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diff --git a/21264.txt b/21264.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..881d946 --- /dev/null +++ b/21264.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7260 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Four Pools Mystery, by Jean Webster + +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 Four Pools Mystery + +Author: Jean Webster + +Release Date: April 30, 2007 [EBook #21264] +[Last updated: March 22, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOUR POOLS MYSTERY *** + + + + +Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE FOUR-POOLS MYSTERY + + +BY +JEAN WEBSTER + + +NEW YORK +THE CENTURY CO. +1908 + + +Copyright, 1907, 1908, by +THE CENTURY CO. + +Published, _March, 1908_ + + +THE DE VINNE PRESS + +[Illustration: In the Cave] + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I INTRODUCING TERRY PATTEN 3 + II I ARRIVE AT FOUR-POOLS PLANTATION 14 + III I MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE HA'NT 26 + IV THE HA'NT GROWS MYSTERIOUS 39 + V CAT-EYE MOSE CREATES A SENSATION 58 + VI WE SEND FOR A DETECTIVE 76 + VII WE SEND HIM BACK AGAIN 92 + VIII THE ROBBERY REMAINS A MYSTERY 108 + IX THE EXPEDITION TO LURAY 119 + X THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAVE 135 + XI THE SHERIFF VISITS FOUR-POOLS 143 + XII I MAKE A PROMISE TO POLLY 151 + XIII THE INQUEST 168 + XIV THE JURY'S VERDICT 186 + XV FALSE CLUES 196 + XVI TERRY COMES 206 + XVII WE SEARCH THE ABANDONED CABINS 222 + XVIII TERRY ARRIVES AT A CONCLUSION 247 + XIX TERRY FINDS THE BONDS 262 + XX POLLY MAKES A CONFESSION 271 + XXI MR. TERENCE KIRKWOOD PATTEN OF NEW YORK 285 + XXII THE DISCOVERY OF CAT-EYE MOSE 296 + XXIII MOSE TELLS HIS STORY 314 + XXIV POLLY MAKES A PROPOSAL 329 + + + + +THE FOUR-POOLS MYSTERY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCING TERRY PATTEN + + +It was through the Patterson-Pratt forgery case that I first made the +acquaintance of Terry Patten, and at the time I should have been more +than willing to forego the pleasure. + +Our firm rarely dealt with criminal cases, but the Patterson family were +long standing clients, and they naturally turned to us when the trouble +came. Ordinarily, so important a matter would have been put in the hands +of one of the older men, but it happened that I was the one who had +drawn up the will for Patterson Senior the night before his suicide, +therefore the brunt of the work devolved upon me. The most unpleasant +part of the whole affair was the notoriety. Could we have kept it from +the papers, it would not have been so bad, but that was a physical +impossibility; Terry Patten was on our track, and within a week he had +brought down upon us every newspaper in New York. + +The first I ever heard of Terry, a card was sent in bearing the +inscription, "Mr. Terence K. Patten," and in the lower left-hand corner, +"of the Post-Dispatch." I shuddered as I read it. The Post-Dispatch was +at that time the yellowest of the yellow journals. While I was still +shuddering, Terry walked in through the door the office boy had +inadvertently left open. + +He nodded a friendly good morning, helped himself to a chair, tossed his +hat and gloves upon the table, crossed his legs comfortably, and looked +me over. I returned the scrutiny with interest while I was mentally +framing a polite formula for getting rid of him without giving rise to +any ill feeling. I had no desire to annoy unnecessarily any of the +Post-Dispatch's young men. + +At first sight my caller did not strike me as unlike a dozen other +reporters. His face was the face one feels he has a right to expect of a +newspaper man--keen, alert, humorous; on the look-out for opportunities. +But with a second glance I commenced to feel interested. I wondered +where he had come from and what he had done in the past. His features +were undeniably Irish; but that which chiefly awakened my curiosity, was +his expression. It was not only wide-awake and intelligent; it was +something more. "Knowing" one would say. It carried with it the mark of +experience, the indelible stamp of the street. He was a man who has had +no childhood, whose education commenced from the cradle. + +I did not arrive at all of these conclusions at once, however, for he +had finished his inspection before I had fairly started mine. Apparently +he found me satisfactory. The smile which had been lurking about the +corners of his mouth broadened to a grin, and I commenced wondering +uncomfortably what there was funny about my appearance. Then suddenly +he leaned forward and began talking in a quick, eager way, that required +all my attention to keep abreast of him. After a short preamble in which +he set forth his view of the Patterson-Pratt case--and a clearsighted +view it was--he commenced asking questions. They were such amazingly +impudent questions that they nearly took my breath away. But he asked +them in a manner so engagingly innocent that I found myself answering +them before I was aware of it. There was a confiding air of _bonne +camaraderie_ about the fellow which completely put one off one's guard. + +At the end of fifteen minutes he was on the inside track of most of my +affairs, and was giving me advice through a kindly desire to keep me +from getting things in a mess. The situation would have struck me as +ludicrous had I stopped to think of it; but it is a fact I have noted +since, that, with Terry, one does not appreciate situations until it is +too late. + +When he had got from me as much information as I possessed, he shook +hands cordially, said he was happy to have made my acquaintance, and +would try to drop in again some day. After he had gone, and I had had +time to review our conversation, I began to grow hot over the matter. I +grew hotter still when I read his report in the paper the next morning. +I could not understand why I had not kicked him out at first sight, and +I sincerely hoped that he would drop in again, that I might avail myself +of the opportunity. + +He did drop in, and I received him with the utmost cordiality. There was +something entirely disarming about Terry's impudence. And so it went. He +continued to comment upon the case in the most sensational manner +possible, and I railed against him and forgave him with unvarying +regularity. In the end we came to be quite friendly over the affair. I +found him diverting at a time when I was in need of diversion, though +just what attraction he found in me, I have never been able to fathom. +It was certainly not that he saw a future source of "stories," for he +frankly regarded corporation law as a pursuit devoid of interest. +Criminal law was the one branch of the profession for which he felt any +respect. + +We frequently had lunch together; or breakfast, in his case. His day +commenced about noon and lasted till three in the morning. "Well, Terry, +what's the news at the morgue today?" I would inquire as we settled +ourselves at the table. And Terry would rattle off the details of the +latest murder mystery with a cheerfully matter-of-fact air that would +have been disgusting had it not been so funny. + +It was at this time that I learned his history prior to the days of the +Post-Dispatch. He was entirely frank about himself, and if one half of +his stories were true, he has achieved some amazing adventures. I +strongly suspected at times that the reporting instinct got ahead of the +facts, and that he embroidered incidents as he went along. + +His father, Terry Senior, had been an Irish politician of considerable +ability and some prominence on the East River side of the city. The +boy's early education had been picked up in the streets (his father had +got the truant officer his position) and it was thorough. Later he had +received a more theoretical training in the University of New York, but +I think it was his early education which stuck by him longest, and +which, in the end, was probably the more useful of the two. Armed with +this equipment, it was inevitable that he should develop into a star +reporter. Not only did he write his news in an entertaining form, but he +first made the news he wrote about. When any sensational crime had been +committed which puzzled the police, Terry had an annoying way of solving +the mystery himself, and publishing the full particulars in the +Post-Dispatch with the glory blatantly attributed to "our reporter." The +paper was fully aware that Terence K. Patten was an acquisition to its +staff. It had sent him on various commissions to various entertaining +quarters of the globe, and in the course of his duty he had encountered +experiences. One is forced to admit that he was not always fastidious as +to the role he played. He had cruised about the Mediterranean as +assistant cook on a millionaire's yacht, and had listened to secrets +between meals. He had wandered about the country with a monkey and a +hand-organ in search of a peddler he suspected of a crime. He had helped +along a revolution in South America, and had gone up in a captive war +balloon which had broken loose and floated off. + +But all this is of no concern at present. I am merely going to chronicle +his achievement in one instance--in what he himself has always referred +to as the "Four-Pools Mystery." It has already been written up in +reporter style as the details came to light from day to day. But a +ten-year-old newspaper story is as dead as if it were written on +parchment, and since the part Terry played was rather remarkable, and +many of the details were at the time suppressed, I think it deserves a +more permanent form. + +It was through the Patterson-Pratt business by a roundabout way that I +got mixed up in the Four-Pools affair. I had been working very hard over +the forgery case; I spent every day on it for nine weeks--and nearly +every night. I got into the way of lying awake, puzzling over the +details, when I should have been sleeping, and that is the sort of work +which finishes a man. By the middle of April, when the strain was over, +I was as near being a nervous wreck as an ordinarily healthy chap can +get. + +At this stage my doctor stepped in and ordered a rest in some quiet +place out of reach of the New York papers; he suggested a fishing +expedition to Cape Cod. I apathetically fell in with the idea, and +invited Terry to join me. But he jeered at the notion of finding either +pleasure or profit in any such trip. It was too far from the center of +crime to contain any interest for Terry. + +"Heavens, man! I'd as lief spend a vacation in the middle of the Sahara +Desert." + +"Oh, the fishing would keep things going," I said. + +"Fishing! We'd die of ennui before we had a bite. I'd be murdering you +at the end of the first week just for some excitement. If you need a +rest--and you are rather seedy--forget all about this Patterson business +and plunge into something new. The best rest in the world is a +counter-irritant." + +This was Terry all over; he himself was utterly devoid of nerves, and he +could not appreciate the part they played in a man of normal make-up. My +being threatened with nervous prostration he regarded as a joke. His +pleasantries rather damped my interest in deep-sea fishing, however, and +I cast about for something else. It was at this juncture that I thought +of Four-Pools Plantation. "Four-Pools" was the somewhat fantastic name +of a stock farm in the Shenandoah Valley, belonging to a great-uncle +whom I had not seen since I was a boy. + +A few months before, I had had occasion to settle a little legal matter +for Colonel Gaylord (he was a colonel by courtesy; so far as I could +discover he had never had his hands on a gun except for rabbit shooting) +and in the exchange of amenities which followed, he had given me a +standing invitation to make the plantation my home whenever I should +have occasion to come South. As I had no prospect of leaving New York, I +thought nothing of it at the time; but now I determined to take the old +gentleman at his word, and spend my enforced vacation in getting +acquainted with my Virginia relatives. + +This plan struck Terry as just one degree funnier than the fishing +expedition. The doctor, however, received the idea with enthusiasm. A +farm, he said, with plenty of outdoor life and no excitement, was just +the thing I needed. But could he have foreseen the events which were to +happen there, I doubt if he would have recommended the place for a +nervous man. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +I ARRIVE AT FOUR-POOLS PLANTATION + + +As I rolled southward in the train--"jerked" would be a fitter word; the +roadbeds of western Virginia are anything but level--I strove to recall +my old time impressions of Four-Pools Plantation. It was one of the big +plantations in that part of the state, and had always been noted for its +hospitality. My vague recollection of the place was a kaleidoscopic +vision of music and dancing and laughter, set in the moonlit background +of the Shenandoah Valley. I knew, however, that in the eighteen years +since my boyhood visit everything had changed. + +News had come of my aunt's death, and of Nan's runaway marriage against +her father's wishes, and of how she too had died without ever returning +home. Poor unhappy Nannie! I was but a boy of twelve when I had seen +her last, but she had impressed even my unimpressionable age with a +sense of her charm. I had heard that Jeff, the elder of the two boys, +had gone completely to the bad, and having broken with his father, had +drifted off to no one knew where. This to me was the saddest news of +all; Jeff had been the object of my first case of hero worship. + +I knew that Colonel Gaylord, now an old man, was living alone with +Radnor, who I understood had grown into a fine young fellow, all that +his brother had promised. My only remembrance of the Colonel was of a +tall dark man who wore riding boots and carried a heavy trainer's whip, +and of whom I was very much afraid. My only remembrance of Rad was of a +pretty little chap of four, eternally in mischief. It was with a mingled +feeling of eagerness and regret that I looked forward to the +visit--eagerness to see again the scenes which were so pleasantly +associated with my boyhood, and regret that I must renew my memories +under such sadly changed conditions. + +As I stepped from the train, a tall broad-shouldered young man of +twenty-three or thereabouts, came forward to meet me. I should have +recognized him for Radnor anywhere, so striking was his resemblance to +the brother I had known. He wore a loose flannel shirt and a +broad-brimmed felt hat cocked on one side, and he looked so exactly the +typical Southern man of the stage that I almost laughed as I greeted +him. His welcome was frank and cordial and I liked him from the first. +He asked after my health with an amused twinkle in his eyes. Nervous +prostration evidently struck him as humorously as it did Terry. Lest I +resent his apparent lack of sympathy however, he added, with a hearty +whack on my shoulder, that I had come to the right place to get cured. + +A drive over sweet smelling country roads behind blooded horses was a +new experience to me, fresh from city streets and the rumble of elevated +trains. I leaned back with a sigh of content, feeling already as if I +had got my boyhood back again. + +Radnor enlivened the three miles with stories of the houses we passed +and the people who lived in them, and to my law-abiding Northern ears, +the recital indubitably smacked of the South. This old gentleman--so Rad +called him--had kept an illicit still in his cellar for fifteen years, +and it had not been discovered until after his death (of delirium +tremens). The young lady who lived in that house--one of the belles of +the county--had eloped with the best man on the night before the wedding +and the rightful groom had shot himself. The one who lived here had +eloped with her father's overseer, and had rowed across the river in the +only available boat, leaving her outraged parent on the opposite bank. + +I finally burst out laughing. + +"Does everyone in the South run away to get married? Don't you ever have +any legitimate weddings with cake and rice and old shoes?" As I spoke I +remembered Nannie and wondered if I had touched on a delicate subject. + +But Radnor returned my laugh. + +"We do have a good many elopements," he acknowledged. "Maybe there are +more cruel parents in the South." Then he suddenly sobered. "I suppose +you remember Nan?" he inquired with an air of hesitation. + +"A little," I assented. + +"Poor girl!" he said. "I'm afraid she had a pretty tough time. You'd +best not mention her to the old gentleman--or Jeff either." + +"Does the Colonel still feel hard toward them?" + +Radnor frowned slightly. + +"He doesn't forgive," he returned. + +"What was the trouble with Jeff?" I ventured. "I have never heard any +particulars." + +"He and my father didn't agree. I don't remember very much about it +myself; I was only thirteen when it happened. But I know there was the +devil of a row." + +"Do you know where he is?" I asked. + +Radnor shook his head. + +"I sent him some money once or twice, but my father found it out and +shut down on my bank account. I've lost track of him lately--he isn't in +need of money though. The last I heard he was running a gambling place +in Seattle." + +"It's a great pity!" I sighed. "He was a fine chap when I knew him." + +Radnor echoed my sigh but he did not choose to follow up the subject, +and we passed the rest of the way in silence until we turned into the +lane that led to Four-Pools. After the manner of many Southern places +the house was situated well toward the middle of the large plantation, +and entirely out of sight from the road. The private lane which led to +it was bordered by a hawthorn hedge, and wound for half a mile or so +between pastures and flowering peach orchards. I delightedly breathed in +the fresh spring odors, wondering meanwhile how it was that I had let +that happy Virginia summer of my boyhood slip so entirely from my mind. + +As we rounded a clump of willow trees we came in sight of the house, set +on a little rise of ground and approached by a rolling sweep of lawn. It +was a good example of colonial--white with green blinds, the broad brick +floored veranda, which extended the length of the front, supported by +lofty Doric columns. On the south side a huge curved portico bulged out +to meet the driveway. Stretching away behind the house was a sleepy +box-bordered garden, and behind this, screened by a row of evergreens, +were clustered the barns and out-buildings. Some little distance to the +left, in a slight hollow and half hidden by an overgrowth of laurels, +stood a row of one-story weather-beaten buildings--the old negro cabins, +left over from the slave days. + +"It's just as I remember it!" I exclaimed delightedly as I noted one +familiar object after another. "Nothing has changed." + +"Nothing does change in the South," said Radnor, "except the people, and +I suppose they change everywhere." + +"And those are the deserted negro cabins?" I added, my eye resting on +the cluster of gray roofs showing above the shrubbery. + +"Just at present they are not so deserted as we should like," he +returned with a suggestive undertone in his voice. "You visit the +plantation at an interesting time. The Gaylord ha'nt has reappeared." + +"The Gaylord ha'nt!" I exclaimed in astonishment. "What on earth is +that?" + +Radnor laughed. + +"One of our godless ancestors once beat a slave to death and his ghost +comes back, off and on, to haunt the negro cabins. We hadn't heard +anything of him for a good many years and had almost forgotten the +story, when last week he reappeared. Devil fires have been seen dancing +in the laurels at night, and mysterious moanings have been heard around +the cabins. If you have ever had anything to do with negroes, you can +know the state our servants are in." + +"Well!" said I, "that promises entertainment. I shall look forward to +meeting the ha'nt." + +We had reached the house by this time, and as we drew up before the +portico the Colonel stood on the top step waiting to welcome me. He was +looking much as I remembered him except that his hair had turned from +black to white, and his former imperious bearing had become a trifle +querulous. I jumped out and grasped his outstretched hand. + +"I'm glad to see you, my boy! I'm glad to see you," he said cordially. + +My heart warmed toward the old man's "my boy." It had been a good many +years since anyone had called me that. + +"You've grown since I saw you last," he chuckled, as he led the way into +the house through the group of negro servants who had gathered to see me +arrive. + +My first fleeting glimpse through the open doors told me that it was +indeed true, as Radnor had said, nothing had changed. The furniture was +the same old-fashioned, solidly simple furniture that the house had +contained since it was built. I was amused to see the Colonel's gloves +and whip thrown carelessly on a chair in the hall. The whip was the one +token by which I remembered him. + +"So you've been working too hard, have you, Arnold?" the old man +inquired, looking me over with twinkling eyes. "We'll give you something +to do that will make you forget you've ever seen work before! There are +half a dozen colts in the pasture just spoiling to be broken in; you may +try your hand at that, sir. And now I reckon supper's about ready," he +added. "Nancy doesn't allow any loitering when it's a question of beat +biscuits. Take him up to his room, Rad--and you Mose," he called to one +of the negroes hanging about the portico, "come and carry up Marse +Arnold's things." + +At this one of them shambled forward and began picking up my traps which +had been dumped in a pile on the steps. His appearance struck me with +such an instant feeling of repugnance, that even after I was used to the +fellow, I never quite overcame that first involuntary shudder. He was +not a full-blooded negro but an octoroon. His color was a muddy yellow, +his features were sharp instead of flat, and his hair hung across his +forehead almost straight. But these facts alone did not account for his +queerness; the most uncanny thing about him was the color of his eyes. +They had a yellow glint and narrowed in the light. The creature was +bare-footed and wore a faded suit of linsey-woolsey; I wondered at that, +for the other servants who had crowded out to see me, were dressed in +very decent livery. + +Radnor noticed my surprise, and remarked as he led the way up the +winding staircase, "Mose isn't much of a beauty, for a fact." + +I made no reply as the man was close behind, and the feeling that his +eyes were boring into the middle of my back was far from pleasant. But +after he had deposited his load on the floor of my room, and, with a +sidewise glance which seemed to take in everything without looking +directly at anything, had shambled off again, I turned to Rad. + +"What's the matter with him?" I demanded. + +Radnor threw back his head and laughed. + +"You look as if you'd seen the ha'nt! There's nothing to be afraid of. +He doesn't bite. The poor fellow's half witted--at least in some +respects; in others he's doubly witted." + +"Who is he?" I persisted. "Where did he come from?" + +"Oh, he's lived here all his life--raised on the place. We're as fond of +Mose as if he were a member of the family. He's my father's body servant +and he follows him around like a dog. We don't keep him dressed for the +part because shoes and stockings make him unhappy." + +"But his eyes," I said. "What the deuce is the matter with his eyes?" + +Radnor shrugged his shoulders. + +"Born that way. His eyes _are_ a little queer, but if you've ever +noticed it, niggers' eyes are often yellow. The people on the place call +him 'Cat-Eye Mose.' You needn't be afraid of him," he added with another +laugh, "he's harmless." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +I MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE HA'NT + + +We had a sensation at supper that night, and I commenced to realize that +I was a good many miles from New York. In response to the invitation of +Solomon, the old negro butler, we seated ourselves at the table and +commenced on the cold dishes before us, while he withdrew to bring in +the hot things from the kitchen. As is often the case in Southern +plantation houses the kitchen was under a separate roof from the main +house, and connected with it by a long open gallery. We waited some time +but no supper arrived. The Colonel, becoming impatient, was on the point +of going to look for it, when the door burst open and Solomon appeared +empty-handed, every hair on his woolly head pointing a different +direction. + +"De ha'nt, Marse Cunnel, de ha'nt! He's sperrited off de chicken. Right +outen de oven from under Nancy's eyes." + +"Solomon," said the Colonel severely, "what are you trying to say? Talk +sense." + +"Sho's yuh bohn, Marse Cunnel; it's de libbin' truf I's tellin' yuh. Dat +ha'nt has fotched dat chicken right outen de oven, an' it's vanished in +de air." + +"You go out and bring that chicken in and don't let me hear another +word." + +"I cayn't, Marse Cunnel, 'deed I cayn't. Dere ain't no chicken dere." + +"Very well, then! Go and get us some ham and eggs and stop this fuss." + +Solomon withdrew and we three looked at each other. + +"Rad, what's the meaning of this?" the Colonel demanded querulously. + +"Some foolishness on the part of the niggers. I'll look into it after +supper. When the ha'nt begins abstracting chickens from the oven I think +it's time to investigate." + +Being naturally curious over the matter, I commenced asking questions +about the history and prior appearances of the ha'nt. Radnor answered +readily enough, but I noticed that the Colonel appeared restless under +the inquiry, and the amused suspicion crossed my mind that he did not +entirely discredit the story. When a man has been born and brought up +among negroes he comes, in spite of himself, to be tinged with their +ideas. + +Supper finished, the three of us turned down the gallery toward the +kitchen. As we approached the door we heard a murmur of voices, one +rising every now and then in a shrill wail which furnished a sort of +chorus. Radnor whispered in my ear that he reckoned Nancy had "got um" +again. Though I did not comprehend at the moment, I subsequently learned +that "um" referred to a sort of emotional ecstasy into which Nancy +occasionally worked herself, the motive power being indifferently ghosts +or religion. + +The kitchen was a large square room, with brick floor, rough shack walls +and smoky rafters overhead from which pended strings of garlic, red +peppers and herbs. The light was supplied ostensibly by two tallow dips, +but in reality by the glowing wood embers of the great open stove +bricked into one side of the wall. + +Five or six excited negroes were grouped in a circle about a woman with +a yellow turban on her head, who was rocking back and forth and shouting +at intervals: + +"Oh-h, dere's sperrits in de air! I can smell um. I can smell um." + +"Nancy!" called the Colonel sharply as we stepped into the room. + +Nancy paused a moment and turned upon us a pair of frenzied eyes with +nothing much but the whites showing. + +"Marse Cunnel, dere's sperrits in de air," she cried. "Sabe yuhself +while dere's time. We's all a-treadin' de road to destruction." + +"You'll be treading the road to destruction in mighty short order if you +don't keep still," he returned grimly. "Now stop this foolishness and +tell me what's gone with that chicken." + +After a great deal of questioning and patching together, we finally got +her story, but I cannot say that it threw much light upon the matter. +She had put the chicken in the oven, and then she felt powerful queer, +as if something were going to happen. Suddenly she felt a cold wind blow +through the room, the candles went out, and she could hear the rustle of +"ghostly gahments" sweeping past her. The oven door sprang open of its +own accord; she looked inside, and "dere wa'n't no chicken dere!" + +Repeated questioning only brought out the same statement but with more +circumstantial details. The other negroes backed her up, and the story +grew rapidly in magnitude and horror. Nancy's seizures, it appeared, +were contagious, and the others by this time were almost as excited as +she. The only approximately calm one among them was Cat-Eye Mose who sat +in the doorway watching the scene with half furtive eyes and something +resembling a grin on his face. + +The Colonel, observing that it was a good deal of commotion for the sake +of one small chicken, disgustedly dropped the inquiry. As we stepped out +into the gallery again, I glanced back at the dancing firelight, the +weird cross shadows, and the circle of dusky faces, with, I confess, a +somewhat creepy feeling. I could see that in such an atmosphere, it +would not take long for superstition to lay its hold on a man. + +"What's the meaning of it?" I asked as we strolled slowly toward the +house. + +"The meaning of it," Radnor shrugged, "is that some of them are lying. +The ha'nt, I could swear, has a good flesh and blood appetite. Nancy has +been frightened and she believes her own story. There's never any use in +trying to sift a negro's lies; they have so much imagination that after +five minutes they believe themselves." + +"I think I could spot the ghost," I returned. "And that's your precious +Cat-Eye Mose." + +Radnor shook his head. + +"Mose doesn't need to steal chickens. He gets all he wants." + +"Mose," the Colonel added emphatically, "is the one person on the place +who is absolutely to be trusted." + +We had almost reached the house, when we were suddenly startled by a +series of shrieks and screams coming toward us across the open stretch +of lawn that lay between us and the old negro cabins. In another moment +an old woman, her face twitching with terror, had thrown herself at our +feet in a species of convulsion. + +"De ha'nt! De ha'nt! He's a-beckoning," was all we could make out +between her moans. + +The other negroes came pouring out from the kitchen and gathered in a +frenzied circle about the writhing woman. Mose, I noted, was among them; +he could at least prove an alibi this time. + +"Here Mose, quick! Get us some torches," Radnor called. "We'll fetch +that ha'nt up here to answer for himself.