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diff --git a/old/44324.txt b/old/44324.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6d8c609..0000000 --- a/old/44324.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6283 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Flying Death, by Samuel Hopkins Adams - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Flying Death - -Author: Samuel Hopkins Adams - -Release Date: December 1, 2013 [EBook #44324] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLYING DEATH *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger - - - - - - - -THE FLYING DEATH - -By Samuel Hopkins Adams - -Copyright, 1905, by Samuel Hopkins Adams - - - - To - - Schuyler C. Brandt - in token of a friendship which, - begun at old Hamilton, - has endured and strengthened, - as only college friendships can, - for an unbroken twenty years, - this book is dedicated. - - - - -CHAPTER ONE--THE INSOMNIAC - -STANLEY RICHARD COLTON, M. D., heaved his powerful form to and fro in -his bed and cursed the day he had come to Montant Point, which chanced -to be the day just ended. All the world had been open to him, and his -father's yacht to bear him to whatsoever corner thereof he might elect, -in search of that which, once forfeited, no mere millions may buy back, -the knack of peaceful sleep. But his wise old family physician had -prescribed the tip-end of Long Island. "Go down there to that suburban -wilderness, Dick," he had said, "and devote yourself to filling your -lungs with the narcotic ocean air. Practise feeding, breathing and -loafing, and forget that you've ever practised medicine." - -Too much medicine was what ailed Dick Colton. Not that he had been -taking it. On the contrary he had been administering it to others. Amid -the unbounded amazement of his friends, who couldn't see why the heir -of the great Colton interests should want to devote his energies -otherwhere, he had insisted on graduating from medical school, and, with -a fashionable practice fairly yearning for him, had entered upon the -grimy and malodorous duties of a dispensary among the tenement-folk. -There, because the chances of birth had given him a good intelligence -which his own efforts had kept brightened and sharpened, because -Providence had equipped him with a comely and powerful body, which his -own manner of life had kept attuned to strength and vigour, and because -Heaven had blessed him with the heart and the face of a boy, whereof -his own fineness and enthusiasm had kept the one untainted and the other -defiant of care and lines, he had become a power in the slums. It was -only by eternal vigilance that he had kept himself from being elected an -alderman from one of the worst districts in New York. - -There came a week of terrible heat when the tenements vented forth their -half-naked sufferers nightly upon the smoking asphalt, and the Angel of -Death smote his daily hundreds with a sword of flame. Dick Colton fought -for the lives of his people, and was already at the limit of endurance -when Fate, employing as its dismayed instrument a contractor with -liberal views on the subject of dynamite, reduced the dispensary outfit -in one fell shock to a mass of shattered glass and a mephitic compound -of tinctures, extracts and powders. Only one thing was to be done, -and the young physician did it. He stocked up again, attending to all -details himself, using his own money and his own energy freely, and -proving to his own satisfaction that strong coffee and wet towels about -the head would enable a man to live and toil on four hours' sleep a -night. - -When, at length, a two days' rain had drenched the fevered city to -coolness, Dick Colton drew a deep breath and said: "Now I'll go to sleep -and sleep for a week." - -But the drugs which for so many weary days had filled his entire -attention declined now to be evicted from his thoughts. Disposing -themselves in neatly labelled bottles, all of a size, they marched in -monotonous and nauseating files before his closed eyes, each individual -of the passing show introducing itself by some outrageous and incredible -title utterly unknown to the art and practice of pharmacy. To think upon -sheep jumping in undulatory procession over a stone wall, so the wisdom -of our forebears tell us, is to invite slumber. To contemplate misnamed -medicine bottles interminably hurdling the bridge of one's nose, -operates otherwise. From the family doctor Colton had carried his vision -to Montauk Point with him. - -Now, on this cool September midnight he rose, struck a light, and found -himself facing two neat, little, beribboned perfume jars, representing -the decorative ideas of little Mrs. Johnston, the hostess of Third -House. It was too much. Resentment at this shabby practical joke of Fate -rose in his soul. Seizing the pair of bottles, he hurled them mightily, -one after the other, into outer darkness. The crash of the second upon -the stone wall surrounding the little hotel was rather startlingly -followed by an exclamation. - -"I beg your pardon," cried Colton, rather abashed. "Hope I didn't hit -you." - -"You did not--with the second missile," said the voice dryly. - -"It was very stupid of me. The fact is," Colton continued, groping for -an excuse, "I heard some kind of a noise outside and I thought it was a -cat." - -"Where did you hear it?" interrupted the voice rather sharply. "Did it -seem to be on the ground, or in mid-air?" - -Colton's frazzled nerves jumped all together, and in different -directions. "Have I been sent to a private lunatic asylum?" he inquired -of himself. - -"Lest my manner of inquiry may seem strange to you," continued the -voice, "I may state that I am Professor Ravenden, formerly connected -with the National Museum at Washington, D. C., and that your remark -as to an unrecognised noise may have an important bearing upon certain -phenomena in which I am scientifically interested." - -Dick Colton groaned in spirit. "Here I've told a polite and innocent -lie to this mysterious pedant," he said to himself, "and of course I -get caught at it." He leaned out of the window, when a broad, spreading -flare of lightning from the south showed, on the lawn beneath him, -the figure of a slight, compactly built man of fifty-odd, dressed with -rigorous neatness in Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers, and carrying a -broken lantern and a butterfly net. His thin, prim and tanned face was -as indicative of character as his precise and meticulous mode of speech. - -"Did I break your lantern?" asked the young doctor contritely. - -"As I do not carry my lantern in the small of my back, you did not, -sir," returned the professor with an asperity which reminded Colton -that he had put considerable muscle into his throw. "A loose rock which -turned under my foot upset me," he continued, "and the glass of my -lantern was broken in the fall. The rising gale prevented my relighting -it. Your opportune light, I may add, alone enabled me to locate the -house." - -"Perhaps my unintended rudeness may be pardoned because of my -involuntary service, then," said Colton, with the courtesy which was -natural to him. - -There was a moment's pause. Then, "If I may venture to impose upon your -kindness," said the man on the lawn, "will you put on some clothes -and join me here? It is a matter of considerable possible -importance--scientifically." - -"Anything to avoid monotony," said the other, rather grimly. "I'm here -for excitement, apparently." - -Worming his way into a sweater, trousers and shoes, he went downstairs -and joined his new acquaintance on the veranda. - -"My name is Colton, Dr. Stanley Colton," he said. "What is it you want -me for?" - -"I wish the testimony of your younger eyes and ears," said the other. -"Would you object to a walk of a third of a mile?" - -"Not at all," returned the other, becoming interested. "Shall I see if I -can rustle up a lantern?" - -"No," said the professor thoughtfully. "I think it would be better not. -Yes; decidedly we are better without a light. Come." - -He led the way, swiftly and sure-footedly, though it was pitch-dark -except when the lightning lent its swift radiance. - -"I was out in search of a rare species of Catocala--a moth of this -locality--when I heard the--the curious sound to which I hope to call -your attention," he paused to explain. - -He hurried on in silence, Colton following in puzzled expectation. At -the top of a mound they stopped, and were almost swept off their feet -by a furious gust of wind which died down, only to be succeeded by a -second, hardly less violent. In a glare of lightning that spread across -the south, Colton saw the fretted waters of a little lake below them. - -"We're going to get that storm, I think," he said. - -No reply came from his companion. In silence they stood, for perhaps -ten or fifteen minutes. Then the wind dropped temporarily. Colton was -wondering whether courtesy to the peculiar individual who had haled him -forth on this errand of darkness was going to cost him a wetting, when -the wind dropped and the night fell silent. - -"There! Did you hear it?" the professor exclaimed suddenly. - -Colton had heard, and now he heard again, a strange sound, from overhead -and seeming to come from a considerable distance; faintly harsh, and -strident, with a metallic sonance. - -"Almost overhead and to the west, was it not?" pursued the other. "Watch -there for the lightning flash." - -The lightning came, in one of those broad, sheetlike flickers that seem -to irradiate the world for countable seconds. Professor Ravenden's arm -shot out. - -"Did you see?" he cried. - -Darkness fell as the query was completed. "I saw nothing," replied -Colton. "Did you? What did you see?" - -A clap of wind blew away the reply, if there was any. This time the wind -rose steadily. They waited another quarter of an hour, the gale blowing -without pause. - -"This is profitless," said Professor Eavenden, at length. "We had best -go home." - -Thankful for the respite, the younger man rose from the little -depression where he had crouched for shelter from the wind. With a -thrill of surprised delight, he realised that he was healthily sleepy. -The quick, hard walk, the unwonted exercise, and the soft, fresh -sweetness of the air, had produced an anodyne effect. But was the air so -sweet? Colton turned and sniffed up wind. - -"Do you smell anything peculiar?" he asked his companion. - -"Unfortunately I am troubled with a catarrh which deadens my sense of -smell," replied the scientist. - -"There's a peculiar reek in the air. I caught it with that last shift of -wind. It's like something I've come across before. There!" - -"Can you not describe it?" - -"Why, it's--it's a sickish, acid sort of odour," said Colton hesitantly. -"Where have I---- Oh, well, it's probably a dead animal up to windward." - -As they reached the house, he turned to the other. - -"What was it you thought you saw?" he asked bluntly. "What are you -looking for?" - -"I am not satisfied that I saw anything," answered Professor Ravenden -evasively. "Imagination is a powerful factor, when the eye must -accomplish its search in the instantaneous revelation of a lightning -flash. As for what I am seeking, you heard as much as I. I thank you for -your help, and, if you will pardon me, I will bid you good-night here, -as I wish to make a few notes before retiring." - -Leaving the professor busied by candle light at the desk in the main -room, Dick Colton cautiously tiptoed up the stairs. At the top he -stopped dead. From an open door at the end of the hall issued a shaft -of light. In the soft glow stood a girl. Her face was toward Colton. Her -eyes met his, but un-seeingly, for he was in the shadow, and her vision -was dazzled by the light she had just made. Her face was softly flushed -with sleep and her dark eyes were liquid under the heavy lids. She was -dressed in some filmy, fluffy garment, the like of which Colton did not -know existed. Nor had he realised that such creatures as this girl who -had so suddenly stepped into his world, existed. He held his breath lest -the sweetest, softest, most radiant vision that had ever met his eyes, -should vanish. The Vision pushed a mass of heavy black hair back from -its forehead, and spoke. - -"Father," it said. - -"Father," she said again. Then with a note of petulance in the soft, -rippling voice. "Oh, Dad, you're not going out again." - -"I beg your pardon," said Colton in a husky voice that belonged to -someone whom he didn't know. "Your father is downstairs. I'll call him." -But the Vision had flashed out of his range. The light was shut out, and -all that remained to him was the echo of a soft, dismayed, frightened -little exclamation. - -Having delivered the message to Professor Ravenden, and received -his absent-minded, "In a minute," the insomniac returned to his -room. Strangely enough, it was while he was striving to fix on the -photographic lens of his brain every light and shadow of that radiant -girl-figure, that the solution of the strange noise came, unsought, to -him. He went to the foot of the stairs to tell the professor, who was -still writing. - -"I think I know what the sound was that we heard, Professor Ravenden," -he said. "It was very like the rubbing of one wire on another." - -"Very like," agreed the professor. - -"Probably a telegraph or telephone wire, broken and grating in the gale, -against the others." - -The professor continued to write. - -"Good-night," said Colton. - -"Good-night, Dr. Colton," said the scientist quietly, "and thank you -again. By the way, there is no wire of any kind within half a mile of -where we stood." - -Two problems Dick Colton took with him as exorcisers of the processional -medicine bottles, when he threw himself on his bed and closed his eye. -It was not the sound in the darkness, however, but the face in the light -that prevailed as he dropped to sleep. - - - - -CHAPTER TWO--THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT - -BEFORE the dream had fairly enchained him Colton was buffeted back to -consciousness by a slamming of doors and a general bustling about in the -house. He sat up in bed, and looked out over the ocean just in time to -see a fiery serpent writhe up through the blackness and thrust into the -clouds a head which burst into wind-driven fragments of radiance, before -the vaster glory of the lightning surrounded and wiped it out. - -"A wreck, I fear," said Professor Eavenden in the hall outside. "I shall -go down to the shore, in case I can be of assistance." - -"Indeed you shall not!" came a quick contradiction from the room at the -end of the hall. "Not until I'm ready to go with you." - -It was the voice of the Vision. Colton observed that, soft as the tones -were, a certain quality of decisiveness inhered in them. - -"Can't Mr. Haynes bring you?" suggested the professor mildly. "I see a -light in his room." - -"He'll have his hands full with Helga. Please wait, Dad. I won't be ten -minutes." - -From downstairs rose a banging of doors, a tramping of feet and the -gruff voice of Johnston, the host, mingled with the gentle remonstrances -of his wife, in which a certain insistence upon rubber boots was -discernible. On the other side of Colton there was a swishing and -thumping, as of one in hasty search for some article that had declined -to stay put. "Where the devil is that sweater?" came in a sort of -growling appeal to whatever Powers of Detection might be within hearing. - -"Don't swear, Mr. Haynes," sounded in tones of soft gaiety from the end -room, and the sweaterless one responded: "The half of it hath not been -told you. Got a sweater to lend a poor man with a weak chest, Miss -Ravenden?" - -"I'm just getting into my one and only garment of the kind," was the -muffled answer. - -A second woman's voice, low, but with a wonderful, deep, full-throated -sonance in it, broke in: - -"My dream has come true," it said gravely. "The ship is coming in on -Graveyard Point. How long, Petit Pere?" - -"With you in a minute, Princess. Just let me get into my boots," -returned the voice of the seeker, but so altered by a certain caressing -fellowship that Colton was half-minded to think he heard a new -participant. - -"Are you dressed already, Helga?" demanded Miss Ravenden. "How _do_ you -do it?" - -"I hadn't undressed, Dolly," said the other girl, gravely. "I knew--I -felt that something----" - -She paused. - -"Helga's dreams always come to pass, you know," said the man of the -elusive sweater half banteringly. "_What_ infernal kind of a knot has -that shoe lace tied itself into?" - -"Pray God this dream doesn't come to pass," said the girl outside, under -her breath as she passed Colton's door. - -Another rocket and a third pierced the night and the response came, in -a rising glow of light from the beach. "The life-savers are at hand," -observed the professor below. "Make haste, daughter. If we are--" - -A burst of thunder drowned him out. - -"This," said Colton with conviction, as he dove into his heavy jersey -jacket and seized a cap from a peg, "is going to be a grand place for an -insomnia patient! I can see that, right at the start." - -As he ran out of his door he collided violently with a small, dark, -sinewy man who had hurriedly emerged from the opposite room. - -"Don't apologise, and I won't," said Colton as they clutched each other. -"My name is Colton. Yours is Haynes. May I go to the shore with you? I -don't know the way." - -"Apparently you don't know the way to the stairs," returned the other -a trifle tartly. Looking at his keen, pallid and deeply lined face, the -young doctor set him down as a rather irritable fellow, and suspected -dyspepsia. "Everybody will be going to the beach," he added. "If you -follow along you'll probably get there." - -"Thanks," said Dick undisturbedly. It was a principle of his that the -ill-temper of others was no logical reason for ill-temper in himself. -In this case his principle worked well, for Haynes said with tolerable -civility: - -"You just came in this evening, didn't you?" - -"Yes. I seem to have met the market for excitement." - -By this time they had reached the large living-room, where they found -Mrs. Johnston presiding with ill-directed advice over the struggles -of her grey-bearded husband to insert himself into a pair of boots of -insufficient calibre. - -"Twenty-five years o' service in the life-savin' corps an' ain't let to -go out now without these der-r-r-ratted contraptions!" he fumed. - -A splendid, tawny-haired girl in an oilskin jacket stood looking out -into the night, her eyes vivid with a brooding excitement. She turned as -Haynes came in. - -"Are you ready, Petit Pere? I'm smothering in these things." - -Expressively she passed her hands down along the oilskins, which covered -her dress without concealing the sumptuous beauty of her young figure. - -Filled as was Colton's mind with the image of another face, he looked -at her with astonished admiration. Such, thought he, must have been the -superb maids in whose inspiration the Vikings fought and conquered. - -"If you knew what a gallant wet-weather figure you make," Haynes -answered her (Colton wondered how he could ever have thought the face -disagreeable, so complete was the change of expression), "your vanity -would keep you comfortable." - -"Dinna blether," returned the girl, smiling with affectionate -comradeship, and slipping her arm through his to draw him to the door. -"Father's boots are on at last." - -"We're to have company," said Haynes. "Mr. Colton--I think you said your -name was Colton--wants to come along." - -"I'm sorry that you should have been awakened," said the girl, turning -to him. "You don't mind rough weather?" - -"At least I'm not likely to blow away," returned the young man -good-humouredly, looking down at her from his six-feet-one of -height. Inwardly he was saying: "You are never the daughter of that -weather-beaten old shore man and that mild and ancient hen of a woman." - -Haynes, who had caught up a lantern and was moving toward the door, -turned and said to him: "You had better keep between Mr. Johnston and -myself. What are you waiting for?" - -"Aren't there others coming? I thought I heard someone upstairs speak -of it." He paused in some embarrassment, as he realised the intensity of -his own wish to see that dark and lovely face again. - -"Oh, Dolly Ravenden. Her father will bring her," said Miss Johnston. "We -shall meet them at the beach." - -With heads bent, the four plunged out into the storm. The wind now was -blowing furiously, but there was little rain. Over the sea hung a black -bank of cloud, from which spurted great charges of lightning. Colton, -implicitly following his guides, presently found himself passing down -a little gully where the still air bore an uncanny contrast to the -gale overhead. Hardly had they entered the hollow when Haynes checked -himself. - -"Did you hear it?" he said in a low voice to the girl. - -Colton saw her press closer to her companion, shudderingly. She poised -her head, staring with great eager, sombre eyes, into the void above. - -"When haven't I heard it, in my dreams!" she half whispered. - -"There!" cried Haynes. - -"Yes," said the girl. "To seaward, wasn't it?" - -On the word, Colton, straining his ears, heard through the multiform -clamour of the gale aloft the same faint, strange, wailing note of his -earlier experience, not unlike the shrieking of metal upon metal, yet an -animate voice, infinitely melancholy, infinitely lonely. - -"It chills me like a portent," said Helga. - -"Never mind, Princess," reassured Haynes, in his caressing voice. "It -was stupid of me to say anything about it, and make you more nervous." - -"Nervous! I never knew I had nerves--until now." She turned to Colton. - -"Did you hear it too?" - -"Yes. What was it?" - -A furious flurry of the gale intervened. The girl shook her head. -Johnston in the lead now turned to climb a grassy knoll, and -conversation became impossible. - -At the top they came in view of a score of busy figures outlined sharply -against a lurid background as the lightning spread its shining drapery -from horizon to zenith. Presently the four people from Third House -stood on the cliff overhanging the sledge-hammer surf, and watched the -life-saving crews of two stations, Bow Hill to the east, Sand Spit -to the west, play their desperate game for a hazard of human lives. -Straining their eyes, they could discern, in the whiteness of the -whipped seas, a dull, undefined lump, which ever and anon flashed, like -a magician's trick, into the clean, pencilled outlines of a schooner, -lying on her beam ends, and swept by every giant comber that rolled in -from the wide Atlantic. She lay broadside to the surges, harpooned and -held by the deadly pinnacled reef of Graveyard Point. - - - - -CHAPTER THREE--THE SEA-WAIF - -OF the scores of little capes that jut out from Montauk, there is none -but is ghostly with the skeleton of some brave ship. Three such relics -were bleaching their still vertebrate bones on the rocks where the -schooner lay trapped. It was only too evident that a like fate was -ordained to her, and that the promptest action of the life-savers alone -could avail the ten huddled wretches in her rigging. - -What man could do, the crews of the two stations were doing; and now, -in a sudden lull of wind, they sent a life-line over her. One of the men -came over to the Third House group, and spoke to Helga Johnston, bending -so close that she shrank back a little. - -"Can't last--hour," came to Colton's ears in sentences disjointed by the -wind. "Old wooden--pound pieces. Get most of 'em--life-buoy--all right." - -At a word from Miss Johnston, Haynes shouted in Colton's ear: "Come down -to the beach. When she smashes, some of 'em may come in there." - -"Not alive surely?" cried Colton, glancing at the surf. - -"Yes," the girl's clear voice answered, with an accent of absolute -certainty. "We must watch." Down a sharp declivity they made their way -to the gully, which debouched upon a sand beach. Johnston, the veteran, -who had preceded them, was gathering driftwood for a fire, with a -practical appreciation of the possibilities. - -"Bear a hand, Helga!" he shouted. "And you, Mr. Haynes!" - -Almost before he knew it, Colton too was hard at work dragging timber -to the centre marked by the lanterns. A clutch on his arm called his -attention to what was going on above him, as Johnston pointed seaward. -In the glint of the lightning, he saw clear against the windy void -a huddled mass, at which the waves leaped and clutched, as it moved -steadily shoreward. Another glimpse showed it risen above the reach of -the breakers. It was a breeches-buoy, bearing its first burden. - -"Line's working all right!" yelled the old coastguard. "They ought to -get 'em all in." - -Presently another traveller came in foot by foot over that slender and -hopeful thread, then a third and a fourth, until seven of the crew were -huddled on the cliff. Out went the breeches-buoy again, for there were -three lives yet to be saved, when in a broad electric glare a monster -surge could be seen sweeping the schooner up. There was a crash of -timbers, a wild cry, and the line fell slack from the cliff-head. Old -Johnston dropped to his knees on the sand and bared his head, but only -for a moment; for he was up again and had set the pile of fuel burning -with a cleverly placed twist of paper. - -Up leaped the flames. A brilliant glow wavered and spread. Colton, -stupid with horror, stood entranced, while Johnston, Helga and Haynes -ran, as if to established stations, along the surfs edge, the old man -nearest the wreck, then Haynes, and finally the girl. Of a sudden, -Colton came to himself with a dismal and unaccustomed sensation of -being out of it. No one had asked him to help. He was just a guest, a -negligible quantity when men's and women's work was to be done. - -"What a useless thing the average summer boarder must be!" he thought, -as he passed beyond the girl and bent his attention on the boiling -cauldron of the ocean. - -He had not long to wait. On the foaming crest of a breaker something -dark appeared, and vanished in the smother of the surge as it whizzed up -the sand. Another instant, and it was rolling within a rod of the young -fellow, showing the set, still face of a man. Colton hardly had to wade -ankle-deep to seize the form; but the back drag tore at his feet with a -power that amazed and appalled him. To haul the man ashore took all his -unusual strength. As he threw the form over his shoulder and ran toward -the fire, he became aware of a man and a woman approaching from the -cliff side. Laying down his burden, he knelt beside it. One look was -enough. The man's skull had been crushed like an egg-shell. Mechanically -he felt for the pulse, when Professor Ravenden's precise tones, rendered -a little less pedantic by the effort required to overcome the gale, -reached his ear: - -"Perhaps I can be of some service. I am not entirely unskilled in -medical subjects." - -Colton shook his head. "He's beyond all skill," he answered. - -"Oh!" cried a voice from the darkness behind the professor, rising to a -shriek. "Look! Helga! Help her!" - -At the same moment, Helga's own ringing voice sounded in a call for aid, -abruptly cut short. Colton jumped to his feet and turned. He saw, with -a sickening recollection of the waves' power, which he had just -experienced, the girl up to her knees in water, her strong young frame -braced back and her arms clasping a body. A fringed comber, breaking -heavily, was driving a vortex of white water in upon her. It boiled up -beyond her, and the two figures were gone. As Colton, with a shout of -horror, leaped forward, like a sprinter from the mark, he saw Haynes, -running with terrific speed, launch himself head foremost into the swirl -of waters, at a rolling mass there. - -"Lord! What a tackle!" thought Colton as he ran. "Yet they say that a -foot-ball education is of no practical use." - -His own was to come swiftly into play. For though Haynes had caught -Helga about the knees, he had no purchase for resistance, and the deadly -undertow was dragging them out. - -Colton had the athlete's virtue of thinking swiftly in the stress of -action. His was the cool courage that appreciates peril and reasons out -the most advantageous encounter. The human flotsam was far beyond his -grasp now; but he figured that an approaching surge, sweeping them in -shoreward again, would give him his chance,--the only chance,--for the -recession in all probability would carry them beyond help. He must meet -them feet forward, as a trained player meets and falls upon a foot-ball -rolling toward him; thus he might get his heels into the sand, and so -anchor them all against the back-drift. If he could not--well, there -were no _materia medica_ bottles out there beyond the surf anyhow, and -an ocean lullaby would be the sure cure for all sleeplessness. - -Fortunately the coming wave was a broad-backed one, on which the tangled -figures rode in plain view, and Colton saw, with that thrill of pride in -his fellow-being which courage wakes in the courageous, that the girl's -arms still clasped her trove, clinging below the life-preserver which -was fastened around the man's body. Calculating the drift down the -beach, Colton moved forward. In they came--nearer--nearer--and to his -amazement Colton heard a strangled shout from the waves: - -"Get Helga! Never mind me. Get Helga in!" - -"I'll get you too, or break something," muttered the young man, as with -a rush and a leap he plunged feet forward to meet the onset. - -It was Haynes that he caught, just above the knees. His heels sunk -in the sand. The surge spread, stood, receded. "Here's tug-of-war in -earnest," thought Colton, as he set the muscles which had helped to win -many a victory for his college. The next instant it seemed as if those -muscles must rend apart; as if all the might of the unbounded ocean was -straining to drag away his prize of lives. He set his face grimly toward -the savage waves. His chest was bursting. One heartbeat more he would -hold out. Human endeavour could go no further. That heart-throb sledged -against his ribs, passed and found the bulldog grip unrelaxed. One more, -then! surely the last; after that--abruptly the strain slacked. - -A sob of compressed breath burst from Colton. Oh, how good was the full, -deep inhalation that followed! How it filled the muscles and inspired -the will to the final effort! With a mighty heave he rolled the three -clear over his own body up the beach. Then he lay still, for he was -tired and sleepy and didn't care what became of him. He had made a -touch-down--anyway. Why didn't--somebody--pull--them off--him? - -"I've got 'em!" twittered a voice in his ear, a dim and ridiculous -voice, that nevertheless was like old Johnston's. "You saved the lot, -God bless you!" - -"Let me get my arm under his shoulder," said the calm and precise -accents of Professor Ravenden, also in that strange faraway tone. - -Oh, thought Dick in sudden but dim enlightenment, they were telephoning. -Of course. That's the way voices sounded over a 'phone when the wire was -working badly. But why should they be telephoning? And how, at the other -end of a wire, could they be hauling him, Dick Colton, to his feet? - -When consciousness came in on the full flood, Colton found himself -staggering toward the fire, with someone's support. From out the -flickering circle of light an angel came to meet him. She seemed a thing -born of the wedding of radiance and shadows. The whiteness of her face, -rich-hued where the blood flushed the cheek, was enhanced by the dusky -masses of her hair. Her lips were parted, and her rounded chest rose and -fell palpably with her swift breathing. Her eyes, deep, velvety with -the soft glamour of questing womanhood in their liquid depths, looked -straight into his. It was his Vision of the hallway. - -"Ah, it was splendid!" she said, and there was a thrill in the soft -drawl of the voice that went straight to his heart. - -She moved forward toward him into the fuller glow of the fire, and -Colton, his hungry eyes fixed on hers, thought of the moon emerging from -behind a filmy cloud. - -"How did you dare?" she pursued. "You saved them all! I--I--want you to -take this." - -Mechanically he stretched forth his hand to meet hers, and she pressed -into it something light and soft. - -"It was nothing," he said dazedly, wondering. "Thank you. I--my head -feels queer--but I--think--I--could--go to sleep--now." - -He lay gently down on the soft sand, which seemed to rise to meet him. -Half swooning and wholly engulfed in sleep, he stretched his great bulk -and lay gratefully down, and the _materia