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8 ERIAL STORY Chronicles Addington Peace By . Fletcher Robinaon CoA4ebor wkh A. Conan Dole at (Copyright, 19i. by W. 0. Chapman) THE TERROR IN THE SNOW (Continued.) "Baron Steen," he said, "met with his death on an open path between a shallow duck-pond and a little pavil ion. He had fought hard for life, had rolled and struggled with his enemy. There were four or five punctured wounds in his throat and neck, from which he had bled profusely. And now for the thing that killed him whatever it was. It could not have fled down the cliff path, for the boat's crew waiting below had heard the screams, and had come running up by that way. They were with him when we arrived, and assured me they had seen nothing. It could not have turn ed to the right or left, for, though the paths had been swept clean-doubt less by the baron's orders, for he would not desire his way of escape 'to be easily traced-the snow on either side lay in unbroken levels. It Could only have retired by the yew avenue, and it did not break through the hedge. That, again, the snow proved clearly. So, we may take it, that whatever the thing may have. been which you saw-it killed Baron Steen; further, it escaped into the house-this, you will remember, we decided in the garden. Let us imag ine it was a man-that you were de ceived by the uncertain light His clothes must of necessity have been drenched in blood. He could not have struggled so fiercely with his victim and escaped those fatal signs. .Yet, he cannot have burned his clothes, for the fires are downstairs where people were passing. Nor can 'he have washed them, for neither the bath rooms nor the bedroom basins have been recently used. I have spent some time in searching boxes and wardrobes with no result. Strang er still, as far as my limited informa tion goes, every one in the house can Iprove an alibi-save two." "And who are they?" I asked eagerly. "Mr. Henderson, the baron's valet ,and yourself." "Inspector Peace---" I began an grily. "Tut, tut, my dear Mr. Phillips. I 'was merely stating the facts. Mr. Ienderson's case, however, presents ,an interesting feature, for he has rnm 'away." "Run away," I said. "Then that 'settles it." "Not altogether, I'm afraid. I think it is more a matter of theft than ipur der with Mr. Henderson." I stared at him in silence as he sat there, with his little hands clasped upon his lap, a picture of irritating composure. "Peace," I said, struggling to con trol my voice. "What are you hiding from me? It is something inhuman, unnatural that has done this dreadful thing." The little detective stretched him self, yawned, and then rose to his estee. "I have no opinion except that I think you had better go to bed. Don't' .look your door, for I may find time for an hour's sleep on your sofa be fore morning." The news was out after breakfast the news that led to mild hysterics and scurrying of lady's-maids to the packing of boxes, and the chastened sorrow of those gentlemen who owed ,the baron money. Through all the turmoil of the morning moved the lit tle detective, the most sympathetic of men. It was he who apologized so humbly for the locked doors of the bath-rooms; he who superintended ithe lighting of fires, and the making tf the beds, and the packing of ;truaks for the station so closely that ,the housemaids were convinced that the entertained a secret passion for each one of them; it was he who an inounced Henderson's robbery of the told plate, following it by informa lion as to the culprit's arrest. The establishment had by this time be come convinced that Henderson was the murderer, and breathed relief, at the news. They had brought the body of Baron Steen to the house early in the morn tag-it had been laid in the garden pavilion on its first discovery. With death in so strange a form present among us, I was disgusted by the noise and bustle, the gossip and shatter amongst the guests of the dead man. I wandered off in search t the one person who had seemed erely affected by the news, the secretary, Maurice Terry. He nowhere to be found. A servant of whom I inquired told me that the secretary had kept to his bed, beltn greatly unnerved by the tragedy, and I strolled up the stairs again on as errand of consolation. The door wae looked, and there came no. answer t my continued tapping. "Terry," I called through the key hole. "It is I, Phillips; won't you lel me in?" "I have a key that will fit, if you will kindly stand aside," suggested a modest voice. I rose from my knees to find the inspector at my elbow. "It would be a gross intrusion,*" told him. "If he wishes to be alone with his sorrow, we have no right to disturb him." "He is seriously ill." "How did you discover that?" "By borrowing a gardener's ladder and looking through his window. He is unconscious, or was ten minutes ago." A skillful twist or two with a bit