--It's old Aunt Sukie," he +added to me, nodding toward the woman on the ground whose spasms by this +time were growing somewhat quieter. "She lives on the next plantation +and was probably taking a cross cut through the laurel path that leads +by the cabins. She's almost a hundred and is pretty nearly a witch +herself." + +Mose shambled up with some torches--pine knots dipped in tar, such as +they used for hunting 'possums at night, and he and I and Radnor set out +for the cabins. I noticed that none of the other negroes volunteered to +assist; I also noticed that Mose went on ahead with a low whining cry +which sent chills chasing up and down my back. + +"What's the matter with him?" I gasped, more intent on the negro than +the ghost we had come to search. + +"That's the way he always hunts," Radnor laughed. "There are a good many +things about Mose that you will have to get used to." + +We searched the whole region of the abandoned quarters with a +considerable degree of thoroughness. Three or four of the larger cabins +were used as store houses for fodder; the rest were empty. We poked into +all of them, but found nothing more terrifying than a few bats and owls. +Though I did not give much consideration to the fact at the time, I +later remembered that there was one of the cabins which we didn't +explore as thoroughly as the rest. Mose dropped his torch as we +entered, and in the confusion of relighting it, the interior was +somewhat slighted. In any case we unearthed no ha'nt that night; and we +finally gave up the search and turned back to the house. + +"I suspect," Radnor laughed, "that if the truth were known, old Aunt +Sukie's beckoning ha'nt would turn out to be nothing more alarming than +a white cow waving her tail." + +"It's rather suggestive coming on top of the chicken episode," I +observed. + +"Oh, this won't be the end! We'll have ha'nt served for breakfast, +dinner and supper during the rest of your stay. When the niggers begin +to see things they keep it up." + +When I went upstairs that night, Rad followed close on my heels to see +that I had everything I needed. The room was a huge four windowed +affair, furnished with a canopied bed and a mahogany wardrobe as big as +a small house. The nights still being chilly, a roaring wood fire had +been built, adding a note of cheerfulness to an otherwise sombre +apartment. + +"This was Nan's room," he said suddenly. + +"Nan's room!" I echoed glancing about the shadowy interior. "Rather +heavy for a girl." + +"It is a trifle severe," he agreed, "but I dare say it was different +when she was here. Her things are all packed away in the attic." He +picked up a candle and held it so that it lighted the face of a portrait +over the mantle. "That's Nan--painted when she was eighteen." + +"Yes," I nodded. "I recognized her the moment I saw it. She was like +that when I knew her." + +"It used to hang down stairs but after her marriage my father had it +brought up here. He kept the door locked until the news came that she +was dead, then he turned it into a guest room. He never comes in +himself; he won't look at the picture." + +Radnor spoke shortly, but with an underlying note of bitterness. I could +see that he felt keenly on the subject. After a few desultory words, he +somewhat brusquely said good night, and left me to the memories of the +place. + +Instead of going to bed I set about unpacking. I was tired but wide +awake. Aunt Sukie's convulsions and our torch light hunt for ghosts were +novel events in my experience, and they acted as anything but a +sedative. The unpacking finished, I settled myself in an easy chair +before the fire and fell to studying the portrait. It was a huge canvas +in the romantic fashion of Romney, with a landscape in the background. +The girl was dressed in flowing pink drapery, a garden hat filled with +roses swinging from her arm, a Scotch collie with great lustrous eyes +pressed against her side. The pose, the attributes, were artificial; but +the painter had caught the spirit. Nannie's face looked out of the frame +as I remembered it from long ago. Youth and gaiety and goodness trembled +on her lips and laughed in her eyes. The picture seemed a prophecy of +all the happiness the future was to bring. Nannie at eighteen with life +before her! + +And three years later she was dying in a dreary little Western town, +separated from her girlhood friends, without a word of forgiveness from +her father. What had she done to deserve this fate? Merely set up her +will against his, and married the man she loved. Her husband was poor, +but from all I ever heard, a very decent chap. As I studied the eager +smiling face, I felt a hot wave of anger against her father. What a +power of vindictiveness the man must have, still to cherish rancour +against a daughter fifteen years in her grave! There was something too +poignantly sad about the unfulfilled hope of the picture. I blew out the +candles to rid my mind of poor little Nannie's smile. + +I sat for some time my eyes fixed moodily on the glowing embers, till I +was roused by the deep boom of the hall clock as it slowly counted +twelve. I rose with a laugh and a yawn. The first of the doctor's orders +had been, "Early to bed!" I hastily made ready, but before turning in, +paused for a moment by the open window, enticed by the fresh country +smells of plowed land and sprouting green things, that blew in on the +damp breeze. It was a wild night with a young moon hanging low in the +sky. Shadows chased themselves over the lawn and the trees waved and +shifted in the wind. It had been a long time since I had looked out on +such a scene of peaceful tranquillity as this. New York with the hurry +and rush of its streets, with the horrors of Terry's morgue, seemed to +lie in another continent. + +But suddenly I was recalled to the present by hearing, almost beneath +me, the low shuddering squeak of an opening window. I leaned out +silently alert, and to my surprise I saw Cat-Eye Mose--though it was +pretty dark I could not be mistaken in his long loping run--slink out +from the shadow of the house and make across the open space of lawn +toward the deserted negro cabins. As he ran he was bent almost double +over a large black bundle which he carried in his arms. Though I +strained my eyes to follow him I could make out nothing more before he +had plunged into the shadow of the laurels. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE HA'NT GROWS MYSTERIOUS + + +I waked early and hurried through with my dressing, eager to get down +stairs and report my last night's finding in regard to Mose. My first +impulse had been to rouse the house, but on soberer second thoughts I +had decided to wait till morning. I was glad now that I had; for with +the sunlight streaming in through the eastern windows, with the fresh +breeze bringing the sound of twittering birds, life seemed a more +cheerful affair than it had the night before, and the whole aspect of +the ha'nt took on a distinctly humorous tone. + +A ghost who wafted roast chickens through the air and out of doors on a +breeze of its own constructing, appealed to me as having an original +mind. Since my midnight discovery I felt pretty certain that I could +identify the ghost; and as I recalled the masterly way in which Mose +had led and directed the hunt, I decided that he was cleverer than Rad +had given him credit for. I went down stairs with my eyes and ears wide +open prepared for further revelations. The problems of my profession had +never led me into any consideration of the supernatural, and the rather +evanescent business of hunting down a ha'nt came as a welcome contrast +to the very material details of my recent forgery case. I had found what +Terry would call a counter-irritant. + +It was still early, and neither the Colonel nor Radnor had appeared; but +Solomon was sweeping off the portico steps and I addressed myself to +him. He was rather coy at first about discussing the matter of the +ha'nt, as he scented my scepticism, but in the end he volunteered: + +"Some says de ha'nt's a woman dat one o' de Gaylords long time ago, +should o' married an' didn't, an' dat pined away an' died. An' some says +it's a black man one o' dem whupped to deaf." + +"Which do you think it is?" I inquired. + +"Bress yuh, Marse Arnold, I ain't thinkin' nuffen. Like es not hit's +bofe. When one sperrit gits oneasy 'pears like he stir up all de odders. +Dey gets so lonely like lyin' all by dereselves in de grave dat dey're +'most crazy for company. An' when dey cayn't get each odder dey'll take +humans. De human what's consorted wid a gohs, Marse Arnold, he's nebber +hisself no moah. He's sort uh half-minded like Mose." + +"Is that what's the matter with Mose?" I pursued tentatively. "Does he +consort with ghosts?" + +"Mose was bawn dat way, but I reckon maybe dat was what was de matter +wid his mudder, an' he cotched it." + +"That was rather an unusual thing, last night, wasn't it, for a ha'nt to +steal a chicken?" + +"'Pears like ha'nts must have dere jokes like odder folkses," was as far +as Solomon would go. + +At breakfast I repeated what I had seen the night before, and to my +indignation both Radnor and my uncle took it calmly. + +"Mose is only a poor half witted fellow but he's as honest as the day," +the Colonel declared, "and I won't have him turned into a villain for +your entertainment." + +"He may be honest," I persisted, "but just the same he knows what became +of that chicken! And what's more, if you look about the house you'll +find there's something else missing." + +The Colonel laughed good-naturedly. + +"If it raises your suspicions to have Mose prowling around in the night, +you'll have to get used to suspicions; for you'll have 'em during the +rest of your stay. I've known Mose to stop out in the woods for three +nights running--he's as much an animal as he is a man; but he's a tame +animal, and you needn't be afraid of him. If you'd followed him and his +bundle last night I reckon you'd have made a mighty queer discovery. He +has his own little amusements and they aren't exactly ours, but since he +doesn't hurt anybody what's the use in bothering? I've known Mose for +well on to thirty years, and I've never yet known him to do a meanness +to any human being. There aren't many white folks I can say the same +of." + +I did not pursue the subject with the Colonel, but I later suggested to +Rad that we continue our investigation. He echoed his father's laugh. If +we set out to investigate all the imaginings that came into the niggers' +heads we should have our hands full, was his reply. I dropped the matter +for the time being, but I was none the less convinced that Mose and the +ghost were near relations; and I determined to keep an eye on him in the +future, at least in so far as one could keep an eye on so slippery an +individual. + +In pursuance of this design, I took the opportunity that first morning, +while Rad and his father were engaged with the veterinary surgeon who +had come to doctor a sick colt, of strolling in the direction of the +deserted cabins. + +It was a damp malarious looking spot, though I dare say in the old days +when the land was drained, it had been healthy enough. Just below the +cabins lay the largest of the four pools which gave the plantation its +name. The other three lying in the pastures higher up were used for +watering the stock and were kept clean and free from plant growth. But +the lower pool, abandoned like the cabins, had been allowed to overflow +its banks until it was completely surrounded with rushes and lily pads. +A rank growth of willow trees hung over the water and shut out all but +the merest glint of sunlight. + +Above this pool the cabins stretched in a double row occupying the base +of the declivity on which the "big house" stood. There were as many as a +dozen, I should think, built of logs and unpainted shack, consisting for +the most part of a single large room, though a few had a loft above and +a rough lean-to in the rear. A walk bordered by laurels stretched down +the center between the two rows, and as the trees had not been clipped +for a good many years, the shade was somewhat sombre. Add to this the +fact that one or two of the roofs had fallen in, that the hinges were +missing from several doors, that there was not a whole pane of glass in +all the dozen cabins, and it will readily be seen that the place gave +rise to no very cheerful fancies. I wondered that the Colonel did not +have the houses pulled down; they were not a souvenir of past times +which I myself should have cared to preserve. + +The damp earth where the shade was thickest, plainly showed the marks of +foot-prints--some made by bare feet, some by shoes--but I could not +follow them for more than a yard or so, and I could not be certain they +were not our own traces of the night before. I poked into every one of +the cabins, but found nothing suspicious about their appearance. I did +not, to be sure, ascend to any of the half dozen lofts, as there were no +stairs and no suggestion of a ladder anywhere about. The open traps +however which led to them were so thickly festooned with spider webs and +dirt, that it did not seem possible that anyone had passed through for a +dozen years. Finding no sign of habitation, either human or spiritual, I +finally turned back to the house with a philosophic shrug and the +reflection that Cat-Eye Mose's nocturnal vagaries were no affair of +mine. + +During the next few days we in the front part of the house heard only +faint echoes of the excitement, though I believe that the ha'nt, both +past and present, was the chief topic of conversation among the negroes, +not only at Four-Pools but among the neighboring plantations as well. I +spent my time those first few days in getting acquainted with my new +surroundings. The chief business of the farm was horse raising, and the +Colonel kept a well stocked stable. A riding horse was put at my +disposal, and in company with Radnor I explored the greater part of the +valley. + +We visited at a number of houses in the neighborhood, but there was one +in particular where we stopped most frequently, and it did not take me +long to discover the reason. "Mathers Hall", an ivy-covered rambling +structure, red brick with white trimmings--in style half colonial, half +old English--was situated a mile or so from Four-Pools. The Hall had +sheltered three generations of Matherses, and the fourth generation was +growing up. There was a huge family, mostly girls, who had married and +moved away to Washington or Richmond or Baltimore. They all came back in +the summer however bringing their babies with them, and the place was +the center of gaiety in the neighborhood. There was just one unmarried +daughter left--Polly, nineteen years old, and the most heartlessly +charming young person it has ever been my misfortune to meet. As is +likely to be the case with the baby of a large family, Polly was +thoroughly spoiled, but that fact did not in the least diminish her +charm. + +Report had it, at the time of my arrival, that after refusing every +marriageable man in the county, she was now trying to make up her mind +between Jim Mattison and Radnor. Whether or not these statistics were +exaggerated, I cannot say, but in any case the many other aspirants for +her favor had tacitly dropped out of the running, and the race was +clearly between the two. + +It seemed to me, had I been Polly, that it would not take me long to +decide. Rad was as likable a young fellow as one would ever meet; he +came from one of the best families in the county, with the prospect of +inheriting at his father's death a very fair sized fortune. It struck me +that a girl would have to search a good while before discovering an +equally desirable husband. But I was surprised to find that this was not +the general opinion in the neighborhood. Radnor's reputation, I learned +with something of a shock, was far from what it should have been. I was +told with a meaning undertone that he "favored" his brother Jeff. Though +many of the stories were doubtless exaggerated, I learned subsequently +that there was too much truth in some of them. It was openly said that +Polly Mathers would be doing a great deal better if she chose young +Mattison, for though he might not have the prospect of as much money as +Radnor Gaylord, he was infinitely the steadier of the two. Mattison was +a good-looking and rather ill-natured young giant, but it did not strike +me at the time, nor later in the light of succeeding events, that he was +particularly endowed with brains. By way of occupation, he was described +as being in "politics"; at that time he was sheriff of the county, and +was fully aware of the importance of the office. + +I fear that Polly had a good deal of the coquette in her make-up, and +she thoroughly enjoyed the jealousy between the two young men. Whenever +Radnor by any chance incurred her displeasure, she retaliated by +transferring her smiles to Mattison; and the virtuous young sheriff took +good care that if Rad committed any slips, Polly should hear of them. As +a result, they succeeded in keeping his temper in a very inflammable +state. + +I had not been long at Four-Pools before I commenced to see that there +was an undercurrent to the life of the household which I had not at +first suspected. The Colonel had grown strict as he grew old; his +experience with his elder son had made him bitter, and he did not adopt +the most diplomatic way of dealing with Radnor. The boy had inherited a +good share of his father's stubborn temper and indomitable will; the +two, living alone, inevitably clashed. Radnor at times seemed possessed +of the very devil of perversity; and if he ever drank or gambled, it +was as much to assert his independence as for any other reason. There +were days when he and his father were barely on speaking terms. + +Life at the plantation, however, was for the most part easy-going and +flexible, as is likely to be the case in a bachelor establishment. We +dropped cigar ashes anywhere we pleased, cocked our feet on the parlor +table if we saw fit, and let the dogs troop all over the place. I spent +the greater part of my time on horseback, riding about the country with +Radnor on business for the farm. He, I soon discovered, did most of the +actual work, though his father was still the nominal head of affairs. +The raising of thorough-breds is no longer the lucrative business that +it used to be, and it required a good manager to bring the balance out +on the right side of the ledger. Rad was such a spectacular looking +young fellow that I was really surprised to find what sound business +judgment he possessed. He insisted upon introducing modern methods where +his father would have been content to drift along in the casual manner +of the old South, and his clear-sightedness more than doubled the +income of the place. + +In the healthy out-of-door life I soon forgot that nerves existed. The +only thing which at all marred the enjoyment of those first few days was +the knowledge of occasional clashings between Radnor and his father. I +think that they were both rather ashamed of these outbreaks, and I +noticed that they tried to conceal the fact from me by an elaborate if +somewhat stiff courtesy toward each other. + +In order to make clear the puzzling series of events which followed, I +must go back to, I believe, the fifth night of my arrival. Radnor was +giving a dance at Four-Pools for the purpose, he said, of introducing me +into society; though as a matter of fact Polly Mathers was the guest of +honor. In any case the party was given, and everyone in the neighborhood +(the term "neighborhood" is broad in Virginia; it describes a ten mile +radius) both young and old came in carriages or on horseback; the +younger ones to dance half the night, the older ones to play cards and +look on. I met a great many pretty girls that evening--the South +deserves its reputation--but Polly Mathers was by far the prettiest; and +the contest for her favors between Radnor and young Mattison was +spirited and open. Had Rad consulted his private wishes, the sheriff +would not have been among the guests. + +It was getting on toward the end of the evening and the musicians, a +band of negro fiddlers made up from the different plantations, were +resting after a Virginia reel that had been more a romp than a dance, +when someone--I think it was Polly herself--suggested that the company +adjourn to the laurel walk to see if the ha'nt were visible. The story +of old Aunt Sukie's convulsions and of the spirited roast chicken had +spread through the countryside, and there had been a good many laughing +allusions to it during the evening. Running upstairs in search of a hat +I met Rad on the landing, buttoning something white inside his coat, +something that to my eyes looked suspiciously like a sheet. He laughed +and put his finger on his lips as he went on down to join the others. + +It was a bright moonlight night almost as light as day. We moved across +the open lawn in a fairly compact body. The girls, though they had been +laughing all the evening at the exploits of the ha'nt, showed a cautious +tendency to keep on the inside. Rad was in the front ranks leading the +hunt, but I noticed as we entered the shrubbery that he disappeared +among the shadows, and I for one was fairly certain that our search +would be rewarded. We paused in a group at the nearer end of the row of +cabins and stood waiting for the ha'nt to show himself. He was obliging. +Four or five minutes, and a faint flutter of white appeared in the +distance at the farther end of the laurel walk. Then as we stood with +expectant eyes fixed on the spot, we saw a tall white figure sway across +a patch of moonlight with a beckoning gesture in our direction, while +the breeze bore a faintly whispered, "Come! Come!" We were none of us +overbold; our faith was not strong enough to run the risk of spoiling +the illusion. With shrieks and laughter we turned and made +helter-skelter for the house, breaking in among the elder members of +the party with the panting announcement, "We've seen the ha'nt!" + +Polly loitered on the veranda while supper was being served, waiting, I +suspect for Radnor to reappear. I joined her, very willing indeed that +the young man should delay. Polly, her white dress gleaming in the +moonlight, her eyes filled with laughter, her cheeks glowing with +excitement, was the most entrancing little creature I have ever seen. +She was so bubbling over with youth and light-heartedness that I felt, +in contrast, as if I were already tottering on the brink of the grave. I +was just thirty that summer, but if I live to be a hundred I shall never +feel so old again. + +"Well Solomon," I remarked as I helped myself to some cakes he was +passing, "we've been consorting with ghosts tonight." + +"I reckon dis yere gohs would answer to de name o' Marse Radnah," said +Solomon, with a wise shake of his head. "But just de same it ain't safe +to mock at ha'nts. Dey'll get it back at you when you ain't expectin' +it!" + +After an intermission of half an hour or so the music commenced again, +but still no Radnor. Polly cast more than one glance in the direction of +the laurels and the sparkle in her eyes grew ominous. Presently young +Mattison appeared in the doorway and asked her to come in and dance, but +she said that she was tired, and we three stood laughing and chatting +for some ten minutes longer, when a step suddenly sounded on the gravel +path and Radnor rounded the corner of the house. As the bright moonlight +fell on his face, I stared at him in astonishment. He was pale to his +very lips and there were strained anxious lines beneath his eyes. + +"What's the matter, Radnor?" Polly cried. "You look as if you'd found +the ha'nt!" + +He made an effort at composure and laughed in return, though to my ears +the laugh sounded very hollow. + +"I believe this is my dance, isn't it, Polly?" he asked, joining us with +rather an over-acted air of carelessness. + +"Your dance was over half an hour ago," Polly returned. "This is Mr. +Mattison's." + +She turned indoors with the young man, and Rad following on their +heels, made his way to the punch bowl where I saw him toss off three or +four glasses with no visible interval between them. I, decidedly +puzzled, watched him for the rest of the evening. He appeared to have +some disturbing matter on his mind, and his gaiety was clearly forced. + +It was well on toward morning when the party broke up, and after some +slight conversation of a desultory sort the Colonel, Rad and I went up +to our rooms. Whether it was the excitement of the evening or the coffee +I had drunk, in any case I was not sleepy. I turned in, only to lie for +an hour or more with my eyes wide open staring at a patch of moonlight +on the ceiling. My old trouble of insomnia had overtaken me again. I +finally rose and paced the floor in sheer desperation, and then paused +to stare out of the window at the peaceful moonlit picture before me. + +Suddenly I heard, as on the night of my arrival, the soft creaking of +the French window in the library, which opened on to the veranda just +below me. Quickly alert, I leaned forward determined to learn if +possible the reason for Mose's midnight wanderings. To my astonishment +it was Radnor who stepped out from the shadow of the house, carrying a +large black bundle in his arms. I clutched the frame of the window and +stared after him in dumb amazement, as he crossed the strip of moonlit +lawn and plunged into the shadows of the laurel growth. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CAT-EYE MOSE CREATES A SENSATION + + +For the next week or so things went rather strangely on the plantation. +I knew very well that there was an undercurrent of which I was supposed +to know nothing, and I appeared politely unconscious; but I won't say +but that I kept my eyes and ears as wide open as was possible without +appearing to spy. The chicken episode and Aunt Sukie's convulsions +turned out to be only the beginning of the ha'nt excitement; scarcely a +day passed without some fresh supernatural visitation. Radnor +pooh-poohed over the matter before the Colonel and me, but with the +negroes I know that he encouraged rather than discouraged their fears, +until there was not a man on our own or any of the neighboring +plantations who would have ventured to step foot within the laurel +walk, either at night or in the daytime--at least there was only one. +Cat-Eye Mose took the matter of the ha'nt without undue emotion, a point +which struck me as suggestive, for I knew that Mose was as superstitious +as the rest when the occasion warranted. + +Once at least I saw Radnor and Mose in consultation, and though I did +not know the subject of the conference my suspicions were very near the +surface. I came upon them in the stables talking in low tones, Rad +apparently explaining, and Mose listening with the air of strained +attention which the slightest mental effort always called to his face. +At my appearance Radnor raised his voice and added one or two directions +as to how his guns were to be cleaned. It was evident that the subject +had been changed. + +Everything that was missing about the place--and there seemed to be an +abnormal amount--was attributed to the ha'nt. I do not doubt but that +the servants made the ha'nt a convenient scapegoat to answer for their +own shortcomings, but still there were several suggestive +depredations--horse blankets from the stable, clothes from the line and +more edibles than roast chicken from Nancy's larder. The climax of +absurdity was reached when there disappeared a rather trashy French +novel, which I had left in the summer house. I asked Solomon about it, +thinking that one of the servants might have brought it in. Solomon +rolled his eyes and suggested that the ha'nt had cotched it. I +laughingly commented upon the occurrence at the supper table and the +next day Rad handed me the book; Mose had found it, he said, and had +brought it up to his room. + +All of these minor occurrences were stretched over a period of, say ten +days after the party, and though it gave me the uncomfortable feeling +that there was something in the air which I did not understand, I did +not let it worry me unduly. Radnor seemed to be on the inside track of +whatever was going on, and he was old enough to take care of his own +affairs. I knew that he had more than once visited the laurel walk after +the house was supposed to be asleep; but I kept this knowledge to +myself, and allowed no hint to reach the Colonel. + +I had, during these first few weeks, all the opportunity I wished of +studying Mose's character. Radnor was occupied a good deal of the +time--spring on a big river plantation is a busy season--and as I had +professed myself fond of shooting, the Colonel turned me over to the +care of Cat-Eye Mose. Had I myself been choosing, I should have selected +another guide. But Mose was the best hunter on the place, and as the +Colonel was quite untroubled by his vagaries, it never occurred to him +that I might not be equally confident. In time I grew used to the +fellow, but I will admit that at first I accepted his services with some +honest trepidation. As I watched him going ahead of me, crouching behind +bushes, springing from hummock to hummock, silent and alert, quivering +like an animal in search of prey, my attention was centered on him +rather than on any possible quarry. + +I shall never forget running across him in the woods one afternoon when +I had gone out snipe shooting alone. Whether he had followed me or +whether we had chosen the same vicinity by chance, I do not know; but at +any rate as I came out from the underbrush on the edge of a low, swampy +place, I almost stepped on the man. He was stretched face downward on +the black, oozy soil with his arm buried in a hole at the foot of a +tree. + +"Why Mose!" I cried in amazement, "what on earth are you doing here?" + +He responded without raising his head. + +"I's aftah a snake, sah. I see a big fat gahtah snake a-lopin' into dis +yere hole, an' he's skulkin' dar now thinkin' like he gwine to fool me. +But he cayn't do dat, sah. I's got 'im by de tail, an' I'll fotch 'im +out." + +He drew forth as he spoke a huge black and yellow snake, writhing and +hissing, and proceeded to smash its head with a stone. I shut my eyes +during the operation and when I opened them again I saw to my horror +that he was stuffing the carcass in the front of his shirt. + +"Good heavens, Mose!" I cried, aghast. "What are you going to do with +that?" + +"Boil it into oil, sah, to scar de witches off." + +Inquiry at the house that night brought out the fact that this was one +of Mose's regular occupations. Snake's oil was in general favor among +the negroes as a specific against witches, and Mose was the chief +purveyor of the lotion. Taken all in all he was about as queer a human +being as I have ever come across, and I fancy, had I been a psychologist +instead of a lawyer, I might have found him an entertaining study. + +I heard about this time some fresh rumors in regard to Radnor; one--and +it came pretty straight--that he'd just lost a hundred dollars at poker. +A hundred dollars may not sound like a very big loss in these days of +bridge, but it was large for that place, and it represented to Radnor +exactly two months' pay. As overseer of the plantation, the Colonel paid +him six hundred dollars a year, a little enough sum considering the work +he did. Rad had nothing in his own right; aside from his salary he was +entirely dependent on his father, and it struck me as more than foolish +for a young man who was contemplating marriage to throw away two months' +earnings in a single game of poker. The conviction crossed my mind that +perhaps after all Polly was wise to delay. + +I heard another rumor however which was graver than the poker affair; it +was only a rumor, and when traced to its source turned out to be nothing +more tangible than somebody's hazarded guess, but without the slightest +cause the same suspicion had already presented itself to me. And that +was, that the ha'nt was a very flesh and blood woman. Radnor was clearly +in some sort of trouble; he was moody and irritable, so sharp with the +farm hands that several of them left, and unusually taciturn with the +Colonel and me. To make matters worse Polly Mathers was treating him +with marked indifference, and openly bestowing her smiles upon Mattison; +what the trouble was I could only conjecture, but I feared that she too +had been hearing rumors. + +The ha'nt stories had been repeated and exaggerated until they contained +no semblance of truth. By this time, not only the laurel walk was +haunted, but the spring-hole as well; and it soon became a region of +even greater fear than the deserted cabins. The "spring-hole" was a +natural cavity in the side of a hill a half mile or so back from the +house. It was out of this cavity that the underground stream flowed +which fed the pools, and furnished such valuable irrigation to the +place. All that part of Virginia is undermined with limestone caverns, +and my uncle's was by no means the only plantation that could boast the +distinction of a private cave. The entrance was half hidden among rugged +piled-up boulders dripping with moisture; and was not inviting. I +remembered chasing a rabbit into this cavern when I was a boy, and +though it would have been an easy matter to follow him, I preferred to +stay outside in the sunshine. The spring-hole, then, was haunted. This +did not strike me as strange. I rather wondered that it had not been +from the first; it was a likely place for ghosts. But the thing which +did surprise me, was the fact that it was Mose who brought the news. + +We were sitting on the portico after supper one night--it was almost +dark and the glow from our cigars was the one visible point in the +scenery--when Mose came bounding across the lawn with his peculiar +loping run and fairly groveled at Radnor's feet, his teeth chattering +with fear. + +"I's seen de ha'nt, Marse Rad; de sho nuff ha'nt all dressed in black +an' risin' outen de spring-hole." + +"You fool!" Radnor cried. "Get on your feet and behave yourself." + +"It was de debbil," Mose chattered. "His face was black an' his eyes was +fire." + +"You've been drinking, Mose," Radnor said sharply. "Get off to the +quarters where you belong, and don't let me see you again until you are +sober," and he shunted the fellow out of the way before he had time to +say any more. + +I myself was tolerably certain that Mose had not been drinking; that, at +least, was not in the list of his peculiar vices. He appeared to be +thoroughly frightened--if not, he was a most consummate actor. In the +light of what I already knew, I was considerably puzzled by this fresh +manifestation. The Colonel fretted and fumed up and down the veranda, +muttering something about these fool niggers all being alike. He had +bragged considerably about Mose's immunity in respect to ha'nts, and I +think he was rather dashed at his favorite's falling-off. I held my +peace, and Radnor returned in a few minutes. + +"Rad," said the Colonel, "this thing's going too far. The whole place is +infested with ghosts; they'll be invading the house next and we won't +have a servant left on the place. Can't you do something to stop it?" + +Radnor shrugged his shoulders and said that it was a pretty tough job to +lay a ghost when there were twenty niggers on the place, but that he +would see what he could do; and he presently drifted off again. + +That same night about ten o'clock I was reading before going to bed, +when a knock sounded on the door, and Radnor appeared. He was unusually +restless and ill at ease. He referred in a jesting fashion to the ha'nt, +discussed some neighborhood gossip, and finally quite abruptly inquired: + +"Arnold, can you lend me some money?" + +"Yes," I said, "I think so; how much do you want?" + +"A hundred dollars if you can spare it. Fact is I'm a little hard up, +and I've got a bill to meet. I have some money invested but I can't put +my hands on it just this minute. I'll pay you in a week or so as soon as +I get some cash--I wouldn't ask you, only my father is so blamed +reluctant about paying my salary ahead of time." + +I wrote out a check and handed it to him. + +"Rad," I said, "you're perfectly welcome to the money; I'm glad to +accommodate you, but if you'll excuse my mentioning it, I think you +ought to pull up a bit on this poker business. You don't earn so much +that if you're thinking of getting married you can afford to throw any +of it away.--I'm only speaking for your good; it's no affair of mine," I +added as I saw his face flush. + +He hesitated a moment with the check in his hand; I know that he wanted +to give it back, but he was evidently too hard pressed. + +"Oh, keep the money!" I said. "I don't want to pry into your private +affairs, only," I laughed, "I do want to see you win out ahead of +Mattison, and I'm afraid you're not going about it the right way." + +"Thank you, Arnold," he returned, "I want to win a great deal more than +you want me to--and if it's gambling you're afraid of, you can ease your +mind, for I've sworn off. It's not a poker debt I want this money for +tonight; I wouldn't be so secretive about the business, only it concerns +another person more than me." + +"Radnor," I said, "I heard an ugly rumor the other day. I heard that the +ghost was a live woman who was living in the deserted cabins under your +connivance. I didn't believe it, but just the same it is not a story +which you can afford to have even whispered." + +Radnor raised his head sharply. + +"Ah, I see!" His eyes wavered a moment and then fixed themselves +miserably on my face. "Has--has Polly Mathers heard that?" + +"Yes," I returned, "I fancy she has." + +He struck the table with a quick flash of anger. + +"It's a damned lie! And it comes from Jim Mattison." + + +And now as to the events which followed during the night. I've repeated +them so many times to so many different persons that it is difficult for +me to recall just what were my original sensations. I went to bed but I +didn't go to sleep; this ha'nt business was getting on my nerves almost +as badly as the Patterson-Pratt case. After a time I heard someone let +himself softly out of the house; I knew well that it was Radnor and I +didn't get up to look. I didn't want the appearance even to myself of +spying upon him. After three quarters of an hour or so I was suddenly +startled alert by hearing the squeak-squeak of a whippletree out on the +lawn. It was the Colonel's buckboard which stood in need of oiling; I +recognized the sound. Curiosity was too much for me this time. I slipped +out of bed and hurried to the window. It was pretty dark outside, but +there was a faint glimmer of starlight. + +"Whoa, Jennie Loo; whoa!" I heard Rad's voice scarcely above a whisper, +and I saw the outline of the cart plainly with Rad driving, and either +some person or some large bundle on the seat beside him. It was on the +side farthest from me, and was too vague to be distinguished. He made a +wide detour of the house across the grass, and struck the driveway at +the foot of the lawn; the reason for this manoeuvre was evident--the +gravel drive from the stables passed directly under the Colonel's +window. I went back to bed half worried, half relieved. I strongly +suspected that this was the end of the ghost; but I could not help +puzzling over the part that Radnor had played in the little comedy--if +comedy it were. The stories that I had heard about some of his +disreputable associates returned to my mind with unpleasant emphasis. + +I had gradually dozed off, when half waking, half sleeping, I heard the +patter of bare feet on the veranda floor. The impression was not +distinct enough to arouse me, and I have never been perfectly sure that +I was not dreaming. I do not know how much time elapsed after this--I +was sound asleep--when I was suddenly startled awake by a succession of +the most horrible screams I have ever heard. In an instant I was on my +feet in the middle of the floor. Striking a match and lighting a candle, +I grabbed an umbrella--it was the only semblance of a weapon anywhere at +hand--and dashed into the hall. The Colonel's door was flung open at the +same instant, and he appeared on the threshold, revolver in hand. + +"Eh, Arnold, what's happened?" he cried. + +"I don't know," I gasped, "I'm going down to see." + +We tumbled down stairs at such a rate that the candle went out, and we +groped along in total darkness toward the rear of the house from where +the sounds were coming. The cries had died down by this time into a +horrible inarticulate wail, half animal, half human. I recognized the +tones with a cold thrill; it was Mose. We found him groveling on the +floor of the little passage that led from the dining-room to the serving +room. I struck a light and we bent over him. I hated to look, expecting +from the noise he was making to find him lying in a pool of blood. But +he was entirely whole; there was no blood visible and we could find no +broken bones. Apparently there was nothing the matter beyond fear, and +of that he was nearly dead. He crawled to the Colonel and clung to his +feet chattering an unintelligible gibberish. His eyes rolling wildly in +the dim light, showed an uncanny yellow gleam. I could see where he got +his name. + +The Colonel's own nerves were beginning to assert themselves and with an +oath he cuffed the fellow back to a state of coherence. + +"Stand up, you blithering fool, and tell us what you mean by raising +such a fuss." + +Mose finally found his tongue but we still could make nothing of his +story. He had been out "prospectin' 'round," and when he came in to go +to bed--the house servants slept in a wing over the rear gallery--he met +the ha'nt face to face standing in the dining-room doorway. He was so +tall that his head reached the ceiling and he was so thin that you could +see right through him. At the remembrance Mose began to shiver again. +We propped him up with some whiskey and sent him off to bed still +twittering with terror. + +The Colonel was bent on routing out Radnor to share the excitement and I +with some difficulty restrained him, knowing full well that Rad was not +in the house. We made a search of the premises to assure ourselves that +there was nothing tangible about Mose's ha'nt; but I was in such a hurry +to get the Colonel safely upstairs again, that our search was somewhat +cursory. We both overlooked the little office that opened off the +dining-room. In spite of my manoeuvres the Colonel entered the library +first and discovered that the French window was open; he laid no stress +on this however, supposing that Mose was the guilty one. He bolted it +with unusual care, and I with equal care slipped back and unbolted it. I +finally persuaded him that Mose's ha'nt was merely the result of a +fevered imagination fed on a two weeks' diet of ghost stories, and +succeeded in getting him back to bed without discovering Radnor's +absence. I lay awake until I heard the sound of carriage wheels +returning across the lawn, and, a few minutes later, footsteps enter +the house and tip-toe upstairs. Then as daylight was beginning to show +in the east I finally fell asleep, worn out with puzzling my head for an +explanation which should cover at once Rad's nocturnal drive and Mose's +ha'nt. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WE SEND FOR A DETECTIVE + + +I slept late the next morning, and came down stairs to find the Colonel +pacing the length of the dining-room, his head bent, a worried frown +upon his brow. He came to a sudden halt at my appearance and regarded me +a moment without speaking. I could see that something of moment had +happened, but I could fathom nothing of its nature from his expression. + +"Good morning, Arnold," he said with a certain grim pleasantness. "I +have just been making a discovery. It appears that Mose's ha'nt amounted +to more than we gave him credit for. The safe was robbed during the +night." + +"The safe robbed!" I cried. "How much was taken?" + +"Something over a hundred dollars in cash, and a number of important +papers." + +He threw open the door of the little office, and waved his hand toward +the safe which occupied one end. The two iron doors were wide open, the +interior showing a succession of yawning pigeon holes with the cash +drawer, half pulled out and empty. Several papers were spilled on the +floor underneath. + +"He evidently had no use for my will nor for Kennisburg street railway +stock--I don't blame him; it wouldn't sell for the paper it's written +on." + +Radnor's step sounded on the stair as he came running down--whistling I +noted. + +"Ah--Rad," the Colonel called from the office doorway. "You're a good +sleeper." + +Radnor stopped his whistle as his eye fell upon our faces, and his own +took on a look of anxiety. + +"What's the matter?" he asked. "Has anything happened?" + +"It appears the ha'nt has robbed the safe." + +"The ha'nt?" Rad's face went visibly white, and then in a moment it +cleared; his expression was divided between relief and dismay. + +"Oh!" he said, "you've missed the money? I meant to get down first and +tell you about it, but overslept. I took a hundred dollars out of the +safe last night because I wanted the cash--you had gone to bed so I +didn't say anything about it. I will ride into the village this morning +and get it out of the bank in time to pay the men." + +"You took a hundred dollars," the Colonel repeated. "And did you take +the securities also and the bag of coin?" He waved his hand toward the +safe. Radnor's eye followed and his jaw dropped. + +"I didn't touch anything but the roll of bills in the cash drawer. +What's missing?" + +"Five thousand dollars in bonds, a couple of insurance policies and one +or two deeds--also the bag of coin. Mose saw the ha'nt in the night, and +Arnold and I came down to investigate; we unfortunately neglected the +office in our search, or we might have cornered him. Do you happen to +remember whether or not you closed the safe after you took out the +money, and would you mind telling me why you needed a hundred dollars in +such a hurry that you couldn't wait until the bank opened?" + +The troubled line on Radnor's brow deepened. + +"I think I closed the safe," he said, "but I don't remember. It's barely +possible that I didn't lock it; you know we haven't always kept it +locked, especially when there wasn't money in it.--It never occurred to +me that anyone would steal the bonds. I can't imagine what it means." + +"You haven't answered my question.--Why did you need a hundred dollars +in cash after ten o'clock last night?" + +"I am sorry, father, but I can't answer that question. It's a private +matter." + +"Indeed! You are sure that you did not take the bonds as well and have +forgotten it?" + +"I took one hundred dollars in bills and nothing else. I took that +merely because it was my only way of cashing a check. I have frequently +cashed my private checks, when we had a surplus on hand and I didn't +want the bother of going in to the bank. So long as I balance the books +all right, I see no reason why I should not do so." + +"H'm!" said the Colonel. "Two days ago you came to me and wanted two +months' pay in advance because you had overdrawn your bank account, and +I refused to give it to you. Where, may I ask, were you intending to get +the hundred dollars to pay back this amount?" + +A quick flush spread over Radnor's face. + +"I already had it--Arnold will tell you that, for I borrowed it of him." + +"Certainly," I put in pacifically--"that's all settled between Rad and +me. I have his note and was glad to accommodate him." + +"Don't you get enough from me, that you must ask the guests in my house +to supply you with money?" + +Radnor's flush deepened but he said nothing. I could see by his eyes +however that he would not stand much more. + +"Then after you had helped yourself to the money, the bonds were stolen +by someone else?" said the Colonel. + +"So it appears," said Radnor. + +"And have you any theory as to the identity of the thief?" + +Rad hesitated a visible instant before replying. The flush left his face +and the pallor came back, but in the end he raised his eyes and answered +steadily. + +"No, father, I have not. I am as much mystified as you are." + +"And you heard nothing in the night? As I said before, you are an +excellent sleeper!" + +Rad caught an ironical undertone in his father's voice. + +"I don't understand," he said. + +"I am a trifle deaf myself, but still he wakened me.--It's strange that +you should be the only one in the house who could sleep through it." + +"Sleep through what? I don't know what you're talking about." + +I cut in hastily and explained our adventure with Mose's ha'nt. + +Radnor listened with troubled eyes but made no comment at the end. His +father was watching him keenly, and I don't know whether it was +intuition or some knowledge of the truth that made him suddenly put the +question: + +"You were of course in the house all night?" + +"No," Radnor returned, "I was not. I didn't get in till early this +morning and I suppose the excitement occurred during my absence." + +"I suppose I may not be permitted to inquire where you spent the +night--that too is a private matter?" + +"Yes," said Radnor, easily, "that too is a private matter." + +"And would throw no light on the robbery?" + +"None whatever." + +Solomon brought in the breakfast and we three sat down, but not to a +very cheerful meal. The Colonel wore an angry frown and Rad an air of +anxious perplexity. Neither of them indulged in any unnecessary +conversation. I knew that the Colonel was more upset by his son's +reticence than by the robbery of the bonds, and that it was my presence +alone which restrained him from giving vent to his anger. As we rose +from the table he said stiffly: + +"Well, Rad, have you any suggestion as to how we shall set to work to +track down the thief?" + +Radnor slowly shook his head. + +"I shall have to talk with Mose first and find out what he really saw." + +"Mose!" The Colonel laughed shortly. "He's like all the rest of the +niggers. He doesn't know what he saw--No sir! I've had enough of this +ha'nt business; it's one thing when he spirits chickens from the oven, +it's another when he takes to spiriting securities from the safe. I +shall telegraph to Washington for a first class detective." + +"If you take my advice," said Rad, "you'll not do that. A detective's +not much good outside the covers of a book. He'll stir up a lot of +notoriety and present a bill; and you'll be no wiser than you were +before." + +"Whoever stole those bonds will be marketing them within a few days; the +interest falls due the first of May. I am not so rich that I can let +five thousand dollars go without a move to get it back. I shall +telegraph today for a detective." + +"Just as you please," said Radnor with a shrug, and he turned toward the +door that opened on the gallery. Mose was visible at the end evidently +recounting to an excited audience his experiences of the night. Rad +beckoned to him and the two turned together across the lawn toward the +laurel walk. + +It was an hour or so later that Rad presented himself at my door. His +colloquy with Mose had increased rather than lessened the mystified look +on his face. He waited for no preliminaries this time, but plunged +immediately into the matter that was on his mind. + +"Arnold, for heaven's sake, stop my father from getting a detective down +here. I don't dare say anything, for my opposition will only make him do +it the more. But you have some influence with him; tell him you're a +lawyer, and will take charge of it yourself." + +"Why don't you want a detective?" I asked. + +"Good Lord, hasn't our family had notoriety enough? Here's Nan eloping +with the overseer, and Jeff the scandal of the county for five years. I +can't turn around but some malicious interpretation is put on it, and +now that the family ghost has taken to cracking safes gossip will never +stop. Get a detective down here who goes nosing about the neighborhood +in search of information and there's no telling where the thing will +end. Those bonds can't be far. Aren't we more likely to get at the +truth, if we lie low and don't let on we're after the thief?" + +"Radnor," I said, "will you tell me the absolute truth? Have you any +suspicion as to who took those securities? Do you know any facts which +might lead to the apprehension of the thief?" + +He remained silent a moment, then he parried my question with another. + +"What time did all that row occur in the night?" + +"I don't know; I didn't think to look, but I should say it was somewhere +in the neighborhood of three o'clock. I didn't go to sleep again, and it +was about half an hour later that you drove in." + +"You heard me?" + +"I heard you go and I heard you come; but I did not mention that fact +to the Colonel." + +Rad laughed shortly. + +"I can at least prove an alibi," he said. "You can swear that I was not +Mose's devil." + +He remained silent a moment with his elbows on his knees and his chin in +his hands studying the floor; then he raised his eyes to mine with a +puzzled shake of the head. + +"No, Arnold, I haven't the slightest suspicion as to who took those +securities. I can't make it out. The robbery must have occurred while I +was away. Of course the deeds and insurance policies and coin may have +been taken as a blind; but it's queer. The money was in five and ten +cent pieces and pennies--we always keep a lot of change on hand to pay +the piece-workers during planting season. There was nearly a quart of it +altogether and it must have weighed a ton. I can't imagine anyone +stealing Government four-per-cents and pennies at the same haul." + +"Did you get any light from Mose?" I asked. + +"No, I can't make head nor tail out of his story. He isn't given to +seeing visions, and as you know, he isn't afraid of the dark. He saw +something that scared him; but what it was, I'll be darned if I know!" + +"Then why not get a detective down and see if he can't find out?" + +Radnor lowered his eyes a moment, then raised them frankly to mine. + +"Oh, hang it, Arnold; I'm in the deuce of a hole! There's something else +that I don't want found out. It's absolutely unconnected with the +robbery, but you bring a detective down here and he's certain to stumble +on that instead of the other. I'd tell you if I could, but really I +can't just now. It's nothing I'm to blame for--my conduct lately has +been immaculate. You get my father to abandon this detective plan, and +we'll buckle down together and root out the truth about the robbery." + +"Well," I promised, "I'll see what I can do; but as the Colonel says, +five thousand dollars is a good deal of money to let slip through your +hands without making an effort to get it back. You and I will have to +finish the business if we undertake it." + +"We will!" he assured me. "We can certainly get at the truth better +than an outsider who doesn't know any of the facts. You switch off the +old gentleman from putting it in the hands of the police and everything +will come out right." + +He went off actually whistling again. Whatever had been troubling him +for the past two weeks had been sloughed off during the night, and all +that remained now was the danger of detection; with this removed he was +his old careless self. The loss of the securities was apparently not +bothering him. Radnor always did exhibit a lordly disregard in money +matters. + +I lost no time in taking my errand to the Colonel, but I could discover +him in none of the down stairs rooms nor anywhere else about the place. +It occurred to me, after half an hour of searching, to see if his horse +were in the stable; as I had surmised it was not. He had ordered it +saddled immediately after breakfast and had ridden off in the direction +of the village, one of the stable-men informed me. I had my own horse +saddled, and ten minutes later was riding after him. It surprised me +that he should have acted so quickly; the Colonel was usually rather +given to procrastination, while Rad was the one who acted. His +promptness proved that he was angry. + +Four-Pools is about two miles from the village of Lambert Corners which +consists of a single shady square. Two sides of the square are taken up +with shops, the other two with the school, a couple of churches, and a +dozen or so of dwellings. This composes as much of the town as is +visible, the aristocracy being scattered over the outlying plantations, +and regarding the "Corners" merely as a source of mail and drinks. Three +miles farther down the pike lies Kennisburg, the county seat, which +answers the varied purposes of a metropolis. + +I reined in before "Miller's place," a spacious structure comprising a +general store on the right, the post and telegraph office on the left, +and in the rear a commodious room where a white man may quench his +thirst. A negro must pass on to "Jake's place," two doors below. A +number of horses were tied to the iron railing in front and among them I +recognized Red Pepper. I found the Colonel in the back room, a glass of +mint julep at his elbow, an interested audience before him. He was +engaged in recounting the story of the missing bonds, and it was too +late for me to interrupt. He referred in the most casual manner to the +hundred dollars his son had taken from the safe the night before, a +fortunate circumstance, he added, or that too would have been stolen. +There was not the slightest suggestion in his tone that he and his son +had had any words over this same hundred dollars. The Gaylord pride +could be depended on for hiding from the world what the world had no +business in knowing. + +The telegram to the detective agency, I found, had already been +dispatched, and the Colonel was awaiting his answer. It came in a few +moments and was delivered by word of mouth, the clerk seeing no reason +why he should put himself to the trouble of writing it out. + +"They say they'll put one o' their best men on the case, Colonel, an' +he'll get to the Junction at five-forty tonight." + +The Colonel and I rode home together, he in a more placable frame of +mind. Though I dare say he disliked as much as ever the idea of losing +his bonds, still the eclat of a robbery, of a magnitude that demanded a +detective, was something of a palliative. It was not everyone of his +listeners who had five thousand dollars in bonds to lose. I knew that it +would be useless to try to head off the detective now, and I wisely kept +silent. My mind was by no means at rest however; for an unknown reason I +did not want a detective any more than Radnor. I had the intangible +feeling that there was something in the air which might better not be +discovered. