little fevered hands stretching to meâ€"" But her eyes arrested me and stopâ€" ped the flow of my sitkpâ€"worlz. ~~ as "I don‘t see why you can‘t go, Long, if you want," the inspector said. "You were just a guest hereâ€"though I will say that you came at a propitious timeâ€"and, besides, both of the Southâ€" leys vouch for you. Villas says you‘re innocent, and they say that you were in the library when the crime was committed. Of course, you must tel us where we can get you on a moâ€" ment‘s notice." spectator, from the first, and Joseâ€" phine had seen to it that I had been no more. The renouncement in the den the evening before had told that all too plainly. I couldn‘t deny to myself how much I would have liked to stay, to see the affair to its end, perhaps to behold the curse lifted from the old manor‘s house, and to watch the shadows depart from those sad eyes. _ Never before had the thought of being of service been so dear to me. But the stand the girl had taken in the den was impossible to disregard. leave this place and go back to my practice in Tampa." Because I hadn‘t forgotten my promise of departure. Besides, there was no further reason for me to stay. Alexander Pierce had failed to mediately after." "How did you spend your time 1" "I was undressing for bed." "And then what did you do ?" I told him of our stalk through the halls. He seemed particularly interâ€" ested, but also somewhat scornfal. others came back to the house and told me." "The sound of the breaking. levee wakened you?" ‘"How much time were â€"yon alone after the scene in the den and the time ‘of The marder ?" he dBkedâ€" _> Freeman called on me next. J told my story, as far as it concerned the finding of the body. I corroborated most of Vilas‘s testimony. walk with Ernest â€" between‘ a few "He called him a ‘pup,‘ I think, as well as other things." "You say you went to bed at midâ€" night. When did you learn of your father‘s murder ?" "After the levee brokeâ€"when the "And did your father siy anything of an insulting nature that the doctor might want to avenge?" old friends. They were very free with each other in all things." "My father took the most deterâ€" mined stand against him, insisting on an apology. or else a departure from the house." "And what right did he have to insist that any of Southley‘s guests be told to go? What was his explanaâ€" tion for this breach of hospitality? The doctor was Southley‘s guest, not your father‘s. â€"Why did your father feel he had~a right to insist, in the terms he did, that Southley expel the doctor from his house?" "Iâ€"don‘t believe I know." "Think a minute." Vilas face darkened ever so slightly. "I don‘t beli¢ve I care to have you question the manners of my dead "I won‘t venture to say. It was plainly the greatest shock to him when Miss Southley took the attitude she did. I suppose my father gave him the greatest cause for anger." "I believe his daughter sided in with you, too." ' "I would hardly say that." "At least she offered no explanation why Dr. Long attacked you. Isn‘t that true?" "It 1s." "How did Dr. Long take this comâ€" bined stand against him?" ‘ "I don‘t know what you mean." "It seems to me I am perfectly clear. Did he become angry ?" "And Southley did also." _‘ Vilas hesitated â€" just an instant Yes, he supported me." "But we‘re not willing to forget it," the detective replied. "The matâ€" ter of motive for this murder is probâ€" ably the most important feature in identifying the criminal. If we have a motive, we have something to work on. I believe that your father took your part in that discussion." . "Yes, sir. But I‘m willing to forâ€" get that." All the while occupants of Southley Downsâ€"and that of course included the brownâ€"skinned Ahmad, whose race is the root and source of the whole Aryan breedâ€"met in the library imâ€" mediately after the motor boat‘s deâ€" parture. All of us took chairs, and Inspector Freeman stood in the center. ‘‘This isn‘t a third degree, or anyâ€" thing like it," he explained. "I‘m simply in search of explanations. I want to know who‘s who, and who knows what." He called on Vilas Hayward first. "Where were you on the night of the crime?" he asked. "I went to bed at midnight." ‘"You were present in the den, in which you were insulted by Dr. Long ?" Yet his eyes did not look as if he were willing; they glowed . darkly. "Yes." with the elder Haywardâ€"words ‘:dd, all thatâ€"on the night he was kill It puts a different face on the situaâ€" tion; so I guess I‘ll have to command you to stay here until I know it is safe for me to let you go, doctor." "Wait just a minute, Dr. Long," the inspector commanded. I turned to him. "What is it?" "I‘ve just been thinkingâ€"that I really haven‘t a right to let you go. I‘ve learned that you had a scene When I looked at them they had moved to opposite sides of the group. His lean face was thoughtful. I gave my bag to the negro, and started to step on the boat. tinct. One of them was that old Robin was gazing at me with what was almost a look of abject bewilderâ€" ment on his face; the other was that Josephine was whispering to Inspecâ€" tor Freemanâ€"a hurried, urgent mesâ€" "It is a fair question." "In spite of the difference in their THE HIGHLAND PARK PRRSS, HIGHLAND PARK Haak Auto Supply Co. HORSESHOE Mr.Newlywed asked." "He didn‘t like you either, Ahmad." "It is true." "Considering his influence with your master, did it ever occur to you that he might get you thrown out of employment?" "Employâ€"" "Get you kicked out of your job?" "No, sahib; I never thought of "And I believe he struck you once Abmad." Ahmad‘s voice lowered. "Yes." "And why did he?" "You didn‘t like the elder Hayward, Ahmad?" Freeman asked abruptly. "No, sahib." "Why didn‘t you*? What had he ever done to you?" "He was not pleasant to serve sahib. Many times he sworeâ€"‘" We‘ve got a motive for you, Long," he told me at the end, "but not much else. There are others that we have some of the other things, but no moâ€" tive." He called on Ahmad Das. The latâ€" ter told him how he had gone out to the garage after the car; how he had looked in vain for Hayward on the driveway, and how, later, he had found the body. The detective flushed slightly and leaned forward. Of course his reason for wanting to know was perfectly obvious. He wanted to see whether I could have possibly had time to hire one of the negroes to murder the elder Hayward. He knew that I had not done the deed with my own hands, from the fact that 1 had already established an alibi. "It isn‘t the purpose of the State to chase down ghosts," he said. "I think the less though and said about that matter the better. You all were under a nervous strain, and I‘ve heard the testimony of people in that condiâ€" tion before. It usually isn‘t worth the paper it‘s written on. I want to know if you had any time to yourself beâ€" tween the scene in the den and the murder," o e 3 *~ Ts ABontimredâ€"next waek} 25 South Second Street Telephone 391 tires on your car. We‘ll be glad to show you your size tire in a Horseshoe and tell you If baby cries that‘s not your fault. But, it sure is your fault if you are not enjoying long mileage, complete satisfaction and econâ€" was slow in a service that be 10â€"28 you are interest for loans Ample funds «: be FPWLR ""mrcac 5, 10 and 15 year plans, straight or with preâ€"payment privileges Our loans are purchased by _ For many years I have been obtaining views of unexpected beauty for people who are particular. 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