of wire and the key was pushed from the lock. The duplicate opened the door. Peace walked into the room, and I followed at his heels. On his bed, fully dressed, lay poor Terry, with a face paler than his pil lows. His breath came and went in short, painful gasps. One hand stray ed continuously about his throat, groping and plucking at his collar with feverish unrest It was a very painful spectacle. "I will send for a doctor at once," I whispered, stepping to the bell. But Peace held up a warning hand. "dome here," he said, "I have some thing to show you." With movements as tender as a woman's he unfastened the man's col lar and slipped out the stud. Then he paused. The eyes that watched me had turned cold and hard. "If it is as I suspect, you may be called as a witness. Do you object?" "Yes; but I shall not leave you on that account" "Very well," he said, as he opened the shirt and the vest beneath it. Smeared and patched in dark etch Ing upon the white skin was a broad stain of blood, of dried and clotted blood, the life's blood of a man. "He is wounded, Peace," I eried. "Poor fellow, he must have nearly bled to death." "Do not alarm yourself," said - the inspector, dryly. "It is the blood of Baron Steen." A week had gone by, and I was sit ting alone in my Keble Street rooms, when Peace walked in, with a heavy traveling coat over his arm. '"Thank Heaven, you have come at last," I cried. "How is Maurice Ter ry?" "Dead-poor fellow," he said, with an honest sorrow in his voice. "Yet, after all, Mr. Phillips, it was the best that could have happened to him." "And his story-the causes-the method?" I demanded. "It has taken some hard work, but the bits of the puzzle are fitted to gether at last. You wish to hear It, I suppose?" "According to your promise," I re minded him. "It is a case of unusual interest," he said. "Though it bears a certain similarity to the Gottstein trial at Kiel in '89." He paused to light his big pipe, and then sat back in his chair, with his eyes fixed in abstract contempla tion. was convinced that the murderer was in the house; and that he had entered by the side door, towards which you had seen him pass. When studying the spot I made a discovery of some importance. Steen had left by the same exit. Also he had reason to fear some person in that wing, for he had turned from the path and made a circuit over the grass. I had al ready noted his broad-toed boots when examining his body-and the foot prints in the snow were unmistak able. Who was his enemy in that wing? It was a problem to be solved. 'I discovered no stained clothing, and no signs of its cleansing or de struction. From what information I could gather, all the house party had been in the roulette-room save you yourself; and all the servants had been at the dance save Henderson and a man waiting on the guests. But in the course of my search the foot man who accompanied me discovered that a quantity of gold plate was miss ing. It was reasonable to imagine that Henderson was the thief. Prob ably the confidential valet had learnt of the Baron's projected flight and of the warrant for his arrest. It was a moment for judicious robbery, the traces of which would be covered by the confusion of the news. But -was Henderson also a murderer? I did not think so. The death of his mas ter was the one thing which would wreck his scheme. In the early morn ing I interviewed the farmer on whose car he had driven into Nor bridge. He told me that, acting on orders he had received from Hender son, he met that person at the cor ner of the stables at eleven o'clook OWNED HISTORIC OLD HOTEL Proprietor of Structure Built Around Cabin of Captured British Frig. ate is Dead. Jacob Smith, hotel proprietor of City Island, New York, died there at the age of seventy-three -years. Mr. Smith's hotel has for years been one of the show places on the island. It was known as the Macedonian hotel, because it was built around the cabin of the British frigate Macedonia, which was captured by the United States frigate Decatur off Cape Verde islands during the war of 1812. After the engagement the Macedonia was towed to what is known as Cow Bay, City Island, and there Smith acquired It in 1874, pulled it on land and streo precult -ytive minutes beforvtl ; murder occurred. That finally elf 1 nated the valet from the list. "On my return from the farm gtI s amined the gardens again with ,e minuteness. At the corner of tgh Iii tie pavilion, about fifteen feet f.ie where the body had lain, there was patch of bloody snow. This pusie me a good deal, until the solution of i fered itself that the murderer he tried to wash his hands in the ano. the water of the pond being frosea hard. . Yet his clothing would ale bear the stain. What had he wond l that showed so white to you in t h starlight? Could it have been that h6 wore no clothes at all? "A naked man! The suggestio was full of