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WE SEND HIM BACK AGAIN + + +The detective came. He was an inoffensive young man, and he set to work +to unravel the mystery of the ha'nt with visible delight at the unusual +nature of the job. Radnor received him in a spirit of almost anxious +hospitality. A horse was given him to ride, guns and fishing tackle were +placed at his disposal, a box of the Colonel's best cigars stood on the +table of his room, and Solomon at his elbow presented a succession of +ever freshly mixed mint juleps. I think that he was dazed and a trifle +suspicious at these unexpected attentions; he was not used to the +largeness of Southern hospitality. However, he set to work with an +admirable zeal. + +He interviewed the servants and farm-hands, and the information he +received in regard to things supernatural would have filled three +volumes; he was staggered by the amount of evidence at hand rather than +the scarcity. He examined the safe and the library window with a +microscope, crawled about the laurel walk on his hands and knees, sent +off telegrams and gossiped with the loungers at "Miller's place." He +interviewed the Colonel and Radnor, cross-examined me, and wrote down +always copious notes. The young man's manner was preeminently +professional. + +Finally one evening--it was four days after his arrival--he joined me as +I was strolling in the garden smoking an after dinner pipe. + +"May I have just a word with you, Mr. Crosby?" he asked. + +"I am at your service, Mr. Clancy," said I. + +His manner was gravely portentous and prepared me for the statement that +was coming. + +"I have spotted my man," he said. "I know who stole the securities; but +I am afraid that the information will not be welcome. Under the +circumstances it seemed wisest to make my report to you rather than to +Colonel Gaylord, and we can decide between us what is best to do." + +"What do you mean?" I demanded. In spite of my effort at composure, +there was anxiety in my tone. + +"The thief is Radnor Gaylord." + +I laughed. + +"That is absolutely untenable. Rad is incapable of such an act in the +first place, and in the second, he was not in the house when the robbery +occurred." + +"Ah! Then you know that? And where was he, pray?" + +"That," said I, "is his own affair; if he did not tell you, it is +because it is not connected with the case." + +"So! It is just because it _is_ connected with the case that he did not +tell me. I will tell you, however, where he spent the night; he drove to +Kennisburg--a larger town than Lambert Corners, where an unusual letter +would create no comment--and mailed the bonds to a Washington firm of +brokers with whom he has had some dealings. He took the bag of coin and +several unimportant papers in order to deflect suspicion, and his +opening the safe the night before for the hundred dollars was merely a +ruse to allow him to forget and leave it open, so that the bonds could +appear to be stolen by someone else. Just what led him to commit the act +I won't say; he has been in a tight place for several months back in +regard to money. Last January he turned a two-thousand dollar mortgage, +that his father had given him on his twenty-first birthday, into cash, +and what he did with the cash I haven't been able to discover. In any +case his father knows nothing of the transaction; he thinks that Radnor +still holds the mortgage. This spring the young man was hard up again, +and no more mortgages left to sell. He probably did not regard the +appropriation of the bonds as stealing, since everything by his father's +will was to come to him ultimately. + +"As to all this hocus-pocus about the ha'nt, that is easily explained. +He needed a scapegoat on whom to turn the blame when the bonds should +disappear; so he and this Cat-Eye Mose between them invented a ghost. +The negro is a half crazy fellow who from the first has been young +Gaylord's tool; I don't think he knew what he was doing sufficiently to +be blamed. As for Gaylord himself, I fancy there was a third person +somewhere in the background who was pressing him for money and who +couldn't be shaken off till the money was forthcoming. But whatever his +motive for taking the bonds, there is no doubt about the fact, and I +have come to you with the story rather than to his father." + +"It is absolutely impossible," I returned. "Radnor, whatever his faults, +is an honorable man in regard to money matters. I have his word that he +knows no more about the robbery of those bonds than I do." + +The detective laughed. + +"There is just one kind of evidence that doesn't count for much in my +profession, and that is a man's word. We look for something a little +more tangible--such as this for example." + +He drew from his pocket an envelope, took from it a letter, and handed +it to me. It was a typewritten communication from a firm of brokers in +Washington. + + + "RADNOR F. GAYLORD, Esq., + "Four-Pools Plantation, Lambert Corners, Va. + + "_Dear Mr. Gaylord_: + + "We are in receipt of your favor of April 29th. in regard to the + sale of the bonds. The market is rather slow at present and we + shall have to sell at 981/4. If you care to hold on to them a few + months longer, there is every chance of the market picking up, and + we feel sure that in the end you will find them a good investment. + + "Awaiting your further orders and thanking you for past favors, + + "We are, + "Very truly yours, + "JACOBY, HAIGHT & CO." + + +"Where did you get hold of that?" I asked. "It strikes me it's a private +letter." + +"Very private," the young man agreed. "I had trouble enough in getting +hold of it; I had to do some fishing with a hook and pole over the +transom of Mr. Gaylord's door. He had very kindly put the tackle at my +disposal." + +"You weren't called down here to open the family's private letters," I +said hotly. + +"I was called down here to find out who stole Colonel Gaylord's bonds, +and I've done it." + +I was silent for a moment. This letter from the brokers staggered me. +April twenty-ninth was the date of the robbery, and I could think of no +explanation. Clancy, noticing my silence, elaborated his theory with a +growing air of triumph. + +"This Mose was left behind the night of the robbery with orders to rouse +the house while Radnor was away. Mose is a good actor and he fooled you. +The obvious suspicion was that the ghost had stolen the bonds and you +set out to find him--a somewhat difficult task as he existed only in +Mose's imagination. I think when you reflect upon the evidence, you will +see that my explanation is convincing." + +"It isn't in the least convincing," I retorted. "Mose was not acting; +he saw something that frightened him half out of his senses. And that +something was not Radnor masquerading as a ghost, for Radnor was out of +the house when the robbery took place." + +"Not necessarily. The robbery took place early in the evening before all +this rumpus occurred. Even if Mose did see a ghost, the ghost had +nothing to do with it." + +"You have absolutely no proof of that; it is nothing but surmise." + +Clancy smiled with an air of patient tolerance. + +"How about the letter?" he inquired. "How do you explain that?" + +"I don't explain it; it is none of my business. But I dare say Radnor +will do so readily enough--there he is going toward the stables; we will +call him over." + +"No, hold on, I haven't finished what I want to say. I was employed by +Colonel Gaylord to find out who stole the bonds and I have done so. But +the Colonel did not suspect the direction my investigations would take +or he never would have engaged me. Now I am wondering if it would not be +kinder not to let him know? He's had trouble enough with his elder son; +Radnor is all he has left. The young man seems to me like a really +decent fellow--I dare say he'll straighten up and amount to something +yet. Probably he considered the money as practically his already; anyway +he's been decent to me and I should like to do him a service. Now say we +three talk it over together and settle it out of court as it were. I've +put in my time down here and I've got to have my pay, but perhaps it +would be better all around if I took it from the young man rather than +his father." + +This struck me as the best way out of the muddle, and a very fair +proposition, considering Clancy's point of view. I myself did not for an +instant credit his suspicions, but I thought the wisest thing to do was +to tell Rad just how the matter stood and let him explain in regard to +the letter. I left Clancy waiting in the summer house while I went in +search of Rad. I wished to be the one to do the explaining as I knew he +was not likely to take any such accusation calmly. + +I found him in the stables, and putting my hand on his shoulder, marched +him back toward the garden. + +"Rad," I said, "Clancy has formed his conclusions as to how the bonds +left the safe, and I want you to convince him that he is mistaken." + +"Well? Let's hear his conclusions." + +"He thinks that you took them when you took the money." + +"You mean that I stole them?" + +"That's what he thinks." + +"He does, does he? Well he can prove it!" + +Radnor broke away from me and strode toward the summer house. The +detective received his onslaught placidly; his manner suggested that he +was used to dealing with excitable young men. + +"Sit down, Mr. Gaylord, and let's discuss this matter quietly. If you +listen to reason, I assure you it will go no further." + +"Do you mean to say that you accuse me of stealing those bonds?" Radnor +shouted. + +Clancy held up a warning hand. + +"Don't talk so loud; someone will hear you. Sit down." He nodded toward +a seat on the other side of the little rustic table. "I will explain the +matter as I see it, and if you can disprove any of my statements I shall +be more than glad to have you." + +Radnor subsided and listened scowlingly while the detective outlined his +theory in a perfectly non-personal way, and ended by producing the +letter. + +"Where did you get that?" Rad demanded. + +"Out of your coat pocket which I hooked over the transom of the door." +He made the statement imperturbably; it was evidently a matter of +everyday routine. + +"So you enter gentlemen's houses as their guest and spend your time +sneaking about reading their private correspondence?" + +An angry gleam appeared in Clancy's eye and he rose to his feet. + +"I did not come to your house as your guest. I came on business for +Colonel Gaylord. Now that my business is completed I will make my report +to him and go." + +Radnor rose also. + +"It's a lie, and you haven't a word of proof to show." + +Clancy significantly tapped the pocket that held the letter. + +"That," said Radnor contemptuously, "refers to two bonds which I bought +last winter with some money I got from selling a mortgage. I preferred +to have the investment in bonds because they are more readily +negotiable. I left them at my broker's as collateral for another +investment I was making. Last week I needed some ready money and wrote +to them to sell. My statement can easily be substantiated; no reputable +detective would ever base any such absurd charge on the contents of a +letter he did not understand." + +"Of course," said the detective, "we have tried to get at the matter +from the other end; but Jacoby, Haight & Company refuse to discuss the +affairs of their clients. I did not press the point as I did not want to +stir up comment. However," he smiled, "I must confess, Mr. Gaylord, that +I think your explanation a trifle fishy. Perhaps you will answer one +question. Did you mail your letter to them in Kennisburg the night of +the robbery with a special delivery stamp?" + +"It happens that I did, but it was merely a coincidence and has nothing +to do with the robbery." + +"Will you be kind enough to explain why you drove to Kennisburg in the +night and why you needed the money so suddenly?" + +"No, I will not. That is a matter which concerns, me alone." + +"Very well! As it happens I do not base my charge on the letter; I had +already formed my opinion before I knew of its existence. Do you deny +that you yourself have encouraged the belief in the ghost among the +negroes? That on more than one occasion, you, or your accomplice, +Cat-Eye Mose, have masqueraded as the ghost? That, while you were +pretending to Colonel Gaylord to be as much puzzled by the matter as he, +you were in truth at the bottom of the whole business?" + +Radnor glanced uneasily at me and hesitated before replying. + +"No," he said at length, "I don't deny that, but I do affirm that it +has nothing to do with the robbery." + +The detective laughed. + +"You must excuse me, Mr. Gaylord, if I stick to the opinion that I have +solved the puzzle." + +He turned with a motion toward the house, and Radnor barred the +entrance. + +"Do you think I lie when I say I know nothing of those bonds?" + +"Yes, Mr. Gaylord, I do." + +For a moment I thought that Radnor was going to strike him, but I pulled +him back and turned to Clancy. + +"He knows nothing about the bonds," said I, "but nevertheless you must +not take any such story to Colonel Gaylord. He is an old man, and while +he would not believe his son guilty of theft, still it would worry him. +There is something else that happened that night--entirely +uncriminal--but which we do not wish him to hear about. Therefore I am +not going to let you go to him with this nonsensical tale that you have +cooked up." + +This was a trial shot on my part but it hit the bull's-eye. Radnor +stared but said nothing; and the detective visibly wavered. + +"Now," I added, taking out my checkbook, "suppose I pay you what you +would have received had you discovered the bonds, and dispense with your +further services?" + +"That's just as you say. I feel that I've done the job and am entitled +to the money. If you wish to pay it, all right; otherwise I get it from +Colonel Gaylord. I received a retaining fee and was to have two hundred +dollars more when I located the bonds. In order not to stir up any bad +feeling I'm willing to take that two hundred dollars from you and drop +the matter." + +"It's blackmail!" said Radnor. + +"Keep still, Rad," I said. "It's very accommodating of Mr. Clancy to see +it this way." + +I wrote out a check and tossed it to the detective. + +"Now go to Colonel Gaylord," I said, "tell him that you have been +unsuccessful in finding any clue; that the bonds will almost certainly +be marketed in the city, and that your only hope of tracing them is to +work from the other end. Then pack your bag and go. A carriage will be +ready to take you to the Junction in half an hour." + +"Just wait a moment, Mr. Clancy," Rad called after him as he turned +away. He drew a note book from his pocket and ripping out a page +scrawled across the face: + + + "JACOBY, HAIGHT AND CO. + + "_Gentlemen_:--You will oblige me by answering any questions which + the bearer of this note may ask concerning my past transactions + with you. + + "RADNOR F. GAYLORD." + + +"There," said Rad, thrusting it toward him, "kindly make use of that +when you get to Washington, and in the future I should advise you to +base your charges on something a little more substantial." + +His manner was insultingly contemptuous, but Clancy swallowed it with +smiling good nature. + +"I shall be interested in continuing the investigation," he observed as +he pocketed the paper and withdrew. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ROBBERY REMAINS A MYSTERY + + +So we got rid of the detective. But matters did not readily settle down +again into their old relations. The Colonel was irritable, and Rad was +moody and sullen. He showed no tendency to confide in me as to the truth +about the ha'nt, and I did not probe the matter further. In a day or so +he brought me three hundred dollars, to cover the amount I had loaned +him, together with the "blackmail," as he insisted upon calling it. The +money, he informed me, was from the proceeds of the bonds he had sold. +He showed me at the same time several letters from his brokers +establishing beyond a doubt that the story he had told was true. As to +the stolen bonds, their whereabouts was as much a mystery as ever, and +Rad appeared to take not the slightest interest in the matter. Since the +detective had been summoned, he had washed his hands of all +responsibility. + +I think it was the morning after Clancy's departure that Solomon handed +me a pale blue envelope bearing in the upper left-hand corner the device +of the Post-Dispatch. I laughed as I ripped it open; I had almost +forgotten Terry's existence. It contained a characteristic pencil scrawl +slanting across a sheet of yellow copy paper. + + + + "Arnold Crosby, Esq. + "Turnips Farm, Pumpkin Corners, Va. + + "_Dear Sir_: + + "Enclosed please find clipping. Are the facts straight and have the + missing bonds turned up? If not, don't you want me to run down and + find them for you? Should like to meet an authenticated ghost. + Wouldn't be a bad Sunday feature article. Give it my love. Is it a + man or lady? Things are also moving nicely in New York--two murders + and a child abducted in one week. + + "How are crops? + "Yours truly, + "T. P. + "Wire me if you want me." + + +The clipping was headed, "Spook Cracks Safe," and was a fairly accurate +account of the ha'nt and the robbery. It ended with the remark that the +mystery was as yet unsolved, but that the best detective talent in the +country had been engaged on the case. + +I tossed the letter to Radnor with a laugh; he had already heard of +Terry's connection with the Patterson-Pratt affair. + +"Perhaps we couldn't do better than to get him down," I suggested; "he's +most abnormally keen at ferreting out a mystery that promises any +news--if any one can learn the truth about those bonds, he can." + +"I don't want to know the truth," Radnor growled. "I'm sick of the very +name of bonds." + +And this had been his attitude from the moment the detective left. My +own insistence that it was our duty to track down the thief met with +nothing but a shrug. Another person might have suspected that this +apathy only proved his own culpability in the theft, but such a +suspicion never for a moment crossed my mind. He was, as he said, sick +of the very name of bonds, and with a person of his temperament that +ended the matter. Though I did not comprehend his attitude, still I took +him at his word. There was something about Rad's straightforward way of +looking one in the eye that impelled belief. As I had heard the Colonel +boast, a Gaylord could not tell a lie. + +The things a Gaylord could and could not do, were, I acknowledge, to a +Northern ethical sense a trifle mystifying. A Gaylord might drink and +gamble and fail to pay his debts (not his gambling debts; his tailor and +his grocer); he might be the hero of many doubtful affairs with women; +he might in a sudden fit of passion commit a murder--there was more than +one killing in the family annals--but under no circumstances would his +"honah" permit him to tell a lie. The reservation struck me somewhat +humorously as an anti-climax. But nevertheless I believed it. When Rad +said he knew nothing of the stolen bonds I dismissed the possibility +from my mind. + +Though I was relieved to feel that he was not guilty, still I was +worried and nervous over the matter. I felt that it was criminal not to +do something, and yet my hands were tied. I could scarcely undertake an +investigation myself, for every clue led across the trail of the ha'nt, +and that, Rad made it clear, was forbidden ground. The Colonel, +meanwhile, was comparatively quiet, as he supposed the detective was +still working on the case. I accordingly did nothing, but I kept my eyes +open, hoping that something would turn up. + +Rad's temper was absolutely unbearable for the first week after the +detective left. The reason had nothing to do with the stolen bonds, but +was concerned entirely with Polly Mathers's behavior. She barely noticed +Rad's existence, so occupied was she with the ecstatic young sheriff. +What the trouble was, I did not know, but I suspected that it was the +whispered conjectures in regard to the ha'nt. + +I remember one evening in particular that she snubbed him in the face of +the entire neighborhood. We had arrived at a party a trifle late to +find Polly as usual the center of a laughing group of young men, all +clamoring for dances. They widened their circle to admit Rad in a way +which tacitly acknowledged his prior claim. He inquired with his most +deferential bow what dances she had saved for him. Polly replied in an +off-hand manner that she was sorry but her card was already full. Rad +shrugged nonchalantly, and sauntering toward the door, disappeared for +the rest of the night. When he turned up at Four-Pools early in the +morning, his horse, Uncle Jake informed me, looked as if it had been +ridden by "de debbil hisself." + +With Radnor in this state, and the Colonel growing daily more irritable +over the continued mystery of the bonds, it is not strange that matters +between them were at a high state of tension. As I saw more of the +Colonel's treatment of Rad, I came to realize that there was +considerable excuse for Jefferson's wildness. While he was a kind man at +heart, still he had an ungovernable temper, and an absolutely tyrannical +desire to rule every one about him. His was the only free will allowed +on the place. He attempted to treat Rad at twenty-two much as he had +done at twelve. A few months before my arrival (I heard this later) he +had even struck him, whereupon Radnor had turned on his heel and walked +out of the house, and had only consented to come back two weeks later +when he heard that the old man was ill. If two men ever needed a woman +to manage them, these were the two. I think that if my aunt had lived, +most of the trouble would have been avoided. + +Rad was not the only one, however, who felt the Colonel's irritation +over the robbery. His treatment of the servants was harsh and even +cruel. Everybody on the place went about in a half-cowed fashion. He +treated Mose like a dog. Why the fellow stood it, I don't know. The +Colonel seemed never to have learned that the old slave days were over +and that he no longer owned the negroes body and soul. His government of +the plantation was in the manner of a despot. Everybody--from his own +son to the merest pickaninny--was at the mercy of his caprice. When he +was in good humor, he was kindness itself to the darkies; when he was in +bad humor, he vented his anger on whoever happened to be nearest. + +I shall never forget the feeling of indignation with which I first saw +him strike a man. A strange negro was caught one morning in the +neighborhood of the chicken coop, and was brought up to the house by two +of the stable-men. My uncle, who was standing on the portico steps +waiting for his horse, was in a particularly savage mood, as he had just +come from an altercation with Radnor. The man said that he was hungry +and asked for work. But the Colonel, almost without waiting to hear him +speak, fell upon him in a fit of blind rage, slashing him half a dozen +times over the head and shoulders with his heavy riding crop. The negro, +who was a powerfully built fellow, instead of standing up and defending +himself like a man, crouched on the ground with his arms over his head. + +"Please, Cunnel Gaylord," he whimpered, "le' me go! I ain't done nuffen. +I ain't steal no chickens. For Gord's sake, doan whip me!" + +I sprang forward with an angry exclamation and grasped my uncle's arm. +The fellow was on his feet instantly and off down the lane without once +glancing back. The Colonel stood a moment looking from my indignant face +to the man disappearing in the distance, and burst out laughing. + +"I reckon I won't be troubled with _him_ any more," he remarked as he +mounted and rode away, his good humor apparently quite restored. + +I confess that it took me some time to get over that scene. But the +worst of it was that he treated his own servants in the same summary +fashion. The thing that puzzled me most was the way in which they +received it. Mose, being always at hand, was cuffed about more than any +negro on the place, but as far as I could make out, it only seemed to +increase his love and veneration for the Colonel. I don't believe the +situation could ever be intelligible to a Northern man. + +So matters stood when I had been a month at Four-Pools. My vacation had +lasted long enough, but I was supremely comfortable and very loath to +go. The first few weeks of May had been, to my starved city eyes, a +dazzling pageant of beauty. The landscape glowed with yellow daffodils, +pink peach blossoms, and the bright green of new wheat; the fields were +alive with the frisky joyousness of spring lambs and colts, turned out +to pasture. It was with a keen feeling of reluctance that I faced the +prospect of New York's brick and stone and asphalt. My work was calling, +but I lazily postponed my departure from day to day. + +Things at the plantation seemed to have settled into their old routine. +The whereabouts of the bonds was still a mystery, but the ha'nt had +returned to his grave--at least, in so far as any manifestations +affected the house. I believe that the "sperrit of de spring-hole" had +been seen rising once or twice from a cloud of sulphurous smoke, but the +excitement was confined strictly to the negro quarters. No man on the +place who valued a whole skin would have dared mention the word "ha'nt" +in Colonel Gaylord's presence. Relations between Rad and his father +were rather less strained, and matters on the whole were going +pleasantly enough, when there suddenly fell from a clear sky the strange +and terrible series of events which changed everything at Four-Pools. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EXPEDITION TO LURAY + + +Toward eleven o'clock one morning, the Colonel, Radnor and I were +established in lounging chairs in the shade of a big catalpa tree on the +lawn. It was a warm day, and Rad and I were just back from a tramp to +the upper pasture--a full mile from the house. We were addressing +ourselves with considerable zest to the frosted glasses that Solomon had +just placed on the table, when we became aware of the sound of galloping +hoofs, and a moment later Polly Mathers and her sorrel mare, Tiger +Lilly, appeared at the end of the sunflecked lane. An Irish setter +romped at her side, and the three of them made a picture. The horse's +shining coat, the dog's silky hair and Polly's own red gold curls were +almost of a color. I believe the little witch had chosen the two on +purpose. In her dark habit and mannish hat, with sparkling cheeks and +laughing eyes, she was as pretty an apparition as ever enhanced a May +morning. She waved her crop gaily and rode toward us across the lawn. + +"Howdy!" she called, in a droll imitation of the mountain dialect. +"Ain't you-uns guine to ask me to 'light a while, an' set a bit, an' +talk a spell?" + +Radnor's face had flushed quickly as he perceived who the rider was, but +he held himself stiffly in the background while the Colonel and I did +the honors. It was the first time, I know, that Polly and Rad had met +since the night she refused to dance with him; and her appearance could +only be interpreted as a desire to make amends. + +She sprang lightly to the ground, turned Tiger Lilly loose to graze +about the lawn, and airily perched herself on the arm of a chair. There +was nothing in her manner, at least, to suggest that her relations with +any one of us were strained. After a few moments of neighborly gossip +with the Colonel and me--Rad was monosyllabic and remote--she arrived +at her errand. Some friends from Savannah were stopping at the Hall on +their way to the Virginia hot springs, and, as is usual, when strangers +visit the valley, they were planning an expedition to Luray Cave. The +cave was on the other side of the mountains about ten miles from +Four-Pools. Since I had not yet visited it (that was at least the reason +she gave) she had come to ask the three of us to join the party on the +following day. + +Rad was sulky at first, and rather curtly declined on the ground that he +had to attend to some business. But Polly scouted his excuse, and added +significantly that Jim Mattison had not been asked. He accepted this +mark of repentance with a pleased flush, and before she rode away, he +had become his former cheerful self again. The Colonel also demurred on +the ground that he was getting too old for such diversions, but Polly +laid her hands upon his shoulders and coaxed him into acquiescence--even +a mummy must have unbent before such persuasion. As a matter of fact +though, the Colonel was only too pleased with his invitation. It +flattered him to be included with the young people, and he was +immensely fond of Polly. + +It struck me suddenly as I watched her, how like she was to that other +girl, of eighteen years before. There danced in Polly's eyes the same +eager joy of life that vitalized the face of the portrait over the +mantelpiece upstairs. The resemblance for a moment was almost startling; +I believe the same thought had come to Colonel Gaylord. The old man's +eyes dwelt upon her with a sadly wistful air; and I like to feel that it +was of Nannie he was thinking. + +Radnor and I had been invited to a dance that same evening at a +neighboring country house, but when the time came, I begged off on the +plea of wishing to rest for the ride the next morning. The real reason, +I fancy, was that I too was suffering from a touch of Radnor's trouble; +and, since I had no chance of winning her, it was the part of wisdom to +keep out of hearing of Polly's laugh. In any case, I went to bed and to +sleep, while Rad went to the party, and I have never known exactly what +happened that night. + +I rose early the next morning, and as I went down stairs I saw Solomon +crawling around on his hands and knees on the parlor floor, collecting +the remnants of a French clock which had stood on the mantelpiece. + +"How did that clock come to be broken?" I asked a trifle sharply, +thinking I had caught him in a bad piece of carelessness. + +"Cayn't say, sah," Solomon returned, rising on his knees and looking at +me mournfully. "I specs ole Marsa been chastisin' young Marsa again. +It's powe'ful destructive on de brick-yuh-brack." + +I went on out of doors, wondering sadly if Radnor could have been +drinking, and accusing myself for not having gone to the party and kept +him straight. It was evident at breakfast that something serious had +happened between him and his father. The Colonel appeared unusually +grave, and Rad, after a gruff "good morning," sat staring at his plate +in a dogged silence. Throughout the meal he scarcely so much as +exchanged a glance with his father. I tried to talk as if I noticed +nothing; and in the course of the somewhat one-sided conversation, +happened to mention our proposed trip to Luray. Rad returned that he had +visited the cave a good many times and did not care about going. I was +puzzled at this, for I knew that the cave was not the chief attraction, +but I discreetly dropped the subject and shortly after we rose from the +table. + +As I left the room I saw the Colonel walk over and lay his hand on +Radnor's arm. + +"You will change your mind and go, my boy," he said. + +But Rad shook the hand off roughly and turned away. As I went on out to +the stables to give orders about the horses, I felt in anything but the +proper spirits for a day of merry-making. However much the Colonel may +have been to blame in their quarrel of the night before--and the French +clock told its own story--still I could not help but feel that Rad +should have borne with him more patiently. The scene I had just +witnessed in the dining-room made me miserable. The Colonel was a proud +man and apology came hard for him, his son might at least have met him +half way. + +Going upstairs to my room a few minutes later, I caught a glimpse +through the open door, of someone standing before the mantelpiece. +Thinking it was Radnor waiting to consult me, I hurried forward and +reached the threshold before I realized that it was the Colonel. He was +standing with folded arms before the picture, his eyes, gleaming from +under beetling brows, were devouring it hungrily, line by line. His face +was set rigidly with a look--whether of sorrow or loneliness or remorse, +I do not know; but I do know that it was the saddest expression I have +ever seen on any human face. It was as if, in a single illuminating +flash, he had looked into his own soul, and seen the ruin that his +ungoverned pride and passion had wrought against those he loved the +most. + +So absorbed had he been with his thoughts, that he had not heard my +step. I turned and stole away, realizing suddenly that he was an old +man, broken, infirm; that his life with its influence for good or evil +was already at an end; he could never change his character now, no +matter how keenly he might realize his defects. Poor little Nannie's +wilfulness was at last forgiven, but the forgiveness was fifteen years +too late. Why could not that moment of insight have come earlier to +Colonel Gaylord, have come in time to save him from his mistakes? + +I passed out of doors again, pondering somewhat bitterly the exigencies +of human life. The bright spring morning with its promise of youth and +joy seemed jarringly out of tune. The beauty was but surface deep, I +told myself pessimistically; underneath it was a cruel world. Before me +in the garden path, a jubilant robin was pulling an unhappy angle worm +from the ground, and a little farther on, under a blossoming apple tree, +the kitchen cat was breakfasting on a baby robin. The double spectacle +struck me as significant of life. I was casting about for some +philosophical truths to fit it, when my revery was interrupted by a +shout from Radnor. + +I turned to find the horses--three of them--waiting at the portico +steps. Rad was going then after all. He and his father had evidently +patched up some sort of a truce, but I soon saw that it was only a +truce. The two avoided crossing eyes, and as we rode along they talked +to me instead of to each other. + +The party met at Mathers Hall. The plan was for us to ride to Luray that +morning, spend most of the afternoon there, and then return to the Hall +for a supper and dance in the evening. The elder ladies took the +carriage, while the rest of us went on horseback, a couple of servants +following in the buckboard with the luncheon. Mose, bare-feet, +linsey-woolsey and all, was brought along to act as guide and he was +fairly purring with contentment at the importance it gave him over the +other negroes. It seems that he had been in the habit of finding his way +around in the cave ever since he was a little shaver, and he knew the +route, Radnor told me, better than the professional guides. He knew it +so well, in fact, that the entire neighborhood was in the habit of +borrowing him whenever expeditions were being planned to Luray. + +We left our horses at the village hotel, and after eating a picnic lunch +in the woods, set out to make the usual round of the cave. Luray has +since been lighted with electricity and laid out in cement walks, but +the time of which I am writing was before its exploitation by the +railroad, and the cavern was still in its natural state. Each of us +carried either candles or a torch, and the guides were supplied with +calcium lights which they touched off at intervals whenever there was +any special object of interest. This was the first cavern of any size +that I had ever visited and I was so taken up with examining the rock +formations and keeping my torch from burning my hands that I did not pay +much attention to the disposal of the rest of the party. It took over +two hours to make the round, and we must have walked about five miles. +What with the heavy damp air and the slippery path, I, for one, was glad +to get out into the sunshine again. + +I joined the group about Polly Mathers and casually asked if she knew +where Radnor had gone. + +"I haven't seen him for some time; I think he must have come out before +us," she replied. "And unless I am mistaken, Colonel Gaylord," she +added, turning to my uncle, "he left my coat on that broken column above +Crystal Lake. I am afraid that he isn't a very good cavalier." + +The Colonel, I imagine, had been a very good cavalier in his own youth, +and I do not think that he had entirely outgrown it. + +"I will repair his fault, Miss Polly," the old man returned with a +courtly bow, "and prove to you that the boy does not take after his +father in lack of gallantry." + +"No, indeed, Colonel Gaylord!" Polly exclaimed. "I was only joking; I +shouldn't think of letting you go back after it. One of the servants can +get it." + +I shortly after ran across Mose and sent him back for the coat, and the +incident was forgotten. We straggled back to the hotel in twos and +threes; the horses were brought out, and we got off amidst general +confusion. + +I rode beside the carriage for a couple of miles exchanging courtesies +with Mrs. Mathers, and then galloped ahead to join the other riders. I +was surprised to see neither my uncle nor Radnor anywhere in sight, and +inquired as to their whereabouts. + +"I thought they were riding with you," said Polly, wheeling to my side. +"You don't suppose," she asked quickly, "that the Colonel was foolish +enough to go back for my coat, and we've left him behind?" + +One of the men laughed. + +"He has a horse, Miss Polly, and he knows how to use it. I dare say, +even if we did leave him behind, that he can find his way home." + +"I sent Mose back for the coat," I remarked. "The Colonel probably feels +that he has had enough frivolity for one day, and has preferred to ride +straight on to Four-Pools." + +It occurred to me that Rad and his father had ridden home together to +make up their quarrel, and the reflection added considerably to my peace +of mind. I had felt vaguely uncomfortable over the matter all day, for I +knew that the old man was always miserable after a misunderstanding with +his son, and I strongly suspected that Radnor himself was far from +happy. + +When we arrived at Mathers Hall, Polly slipped from her saddle and came +running up to me as I was about to dismount. She laid her hand on the +bridle and asked, in the sweetest way possible, if I would mind riding +back to the plantation to see if the Colonel were really there, as she +could not help feeling anxious about him. I noticed with a smile that +she made no comment on the younger man's defection, though I strongly +suspected that she was no less interested in that. I turned about and +galloped off again, willing enough to do her bidding, though I could not +help reflecting that it would have been just as easy for her, and +considerably easier for me, had she developed her anxiety a few miles +back. + +When I reached the four corners where the road to Four-Pools branches +off from the valley turnpike, I saw the wagon coming with the two +Mathers negroes in it, but without any sign of Mose. I drew up and +waited for them. + +"Hello, boys!" I called. "What's become of Mose?" + +"Dat's moh 'n I can say, Mista Ahnold," one of the men returned. "We +waited foh him a powe'ful while, but it 'pears like he's 'vaporated. I +reckon he's took to de woods an' is gwine to walk home. Dat Cat-Eye +Mose, he's monstrous fond ob walkin'!" + +I do not know why this incident should have aroused my own anxiety, but +I pushed on to the plantation with a growing feeling of uneasiness. +Nothing had been seen of either the Colonel or Mose, Solomon informed +me, but he added with an excited rolling of his eyes: + +"Marse Rad, he come back nearly an hour ago an' stomp roun' like he mos' +crazy, an' den went out to de gahden." + +I followed him and found him sitting in the summer house with his elbows +on his knees and his head in his hands. + +"What's the matter, Rad?" I cried in alarm. "Has anything happened to +your father?" + +He looked up with a start at the sound of my voice, and I saw that his +face was pale. + +"My father?" he asked in a dazed way. "I left him in the cave. Why do +you ask?" + +"He didn't come back with the rest of us, and Polly asked me to find +him." + +"He's old enough to take care of himself," said Radnor without looking +up. + +I hesitated a moment, uncertain what to do, and then turned back to the +stables to order a fresh horse. To my astonishment I found the +stable-men gathered in a group about Rad's mare, Jennie Loo. She was +dashed with foam and trembling, and appeared to be about used up. The +men fell back and eyed me silently as I approached. + +"What's happened to the horse?" I cried. "Did she run away?" + +One of the men "reckoned" that "Marse Rad" had been whipping her. + +"Whipping her!" I exclaimed in dismay. It was unbelievable, for no one +as a rule was kinder to animals than Radnor; and as for his own Jennie +Loo, he couldn't have cared more for her if she had been a human being. +There was no mistaking it however. She was crossed and recrossed with +thick welts about the withers; it was evident that the poor beast had +been disgracefully handled. + +Uncle Jake volunteered that Rad had galloped straight into the stable, +had dropped the bridle and walked off without a word; and he added the +opinion that a "debbil had done conjured him." I was inclined to agree. +There seemed to be something in the air that I did not understand, and +my anxiety for the Colonel suddenly rushed back fourfold. I wheeled +about and ordered a horse in an unnecessarily sharp tone, and the men +jumped to obey me. + +It was just sunset as I mounted again and galloped down the lane. For +the second time that day I set out along the lonely mountain road +leading to Luray, but this time with a vague fear gripping at my heart. +Why had Radnor acted so strangely, I asked myself again and again. Could +it be connected with last night's quarrel? And where was the Colonel, +and where was Mose? + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAVE + + +It was almost dark by the time I reached the village of Luray. I +galloped up to the hotel where we had left our horses that morning and +without dismounting called out to the loafers on the veranda to ask if +anyone had seen Colonel Gaylord. Two or three of them, glad of a +diversion, got up and sauntered out to the stepping-stone where I +waited, to discuss the situation. + +What was the matter? they inquired. Hadn't the Colonel gone home with +the rest of the party? + +No, he had not, I returned impatiently, and I wanted to know if any of +them had seen him. + +They consulted together and finally decided that no one had seen him, +and at this the stable boy vouchsafed the information that Red Pepper +was still in the barn. + +"I thought maybe the Colonel was intending to make me a present of that +horse," the landlord observed with a grin, as he joined the group. + +A chuckle ran around the circle at this sally. It was evident that the +Colonel did not have a reputation in the county for making presents. I +impatiently gathered up my reins and one of the men remarked: + +"I reckon young Gaylord got home in good time. He was in an almighty +hurry when he started. He didn't stop for no farewells." + +With numerous interruptions and humorous interpolations, they finally +managed to tell me in their exasperatingly slow drawl that Rad had come +back to the hotel that afternoon before the rest of the party, had drunk +two glasses of brandy, called for his horse, and galloped off without +speaking a word to anyone except to swear at the stable boy. The speaker +finished with the assertion that in his opinion Rad Gaylord and Jeff +Gaylord were cut out of the same block. + +I shifted my seat uneasily. This information did not tend to throw any +light on the question of the Colonel's whereabouts, and I was in no +mood just then to listen to any more gossip about Rad. + +"I'm not looking for young Gaylord," I said shortly. "I know where he +is. It's the Colonel I'm after. Neither he nor Cat-Eye Mose have come +back, and I'm afraid they're lost in the cave." + +The men laughed at this. People didn't get lost in the cave, they said. +All anyone had to do was to follow the path; and besides, if the Colonel +was with Mose he couldn't get lost if he tried. Mose knew the cave so +well that he could find his way around it in the dark. Colonel Gaylord +had probably met some friends in the village and driven home with them. + +But I would not be satisfied with an explanation of that sort. The +Colonel, I knew, was not in the habit of abandoning horses in any such +casual manner; and even supposing he had gone home with some friends, he +would scarcely have taken Mose along. + +I dismounted, turned my horse over to the stable boy, and announced that +the cave must be searched. This request was received with some +amusement. The idea of getting out a search party for Cat-Eye Mose +struck them as peculiarly ludicrous. But I insisted, and finally one of +the men who was in the habit of acting as guide, took his feet down from +the veranda railing with a grunt of disapproval and shambled into the +house after some candles and a lantern. Two or three of the others +joined the expedition after a good deal of chaffing at my expense. + +We set out for the mouth of the cave by a short cut that led across the +fields. It was quite dark by this time, and as there was no moon our one +lantern did not go far toward lighting the path. We stumbled along over +plowed ground and through swampy pastures to the music of croaking frogs +and whip-poor-wills. At first the way was enlivened by humorous +suggestions on the part of my companions as to what had become of +Colonel Gaylord, but as I did not respond very freely to their +bantering, they finally fell silent with only an occasional imprecation +as someone stubbed his toe or caught his clothing on a brier. After a +half hour or so of plodding we came to a clear path through the woods +and in a few minutes reached the mouth of the cave. + +A rough little shanty was built over the entrance. It was closed by a +ramshackle door which a child could have opened without any difficulty; +there was at least no danger of the Colonel's having been locked inside. +Lighting our candles, we descended the rough stone staircase into the +first great vault, which forms a sort of vestibule to the caverns. With +our hands to our mouths we hallooed several times and then held our +breath while we waited for an answer. The only sound which came out of +the stillness was the occasional drip of water or the flap of a bat's +wing. Had the Colonel been lost in any of the winding passages he must +have heard us and replied, for the slightest sound is audible in such a +cavern, echoing and re-echoing as it does through countless vaulted +galleries. The silence, however, instead of assuring me that he was not +there only increased my uneasiness. What if he had slipped on the wet +clay, and having injured himself, was lying unconscious in the +darkness? + +The men wished to turn back, but I insisted that we go as far as the +broken column which lies in a little gallery above Crystal Lake. That +was the place where the coat had been left, and we could at least find +out if either the Colonel or Mose had returned for it. We set out in +single file along the damp clay path, the light from our few candles +only serving to intensify the blackness around us. The huge white forms +of the stalactites seemed to follow us like ghosts in the gloom; every +now and then a bat flapped past our faces, and I wondered with a shiver +how anyone could get up courage to go alone into such a hole as that. + +"Crystal Lake" is a shallow pool lying in a sort of bowl. On the farther +side the path runs up seven or eight feet above the water along the +broken edge of a cliff. A few steps beyond the pool the path diverges +sharply to the left and opens into the little gallery of the broken +column. + +Just as we were about to ascend the two or three stone steps leading to +the incline, the guide in front stopped short, and clutching me by the +arm pointed a shaking forefinger toward the pool. + +"What's that?" he gasped. + +I strained my eyes into the darkness but I could see nothing. + +"There, that black thing under the bank," he said, raising his candle +and throwing the light over the water. + +We all saw it now and recognized it with a thrill of horror. It was the +body of Colonel Gaylord. He was lying on his face at the bottom of the +pool, and with outstretched arms was clutching the mud in his hands. The +still water above him was as clear as crystal but was tinged with red. + +"It's my uncle!" I cried, springing forward. "He's fallen over the bank. +He may not be dead." + +But they held me back. + +"He's as dead as he ever will be," the guide said grimly. "An' what's +more, Colonel Gaylord warn't the man to drown in three foot o' water +without making a struggle. This ain't no accident. It's murder! We must +go back an' get the coroner. It's agen the law to touch the body until +he comes." + +It went to my heart to leave the old man lying there at the bottom of +that pool, but I could not prevail on one of them to help me move him. +The coroner must be brought, they stubbornly insisted, and they +restrained me forcibly when I would have waded into the water. We turned +back with shaking knees and hurried toward the mouth of the cave, +slipping and sliding in the wet clay as we ran. I, for one, felt as +though a dozen assassins were following our footsteps in the dark. And +all the time I had a sickening feeling that my uncle's death only +foreshadowed a more terrible tragedy. The guide's: "This ain't no +accident; it's murder," kept running in my head, and much as I tried to +drive the thought from me, a horrible suspicion came creeping to my mind +that I knew who the murderer must be. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SHERIFF VISITS FOUR-POOLS + + +We found the coroner and told our story. He sent word to Kennisburg, the +county-seat, for the sheriff to come; and then having called a doctor +and three or four other witnesses, we set out again for the cave. The +news of the tragedy had spread like wild-fire, and half the town of +Luray would have accompanied us had the coroner not forcibly prevented +it. He stationed two men at the entrance of the cave to keep the crowd +from pushing in. I myself should have been more than willing to wait +outside, but I felt that it was my duty by Radnor to be present. If any +discoveries were made I wished to be the first to know it. + +It was sad business and I will not dwell upon it. One side of the old +man's head had been fractured by a heavy blow. He had been dead several +hours when we found him, but the doctor could not be certain whether +drowning, or the injury he had sustained, had been the immediate cause +of death. Dangling from a jagged piece of rock half way down the cliff, +we found Polly Mathers's coat, torn and drabbled with mud. The clay path +above the pool was trampled in every direction 'way out to the brink of +the precipice; it was evident, even to the most untrained observer, that +a fierce struggle of some sort had taken place. I was the first one to +examine the marks, and as I knelt down and held the light to the ground, +I saw with a thrill of mingled horror and hope that one pair of feet had +been bare. Mose had taken part in the struggle, and dreadful as was the +assurance, it was infinitely better than that other suspicion. + +"It was Mose who committed the murder!" I cried to the coroner as I +pointed to the foot-prints in the clay. + +He bent over beside me and examined the marks. + +"Ah----Mose was present," he said slowly, "but so was someone else. See, +here is the print of the Colonel's boot and there beside it is the +print of another boot; it is fully an inch broader." + +But it was difficult to make out anything clearly, so trampled was the +path. Our whole party had passed over the very spot not an hour before +the tragedy. Whatever the others could see, I, myself, was blind to +everything but the indisputable fact that Mose had been there. + +As we were making ready to start back to the mouth of the cave, a cry +from one of the men called our attention again to the scene of the +struggle. He held up in his hand a small, gleaming object which he had +found trodden into the path. It was a silver match box covered with +dents and mud and marked "R. F. G." I recognized it instantly; I had +seen Radnor take it from his pocket a hundred times. As I looked at it +now my hope seemed to vanish and that same sickening suspicion rushed +over me again. The men eyed each other silently, and I did not have to +ask what they were thinking of. We turned without comments and started +on our journey back to the village. The body was carried to the hotel +to await the coroner's permission to take it home to Four-Pools. There +was nothing more for me to do, and with a heavy heart I mounted again to +return to the plantation. + +Scarcely had I left the stable yard when I heard hoofs pounding along +behind me in the darkness, and Jim Mattison galloped up with two of his +men. + +"If you are going to Four-Pools we will ride with you," he said, falling +into pace beside me while the officers dropped behind. "I might as well +tell you," he added, "that it looks black for Radnor. I'm sorry, but +it's my duty to keep him under arrest until some pretty strong +counter-evidence turns up." + +"Where's Cat-Eye Mose?" I cried. "Why don't you arrest him?" + +The sheriff made a gesture of disdain. + +"That's nonsense. Everyone in the county knows Cat-Eye Mose. He wouldn't +hurt a fly. If he was present at the time of the crime it was to help +his master, and the man who killed Colonel Gaylord killed him too. I've +known him all my life and I can swear he's innocent." + +"You've known Radnor all your life," I returned bitterly. + +"Yes," he said, "I have--and Jefferson Gaylord, too." + +I rode on in silence and I do not think I ever hated anyone as, for the +moment, I hated the man beside me. I knew that he was thinking of Polly +Mathers, and I imagined that I could detect an undertone of triumph in +his voice. + +"It's well known," he went on, half to himself and half to me, "that +Radnor sometimes had high words with his father; and to-day, they tell +me at the hotel, he came back alone without waiting for the others, and +while his horse was being saddled he drank off two glasses of brandy as +if they had been water. All the men on the veranda marked how white his +face was, and how he cursed the stable boy for being slow. It was +evident that something had happened in the cave, and what with finding +his match box at the scene of the crime--circumstantial evidence is +pretty strong against him." + +I was too miserable to think of any answer; and, the fellow finally +having the decency to keep quiet, we galloped the rest of the way in +silence. + +Though it must have been long after midnight when we reached the house, +lights were still burning in the downstairs rooms. We rode up to the +portico with considerable clamor and dismounted. One of the men held the +horses while Mattison and the other followed me into the house. Rad +himself, hearing the noise of our arrival, came to the door to meet us. +He was quite composed again and spoke in his usual manner. + +"Hello, Arnold! Did you find him, and is the party over?" + +He stopped uncertainly as he caught sight of the others. They stepped +into the hall and stood watching him a moment without saying anything. I +tried to tell him but the words seemed to stick in my throat. + +"A--a terrible thing has happened, Rad," I stammered out. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, a sudden look of anxiety springing to his +face. + +"I am sorry, Rad," Mattison replied, "but it is my duty to arrest you." + +"To arrest me, for what?" he asked with a half laugh. + +"For the murder of your father." + +Radnor put out his hand against the wall to steady himself, and his lips +showed white in the lamp light. At the sight of his face I could have +sworn that he was not acting, and that the news came with as much of a +shock to him as it had to me. + +"My father murdered!" he gasped. "What do you mean?" + +"His dead body was found in the cave, and circumstantial evidence points +to you." + +He seemed too dazed to grasp the words and Mattison said it twice before +he comprehended. + +"Do you mean he's dead?" Rad repeated. "And I quarrelled with him last +night and wouldn't make it up--and now it's too late." + +"I must warn you," the sheriff returned, "that whatever you say will be +used against you." + +"I am innocent," said Radnor, brokenly, and without another word he +prepared to go. Mattison drew some hand-cuffs from his pocket, and +Radnor looked at them with a dark flush. + +"You needn't be afraid. I am not going to run away," he said. Mattison +dropped them back again with a muttered apology. + +I went out to the stable with one of the men and helped to saddle Jennie +Loo. I felt all the time as though I had hold of the rope that was going +to hang him. When we came back he and the sheriff were standing on the +portico, waiting. Rad appeared to be more composed than any of us, but +as I wrung his hand I noticed that it was icy cold. + +"I'll attend to everything," I said, "and don't worry, my boy. We'll get +you off." + +"Don't worry!" He laughed shortly as he leaped into the saddle. "It's +not myself I'm worrying over; I am innocent," and he suddenly leaned +forward and scanned my face in the light from the open door. "You +believe me?" he asked quickly. + +"Yes," I cried, "I do! And what's more, I'll _prove_ you're innocent." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +I MAKE A PROMISE TO POLLY + + +The next few days were a nightmare to me. Even now I cannot think of +that horrible period of suspense and doubt without a shudder. The +coroner set to work immediately upon his preliminary investigation, and +every bit of evidence that turned up only seemed to make the proof +stronger against Radnor. + +It is strange how ready public opinion is to believe the worst of a man +when he is down. No one appeared to doubt Rad's guilt, and feeling ran +high against him. Colonel Gaylord was a well-known character in the +countryside, and in spite of his quick temper and rather imperious +bearing he had been a general favorite. At the news of his death a wave +of horror and indignation swept through the valley. Among the roughs in +the village I heard not infrequent hints of lynching; and even among +the more conservative element, the general opinion seemed to be that +lawful hanging was too honorable a death for the perpetrator of so +brutal a crime. + +I have never been able to understand the quick and general belief in the +boy's guilt, but I have always suspected that the sheriff did not do all +in his power to quiet the feeling. It was to a large extent, however, +the past reasserting itself. Though Radnor's record was not so black as +it was painted, still, it was not so white as it should have been. +People shook their heads and repeated stories of how wild he had been as +a boy, and how they had always foreseen some such end as this. Reports +of the quarrels with his father were told and retold until they were +magnified beyond all recognition. The old scandals about Jeff were +revived again, and the general opinion seemed to be that the Gaylord +boys were degenerates through and through. Rad's personal friends stood +by him staunchly; but they formed a pitifully small minority compared to +the general sensation-seeking public. + +I visited Radnor in the Kennisburg jail on the morning of my uncle's +funeral and found him quite broken in spirit. He had had time to think +over the past, and with his father lying dead at Four-Pools, it had not +been pleasant thinking. Now that it was too late, he seemed filled with +remorse over his conduct toward the old man, and he dwelt continually on +the fact of his having been unwilling to make up the quarrel of the +night before the murder. In this mood of contrition he mercilessly +accused himself of things I am sure he had never done. I knew that the +jailer was listening to every word outside, and I became unspeakably +nervous for fear he would say something which could be twisted into an +incriminating confession. He did not seem to comprehend in the least the +danger of his own position; he was entirely taken up with the horror of +his father's death. As I was leaving, however, he suddenly grasped my +hand with tears in his eyes. + +"Tell me, Arnold, do people really believe me guilty?" + +I knew by "people" he meant Polly Mathers; but I had not had an +opportunity to speak with her alone since the day of the tragedy. + +"I haven't talked to anyone but the sheriff," I returned. + +"Mattison would be glad enough to prove it," Radnor said bitterly, and +he turned his back and stood staring through the iron bars of the +window, while I went out and the jailer closed the door and locked it. + +All through the funeral that afternoon I could scarcely keep my eyes +from Polly Mathers's face. She appeared so changed since the day of the +picnic that I should scarcely have known her for the same person; it +seemed incredible that three days could make such a difference in a +bright, healthy, vigorous girl. All her youthful vivacity was gone; she +was pale and spiritless with deep rings beneath her eyes and the lids +red with crying. After the services were over, I approached her a moment +as she stood in her black dress aloof from the others at the edge of the +little family burying-ground. She greeted me with a tremulous smile, and +then as her glance wandered back to the pile of earth that two men were +already shoveling into the grave, her eyes quickly filled with tears. + +"I loved him as much as if he were my own father," she cried, "and it's +my fault that he's dead. I made him go!" + +"No, Polly, it is not your fault," I said decisively. "It was a thing +which no one could foresee and no one could help." + +She waited a moment trying to steady her voice, then she looked up +pleadingly in my face. + +"Radnor is innocent; tell me you believe it." + +"I am sure he is innocent," I replied. + +"Then you can clear him--you're a lawyer. I know you can clear him!" + +"You may trust me to do my best, Polly." + +"I hate Jim Mattison!" she exclaimed, with a flash of her old fire. "He +swears that Rad is guilty and that he will prove him so. Rad may have +done some bad things, but he's a good man--better than Jim Mattison ever +thought of being." + +"Polly," I said with a touch of bitterness, "I wish you might have +realized that truth earlier. Rad is at heart as splendid a chap as ever +lived, and his friends ought never to have allowed him to go astray." + +She looked away without answering, and then in a moment turned back to +me and held out her hand. + +"Good-by. When you see him again please tell him what I said." + +As she turned away I looked after her, puzzled. I was sure at last that +she was in love with Radnor, and I was equally sure that he did not know +it; for in spite of his sorrow at his father's death and of the +suspicion that rested on him, I knew that he would not have been so +completely crushed had he felt that she was with him. Why must this come +to him now too late to do him any good, when he had needed it so much +before? I felt momentarily enraged at Polly. It seemed somehow as if the +trouble might have been avoided had she been more straightforward. Then +at the memory of her pale face and pleading eyes I relented. However +thoughtless she had been before, she was changed now; this tragedy had +somehow made a woman of her over night. When Radnor came at last to +claim her, they would each, perhaps, be worthier of the other. + +I returned to the empty house that night and sat down to look the facts +squarely in the face. I had hitherto been so occupied with the necessary +preparations for the funeral, and with instituting a search for Cat-Eye +Mose, that I had scarcely had time to think, let alone map out any +logical plan of action. Radnor was so stunned by the blow that he could +barely talk coherently, and as yet I had had no satisfactory interview +with him. + +Immediately after the Colonel's death, I had very hastily run over his +private papers, but had found little to suggest a clue. Among some old +letters were several from Nannie's husband, written at the time of her +sickness and death; their tone was bitter. Could the man have +accomplished a tardy revenge for past insults? I asked myself. But +investigation showed this theory to be most untenable. He was still +living in the little Kansas village where she had died, had married +again, and become a peaceful plodding citizen. It required all his +present energy to support his wife and children--I dare say the brief +episode of his first marriage had almost faded from his mind. There was +not the slightest chance that he could be implicated. + +I sifted the papers again, thoroughly and painstakingly, but found +nothing that would throw any light upon the mystery. While I was still +engaged with this task, a message came from the coroner saying that the +formal inquest would begin at ten o'clock the next morning in the +Kennisburg court-house. This gave me no chance to plan any sort of +campaign, and I could do little more than let matters take their course. +I hoped however that in the progress of the inquest, some clue would be +brought to light which would render Radnor's being remanded for trial +impossible. + +So far, I had to acknowledge, the evidence against him appeared +overwhelming. A motive was supplied in the fact that the Colonel's death +would leave him his own master and a rich man. The well-known fact of +their frequent quarrels, coupled with Radnor's fierce temper and +somewhat revengeful disposition, was a very strong point in his +disfavor; added to this, the suspicious circumstances of the day of the +tragedy--the fact that he was not with the rest of the party when the +crime must have been committed, the alleged print of his boots and the +finding of the match box, his subsequent perturbed condition--everything +pointed to him as the author of the crime. It was a most convincing +chain of circumstantial evidence. + +Considering the data that had come to light, there seemed to be only one +alternative, and that was that Cat-Eye Mose had committed the murder. I +clung tenaciously to this belief; but I found, in the absence of any +further proof or any conceivable motive, that few people shared it with +me. The marks of his bare feet proved conclusively that he had been, in +whatever capacity, an active participator in the struggle. + +"He was there to aid his master," the sheriff affirmed, "and being a +witness to the crime, it was necessary to put him out of the way." + +"Why hide the body of one and not the other?" I asked. + +"To throw suspicion on Mose." + +This was the universal opinion; no one, from the beginning, would listen +to a word against Mose. In his case, as well as in Radnor's, the past +was speaking. Through all his life, they said, he had faithfully loved +and served the Colonel, and if necessity required, he would willingly +have died for him. + +But for myself, I continued to believe in the face of all opposition, +that Mose was guilty. It was more a matter of feeling with me than of +reasoning. I had always been suspicious of the fellow; a man with eyes +like that was capable of anything. The objection which the sheriff +raised that Colonel Gaylord was both larger and stronger than Mose and +could easily have overcome him, proved nothing to my mind. Mose was a +small man, but he was long-armed and wirey, doubtless far stronger than +he looked; besides, he had been armed, and the nature of his weapon was +clear. The floor of the cave was strewn with scores of broken +stalactites; nothing could have made a more formidable weapon than one +of these long pieces of jagged stone used as a club. + +As to the motive for the crime, who could tell what went on in the slow +workings of his mind? The Colonel had struck him more than +once--unjustly, I did not doubt--and though he seemed at the moment to +take it meekly, might he not have been merely biding his time? His final +revenge may have been the outcome of many hoarded grievances that no one +knew existed. The fellow was more than half insane. What more likely +than that he had attacked his master in a fit of animal passion; and +then, terrified at the result, escaped to the woods? That seemed to me +the only plausible explanation. + +No facts had come out concerning the ha'nt or the robbery, and I do not +think that either was connected in the public mind with the murder. But +to my mind the death of Colonel Gaylord was but the climax of the long +series of events which commenced on the night of my arrival with the +slight and ludicrous episode of the stolen roast chicken. I had been +convinced at the time that Mose was at the bottom of it, and I was +convinced now that he was also at the bottom of the robbery and the +murder. How Radnor had got drawn into the muddle of the ha'nt, I could +not fathom; but I suspected that Mose had hoodwinked him as he had the +rest of us. + +Assuming that my theory was right, then Mose was hiding; and all my +energies from the beginning had been bent toward his discovery. The low +range of mountains which lay between Four-Pools Plantation and the Luray +valley was covered thickly with woods and very sparsely settled. Mose +knew every foot of the ground; he had wandered over these mountains for +days at a time, and must have been familiar with many hiding places. It +was in this region that I hoped to find him. + +Immediately after the Colonel's death I had offered a large reward +either for Mose's capture, or for any information regarding his +whereabouts. His description had been telegraphed all up and down the +valley and every farmer was on the alert. Bands of men had been formed +and the woods scoured for him, but as yet without result. I was hourly +expecting, however, that some clue would come to light. + +The sheriff, on the other hand, in pursuance of his theory that Mose had +been murdered, had been no less indefatigable in his search for the +body. The river had been dragged, the cave and surrounding woods +searched, but nothing had been found. Mose had simply vanished from the +earth and left no trace. + +To my disappointment the morning still brought no news; I had hoped to +have something definite before the inquest opened. I rode into +Kennisburg early in order to hold a conference with Radnor, and get from +him the facts in regard to his own and Mose's connection with the ha'nt. +My former passivity in the matter struck me now as almost criminal; +perhaps had I insisted in probing it to the bottom, my uncle might have +been living still. I entered Radnor's cell determined not to leave it +until I knew the truth. + +But I met with an unexpected obstacle. He refused absolutely to discuss +the question. + +"Radnor," I cried at last, "are you trying to shield any one? Do you +know who killed your father?" + +"I know no more about who killed my father than you do." + +"Do you know about the ha'nt?" + +"Yes," he said desperately, "I do; but it is not connected with either +the robbery or the murder and I cannot talk about it." + +I argued and pleaded but to no effect. He sat on his cot, his head in +his hands staring at the floor, stubbornly refusing to open his lips. I +gave over pleading and stormed. + +"It's no use, Arnold," he said finally. "I won't tell you anything about +the ha'nt; it doesn't enter into the case." + +I sat down again and patiently outlined my theory in regard to Mose. + +"It is impossible," he declared. "I have known Mose all my life, and I +have never yet known him to betray a trust. He loved my father as much +as I did, and if my life depended on it, I should swear that he was +faithful." + +"Rad," I beseeched, "I am not only your attorney, I am your friend; +whatever you say to me is as if it had never been said. I _must_ know +the truth." + +He shook his head. + +"I have nothing to say." + +"You have _got_ to have something to say," I cried. "You have got to go +on the stand and make an absolutely open and straightforward statement +of everything bearing on the case. You have got to appear anxious to +find and punish the man who murdered your father. You have got to gain +public sympathy, and before you go on the stand you owe it to yourself +and me to leave nothing unexplained between us." + +He raised his eyes miserably to mine. + +"Must I go on?" he asked. "Can't I refuse to testify--I don't see that +they can punish me for contempt of court; I'm already in prison." + +"They can hang you," said I, bluntly. + +He buried his face in his hands with a groan. + +"Arnold," he pleaded, "don't make me face all those people. You can see +what a state my nerves are in; I haven't slept for three nights." He +held out his hand to show me how it trembled. "I can't talk--I don't +know what I'm saying. You don't know what you're urging me to do." + +My anger at his stubbornness vanished in a sudden spasm of pity. The +poor fellow was scarcely more than a boy! Though I was completely in the +dark as to what he was holding back and why he was doing it, yet I felt +instinctively that his motives were honorable. + +"Rad," I said, "it would help your cause to be open with me, and if you +are remanded for trial before the grand jury you must in the end tell me +everything. But now I will not insist. Probably nothing will come up +about the ha'nt. I can of course refuse to let you speak on the ground +of incriminating evidence, but that is the last stand I wish to take. We +must gain public opinion on our side and to that end you must testify +yourself. You must force every person present to believe that you are +incapable of telling a falsehood--I believe that already and so does +Polly Mathers." + +Radnor's face flushed and a quick light sprang into his eyes. + +"What do you mean?" + +I repeated what Polly had said and I added my own interpretation. The +effect was electrical. He straightened his shoulders with an air of +trying to throw off his despondency. + +"I'll do my best," he promised. "Heaven knows I'd like to know the truth +as well as you--this doubt is simply hell!" + +A knock sounded on the door and a sheriff's officer informed us that the +hearing was about to begin. + +"You haven't explained your actions on the day of the murder," I said +hurriedly. "I must have a reason." + +"That's all right--it will come out. If you just keep 'em off the ha'nt, +I'll clear everything else." + +"If you do that," said I, immeasurably relieved, "there'll be no danger +of your being held for trial." I rose and held out my hand. "Courage, my +boy; remember that you are going to prove your innocence, not only for +your own, but for Polly's sake." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE INQUEST + + +The coroner's court was packed; and though here and there I caught a +face that I knew to be friendly to Radnor, the crowd was made up for the +most part of morbid sensation seekers, eager to hear and believe the +worst. + +The District Attorney was present; indeed he and the coroner and Jim +Mattison were holding a whispered consultation when I entered the room, +and I did not doubt but that the three had been working up the case +together. The thought was not reassuring; a coroner, with every +appearance of fairness, may still bias a jury by the form his questions +take. And I myself was scarcely in a position to turn the trend of the +inquiry; I doubt if a lawyer ever went to an inquisition with less +command of the facts than I had. + +The first witness called was the doctor who made the autopsy. After his +testimony had been dwelt upon with what seemed to me needless detail, +the facts relating to the finding of the body were brought forward. From +this, the investigation veered to the subject of Radnor's strange +behavior on the afternoon of the murder. The landlord, stable boy and +several hangers-on of the Luray Hotel were called to the stand; their +testimony was practically identical, and I did not attempt to question +its truth. + +"What time did Radnor Gaylord come back to the hotel?" the coroner asked +of "old man Tompkins," the landlord. + +"I reckon it must 'a' been 'long about three in the afternoon." + +"Please describe exactly what occurred." + +"Well, we was sittin' on the veranda talkin' about one thing and another +when we see young Gaylord comin' across the lot, his head down and his +hands in his pockets walkin' fast. He yelled to Jake, who was washin' +off a buggy at the pump, to saddle his horse and be quick about it. Then +he come up the steps and into the bar-room and called for brandy. He +drunk two glasses straight off without blinkin'." + +"Had he ordered anything to drink in the morning when they left their +horses?" the coroner interrupted at this point. + +"No, he didn't go into the bar-room--and it wasn't usually his custom to +slight us either." + +A titter ran around the room and the coroner rapped for order. "This is +not the place for any cheap witticisms; you will kindly confine yourself +to answering my questions.--Did Mr. Gaylord appear to have been drinking +when he returned from the cave?" + +The landlord closed his right eye speculatively. "No, I can't say as he +exactly appeared like he'd been drinking," he said with the air of a +connoisseur, "but he did seem to be considerably upset about something. +He looked mad enough to bite; his face was pale, and his hand trembled +when he raised his glass. Three or four noticed it and wondered--" + +"Very well," interrupted the coroner, "what did he do next?" + +"He went out to the stable yard and swore at the boy for being slow. +And he tightened the surcingle himself with such a jerk that the mare +plunged and he struck her. He is usually pretty cranky about the way +horses is treated, and we wondered--" + +He was stopped again and invited to go on without wondering. + +"Well, let me see," said the witness, imperturbably. "He jumped into the +saddle and slashing the mare across the flanks, started off in a cloud +o' dust, without so much as looking back. We was all surprised at this +'cause he's usually pretty friendly, and we talked about it after; but +we didn't think nothing particular till the news o' the murder come that +evening, when we naturally commenced to put two and two together." + +At this point I protested and the landlord was excused. "Jake" Henley, +the stable boy, was called. His testimony practically covered the same +ground and corroborated what the landlord had said. + +"You say he swore at you for being slow?" the coroner asked. + +Jake nodded with a grin. "I don't remember just the words--I get swore +at so much that it don't make the impression it might--but it was good +straight cussin' all right." + +"And he struck you as being agitated?" + +Jake's grin broadened. "I think you might say agitated," he admitted +guardedly. "He was mad enough to begin with, an' now the brandy was +gettin' to work. Besides, he was in an all-fired hurry to leave before +the rest o' the party come back, an' while I was bringin' out the horse, +he heard 'em laughin'. They wasn't in sight yet, but they was makin' a +lot o' noise. One o' the girls had stepped on a snake an' was squealin' +loud enough to hear her two miles off." + +"And Gaylord left before any of them saw him?" + +The boy nodded. "He got off all right. 