medica_ bottles trooped out -into the troubled night and were lost in its depths. - -Dolly Eavenden stood and looked down, musing upon the strong-limbed -figure, and at the hand whose fingers, alone of all the frame, were -unrelaxed. - -"I wonder if I've made a mistake," she said with misgivings which were -strange to her positive and rather self-willed character. "Pshaw! No; it -is all right." - - - - -CHAPTER FOUR--THE DEATH IN THE BUOY - -HALF an hour's sleep is short rations for a man who has experienced -little untroubled unconsciousness for five weeks. Colton struggled -angrily against the flask. - -"I don't want it, I tell you! Go to the devil and take it with you." He -struck out blindly, angrily. A cool, firm hand, closed around his wrist. - -"You must get up," said Helga Johnston's voice firmly. "Swallow some of -this brandy." - -"I'm sorry," said Colton penitently. "Did I curse you out? Please let me -sleep." - -The girl was quick-witted. "We want your help," she said. - -Colton sat up. She had struck the right note. Docilely he took the -brandy, and got to his feet. - -Haynes came up and steadied him. "Miss Johnston and I have our lives -to thank you for," he said briefly. "You'd better get home. Some of the -life-savers will help you." - -"No, I'm all right," declared Colton. "Where's the man Miss Johnston -saved? Let's have a peep at him. I'm a physician." - -"Are you?" said Haynes eagerly. "Then I want you to look at one of the -men on the cliff, as soon as you've finished with Helga's waif." - -Colton looked around him, memory now aroused. "Professor Ravenden!" he -said. "I want to thank him for getting me out." - -"He and Miss Ravenden have gone to the station," said Helga, "to help -care for the rescued men. The captain and the mate have been washed in, -dead." - -"Oh," said Colton blankly. His mind was still blurred. He looked at his -tight-clutched left hand and wondered if there was something inside. -Cautiously he opened it, looked, started, choked down an exclamation, -and thrust the hand into the pocket of his dripping trousers. Then he -walked over to the man whom Miss Johnston had saved. - -Someone had stripped the life-preserver from the castaway's body, and -as he lay sprawled upon the ground Colton noted the breadth and depth -of the chest, remarkable in so small a man. He was swart, so swart as -obviously to be of Southern European extraction. In spite of the sea's -terrific battering, he apparently had escaped any serious injury, and -already had regained consciousness; but, to Colton's surprise, kept -his head buried in his arms. From time to time a convulsive shudder ran -through him. - -"Seems to be kind of crazy-like," volunteered old Johnston, who stood -beside him. "Begged me, with his hands clasped, to help him out of the -light of the fire, first thing." - -"How do you feel, my friend?" asked the young doctor, bending over the -survivor. - -The man lifted a dark and haggard face. "To a house! Take me to a house! -I weesh to go inside!" His voice was a mere wheeze of terror. - -"We'll get you to a house presently," Colton assured him, presenting the -brandy flask to his lips, "Can you make out to climb that cliff?" - -"Up there? So plain to be see? No, no!" cried the man vehemently, roving -the dark heavens with his eyes. - -Colton looked at him in perplexity. The man got painfully to his feet, -and cupped a hand to his windward ear. - -"I t'ink I hear eet again," he whispered, and shook like a rag in the -wind. - -"What are you talking about?" asked Colton. - -"Somesing up zere," said the stranger, thrusting both hands in an -uncouth and fearful gesture upward and outward. - -"Oh, you're not quite yourself yet," said Colton. - -"I tell you I hear eet!" broke out the man with extraordinary vehemence. -"I feel eet! What? I do not know. But when eet come back"--he made a -motion as of a winged creature swooping--"I fear an' I jump into ze -waves." A harsh tremour went through his frame and left him panting. - -"You jumped?" said Johnston. "When she broke up?" - -"No. Before. Before she break." - -"He's crazy," said the old life-saver. "What'd you jump for?" - -"Eet come after me," shuddered the man. Again he made that extraordinary -gesture. "Take me to a house--out of ze night." - -"Someone must go with him to the station," said Colton. - -"Let me," Helga Johnston volunteered. - -The stranger faced the girl, and advanced a swift step. It was a meeting -of satyr and goddess. Suddenly the satyr cast himself at the goddess' -feet and kissed them. Startled, she drew back. - -"Eet is you that safe me!" he cried, lifting wild and adoring eyes to -her. "I see you just before all go black. You walk out on ze wave to -reach me." - -"Come along, you!" cried old Johnston, lifting him to his feet. "No such -heathen goin's-on for my Helga. Not that I think you know what you're -doin'," he added. - -"You mustn't go with him alone, Princess," said Haynes quickly. "He -seems to be insane." - -"Father will go with me," she replied; "though I'm safe enough. It isn't -there the danger lies." - -"Helga," said Haynes seriously, "I wish you wouldn't let yourself be so -influenced by your dreams." - -"I'll try not to, Petit Pere," said the girl gently. "But, look how it -has all come about. Yet I can't see how a strange creature like that -could possibly influence all our lives." - -"You don't half believe it yourself," said Haynes positively. - -"Sometimes I don't," she agreed. "But we who are born of the sea, dream -the sea's dreams, you know, Petit Pere." - -"Well, get into dry clothes as soon as you get to the station, Princess. -Oh, and get me that fellow's name and address, will you?" - -"Yes," said the girl, as, with her father, she led her strange charge -away toward the Sand Spit station. - -"Now," said Haynes to Colton, "will you come up on the cliff and look at -my man?" - -Together they clambered to the top. In the light of the dying fire they -saw the man stretched out near the brink of the cliff. - -Another of the wrecked sailors and two life-savers stood over him. One -of the life-savers Colton recognised as the guard who had come over to -speak to Helga Johnston, a hulking, handsome fellow named Serdholm, -from the Sand Spit station. The other was a quiet-looking young fellow -of the Blue Hill corps, Bruce by name. As Haynes and Colton approached, -Bruce drew away a coat which was spread over the prostrate figure, and -lifted his lantern. - -"He is dead," said Colton at once. - -"Yes," replied Haynes; "but see how he came by his death." - -Rolling the body over, he exposed a deep, broad, clean-driven wound -through the back. "What do you make of that?" he asked. - -Colton examined it carefully. "I don't make anything of it," he said -frankly, "except that the poor fellow never knew what struck him." - -"What did strike him?" - -"A very large blade, sent home with tremendous force, apparently." - -"By some other person?" - -"Certainly not by himself; and it doesn't seem like accident. Was he -washed ashore this way?" - -"Supposing I told you that the man left the ship, alive and sound in the -breeches-buoy, and got here in this condition." - -"Does the buoy carry more than one at a time?" - -"No." - -"Then it isn't possible." - -"Well, there's plenty of evidence as to his arrival. Now let's see about -his departure. Were you aboard when this man left the schooner?" Haynes -asked, turning to one of the two sailors at hand. - -"Yes, sir. Me an' Darky John came after him. We helped fasten him in." - -"Who else was there?" - -"The Old Man, an' Buckley the mate, an' that queer Dago feller." - -"There wasn't any fight or trouble about who should come first?" - -"No, sir. The Old Man gave his orders. Petersen, here, he leaves fifth, -I think. 'Good-bye, boys. See you later,' he says, an' off he goes. Next -I see of him, he lies here dead. What killed him or how, I don't know, -no more than a blind fish." - -"Straight enough story," commented Haynes, "particularly as Hawkins, the -coloured man, gives the same version. We'll try the foreigner later. I -want to get to the bottom of this. If murder has been done in mid-air, -between the reef where the schooner lay and this cliff, it's about the -strangest case in my experience." - -"How are you so sure it's murder?" demanded Serdholm the life-guard. -"Anyone can make out murder if they're looking for sensation hard -enough." There was an undisguised hostility in his tone as he addressed -Haynes which surprised Colton. - -"Why do you think it wasn't?" asked Colton quickly. - -"Did I say I thought it wasn't?" retorted the guard. "Maybe it was; but -I've seen a sharpened stake shoved clean through a man in a surf." - -"You needn't be so fresh about it, Serdholm," put in the other guard. -"It's true, though, what he says, Mr. Haynes," he added. "And there was -plenty of driftwood afloat." - -Colton bent over the dead man again. "It's almost too clean an incision -for anything except steel," he said. "Besides, wood leaves splinters." - -"You saw the man come in?" Haynes asked Bruce. - -"Helped to lift him out. Look!" He held out his hands, showing great -stains of blood. - -"You didn't see anything that would give a clue?" - -"No, I didn't see anything," returned Bruce after a moment's -consideration; "but some of the men thought they heard a scream, when he -was about halfway in. It was just after a lightning flash. They thought -a bolt might have gone through him." - -"Lightning doesn't wound that way," said Colton. - -"No, I didn't think so. But I thought I'd better tell you. Only in the -noises of a gale you can hear all sorts of voices." - -"They didn't say anything about a kind of rasping, creaking sound?" -asked Haynes after a moment's hesitation. - -"No, sir," said the man, surprised. "Nothing like that." - -Haynes turned away impatiently. "Come down to the Blue Hill station," -he said to Colton. "We'll see if Miss Johnston's patient can throw any -light on this." - -During the walk Haynes was so deeply in thought and replied to Colton's -questions so curtly that the latter fell into silence. At the door of -the station they were met by Helga. - -"How's your salvage, Princess?" queried Haynes. "Able to stand a -cross-examination?" - -"More than able--willing," replied the girl with a smile. "He's been -telling us all about himself. Nothing queerer than he ever came ashore -on Montauk. I'm afraid the sea-water has got into his brain a little." - -"Tell us what he said." - -"In the first place, he is some sort of a travelling juggler and -magician. As soon as he is recovered he will give us a private -exhibition in honour of his rescue. He calls himself 'The Wonderful -Whalley,' though his real name is something like Cardonaro. An injury to -his hand stranded him in Maine, and he took passage on the _Milly Esham_ -because it was a cheap way to New York. Age, forty-two; nationality, -Portuguese; occupation, the theatrical profession. Anything else, Petit -Pere?" - -"Good work! Did he say anything of a man's being killed on board!" - -The girl's face became grave at once. "No," she said. "How was he -killed? Who was it?" - -"A sailor named Petersen. He was stabbed, and came ashore dead." - -"The man has two enormous knives in sheaths fastened to his belt," she -said, turning white. "He uses them in his performances." - -Haynes and Colton looked at each other. - -"If he did it, he wasn't responsible," Helga went on impetuously. "He's -such a pitiful creature--just like a dog, with his great eyes. I feel as -if we had saved a baby. And he is terrified like a baby." - -"At some phantom of the darkness?" - -The girl nodded. "Something that he hasn't even seen. He thinks it came -down from the upper air after him as the ship was going to pieces. While -the others were being taken off in the breeches-buoy he was crawling -down the main ratlines to escape from this thing. Finally his fears -drove him overboard." - -"Just as well for him," said Colton. "If he had stayed he would have -been killed in the wreckage with the mate and captain." - -"Dr. Colton thinks the man is insane," said Haynes. "What is your view, -Princess?" - -"I think so too. But I think some strange thing has terrified him. -Perhaps one of the sails tore loose and blew on him. Or it may have been -the lightning." - -"That might be it, and in his panic he may have struck out and -killed Petersen by accident. But in that case, why should the other -sailors,'who must have seen it, shield him? I guess the best thing is to -put it to him straight," concluded Haynes. - -Followed by Colton, he went into the room where the suspect lay. - -"See here!" began Haynes abruptly. "We want to know why you killed -Petersen the sailor." - -The stranger's dark eyes widened. He stared at his questioner with -dropped jaw. - -"Yes; why you killed him--with this." Haynes touched the hilt of one of -the knives that protruded from the man's belt. - -"No, no!" protested the man. "I not got nothing against Petersen. I not -know Petersen." - -"You were on board when he left?" - -"Yes; I see zem go--one--two--three--so many--seven. Not me; I haf to -stay. No one care to safe ze wonderful Whalley." - -"Did you see anyone fight with Petersen or strike him?" asked Colton. - -"No; see nothing." - -After fifteen minutes of fruitless cross-questioning the investigators -called in the negro, Hawkins. - -"Him kill Petersen?" repeated Hawkins. "No--sir--ee, boss! He wasn't -nowheyah nigh when Petersen went off, safe an' wavin' his hand goodbye." - -"Someone killed him," said Haynes. "This man, yourself, Corliss and the -captain and mate were the only ones aboard." - -"That's right, boss. Corliss and the Old Man and I stood right by and -saw him off. No, sir, if he wa'n't killed by the lightnin' or on the -cliff, somethin' got him on the way in." - -"You think he may have met his death after he landed, then?" - -"No, sir; that cain't hardly be," replied the negro after a moment's -consideration. "Some of our crew was in a'ready. The life-savers was -there. Couldn't anyone a-give it to him without the othahs seein' it." - -"So, you see, he must have been dead when he left the ship. Now, -Hawkins, you'll save yourself trouble by telling me what you know of -this." - -"'Fo' Heaven, boss, I do' know a livin' thing!" And nothing more could -Haynes get from the negro. After dismissing him, Haynes said to Colton: - -"You go around, and under pretence of looking after their injuries, -question all the sailors as to whether there was bad blood between the -dead man and any of his shipmates. I've got some work to do." - -At another time the young doctor might have resented the assumption of -authority, but now he was too deeply interested in the case. Half an -hour later he returned empty of results. - -"Not a bit of trouble that I can get wind of. What's that you're -writing, a report for the coroner?" - -"No; this will never get to the coroner. I'm certain it's a murder; but -I'm equally certain that there's no case against any individual. I'm -writing up the wreck for my paper." - -"Are you down here working?" asked Colton. - -"No, I'm on vacation; but a reporter is always on duty for an emergency -like this." - -"You're Harris Haynes of _The New Era_, aren't you?" asked Colton. -"You're the man that proved the celebrated Bellows suicide and saved Dr. -Senderton." - -"He saved himself by telling a straight story, even though it seemed -damaging, where most men would have tried to lie," said Haynes. "Anyone -except a Central Office detective would have had the sense to know that -the letter was written to bear out a grudge. They never should have -arrested him." - -"I was one of the men called in on the case. You've shaved your beard, -or I should have remembered you." - -"Well, we shan't have any such satisfactory result in this case," said -the reporter. "Hello! What's Bruce doing down here?" - -The life-guard from the Bow Hill station came hurrying to him. "They've -just got in the life-line, Mr. Haynes," he said, "and I examined it as -you told me. It's blood-soaked in the middle, and there are blood-stains -all along the shoreward half. There's nothing on the end toward the -ship." - -"Great Scott!" cried Colton, as the meaning of this poured light into -his mind. "Then the poor fellow was killed between the ship and the -shore!" - -"It looks that way," said Haynes, scowling thoughtfully. "No, by -Jove, it can't be! I've missed a trick somewhere. There's some other -explanation." - -"Mightn't the blood-stains have got washed out?" suggested the guard. - -"Why should half of the rope be clean and not the other half, then?" -countered Haynes. "You didn't make a mistake as to which was the shore -end of the buoy rope?" he cried in sudden hopefulness. - -"Bit o' spar came in with the clean end," returned Bruce briefly, and -that hope was gone. - -"It's at least curious," observed Colton thoughtfully, "that the -juggler's shrinking from some aerial terror should so correspond with a -murder in mid-air." - -"You're becoming pretty imaginative," retorted the other disagreeably. -"This crazy Whalley stabbed Petersen aboard the ship. What his motive -was, or how he got away with it, or why the others don't give him away, -is beyond me. But he did the job, and this bogy-man scare of his is the -weak cunning of a disordered mind to divert suspicion. Circumstantial -evidence to the contrary, that's what's what!" Then, with his quick -change of tone: "Princess! Oh, Princess!" - -"What is it, Petit Pere?" said the girl. - -"Will you come along home with us?" - -"Right away. We don't always welcome our guests with so much excitement, -Dr. Colton," she added, as she slipped her arm through Haynes'. After a -moment's pause she asked him: - -"Do you think Paul Serdholm knows anything of the--the murder?" - -"Why?" - -"Because he thinks you believe he does. And he's ugly about it. Do watch -him, Petit Pere. He doesn't like you, you know." - -"Ah," said Haynes as the three set out across the billowy grass-land. -"Perhaps he'll bear a little watching." - -They walked in silence, home. Once Helga stopped short on a hill-top -and turned her face toward the sea, listening intently, but almost -immediately shook her head. - -Dick Colton got to bed just before dawn, with a mind divided in -speculation between the mystery of the dead man and the more personal -mystery of a small, wadded treasure in his pocket. - - - - -CHAPTER FIVE--THE CRY IN THE DUSK - -MONTAUK POINT rises and falls like a procession of mighty swells fixed -in eternal quietude and grown over with the most luxurious of grasses -and field-blooms. One walks from hill to hill, passing between the -down-curving slopes to hollows wherein flourish all-but-impenetrable -thickets of the stunted scrub-oak, and abruptly walks forth upon a -noble cliff-line overlooking the limitless ocean to the far-off southern -horizon. Steep and narrow gullies at intervals give rock-studded access -to the beach. Outside of the miniature forests in the hollows there is -no tree-growth on the whole forty square miles of land, excepting the -deep-shaded tangle of the Hither Wood on the far northwest, into which -none makes his way except an occasional sportsman on a coon hunt. - -Except for the lighthouse family at the eastern tip, the three -life-saving stations with their attendant houses, and a little huddle -of fisher-huts on a reach of the Sound, there were no habitants in -the mid-September of 1902, the few summer cottagers having fled the -sharpened air. All day long the pasturing sheep of the interior might -rove without the alarm of a single human. Short of the prairies, a -lonelier stretch of land would be difficult of discovery. - -To Dick Colton, rising late with a thankful heart after a sleep unvexed -of labelled bottles, this loneliness was a balm, provided only it proved -to be loneliness for two. For, with an eagerness strange and disquieting -to his straightforward and rather unsentimental soul, he longed to look -again upon the girl whose eyes had met his when he staggered back from -the clutching hands of death. And with that longing was mingled an -amused curiosity to clear up the puzzle of the impetuous souvenir she -had left him. Within himself he resolved to solve this problem at the -first opportunity; but just at this moment the opportunity was receding. - -Far and clear against the sky-line, he could see from his window two -mounted figures. Miss Ravenden and her father were riding to Amagansett, -to be gone, as he learned later with disgust, all day. Helga Johnston -had gone up to the lighthouse to stay until the following morning, and -Haynes was working on his investigation of Petersen's death. - -Nothing was left for the lone guest except to amuse himself as best he -might. - -The morning he spent in wandering meditation. Leisure for thought is a -quick developer of certain processes. The Ravendens were to be at Third -House for the month, he understood. One might get very well acquainted -in a month, under favourable circumstances. At present the immediate -circumstances were far from favourable. But Dick slapped the pocketbook -to which he had transferred his keepsake from Miss Ravenden. - -"That'll break _some_ ice, I guess," he observed. - -At dinner he contemplated a vacant place with an expression of such -unhappiness that old Johnston took pity on him. - -"The white perch'll likely be risin' in the lake yonder this evening," -he said. - -Here was antidote for any bane. Dick took his rod and went. The fish -nobly fulfilled Johnston's word of them, and Dick had just landed a -handsome one, when glancing up he saw a net moving along the line of a -small ridge. - -"The bug-hunter," he surmised. - -"Oh, Professor Ravenden!" he called; and was instantly stricken with the -dilemma: "What the dickens shall I say to him?" - -The net paused, half-revolved and ascended, and Dick gasped as not -Professor Ravenden, but his daughter, mounted the ridge. - -"Did you want my father?" she asked. - -"Oh--er--ah, good-evening, Miss Ravenden," stammered Colton. "I--I--I've -been wanting to see you." - -"There is some mistake," said she coldly. "I don't know who you are." - -"My name is Colton," he said. "I'm staying at Third House, and----" - -"Does the mere fact of your staying at the same hotel give you the -privilege of forcing your acquaintance upon people?" she asked sharply. - -Then--for Dick Colton was good for the eye of woman to look upon, -and not at all the sort of man in appearance to force a vulgar -flirtation--she added: - -"I don't want to be unpleasant about it, but really, don't you think you -take things a little too much for granted?" - -"But you spoke to me first," blurted out Dick. "I'm awfully sorry to -have you think me rude, but I want to know what this is." - -Curiosity drew Dorothy Ravenden as powerfully as it commonly draws less -imperious natures. - -Somewhat peculiar this man might be, but it seemed a harmless -aberration, and it certainly took an interesting guise. She bent forward -to look at the object extended to her. - -"Why, it's a twenty-dollar bill!" - -"Then my eye-sight is still good," he observed contentedly. "Question -number two: Why did you give it to me?" - -"To you?" To Dick Colton, as she stood there poised, the gracious colour -flushing up into her cheeks, her lips half-opened, she was the loveliest -thing he ever had seen. The hand that held the bill shook. "To you?" she -repeated. "I didn't." - -"It was just like an operatic setting," he expounded slowly. "Background -of cliffs, firelight in the middle, ocean surf in front. Out of the -magic circle of fire steps the Fairy Queen and hands to the poor but -deserving toiler what in common parlance is known as a double saw-buck. -Please, your Majesty, why? And do you want a receipt?" - -"Oh!" she said in charming dismay. And again "Oh!" Then it came out: "I -took you for one of the life-savers." - -"The life-savers?" repeated Dick. - -"Yes. Is that strange? You were so big and shaggy and----" she stopped -short of the word "splendid" which was on her lips. "How could I tell? -You looked as much like a seal as a man." The ripple of her laughter, -full of joyousness, yet with a little catch of some underlying feeling -in it, was a patent of fellowship, which would have astonished most of -Miss Ravenden's hundreds of admirers, among whom she was regarded as a -rather haughty beauty. "I don't know many men who would have done it--or -could have done it," she added simply, and gave him her eyes, full. - -Dick turned red. "Anyone would have," he said. "It was the only thing to -do." - -She nodded slowly as if an impression had been confirmed to her -satisfaction. - -"As for this," he continued, looking from her to the greenback, and -striving to speak calmly, when his heart was a-thrill with the desire to -tell her how altogether lovely and lovable she was, "if it's intended as -a reward of merit, I'll turn it over to Miss Johnston." - -"Wasn't she magnificent?" cried the girl. "I'll slay Helga!" she added -with a sudden change of tone. "She's a beast of the field. She knew -about the--the bill and she never told me." - -"That'll cost her just twenty dollars," declared Colton judicially, -"because now I won't turn it over to her." - -"Give it back to me, please," said the girl, holding out a tanned and -slender hand. - -"Give it back?" cried Colton in assumed chagrin. "Why, I already had -spent that twenty in imagination." - -"On what?" asked the girl rather impatiently. - -"It's a long list," replied Colton cunningly. "You'd better sit down -while I tell it over." He threw his coat over a rock, and she perched -herself on it daintily. - -"First, a hundred packages of plug tobacco. All coast-guards use plug, -I believe. Then five dollars' worth of prints of prominent actors and -actresses in gaudy colours. The rest in Mexican lottery tickets," he -concluded lamely, his invention giving out. - -"It wasn't worth sitting down for," she said disparagingly. "If you had -intended to get something really useful, I might have let you keep it. -Please!" The little hand went forth again. - -Hastily he produced a ten-dollar bill and two fives. "You don't mind -having it in change?" he said anxiously. "You see, this is the first -money I ever earned outside of my profession, and I mean to frame it." - -"If twenty dollars means so little to you that you can have it hanging -around framed----" - -"This particular twenty means a great deal to me," he interrupted. - -She rose. "I was going down to try a cast or two," she said. - -"With a net?" asked Dick. "I should like to see that." - -"There's a fishing rod in the handle of the net," she explained, -ignoring the hint. "I keep the net rigged because I help my father -collect. Entomology is his specialty, and there are a few rare moths -here that he hopes to get." - -"Am I sufficiently introduced now to ask if I may walk along with you?" - -"I'm sorry I was so--so snippy," she said sweetly. "To make up for it, -you may." - -"Are you here particularly for collecting moths?" he asked, stepping to -her side. - -"Yes, one or two kinds that my father and I are studying. I play -butterfly in the winter and hunt them in the summer. Everyone here has -a purpose. Father and I are adding to the sum of human knowledge on -_Lepidoptera_. Mr. Haynes is spending his vacation with Helga. Helga -is resting, before taking up her musical studies. You ought to have a -purpose. What has brought you here?" - -Now, Dick Colton, like many big men, was awkward, and like most awkward -men, was shy about women. Therefore, it was with a sort of stunned -amazement and admiration for his own audacity that he found himself -looking straight into Dorothy Ravenden's unfathomable eyes as he replied -briefly: - -"Fate." - -"Well, upon my soul!" gasped that much-habituated young woman of -the world, surprised for a brief instant out of her poise. Quickly -recovering, she added: "A fortunate fate for Helga, surely. Except for -you, she and Mr. Haynes must have been drowned." - -"You knew her before, didn't you?" - -"Yes; we visit at the same house in Philadelphia, and father and I have -been coming down here for several years. I know her well. If I were a -man, I should go the world over for Helga Johnston." - -"She and Haynes are engaged, are they not?" - -"No, not engaged," said the girl. "She is everything in the world to Mr. -Haynes; but she isn't in love with him. He has never tried to make her. -There is some reason; I don't know what. Sometimes I think he doesn't -care for her in that way either. Or perhaps he doesn't realise it." - -"Surely she seems fond of him." - -"She is devoted to him. Why shouldn't she be? He has done everything for -her." - -"How happens that?" - -"It's the kind of story that makes you love your kind," said the girl -dreamily. "When Mr. Haynes first came here he was a young reporter with -a small income, and Helga was a child of twelve with an eager mind and -the promise of a lovely voice. He gave her books and got the Johnstons -to send her to a good school. Then as she grew up and he came to -be 'star man' (I think they call it) on his paper, he went to the -Johnstons, who had come to know him well, and asked them to let him send -Helga to preparatory school and then to college. It was agreed that she -was not to know of the money that he put in their hands, and she never -would have known except for something that happened in her freshman -year. She held her tongue to save a classmate. They were going to expel -her, when Mr. Haynes got wind of it, took the first train, ferreted out -the truth, and went to the president. - -"'Here are the facts,' he said. 