possibilities. "It was fortunate that I had brough assistants to help me in Steen's caz ture. Their presence gave me a f'td er scope, for they were both g.: men. I left them to search the pail ion and laurels for the clothlil which the murderer might have co. coaled when he realized how fats was its evidence. As I walked baed to the house I began to understand the situation more clearly. The mati drive, curving down the slope of th: park, was in view of a tall man -ou ing up by the yew walk. The mur derer might have noticed our ap proach. What more natural than thai he should have bent double as he rae thus obtaining the cover of the left hand hedge, which was not more tha four to five feet high? Did not th! answer to your description of the thing you had seen? It would have been cold work for him. I made note to be on the look-out for chills. "For a couple of hours I devoted myself to speeding those guests whc canght the eleven-thirty train. I dc not think a trunk left for the station of which I have not a complete in ventory. Indeed, the baron's cred. itors have to thank me for the returs of several trifles of value, which were included, accidentally, no doubt, is the ladies' dressing-bags. "After the carriages had started I went in search of Terry, and disch-y ered that he had not left his room. Equally to the point, his windows looked down upon the spot where the baron made his detour over the grass while escaping. I became interested in this young man. The score we creeping up against him. A laddei from an obliging gardener allowed me to observe him from the window. A visit to. the housekeeper gave me a duplicate key to his door. What hap pened, in the room you know, Mr. Phillips." "But, the motive-why did he kill his patron?" I asked him eagerly. "I doubt if we shall ever learn the truth on that point," he said. "As far as I can make out, Steen was di rectly responsible for the ruin and disgrace of Terry's father. Probably the son did not fully realize this when the baron, with a pity most unusual in the man, give him the secretary ship. But of all participation in the flight he was certainly innocent, for he was in bed at the time." "In bed!" I cried. "Don't interrupt, if you please. What happened I take to be as fol lows: Terry was in bed when the old man tried to creep past his window. Somehow he heard him, and, looking out, understood what was up. Per haps that rascal Henderson had told him the truth about his father; per haps Steen had promised him com pensation-he had a mother and sis ter dependent on him-which prom ise the financier meant to avoid, along with many more serious obliga tions, by running away. At any rate, passion, revenge, the sense of injus tice-call it what you like-took hold of the lad. He caught up the first handy weapon; it chanced to be a dagger paper-knife-dangerous things, I hate them-and rushed down a back staircase and through the side door in pursuit of his enemy. Yuun tuUs uWu nUIJyJLLau, wUlVu happened, the fear that comes to all amateurs in crime took him by the throat. He wiped his hands in the snow; he tore off his sleeping suit that is how I know he had been in bed-and thrust it, with its terrible evidences of murder, into the thatch of the little pavilion. We found it there a day later. Then he started back to the house as naked as a baby. "He saw us running down the hill, and made for the side door, bending double behind the hedge. Who were we? Had we noticed him? Believe me, Mr. Phillips, whether he had held the murder righteous or no, it was only the rope he, saw dangling before him. Might not thd alarm be given at any moment? He dared not wash himself, and the stains had dried upon him. He hurried on his clothes, shivering in the chill that had struck home, and so to the safest place he could find-the roulette-tahle." "It is well that he died," I said sim ply. "It saved the law some trouble," remarked the inspector, with a grim little nod at the wall. (CHRONICLES TO EE CONTINUED.) ---- ------------- -- turally added to it. In time he had a building large enough to aocommo. 4ate a number of persons. Three years ago a member of a hisl torioal society in England, which had learned of the existence of the Mace. donia, came to City Island and offered Mr. Smith $80,000 for it, but he would not sell. He said he wanted it to remain in the family, which consists of seven daughters and two sons. Assured of Fresh Fish. Copenhagen has a model fish mar ket, built by the municipality. With the exception of the larger varieties, like cod and halibut, all the fish mare kept alive in tanks filled with run ning water. There is no other town where all the fish, whether cheap or dear, are so beautifully fresh. IUGH DUPFFY. Hugh Duffy. Veteran baseball star, former msa ager of the Chicago White Box sad the Milwaukee Brewers, has been awarded the Fall River franchise in the New England league. It is ex pected that the team will be moved to Portland, Maine. BILLIARDS Charles McCourt of Pittsburgh de. feated Charles Otis of Brooklyn in a National Billiard league game, 50 to 46. John Layton of St. Louis in a match game with C. Lawton broke the world's record high run, with 78, un der the new style of scoring in con. tinuous pool. -Martin Phillips of Chi. cago ran 74. BASEBALL Forrest Cady, the Red 80x star back stop, is said to be some wrestler. Bert Shotton, the Browns' speedy young outfielder, was given a big boost in his salary. Great Falls of the Union assoclation is going to try out a young second sacker named Flnout. June 2 has been set as the date when Toronto will 'raise the Interna. tional league pennant. Captain McBritle of the Senators thinks the Athletics have the best chance in the 1913 race. The "perfumed notes" are not re sponsible for Art Shafer's retirement from professional baseball. Huggins says Slim Sallee, his south. paw, will be the sensation of the whole show the next season. Cleveland fans pick Tuck Turner as one of the club's brightest pros. pects for the coming campaign. The Fordham baseball schedule this season consists of 27 games. Of this number 20 will be played at home. Pat Tebeau is urged by many St. Louisans as the proper man for Mrs. Britton to select as the lards' presil dent. Dr. Frank Sexton, Harvard's base ball coach for the past three years, has signed again to direct the Crimson nine. Bert Shotton, the Brown's young outflelder, says he is tired of playing major league ball for a minor league salary. Artie Fletcher, the Giant shortstop, ranked the lowest among the National league shortstops, making 56 errors during the season. Beals Becker goes to Cincinnati, the fim of tha nuhaeminna of 118010 * - from the National League club. whose fag he helped win. The Madison baseball directors are after Harry Bay, once a member of the Cleveland Naps, to act as playing manager for the 1918 team. Wilbert Robinson has sold out his business interests in Baltimore and this year will devote his entire time to coaching the Giant pitchers. Eddie Williams and Archer Reilly have been turned over to the Spring. field, Ohio, team by the Indianapolis club of the American association. Portland of the Pacific Coast league has purchased Pitcher Stanley of the Atlantic City team. He was the lead ing pitcher in the Tri-State league last season. SMISCELLANEOUS The Federation of American Motor. cyclists has 20,000 members. Penn cricketers this season will be seen in Canada, and next year will meet the crack collegiate teams of, England during an European tour. Jack McDermott, the American open golf champion, will spend two weeks in the south before his invasion of England. At Pinehurst he will test his strength with Tom McNamara, for mer professional. Swimming trainers apparently' have woes unknown to the men who have to condition other athletes. Duke Kahanamoka, the Hawaiian swimmer, has been bitten by an eel and is afraid of resultant blood poison. Lee Humiston, the Denver pilot, is the -new star to flash across the mo torcycle horizon. Humiston circled the mile lap at the Plaza Del Rey in Los Angeles in 80 seconds, clipping four-fifths of a second off Ray .Sey mour's record. "Hobey" Baker, the sensational star of the Princeton hockey team, was tendered the re-election to the cap. -tanoy of next year's team, but refused to accept, and endorsed W. S. . Kuhn, the pittsburgh boy, who was the unan iaorn choice. Tfhe KrebsCoburn team won the dx. (ISTOIS I -PAN F INDING myself with two free days to spend, I went down to the docks and boarded one of the little steamers which for eign residents here in Nagasaki term the "Nomo liners," probably be cause they have not the slightest re semblance to a liner. The two hours of the journey I spent drinking tea with the "captainsan" and the "bos'n san" on what might, in a Pickwlokian sense, he called the bride, writqll C, A. Hibbard in the Chicago Daily News. The little steamer sputtered, splashed and grunted through the waves most nobly except at those times when near ing a port the captain was too free in his use of the whistle. The "liners" resent the indignity of having their approach heralded in such a publio manner and stop during the opera tions. Most admirable modesty! At five in the afternoon we came to anchor in a witohing little lagoon at the village of Nomo. Here, with six or eight other passengers, I was rowed ashore in a sampan by a local Charon. A step took me to the farther side of the promontory, where I embarked for a half hour's sail to Kabashima, an Island lying some three miles off the mainland. Looking for an Inn. The boatmen had directed me to the -Omi" Inn as the best place in the is.Ld. To find it in the one, long -arrow street of the village seemed to be easy enough. Before I realised it, owever, I had passed out through the town to the other side of the island, and quite missed anything that looked Ike an inn. I started back. The streets were deserted except for the wemen taking their bathe along the roadside. Imagine a rhinoceros tak .. 