'I'll leave them for you to act on, or -I'll take them with me for publication, as you decide.' - -"The case was hushed up; but in the adjustment Helga found out about -Mr. Haynes' part in her education. Now he is arranging for her musical -education. He has no family, nor anyone dependent on him; all his -interests in life are centred in her. And the best of it is that she is -worthy of it." - -"It must be a great deal to such a man to inspire such absolute trust in -a woman as he has in her," said Colton after a pause. "'I knew he -would come after me,' she said when I asked her how she dared take so -desperate a chance." - -Miss Ravenden nodded at him appreciatively. "Yes; you see it too," she -said. "You did something worth while when you saved those two. But what -about your Portuguese? Do you really think he had anything to do with -killing that poor sailor? Helga told me about it. What an extraordinary -case it is!" - -"What puzzles Haynes with his trained mind is surely too much for me," -said Colton. "It seems that the man--great Heaven! What was that?" From -the direction of the beach came a long-drawn, dreadful scream of agony, -unhuman, yet with something of an appeal in it, too. The pair turned -blanched faces toward each other. - -"I must go over there at once," said Colton. "Someone is in trouble. -Miss Ravenden, can you make your way to the house alone?" - -The girl's small, rounded chin went up and outward. "I shall go with -you," she said. - -"You must not. There's no telling what may have happened. Please!" - -With a swift, deft movement she parted the heavy handle of her -net-stock, disclosing an ingeniously set revolver, which she pressed -into his hand. - -"I'm going with you," she repeated, with the most alluring obstinacy. - -"Come, then," said Colton, and her pulses stirred to the tone. He caught -her by the hand, and they ran, reaching the cliff-top breathless. - -Barely discernible, on the sand, a quarter of a mile east of Graveyard -Point where the wreck had struck, was a dark body. They hurried down -into the ravine and out of it, Colton in advance. Suddenly he burst into -a laugh of nervous relief. - -"It's a dead sheep," he said. "I thought it was a man." - -He bent over it and his jaw dropped. "Look at that!" he cried. - -Across the back of the animal's neck, half-sever-ing it from the head, -was a great gash, still bleeding slightly. They peered out into the -dusk. As far as the eye could see, nothing moved along the sand. - - - - -CHAPTER SIX--HELGA - -GALLOPING easily, an early riser may come from Montauk Light over -to Third House in time for breakfast. Helga was an early riser and a -skilled horsewoman. Flushed like the dawn, she came bursting into the -living-room upon Dick Colton who, his mind being absent on another -engagement, had forgotten to wind his watch when he went to bed the -evening previous, and consequently had risen, on suspicion, one hour -too early. - -"I haven't had a chance to speak to you since the wreck," she said, -giving him her firm young hand. "Are you any the worse for the rough -usage our ocean gave you? And how can I half thank you for your -courage?" - -"Don't try," said Dick uncomfortably. "And don't talk to me about -courage," he added. "I wish I could tell you how I choked all up with -three cheers when you went in after that fellow." - -"Oh," said the girl quietly, "we Montauk folk are bred to that sort of -thing. Besides, I only paid a debt." - -"A debt? To that Portuguese?" - -"No, indeed! I never set eyes on the poor man before. It's just one of -our local proverbs. Our fisher people here have a saying that those who -are rescued from the sea can never find their heart's happiness until -they have evened the tally by saving a life." - -"Then you've had your own shipwreck adventure?" asked Dick. - -"Twenty years ago I was washed to shore in just such a storm. Father -Johnston was nearly killed, getting me. The only name I could tell them -was Helga. They adopted me. Ah, they have been good to me, they and -Petit Pere." - -"Haynes? He's a full-size man!" declared Colton warmly. "'Save Helga!' -he called to me, when he saw me floundering in." - -"Yes, I knew he would come after me," said the girl simply; "but I -didn't know you would come after him. So there's the chain," she -added gaily. "I went in to clear off my debt and win my heart's -happiness--though I do hope it isn't the Portuguese man. Petit Pere went -in to get me. And you," she paused and looked him between the eyes, "I -think you came after us because you couldn't help it; because that -is the sort of man you are. Why," she cried with a ring of laughter, -"you're actually blushing!" - -"I'm not used to the praises of full-blown heroines," retorted Dick. "I -wondered what you meant when you said that the children of the sea dream -the sea's dreams?" - -"As for the dreams," began Helga. She did not conclude the sentence, but -said gravely, "Yes, I'm a true sea-waif." - -"I'd like to adopt you for a sister," said Dick, smiling, but with such -an honesty of admiration that it was the girl's turn to blush. - -"Haven't you any of your own?" she asked. - -"'I am all the sisters of my father's house,'" he misquoted cheerily. - -"And all the brothers too?" she capped the perversion. - -"No; I've a brother a year younger than I. There may be in this -universe," he continued reflectively, "people who don't like Everard. If -there are, they live in Mars. Everybody on this old earth--and he seems -to know pretty much all of 'em--takes to him like a duck to water. He's -a wonder, that youth!" - -"Everard?" said the girl. There was a quick and subtle change in her -tone. "Is Everard Colton your brother? I should never have guessed it. -You don't resemble each other in the least." - -"No; he's the ornament of the family. I'm the plodder. And we're the -greatest chums ever. Where did you know him?" - -"Oh, he used to ride over to Bryn Mawr while I was at college," she said -carelessly, "in an abominable yellow automobile and kill the gardener's -chickens on an average of one a trip. The girls called his machine 'The -Feathered Juggernaut.'" - -"Bryn Mawr?" exclaimed Dick. "What an idiot I am! You're the Helga -Johnston that----" He broke off short and regarded his feet with a -colour so vividly growing as to suggest that they had suddenly -occasioned him an agony of shame. - -"Yes, I'm the girl that so alarmed your family lest I should marry your -brother," she said calmly. "You need not have feared. I have not----" - -"Don't say 'you'!" interrupted Colton. "Please don't! I had no part in -that. I hadn't the faintest idea who the girl was, but when I saw how Ev -steadied down and settled to work I knew it was a good influence, and I -told the family so. Now that I've met you----" he broke off suddenly. -"Poor Ev!" he said in a low tone. - -Had his boots been less demanding of attention, Colton would have seen -the deep blue of her eyes dimmed to grey by a sudden rush of tears. - -"Let us agree to leave your brother out of future conversations, Dr. -Colton," she said decisively. "Good-morning, Petit Pere," she greeted -Haynes as he came into the room. - -"I salute you, Princess," said Haynes with a low bow. "You beat me in." - -"Have you been out trying to gather more evidence against my poor -juggler?" - -"If I have, it's been with no success." - -"I wish you failure," she returned as she left the room. - -"Here's something that may interest you," said Colton to Haynes, and -related the episode of the sheep. - -The reporter sat down. Colton thought he looked white and worn. Haynes -meditated, frowning. - -"You say the sheep lay on the hard sand?" he said at length. - -"Yes; halfway between the cliff-line and the ocean." - -"That ought to help a lot," said Haynes decisively. "What marks were -around it?" - -"Marks?" repeated Colton vacantly. - -"Yes; marks, footmarks," impatiently. - -"Why, the fact is, I don't know what I could have been thinking of, but -I didn't look." - -"The Lord forgive you!" - -"I'll go back now and find them." - -"An elephant's spoor wouldn't have survived half an hour of the rain we -had last night," Haynes said with evident exasperation. - -"Miss Ravenden might have noticed something," suggested Colton -hopefully. - -On the word Haynes was out in the hallway, up the stairs, and knocking -at the girl's door. - -"Oh, Miss Dolly!" he called. "I want your help." - -"What can I do for the great Dupin, Jr.?" asked the girl, coming out -into the hall. - -"Show that you've profited by his learned instructions. Did you see any -marks on the sand around the dead sheep?" - -"I'm an idiot!" said the girl contritely. "I never thought to look." - -"It's well that your eyes are ornamental; they're not always -useful," said Haynes in accents of raillery which did not conceal his -disappointment. - -"What have the great Dupin, Jr.'s eyes discovered to-day?" she asked. - -"Nothing, You and Colton have provided an unsatisfactory ending to an -unsatisfactory day. I've been talking with the survivors of the -wreck and couldn't get any light at all. They've all left except 'the -Wonderful Whalley.' He's pretty badly bruised, and anyway he won't go -before paying his respects to Helga." - -"I should think not, indeed!" said Miss Ravenden. "And to you." - -"It's a curious thing, but he doesn't seem to be inspired by that -devotion to me which my highly attractive character would seem to -warrant. In fact he looks at me as if he would like to stick me with -one of those particularly long, lean and unprepossessing knives which he -cherishes so fondly." - -"You don't really think," said Miss Ravenden in concern, "that there is -any----" - -"Figure of speech," interrupted Haynes. "But the man certainly isn't -normal. I'll have to trace his movements of yesterday evening. First, -however, I'll have a look at that sheep." - -"Surely the Portuguese had nothing to do with that? Why should he kill a -harmless animal?" - -"There is such a thing as murderous mania," said Haynes after some -hesitation. - -Here Professor Ravenden entered. "I had rather a strange experience -yesterday evening," he said. - -"Did you hear the sheep too?" asked Colton eagerly. - -"Not unless sheep fly, sir. What it was I heard I should be glad to have -explained. To liken it to a rasping hinge of great size would hardly -give a proper idea of its animate quality; yet I can find no -better simile. Were any of the local inhabitants given to nocturnal -aeronautics, however, I should unhesitatingly aver that they had passed -close over me not half an hour since, and that their machinery needed -oiling." - -"I have heard such a noise," said Haynes quietly. "Did it affect you -unpleasantly?" - -"No, sir. I cannot say it did. But it roused my interest. I shall make a -point of pursuing it further." - -"Miss Johnston is calling us to breakfast," said Colton. - -"I'm just going to take a quick jump to the beach and a glimpse at the -sheep," said Haynes, and a moment later they saw him passing on his -horse. - -From her place at the head of the breakfast-table Helga Johnston called -Dr. Colton to sit next to her, and while talking to him kept one eye on -the door. Presently in came Miss Ravenden. - -"Come up to this end, Dolly," called Helga. "I want to introduce to you -our new guest. Dr. Colton, Miss Ravenden." - -"Dr. Colton and I already have----" began Dorothy. - -"I was fortunate enough to find Miss Ravenden---" said the confused Dick -in the same breath. - -"Dr. Colton," continued Helga, cutting them both off, "is here making -a collection of government paper currency. I mention this because Miss -Ravenden has a well-known reputation for discerning contributions----" - -"Helga," said Miss Ravenden calmly, "I have a few withering remarks -waiting for you. Dr. Colton, you probably didn't know that you were -saving a practical joker when you----" - -"Earned that twenty-dollar bill," put in Helga. "But how did you two -adjust your financial relations?" - -To Dick's relief the outer door opened, admitting Haynes. They turned to -him instantly, with questioning faces. - -With the change of voice which he kept for Helga alone, he said: -"Princess, another of your courtiers is coming over this evening to -display his talents." - -"Who, Petit Pere?" - -"Your juggler, 'The Wonderful Whalley.'" - -"Did you find out anything about him, Monsieur Dupin?" asked Miss -Ravenden. - -"Nothing worth while. If he was out last night, no one knows it." - -"And the dead sheep?" - -But Haynes only shook his head and attacked his breakfast. - -After breakfast the party separated, Haynes riding over to see some -of the fishermen, Helga busying herself with household affairs, Miss -Ravenden joining her father in a butterfly expedition to the Hither -Wood, and Colton going off alone in ill-humour after a signal -discomfiture. - -He had endeavoured to convince Miss Ravenden that he cherished a -passionate fondness for entomology, hoping thereby to gain an invitation -to join the party. Unfortunately he undertook the role of a semi-expert, -and being by nature the most honest and open of men had fallen into the -pit she dug. Upon his profession of faith she at once, so he flattered -himself, accepted him as a fellow enthusiast, and began to describe to -him a procession of _Arachnidae_ across a swamp. - -"In the lead was one great, tiger-striped fellow," she said. "Are you -familiar with the beautiful, big _arachnid_ with the yellow-and-black -wings?" - -"Yes, indeed!" said Colton eagerly. "I used to see'em flitting around -the roses at our summer place." - -"Then," she said mischievously, "you ought to alter your habits. The -_arachnids_ are spiders. Anyone who sees winged spiders is safer fishing -than on a butterfly hunt. Good-bye, Dr. Colton." - - - - -CHAPTER SEVEN--THE WONDERFUL WHALLEY - -THUS cruelly disabused of his hopes, Dick Colton went fishing. But his -heart was not in the sport. Absentmindedly he made up a cast of flies -and spent an hour of fruitless whipping before it dawned upon him that -he had been using a scarlet ibis and a white miller in a blaze of direct -sunshine. Having changed to a carefully prepared leader of grey and -black hackles, he had better luck; but for the first time in his life -successful angling had lost its savour. Laying aside his rod, he climbed -a hillock to look over the landscape. It was a blank. Nowhere in the -range of vision could he discern a butterfly net. The rock where he had -spread his coat suggested a seat. He sat down there, and for one -solid hour proved with irrefutable logic that that which was, couldn't -possibly be so, because he had known Dolly Ravenden only two days. -Having attained this satisfactory conclusion, he took out the -twenty-dollar bill and regarded it with miserly fervour. Haynes, coming -over the hill, caused a hasty withdrawal of currency. - -The reporter seemed tired and worried. In answer to the physician's -inquiry whether anything new had developed, he shook his head. Colton -dismissed that subject, and with his accustomed straightforwardness went -on to another, upon which he had been deliberating with an uneasy mind. - -"Mr. Haynes," he said, "I want to speak to you on rather a difficult -subject." - -The reporter looked at him keenly. "Most difficult subjects are better -let alone," he said shortly. - -"In fairness to you I can't let this one alone. It concerns Miss -Johnston." - -"Whom you have known since Monday, I believe." Haynes' face was -disagreeable. - -"Pardon me," said the other. "My interest is in my brother." - -"I can't pretend to share it," returned Haynes. - -"His name is Everard Colton. Do you know him?" - -"Perhaps when I tell you that I know something of your family's entirely -unnecessary solicitude as to Miss Johnston, you will appreciate the bad -taste of pursuing the subject," said Haynes. - -Dick's equable temper and habituated self-control stood him in good -stead now. - -"I am regarding you as standing in the place of Helga Johnston's -brother," he said. - -"Are you appealing to me for help in your family affairs?" asked the -reporter rather contemptuously. - -"I am trying to be as frank with you as I should like you to be with -me," returned the other steadily. "I want your consent to my sending for -Everard to come down here." - -Haynes stared at him, amazed. "What do you mean by that?" - -"Exactly what I say. There have been some hotheaded and unfortunate -judgments on the part of my family, which report has greatly magnified. -I realise now the full extent of the error." - -"And what has brought about this change of heart?" sneered the other. - -"My acquaintance with Miss Johnston. There are some women who carry the -impress of fineness and of character in their faces and their smallest -actions. Even if I had learned nothing else about her, after seeing -Helga Johnston I would think it an honour for any family to welcome -her." - -Haynes' face softened, but it still was with some harshness that he -said: "There are other Coltons who think otherwise." - -"That is because they don't know," was the quick reply. "I want Everard -to have his chance, and I've put this case before you because I know and -respect your relation to Miss Johnston, and because I believe it is your -right." - -"Yes, you're fair about it," said Haynes, and fell into deep thought. - -"Of course," said Dick uneasily, "if having Everard here is going to -be--er--painful to you, I won't ask him. I should have thought of that -first. I don't know that Everard would have a chance anyway." - -"Dr. Colton, I believe that Helga did care for your brother." - -"But is it an open field?" asked Dick impulsively. - -A slight smile appeared on Haynes' lined face. "You mean, do I want to -marry Helga myself? She has never thought of me in that way. In a way it -would be painful, yet I should be glad to know, while I have time, that -she was going to marry some good man--but not any man whose family could -not accept her as she deserves." - -"While you have time," said the young physician slowly. "While you -have----" He broke off, advanced a step and peered into the other's -face. Haynes bore the scrutiny with a grim calmness. - -As Colton scrutinised, the harsh lines that he had translated into -irritable temperament leaped forth into the terrible significance of -long-repressed pain. - -"I don't want to be professionally intrusive," said the young doctor -slowly, "but I think--I'm afraid--I know what you mean." - -"Ah, I see you are something of a diagnostician," said Haynes quietly. - -"How long has it been going on?" - -"Nearly a year. It's just behind the left armpit. Rather an unusual -case, I believe. You see, I'm not on the lists as a marrying man." - -Colton walked to and fro on the little level stretch, half a dozen -times. He had seen sickness and suffering in its most helpless forms; -but this calm acceptance of fate affected him beyond his professional -bearing. - -"Do your people know?" - -"I have no people. It hasn't seemed worth while to mention it to my -friends. So you will regard this as a professional confidence?" - -"Oh, look here!" burst out Colton. "I can't sit around and watch this go -on. I've got more money than I can rightly use. You don't know me -much, and you don't like me much, but try to put that aside. Let me pay -your----" he glanced at Haynes and swiftly amended--"let me lend you -enough to take you abroad for a year. I'll write to some people in -Vienna and Berlin. They're away ahead of us in cancerous affections. I'd -go with you, only----" - -He stopped short, as he realised that the controverting reason was Miss -Dorothy Ravenden's presence on the American side of the ocean. - -The reporter walked over and put his hand on Colton's shoulder. His -harsh voice softened to something of the tone that he used toward Helga, -as he said: "My dear Colton, all the money in the world won't do it. -If it would, well," with a sudden, rare smile, "I'm not sure I wouldn't -take yours, provided I needed it." - -"Try it," urged the other. "You don't know how much those foreign -experts may help you." - -Haynes shook his head. "_O, terque quaterque beati, queis ante ora -patrum contigit oppetere_," he quoted. "That's one of my few remnants -of Virgil. It means a great deal to me. I shall not die in exile. Well, -Colton, send for your brother." - -"And what will you do?" - -"Stay here and work. There's something in life besides pain when -inexplicable strokes from the void kill men and sheep. I'm going over to -do some more investigating." - -"And I to wire my brother," said Colton. - -"Don't forget that 'The Wonderful Whalley' is to give his exhibition -this evening." - -They met at dinner, and before they had finished the juggler was -announced. The whole party joined him outside, where he had been -arranging his simple paraphernalia. Running to Helga, he dropped on his -knee in exaggerated and theatrical courtliness. - -"Mademoiselle, I am your adoring slave for always," he said, lifting -his brilliant, unsteady eyes to her for a moment. "Weeth your kind -permission I exheebit my powers." - -He led them to the barnyard, where there was a favourable open space, -and began with some simple acrobatics. His audience was Mr. and Mrs. -Johnston, Helga, Haynes, Colton, and the servants. Professor -Ravenden and his daughter had not returned. After the acrobatics came -sleight-of-hand with cards and handkerchiefs. - -"Now I show you ze real genius," said the performer. - -From his belt he drew the two heavy blades which had so interested -Haynes. These he supplemented with smaller knives, until he held half a -dozen in hand. Facing the great barn door, he dexterously slanted a card -into the air. As it rose he poised one of the smaller knives. Down came -the card, paralleling the surface of the door. Swish! The knife shot -through the air and nailed the card to the wood. Another card flew. -Thud! It was pinned fast. A third, less accurately reckoned, fluttered -by one corner. - -"Now, ze ace of hearts!" cried the juggler. "We shall face it." - -Forward he flipped it. It turned in air, showing the central spot. It -struck the door at a slight angle and was about turning when the -knife met it Straight through the single heart passed the blade. "The -Wonderful Whalley" struck an attitude. - -"Well, by Jove!" exclaimed Colton. "I've seen knife-play in Mexico by -the best of the Greasers, but nothing like this." - -"Zere is no one like 'Ze Wonderful Whalley,'" declared that artist -coolly, as he gathered his knives, all except the one that held the ace -of hearts. He stepped back. "You look at ze spot," he added, addressing -Haynes. - -Haynes moved forward to draw out the blade. - -There was a cry from Helga and Colton. Something struck the wood so -close to his ear that he felt the wind of it, and the handle of one of -the big blades quivered against his cheek. - -"Eet is for warning," said "The Wonderful Whalley" urbanely. "Ze heart, -eet could----" - -He choked as the powerful grasp of Johnston closed on his throat. Haynes -and Colton ran forward; but there was no need. The man was passive. - -"Eeet was onlee a trick," he said. "I am insult. I go home." - -"Shall we let him go?" said Haynes undecidedly. - -The question was settled for them. With a sudden blow, the juggler -knocked down Johnston, dodged between Haynes and Colton, caught his -knife from the door as he ran with great swiftness, and threatening -back pursuit at the ready point, disappeared not toward the Sand Spit -station, but straight over the hills. The baffled captors looked at each -other in dismay. - -"We've got a loose wild animal to deal with now," said Colton. - - - - -CHAPTER EIGHT--THE UNHORSED NIGHTFARER - -ROUND the big fireplace with its decorations of blue-and-white Colonial -china, which many a guest by vast but vain inducements had tried to buy -from the little hostelry, sat Dick Colton, Haynes and old Johnston. The -clock had struck nine some minutes earlier. - -"Your brother couldn't have caught the afternoon train," remarked -Haynes. "Was he to ride over?" - -"Yes, I arranged for a saddle-horse to meet him at Amagansett," answered -Colton. - -"Reckon the Professor and Miss Dolly stopped at the fishermen's for -dinner," opined the old man, as a soft and sudden breeze stirred the -curtains. "If they ain't in pretty quick they'll get wet. There's -somebody now!" - -A tramp of feet clumped on the porch, the door was thrown open and a -young man limped in. He was tall, almost as tall as Dick Colton, but -much slenderer, and extremely dark. Despite his unsteady gait, he bore -himself with an inimitably buoyant and jocund carriage. His well-made -riding-suit was muddied and torn, his head was bare, and from a long -but shallow cut on his forehead blood had trickled down one side of his -handsome face, giving him an appearance of almost theatrical rakishness. - -"Hello, Dick, old man!" he cried. "How goes the quest for slumber?" - -"Good Lord, Ev!" responded Dick Colton, hurrying to meet him. "What's -the matter with you? Are you hurt?" - -Keenly watching the greeting, Haynes noted the evident and open -affection between the two brothers. - -"Just a twisted knee," said the younger. "Thrown, Dick--thrown like a -riding-school novice. I'd hate to have it get back to the troop." - -"It must have been something extraordinary to get you out of the -saddle," said Dick, for Everard Colton was one of the best of the -younger polo men. - -"It was extraordinary enough, all right," acquiesced the younger man, -"Let me clean up and I'll tell you about it." - -"Wait a moment," said Dick Colton, and introduced his brother to the -other men. "Several queer things have been happening here lately," he -continued. "We're all interested in them, particularly Mr. Haynes. Tell -us now--unless you're in pain," added Dick anxiously. "Let's look at -your knee." - -"Oh, that's nothing. I'm not suffering any except in my temper. Things I -don't understand disturb my judicial poise." - -"Did your horse roll into one of the gullies?" asked Haynes. "There are -some nasty slides if you get off the road." - -"No, my horse didn't; but I did," replied the other. "The Professor of -Prevarication who keeps the Amagansett livery stable told me that the -mare knew the road. If she did know it, she carefully concealed her -knowledge, for as soon as the pitch darkness fell (by the way, I don't -remember a blacker night) she began to stroll across the verdant meads -like a man chewing a straw and thinking of his troubles. Except for the -sound of the surf, I had no way to steer her, so I just said to her: 'If -you lug me back to Amagansett, I'll break every rib in your umbrella,' -and let her amble. About half an hour ago I sighted your light here. -Without any cause that I could make out, my lady friend began to toss -her head upward and sniff the air and tremble." - -"You think the horse heard something?" asked Haynes. - -"If I'd been in a big game country I should have said she scented -something. It was a dead calm, and I could have heard any noise, I -think. Well, Jezebel began to buck-jump, and I was rather enjoying -myself when suddenly she did a thing that was new to me in the equine -line. Her legs just seemed to give way from under her, and she slumped -so completely that I was flipped off sidewise. As I got to my feet I -felt a little gust of air that brought a curious odour very plainly to -me." - -"That's a new development," said Haynes quietly. "What was it like?" - -"Did you ever smell a copperhead snake?" - -"Often. Like ripe cucumbers." - -"Yes. Well, this was something on that order, only much stronger and -pretty sickening. Are there any copperheads in Montauk?" - -"No, nor ever was," said Johnston positively. "Anyway, I think it was -a snake. The mare thought it was something uncanny. She went crazy, and -began to rave and tear like a bucking automobile. Just as I thought I -was getting her calmed I stepped on a round stone, that slid me down -into a gully on one side of my face. Again I felt that strange rush of -foul air. Jezebel gave a yell and broke away, and I was adrift on the -broad prairies. There's one thing I noticed--oh, well, I suppose I -imagined it." - -"No. Go on. Tell us what it was." - -"Well, the draft of wind seemed to come from opposite directions. It -seemed as if something had passed and repassed above me." - -Dick Colton turned to Haynes. "'The Wonderful Whalley' is somewhere on -the knolls," he said. - -"Yes; but he isn't flying around in the air on a broomstick." - -"One could almost believe he had other attributes of the vampire besides -the blood-thirst," replied Colton. "Ev, Mr. Johnston will show you your -room. Come down when you're ready. I've got something to look after." - -"You're worried about Miss--about the Ravendens," said Haynes to Dick -as the junior Colton left the room. "Wait a moment, till I get lanterns. -I'm going with you." - -"Thank you," said Dick quietly. "I thought you would. Ev won't like it -much when he finds there's something afoot and he has been left out." - -"He's had his share. I've an idea that your brother has been near to -death to-night." - -"The more reason for haste, then." - -"I'll strike off inland. You take the sea side," said Haynes, as the two -lighted lanterns and passed out into the dead blackness. "And, by the -way," he added, "I wouldn't make my light any more conspicuous than -necessary." - -"All right," said Dick. "I've no particular desire to attract Whalley's -attention." - -Within ten minutes the young doctor heard voices, and called. Professor -Ravenden's dry accents answered him. With a hail to Haynes, Colton ran -forward. He almost plunged into Dolly Ravenden's horse, which reared and -snorted. - -"What is it?" cried the girl. "Oh, it's Dr. Colton. Are you hunting the -night-flying _arachnida?_" - -"I was looking for you." - -"Has anything happened?" asked the girl quickly, sobered by his tone. -"Helga? Mr. Haynes?" - -"No, all are safe." He laid his hand on the neck of her mount. "But you -must come home at once. There is danger abroad." - -"Why, Dr. Colton, you're trembling! I wouldn't have believed you knew -what it was to be afraid." - -"You don't know what it is to care----" he cut off the words with -something like a sob. "Thank God, we found you!" - -Then the girl had cause to bless the darkness, for from her heart there -surged a flood to her face, and with it woman's first doubt and fear and -glory. "Perhaps I do know," she thought. For an instant, she closed her -eyes and saw him as he had come draggled and staggering from the sea. -She opened them upon his stalwart figure and the clean-cut, manly face, -still drawn with anxiety, clear in the light of the lantern. - -"It was good of you to brave the danger," she said sweetly. "I have had -a premonition of some tragedy overhanging, since we found the sheep." - -"Well, Professor! Hello, Miss Dolly!" called Haynes, as he swung up on a -trot. "Are you all right? Better hurry in. There's a storm coming." - -"It is something besides a storm that brought you gentlemen out on -a search for us," said Professor Ravenden shrewdly. "While properly -appreciative, I should be glad to have an explanation." The explanation -came swiftly, from the direction of the sea. It was a long-drawn, -high-pitched scream. There was in it a cadence of mortal terror; the -last agony rang shrill and unmistakable from its quivering echoes. Miss -Ravenden's horse bounded in the air; but Colton's weight on the bridle -brought it down shaking. - -"That was a horse," said the girl tremulously. "Poor thing!" - -"In dire extremity, if I mistake not," added the professor. "I am -beginning to feel an interest which I trust is not unscientific in this -succession of phenomena." - -"I think," said Haynes quickly, "that the house is the place for us just -now. That's the end of your brother's horse," he added to Colton in a -low tone. - -When Dick Colton lifted the girl from her saddle at the front porch he -said to her: "Miss Ravenden, may I ask you to promise me something?" - -"_I_ don't know," said the girl, in sudden apprehension. "What is it?" - -"That you will not go out alone on the grassland again, nor go out even -with your father after dusk, until Mr. Haynes or I tell you it is safe?" - -"I promise. But won't you tell me what you have found out?" - -"Something unhorsed my brother as he came across the point in the -darkness, and that was his mare's death-cry you heard from the shore." - -When they were inside, Haynes suggested that they hold a brief -consultation, at which all should be present. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston, -Helga and Everard Colton were sent for. In the stress of the moment -Haynes had forgotten that Helga had not been warned of the younger -Colton's coming. Everard came into the room first, and provided his -brother with a surprise, by rushing at Miss Ravenden as if bent on -devouring her. - -"Little Dot, the butterfly's Nemesis!" he cried. "When did you get here, -and how? And Professor too! Well, this is a lark!" To which greeting the -Ravendens responded with equal warmth. - -"Dick, you scoundrel, why didn't you tell me they were here?" cried -Everard. - -"I didn't know you knew them," returned the bewildered Dick. - -"Know them? Why, I've spent a week of my latest vacation on their -house-boat. The _Lepidoptero_ of half the Southern States shriek aloud -when they see Miss Ravenden and me approaching. Besides, I'm useful, am -I not, Dolly?" - -"Not in terms that could be reduced to an estimate," said that young -woman. - -"Ungrateful maiden! Don't I shoo off your swarming adorers, comprising -all the polyglot of Washington and most of the blue blood of -Philadelphia? I'm the only man in America who can be with Miss Dorothy -Ravenden for three consecutive days without falling desperately in love -with her. I escape only because I know it's hopeless." - -"Oh, is that it?" said Dolly demurely. "I had heard there was a more -tangible reason for my bereavement. Vardy, you're looking serious in -spite of all your nonsense. I believe, upon my soul, the stories are -true." - -"Oh, Dick," said Everard hastily, "I nearly forgot about that package -of books. I dropped'em outside. Here they are and they'll cost you just -eight dollars and eighty cents and the price of a drink for my trouble -in bringing them. Don't know what they are, because I turned over your -telegram to Towney; but by their weight they're worth the money. Let's -have a look at them." - -Before Dick could protest he had opened the package. - -"'Summer reading for a young physician,'" he began, looking at the -titles. "What have we here? Harris' 'Insects Injurious to Vegetation -'The Butterfly Book,' by Holland; 'Special Report on the Spiders of Long -Island'; 'North American'--well, by my proud ancestral halls!" - -"Give me those books, Ev!" said Dick sharply. "Little Everard, the Boy -Wonder, has put a dainty foot in it again!" He laughed banteringly, -looking from Dorothy Ravenden to Dick and back again. "Dick, too? Oh, -Dolly, couldn't you leave the family alone for my sake? Case of 'Love -me, love my bugs'!" - -But even the much-allowanced Everard had gone too far. Dolly Ravenden -turned upon him with an expression which boded ill for the venturesome -young man, when a volume of song from the hallway, that seemed, -controlled and effortless as it was, to fill full and permeate every -farthest nook and corner of the house, stopped her. It was Helga singing -a quaint and stirring old ballad. - - "Where there is no place - For the glow-worm to lie, - Where there is no space - For receipt of a fly; - Where the midge dare not venture - Lest herself fast she lay, - If Love come he will enter - And will find out the way." - -"Heavens!" exclaimed Dick Colton. "What a voice! Who is it?" - -"Haven't you heard Helga sing?" said Dolly Ravenden, in surprise. "Isn't -it superb!" - -Everard had risen and was looking hungrily toward the door. Dolly looked -keenly at him, and saw in his face a look that she had seen in many a -man's eyes, but that no woman but one had ever before seen in Everard -Colton's. - -"It _is_ true," she said to herself. The voice went on: - - "There is no striving - To cross his intent, - There is no contriving - His plots to prevent; - For if once the message greet him - That his true-love doth stay, - Though Death come forth to meet him, - Love will find out the way." - -The soft, deep, triumphant final note died away. There was a moment's -silence. - -"Dick, you ought to have told me," said Everard, unsteadily. - -But Dick paid no heed. He was looking at Haynes, upon whose cold and -rather hard-lined face was such an expression of loving pride and -yearning, as utterly transfigured it. - -"I ought to be kicked for bringing Everard down here," thought the -gentle-hearted young doctor. - -The door opened and Helga entered. As if drawn magnetically, her gaze -went straight to Everard Colton. She stopped short. - -"Helga!" said he. - -The girl caught her breath sharply. Her hand fluttered toward her -breast, and fell again. Her colour faded; but instantly she was mistress -of herself. - -"Good-evening, Mr. Colton," she said quietly, and gave him her hand as -she came forward. "Did you come in this evening? It always is wiser to -write ahead for rooms." - -"I don't understand," he stammered. "Are you--do you live here?" - -"This is my father's hotel," she explained. "Father, this is Mr. Everard -Colton. Is there a room for him?" - -"I've found my room," said Everard hoarsely, and there followed a -silence which Miss Ravenden maliciously enjoyed, her eyes sparkling at -her erstwhile tormentor's discomfiture. - -Haynes broke the silence. "This is all very pleasant," he said sharply -and with an effort, "but it isn't business. And we have business of a -rather serious nature on hand. There is just this to say: Somewhere on -the point is this juggler. He is armed, and there is at least a strong -suspicion that he is murderous. The death of the sailor, the killing of -the sheep, and Mr. Colton's adventure show plainly enough that there is -peril abroad. It may or may not have to do with the juggler. But until -the man is captured, I think the ladies should not leave the house -alone; and none of us should go far alone or unarmed. Is that agreed?" - -"I agree for myself and my daughter to your very well-judged -suggestion," said Professor Ravenden, "and I have in my room an extra -revolver which I will gladly lend to anyone." - -The others also assented to the plan, and at Haynes' suggestion the -weapon went to Helga's adopted father. Dick Colton had a navy revolver, -Everard had his cavalry arm, and Haynes had written for a pistol. - -"Would it not be well," suggested the professor, "to notify the -authorities?" - -"The average town constable is appointed to keep him out of the imbecile -asylum," said Haynes. "I believe we can organise a vigilance committee -right here and see it through. Besides," he added with a smile, "I want -the story exclusively for my paper." - - - - -CHAPTER NINE--CROSS-PURPOSES - -"HAS the generalissimo been disobeying his own orders?" called out Dolly -Ravenden from the porch, as Haynes came up the pathway early the next -morning. He did not respond to the rallying tone, habitual between them, -which covered a well-founded friendship. Instead he said: - -"Miss Dolly, you heard that horse last night. What did you think of the -cry?" - -"It went through me like a knife," said the girl, shuddering. "I thought -it was a death scream. The horse I was on thought so, too." - -"I'd have sworn to it myself," said Haynes, and fell into deep thought. - -"Well?" queried the girl after waiting impatiently. "It isn't a secret, -is it?" - -"Something in that line. I've just been all over the ground between the -place where Mr. Colton was assailed and the beach, without finding hide -or hair of the horse. It must have escaped." - -"I for one won't believe that until I see it alive." - -Haynes glanced at her sharply. "Woman's intuition," he said. "I won't -either. Well, I'm going to breakfast." - -The girl lingered, looking out into the ruddy-golden morning. It was -late September weather, a day burnished with sunlight. A faint haze -softened the splendour of the knolls. The air was instinct with the -rare, fine quality of the vanishing summer. It was the falling cadence -of the season, one of the last few perfect, fulfilling notes of the -year's love-melody. With all the knowledge that death and horror lurked -somewhere in the lovely expanse spread before her, Dolly Ravenden -yearned to it. Soon she would be back amid the cosmopolitan gaieties of -the Capital. She loved that too, but with a different and shallower part -of her nature. Sharply it came to her that this year she would leave -with a deeper regret than ever before, and the nature of that regret was -formulating itself against the stern veto of her will. "A man I've not -seen half a dozen times!" she half incredulously reproached herself. - -A certain feminine exasperation against herself was illogically and -perversely turned upon Dick Colton as he strode around the corner of the -piazza. The experienced wager of love-tilts might have interpreted the -expression she turned to him, and have fled the stricken field. Poor -Dick was the merest novice. His attitude toward women had always been -much the same as toward men, varying in degree according to the charm or -quality of the individual, but all of a kind, until he had encountered -Dolly Ravenden. To his unsuspecting mind it seemed that at the present -moment he was in the greatest luck. The sun was shining with a -special, even a personal, lustre. Abruptly it darkened several million -candle-power as Miss Ravenden gave him the most casual of greetings and -the curve of a shoulder while she scanned the spreading landscape. - -"Have I done anything, Miss Dol--Miss Ravenden?" asked blundering Dick. - -"Done anything?" repeated she with indifferent inquiry. "I'm sure I -don't know." - -This fairly nonplussed him. He sat down and wondered what to do next. -Unfortunately his thoughts turned upon his brother. - -"Isn't it great that you know Ev?" he pursued. "I'm so glad that I sent -for him to come down." - -"You sent for him?" cried the girl in a tone that straightened up Dick -like a pin. - -"Certainly. Why not?" - -"To see Helga, I suppose." - -"Yes." - -"Of course you assumed that she was dying to see him." - -"Not in the least," said Dick, with some spirit "Just to give him his -fair chance." - -"You didn't think of being fair toward anyone else?" - -"Toward whom?" - -"Miss Johnston herself, in the first place. One expects a certain degree -of delicacy even from--from----" - -"Don't smooth it down on my account," said Dick grimly. "You seem to be -in a fairly frank mood to-day." - -The imp of the perverse indeed was guiding Dolly's words now. "From a -man one knows nothing whatever about," she concluded. - -"And isn't interested in knowing," suggested he. "I'm as fond of Helga -as of my own sister," she went on vehemently. "She is only a year -younger than I, but I've been about so much more that I--well, I assume -some responsibility for her." Her tone challenged Dick. He merely bowed. - -"You know how it is between Helga and your brother?" - -"Something of it." - -"And knowing, do you think it was right to bring him down here?" - -"Why not?" - -"Because," said Miss Ravenden hotly, "your family became panic-stricken -at the thought of Everard's marrying Helga, before they even took the -trouble to find out anything about her. To insult a woman whom they -have never seen! Why--why--Helga is as---- If I had a brother, and Helga -Johnston was willing to marry him I should count it an honour to the -Ravendens." - -All the imperious pride of a family who had been landed gentry in the -South, while Colton's sturdy forebears were wielding pick and shovel in -the far West, who had signed the Declaration of Independence before -the first American Colton had worked a toilsome passage across from his -North Country hovel to the land of sudden riches, shone in her eyes. - -"So should I!" returned Dick quietly. "But surely Helga Johnston did not -tell you all this?" - -"No, she did not. It was the same meddlesome friend who first told her -of your family's objections. Oh, if I were Everard I would tell his -family to-- - -"To go to the devil," suggested Dick helpfully. - -"Please not to put words into my mouth! Yes, I should!" she returned -hotly. Then, illogically and severely added, "particularly such words. -And after what I told you about Harris Haynes I should have thought that -an ordinary sense of justice--Oh, it was unmanly of you!" - -Dolly's imp now had spurred her into a respectable state of rage, and -Dick's wrath rose to meet hers. - -"Just a moment," he said. "What was that about Haynes?" Two wrinkled -lines appeared between his eyes. His mouth altered in its set, giving to -his naturally pleasant face an aspect of almost savage determination. - -"Why," thought Dolly, "he's looking at me as if I wasn't a girl at all, -but just something in his path to beat down." And her quick pang of -alarm had something pleasurable in it. - -"I want that again about Haynes." - -"I say you were not fair to him. You know perfectly well that whatever -chance Mr. Haynes may have with Helga----" - -"Chance of what? Of marrying her?" - -"Certainly," said Dolly boldly. - -"Do you think she loves Haynes?" - -"I don't know." - -"You do know. You think that she doesn't. And do you think he loves -her?" - -"Why should I tell you, when you will only browbeat and contradict me? I -know this, that there is the most beautiful affection between them that -I have ever known between a man and a girl. With two people less fine -than Helga and Harris Haynes it could not be so. You aren't capable of -understanding that sort of thing. And so you would destroy this for the -mere whim of a boy!" - -"It is not the whim of a boy," returned Dick sternly. "It has made -Everard a man. I think she loves him." - -"What if she does?" said the girl recklessly. - -"You mean you would have her marry Haynes without love?" - -"Yes," said Dolly, too far committed to back down now; but within -herself she was saying: "Oh, you wretched little liar!" - -"Ah!" observed Dick with a change to cold courtesy that stung her more -than his wrath. "I haven't had the good fortune to meet many girls -so advanced in their views. Myself, both as a physician and -unprofessionally, I am simple enough to think that loveless marriages -are unfortunate." - -"Oh, sentimentality has its place, I suppose," said the imp within -Dolly. - -"I think I understand you," he said with an effort. - -"You don't! Oh, you don't!" cried Dolly's better spirit. "Don't dare to -think of me so!" But the imp controlled the lips with silence. - -"Yes, I think I understand," continued Dick. "I have had little time -for my social obligations; but I have seen enough to have met and been -sickened by this before. That associations of what we call good society -can have so corrupted the view of life in a girl like you--Oh, it seems -incredible! Probably because it never happened to hit me personally -before." - -The girl went perfectly white under the bitterness of his contempt. - -"There is nothing further to say, Dr. Colton," she said, rising. There -were a thousand things to say; but the imp of the perverse would not -let her say them. "You have only convinced me that for any woman to be -connected with your family would be the direst misfortune." - -When Dick found himself alone there was a blur over his mental vision -such as extreme pain brings to the physical eye. The whole wretched -scene repeated itself over and over. How readily he could have defended -himself with Haynes' own words against the charge of unmanly treachery -to Haynes! How easily he could have refuted!--but to what purpose, -since she was unworthy? Hatless and aimless, he wandered out upon the -grass-land. - -Almost before he knew it he had reached the beach and was approaching -Graveyard Point. Coming around a jut in the cliff he was amazed to see -Professor Ravenden digging energetically at the sand with an improvised -shovel. At once the professor hailed him for help. Now, the normal -man, no matter how miserable his mood, will rouse to the solution of a -mystery, and when Dick Colton saw the form of a horse partly revealed, -he pitched in heartily. - -"How did you find it?" he asked the professor. - -"In passing I noticed that the cliff had given way above," was the -reply. "As there had been no rain, some unusual occurrence must have -caused this. Closer examination revealed the leg of a horse, upon which -I inferred that here was buried the mare ridden by my young friend, your -brother. Doubtless we soon shall perceive some clue as to the manner of -death." - -But the body being wholly uncovered revealed no wound. - -"Must have run off the cliff in her flight," suggested Colton. - -"An almost untenable hypothesis," said Professor Ravenden -argumentatively. "The place where your brother was unhorsed is a mile -from here, at least. We heard the animal's death-cry an hour after your -brother's encounter. Could you devise any form of terror which would so -afflict a horse as to drive it over a hundred-foot cliff, a full hour -after the origin of the panic?" - -"No, I couldn't. Whatever it was that terrified, the poor brute must -have followed it. The juggler, I suppose." - -"But for what purpose? However, I think we would best climb the cliff, -and taking opposite directions examine the ground for any possible -indications." - -So the professor struck off westward, while Colton took the line toward -the lighthouse. Soon his path led him down into one of the precipitous -gullies. Inland from him a sharp turn shielded by large rocks cut off -the view, beyond which appeared the upper foliage of a scrub-oak patch. -From among the rocks Dick heard a strange sound, like a gasp. - -His hand went to his revolver, and he stopped short. Again the sound -came in a succession of cadences, like interrupted breathing. Dick moved -forward. A stone slipped under his foot and rattled down among other -stones. There was instant silence. - -Keeping himself sheltered, he walked firmly forward. Before a large rock -he paused, then holding the weapon ready he stepped around it. Helga -Johnston stood there, her hands pressed to her breast, her face -tear-stained. She gave a little cry of relief. - -"Ah, it is you!" she said. - -"Did I frighten you?" asked Dick. "I'm awfully sorry. You've been -crying." - -"Yes," said the girl. - -"Was it as bad as that? I must have alarmed you very much." - -"No," said the girl with the simple directness which he had admired -in her from the first. "I was frightened; but that was not why I was -crying." - -"Has Everard been with you?" - -"Yes." - -"Miss Helga," said Dick soberly, "will you believe that I am your -friend?" - -"I don't know," replied the girl dubiously. "Why did you bring your -brother down here?" - -"Do you remember, I said to you that I wished I had a sister like you? -That is why." - -Helga flushed deeply. "It was not fair," she said. "Miss Johnston, is -there any reason why you should not marry my brother?" - -"Yes." - -"Is it because some day you may marry Mr. Haynes?" - -"There has never been the suggestion of such a thing. Why you and Dolly -Ravenden both insist on believing that Petit Pere wants to marry me, -is--it's stupid!" said the girl indignantly. - -"Ah! And Miss Ravenden has been advising you to marry Mr. Haynes?" - -"She has been advising me not to," retorted Helga. "Harris Haynes is the -best man I have ever known, and I owe him everything; but Dolly knows -that I don't--really, Dr. Colton, I don't know why I should be telling -you all these things." - -Dick, thunderstruck at the new light on Miss Ravenden's views, paid no -attention to this mild suggestion that he mind his own business. Indeed -it suddenly had become his own business with a vengeance. - -"Miss Ravenden advised you not to marry Haynes? It can't be. She told -me----" - -"You and Dolly seem to be very much interested in my affairs." - -"I beg your pardon," said Dick. "Some day I hope to explain to you. Let -us get back to Everard, You say there is a reason why you should not -marry him?" - -"Yes." - -"Don't you care for him?" - -"That is a question you have no right to ask." - -"Ah!" said Dick with satisfaction. "Then it is that wretched business of -the family's opposition." Helga made no reply. - -"Listen, Miss Helga," said Dick after a few moments' thought. "Someone -told my mother lies about you. I don't know what they were; but I do -know that they gave Mother a wrong impression. My mother is the best -mother in the world, and a good and noble woman, only she has one -attribute of the domestic hen. When alarmed she moves hurriedly, and -usually in the wrong direction. The liar in this case alarmed her. Now, -then: my father is a broken man; he has not long to live. I am virtually -the head of the family. In this case the family will accept my decision. -I ask you in their name if you will honour us by marrying my brother? -Will you shake hands on the promise?" - -He held out his hand, looking her in the eyes. Helga flushed deeply; but -answered the smile with her own as she said: - -"Dr. Colton, you are a good man, and"--she hesitated for a moment--"some -girl will be very proud of you. But you aren't very wise about women, or -you would know that there is only one man a girl can give that promise -to. And," she added meaningly, "no one else can give it for her." - -"I understand," he replied. "I say nothing." - -"Then I'll shake hands on _your_ promise," she said gravely. - -"Well, well, well!" said a thick voice above them. "That's a nice -picture. Whatcher think this is, Central Park? I'll tell that pup, -Haynes." - -Paul Serdholm, the life-guard from the Sand Spit station, stood on the -brink of the ravine. It was evident that he had been drinking. - -"You go about your business," said Colton slowly. - -"Oh, that's easy said," retorted the fellow. "I'm on the trouble-hunt -to-day. Went over to Bow Hill an' licked that shrimp Bruce for callin' -me down the night of the wreck. Comin' back, I seen the Portuguese -sneakin' along by an oak patch; so I dropped on him an' punched his face -up. I don't like Dagoes. Now I'm going to do you up, you fresh guy." - -"Serdholm, you're drunk," said Helga contemptuously. "And you're making -a fool of yourself." - -"An you'll report me at the station, hey? Just becuz you was washed -ashore here you think you own Montauk! Well, report an' be----!" - -"That will do!" said Colton. - -"Will it? Come up here and make it!" taunted Serdholm. "No? All right, -I'll come down." Colton met him halfway. It was no fight; for though -Serdholm was brawny the young physician was as greatly his superior -in strength as in science and condition. The coast-guard rolled to the -bottom of the gully and lay there cursing feebly. - -"He will lose his place for this," said Helga as they went shoreward. "I -hope he will, the beast!" - -"Do you suppose he really thrashed the juggler, or was that only -boasting?" - -"He has the reputation of being quarrelsome when he has been drinking," -said Helga. - -"Haynes ought to know about it, then." - -"I'll tell him. But, please, Dr. Colton, say nothing about Serdholm's -rudeness. It would only make Petit Pere angry, and cause trouble, and -I've felt some danger overhanging him. Dr. Colton, do you believe in -dreams?" - -"We men whose business it is to deal with the human body, get to realise -how much of mystery there is in the human soul," said Dick. "Is that an -answer?" - -"I don't know," replied the girl doubtfully-"Some day, perhaps, I shall -tell you. Meantime," she added, as they approached Third House, "you -won't forget your promise, will you?" - -"No." - -"As you've been interesting yourself in my affairs a good deal," said -the girl with friendly raillery, "I'll just give you a bit of free -advice. Don't take everything about Dolly Ravenden too seriously. She's -had loads of attention and seen a great deal of the world, and she is -pretty high-spirited; but she is in every way a splendid girl and a -right-minded one. I imagine she is not always easy to understand." - -"Heaven knows I've made one awful blunder!" groaned Dick. - -"Then don't apologise for it too soon," said the girl quickly. "There, -I've been a traitor to my sex. But I like you, Dick Colton. And," she -added as they reached the door, "if you can sue as well for yourself as -for another I think you might well win any woman." - -"Well, Heaven bless you for that!" said Dick Colton to the closing door. - - - - -CHAPTER TEN--THE TERROR BY NIGHT - -IN every department of scientific inquiry, Professor Ravenden was, above -all else, methodical. The extraordinary or unusual he set aside for calm -analysis. When he came to a dark passage in his investigations, he made -full notes and relied on patience and his reasoning powers for light. -Facts of ascertained relations and proportions he catalogued. In crises -of doubt, after exerting his own best efforts, he was not too proud -to ask counsel, were there any at hand in whose judgment he felt -confidence. But first he strove to make his own mind master of the -problem. - -Thus it was that on the night of September 19, after an evening's -moth-hunt, he went to his room and sat down to write. First, however, he -changed to pyjamas and dressing-gown, for a sudden shower had soaked his -clothing. He then selected from a box a cigar of a brand whose housing -and apparel proclaimed it of high price and special flavour, lighted it, -and smoked with deep, long puffs. To his daughter or any other who knew -him well this would have signified some unusual mental condition, for -the abstemious professor used tobacco most sparingly. On this occasion -he needed it as a sedative. Professor Ravenden had undergone a severe -shock. - -For more than three hours he wrote, with long pauses for consideration. -Once he rose, strode on slippered feet up and down the room and communed -aloud with himself: - -"Undeniably I was terrified.... Why otherwise should I have fled?... -An object that may well have been harmless and must inevitably have -presented aspects of scientific interest.... Perhaps the repetition... -the instinct of peril deceived me, fostered by the previous inexplicable -occurrences... yet, even in my fright, I incline to believe that I -preserved my powers of observation." - -When he slept upon the conclusion of his work, there lay amid the -wreckage of scriptive revision upon his table three closely written -sheets of manuscript. - -Waking early the next morning, he aroused Haynes and Dick Colton, and -asked them to come to his room as soon as they had dressed. Upon their -entrance he bade them to seats, and took up the manuscript. - -"In a case of this importance," he said formally, "I shall not -apologise, except by mention, for the disorder of my room. It has been -my practice in cases presenting difficult aspects to reduce the -salient facts to writing, thus preserving the more important features -unencumbered with obstructive detail. This method it was which enabled -me to throw some new light upon the dimorphic female of the _Papilio -turnus_ as found in the Blue Ridge chain. In the present instance -I design to read to you, gentlemen, a report upon certain strange -happenings of last night, and to ask your opinion as bearing upon the -mysterious events which have crowded so fast upon each other recently. -Before beginning to read, I may state that I never have been afflicted -with any aberration of the senses, that I am in sound health, and -that after the experiences which I am about to state I tested both -temperature and pulse for possible indications of fever. My temperature -was 98.5, which is normal for me, and my pulse, while a trifle -irregular, owing to nervous disturbances, was not unusually rapid. Do -I present to you, Dr. Colton, any external indications of nervous or -functional disorder?" - -"Absolutely none, sir," replied the physician promptly. "I should -estimate your temperament to be an unusually calm and rational one." - -"Then I shall proceed," said Professor Ravenden, and turning to his -manuscript he read: "Report on certain events noted by Willis Ravenden, -F. R. S., Sc.D., at Montauk Point, Long Island, on the evening of -September 18, 1902. - -"On the evening named I had set forth from Third House with the purpose -of seeking a specimen of the _Catocala_. Besides my capturing net, a can -of molasses and rum for an insect lure, and the poison jar, I carried, -in pursuance of general agreement, a thirty-two-calibre revolver. -Passing around the south end of the lake, I selected for my operations -a patch of _Quercus ilicifolia_ several hundred feet beyond the western -shore and perhaps a mile distant from my point of departure, and smeared -the leaves with the adhesive mixture. Some success was rewarding my -efforts, among other captives being fine specimens of the _Saturnia -maia_ and the _Dryocampa imperialis_, when a cloud-bank obscured the -moon, and the wind which had been blowing lightly from the north became -capricious and gusty. Conditions such as these are unfavourable to -the pursuit of the nocturnal _lepidoptero_. Moreover, the darkness was -becoming very dense. Hastily closing and packing my net, I set out for -home. As nearly as I can estimate it then was about 10 o'clock p. m. - -"Owing to the darkness and the irregularity of the ground, my progress -was difficult. When I had almost reached, as I estimated, the shore of -the lake, I stumbled and fell. As I regained my feet, a strange sound -which appeared to come from above and a trifle to the northwest of -me attracted my attention. It suggested the presence of some winged -creature, although it resembled rather a crackling than a beating or -flapping of pinions. It seemed to differ from the strange creaking which -I had before noted when abroad at night, and which I at once recalled. -Somewhat alarmed, I drew my revolver and cocked it. At this moment the -wind, which had been dead from the north, veered in a sharp gust to the -northwest. A rushing noise from the blackness above seemed to be drawing -near me at a high speed, and as I braced myself for some assault, an -object which I believe to have been very large, struck the ground with -great violence a few rods, as I judged, to the west of me and came -bounding over the earth in my direction. At the same time I discerned a -faintly perceptible oily odour. - -"For a moment I was paralysed with alarm. I make no concealment or -palliation of the emotion. As it seemed, without volition, I then -leaped backward, and ran toward the end of the lake. Thus I avoided the -advancing object, but only to run into further danger (if danger there -was), for I heard another crackling noise of passage, and this time -dimly saw in the void a great body pass swiftly above my head. Of -the dimensions or shape of this phenomenon I can give no accurate -description; but it seemed larger and of more solid bulk than any bird -known to me as inhabiting this locality, and its movement suggested -rather a skimming progress, borne by the wind, than a measured flight. -Throwing myself upon the ground to avoid its notice, I remained until a -heavy splash told of its having reached the lake. Then I rose and ran. - -"With my first exhaustion of breath came reason. I turned, and while -one hardly can answer for his own performances, I intended to return -and investigate, for shame burned hot within me. Indeed, I already had -retraced my steps for perhaps a hundred feet when there burst upon me -a rain-squall so furious that I lost my way completely and was soon -floundering in the edge of the lake. Realising my helplessness in this -onslaught of the elements, I set out for home, and after an hour's -wandering, according to my estimate, reached Third House at ten minutes -past eleven. - -"Conclusions: That the two objects were presumably a pair of living -creatures; that they were either in a state of panic flight, or -were water-creatures hastening to refuge, since at least one of them -terminated its course in the lake; that they probably were the same -creatures whose presence has been noted overhead previously by myself, -Mr. Haynes, Mr. Everard Colton and others. - -"Query: What relation, if any, do they bear to the death of the sheep on -the beach and of the sailor Petersen?" - -Professor Ravenden laid his manuscript on the table and looked at his -auditors. Haynes had been making notes. Colton sat in rapt attention. -Each drew a long breath as the reading closed, and the professor said: - -"Gentlemen, have you any suggestions that will throw light upon these -phenomena?" - -Colton spoke first. "You suggested, before, an air-craft of some kind, -perhaps in joke." - -"Partly," agreed the professor. "But these were by no means large -enough. Air-ships, as you doubtless are aware, are of vast extent." - -"Besides, they usually don't travel in pairs," said Haynes. "You can -locate the spot where you saw the things, I suppose, Professor?" - -"Approximately." - -"Then let's start at once," said the reporter, rising. - -They made good speed to the lake, and examined its western shore without -making any discovery. Spreading out, they scouted carefully, and had -gone perhaps fifty yards, studying the ground for possible signs, when -Dick Colton, who was in the middle, gave a shout and began to exhibit -signs of strangulation. The others ran to him, and he turned a suffused -and twitching face toward them, pointing to an oak patch near by. - -"Excuse me," he gasped; "but look at that!" Tangled in the patch was the -dilapidated ruin of a large kite of the Malay or tailless type. Most of -the paper had blown away, but what remained was of an oily finish, and -exhaled a slight odour. Professor Ravenden looked at it carefully, and -an expression of deep humiliation overspread his mild face. - -"I do not resent your amusement, Dr. Colton," he said. "To you gentlemen -I must seem, as indeed I do to myself, an unworthy and fearful disciple -of science." - -"Not in the least," said Haynes quickly. "Your experience was enough to -frighten anyone." - -"I should have run like a rabbit," declared Colton positively. -"I laughed because it seemed such a ridiculous ending to my own -forebodings." - -"Perhaps it isn't entirely ridiculous either," said Haynes, who had been -examining the kite cord, slowly. "There's something queer about this. -Where did those kites come from, and how?" - -"Broke away, of course," said Dick. - -"Supposing you try to break that string. You're a husky specimen." - -"Can't do it," said the doctor, after exerting his strength. "It's the -finest kind of light braided line." - -"And it hasn't been broken, in my opinion," said the reporter. "Look at -those ends." - -"Cut! Clean cut!" exclaimed Colton. - -"And within twenty feet of the bellyband," added Haynes. "Now, if -someone will kindly explain to me how--" - -"This kite," said the professor, who had been studying it, "is, if -I mistake not, one of a string such as are used for aerostatic -experiments. The oiled paper is for rain-shedding purposes. It is a -subsidiary kite, used to raise the slack of the main line. Therefore the -string has not parted at the point of greatest tension." - -"And it's as badly crumpled up," added Colton, "as if it had collided -with a brick block." - -"Its mate ought to have drifted to the opposite shore of the lake," said -Haynes. "I'll go look." Presently he returned with the second kite. It -was twin in size and type to the first. The skeleton was intact, though -the paper showed signs of its rough trip across the ground before it -reached the lake. - -"About sixty feet of string left on this one," said the reporter. "Cut -clean, just like the other." He laughed nervously. "Begins to look -pretty interesting, doesn't it?" - -"How many kites do you think there were in the string?" Colton asked the -professor. - -"Seven is by no means an unusual number in experiments of this nature." - -"Then where are the rest?" - -"If the main line was severed they may well have been carried out over -the ocean. Particularly this would be true if these were the two lowest -subsidiary kites." - -"Hello! What's this?" said Colton, looking up. Over the breast of the -hill toward the Sound strolled a man. He wore the characteristic garb of -the Montauk fishermen, and evidently was from the little colony on the -north shore. - -Haynes walked forward to meet him, "G'-morning," he said pleasantly. -"Did you happen to see anything of a gentleman in a black suit an' -eye-glasses, wanderin' absentmindedly about this part of the world?" - -"No," said Haynes. "Have you lost such a one?" - -"Reckon he's lost himself, Hain't showed up since last evenin'. Just -the kind o' man to lose himself in open country. Sort o' crank, always -makin' exper'ments." - -"What kind of experiments?" - -"Foolish doin's with kites, like a kid." - -"Is he staying with you?" - -"Boardin'. Been there a week. Says he's study-in' air currents. Goes out -in the evenin's an' puts up a lot o' kites. I've seen him with as many -as seven onto one string. He's mighty smart at it." - -"What time did he start out yesterday evening?" asked Haynes. - -"Long about ha'-past seven. Looked for him back when the wind dropped -and come again so uneasy, just before that shower. But no Mr. Ely." - -"Is that one of his kites?" asked the reporter, pointing to the broken -rhomboid which he had laid in the long grass. - -"Certain, sure!" said the fisherman. "Where'd you find it?" - -"It came down near here. So did one of the others." - -"That so?" said the fisherman, seeming somewhat concerned. "Hope he -ain't come to no harm." While they were talking Professor Ravenden had -been making a rapid calculation on a pad. - -"I believe that I can lead you approximately to the point whence these -kites were flown," he said. "Will you follow me?" - -For more than a mile the small and slight professor set them an -astonishing pace. Presently he stopped short and picked up the end of a -string at the foot of a small hillock. - -"This also seems to have been cut," he said, and followed its course. - -Beyond the knoll was a hollow, and on the slope of this a small -windlass. - -"That's his'n!" cried the fisherman. "But where's he?" - -Haynes walked over to a small oak patch beyond. For several yards in -from the edge the shrubbery showed, by its bent twigs, the passage of -a large body. Patches of cloth on the twigs told that a man had torn -through in hot haste. On the soil underneath were footprints. But at the -end of the path and the footprints was nothing. - -"Look here!" Haynes exclaimed. "He rushed in here to escape something. -Here's where the trail ends. You can see-" - -"My God! Come quick!" - -It was the fisherman on the other side of the oak patch. They ran around -and found him bending over a body almost hidden in the edge of the -thicket, where the scrub was low. - -"That's Mr. Ely!" he cried. "He's been murdered!" - -The head was crushed in as by a terrific blow. Near the right shoulder -the arm-bone protruded from the flesh. Colton lifted the corpse, and -there through the breast was the same kind of gash that had slain -Petersen. - -"It's that cursed juggler," said Haynes bitterly. "Why did we let him -get away?" - -"This man has been dead for several hours," said the young doctor in a -low tone. - -"As long ago as ten o'clock last night?" asked Haynes. - -"Very probably." - -"What killed him; the crashing of the skull or the stab-wound?" - -"Whichever came first." - -"Assuming the correctness of your hypothesis that this unhappy man -rushed into the oak patch from the other side, Mr. Haynes, how is the -fact that we find his body here, several rods distant from the apparent -end of his flight, to be explained?" asked the professor. - -"On the ground that he rushed out again," replied the reporter dryly. - -"Then you discerned returning footprints?" - -"No; there was none there, so far as I could see." - -"And there is none here," said Colton, who had been examining the -grassless soil under the thick canopy. "But see how the thicket is -broken, almost as if he had flung himself upon it. Haynes! What's -wrong?" - -Without any warning the reporter had thrown up his hands and fallen at -full length into the oak. They rushed to his aid, but he was up at once. - -"Don't be alarmed," he said, smiling. "I'm all right. Just an -experiment. I shall go over with this man to make some inquiries at the -fishing colony and arrange for the disposal of the body. It may take me -all day. In that case, I'll see you this evening." - -He took the fisherman by the arm. The man seemed dazed with horror, and -went along with hanging jaw. Colton and Professor Ravenden returned to -Third House, in pondering silence. - -At the house Dick found himself suffering from a return of his old -restlessness. In the afternoon he saw Miss Ravenden, but she evaded even -the necessity of speaking to him. With a vague hope of diverting his -mind and perhaps of finding some fresh clue, he returned to the lake, -and studied the land not only near the spot where the kites had fallen, -but between there and the sea-cliff, without finding anything to lighten -the mystery. - -At nine o'clock Haynes came in, pale and tired, and stopped at Dick's -room. - -"They have arranged to ship Mr. Ely's body back to Connecticut where he -lived," he said. "The fishermen are in a state of almost superstitious -terror." - -"Anything new?" - -"Yes and no. It's too indefinite to talk about. What little there is -only tends to make the whole question more fantastic and less possible." - -Colton looked at him. "You need sleep, and you need it badly," he said. -"Any pain?" - -"Oh, the usual. A little more, perhaps." - -"Take this," said the other, giving him a powder. "That'll fix you. I -wish it would me; I feel tonight as if sleep had become a lost art." - -Nodding his thanks, the reporter left. Dick threw himself on his bed; -but the strange events of the few days at Montauk crowded his brain and -fevered it with empty conjectures. When finally he closed his eyes there -returned upon him the nauseating procession of medicine bottles. Then -came a bloody sheep, which fled screaming from some impending horror. -The sheep became a man frantically struggling in an oak patch, and the -man became Dick himself. Almost he could discern the horror; almost the -secret was solved. Blackness descended upon him. He threw himself upward -with a shriek--and was awake again. When at length he lay back, the -visions were gone; a soft drowsiness overcame him, and at the end the -deep eyes of Dorothy Ravenden blessed him with peace. - - - - -CHAPTER ELEVEN--THE BODY ON THE SAND - -FOUR days had passed since the schooner came ashore on Graveyard Point. -It now was the twentieth of September. The little community in Third -House, which had bade fair to be such a happy family, was in rather a -split-up state. After their tilt of the day before, Dolly Ravenden and -Dick Colton were in a condition of armed neutrality. Dolly was ashamed -that her guardian imp had led her to so misrepresent herself to Dick, -ashamed too of the warm glow at her heart because he cared so deeply. -Thus a double manifestation of her woman's pride kept her from making -amends. - -Dick was longing to abase himself, but wisely took Helga's advice, which -he wholly failed to understand. Helga's beautiful voice rang like an -invocation to happiness through the house, but Everard Colton sat in -gloom and reviled himself because he had promised Dick to stay several -days longer. Haynes was irritable because the puzzle was getting on his -nerves. Professor Ravenden brooded over the loss of a fine specimen of -_Lycona_ which had proved too agile for him, after a stern chase which -developed into a long chase early that morning. Breakfast was not a -lively meal. - -The morning was thick. A still mist hung over the knolls. It was an -ideal day for quiet and secret reconnoissance. - -"This is our chance," said Haynes after breakfast to Dick Colton and -Professor Ravenden. "We'll get the horses and ride out across the point. -We may happen on something." - -The others readily agreed, and soon they had disappeared in the -greyness. Their tacit purpose was to find some trace of the Wonderful -Whalley. All the morning they rode, keeping a keen outlook from every -hilltop, but without avail. They lunched late at First House and started -back well along in the afternoon. - -"He may be in any one of those thousand scrub-oak patches," said Haynes -as they remounted. "It's like hunting a crook on the Bowery. This fog is -thickening. Let's hustle along." - -To hustle along was not so easy, for presently a fine rain came driving -down, involving the whole world in a grey blur. For an hour the three -circled about, lost. From the professor came the first suggestion: - -"I believe that I hear the surf," said he. "Guiding our course by the -sound, we may gain the cliff, by following the line of which we easily -should reach our destination." - -"Bravo, Professor!" said Haynes, and they made for the sea. - -As they reached the crest of the sand-cliff some eighty feet above the -beach, the rain ceased, a brisk puff of wind blew away the mist, and -they found themselves a quarter of a mile west of Graveyard Point. - -A short distance toward the point a steep gully debouched upon the -shore, and a few rods out from its mouth the riders saw the body of a -man stretched on the hard sand. - -The face was hidden. Something in the huddled posture struck the eye -with a shock as of violence. With every reason for assuming, at first -sight, the body to have been washed up, they immediately felt that the -man had not met death by the waves. Where they stood, the cliff fell -too precipitously to admit of descent; but the ravine farther on offered -easy access. Half-falling, half-slipping, they made their way down the -abrupt declivity to the gully's opening, which was partly blocked by a -great boulder, and came upon a soft and pebbly beach, beyond which -the hard clean level of sand stretched to the receding waves. As they -reached the open a man appeared around the point to the eastward, -sighted the body, and broke into a run. Haynes recognised him as Bruce, -the Bow Hill station patrol, who had been on the cliff the night of the -wreck. Dick Colton also started forward, but Haynes called to him: - -"Hold on, Colton. Don't go out on the sand for a moment." - -"Why not," he asked in surprise. - -"No use marking it all up with footsteps." - -At this moment the coast-guard hailed them. "How long has that been -there?" - -"We've just found it," said Colton. - -"I'm on patrol duty from the Bow Hill station," said the other. "Oh, -it's you, Mr. Haynes," he added, recognising the reporter. - -"These gentlemen are guests at Third House, Bruce," said Haynes. "Here's -fresh evidence in our mystery, I fear." - -"Looks so," said the patrol. "Let's have a closer look." He walked -toward the body, which lay with the head toward the waves. Suddenly he -stood still, shaking. - -"Good God! it's Paul Serdholm!" he cried. Then he sprang forward with a -great cry: "He's been murdered!" - -"Oh, surely not murdered!" expostulated Professor Ravenden. "He's been -drowned and----" - -"Drowned?" cried the man in a heat of contempt. "And how about that -gash in the back of his neck? It's his day on patrol from the Sand Spit -station, and this is where the Bow Hill and Sand Spit lines meet. Three -hours ago I saw him on the cliff yonder. Since then he's come and gone -betwixt here and his station. And----" he gulped suddenly and turned -upon the others so sharply that the professor jumped--"what's he met -with?" - -"Perhaps the surf dashing him on a rock made the wound," suggested -Haynes. - -"No, sir!" declared the guard with emphasis. "The tide ain't this high -in a month. It's murder, that's what it is--bloody murder!" and he bent -over the dead man with twitching shoulders. - -"He's right," said Colton, who had been examining the corpse hastily. -"This is no drowning case, The man was stabbed and died instantly." - -"Was the unfortunate a friend of yours?" asked Professor Ravenden -benevolently of the coastguard. - -"No, nor of nobody's, was Paul Serdholm. No later than yesterday he -picked a fight with me, and----" he broke off and looked blankly at the -three men. - -"How long would you say he had been dead?" asked Haynes of Colton. - -"A very few minutes." - -"Then we may catch the murderer!" cried the reporter energetically. -"Professor Ravenden, I know I can count on you. Colton, will you take -orders?" - -"You're the captain," was the quiet reply. - -"Then get to the cliff top and scatter, you three. The murderer must -have escaped that way. You can see most of the gully from there. Not -that way. Make a detour. I don't want any of our footprints on the sand -between here and the cliff." - -The patrol hesitated. - -"Bruce, I've had twenty years' experience in murder cases," said Haynes -quickly. "I'll be responsible. If you will do as I direct for the next -few minutes we should clear this thing up." - -"Right, sir," said the man. - -"Come back here in fifteen minutes, then, if you haven't found anything. -Professor Ravenden, I will meet you at the Sand Spit station in half an -hour. You the same, Dr. Colton." - -As the three started away, Haynes moved up to Colton and said in a low -tone: "The same wound?" Dick nodded. "Without a shadow of doubt. It's -Whalley of course. What will you do?" - -"Stay here and collect the evidence we shall need." - -No sooner had the searchers disappeared up the gully than Haynes set -himself whole-heartedly to the work he loved. His nerves were tense with -the certainty that the answer was writ large for him to read. Indeed, -it should have been almost ridiculously simple. On three sides was the -beach, extending eastward and westward along the cliff and southward to -the water-line. Inland from where he stood over the body, the hard sand -stretched northward, terminating in the rubble at the gully's mouth. In -this mass of rubble, footprints would be indeterminable. Anywhere else -they would stand out like the mark on a coin. - -On their way forward to meet the patrolman the party from Third House -had passed along the pebble beach and stepped out on the hard sand at a -point east of the body, making a circuitous route. Haynes had contrived -this, and as he approached he noted that there were no trail marks on -that side. Toward the ocean there was nothing except numerous faint bird -tracks, extending almost to the water. Now, taking off his shoes, Haynes -followed the spoor of the dead man. Plain as a poster it stood out, to -the westward. For a hundred yards he trailed it. There was no parallel -track. To make doubly certain that the slayer had not crept upon -Serdholm from that direction, Haynes examined the prints for evidences -of superimposed steps. None was there. Three sides, then, were -eliminated. As inference at first had suggested, the killing was done -from the cliff side. - -Haynes' first hasty glance at the sand between the body and the ravine's -opening had shown him nothing. Here, however, must be the telltale -evidence. Striking off from the dead man's line of approach, he walked -out upon the hard surface. The sand was deeply indented beyond the body, -where his three companions had hurried across to the cliff. But no other -shoe had broken its evenness. - -Not until he was almost on a line between the body and the mouth of the -gully did he find a clue. Clearly imprinted on the clean level was the -outline of a huge claw. There were the five talons and the nub of the -foot. A little forward and to one side was a similar mark, except that -it was slanted differently. - -Step by step, with starting eyes and shuddering mind, Haynes followed -the trail. Then he became aware of a second, confusing the first, the -track of the same creature. At first the second track was distinct, then -it merged with the first, only to diverge again. The talons were turned -in the direction opposite to the first spoor. From the body of Serdholm -to the soft sand stretched the unbroken lines. Nowhere else within a -radius of many yards was there any other indication. The sand lay -blank as a white sheet of paper; as blank as the observer's mind, which -struggled with one stupefying thought: that between the body of the dead -life-saver and the refuge of the cliff no creature had passed except one -that stalked on monstrous, taloned feet. - -Sitting down upon the beach, Haynes reasoned with himself aloud: "This -thing," he said, "cannot be so. You ought not to have sent the others -away. Someone in full command of his eyesight and faculties should be -here." - -Then, the detective instinct holding faithful, he hastily gathered some -flat rocks and covered the nearest tracks, in case of rain. A field -sparrow hopped out on the rubble and watched him. - -"To-morrow," said Haynes to the sparrow, "I'll pick up those rocks and -find nothing under them. Then I'll know that this was a phantasm. I -wonder if you're an illusion." - -Selecting the smallest stone, he threw it at the sparrow. With a shriek -of insulted surprise the bird flew away. Haynes produced a pencil, with -which he drew, upon the back of an envelope, a rough but pretty accurate -map of the surroundings. He was putting on his shoes when Bruce came out -of the gully. - -"See anything?" called Haynes. - -"Nothing moving to the northward," replied Bruce, approaching. "Have you -found anything?" - -"Not that you could call definite. Don't cross the sand there. Keep -along down. We'll go to Sand Spit and report this." - -But the man was staring beyond the little column of rock shelters. - -"What's that thing?" he said, pointing to the nearest unsheltered print. -"My God! It looks like a bird track. And it leads straight to the body!" -he cried in a voice that jangled on Haynes' nerves. But when he began -to look fearfully overhead, into the gathering darkness, drawing in his -shoulders like one shrinking from a blow, that was too much. - -Haynes jumped up, grabbed him by the arm and started him along. - -"Don't be a fool!" he said. "Keep this to yourself. I won't have a lot -of idiots prowling around those tracks. Understand? You're to report -this murder, and say nothing about what you don't know. Later we'll take -it up again." - -The man seemed stunned. He walked along quietly, close to his companion, -to whom it was no comfort to feel him, now and again, shaken by a -violent shudder. They had nearly reached the station, when Professor -Ravenden and Colton came down to the beach in front of them. Colton -had nothing to tell. The professor reported having started up a fine -specimen of sky-blue butterfly, which led him astray. This went to show, -he observed, that a man never should venture out lacking his net. - -"Whalley might have bumped into him, and he probably wouldn't have -noticed it," remarked Haynes aside to Colton. "It takes something really -important, like a bug, to attract the scientific notice. A mere murderer -doesn't count." - -"Then you've found evidence against the juggler?" asked Colton eagerly. - -"I've found nothing," returned the reporter, "that's any clearer than a -bucket of mud." - -He refused to say anything more until they were close to the station. -Then he tested a hopeless theory. - -"The man wasn't stabbed; he was shot," he observed. - -"What's the use?" said Colton. "You know that's no bullet wound. You've -seen the same thing twice before, not counting the sheep, and you ought -to know. The bullet was never cast that could open such a gap in a man's -head. It was a broad-bladed, sharp instrument with power behind it." - -"To Dr. Colton's opinion I must add my own for what it is worth," said -Professor Ravenden. - -"Can you qualify as an expert?" asked the reporter with the rudeness -of rasped nerves. He was surprised at the tone of certainty in the -scientist's voice as he replied: - -"When in search of a sub-species of the _Papirlionido in the Orinoco -region, my party was attacked by the Indians that infest the river. -After we had beaten them off, it fell to my lot to attend the wounded. I -thus had opportunity to observe the wounds made by their slender spears. -The incision under consideration bears a rather striking resemblance -to the spear gashes which I saw then. I may add that I brought away -my specimens of _Papilionidointact, although we lost most of our -provisions." - -"No man has been near enough the spot where Serdholm was struck down to -stab him," Haynes said. "Our footprints are plain: so are his. There are -no others. What do you make of that?" He was not yet ready to reveal the -whole astounding circumstance. - -"Didn't I hear somethin' about that juggler that was cast ashore from -the _Milly Esham_ bein' a knife-thrower?" asked Bruce timidly. "Maybe he -spiked Serdholm from the gully." - -"Then where's the knife!" said Haynes. "He'd have to walk out to get it, -wouldn't he?" - -"You must have overlooked some vestigia," said the professor quietly. -"The foot may have left a very faint mark, but it must have pressed -there." - -"No; I'm not mistaken. Had you used your eyes, you would have seen." - -"How far did Bruce's footprints go?" asked Colton. - -The three looked at the coast-guard, who stirred uneasily. "Gentlemen," -said he, "I'm afraid there's likely to be trouble for me over this." His -harassed eyes roved from one to the other. - -"Quite likely," said Haynes. "They may arrest you." - -"God knows, I never thought of killing Serd-holm or any other man!" he -said earnestly. "But I had a grudge against him, and I wasn't far away -when he was killed. Your evidence will help me, unless-" he swallowed -hard. - -"No; I don't believe you had any part in it," said Haynes, answering the -unfinished part of the sentence. "I don't see how you could have unless -you can fly." - -The man smiled dismally. "And then about those queer tracks----" - -"Nothing about that now," interrupted Haynes quickly. "You'd better -report to your captain and keep quiet about this thing." - -"All right," said Bruce. "Good-night, gentlemen." - -"What's that about tracks?" asked Colton. - -"I want you and the professor to come to my room sometime this evening," -said the reporter. "I'll have a full map drawn out by then, and I want -your views. Perhaps you'd better feel my pulse first," he added, with a -slant smile. - -Colton looked at him hard. "You're excited, Haynes," he said. "I haven't -seen you this much worked up. You've got something big, haven't you?" - -"Just how big I don't know. But it's too big for me." - -"Well, after you've got it off your mind on paper you'll probably feel -better." - -"On paper?" - -"Yes; you'll report it for your office, won't you?" - -"Colton," said the reporter earnestly, "if I sent in this story as I -now see it, it would hit old Deacon Stilley on the telegraph desk. The -Deacon would say: 'Another good man gone wrong,' and he'd take it over -to Mr. Clare, the managing editor. Mr. Clare would read it and say: 'Too -bad, too bad!' Then he'd work one of the many pulls that he's always -using for his friends and never for himself, and get board and lodging -for one, for an indefinite period at reduced rates, in some first-class -private sanitarium. The 'one' would be I. Let's go inside." For two -hours Haynes talked with the men in the life-saving station. Then he and -Professor Ravenden and Colton walked home in silence, broken only by the -professor. - -"I wish I could have captured that _Lyccena_" he said wistfully. - - - - -CHAPTER TWELVE--THE SENATUS - -ALL five of the men who composed the male populace of Third House -gathered in Haynes' room at ten o'clock that night. Everard Colton and -old Johnston had been told briefly of the killing of Serdholm. - -"Thus far," said Haynes, addressing the meeting, "this vigilance -committee has been a dismal failure. Had anyone told me that five -intelligent men could fail in finding the murderer, with all the -evidence at hand, I should have laughed at him." - -"Some features which might be regarded as unusual have presented -themselves," suggested Professor Ravenden mildly. - -"Unusual? They're absurd, insane, impossible! But there are the dead -bodies, man and brute. We've got to explain them, or no one knows who -may come next." - -"We've got to be careful, certainly," said Colton; "but I think if we -can capture Whalley, we'll have no more mysterious killings." - -"Oh, that does very well in part; but it doesn't fill out the -requirements," said the reporter impatiently. "Now, I'm going to run -over my notes briefly, and if anyone can add anything, speak up. First, -the killing of the seaman, Petersen, on the night of the shipwreck. That -was on the thirteenth, an uncanny date, sure enough. Next, the killing -of the sheep by the same wound, on the fourteenth, and on the same -evening Professor Ravenden's experience with some threatening object -overhead." - -"Pardon me; I did not ascribe any threatening motive or purpose to the -manifestation," put in the professor. "Indeed, if I may challenge your -memory, I suggested an air-ship. It seems that the unhappy aero-expert's -kites well may have been the source of the sound I heard." - -"Let us assume so for the present. Next we come to Mr. Colton's -encounter and the death of the mare on the evening of the fifteenth." - -"The kites again, of course," said Everard. "Even allowing that--and I -expect to get conclusive proof against it later--what, then, chased the -animal over the cliff?" - -"Maybe the kites came down later and blew along the ground after her. If -you were a horse, and a string of six-foot kites came bounding along in -the darkness after you, wouldn't you jump a cliff?" - -"Ask Professor Ravenden," suggested Haynes maliciously. - -"The jest is not an unfair one," said the scientist good-humouredly. "I -fear that I should." - -"Charge the death of the mare to the kites, then. Pity we can't lay the -sheep to their account too. The third count against them is Professor -Ravenden's adventure of the eighteenth, and the death of the aeronaut. -As to Professor Ravenden's part, there remains to be explained the -cutting of the kite strings, if they were cut." - -"That must have been done, it would seem, in mid-air, just as Petersen -the sailor was killed," said Dick Colton. - -Haynes looked at him quickly. "Colton, you're beginning to show signs of -reasoning powers," he said. "I think I'd better appoint you my legatee -for the work, if my turn should come next." - -"My dear Haynes," Professor Ravenden protested, "under the circumstances -that remark at least is somewhat discomforting." - -"You're quite right, Professor. Down with presentiments! Well, as Dr. -Colton suggests, there's a rather interesting parallel between the -mid-air killing of the sailor and the mid-air cutting of the kite cord. -Let that go, for the present. Mr. Ely's death we can hardly ascribe to -his own kites. There's the cutting of the string near his hand." - -"That blasted Portuguese murderer, Whalley," said Johnston. - -"Most probably. The wound is such as his big knife would make; we know -he's abroad on the knolls. But why should he kill Mr. Ely, whom he never -saw before, and why in the name of all that's dark should he cut the -kite strings?" - -"Murderous mania; the same motive that drove him to kill the sheep," -said Dick Colton. "As for the kite string, perhaps he got tangled in -it." - -"There is no tangle," replied the reporter, "except in the evidence. But -we'll call that Whalley's work. We come to to-day's murder now. Who did -that?" - -"Without assuming any certainty in the matter, I should assume the -suspicion to rest upon the juggler," said Professor Ravenden. - -"Motive is there," said Dick Colton. "What Serdholm told us about his -thumping Whalley shows that." - -"Yes; but there is motive in the case of Bruce also. And we know that -Bruce was there. Moreover, he was on the cliff-head when Petersen came -in, and the two wounds are the same." - -"Surely," began the young doctor, "you don't believe that Bruce-" - -"No, I don't believe it," interrupted the reporter; "but it's a -hypothesis we've got to consider. Suppose Bruce and Serdholm recognised -this man Petersen as an enemy, and Bruce slipped a knife into him as he -took him from the buoy?" - -"But I thought Petersen was killed halfway to the shore." - -"So we suppose; but it is partly on the testimony of these two that -we believe it, corroborated by circumstantial evidence. Now, if Bruce -killed the sailor, Serdholm knew it. The two guards quarrelled and -fought. Bruce had reason to fear Serdholm. There's the motive for the -murder of Serdholm. He met him alone--there is opportunity. I think -the case against him is stronger than that against Whalley, in -this instance. I've looked into his movements on the night of the -sheep-killing and the murder of Mr. Ely. He was out on the former, and -in on the latter." - -"That weakens the case," said Everard Colton. "Yes; but what ruins the -case against both Bruce and Whalley in the killing of Serdholm is this." -Haynes spread out on his table a map which he had drawn. "There is -the situation, sketched on the spot. You will see that there are no -footprints other than our own leading to or going down from the body. -Gentlemen, as sure as my name is Haynes, the thing that killed Paul -Serdholm never walked on human feet!" - -There was a dead silence in the room. Dick Colton's eyes, narrowed to a -mere slit, were fixed on the reporter's face. Johnston's jaw dropped -and hung. Everard Colton gave a little nervous laugh. Professor Ravenden -bent over the map and studied it with calm interest. - -"No," continued Haynes, "I'm perfectly sane. There are the facts. I'd -like to see anyone make anything else out of it." - -"There is only one other solution," said Professor Ravenden presently: -"the fallibility of the human senses. May I venture to suggest -again that there may be evidences present which you, in your natural -perturbation, failed to note?" - -"No," said the reporter positively. "I know my business. I missed -nothing. Here's one thing I didn't fail to note. Johnston, you know this -neck of land?" - -"Lived here for fifty-seven years," said the innkeeper. - -"Ever hear of an ostrich farm hereabouts?" - -"No. Couldn't keep ostriches here. Freeze the tail-faithers off'em -before Thanksgiving." - -"Professor Ravenden, would it be possible for a wandering ostrich or -other huge bird, escaped from some zoo, to have its home on Montauk?" - -"Scientifically quite possible in the summer months. In winter, as Mr. -Johnston suggests, the climate would be too rigorous, though I doubt -whether it would have the precise effect specified by him. May I inquire -the purpose of this? Can it be that the tracks referred to by the patrol -were the cloven hoof-prints of-" - -"Cloven hoofs?" Haynes cried in sharp disappointment. "Is there no -member of the ostrich family that has claws?" - -"None now extant. In the processes of evolution the claws of the -ostrich, like its wings, have gradually----" - -"Is there any huge-clawed bird large enough and powerful enough to kill -a man with a blow of its beak?" - -"No, sir," said the professor. "I know of no bird which would venture to -attack man except the ostrich, emu or cassowary, and the fighting weapon -of this family is the hoof, not the beak." - -"Professor," interrupted Haynes, "the only thing that approached -Serdholm within striking distance walked on a foot armed with five great -claws. You can see the trail on this map." He produced a large sheet -of paper on which was a crude but careful drawing. "And there is its -sign-manual, life-size," he added, pushing a second sheet across the -table to the scientist. - -Imagination could hardly picture a more precise, unemotional and -conventially scientific man than Professor Ravenden. Yet, at sight of -the paper his eyes sparkled, he half started from his chair, a flush -rose in his cheeks, he looked keenly from the sketch to the artist, and -spoke in a voice that rang with a deep under-thrill of excitement: - -"Are you sure, Mr. Haynes--are you quite sure that this is substantially -correct?" - -"Minor details may be inexact. In all essentials that will correspond to -the marks made by something that walked from the mouth of the gully to -the spot where we found the body and back again." Before he had -fairly finished the professor was out of the room. He returned almost -immediately with a flat slab of considerable weight. This he laid on -the table, and taking the drawing, sedulously compared it with an -impression, deep-sunken into the slab. For Haynes a single glance was -enough. That impression, stamped as it was on his brain, he would have -identified as far as the eye could see it. - -"That's it!" he cried with the eagerness of triumphant discovery. -"The bird from whose foot that cast was made is the thing that killed -Serdholm." - -"Mr. Haynes," said the entomologist dryly, "this is not a cast." - -"Not a cast?" said the reporter in bewilderment. "What is it, then?" - -"It is a rock of the cretaceous period." - -"A rock?" he repeated