4. x ` d" c2^wR ý ,t f l M a. #, 5. ing a bath in a tumbler of water; that was the impression I received from an old matron- comfortably ensconced in a small tub at the side of the street. Her years made my approach excus able to myself; I found afterward that really it was only my own fear which I had to consult in the matter, as even younger women and maidens of the community were unruffled by my ap pearance under the same circum stances. Tipping my hat to the dame, I ventured: "Condescend to pardon -me.. I will cause you honorable trouble, but kind ly tell me where I shall find the 'Omi' "No, please don't trouble to excuse yeourself. As for the inn which you are seeking, it is only necessary to go on a little farther and you will ind it at the right.. It has two stories, so yeu will easily And it." "But great thanks. You have been meet kind." At the Ian I changed my light elothes for the more comfortable sum mer kimoeno of the Japanese and, es corted by the maid of the hotel as guide, I hunted up the public bath. My visit to the bath was an event et civic importance. No wonder I had been obliged to inquire my way a few minutes ago from the women. All of the men of the village were gathered here fer their evening bath. Entering the front room, I gave the old dame ia charge a 5 cent piece, to receive back 8%' cents in change, strode to the back room, shedding my clothes and wooden clogs as I went. At the Town Tub. The town tub was the meeting place for the city fathers. Here they all were squatting up to their necks in the boiling water and lined up around the sides of the bath. At the upper end a grimsly old patriarch held forth as chairman. He was one of that skin and bones type of Japanese and had a long, scraggly beard of so few hairs that one was tempted to count them would his duties as presidlin of :fcer but let him be still long enough' at a time. Fishing, which had been the subject of debate up to that time, was dropped at-the entry of the "man of the west." With all the composure that one can assemble when tempted to laugh every moment, I stepped up and begged their pardon for intruding on a tub already filled. The hint was taken; a few large, wonder eyed children were pushed out on the floor and room was made for me. But my politeness had been my un doing. It gave them to think me far more advanced in the language than I am. I passed over the preliminaries successfully. "Yes, I came from America." "I was twenty-seven years old" (my age is different every time I am asked). "I was just six feet. tall." "No, I wasn't married." But when it came to the intricacies of lan guage involved in a discussion of the, coming presidential election in Amer. Ica, the relative merits of "Tafto" and% "Rusowelto," I was swamped. I won der what Taft would have given to. have heard my exposition of his plat form to the boiling tubful of nake& oitisbns of the little fishing village. The one man-he of the beard seemed to have won his position of' respect in the community through the fact that he could read and was the honored subscriber to an Osaka paper. And then back to the inn. The. mm® Ann, natnn Chora ue an Inanana.. and always the same curiosity as to the foreigner. After a dinner, the piece de resistance of which was raw fish, I went to bed. In a country inn, though, there. is considerable differe ence between going to bed and going. to sleep. A necessary preliminary to, the latter is complete exhaustion from trying to wreak one's vengeance on, the seas. I finally dropped off to the drone of many voices chanting their Buddhist prayers: Perhaps they were praying for a good run of fish on the morrow. The next morning, after an early breakfast on raw eggs and rice, I hired a boat with two men to ferry me across a rather narrow strait for the sum of 1} cents. At Misaki, an other of the fishing villages here, 1 visited the "Temple of Mercy," a Butd hist temple of the Zen persuasion, to see my friend the young abbot of the sanctuary. A description of this tear pie and its history does not belong here. When I stopped there last the head priest told me that I was the only foreigner in the 1,200 years the temple had existed to have stayed there over night. Later on, upon as examination of his records, he correct ed himself: "No, 122 years ago a Chi nese priest rested here over the day." It was a Chinaman who got ahead of me! Force of Habit. A poker game was in progress, and Mr. McCann called for one card, which was passed to him by Mr. O'Grady. Mr. O'Grady-How are ye fixed now that ye have a spade? Mr. McCann (suspioiously)-How do ye know that I have a spade? Mr. O'Grady-Because, when I gave ye the eyard, ye spit in yer righ hant