dully. "Of what period?" - -"The cretaceous. The creature whose footprint you see there trod that -rock when it was soft ooze. That may have been one hundred million years -ago. It was at least ten million." - -Haynes looked again at the rock, and superfluous emotions stirred among -the roots of his hair. "Where did you find it?" he asked presently. - -"It formed a part of Mr. Johnston's stone fence. Probably he picked it -up in his pasture yonder. The maker of the mark inhabited the island -where we now are--this land then was distinct from Long -Island--in the incalculably ancient ages." - -"What did this bird thing call itself?" Haynes demanded. A sense of the -ghastly ridiculousness of the affair was jostling, in the core of his -brain, a strong shudder of mental nausea born of the void into which he -was gazing. - -"It was not a bird. It was a reptile. Science knows it as the -pteranodon." - -"Could it kill a man with its beak?" - -"The first man came millions of years later--or so science thinks," -said the professor. "However, primeval man, unarmed, would have fallen -a helpless victim to so formidable a brute as this. The pteranodon was -a creature of prey," he continued, with an attempt at pedantry which -was obviously a ruse to conquer his own excitement. "From what we can -reconstruct, a reptile stands forth spreading more than twenty feet of -bat-like wings, and bearing a four-foot beak as terrible as a bayonet. -This monster was the undisputed lord of the air; as dreadful as his -cousins of the earth, the dinosaurs, whose very name carries the -significance of terror." - -"And you mean to tell us that this billion-years-dead flying swordfish -has flitted out of the darkness of eternity to kill a miserable -coast-guard within a hundred miles of New York, in the year 1902?" broke -in Everard Colton. - -"I have not said so," replied the entomologist quickly. "But if your -diagram is correct, Mr. Haynes, if it is reasonably accurate, I can tell -you that no living bird ever made the prints which it reproduces, that -science knows no five-toed bird, and no bird whatsoever of sufficiently -formidable beak to kill a man; furthermore, that the one creature -known to science which could make that print, and could slay a man or -a creature far more powerful than man, is the tiger of the air, the -pteranodon." - -"Evidence wanted from the doctor!" cried Haynes. "Colton, can you add -anything to this theory that Serdholm was killed by a bayonet-beaked -ghoul that lived ten or a hundred or a thousand million years ago?" - -"I'll tell you one thing," said the doctor: "The wound isn't unlike what -a heavy, sharp beak would make." - -"And that would explain the sailor being killed while he was coming in -on the buoy!" exclaimed Everard Colton. "But--but this pteranodon--is -that it? Oh, the deuce! I thought all those pteranothings were dead and -buried long before Adam's great-grandfather was a protoplasm." - -"My own belief is that Mr. Haynes' diagram is faulty," said Professor -Ravenden, to whom he had turned. - -"Will you come and see?" challenged Haynes. - -"Willingly. Would it not be well to take the rock along for comparison?" - -"Then we'd better all go," said Everard Colton, "and carry the rock in -shifts. It doesn't look as if it had lost any weight with age." - -As the party reached the large living-room, Helga Johnston sprang up -from the long cushioned rest near the fireplace. Her face was flushed -with sleep. In the glow of the firelight an expression of affright lent -her beauty an uncanny aspect. Her breath came in little gasps, and her -hands groped and trembled. - -"What is it, Miss Helga?" cried Everard, running eagerly forward. - -Unconsciously her fingers closed on his outstretched hand, and clung -there. - -"A dream!" she said breathlessly. "A horrid dream!" Then turning to -Haynes: "Petit Pere, you aren't going out to-night?" she said, glancing -at the lanterns which her foster-father had brought. - -"Yes, Princess, we're all going." - -"Into danger?" asked the girl. She had freed herself from Colton's -grasp, but now her eyes fell on his again. - -"No; just to clear up a little point. We shall all hang together." - -"Don't go to-night, Petit Pere!" There was an imploring intonation in -the girl's flute-like voice. - -Haynes crossed over to her rapidly. "Princess, you're tired out and -nervous. Go to bed, won't you?" - -"Yes; but promise me--father, you too, all of you--promise me you won't -any of you let yourselves be alone." - -"My dear child," said Professor Ravenden, "I'll give you my word for the -party, as I am the occasion of the expedition." - -"I--I suppose I am foolish," Helga said; "but I have dreamed so -persistently of some terrible danger overhanging--floating down like a -pall." With a sudden gesture she caught Haynes' hand to her cheek. "It -hung over you, Petit Pere!" she whispered. - -"I'll throw a pebble at your window to let you know I'm back alive and -well," he said gaily. "I've never seen you so nervous before, Princess." - -"You'll hardly need the lantern," said the girl, walking to the door, -and looking up at the splendid moon, sailing in the unflecked sea of the -Heavens. - -"When you're looking for foot-prints on the sands of time," observed -Everard, "you need the light that never was on sea or land." - -He dropped back as the exploring party filed out into the night, and -fell into step with Professor Ravenden. - -"Isn't it true," he asked, "that all these flying monsters are extinct?" - -"Science has assumed that they were extinct," said the Professor. "But -a scientific assumption is a mere makeshift, useful only until it is -overthrown by new facts. We have prehistoric survivals. The gar of our -rivers is unchanged from its ancestors of fifteen million years ago. The -creature of the water has endured; why not the creature of the air?" - -"But," said Colton combatively, "where could it live and not have been -discovered?" - -"Perhaps at the North or South Pole," said the professor. "Perhaps -in the depths of unexplored islands; or possibly inside the globe. -Geographers are accustomed to say loosely that the earth is an open -book. Setting aside the exceptions which I have noted, there still -remains the interior, as unknown and mysterious as the planets. In its -possible vast caverns there well may be reproduced the conditions -in which the pteranodon and its terrific contemporaries found their -suitable environment on the earth's surface, ages ago." - -"Then how would it get out?" - -"The recent violent volcanic disturbances might have opened an exit." - -"Oh, that's too much!" Haynes broke in. "I was at Martinique myself, -and if you expect me to believe that anything came out of that welter of -flame and boiling rocks alive-" - -"You misinterpret me again," said the professor blandly. "What I -intended to convey was that these eruptions were indicative of great -seismic changes, in the course of which vast openings might well have -occurred in far parts of the earth. However, I am merely defending the -pteranodon's survival as an interesting possibility. As I stated before, -Mr. Haynes, I believe the gist of the matter to lie in some error of -your diagram." - -"We'll see in a moment," said Haynes; "for here's the place. Let it down -easy, Johnston. Wait, Professor, here's the light. Now I'll convince -you." - -Holding the lantern with one hand, he uncovered one of the tracks -with the other. The mark was perfectly preserved. "Good God!" said the -professor under his breath. - -He dropped on his hands and knees beside the print, and as he compared -the to-day's mark on the sand with the rock print of millions of -years ago, his breath came hard. Indeed, none of the party breathed as -regularly as usual. When the scientist lifted his head, his face was -twitching nervously. - -"I have to ask your pardon, Mr. Haynes," he said. "Your drawing was -faithful." - -"But what in Heaven's name does it mean?" cried Dick Colton. - -"It means that we are on the verge of the most important discovery of -modern times," said the professor. "Savants have hitherto scouted the -suggestions to be deduced from the persistent legend of the roc and from -certain almost universal North American Indian lore, notwithstanding -that the theory of some monstrous, winged creature widely different from -any recognised existing forms is supported by more convincing proofs. -In the north of England, in 1844, reputable witnesses found the tracks, -after a night's fall of snow, of a creature with a pendent tail, which -made flights over houses and other obstructions, leaving a trail much -like this before us. There are other corroborative instances of a -similar nature. In view of the present evidence, I would say that this -unquestionably was a pteranodon, or a descendant little altered, and -a gigantic specimen, for these tracks are distinctly larger than the -fossil marks. Gentlemen, I congratulate you both on your part in so -epoch-making a discovery." - -"Do you expect a sane man to believe this thing?" Haynes demanded. - -"That's what I feel," said Everard Colton. "But, on your own showing of -the evidence, what else is there to believe?" - -"But, see here," Haynes expostulated, all the time feeling as if he -were arguing in and against a dream. "If this is a flying creature, how -explain the footprints leading up to Serdholm's body, as well as away -from it?" - -"Owing to its structure," said the professor, "the pteranodon could not -rise rapidly from the ground in flight. It either sought an acclivity -from which to launch itself, or ran swiftly along the ground, gathering -impetus for a leap into the air with outspread wings. Similarly, in -alighting, it probably ran along on its hind feet before dropping to its -small fore feet. Now, conceive the pteranodon to be on the cliff's edge, -about to start upon its evening flight. Below it appears a man. Its -ferocious nature is aroused at the sight of this unknown being. Down it -swoops, skims swiftly with pattering feet toward him, impales him on its -dreadful beak, then returns to climb the cliff and again launch itself -for flight." - -All this time Haynes had been holding one of the smaller rocks in -his hand. Now he flung it toward the gully and turned away, saying -vehemently: "If the shore was covered with footprints, I wouldn't -believe it! It's too--" - -He never finished that sentence. From out of the darkness there came a -hoarse cry. Heavy wings beat the air with swift strokes. In that instant -panic fell upon them. Haynes ran for the shelter of the cliff, and after -him came the Coltons. Johnston dropped on hands and knees and scurried -like a crab for cover. Only the professor stood his ground; but it was -with a tremulous voice that he called to his companions: - -"That was a common marsh or short-eared owl that rose. The _Asio -accipitrinus_ is not rare hereabouts, nor is it dangerous to mankind. -There is nothing further to do to-night, and I believe that we are in -some peril remaining here, as the pteranodon appears to be nocturnal." - -The others returned to him ashamed. But all the way home they walked -under an obsession of terror hovering in the blackness above. - -It was a night of restless and troubled sleep at Third House. For -when the incredible takes the form of undeniable reason, and demands -credence, the brain of man gropes fitfully along dim avenues of -conjecture. Helga's premonition of impending disaster lay heavy upon the -household. - - - - -CHAPTER THIRTEEN--THE NEW EVIDENCE - -THE morning of September 21 impended in sullen splendour from a bank of -cloud. As the sudden sun struggled into the open it brought a brisk blow -from the southwest, dispelling a heavy mist. The last of the fog was -being scoured from the earth's face when Dick Colton was awakened from -an unrefreshing sleep by a quick step passing down the hall. Jumping out -of bed, he threw open the door and faced Haynes. - -"Don't wake the others," said the reporter in a low voice. - -"Where are you off to?" inquired Colton. - -"To the beach. I've got a notion that I can settle this Serdholm -question here and now." - -"Wait fifteen minutes and I'll go with you." - -"If you don't mind, Colton, I'd rather you wouldn't. I want to go over -the ground alone, first. But if I'm not back for breakfast, meet me -there and I'll probably have something to tell you." - -"Very well. It's your game to play. Good luck! Oh, hold on. Have you got -a gun?" - -"No, mine hasn't come yet." - -"Better take mine." - -"You must have been having bad dreams," said the other lightly. "What -sleep I've had has banished the professor's cretaceous jub-jub bird from -my mental premises. Anyhow, I don't think a revolver would be much use -against it, do you?" - -"Take it, anyway," urged Colton. - -"All right," assented the reporter. "Much obliged. I'll take it along if -you want me to." - -The doctor handed out his long Colt's. "Well, good luck!" he said again, -and with a strange impulse he stretched out his hand. - -Haynes seemed a little startled; but he said nothing, as he shook hands, -except: "See you in a couple of hours, then." - -Although it was only six o'clock, Dick Colton could not get back to -sleep. A sound of splashing water from Everard's room showed that he too -was up. Dick was dressing with those long pauses between each process -which are the surest sign of profound thought in the masculine creature, -when he heard a knock on Haynes' door followed by the music of Helga -Johnston's voice. - -"Petit Pere. Oh, Petit Pere!" - -Before Dick could reach the door and explain, the low call came again: - -"Petit Pere! Oh, please wake up!" - -"Miss Helga," began Dick, thrusting out his head. - -"Oh, Dr. Colton, I've--I've had such a dreadful dream again. I want to -speak to Mr. Haynes." - -"He started for the beach fifteen minutes ago." - -"Oh-h-h!" It was a long, shuddering gasp. The next instant he heard her -swift footsteps patter downstairs, through the living-room and out upon -the porch. A few minutes later Everard Colton in trousers and shirt came -into the room. - -"Was that Helga's voice I heard?" - -"Yes." - -"Anything wrong?" asked the young man anxiously. - -"Haynes has gone to the beach, and she has followed. She's had -a dream-warning or some fool thing"--Colton had the professional -impatience of the supernatural--"and would be hysterical if she was of -that type." - -Everard exploded into a curse. "And you let her go alone?" - -"Am I likely to do a cross-country run in my underclothes?" demanded his -brother. - -The young man was down the stairs in two leaps, and out upon the lawn. -Helga's fair head shone far to the south on a hillock's top. She was -running. - -"Take the cross-cut!" shouted Dick Colton. "You can head her off at -Graveyard Point. I'll follow." - -There were few men of his time who could keep near Everard Colton to -the end of a mile run. Heartbreaking country this was, with its ups and -downs; but the young man had the instinct of a cross-country runner, and -subconsciously his feet led him along the easiest course. When he came -out on the summit of the cliff above Graveyard Point, his eyes, eagerly -searching, saw the flying figure of the girl he loved coming down the -beach, a quarter of a mile away. - -"Helga, Helga!" he shouted. "I'm coming to you!" - -Her ringing soprano came back to him, like an echo magically transmuted -into golden beauty: "The other side! Around the point." - -She waved him vehemently toward the hidden shore beyond the headland. -Something of her foreboding terror passed into the soul of her lover. -Plunging down into the gully, Everard ran out upon the beach and doubled -the point. Whatever peril there was, if any existed, lay there; he would -reach it first. The waves almost washed his feet as he toiled through -the loose sand at the base of the little ravine. Breathless, he pushed -on until he reached the point, where he had full view of the stretch -of sand. Then at what he saw the breath came back to him in one gasping -inhalation. He stopped short in his tracks, and stood shaking. - -The sun had just risen above the cloudbank. Black, on the shining glory -of the beach, a man lay sprawled grotesquely. It was almost at the -spot where Serdholm had been found. Though the face was hidden and -the posture distorted, Everard knew him instantly for Haynes, and as -instantly knew that he was dead. He ran forward and bent over the body. - -Haynes had been struck opposite the gully, by a weapon driven with -fearful impetus between his ribs from the back, piercing his heart. A -dozen staggering prints showed where he had plunged forward before -he fell. The flight was involuntary--for he was dead almost on the -stroke--the blind, mechanical instinct of escape from the death-dealing -agency. There was no mistaking that great gash in the back. Haynes had -been killed as Serdholm was. - -Sickening with the certainty of what he was to find, Everard Colton -turned his eyes to the tablet of the sand. There, exactly as the -ill-fated reporter had drawn it on his map, the grisly track of the -talons stretched in double line across the clean beach, toward the -gully's mouth. Except for this the sand was blank. - -For a few steps he followed the trail, then turned back to the body. In -the pocket he found his brother's revolver. So Haynes had been struck -down without warning! For the moment, shock had driven from Colton's -mind the thought of Helga. Now he rose to fend her from the sight of -this horror, and saw her moving swiftly around the point. - -"Go back!" he cried. "You must not come nearer!" - -With no more heed of him than if he were a rock in her path, the girl -made a half-circle of avoidance, and sinking upon the sand gazed into -the dead man's face. The eyes were closed, and from the calm features -all the expression of harshness had fled. Gone were the lines of pain; -the dead face wore for Helga the same sweetness and gentleness that, -living, Haynes had kept for her alone, and the lips seemed to smile to -her as she lifted the head to her lap and smoothed back the hair from -the forehead. - -"He is dead?" she asked dully, looking up at Everard. - -"Yes," said the young man. - -"I warned him," she whispered. "I saw it so plainly--death flying -across the sands to strike him. Oh, Petit Pere, why didn't you heed me? -Couldn't you trust the loving heart of your little princess?" - -In that moment Everard Colton forgot his hopes. A great surge of pity -and grief for the girl rose within him. It came to him that she had -loved the better man, the man who lay dead on the sands, and as the -first pang of that passed there was left in him only the sense of -service. Throwing his coat across Haynes' body, he bent over Helga. - -"My dear," he said, "my dear." - -That was all; but her woman's swift intuition recognised the new feeling -and responded to it. She groped for his hand and clung to it. - -"Don't leave us!" she said pitifully. - -"I will wait here with you," he answered. - -Slowly the tide rose toward the mournful little group on the sand. An -investigating gull swooped down near to them, and the girl roused with a -shudder from her reveries, thrusting out her hands as if to ward off the -bird. - -"It was like that in my dream," she said, looking up at Everard with -tearless eyes. "Oh, why did I not compel him to heed my warning! He used -to say the sea-spirits that brought me in from the storm had given me -second sight. Why did he not trust in that?" - -"He loved you very dearly," said Everard gently. "Ah, you do not -know what he was to me!" cried the girl. "Everything that was noble, -everything that was generous. From the time when I was a child--Oh, he -_can't_ be dead. Can't you do something?" - -Everard choked. Before he could command himself for a reply, there was a -rattle of stones down the face of the cliff. Necessity for action was -a boon to his tortured sensibilities. Catching up the revolver from the -spot where he had laid it, he walked toward the sound. A confused noise -of voices caused him to drop the muzzle of his weapon, as Dick Colton, -Professor Ravenden and his daughter came into view. - -"Too late, Dick," said Everard. - -"Good God!" said Dick. "Not Haynes?" - -Everard nodded. "He was dead when we got here." - -With a little, broken cry, Dolly Ravenden flew to Helga and threw her -arms around the girl's neck. - -Dick Colton drew the coat from the body, looked at the wound, and then -followed the tracks to the spot where they disappeared in the soft -rubble. Returning, he said to Dolly Ravenden: - -"Get Miss Helga away." - -"She won't come. I can't persuade her to move," said Dolly. - -Everard came and knelt beside the girl. "Helga," he said, "Helga, dear, -you must go back home. We will bring him as soon as we can. Will you go -back with me now, dear?" - -"Yes," said the girl. - -Bending over, she kissed Haynes' forehead. She got to her feet, and -Everard and Dolly Ravenden led her away. Dick leaned over the dead -face and looked down upon it with a great sense of sorrow and wrath. So -gazing, he recalled the reporter's half-jesting charge that he should -take up the trail, "if my turn comes next." - -"It's a promise, old man," he said softly to the dead. "You might have -left me your clue; but I'll do my best. And until I've found your slayer -or my turn comes I'll not give up the work that you've left to me." - -Meantime Professor Ravenden had been examining the marks with every -mark of deep absorption. "Professor Ravenden!" called Dick somewhat -impatiently. - -The professor turned reluctantly. - -"This--is--a very interesting case," he muttered brokenly. "I--I will -notify the coast-guard." - -And Dick saw, with amazement, before the dry-as-dust scientist turned -again to post down the beach, that his eyes were filled with tears. - - - - -CHAPTER FOURTEEN--THE EARLY EXCURSION - -IN every Anglo-Saxon there is something of the bloodhound. Sorrow for -Haynes' tragic death had merged with and intensified in the mind of -Dick Colton a haggard demand for vengeance. He was surprised to find -how strong a liking for the reporter had grown out of so brief an -acquaintance. With equal surprise, he realised that his every instinct -now was set to the blood-trail, that the duty of following the mystery -to a definite conclusion possessed his mind to the exclusion of all -else. Not quite all, either, for the thought of Dolly Ravenden lay -deeper than the mind. - -One salient fact asserted itself: Whatever may have been the agency of -the other murders, Harris Haynes' slaying was indubitably the same as -that of Paul Serdholm. But what possible motive of murder could comprise -these two? Could Bruce be the solution? Following what he thought would -have been the processes of the reporter's keen mind, Colton, after -sending necessary telegrams, visited the Bow Hill station. Bruce was -not in. He had gone out early that morning, ostensibly to fish. To the -officer in charge Colton briefly stated the facts, and suggested that -Bruce be detained when he returned, which was agreed to readily, though -not without the expression of a hearty disbelief in the coast-guard's -having had anything to do with the killing. - -"Give a dog a bad name!" said the officer. "Because Bruce was around -when Serdholm was killed, he's suspected of this job. He told me Mr. -Haynes was helping to clear him of the other killing." - -"That is true," replied Colton. "Haynes did not think him guilty. Nor do -I. But there are suspicious circumstances." - -It was late in the afternoon when the Coroner, who had driven fifteen -miles to reach the spot, had finished his work, and Haynes' body was -brought to the house. From the official investigation nothing had -resulted. Bruce was examined, and was pitifully nervous, but told a -straight enough story of his fishing and exhibited several fish in -corroboration. - -Colton felt helpless in this maze. Late in the afternoon Dolly Ravenden -came to him. Her brilliant beauty was dimmed and softened by traces of -tears, and to the man's longing heart she never had appealed with so -irresistible a charm. - -"Dr. Colton," she said, "I don't know what to do about Helga. She is -like a dazed person. Your brother and I have been with her constantly. -She has not broken down once. The tears seem frozen within her. I am -frightened for her reason. She seems to blame herself for this dreadful -thing." - -"There is something I want her to know," said Dick. "Will you tell her?" - -"Had you not better see her yourself?" - -"I think not. You will tell her better. It is this: Poor Haynes had not -a year to live. He knew this himself." - -"How did you know?" asked the girl incredulously. - -"He told me of the disease that was killing him. It was when I asked him -whether I might send for Everard to come down." - -"Then you let me accuse you wrongly," she said very low. "Why did you -not tell me that Mr. Haynes knew of Everard's coming? Was it fair in you -to let me be so unfair? I am ashamed of myself for the way I spoke to -you. I have been ashamed----" - -She raised her appealing eyes to his and moved a step nearer him. Dick -held his breath like a man afraid of dispelling some entrancing vision. - -"I did not mean it," she went on bravely, though her eyes fell before -his look. "When I saw how it hurt you I was sorry." - -"It is for me to beg your pardon," said Dick hoarsely, "for believing -your words against what my own heart told me of you. You know why it -hurt me so?" - -"Yes," she said, in sweet acceptance of his reason. - -"Dolly, do you care at all?" he cried, stretching out his hands to her. - -"I don't know," she faltered. "Don't ask me yet. It has been so short a -time. I must speak of Helga now." - -"Yes," said Dick, "I shall wait, and wait happily." And--so strange a -thing is the heart of woman--a pang of disappointment accompanied the -quick thrill of admiration in Dolly's heart at her lover's loyalty and -self-repression. - -"I will tell her what you say," said Dolly. She paused for a moment, and -then a wonderful smile flickered over her sobered beauty. - -"It ought to have been Helga you cared for," she said. "But I'm glad it -isn't!" And she was gone. - -The evening train brought, in response to Dick's telegram, a grave and -quiet young fellow who introduced himself as Eldon Smith, a reporter -from _The New Era_, Haynes' paper, and an older man with a face of -singular beauty, whose name was a national word by virtue of his gifts -as an editorial writer. Archer Melbourne had been the dead man's only -confidant. He at once took charge. - -"I have heard from Mr. Haynes within a week," he said to Dick Colton. -"If I believed in such things, I should say that he had a premonition -of death. He is to be buried in the hill behind Third House, so he wrote -me. His property, which is considerable, including his life insurance, -goes to Miss Helga Johnston, in trust, until her marriage. I am named as -one trustee, and he writes me to ask you to act as the other." - -"Surely Haynes must have had friends of older standing," began Dick, -"who----" - -"Haynes had few intimates. He was a quick and keen judge of men, and you -seem to have inspired a strong confidence. There is a peculiar request -attached. He asks that you use all your influence to guard Miss Johnston -against making any marriage under conditions which you could not approve -for the woman you loved best in the world." - -"God helping me, I will!" said Dick solemnly. - -"As for the circumstances of Haynes' death, the stories I heard are too -wild for credence." - -"So are the facts," said Dick briefly. - -"Eldon Smith came down on the train with me. There is no keener mind in -the newspaper business than his. Of course, he comes to represent his -paper at Haynes' funeral. The managing editor and others of the staff -will be down to-morrow. Meantime, I think Smith will be investigating. -Perhaps you will tell him what you know." - -To the two newspaper men Dick Colton recited the facts. Smith took -an occasional note, and left with the brief comment: "I've never come -across anything like this before. If Mr. Haynes couldn't make it out, -there isn't much chance for anyone else. But I'll do my best." - -After the close of the interview, Everard Colton came into Dick's room. - -"Good Heavens, Ev," said Dick. "You look ten years older. Brace yourself -up, man." - -"Dick," said his brother, "I've given up. I see now I was a fool to -think I ever could win Helga. I'm going to stick by her until this thing -is over, and then I'll go back." - -"Don't be too sure," began Dick; but checked himself, remembering his -promise to the girl. - -"That is what Dolly said," replied the other hopelessly. "But I've had -my eyes opened. I know now what sort of fellow Haynes really was. How -could a man such as I win out against that kind of man?" - -"Anyway," said Dick, "Helga needs you at this time; you and Miss -Ravenden. You won't leave now, Ev." - -"Oh, I'll stand by," came the weary answer. "I don't mean to whine; -but I'll be glad when I can get away. Even if I thought there was any -chance--Oh, a fellow can't fight the dead; it's too cowardly!" - -"Ev," said Dick affectionately, "you don't know--How is she now?" he -asked, breaking off suddenly. - -"Just the same. Mr. Melbourne saw her for a few minutes, and brought -her some old letters of Haynes'. She has them, but we can't rouse her to -read them." - -"Has Miss Ravenden told her of Haynes' illness?" - -"What illness? Dolly's been trying to tell her something; but Helga -doesn't seem to comprehend." - -"She will come out of that daze presently," said Dick. "You'd better go -back to her, Ev." - -Late that evening Eldon Smith knocked at Dick's door, and found Dick -talking with Professor Ravenden. - -"It certainly is the most extraordinary case in my experience," said the -young reporter. "So many people had wallowed all over the place before -I got there that there was nothing to be had from the sand, except two -trampled remains of those remarkable tracks. You are sure there were no -footprints?" - -"Absolutely," replied the professor and Colton in a breath. - -"And you say Mr. Haynes was sure that there was none leading to the body -of the man Serd-holm?" - -"So he positively declared." - -"Of course the pteranodon theory is out of the question." - -"Professor Ravenden does not so consider," said Dick. - -"I beg your pardon, Professor; I understand--" - -"That the pteranodon still exists is by no means impossible," said -Professor Ravenden. "That the mysterious marks correspond to the fossil -track is undeniable. I cannot so lightly dismiss the theory that a -reptile of this supposedly extinct species did the killing." - -"Well, all that I can do is to try again tomorrow. Good-night," and the -reporter left. - -"If Haynes were alive," said Colton as the young man went, "he would -go down to the beach the first thing in the morning. That is what I am -going to do." - -"Do you think it safe?" queried the professor. "Not entirely," replied -the other frankly; "but I'll have a revolver." - -"Little enough avail was that to our poor friend," said Professor -Ravenden. "Suppose I accompany you?" - -"Thank you, sir," said Dick. "If you care to go, I should be glad to -have you. But suppose you come across the knolls while I follow Haynes' -course along the beach. We'll meet at the spot. You of course will go -armed?" - -"Certainly. Yes, I think your plan a good one." - -For Dick Colton there was little sleep that night. After midnight he was -sent for to see Helga. At last she had come out of her semi-stupor, and -had given way to such a violence of grief that Dolly and Everard were -terrified. Having given her an opiate and ordered Everard to bed, Dick -sat up with his own troubled conjectures until nearly dawn. Barely three -hours of dozing had been his portion when he woke again. - -With his shoes in his hand, he crept downstairs and started for the -beach. He had set out early, because, despite the chill in the air, he -wished to take a plunge in the sea to freshen himself up. Brief indeed -was the plunge; consequently Dick Colton was in a fair way to reach the -rendezvous some minutes before the arrival of the professor. - -At Graveyard Point he climbed the cliff and took a long look around. A -mist, moving along from east to west, cut off his view in one direction. -Descending to the beach, he readily found the spot where Haynes' body -had lain. By way of precaution he made sure that his revolver was in -condition for instant use. Although a slight rain had fallen, blurring -the writings on the sand, and there had been almost total destruction by -the trampling of those who had taken Haynes' body away, there still -was left some material for study. The remains of the five-taloned marks -Colton set himself to consider. - -Once there came a startling interruption, in the sliding of some gravel -down the gully. Pistol in hand, Dick whirled, and for ten monstrously -elongated seconds listened to the irregular beats of his heart as he -waited. Satisfied at length that it was only a chance avalanche in -miniature, he got down on his hands and knees above the plainest of the -vestigia. There was the secret, if he only could read it. Had Haynes -solved it and met his death at the moment of success? For perhaps two -or three minutes the young doctor remained in his crouched posture, his -mind immersed in speculation. Then he rose, facing the sea, and as he -stood and looked down there came to him a sudden glow of illumination. - -"By the heavens! I've got it!" he cried. - -He started forward to the next mark. As he advanced, something sang in -the air behind him. He knew it was some swiftly flying thing; knew in -the same agonised moment that the doom of Haynes and Serdholm was upon -him: tried to turn and face his death--and then there was a dreadful, -grinding shock, a flame with jagged edges tore through his brain, and he -fell forward into darkness. - - - - -CHAPTER FIFTEEN--THE PROFESSOR ACTS - -PROMPTITUDE was one of Professor Ravenden's many virtues. Only one -thing could make him forget the obligation of an engagement; that was -his dominant ardour for the hunt. In time this had become an instinct. -So it is not strange that, on leaving Third House to keep his rendezvous -with Dick Colton, he should have absentmindedly hung his heavy -poison-jar for specimens around his neck, and taken up his butterfly -net, while entirely forgetting his revolver. - -As chance would have it, there rose about the same hour as Professor -Ravenden a delicate little butterfly with wings like the azure glory -of the mid-June heavens. It was taking the air on a leaf of scrub-oak, -while waiting for the sun to come out, when the entomologist came -striding over the knolls, and brushed against the shrub. Up fluttered -the beautiful insect, and the blue of its wings caught the eager eye -of Professor Ravenden. It was of the same species which once before had -lured him from the greater pursuit. - -"_Lycama pseudargiolus_," he muttered, as he hastily affixed his -collapsible net. "From its brightness, it should be a fall specimen, and -undoubtedly shows the variations on the lower wing which I am studying. -Wait one moment, my friend, and I shall welcome you to the hospitality -of my cyanide jar." - -After a brief flight the insect settled down well toward the centre -of another patch of shrubbery. Having prepared his net, the hunter set -about forcing his way into this patch, but before he was in reach of -his prey the pressure on the close-knit vegetation had disturbed the -sensitive insect and again it rose, this time in alarm. Though barely -an inch across the wings, this species exhibits capacities for flight -greater than that of much larger butterflies. When again it alighted, -the pursuer, panting and perspiring, had been drawn in a semicircular -course, some hundreds of yards inland. This time he did not get near -enough for a trial of his net before the elusive creature was off again. -The third flight was a briefer one. After tentative flutterings, the -_pseudargiolm_ alighted on a marshmallow leaf in a hollow. Taking profit -of his previous failures, Professor Ravenden sat down and got his -breath while waiting for the quarry to lapse into a state of undisturbed -quietude. Thus, it was easy presently for the hunter to net it and -transfer it to the cyanide jar. This done, he realised with a start of -conscience that he had wasted ten minutes, and was a quarter of a mile -off the track of his engagement. With all speed, he pointed across the -knolls toward the beach. - -Fog was drifting in from the ocean, giving added incentive to haste. -Wisest it would be, the professor judged, to make for the near point of -the cliff, so that he might have a line to follow should mist blot the -landscape. The beach below was just dimming with the advance of the -first folds of grey when Professor Ravenden reached the brink. The -nearer sands were cut off from his vision by a rise between himself and -the rendezvous. As his eye ranged to the west for the readiest access -to the level, it was caught and held by the outstretched body of Dick -Colton lying upon the hard sand out from the mouth of the ravine where -Serdholm and Haynes had met their death. - -For the moment the scientist was stunned into inaction. Suddenly the -body twitched, and there swept over the unhappy entomologist a dreadful -sense of his own negligence and responsibility. Along the heights -paralleling the beach-line he ran at utmost speed, dipped down into a -hollow where, for the time, the prospect was shut off, and surmounted -the slope beyond, which brought him almost above the body, and a little -to the east of the gully. Meantime the fog had been closing down, and -now, as the professor reached the spot, it spread a grey and wavering -mantle between him and what lay below. - -Already he had attained the gully's edge, when there moved out upon the -hard sand a thing so out of all conception, an apparition so monstrous, -that the professor's net fell from his hand, and a loud cry burst -from him. Through the enveloping medium of the mist, the figure swayed -vaguely, and assumed shapes beyond comprehension. Suddenly it doubled on -itself, contracted to a compact blur, underwent a swift inversion, and -before the scientist's straining vision there arose a man, dreadful of -aspect indeed, but still a human being, and as such, not beyond human -powers to cope with. The man had been moving toward the body of Colton -when the professor's shout arrested him. Now he whirled about and stood -facing the height with squinted eyes and bestially gnashing teeth. - -To delay him was the one chance for Colton's life, if Colton indeed were -not already beyond help. - -"If I only could get down the gully!" thought the professor, and -dismissed the thought instantly. Time for any course except the direct -one now was lacking. The one way lay over the cliff. - -"Stand where you are!" he shouted in a voice of command, and before the -words were fairly done he was in mid-air, a giddy terror dulling his -brain as he plunged down through the fog. Fortunately--for the bones -of fifty-odd years are brittle--he landed upon a slope of soft sand. -Pitching forward, he threw himself completely over, and carried to his -feet by the impetus, charged down the slope upon the man. - -It was the juggler. So much the professor realised as he sped forward. -Mania of murder was written unmistakably on the seamed and malignant -face and in the eyes, as the man turned them on the professor. His -posture was that of a startled beast, alert and alarmed. Beyond him, -near the sprawled body of Colton, a huge knife with an inordinately -broad blade stuck, half upright, in the sand. Toward this the maniac had -started, but turned swiftly with a snarl, and crouched, as the intrepid -scientist ran in upon him. - -Exultation, savage and keen, a most unscientific emotion, blazed up -in Professor Ravenden as he noted that his opponent had little the -advantage of him in size and weight. What little there was would be -offset by his own natural wiriness of frame which a rigid habit of life -and out-of-door exercise had kept from the deterioration of age. The -scientist came in, stooping low, and, stooping low, the murderer met the -onset. The two closed. With a sudden, daunting shock the entomologist -realised, as Whalley's muscles tightened on his, that he had met -the strength of fury. For a moment they strained, Professor Ravenden -striving for a grip which should enable him to break the other's -foothold. Then with a rabid scream the creature dashed his face into -the professor's shoulder. Through cloth and flesh sheared the ravening -teeth, until they grated on the shoulder-blade. - -Instantly the aspect of the duel changed. For, upon the outrage of that -assault, a fury not less insane than the maniac's fired the professor, -and he who always had prided himself upon a considered austerity of the -emotions, was roused to the world-old, baresark thirst of murder which -lies somewhere, black and terrible, in the soul of every courageous man, -and, sends him, at the last, straight to the throat of his enemy. - -Power flushed through his veins; his muscles distended with the strength -of steel. Driving his fingers deep under the chin, he tore the hideous, -distorted face from his shoulder. His right hand, drawn back for a blow, -twitched upon the cord from which depended his heavy poison-bottle. -Shouting aloud, he swung up the formidable weapon and brought it down -upon the juggler's head with repeated blows. The man's grasp relaxed. -Back for a fuller swing Professor Ravenden leaped, and crushed him to -the ground. The thick glass was shattered, and on the blood-stained -sands a little spot of heaven's blue fluttered in the breeze, instantly -to be trampled under foot. - -Suddenly the scientist swayed and lurched forward. An influence as -potent for death as the most murderous weapons of man was abroad, loosed -when the glass shattered. The deadly fumes of the cyanide, rising from -the base of the jar which its owner still held, were doing their work. -With barely sense enough surviving to realise his new peril, he flung -it far from him. A mist fell, like a curtain, somewhere between his eyes -and his brain, befogging the processes of thought. Heavily he dropped -to his hands and knees over the feet of the senseless juggler, his face -toward Colton. - -Colton seemed to have risen. This the professor took to be a figment of -his reeling brain. It annoyed him. - -"Lie down! Be quiet!" he muttered. "You are dead, and I am going to kill -your murderer!" - -Calling up all his will-power, he crawled to the juggler's head and set -his fingers to the palpitating throat. Another moment and the death of -a fellow-man would have been upon the soul of the scholarly scientist, -when an arm under his chest and an insistent voice in his ear brought -him back to reason. - -"In God's name, Professor, don't strangle the poor devil!" - -The baresark grip relaxed. Professor Ravenden collapsed, rolled over on -his back and looked up stupidly into the white face of Dick Colton. - -"Where--where--is my _pseudargiolus?_" he asked plaintively. - -"It's all right, professor; there wasn't any _pseudargiolus_. Just lie -quiet for a moment." - -Professor Ravenden struggled up to a sitting posture. "Let me rise," he -cried. "I have lost my specimen of _pseudargiolus_. It fell when the jar -broke." - -He looked about him, and his eyes fell on the juggler. - -"The pteranodon?" he queried. The mist was clearing from his brain, and -his mind swung dizzily back to the great speculation. - -"What does it all mean?" he groaned. - -"There is the pteranodon!" And Colton laughed shakily as he pointed to -the blood-smeared form lying quietly on the sand. - -"But those footprints! Those footprints! The fossil marks on the rocks!" - -"Footprints on the rock. Handprints here." - -"Handprints?" repeated the professor. "Tell me slowly, I implore you. I -must confess to an unaccustomed condition of bewilderment." - -"No wonder. The juggler killed his men by knife-play. He lay hidden in -the mouth of the gully, and threw the knife as they came along. After -killing them he had to recover his knife. So he walked out upon his -hands, leaving the marks which have puzzled us so." - -"But why?" - -"He is coming to. We'll ask him." - -In a few minutes "The Wonderful Whalley" was able to sit up and answer -questions. All his rage seemed to have gone, and all his cunning. He was -cowed and weak and indifferent. - -"Why did you kill Serdholm?" asked Colton. - -"He beat me," was the reply. - -"And what had you against Mr. Haynes?" - -"He sink I was murderer; zat I kill ze sailor." - -"And against me?" - -"I see you follow ze trail. I sink you find me." - -"So I probably should. I just had seen the resemblance between my -handprint and yours and had jumped forward to examine the next print, -when I was struck." - -"Zat jomp safe you," said the juggler. "Ze butt of ze knife hit as it -turn or you would be dead." He spoke in a matter-of-fact way. While -waiting until he should be able to walk, they got a detailed confession -from him. He told with perfect frankness of the killing of Serdholm and -Haynes and the attack on Colton; but he flatly and rather nonchalantly -denied the murder of Petersen the sailor, and the slaying of the sheep. - -Coming to the killing of the kite-flier, Colton set a trap for him. "Why -did you club him after you had given him the knife?" - -"Who?" said the juggler, his eyes growing wide. "Mr. Ely, the man we -found dead two nights ago with your knife-wound in his back." - -Whalley displayed a pitiable agitation. - -"Ze tall, still man, ze man at ze fisher-house? He ees dead?" he cried. - -"You ought to know." - -"I sink he was dead," said the juggler simply. "I hear zat sound up in -ze air." - -Once more he threw his hands upward in that shuddering gesture which had -startled them the night of the wreck. - -"Zen I hear him cry like a dead man. A great an' terreeble cry! I run to -my place an' hide away." - -"He heard the kites," said Colton to Professor Ravenden. Then to the -juggler: - -"Now, Whalley, what put it into your head to walk out on your hands -after your knife when you killed Mr. Haynes and Serdholm?" - -"To make it like ze ozzer tracks," he replied promptly. - -"What other tracks?" cried the two men in a breath. - -"Ze tracks of eet I do not know. I see zem; but I do not know. Come, I -show you." - -He got unsteadily to his feet, and, guarded on either side, led them -down the beach toward the Sand Spit station. After walking about a third -of a mile he stopped and cast about him. - -"Zere!" he said triumphantly, pointing. Following the instruction, they -made out traces of blood and the prints of a lamb's hoof. Leading out to -the spot was the dreadful familiar double spoor of talons. - -"You did that too," accused Colton. - -For refutation "The Wonderful Whalley" dropped to his knees and laid his -hand over one of the marks. The hand more than completely covered the -prints. - -"You zee?" he said triumphantly. - -"Whalley, what made that mark there?" said Professor Ravenden. - -Again that strange gesture from the juggler and the quick shuddering -in-draw of the shoulders. "Ze death-bird, maybe," he said. - -Nothing more could be gotten from him. They delivered him at the -coast-guard station to be turned over to the authorities. When he was -out of their hands, Professor Ravenden insisted on returning to look for -the remains of his lost specimen, and was relieved at finding one wing -intact. Not until he had carefully folded this in paper did he turn to -Dick Colton with the question: - -"What is your opinion of our problem now?" - -"I'm at my wit's end," said Dick. "Possibly we've got on the trail of -another hand-walking knife-thrower." - -"Or the death-bird, the pteranodon," returned Professor Ravenden -quietly. - - - - -CHAPTER SIXTEEN--THE LOST CLUE - -IN his own way, Professor Ravenden possessed as keen a detective -instinct as Haynes himself. The variation of a shade of a moth's wing, -the obscurest trait in the life-habit of some unconsidered larva form, -was sufficient to set him to the trail, and sometimes with results that, -to his compeers, seemed little short of marvellous. Science had been -enriched by his acumen, in several notable instances, and thousands of -farmers who had never heard his name owed to him the immunity of certain -crops from the ravages of their most destructive insect enemy. - -In this work the pedantic professor was a true zealot. So much did his -enthusiasm partake of the ardour of the hunt that he had found himself -in the readiest sympathy with Haynes' sharp and practical capacities. -Now, for the first time, he had seen a problem in his own department -assume an aspect of immediate and tremendous human importance. That his -part in the solution should be worked out with flawless perfection was -become a matter of conscience, a test of honour. Sure as he was of -his ground, he determined to prove to the utmost, the solidity of his -foundation. - -"Have you other fences than the one which I know, built of the -cretaceous rock?" he asked Johnston. - -"You'll find some in the farthest lot back, I reckon," said Johnston. -"Look near the corners of the fence for them slabs." - -"If you have a wheelbarrow," began the scientist when the other -interrupted him. - -"You wasn't thinking of going up there now, was you?" - -The professor assented. - -"Alone?" said Johnston. "It's gettin' toward dark, too. Hadn't I better -go with you?" - -"I shall be gone but a few moments," said the professor with some -impatience. "It was my design, in case I found any further imprints to -bring back the rocks in the wheelbarrow for careful inspection." - -"You go in and get your revolver, Professor," said Johnston, "and I'll -have Henkle run the barrow up there for ye." - -Henkle was a young Swedish boy, known to possess no English and -suspected of having little more wits. With some difficulty he was -made to understand what was expected of him; so, having had the barrow -handles inserted in his hard young palms, and the professor pointed out -to him he patiently trudged along in the wake of the savant, out across -the hollows. - -In a brief time the professor had found indications on half a dozen of -the rocks. Glowing with enthusiasm, he loaded them into the barrow, and -set a homeward pace, that made the sturdy little Swede gasp before he -had covered half the distance. - -McDale, the reporter for one of the "yellow" papers, saw them from his -window, coming into the yard. - -"A good chance to get something from the professor," he thought, and ran -down to accost him. - -Henkle, the Swede boy, hung about, open-mouthed and staring stupidly. - -"Go away. You're through. Skip!" said McDale, indicating dismissal with -a sweeping gesture. - -Unfortunately the sweep of his arm was toward the field whence the pair -had just come with their find. The tired boy uncomplainingly picked -up the handles of his barrow again and trudged away, unnoticed by the -professor, who was now deep in the study of the first rock. - -"See," he cried excitedly to McDale. "This is unquestionably the print -of a smaller specimen than ours; a young pteranodon, doubtless, or -perhaps a lesser sub-species." - -Pretending an absorbed interest, the reporter drew out the -simple-hearted professor, who, showing rock after rock in explanation, -elaborated his theory. McDale, hurrying upstairs to make his notes--he -had been afraid to "pull a pencil" on the scientist, lest he check the -enthusiastic flow of ideas--ran into Eldon Smith. - -"Get anything?" asked Smith, in the brief formula of the newspaper -world. - -"Sunday stuff, and a corker!" said McDale. "You wouldn't want it; but -it's hot stuff for us, with a scare-devil double-page drawing of the -Pteranodaceus Dingbattius, and Professor Ravenden's photograph as large -as we can get it." - -"Pretty tough on the professor," said Eldon Smith. "He's rather a square -old party." - -"Oh, I'm not going to fake him," protested the other. "And of course I -won't guy him. That would put a crimp in the story." - -"You know what his reputation will be in the scientific world, after -he's been made to stand for a wild-eyed nightmare like this," said the -other. - -"Oh, he'll be down and out," agreed the dealer in sensations. "But -that ain't my business. And the cream of it is that he believes in this -gilly-loo bird, as if he'd seen it." - -Eldon Smith jumped to the window and throwing it up with a bang, leaned -out into the darkness. "Did you hear that?" he cried. - -McDale was beside him instantly. They stood, rigid, intent, as a faint, -woeful, high-pitched scream of abject terror quivered in the still air. - -Instantly the house was alive. Somebody was calling for lanterns. -Another voice was shouting to Professor Ravenden to come back, to wait, -not to venture out into the night without light. The two reporters, with -the Colton brothers, got to the piazza at the same time. - -Meantime the shrieks grew louder. They came short and at regular -intervals, with an almost mechanical effect. - -"That's like hysteria," said Dick Colton. "Can anyone make out just -where it comes from?" - -As if in reply, the professor's precise accents were heard. - -"This way. He is here." - -There was a rush of the men. "I have him," called Professor Ravenden. - -Once more the voice was raised, but subsided into a long, sobbing moan. -Then the savant staggered into view, carrying the limp form of the young -Swede. - -"He has fainted," he said. "He was rushing by me, quite unheeding my -call, when I caught him and he fell, as if shot. I trust he is not -injured." - -"Unhurt," said Dick Colton, "but literally frightened almost to death." - -Henkle came to half an hour later. No explanation could be had of him, -other than a shuddering indication of some overhanging terror. Once he -made a sweeping gesture of the arms, much as had Whalley on the night of -the wreck. The physician gave him a sleeping powder and arranged to see -him early in the morning. - -He never saw the boy again. With the first light he was gone, and his -little belongings with him. Afterward they found out that he had walked -to the station, and taken the morning train. - -"There's a possible clue lost," said Dick Colton to the professor, "that -might have helped us." - -But Professor Ravenden was little concerned. He had discovered a print -which might possibly indicate a rudimentary sixth toe on the pteranodon -and he was absorbed in measurements. - - - - -CHAPTER SEVENTEEN--THE PROFESSOR'S SERMON - -FOLLOWING the injunction left by Haynes, they buried him in the -wind-swept knoll behind the Third House. A clergyman who had been sent -for from New York took charge of the services, which were attended by -the score of newspaper men and the little Third House group. A pompous, -precise, and rather important person, was the clergyman; encased within -a shell of prejudice which shut him off from any true estimate of the -man over whose body he was to speak. - -In Haynes he was able to see only an agent in a rather disapproved -enterprise, mighty, indeed, but, to his unseeing eye, without the ideals -which he had formulated for himself, and for those upon whom he imposed -his standards. So his address was purely formal; with a note of the -patronising and the exculpatory as if there were something to be -condoned in the life which the reporter had laid down. - -At the end there were sneering faces among the newspaper men. Helga -wore an expression of piteous bewilderment; Dick Colton's teeth were set -hard; and Dolly Ravenden's dark beauty glowed with suppressed wrath. To -the surprise of all, as the minister closed, Professor Ravenden got to -his feet hesitantly and nervously. - -"My friends," he said, "before we part I wish to add a slight tribute -to what little we may say of the dead. For me to speak to you of his -qualifications of mind and character would be an impertinence. But as a -follower of what we call science I have one word to speak. - -"To see the truth, exact and clear, is given to no human. Now and again -are born and matured minds which solve some small portion of the great -problem that we live in. These are the world's master intellects, the -Darwins, the Linnaeuses, the Cuviers, the Pasteurs. Borrowing their -light, we perhaps may illuminate some tiny crevice, and thus pay our -part of the human debt. That is the task to which the scientist sets his -long and patient efforts. - -"And this is achieved how? By an instinct which asserts itself potently -in a certain type of humanity, in the highest type which we know. -For want of a better term, I may call it the truth-vocation. The -truth-seeker may concern himself with the smallest scale of a moth's -wing; he may devote himself to the study of the human soul in its most -profound recesses; or he may strive with the immediate facts of life. -Lie his field of endeavour where it may, his is the one great calling. -Your friend and my friend who lies dead before us was of that world-old -army. He died under its flag and on the field of honour. - -"His part was to seek the truth in the whirling incidents of the moment. -With what complete absorption and self-forgetfulness he gave himself to -the task, you know better than I. Perhaps you do not know, as I did not -until after his death, that he clung to his appointed work against the -ravages of a slow, pain-racked and mortal illness. The great Master of -Destiny whose universe proceeds by immutable laws has seen no priest -of old called to martyrdom, no prophet risen to warn the nations, no -discoverer inspired to enlarge the ken of mankind, with a truer vocation -than the seeker in a lesser field whom we honour here. - -"He has gone to his own place. Whether he still seeks or has found, -is not for us. For us is the legacy of a single-minded devotion and a -straightforward nobility of character that cannot but have made and left -its impress wherever exerted." - -How strangely work the influences of sympathy! The reporters who -listened with warming hearts to the simple man of science had come to -Haynes' funeral primarily as a mark of respect, but secondarily because -of their interest in a remarkable "story." Whispers of the professor's -pteranodon theory had passed about. One or two of the men besides McDale -of the "yellow," had questioned him shrewdly, and had seen that he would -commit himself to that theory. This meant a big sensation. The practice -of journalism tends to dwarf the imagination and to make men skeptical -of all that lies beyond the bounds of the usual. Not one of the -reporters there took the slightest stock in the theory of a prehistoric -monster. Nevertheless, the mere word of a man so eminent in the -scientific world as the entomologist would be enough to "carry the -story," and make it a tremendous feature. Columns of space were in it. -But it meant also, as every reporter there believed, the downfall of -Professor Ravenden's repute in a cataract of ridicule. As soon as the -newspaper group re-gathered at Third House, McDale spoke. - -"I'm going to do what I never expected to do," he said. "I'm going to -throw my paper down." - -"On the Ravenden story?" asked Eldon Smith. - -McDale nodded gloomily. "It would have been such a screamer!" he said, -shaking his head. "But it goes to the scrap-heap. Not for mine--after -that little sermon." - -"I think we're all agreed, fellows," said Chal-loner of the _Morning -Script_, the dean of the gathering. "We all feel alike, I guess, about -Professor Ravenden. I've heard funeral sermons by the greatest in the -country; but nothing that ever came home to me personally. Now, if we -print this pter-anodon story and back it up with interviews, it's a big -thing; but where does the professor come in? We've got to save him -from himself. The pter-anodon feature has got to be suppressed. Is that -understood?" - -There was no dissent. In all the days while the reporters stayed about -waiting for the "news interest" to peter out of the mystery, not one -hint of the professor's "wild theory" found its way into print. - -As time passed with no new developments, the reporters dropped in one by -one to say good-bye to Professor Ravenden before they took train for -New York. Since then the professor often has had cause to wonder why, -whenever he has spoken in public, the newspapers all over the country -have treated him with such marked consideration, often overshadowing -the utterances of more prominent speakers with his. He does not know -how small is the world of journalism and how widely and swiftly travels -"inside news." - -Of the newspaper crowd, Eldon Smith was the last to leave. He had a talk -with Dick Colton, who rode over to the train with him. - -"Are you satisfied that Whalley was the author of all the killings?" -asked the reporter. - -"No, I'm not," returned the doctor. "It leaves altogether too much -unexplained. I wish I could believe in the professor's pteranodon." - -"On account of the marks that Whalley showed you?" - -"Not that alone. Just consider all the weak points in the theory that -Whalley is guilty of all the crimes. First: why should he confess part -and not all?" - -"That's not unusual." - -"But have you ever known such a case where the murderer was as frank as -Whalley? How are you going to ascribe any part in Petersen's death to -the juggler? He couldn't have thrown his knife in that blackness." - -"I suppose it must have been done aboard the vessel before the man left -in the breeches-buoy." - -"The evidence of the sailors is all against that. However, let it go at -that. How about the sheep? Why did he kill that?" - -"For food. He was camping somewhere on the knolls, and he had to eat." - -"And he was frightened away before he could make way with the carcass? -Well, that's tenable. Now we come to the unhorsing of my brother. That -might have been caused by poor Ely's kites, as I figure it. They broke -away, came zigzagging past and frightened the mare into insanity. -Afterward they scared her over the cliff." - -"I don't think so," said Eldon Smith. "In fact, it's impossible." - -"Impossible? How?" - -"Dr. Colton, did it ever occur to you to look up the weather records for -that night?" - -"No." - -"I've looked them up. The wind was from the southeast. Your brother was -less than a mile from the south shore. Mr. Ely was staying on the Sound -shore, northwest of there, and almost directly down the wind. Now, how -could the kites travel upwind from Ely to the place where your brother -had his alarm?" - -Colton shook his head. - -"Moreover," continued the reporter, "the mare when she rushed to -destruction ran in the face of the wind. So the loose kites couldn't -have pursued her." - -"That's true; but I see no reason why Ely mightn't have walked across -the point and flown from the ocean side that evening." - -"Here is what I copied from his calendar diary for that night: 'Sept. -17th. Temperature notes of no value. Upper currents fluctuant. Flew from -hillock 14 mile from Sound. Kites moving northward out over the Sound. -Furled kites at 9:30.' (The time of your brother's experience more than -two miles away.) 'Results unsatisfactory.' Is that definite enough?" - -"Certainly, it seems so." - -"It certainly does. Now, about the aerologist. What was the cause of -death?" - -"It might have been either the stab-wound or the crushing of the skull." - -"The skull was badly crushed?" - -"Yes, and the right arm and shoulder were fractured." - -"From what cause?" - -"My reading of it is this: Whalley, crazy with desire to murder, crept -up on this poor fellow. Ely heard or saw him coming and fled into the -oak patch; but Whalley's knife-throw cut him down. Then the juggler, in -a murderous frenzy, beat his victim with a heavy club." - -"Picked up his body and flung it to the spot where it was found?" -suggested the reporter as a conclusion. - -"What do you mean? No man could throw a body that far." - -"That would be my judgment." - -"No," mused Dick. "Whalley must have carried the body out and dropped it -where it was found." - -"For what conceivable reason." - -"Perhaps some idea that he was hiding it better. Perhaps for no reason -at all. Reason plays little part in an insane murderer's processes." - -"But an insane murderer leave tracks the same as any other man, and -unless Haynes was completely fooled there were no such tracks or -breakage of the shrubbery around the spot where you found the body, as -must have been made by a man breaking his way through, particularly if -he were carrying a heavy body." - -"What are you driving at?" asked Colton. "Well," said the reporter -thoughtfully, "this Ely business seems to me just about the -strangest phase of this whole mystery. And it's the strangest, most -incomprehensible features of a problem that most often give you your -clue." - -"Have you found one?" - -"I've been thinking of another possible cause of such fractures as you -described. Might not a fall have caused them?" - -"Not unless it was from a height. And how could he have fallen from a -height?" - -"That is what I should like to know," said Eldon Smith. "The scrub-oak -where you found the body is badly smashed down--much more crushed and -broken than the mere toppling over of a man would account for." - -Swift light broke in upon Colton. "That is what Haynes was trying to -determine when he fell into the oak," he cried. - -"Trust him for that. Did he get down on his hands and knees afterward?" - -"Yes," cried the doctor. "What was he after?" - -"He was examining a deep indentation in the ground beneath the shrubbery -that just fits a man's head and shoulders as it would strike were the -man falling headlong." - -"Headlong? From the empty air?" - -"From the empty air," assented the other. - -"You mean that his kites were a sort of flying-machine?" - -"It may be. Or he may have become entangled in the lines and carried up -after vainly struggling through the shrubbery." - -"But the wound? Could he have struck on some sharp-pointed stake, and -wriggled off in his death convulsions?" mused Colton. - -"You're a physician. Could he?" - -"No, no, a thousand times no!" - -"Well?" - -"It was Whalley," said Dick Colton reflectively. "Perhaps the kite-flyer -fell near him, and in his unreasoning terror Whalley used his knife. -And his own fear that he spoke of, of the terror impending over him, may -have driven him to the murder." - -"It must be so," said the reporter. "I see nothing else for it. But I -don't believe it all the same." - -"Well, I don't know that I do, either, for that matter," said Colton, as -they drew in at the station. - - - - -CHAPTER EIGHTEEN--READJUSTMENTS - -IT was a week since the burial of Harris Haynes. What remained of the -mystery as a surplus over and above the Whalley confession was still -unenlightened by any further clue. The juggler had refused steadfastly -to add anything to his statement. Little opportunity had there been -of acquiring new information, for storm had followed storm in quick -succession, and though Dick and Everard Colton had been out on the -knolls at all hours of day and night, and the intrepid professor, -eluding his daughter by stealth, had covered many dark miles of -exploration, the shrouded foulness of the weather had preserved whatever -secret Montauk Point still might hold. - -To Dick Colton had come a deep content, for he and Dolly had been drawn -to a close comradeship in the high pressure of events. Yet by a subtle -defence she had withheld from him anything more than comradeship. Once -again he had spoken; and she had stopped him. - -"Please, Dr. Colton!" she said. "Nothing that you can say will make any -difference. If I come to you," she looked at him with the adorable -and courageous straightforwardness that seemed in his eyes the final -expression of her lovableness, "I shall come of myself. As yet, I do not -know. I am growing to know you. It has been a very brief time." - -"It has been a crowded lifetime," said Dick earnestly. "But I can wait, -Dolly. You don't mind if I call you that?" - -"Even Everard does that," she said, smiling, and to his surprise there -followed a sharp blush. She had recalled the self-betraying exasperation -with which she had resented, the day before, Everard's addressing -her, with apparent innocence, as "Sister Dot," and that youth's meek -enjoyment of her anger. - -That had been the dying effort of Everard's gaiety. In that week he had -grown worn and morose. More than once he would have left the place; -but Dolly Ravenden urged upon him that he should stay until Helga had -regained her normal balance. To the girl's warm and full-blooded beauty -had succeeded a wan loveliness that made Everard's heart ache whenever -he looked at her. Seldom did he see her alone; little had she to say to -him. Yet her eyes brooded upon him, and he felt vaguely that he was a -help to her in her grief. Dick too had insisted upon this. But Helga -seemed to make no effort at rallying from her sombre apathy. - -The week of storm ended, and the sun blazed out over a landscape -bedecked with autumn's royal colours. Helga, who had risen early to go -to the beach, found at her place an envelope which had not come by mail. -There was an enclosure in a woman's handwriting. Once and again she went -through, turning from red to white. Then she turned to Dick Colton. - -"You did this?" she said. - -"Yes." - -"Oh, I cannot, I cannot!" she cried passionately, and ran from the door, -out upon the knolls. - -Dick saw her climbing the hill, the joyous wind wreathing the curves of -her lithe and gracious form, to the place where Haynes was buried, and -watched her until a shoulder of the knoll shut her completely from view. - -"It was high time for an antidote," he said, nodding thoughtfully. -"Haynes would have bade me do it; I know he would." - -Helga knelt by a high boulder that crowned the knoll and arranged the -flowers that she had brought up that morning for her friend's grave. - -"Oh, Petit Pere," she whispered sobbingly, "if you only were here to -tell me! It is hard to know what is best. So hard!" - -Something moved in the bushes not far away. The shrubbery parted, -and there emerged on all fours the squat and powerful figure of "The -Wonderful Whalley." He was unkempt and white; the murderousness was -gone from his face. As a dog cringes, expectant of a blow, he moved -reluctantly forward. The girl faced him with a tense carriage in which -was no inkling of fear. - -"Ze lady shall forgive ze poor arteest," he said, holding out hands of -supplication. - -"I would kill you if I could," she said, very low. - -"The Wonderful Whalley's" hand went to his belt, but the great-bladed -knives no longer were there. Fumbling in his pocket, he drew forth -another knife, opened it and threw it at her feet. - -"I am ready," he said. - -Helga looked at the knife, and then at him with unutterable loathing. -The man gave a little groan. - -"Do not!" he said. "I was cr-r-razy! Eet ees gone, now. Eet was ze -beating of ze sea. I haf not know zat I keel until now I break out of my -preeson las' night an' come here to ask you to forgive." - -"No," said the girl stonily. - -"To beg you to forgive an' to warn you." With a strikingly solemn -gesture he raised his hand, and swept it through the circle of the -heavens. - -"We may not know when eet strike," he said slowly. "Ze danger ees there. -Eet ees hanging over you an' over me. Me, I may not escape my fate. Eet -ees not matter. But you, so young, so lofely, so brave, so kind to ze -poor arteest--I come to warn you, perhaps to safe you." - -"Do you know that this is the grave of the man you killed?" she said, -her eyes fixed upon his. - -Simply, and as a child might, the juggler kneeled at the grave. He -clasped his hands and raised his face, the eyes closed. With a pitying, -yet abhorrent surprise, the girl watched him. His lips moved. She caught -a half whispered word, here and there, in the soft southern tongue. -In the midst of his prayer the murderer leaped to his feet His muscles -stiffened; he was all attention. - -"Someone come!" he cried. - -Over the brow of the knoll came Everard Colton. "My God!" he cried, and -bounded toward them. - -Like a flash, the juggler wormed himself into the oak patch, and -emerging from the farther side sprinted over the hill and disappeared. - -"Has he hurt you?" cried the young man. - -"Helga, my dear! tell me he has not hurt----" - -"No," she said very low. "He was quite peaceable. He has escaped from -jail. I think he is sane again and remorseful." - -"You must let me take you home," he said. "You must! Good heavens, -Helga, anything might have happened." - -Everard was shaking as with an ague. A wonderful softness came into the -girl's face. "Were you coming to speak to me?" - -"To say good-bye," he said. - -"Good-bye?" she repeated. "So soon? Must it----" - -He stopped her with a swift, savage gesture. "Helga, I can't stand -it any longer! I would give you the last drop of my blood, gladly, -willingly, if it would help you. But to be here as I am, to see you -every day, is more than I can endure. I must get away. There is one -other thing; I know something of what Harris Haynes did for you." He -spoke more gently, looking with a wistful respect at the grave. "Now -that he has gone, you must not let that make any difference in your -opportunities. You must go on as you were; your music, your studies." - -The girl made a little gesture of refusal. They walked toward the house -in silence, for a time. Then Everard spoke again. - -"Yet that is what he would have wished. I know that you haven't the -money to do this." Dick, having a gift of silence, had said nothing of -Haynes' bequest. "I have more than I can use. I know I can't give it to -you outright. But I can give it to Mr. Johnston. Or, if you can't take -it from me, you could from my family. It wouldn't mean anything; it -wouldn't bind you to the slightest thing. Oh, Helga, dear, let me do -that much for you!" - -"Only one man can have the right to do that," she said, hardly above a -whisper. - -"He is gone," said Everard, not comprehending. "I cannot fill his place, -except this one, poor way." - -"No," she said. From her bosom she drew out a note and handed it to him. - -"From mother!" he cried. "To you!" - -It was the letter of a worldly but kind-natured and essentially -sound-hearted woman, an appeal for a deeply-loved son. "That's Dick's -work," said the young man fondly, after running through it. "And it -comes too late! _Does_ it come too late, Helga?" - -"If I only knew what was right," said the girl. "If only Petit Pere was -here to tell me!" - -"Do you mean that you didn't care for him that way?" cried Everard. -"Helga, do you mean that I had my chance? Is there still----" - -They had come around the corner of the piazza, and there sat Dick -Colton, tipped back on two legs of his chair. He rose quickly and made -for the door. Helga called him back, and spoke brokenly: "You must write -to your mother. I cannot yet. Oh, if I only dared be happy!" she wailed. -"I know how strongly Petit Pere felt against him, against your family. I -could not----" - -"Helga," said Dick, catching her hands in his. "Listen, little girl, -little sister. Haynes made me one of his trustees for you. Do you know -why? Because he trusted me. Will you trust me too?" Helga's tear-stained -eyes looked into his. "Who would not?" she said. - -"He left this charge in my honour: 'Use your influence to guard her -against marrying under circumstances that you would not approve for the -woman you loved best in the world.' With that charge upon me I solemnly -tell you that you may come to us as with Harris Haynes' blessing!" - -He put her hand in Everard's and disappeared through the door. The next -instant Miss Dolly Ravenden, a heap of indignant fluff, was frowning at -him from the wall against which she had staggered. - -"What a way to come in!" she cried. "You bear! You--you untamed -locomotive! Is anything chasing you?" - -Impulse wild and unreckoning upleaped in the heart of Dick Colton then -and there. Without a struggle he gave way to it. - -Swinging her up in his powerful arms, he set her upon her feet, and -bending, kissed her most emphatically upon the lips. Then he went -upstairs in two bounds, saying at the first bound: - -"Good Lord! Now I have ruined myself." And at the second: "It was her -own fault." - -And while he was making his Adamite excuse, Miss Ravenden, red, -confused, and annoyed because she couldn't seem to be properly angry, -had walked out upon Helga sobbing in Everard's arms. - -"Ah," she said thoughtfully, as she effected a masterly retreat, "it's -in the air to-day." - - - - -CHAPTER NINETEEN--THE LONE SURVIVOR - -SLEEP lay heavy and sweet upon Dick Colton that night. Not even the -excitement of the prospective man-hunt--for the juggler was to be -rounded up on the morrow--could overcome his healthy weariness. The -intense and tragic events amid which his life had moved for a fortnight -had been a cure for his insomnia as effectual as unexpected. Now when -he slept, he slept; great guns could not wake him. In fact, at this -particular midnight of September's last day great guns did not wake him, -for the intermittent booming of cannonade for some fifteen minutes had -left his happy dreams undisturbed. - -Not so with the others. Helga was stirring below; the Ravendens were -moving about in their respective rooms. Everard was delivering a -passionate rhapsody to an elusive match-box, and Mrs. Johnston was -addressing the familiar argument regarding the preventive merits -of rubber boots to her exasperated husband. Into the submerged -consciousness of Dick Colton drifted scraps and fragments of eager talk. -"Wreck ashore.... Graveyard Point again.... Won't need the lanterns.... -Drat the rubber boots!... All go together." Then said the wizard of -dreams, who mismanages such things, to Dick Colton: "It was all a -phantasy, the imaginings of a moment. The crowded wonders in which you -have taken part never happened. There have been no murders; there has -been no juggler, no kite-flyer, no mystery. Haynes is alive; you can -hear him moving about. You are back where you belong, at the night of -the shipwreck, and I have befooled you well with an empty panorama." - -"And Dolly?" cried the unhappy dreamer in such a pang of protest that he -came broad awake at once. The wizard fled. - -From below, the magic of Helga's voice rang out, sounding once more, as -he had not heard it since Haynes' death, the vital ring of unconquerable -youth, but with a new and deeper undertone. - -"Oh-ho! Yo-ho-ho, Everard! Come down! There's a wreck ashore!" - -And the quick answer: "All right! Be with you in a minute." - -Once more Dick's mind swung back. All was so exactly parallel to the -first night he had spent there. But the next instant he was plunging -into what garments came readiest to hand. Out into the hall he bolted -and came upon Dolly Ravenden and her father so sharply that for a moment -his conscience was in abeyance; then, stricken with the recollection of -his moment's madness, he turned away to Everard's door and caught that -impulsive youth's charge full in the chest. - -"You up, Dicky?" cried the younger brother. "And Dolly, too! We'll have -a wreck party?" - -"I wouldn't take it too much as an entertainment, Ev," said his brother -quietly. - -"Of course! What a brute I am!" cried Everard contritely. "Not having -been here for the other wreck, I forgot all that it brought about. You -going with Dolly?" - -"I think I'll go with you and Helga," said Dick. "You needn't," returned -the other so promptly that Dick laughed aloud. "Oh, of course, we'll be -glad to have you," he continued hastily, "only I thought you meant----" - -"Never mind, old man. We'll probably all be together." - -The Ravendens, Helga, her father, and the two Coltons went out together -into a night of moonlit glory. A flying cloud-fleet, sailing homeward -to port in the eastern heavens, dappled the far-stretched landscape with -shadows. The air was keen and clear, with an electrifying quality that -made the blood bound faster. Dick felt a wild, inexplicable elation, -as if some climax of life were promised by this marvel of the night's -beauty. - -His eager glance quested for Dolly. Her eyes met his, and she turned -away to her father. Yet there was no anger in her mein, rather a -soft confusion and a certain pathetic timidity as she put her hand on -Professor Ravenden's arm, that made Dick's heart jump. But when he would -have gone to her she shrank; and the lover, divining something of her -unexpressed plea, turned away to lead the little procession. Once he -dropped back to speak to Helga, fearing for the effect of the excitement -and the fresh pang of recollection upon her. Like two trustful children, -she and Everard were swinging along, hand in hand. The girl's eyes were -wet with tears, but there was an exaltation in her face as she looked at -her companion that brought a lump into Dick's throat. - -"Ev," he said in his brother's ear, "if you aren't all that a man could -be to her to your last breath, you'll have me to reckon with!" - -The younger man looked at him with shining eyes: "Loyal old Dick!" he -said, and laughed unsteadily. "May the gods be as good to you!" - -Having reached the cliff summit, the little party had full view of the -wreck. In reality it was not a wreck at all: the steamer lay easily -on the sand to the west of Graveyard Point, solidly wedged and in no -apparent danger. After one long contemplation of the ship and a brief -glance at the bright sky, the veteran Johnston delivered himself of his -opinion: - -"Captain drunk. Mate drunk. Lookout blind drunk. Crew rum-soaked. Cook -boiled, and ship's cat paralysed. It's the only way they could'a' got -her ashore a night like this. And they're as safe with this wind as if -they were in dry-dock." - -He went down to the beach to join the coastguards, whose surf-boat was -just returning from the ship, and presently brought the report back to -his party in the triumph of corroboration. - -"Guess I was about right, except as to the cat," he said. "They ain't -got any cat aboard; it's a parrot. We might as well go along home." - -Before the little party had covered one-third of the distance, Dick -Colton, profiting by Johnston's momentary engagement of Professor -Ravenden's attention, moved over to Dolly. - -"I don't know what you will think of me," he began in a low tone. "I -never meant to. It was a moment's overwhelming folly. Will you forgive -me?" - -Seemingly the girl paid no attention. Her gaze was fixed on a knoll -which rose in front of them. - -"Dolly," implored the young man, "don't think too harshly of me for a -moment's rashness." - -"Look!" said the girl. "Did you see that?" - -"Where? What was it?" - -"On that hill almost in front of us. What is a man doing there at this -time?" - -"The juggler!" exclaimed Dick. - -"Yes, I think it was. There! See him moving just under the brow?" - -A dark figure travelling low and swift, as of a man doubled over, could -be discerned faintly against the waving grasses to the north. A moment -more and it disappeared. - -The landscape which they overlooked was one of the most broken stretches -on all Montauk. It was like an Indian-mound burial-place hugely -magnified, with thick patches of vegetation scattered between the -mounds. Despite the difficulties of the situation, Dick's mind was made -up at once. They must capture the juggler. - -"Ev! Professor! Mr. Johnston!" he called. - -The others hurried to him; there was no mistaking the anxiety in his -voice. - -"Miss Ravenden has just seen a man coming toward us over the downs," he -explained rapidly. "I think it is the juggler. We must get him. Which of -you have pistols?" - -"Just my luck! I left mine home," groaned Everard. - -"Although I have no firearms, the loaded butt of my capturing net is -not a despicable weapon," said Professor Ravenden, brandishing it -scientifically. - -Johnston produced a revolver. His own weapon Dick handed to Professor -Ravenden, saying: - -"I'll trade for your loaded club. You're the best shot of us, Professor. -Please stay here and guard the girls. Ev, you go to the west along that -ridge and keep a sharp lookout. Don't let him get near enough to throw -his knife, but draw him that way if you can. Mr. Johnston, take the -east. Don't shoot unless he attacks you or I call for help. I'll go down -the ravine and stop him." - -Dolly Ravenden started forward. - -"Oh, please!" she said tremulously. "Not without a pistol. Oh, Dick!" - -"I will be careful," he said gently, and leaning toward her for the -briefest moment: "My darling, oh, my darling!" - -Then he was gone. With a business-like air Professor Ravenden examined -the weapon Dick had given him, and placed himself in front of the girls. -To the east they could see Johnston's sturdy form, and westward Helga's -brooding eyes now and again glimpsed the buoyant figure of her lover. - -"Don't be afraid, dearest," he had called back to her. "When it comes to -running I can do just as well as the next fellow, and generally better." - -Shadows and patches of oak covered Dick's course. Five minutes passed, -and then came a shout from Johnston. Professor Ravenden walked coolly -forward a few paces, raising and lowering his pistol arm as if to make -sure that it was well oiled at the joints. At rest it pointed in the -direction of Whalley. The juggler was running toward them from the side -of the ravine down which Dick had moved. Taking advantage of the -land's broken contour, he had eluded and passed Dick; now he was making -straight for them. - -"Stand!" called the professor. - -It was as if he had not spoken. The juggler approached with no lessening -of pace, no swerve from his course. - -"Don't come any farther. Do you want to be shot?" - -This time it was Helga's voice. Whalley checked his rush. His hands -clutched at his breast; he strove for utterance against an agonised -exhaustion. His arms beating out into the air expressed with shocking -vividness a warning of extremest terror. Obviously there was nothing to -fear from the man in this mood. Nevertheless, Professor Ravenden held -his pistol ready as he went forward. - -"Take--her--away!" he hacked out like a man fighting for utterance in -the last stage of strangulation. "Eet--comes. I--haf--seen--eet!" - -"Compose yourself, my man," soothed the professor. "Be calm and explain -what has so alarmed you." - -But the juggler only flung up his arms in a wild gesture toward the sky, -and dropped. - -"We must call in the others," said Professor Ravenden. - -Helga lifted her head and sent her clear and beautiful call rolling -across the hills. At the sound the juggler crawled to her feet -and brokenly begged her to keep silence. Before they could win an -explantation from him Everard's tall figure came speeding down the -hillside, and only half a minute later Dick's great bulk toiled up -through the ravine. Johnston came in last. No sooner had Dick set eyes -on the juggler than he advanced upon him. - -"You are our prisoner," he said. "Professor, is he armed?" - -"I have not ascertained. He is suffering from an access of unmanning -terror, and I believe is not formidable." - -"Anyway," said Dick, "we had best--" - -He broke off as the juggler drew from his belt one of his huge, -broad-bladed knives, which he doubtless had cached on the point before -his capture. - -"Cover him, professor," cried Dick. - -"Do not tak eet away," begged the man. "We will need eet. I bring eet, -for her." He turned the dog-like adoration of his eyes upon Helga. "She -safe my life; I die for her." - -"What the deuce is he talking about?" growled Everard. - -"When I hear ze gun of ze sheepwreck, somesing tell me she weel come -out. I run here an'," a strong shudder racked him, "I see eet." - -"That's all very well," said Dick sternly. "But you must come with us." - -"Afterward! afterward!" cried the man in an agony of supplication. "Now -we hide, teel eet go. Zen I gif you ze knife. Anysing after we make her -safe before ze death strike her." - -"This is not all lunacy," said Dolly Ravenden quickly. "There is some -danger he is trying to warn us from." - -Whirling upon her, the wretched juggler threw out his arms in an -eloquent gesture. - -"You will believe! I am murderer, zey say. So! Yet I come an' give up to -safe her. Is zere not some-sing?" - -"Anyway, you've got to give up that knife," said Dick. - -Tigerish lines came out on the man's face. "Fools!" he snarled and -leaped back, a dangerous animal once more. Again the professor's gun -came up. - -"Shoot him!" cried Dick. - -"I can't shoot him in cold blood!" protested the professor. - -Slowly Everard moved up from the other side. In a moment the test must -have come, when a sound between a gasp and a moan turned every face -toward Johnston. - -"Great God of Wonders!" whispered the old man, and pointed in the face -of the glowing moon. One after another the little group turned, caught -the vision, and were stricken motionless. - -Far in the radiant void, at a distance immeasurable to the estimate, -soared terrifically an unknown creature. Its wings, spreading over -a huge expanse, bore up with unimaginable lightness a bloated and -misshapen body. From a neck that writhed hideously, as a serpent in -pain, wavered a knobbed head, terminating in a great bladed beak. With -slow sweep it described majestic circles. Always the waving head gave -the impression of hopeless search. It was like a foul and monstrous -gnat buzzing in futile endeavour at the pale-lit window of the infinite. -Suddenly it fell, plunging headlong, then over and over, like a tumbler -pigeon, miles and miles, so it seemed, through the empty air, only to -bring up with a turn that carried it just above the sea, in a ghastly -and horrid playfulness. - -The little human creatures far below followed with awful eyes. Not until -a low-scudding cloud blotted the portent from sight did the power of -speech and coherent thought return. Then, each according to his own -way, they bore themselves in the face of a terror such as no creature -of human kind ever before had confronted. Professor Ravenden, holding an -envelope on his knee, burrowed fiercely for a pencil muttering: - -"Gyrations comprising three distinct turns. Most amazing. New light upon -the entire race of flying reptiles. I must preserve my calm; surely I -must preserve my calm!" - -Dolly Ravenden was looking at Dick with her soul in her eyes. - -Old Johnston, fallen to his knees, was praying with the formal -steadfastness of the blue Long Island Presbyterian. - -Everard crossed to Helga, who was pale but quiet, and threw his arm -around her. She leaned against him and gazed into the sky. Dick wrenched -his hungry eyes from Dolly and turned a face absolutely white and -absolutely set to Professor Ravenden. - -"The pteranodon!" he said. - -"Yes. Oh, what an opportunity! What an enlightenment to science! To -no observer has it been given since the beginning of the race. May I -trouble you for a pencil?" - -"Then it was this creature," said Dick, "that killed Petersen the -sailor, and the sheep. It fouled Ely's kites and snapped the strong cord -as if with scissors. It impaled Ely on its beak, carried him aloft and -shook him to earth again. It made the footprints which Whalley-" - -"Eet will come back!" shrieked the little juggler, who had been -speechless with terror. "Eet will kill you all! Zat is not matter. But -her! Eet shall not kill her while I leef! Eet see ze kite man, an' I see -it come down, an' I run. See! Ze moon!" - -From behind the clouds the moon moved again, and now they saw the -reptile swaying back toward them. Of a sudden it uttered a harsh, -grating sound and passed. - -"That is what I heard just before my horse bucked," said Everard. - -"Raucous--metallic," said the professor in rapt tones. "Sounded -twice--or was it three times?" He looked up from his notes, questioning -the group. - -Again the hideous sound was borne to their ears as the monster whirled -and soared downward, in a long slanting line. - -"It has sighted us!" said Dick. "Dolly! Helga! Run for the gully. Find -what cover you can. Ev, go with them." - -Helga reached out her hand. "Come, Dolly," she said. - -For one moment the girl hesitated. Then, with a little wail of love and -dread, she leaped to Dick and clung close to him, pressing her lips upon -his. - -"Now you know!" she sobbed. "Whatever happens, you know! I could not -leave you so, without----" - -"God bless and keep you, my own!" said Dick, thrusting her from him -into his brother's grasp. "Quick, Ev! It's coming!" - -With another metallic cry, the pteranodon increased its speed in a wide, -dropping curve. Instantly Dick became the man of action again. - -"Professor, I want you with your pistol on the right. Ev, stand by the -gully and guard the girls. Johnston, take the left; don't fire until it -is close. Fire for the head." - -"For the wing-joint where it meets the body, if you will allow me," -amended the scientist, putting away his notes carefully in his pocket. - -"Thank you. For the wing-joint," said Dick coolly. "If it strikes, throw -yourselves on the ground, all of you. Look out for the beak. Whalley, -give me your knife." - -"I keep eet," returned the little juggler. He had regained his courage -now, and with an intelligent eye had stationed himself on a hummock -above the depression whither Everard had guarded the two women. "What -can you do wiz eet? But me, I show you! Now come ze death-bird!" - -"That's all right then," said Dick approvingly. "Remember, Whalley, -whatever happens, you are to save the ladies." - -Throwing off his coat, he swung the heavy net-butt in the air, and -stationed himself. - -"If it tackles me first," thought he, "the pistol shots may do the -business, while I check it." - -Yet, beholding the terrific size and power of the tiger of the air, it -seemed impossible that any agency of man might cope with it. That it -meant an attack was obvious; for while Dick was disposing his little -force it had been circling, perhaps two hundred yards above, choosing -the point for the onslaught. - -Now it rushed down; not at Dick, but from the opposite quarter. All ran -in that direction. The pteranodon rose, sounding its raucous croak as if -in mockery. Before they had regained their position, it had whirled, and -was plunging with the speed of an express train down the aerial slope -directly upon Dick. Straight for his heart aimed the great bayonet that -the creature carried for a bill. - -Dick stood braced. The heavy, loaded club swung high. The creature -was almost upon him when he leaped to one side, and brought his weapon -around. The next instant he lay stunned and bleeding from the impact of -the piston-rod wing. - -The reptile swerved slightly. Shouting aloud, Professor Ravenden poured -the six bullets from his revolver into the great body. From the other -side Johnston was shooting. The monster was apparently unaffected, for -it skimmed along toward the spot where the girls crouched, guarded by -Everard Colton, who held ready a small boulder, his only weapon. - -But between stood "The Wonderful Whalley" with knife poised. On came the -reptile. Like a bow, the little juggler bent backward until his knife -almost touched the ground behind him. Then it swung, flashed, and went -home as the pteranodon, with a foot of steel driven into its hideous -neck, pierced the man through and through, and rising, shook the limp -body from its beak. - -The air was poisoned with the reek of the great saurian. Sharp to -the left it turned, made a halfcircle and, beating the air with the -thunderstrokes of sails flapping loose in a mighty wind, fell to the -ground ten paces from Professor Ravenden. - -Instantly that intrepid scientist was upon it, with clubbed revolver, -everything forgot except the hope of capturing such a prize. Everard, -holding aloft his rock, sprinted to the rescue. Dick staggered after -him. They had almost reached the spot when the retile's dying agony -began. - -The first wing-beat hurled Professor Ravenden headlong with a broken -collar-bone. Frenzied and unseeing, the monster of the dead centuries -projected itself from the hill, and with one dreadful scream that might -have rung from the agonised depths of hades, sped out across the waters. -Once, twice, thrice, and again, the vast pinions beat; then a plunge, a -whirl, a wild maelstrom of foam far out at sea--and quiet. - -Dolly Ravenden, with a cry, ran to her father, and with the help of Dick -and old Johnston got him to his feet. - -"A boat! A boat!" he cried. "We must pursue it!" - -Then he tried to lift his arm, and all but fainted. - -Meantime Helga and Everard were bending over the juggler. He was dead as -instantly as Haynes had been dead by his stroke. - -"Poor fellow!" said the young man. "He has paid his debt as best he -could. It was his knife that saved us, my Helga." - -The girl said nothing, but she loosed the soft neckerchief that she -wore and covered the worn, fantastic and peaceful face. They stood -with clasped hands looking at the body when a loud cry from Professor -Ravenden brought them hurriedly to where he stood, frenziedly gesturing -toward the sea. - -About the spot where the pteranodon had fallen glittered little flashes -of phosphorescence. Soon the sea was furiously alight. A school of -dogfish had found the prey. One great black wing was thrust aloft for -a brief moment. The water bubbled and darkened--and the sons of men had -seen the last of the lone survival that had come out of the mysterious -void, bearing on its wings across the uncounted eons, joy and sorrow, -love and death. - -THE END - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Flying Death, by Samuel Hopkins Adams - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLYING DEATH *** - -***** This file should be named 44324.txt or 44324.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/3/2/44324/ - -Produced by David Widger - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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