'You forgot to pay for your +horse,' I yelled after him, and he threw me fifty cents and it landed in +the watering-trough." + +This ended his testimony. + +Several members of the picnic party were next called upon, and nothing +very damaging to Radnor was produced. He seemed to be in his usual +spirits before entering the cave, and no one, it transpired, had seen +him after he came out, though this was not noted at the time. Also, no +one had noticed him in conversation with his father. The coroner dwelt +upon this point, but elicited no information one way or the other. + +Polly Mathers was not present. She had been subpoenaed, but had become +too ill and nervous to stand the strain, and the doctor had forbidden +her attendance. The coroner, however, had taken her testimony at the +house, and his clerk read it aloud to the jury. It dealt merely with the +matter of the coat and where she had last seen Radnor. + +"_Question._ 'Did you notice anything peculiar in the behavior of Radnor +Gaylord on the day of his father's death?' + +"_Answer._ 'Nothing especially peculiar--no.' + +"_Q._ 'Did you see any circumstance which led you to suspect that he and +his father were not on good terms?' + +"_A._ 'No, they both appeared as usual.' + +"_Q._ 'Did you speak to Radnor in the cave?' + +"_A._ 'Yes, we strolled about together for a time and he was carrying my +coat. He laid it down on the broken column and forgot it. I forgot it +too and didn't think of it again until we were out of the cave. Then I +happened to mention it in Colonel Gaylord's presence, and I suppose he +went back for it.' + +"_Q._ 'You didn't see Radnor Gaylord after he left the cave?' + +"_A._ 'No, I didn't see him after we left the gallery of the broken +column. The guide struck off a calcium light to show us the formation of +the ceiling. We spent about five minutes examining the room, and after +that we all went on in a group. Radnor had not waited to see the room, +but had gone on ahead in the direction of the entrance.'" + +So much for Polly's testimony--which added nothing. + +Solomon, frightened almost out of his wits, was called on next, and his +testimony brought out the matter of the quarrel between Colonel Gaylord +and Radnor. Solomon told of finding the French clock, and a great many +things besides which I am sure he made up. I wished to have his +testimony ruled out, but the coroner seemed to feel that it was +suggestive--as it undoubtedly was--and he allowed it to remain. + +Radnor himself was next called to the stand. As he took his place a +murmur of excitement swept over the room and there was a general +straining forward. He was composed and quiet, and very very sober--every +bit of animation had left his face. + +The coroner commenced immediately with the subject of the quarrel with +his father on the night before the murder, and Radnor answered all the +questions frankly and openly. He made no attempt to gloss over any of +the details. What put the matter in a peculiarly bad light, was the fact +that the cause of the quarrel had been over a question of money. Rad had +requested his father to settle a definite amount on him so that he would +be independent in the future, and his father had refused. They had lost +their tempers and had gone further than usual; in telling the story +Radnor openly took the blame upon himself where, in several instances, +I strongly suspected that it should have been laid at the door of the +Colonel. But in spite of the fact that the story revealed a pitiable +state of affairs as between father and son, his frankness in assuming +the responsibility won for him more sympathy than had been shown since +the murder. + +"How did the clock get broken?" the coroner asked. + +"My father knocked it off the mantelpiece onto the floor." + +"He did not throw it at you as Solomon surmised?" + +Radnor raised his head with a glint of anger. + +"It fell on the floor and broke." + +"Have you often had quarrels with your father?" + +"Occasionally. He had a quick temper and always wished his own way, and +I was not so patient with him as I should have been." + +"What did you quarrel about?" + +"Different things." + +"What, for instance?" + +"Sometimes because he thought I spent too much money, sometimes over a +question of managing the estate; occasionally because he had heard +gossip about me." + +"What do you mean by 'gossip'?" + +"Stories that I'd been gambling or drinking too much." + +"Were the stories true?" + +"They were always exaggerated." + +"And this quarrel the night before his death was more serious than +usual?" + +"Possibly--yes." + +"You did not speak to each other at the breakfast table?" + +"No." + +Radnor's face was set in strained lines; it was evident that this was a +very painful subject. + +"Did you have any conversation later?" + +"Only a few words." + +"Please repeat what was said." + +Radnor appeared to hesitate and then replied a trifle wearily that he +did not remember the exact words; that it was merely a recapitulation of +what had been said the night before. Upon being urged to give the gist +of the conversation he replied that his father had wished to make up +their quarrel, but on the old basis, and he had refused. The Colonel had +repeated that he was still too young a man to give over his affairs into +the hands of another,--that he had a good many years before him in which +he intended to be his own master. Radnor had replied that he was too old +a man to be treated any longer as a boy, and that he would go away and +work where he would be paid for what he did. + +"And may I ask," the coroner inquired placidly, "whether you had any +particular work in mind when you made that statement, or was it merely a +figure of rhetoric calculated to bring Colonel Gaylord to terms?" + +Rad scowled and said nothing, and the rest of his answers were terseness +itself. + +"Did you and your father have any further conversation on the ride over, +or in the course of the day?" + +"No." + +"You purposely avoided meeting each other?" + +"I suppose so." + +"Then those words after breakfast when you threatened to leave home were +absolutely the last words you ever spoke to your father?" + +It was a subject Radnor did not like to think about. His lips trembled +slightly and he answered with a visible effort. + +"Yes." + +A slight murmur ran around the room, partly of sympathy, partly of +doubt. + +The coroner put the same question again and Radnor repeated his answer, +this time with a flush of anger. The coroner paused a moment and then +continued without comment: + +"You entered the cave with the rest of the party?" + +"Yes." + +"But you left the others before they had made the complete round?" + +"Yes." + +"Why was that?" + +"I was not particularly interested. I had seen the cave many times +before." + +"Where did you leave the party?" + +"I believe in the gallery of the broken column." + +"You left the cave immediately?" + +"Yes." + +"Did you enter it again?" + +"No." + +"You forgot Miss Mathers's coat and left it in the gallery of the broken +column?" + +"So it would seem." + +"Did you not think of that later and go back for it?" + +Radnor snapped out his answer. "No, I didn't think anything about the +coat." + +"Are you in the habit of leaving young ladies' coats about in that +off-hand way?" + +A titter ran about the room, and Rad did not deign to notice this +question. + +I was indignant that the boy should be made to face such an ordeal. This +was not a regular trial and the coroner had no right to be more +obnoxious than his calling required. There was a glint of anger in +Radnor's eyes; and I was uneasily aware that he no longer cared what +impression he made. His answers to the rest of the questions were as +short as the English language permitted. + +"What did you do after leaving the cave?" + +"Went home." + +"Please go into more detail. What did you do immediately after leaving +the cave?" + +"Strolled through the woods." + +"For how long?" + +"I don't know." + +"How long do you think?" + +"Possibly half an hour." + +"Then what did you do?" + +"Returned to the hotel, ordered my horse and rode home." + +"Why did you not wait for the rest of the party?" + +"Didn't feel like it." + +The question was repeated in several ways, but Radnor stubbornly refused +to discuss the matter. He had promised me, the last thing before coming +to the hearing, that he would clear up the suspicious points in regard +to his conduct on the day of the crime. I took him in hand myself, but I +could get nothing more from him than the coroner had elicited. For some +reason he had veered completely, and his manner warned me not to push +the matter. I took my seat and the questioning continued. + +"Mr. Gaylord," said the coroner, severely, "you have heard the evidence +respecting your peculiar behavior when you returned to the hotel. Three +witnesses have stated that you were in an unnaturally perturbed +condition. Is this true?" + +Radnor supposed it must be true. He did not wish to question the +gentlemen's veracity. He did not remember himself what he had done, but +there seemed to be plenty of witnesses who did remember. + +"Can you give any reasons for your strange conduct?" + +"I have told you several times already that I can not. I did not feel +well, and that is all there was to it." + +A low murmur of incredulity ran around the room. It was evident to +everyone that he was holding something back, and I could see that he was +fast losing the sympathy he had gained in the beginning. I myself was at +a loss to account for his behavior; as I was absolutely in the dark, +however, I could do nothing but let matters take their course. Radnor +was excused with this, and the next half hour was spent in a +consideration of the foot-prints that were found in the clay path at the +scene of the murder. The marks of Cat-Eye Mose were admitted +immediately, but the others occasioned considerable discussion. +Facsimiles of the prints were produced and compared with the riding +boots which the Colonel and Radnor had worn at the time. The Colonel's +print was unmistakable, but I myself did not think that the alleged +print of Radnor's boot tallied very perfectly with the boot itself. The +jury seemed satisfied however, and Radnor was called upon for an +explanation. His only conjecture was that it was the print he had left +when he passed over the path on his way to the entrance. + +The print was not in the path, he was informed; it was in the wet clay +on the edge of the precipice. + +Radnor shrugged. In that case it could not be the print of his boot. He +had kept to the path. + +In regard to the match box he was equally unsatisfactory. He +acknowledged that it was his, but could no more account for its presence +in the path than the coroner himself. + +"When do you remember having seen it last?" the coroner inquired. + +Radnor pondered. "I remember lending it to Mrs. Mathers when she was +building a fire in the woods to make the coffee; after that I don't +remember anything about it." + +"How do you account for its presence at the scene of the murder?" + +"I can only conjecture that it must have dropped from my pocket without +my noticing it on my way out of the cave." + +The coroner observed that it was an unfortunate coincidence that he had +dropped it in just that particular spot. + +This effectually stopped Radnor's testimony. Not another word could be +elicited from him on the subject, and he was finally dismissed and Mrs. +Mathers called to the stand. + +She remembered borrowing the match box, but then someone had called her +away and she could not remember what she had done with it. She thought +she must have returned it because she always did return things, but she +was not at all sure. Very possibly she had kept it, and dropped it +herself on her way out of the cave. + +It was evident that she did not wish to say anything which would +incriminate Radnor; and she was really too perturbed to remember what +she had done. Several other people were questioned, but no further light +could be thrown on the subject of the match box; and so it remained in +the end, as it had been in the beginning, merely a very nasty piece of +circumstantial evidence. + +This ended the hearing for the day, and the inquest was postponed until +ten o'clock the following morning. So far, no word had been dropped +touching the ha'nt, but I was filled with apprehension as to what the +next day would bring forth. I knew that if the subject came up, it would +end once for all Radnor's chances of escaping trial before the grand +jury. And that would mean, at the best, two months more of prison. What +it would mean at the worst I did not like to consider. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE JURY'S VERDICT + + +My first glance about the room the next morning, showed me only too +plainly what direction the inquiry was going to take. In the farther +corner half hidden by Mattison's broad back sat Clancy, the Washington +detective. I recognized him with an angry feeling of discouragement. If +we were to have his version of the stolen bonds, Radnor's last hope of +gaining public sympathy was gone. + +Radnor was the first person to be called to the stand. He had not +noticed the detective, and I did not have a chance to inform him of his +presence. The coroner plunged immediately into the question of the +robbery and the ha'nt, and it was only too evident from Radnor's +troubled eyes that it was a subject he did not wish to talk about. + +"You have recently had a robbery at your house, Mr. Gaylord?" + +"Yes." + +"Please describe just what was stolen." + +"Five bonds--Government four per cents--a bag of coin--about twenty +dollars in all--and two deeds and an insurance policy." + +"You have not been able to trace the thief?" + +"No." + +"In spite of every effort?" + +"Well, we naturally looked into the matter." + +"But you have been able to form no theory as to how the bonds were +stolen?" + +"No, I have no theory whatever." + +"You employed a detective I believe?" + +"Yes." + +"And he arrived at no theory?" + +Radnor hesitated visibly while he framed an answer. + +"He arrived at no theory which successfully covered the facts." + +"But he did have a theory as to the whereabouts of the bonds, did he +not?" + +"Yes--but it was without any foundation and I prefer not to go into it." + +The coroner abandoned the point. "Mr. Gaylord, there has lately been a +rumor among the negroes working at your place, in regard to the +appearance of a ghost, has there not?" + +"Yes." + +"Can you offer any light on the subject?" + +"The negroes are superstitious and easily frightened, when the rumor of +a ghost gets started it grows. The most of the stories existed only in +their own imaginations." + +"You believe then that there was no foundation whatever to any of the +stories?" + +"I should rather not go into that." + +"Mr. Gaylord, do you believe that the ghost had any connection with the +robbery?" + +"No, I do not." + +"Do you think that the ghost had any connection with the murder of your +father?" + +"No!" said Radnor. + +"That is all, Mr. Gaylord.--James Clancy." + +At the name Radnor suddenly raised his head and half turned back as if +to speak, but thinking better of it, he resumed his chair and watched +the approach of the detective with an angry frown. Clancy did not glance +at Radnor, but gave his evidence in a quick incisive way which forced +the breathless attention of every one in the room. He told without +interruption the story of his arrival at Four-Pools and his conclusions +in regard to the ha'nt and the theft; he omitted, however, all mention +of the letter. + +"Am I to understand that you never made your conclusions known to +Colonel Gaylord?" the coroner asked. + +"No, I had been employed by him, but I thought under the circumstances +it was kinder to leave him in ignorance." + +"That was a generous stand to take. I suppose you lost something in the +way of a fee?" + +The detective looked slightly uncomfortable over the question. + +"Well, no, as it happened I didn't. There was a sort of cousin--Mr. +Crosby"--he nodded toward me--"visiting in the house and he footed the +bill. He seemed to think the young man hadn't intended to steal, and +that it would be pleasanter all around if I left it for them to settle +between themselves." + +"I protest!" I cried. "I distinctly stated my conviction that Radnor +Gaylord knew nothing of the bonds, and I paid him to get rid of him +because I did not wish him troubling Colonel Gaylord with any such +made-up story." + +"Mr. Clancy is testifying," observed the coroner. "Now, Mr. Clancy, as I +understand it, you discovered as you supposed the guilty man, and +instead of going to your employer with the story and receiving your pay +from him, you accepted it from the person you had accused--or at least +from his friend?" + +"I've explained the circumstances; it was a mere matter of +accommodation." + +"I suppose you know what such accommodation is called?" + +"If you mean it was blackmail--that's false! At least," he added, +quickly relapsing into good nature, "it was a mighty generous kind of +blackmail. I could have got my pay fast enough from the Colonel but I +didn't want to stir up trouble. We all know that it isn't the innocent +who pay blackmail," he added parenthetically. + +"Do you mean to insinuate that Mr. Crosby is implicated?" + +"Lord no! He's as innocent as a lamb. Young Gaylord was too smart for +him; he hoodwinked him as well as the Colonel into believing the bonds +were stolen while he was out of the house." + +A smile ran around the room and the detective was excused. I sprang to +my feet. + +"One moment!" I said. "I should like to ask Mr. Clancy some questions." + +The young man was turned over to me, plainly against his wishes. + +"What proof have you, Mr. Clancy, that the bonds were not stolen while +Mr. Gaylord was out of the house?" + +"Well, my investigations led me to the belief that he stole them, and +that being the case, it must have been done before he left the house." + +"I see! And your investigations concerned themselves largely with a +letter which you filched from Mr. Gaylord's coat pocket in the night, +did they not?" + +"Not entirely--the letter merely struck me as corroborative evidence, +though I have since learned--" + +"Mr. Clancy," I interrupted sternly, "did you not tell me at the time, +that that letter was absolute proof of his guilt--yes or no?" + +"I may have said so but--" + +"Mr. Clancy, will you kindly repeat what was in that letter." + +"It referred to some bonds; I don't know that I can recall the exact +words." + +"Then I must request you to read it," I returned, picking it out from a +bundle of papers on the table and handing it to him. "I am sorry to take +up so much time with a matter that has nothing to do with the murder," I +added to the coroner, "but you yourself brought up the subject and it is +only fair to hear the whole story." + +He nodded permission, and ordered Clancy to read the letter. The +detective did so amidst an astonished hush. It struck everyone as a +proof of guilt, and no one could understand why I had forced it to the +front. + +"Now Mr. Clancy," said I, "please tell the jury Mr. Gaylord's +explanation of this letter." + +Clancy with a somewhat sheepish air gave the gist of what Radnor had +said. + +"Did you believe that story when you first heard it?" I asked. + +"No," said he, "I did not, because--" + +"Very well! But you later went to the office of Jacoby, Haight & Co., +and looked over the files of their correspondence with Radnor Gaylord +and verified his statement in every particular, did you not?" + +"Yes, I did, but still--" + +"That is all I wish to ask, Mr. Clancy. I think the reason is evident," +I added, turning to the jury, "why I was willing to pay in order to get +rid of him. Nobody's character, nobody's correspondence, was safe while +he was in the house." + +The detective retired amidst general laughter and I could see that +feeling had veered again in Radnor's favor. The total effect of the +evidence respecting the ha'nt and the robbery was good rather than bad, +and I more than fancied that I was indebted to the sheriff for it. + +Radnor was not called again and that was the end of the testimony in +regard to him. The rest of the time was taken up with a consideration of +Cat-Eye Mose and some further questioning of the negroes in regard to +the ha'nt. Old Nancy created considerable diversion with her account of +the spirited roast chicken. It had changed materially since I heard it +last. She was emphatic in her statement that "Marse Rad didn't have +nuffen to do wif him. He was a sho' nuff ha'nt an' his gahments smelt o' +de graveyard." + +The evidence respecting Mose brought out nothing of any consequence, and +with that the hearing was brought to a close. The coroner instructed the +jury on two or three points of law and ended with the brief formula: + +"You have heard the testimony given by these witnesses. It remains for +you to do your duty." + +After an interminable half hour the jury-men filed back to their seats +and the clerk read the verdict: + +"We find that the said Richard Gaylord came to his death in Luray Cavern +on the 19th day of May, by cerebral hemorrhage, the result of a wound +inflicted by some blunt weapon in the hands of a person or persons +unknown. We recommend that Radnor Fanshaw Gaylord be held for trial +before the Grand Jury." + +Rad appeared dazed at the verdict; though in the face of the evidence +and his own stubborn refusal to explain it, I don't see how he could +have expected any other outcome. As for myself, it was better than I had +feared. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +FALSE CLUES + + +The fight had now fairly begun. The district attorney was working up the +side of the prosecution, aided, I was sure, by the over-zealous sheriff. +It remained for me to map out some definite plan of action and organize +the defence. + +As I rode back to Four-Pools in the early evening after the inquest, I +continued to dwell upon the evidence, searching blindly for some clue. +The question which returned most persistently to my mind was "What has +become of Cat-Eye Mose?" It was clear now that upon the answer to this +question hinged the ultimate solution of the mystery. I still clung to +the belief that he was guilty and in hiding. But five days had elapsed +since the murder, and no trace of him had been discovered. It seemed +incredible that a man, however well he might know his ground, could, +with a whole county on his track, elude detection so effectually. + +Supposing after all that he were not guilty, but the sheriff's theory +that he had been killed and the body concealed, were true; then who, +besides Radnor, could have had any motive for committing the crime? +There was nothing from the past that afforded even the suggestion of a +clue. The old man seemed to have had no enemies but his sons. His sons? +The thought of Jeff suddenly sprang into my mind. If anyone on earth +owed the Colonel a grudge it was his elder son. And Jeff had more than +his share of the Gaylord spirit which could not lightly forgive an +injury. Could he have returned secretly to the neighborhood, and, +following his father into the cave, have quarreled with him? Heaven +knows he had cause enough! He may, in his anger, have struck the old man +without knowing what he was doing, and overcome with horror at the +result, have left him and fled. + +I was almost as reluctant to believe him guilty of the crime as to +believe it of Radnor, but the thought having once come, would not be +dismissed. I knew that he had sunk pretty low in the nine years since +his disappearance, but I could never think of him otherwise than as I +myself remembered him. He had been the hero of my boyhood and I revolted +from the thought of deliberately setting out to prove him guilty of his +father's murder. + +I spurred my horse into a gallop, miserably trying to escape from my +suspicion; but the more I put it from me as impossible, the surer I +became that at last I had stumbled on a clue. Automatically, I began +adjusting the evidence to fit this new theory, and reluctant as I was to +see it, every circumstance from the beginning fitted it perfectly. + +Jeff had returned secretly to the neighborhood, had taken up his abode +in the old negro cabins and made his presence known only to Mose. Mose +had stolen the chicken for him, and the various other missing articles. +They had resurrected the ha'nt to frighten the negroes away from the +laurel walk, and the night of the party Rad, in his masquerade, had +accidentally discovered his brother. Jeff demanded money, and Rad +undertook to supply it in order to get him away without his father's +knowing. That was why he had borrowed the hundred dollars from me, and +had written to his brokers to sell the bonds. It was Jeff who was +sitting beside Radnor the night they drove across the lawn. But unknown +to Rad, Jeff had found his way back and had robbed the safe, and Rad +suspecting it, had refused to make an investigation. + +During the eleven days that intervened between the robbery and the +murder Jeff had still been hiding in the vicinity--possibly in the +neighborhood of Luray, certainly no longer in the cabins, for he had no +desire to meet his brother. + +But on the day of the picnic they had met and quarreled. Rad had charged +him with the robbery and they had parted in a high state of anger. This +would explain Rad's actions in the hotel, his white face later when I +found him in the summer house. And Jeff, still quivering from the boy's +accusation, had gone back into the cave and met his father as the old +man was coming from the little gallery of the broken column with Polly +Mathers's coat. What had happened there I did not like to consider; they +both had uncontrolled tempers, and in the past there had been wrongs on +both sides. Probably Jeff's blow had been harder than he meant. + +In the evening when Mattison and I brought the news of the murder, Rad +must have known instantly who was the real culprit. That was why he had +kept silent; that was why he so vehemently insisted on Mose's innocence. +I had found the light at last--though the darkness had been almost +better. + +What must I do? I asked myself. Was it my duty to search out Jefferson +and convict him of this crime? No one could tell what provocation he may +have had. Why not let matters take their course? There was nothing but +circumstantial evidence against Radnor. Surely no jury would convict him +on that. I could work up a sufficient case against Mose to assure his +acquittal. He would be released with a blot on his name, he would be +regarded for the rest of his life with suspicion; but in any event there +seemed to be no outcome which would not involve the family in endless +trouble and disgrace. And besides, if he himself elected to be silent, +had I any right to speak? Then I pulled myself together. Yes, it was not +only right for me to speak; it was my duty. Rad should not be allowed to +sacrifice himself. The truth, at whatever cost, must be brought out. + +My first move must be to discover Jeff's whereabouts on the day of his +father's murder. It ought not to be difficult to trace a man who had +come more than once under the surveillance of the police. Having made up +my mind as to the necessary course, I lost no time in putting it into +action. I barely waited to snatch a hasty supper before riding back to +the village. From there I sent a fifty-word telegram to the chief of +police in Seattle asking for any information as to the whereabouts of +Jefferson Gaylord on the nineteenth of May. + +It was ten o'clock the next morning before an answer came. So sure was I +of what it was going to contain, that I read the words twice before +comprehending them. + + + "Jefferson Gaylord spent May nineteenth in lumber camp thirty + miles from Seattle. Well-known character. Mistaken identity + impossible. + + "HENRY WATERSON, + "_Police Commissioner_." + + +I had become so obsessed with the horror of my new theory; so sure that +Jeff was the murderer of his father that I could not readjust my +thoughts to the idea that he had been at the time of the crime three +thousand miles away. The case, then, still stood exactly where it had +stood from the beginning. Six days had passed since the murder and I was +not one inch nearer the truth. Six days! I realized it with a dull +feeling of hopelessness. Every day now that was allowed to pass only +lessened the chance of our ever finding Mose and solving the mystery. + +I still stood with the telegram in my hand staring at the words. I was +vaguely aware that a boy from "Miller's place" had ridden up to the +house on a bicycle, but not until Solomon approached with a second +yellow envelope in his hand was I jostled back into a state of +comprehension. + +"Nurr telegram, Mars' Arnold." + +I snatched it from him and ripped it open, hoping against hope that at +last a clue had turned up. + + + "NEW YORK, May 25. + "Post-Dispatch wants correspondent on spot. If you have any facts + to give out, save them for me. Arrive Lambert Junction three-fifty. + "TERENCE K. PATTEN." + + +Under the terrible strain of the past six days I had completely +forgotten Terry's existence and now the memory of his cool impertinence +came back to me with a rush. For the first moment I felt too angry to +think; I had not credited even his presumption with anything like this. +His interference in the Patterson-Pratt business was bad enough, but he +might have realized that this was a personal matter. He was calmly +proposing to turn this horrible tragedy into a story for the Sunday +papers--and that to a member of the murdered man's own family. Hot with +indignation, I tore the telegram into shreds and stalked into the house. +I paced up and down the hall for fifteen minutes, planning what I should +say to him when he arrived; and then, as I calmed down, I commenced to +see the thing in its true light. + +The whole account of the crime to the minutest detail, had already +appeared in every newspaper in the country, together with the most +outrageous stories of Radnor's past career. At least nothing could be +worse than what had already been said. And after all, was not the +truth--any truth--better than these vague suspicions, this terrible +suspense? Terry could find the truth if any man on earth could do it. He +had, I knew, unraveled other tangles as mysterious as this. He was used +to this sort of work, and bringing to the matter a fresh mind, would see +light where it was only darkness to me. I had been under such a terrific +strain for so long and had borne so much responsibility, that the very +thought of having someone with whom I could share it gave me new +strength. My feeling toward him veered suddenly from indignation to +gratitude. His irrepressible confidence in himself inspired me with a +like confidence, and I wondered what I had been thinking of that I had +not sent for him at once. To my jaded mind his promised arrival appeared +better than a clue--it was almost equal to a solution. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TERRY COMES + + +The moment I caught sight of Terry as he swung off the train I felt +involuntarily that my troubles were near their end. His sharp, eager +face with its firm jaw and quick eye inspired one with the feeling that +he could find the bottom of any mystery. It was with a deep breath of +relief that I held out my hand. + +"Hello, old man! How are you?" he exclaimed with a smile of cordiality +as he grasped it. And then recalling the gravity of the situation, he +with some difficulty pulled a sober face. "I'm sorry that we meet again +under such sad circumstances," he added perfunctorily. "I suppose you +think I've meddled enough in your affairs already; and on my word, I +intended to stay out of this. But of course I've been watching it in the +papers; partly because it was interesting and partly because I knew +you. It struck me yesterday afternoon as I was thinking things over that +you weren't making much headway and might like a little help; so I +induced the Post-Dispatch to send down their best man. I hope I shall +get at the truth." He paused a moment and looked at me sharply. "Do you +want me to stay? I will go back if you'd rather have me." + +I was instantly ashamed of my distrust of the afternoon. Whatever might +be Terry's failings, I could not doubt, as I looked into his face, that +his Irish heart was in the right place. + +"I am not afraid of the truth," I returned steadily. "If you can +discover it, for Heaven's sake do so!" + +"That's what I'm paid for," said Terry. "The Post-Dispatch doesn't deal +in fiction any more than it can help." + +As we climbed into the carriage he added briskly, "It's a horrible +affair! The details as I have them from the papers are not full enough, +but you can tell them to me as we drive along." + +I should have laughed had I been feeling less anxious. His greeting was +so entirely characteristic in the way he shuffled through the necessary +condolences and jumped, with such evident relish, to the gruesome +details. + +As I gathered up the reins and backed away from the hitching-post, Terry +broke out with: + +"Here, hold on a minute. Where are you going?" + +"Back to Four-Pools," I said in some surprise. "I thought you'd want to +unpack your things and get settled." + +"Haven't much time to get settled," he laughed. "I have an engagement in +New York the day after to-morrow. How about the cave? Is it too late to +visit it now?" + +"Well," I said dubiously, "it's ten miles across the mountains and +pretty heavy roads. It would be dark before we got there." + +"As far as that goes, we could visit the cave at night as well as in the +daytime. But I want to examine the neighborhood and interview some of +the people; so I suppose," he added with an impatient sigh, "we'll have +to wait till morning. And now, where's this young Gaylord?" + +"He's in the Kennisburg jail." + +"And where's that?" + +"About three miles from here and six miles from the plantation." + +"Ah--suppose we pay him a visit first. There are one or two points +concerning his whereabouts on the night of the robbery and his actions +on the day of the murder that I should like to have him clear up." + +I smiled slightly as I turned the horses' heads toward Kennisburg. +Radnor in his present uncommunicative frame of mind was not likely to +afford Terry much satisfaction. + +"There isn't any time to waste," he added as we drove along. "Just let +me have your account of everything that happened, beginning with the +first appearance of the ghost." + +I briefly sketched the situation at Four-Pools as I had found it on my +arrival, and the events preceding the robbery and the murder. Terry +interrupted me once or twice with questions. He was particularly +interested in the three-cornered situation concerning Radnor, Polly +Mathers, and Jim Mattison, and I was as brief as possible in my replies; +I did not care to make Polly the heroine of a Sunday feature article. He +was also persistent in regard to Jefferson's past. I told him all I +knew, added the story of my own suspicions, and ended by producing the +telegram proving his alibi. + +"H'm!" said Terry folding it thoughtfully and putting it in his pocket. +"It had occurred to me too that Jeff might be our man--this puts an end +to the theory that he personally committed the murder. There are some +very peculiar points about this case," he added. "As a matter of fact, I +don't believe that Radnor Gaylord is any more guilty of the crime than I +am--or I shouldn't have come. But it won't do for me to jump at +conclusions until I get more data. I suppose you realize what is the +peculiarly significant point about the murder?" + +"You mean Mose's disappearance?" + +"Well, no. I didn't have that in mind. That's significant enough to be +sure, but nothing but what you would naturally expect. The crime was +committed, if your data is straight, either by him or in his presence, +and of course he disappears. You could scarcely have expected to find +him sitting there waiting for you, in either case." + +"You mean Radnor's behavior on the day of the murder and his refusal to +explain it?" I asked uneasily. + +"No," Terry laughed. "That may be significant and it may not--I strongly +suspect that it is not. What I mean, is the peculiar place in which the +crime was committed. No person on earth could have foreseen that Colonel +Gaylord would go alone into that cave. There is an accidental element +about the murder. It must have been committed on the spur of the moment +by someone who had not premeditated it--at least at that time. This is +the point we must keep in mind." + +He sat for a few moments staring at the dashboard with a puzzled frown. + +"Broadly speaking," he said slowly, "I have found that you can place the +motive of every wilful murder under one of three heads--avarice, fear or +revenge. Suppose we consider the first. Could avarice have been the +motive for Colonel Gaylord's murder? The body had not been robbed, you +tell me?" + +"No, we found a gold watch and considerable money in the pockets." + +"Then, you see, if the motive were avarice, it could not have been +immediate gain. That throws out the possibility that the murderer was +some unknown thief who merely took advantage of a chance opportunity. If +we are to conceive of avarice as the motive, the crime must have been +committed by some person who would benefit more remotely by the +Colonel's death. Did anyone owe him money that you know of?" + +"There is no record of anything of the sort and he was a careful +business man. I do not think he would have loaned money without making +some memorandum of it. He held several mortgages but they, of course, +revert to his heirs." + +"I understood that Radnor was the only heir." + +"He is, practically. There are a few minor bequests to the servants and +to some old friends." + +"Did the servants know that anything was to go to them?" + +"No, I don't think they did." + +"And this Cat-Eye Mose, did he receive a share?" + +"Yes, larger than any of the others." + +"It seems that Colonel Gaylord, at least, had confidence in him. And how +about the other son? Did he know that he was to be disinherited?" + +"I think that the Colonel made it plain at the time they parted." + +Terry shook his head and frowned. + +"This disinheriting business is bad. I don't like it and I never shall. +It stirs up more ill-feeling than anything I know of. Jeff seems to have +proved an alibi, however, and we will dismiss him for the present." + +"Rad has always sympathized with Jeff," I said. + +"Then," continued Terry, "if the servants did not know the contents of +the will, and we have all of the data, Radnor is the only one who could +knowingly have benefited by the Colonel's death. Suppose we take a +glance at motives of fear. Do you know of anyone who had reason to stand +in fear of the Colonel? He wasn't oppressing anybody? No damaging +evidence against any person in his possession? Not levying blackmail +was he?" + +"Not that I know of," and I smiled slightly. + +"It's not likely," mused Terry, "but you never can tell what is going to +come out when a respectable man is dead.--And now as to revenge. With a +man of Colonel Gaylord's character, there were likely to be a good many +people who owed him a bad turn. He seems to have been a peppery old +gentleman. It's quite on the cards that he had some enemies among his +neighbors?" + +"No, so far as I can discover, he was very popular in the neighborhood. +The indignation over his death was something tremendous. When it first +got out that Rad was accused of the crime, there was even talk of +lynching him." + +"So?--Servants all appeared to be fond of him?" + +"The old family servants were broken-hearted at the news of his death. +They had been, for the most part, born and bred on the place, and in +spite of his occasional harshness they loved the Colonel with the +old-fashioned devotion of the slave toward his master. He was in his way +exceedingly kind to them. When old Uncle Eben died my uncle watched all +night by his bed." + +"It's a queer situation," Terry muttered, and relapsed into silence till +we reached the jail. + +It was an ivy-covered brick building set back from the street and shaded +by trees. + +"Rather more home-like than the Tombs," Terry commented. "Shouldn't mind +taking a rest in it myself." + +We found Radnor pacing up and down the small room in which he was +confined, like a caged animal; the anxiety and seclusion were beginning +to tell on his nerves. He faced about quickly as the door opened and at +sight of me his face lightened. He was growing pathetically pleased at +having anyone with whom he could talk. + +"Rad," I said with an air of cheerfulness which was not entirely +assumed, "I hope we're nearing the end of our trouble at last. This is +Mr. Patten--Terry Patten of New York, who has come to help me unravel +the mystery." + +It was an unfortunate beginning; I had told him before of Terry's +connection with the Patterson-Pratt affair. He had half held out his +hand as I commenced to speak, but he dropped it now with a slight frown. + +"I don't think I care to be interviewed," he remarked curtly. "I have +nothing to say for the benefit of the Post-Dispatch." + +"You'd better," said Terry, imperturbably. "The Post-Dispatch prints the +truth, you know, and some of the other papers don't. The truth's always +the best in the end. I merely want to find out what information you can +give me in regard to the ghost." + +"I will tell you nothing," Radnor growled. "I am not giving statements +to the press." + +"Mr. Gaylord," said Terry, with an assumption of gentle patience, "if +you will excuse my referring to what I know must be a painful subject, +would you mind telling me if the suspicion has ever crossed your mind +that your brother Jefferson may have returned secretly, have abstracted +the bonds from the safe, and, two weeks later, quite accidentally, have +met Colonel Gaylord alone in the cave--" + +Radnor turned upon him in a sudden fury; I thought for a moment he was +going to strike him and I sprang forward and caught his arm. + +"The Gaylords may be a bad lot but they are not liars and they are not +cowards. They do not run away; they stand by the consequences of their +acts." + +Terry bowed gravely. + +"Just one more question, and I am through. What happened to you that day +in the cave?" + +"It's none of your damned business!" + +I glanced apprehensively at Terry, uncertain as to how he would take +this; but he did not appear to resent it. He looked Radnor over with an +air of interested approval and his smile slowly broadened. + +"I'm glad to see you're game," he remarked. + +"I tell you I don't know who killed my father any more than you do," +Radnor cried. "You needn't come here asking me questions. Go and find +the murderer if you can, and if you can't, hang me and be done with it." + +"I don't know that we need take up any more of Mr. Gaylord's time," said +Terry to me. "I've found out about all I wished to know. We'll drop in +again," he added reassuringly to Radnor. "Good afternoon." + +As we went out of the door he turned back a moment and added with a +slightly sharp undertone in his voice: + +"And the next time I come, Gaylord, you'll shake hands!" Fumbling in his +pocket he drew out my telegram from the police commissioner, and tossed +it onto the cot. "In the meantime there's something for you to think +about. Good by." + +"Do you mean," I asked as we climbed back into the carriage, "that +Radnor did believe Jeff guilty?" + +"Well, not exactly. I fancy he will be relieved, though, to find that +Jeff was three thousand miles away when the murder was committed." + +Only once during the drive home did Terry exhibit any interest in his +surroundings, and that was when we passed through the village of Lambert +Corners. He made me slow down to a walk and explain the purpose of +everyone of the dozen or so buildings along the square. At "Miller's +place" he suddenly decided that he needed some stamps and I waited +outside while he obtained them together with a drink in the private back +room. + +"Nothing like getting the lay of the land," he remarked as he climbed +back into the carriage. "That Miller is a picturesque old party. He +thinks it's all tommy-rot that Radnor Gaylord had anything to do with +the crime--Rad's a customer of his, and it's a downright imposition to +lock the boy up where he can't spend money." + +For the rest of the drive Terry kept silence and I did not venture to +interrupt it. I had come to have a superstitious feeling that his +silences were portentous. It was not until I stopped to open the gate +into our own home lane, that he suddenly burst out with the question: + +"Where do the Mathers people live?" + +"A couple of miles farther down the pike--they have no connection +whatever with the business, and don't know a thing about it." + +"Ah--perhaps not. Would it be too late to drive over to-night?" + +"Yes," said I, "it would." + +"Oh, very well," said he, good-humoredly. "There'll be time enough in +the morning." + +I let this pass without comment, but on one thing I was resolved; and +that was that Polly Mathers should never fall into Terry's clutches. + +"There are a lot of questions I want to ask about your ghost, but I'll +wait till I get my bearings--and my dinner," he added with a laugh. +"There wasn't any dining car on that train, and I breakfasted early and +omitted lunch." + +"Here we are," I said, as we came in sight of the house. "The cook is +expecting us." + +"So that is the Gaylord house is it? A fine old place! When was it +built?" + +"About 1830, I imagine." + +"Let me see, Sheridan rode up the Shenandoah Valley and burned +everything in sight. How did this place happen to escape?" + +"I don't know just how it did. You see it's a mile back from the main +road and well hidden by trees--I suppose they were in a hurry and it +escaped their attention." + +"And that row of shanties down there?" + +"Are the haunted negro cabins." + +"Ah!" Terry rose in his seat and scanned them eagerly. "We'll have a +look at them as soon as I get something to eat. Really, a farm isn't so +bad," he remarked as he stepped out upon the portico. "And is this +Solomon?" he inquired as the old negro came forward to take his bag. +"Well, Solomon, I've been reading about you in the papers! You and I are +going to have a talk by and by." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WE SEARCH THE ABANDONED CABINS + + +"Now," said Terry, as Solomon and the suitcase disappeared upstairs, +"let's you and I have a look at those haunted cabins." + +"I thought you were hungry!" + +"Starving--but I still have strength enough to get that far. Solomon +says supper won't be ready for half an hour, and we haven't half an hour +to waste. I'm due in the city the day after to-morrow, remember." + +"You won't find anything," I said. "I've searched every one of those +cabins myself and the ha'nt didn't leave a trace behind him." + +"I think I'll just glance about with my own eyes," laughed Terry. +"Reporters sometimes see things, you know, where corporation lawyers +don't." + +"Just as you please," I replied. "Four-Pools is at your disposal." + +I led the way across the lawn and into the laurel growth. Terry +followed with eyes eagerly alert; the gruesome possibilities of the +place appealed to him. He pushed through the briars that surrounded the +first cabin and came out on the slope behind, where he stood gazing down +delightedly at the dark waters of the fourth pool. + +"My word! This is great. We'll run a half-page picture and call it the +'Haunted Tarn.' Didn't know such places really existed--thought writers +made 'em up. Come on," he called, plunging back to the laurel walk, "we +must catch our ghost; I don't want this scenery to go to waste." + +We commenced at the first cabin and went down the row thoroughly and +systematically. At Terry's insistence one of the stable men brought a +ladder and we climbed into every loft, finding nothing but spiders and +dust. The last on the left, being more weatherproof than the others, was +used as a granary. A space six feet square was left inside the door, but +for the rest the room was filled nearly to the ceiling with sacks of +Indian meal. + +"How about this--did you examine this cabin?" + +"Well, really, Terry; there isn't much room for a ghost here." + +"Ghosts don't require much room; how about the loft?" + +"I didn't go up--you can't get at the trap without moving all the meal." + +"I see!" Terry was examining the three walls of sacks before us. "Now +here is a sack rather dirtier than the rest and squashy. It looks to me +as if it had had a good deal of rough handling." + +He pulled it to the floor as he spoke, and another with it. A space some +three feet high was visible; by crawling one could make his way along +without hitting the ceiling. + +"Come on!" said Terry, scrambling to the top of the pile and pulling me +after him, "we've struck the trail of our ghostly friend unless I'm very +much mistaken.--Look at that!" He pointed to a muddy foot-mark plainly +outlined on one of the sacks. "Don't disturb it; we may want to compare +it with the marks in the cave.--Hello! What's this? The print of a bare +foot--that's our friend, Mose." + +He took out a pocket rule and made careful measurements of both prints; +the result he set down in a note book. I was quite as excited now as +Terry. We crawled along on all fours until we reached the open trap; +there was no trace here of either spider-webs or dust. We scrambled into +the loft without much difficulty, and found a large room with sloping +beams overhead and two small windows, innocent of glass, at either end. +The room was empty but clean; it had been thoroughly swept, and +recently. Terry poked about but found nothing. + +"H'm!" he grunted. "Mose cleaned well.--Ah! Here we are!" + +He paused before a horizontal beam along the side wall and pointed to a +little pile of ashes and a cigar stub. + +"He smokes cigars, and good strong ones--at least he isn't a lady. Did +you ever see a cigar like that before?" + +"Yes," I said, "that's the kind the Colonel always smoked--a fresh box +was stolen from the dining-room cupboard a day or so after I got here. +Solomon said it was the ha'nt, but we suspected it was Solomon." + +"Was the cupboard unlocked?" + +"Oh, yes; any of the house servants could have got at it." + +"Well," said Terry, poking his head from the windows for a view of the +ground beneath, "that's all there seems to be here; we might as well go +down." + +We boosted up the two meal bags again, and started back toward the +house. Terry's eyes studied his surroundings keenly, whether for the +sake of the story he was planning to write or the mystery he was trying +to solve, I could only conjecture. His glance presently fixed on the +stables where old Uncle Jake was visible sitting on an upturned pail in +the doorway. + +"You go on," he ordered, "and have 'em put dinner or supper or whatever +you call it on the table, and I'll be back in three minutes. I want to +see what that old fellow over there has to say in regard to the ghost." + +It was fifteen minutes later that Terry reappeared. + +"Well," I inquired as I led the way to the dining-room, "did you get any +news of the ghost?" + +"Did I! The Society for Psychical Research ought to investigate this +neighborhood. They'd find more spirits in half an hour than they've +found in their whole past history." + +Terry's attention during supper was chiefly directed toward Nancy's +fried chicken and beat biscuits. When he did make any remarks he +addressed them to Solomon rather than to me. Solomon was loquacious +enough in general, but he had his own ideas of table decorum, and it was +evident that the friendly advances of my guest considerably scandalized +him. When the coffee and cigars were brought on, Terry appeared to be on +the point of inviting Solomon to sit down and have a cigar with us; but +he thought better of it, and contented himself with talking to the old +man across my shoulder. He confined his questions to matters concerning +the household and the farm, and Solomon in vain endeavored to confine +his replies to "yes, sah," "no, sah," "jes' so, sah!" In five minutes he +was well started, and it would have required a flood-gate to stop him. + +In the midst of it Terry rose and dismissing me with a brief, "I'll join +you in the library later; I want to talk to Solomon a few minutes," he +bowed me out and shut the door. + +I was amused rather than annoyed by this summary dismissal. Terry had +been in the house not quite two hours, and I am sure that a third +person, looking on, would have picked me out for the stranger. Terry's +way of being at home in any surroundings was absolutely inimitable. Had +he ever had occasion to visit Windsor Castle I am sure that he would +have set about immediately making King Edward feel at home. + +He appeared in the library in the course of half an hour with the +apology: "I hope you didn't mind being turned out. Servants are +sometimes embarrassed, you know, about telling the truth before any of +the family." + +"You didn't get much truth out of Solomon," I retorted. + +"I don't know that I did," Terry admitted with a laugh. "There are the +elements of a good reporter in Solomon; he has an imagination which I +respect. The Gaylords appear to be an interesting family with hereditary +tempers. The ghost, I hear, beat a slave to death, and to pay for it is +doomed to pace the laurel walk till the day of judgment." + +"That's the story," I nodded, "and the beating is at least authentic." + +"H'm!" Terry frowned. "And Solomon tells me tales of the Colonel himself +whipping the negroes--there can't be any truth in that?" + +"But there is," I said. "He didn't hesitate to strike them when he was +angry. I myself saw him beat a nigger a few days ago," and I recounted +the story of the chicken thief. + +"So! A man of that sort is likely to have enemies he doesn't suspect. +How about Cat-Eye Mose? Was Colonel Gaylord in the habit of whipping +him?" + +"Often," I nodded, "but the more the Colonel abused Mose, the fonder +Mose appeared to grow of the Colonel." + +"It's a puzzling situation," said Terry pacing up and down the room +with a thoughtful frown. "Well!" he exclaimed with a sudden access of +energy, "I suppose we might as well sit down and tackle it." + +He took off his coat and rolled up his shirt sleeves; then shoving +everything back from one end of the big library table, he settled +himself in a chair and motioned me to one opposite. + +"Tomorrow morning," he said as he took out from his pockets a roll of +newspaper clippings and a yellow copy pad, "we will drive over and have +a look at that cave; it ought to tell its own story. But in the +meantime--" he looked up with a laugh--"suppose we use our brains a +little." + +I did not resent the inference. Terry was his old impudent self, and I +was so relieved at having him there, assuming the responsibility, that +he might have wiped the floor with me and welcome. + +"Our object," he commenced, "is not to prove your cousin innocent of the +murder, but to find out who is guilty. The most logical method would be +to study the scene of the crime first, but as that does not appear +feasible until morning, we will examine such data as we have. On the +face of it the only two who appear to be implicated are Radnor and this +Cat-Eye Mose--who is a most picturesque character," Terry added, the +reporter for the moment getting ahead of the detective. + +He paused and examined the end of his fountain pen speculatively, and +then ran through the pile of clippings before him. + +"Well, now, as for Radnor. Suppose we look into his case a little." He +glanced over one of the newspaper slips and tossed it across to me. + +"There's a clipping from the 'Baltimore Censor'--a tolerably +conservative journal. What have you to say in regard to it?" + +I picked it up and glanced it over. It was dated May twenty-third--four +days after the murder--and was the same in substance as many other +articles I had read in the past week. + + + "No new evidence has come to light in regard to the sensational + murder of Colonel Gaylord whose body was discovered in Luray Cave, + Virginia, a few days ago. The authorities now concur in the belief + that the crime was committed by the son of the murdered man. The + accused is awaiting trial in the Kennisburg jail. + + "It seems impossible that any man, however depraved, could in cold + blood commit so brutal and unnatural a crime as that with which + Radnor Gaylord is accused. It is only in the light of his past + history that the action can be understood. Coming from one of the + oldest families of Virginia, an heir to wealth and an honored name, + he is but another example of the many who have sold their + birth-right for a mess of pottage. A drunkard and a spendthrift, he + wasted his youth in gambling and betting on the races while honest + men were toiling for their daily bread. + + "Several times has Radnor Gaylord been disinherited and turned + adrift, but Colonel Gaylord, weak in his love for his youngest son, + invariably received him back again into the house he had + dishonored. Finally, pressed beyond the point of endurance, the old + man took a firm stand and refused to meet his son's inordinate + demands for money. Young Gaylord, rendered desperate by debts, took + the most obvious method of gaining his inheritance. His part in the + tragedy of Colonel Gaylord's death is as good as proved, though he + persistently and defiantly denies all knowledge of the crime. No + sympathy can be felt for him. The wish of every right-minded man in + the country must be that the law will take its course--and that as + speedily as possible." + + +"Well?" said Terry as I finished. + +"It's a lie," I cried hotly. + +"All of it?" + +"Every word of it!" + +"Oh, see here," said Terry. "There's no use in your trying to hide +things. That account is an exaggeration of course, but it must have some +foundation. You told me you weren't afraid of the truth. Just be so kind +as to tell it to me, then. Exactly what sort of a fellow is Radnor? I +want to know for several reasons." + +"Well, he did drink a good deal for a youngster," I admitted, "though +never to such an extent as has been reported. Of late he had stopped +entirely. As for gambling, the young men around here have got into a bad +way of playing for high stakes, but during the past month or so Rad had +pulled up in that too. He sometimes backed one of their own horses from +the Gaylord stables, but so did the Colonel; it's the regular thing in +Virginia. As for his ever having been disinherited, that is a newspaper +story, pure and simple. I never heard anything of the sort, and the +neighborhood has told me pretty much all there is to know within the +last few days." + +"His father never turned him out of the house then?" + +"Never that I heard of. He did leave home once because his father +insulted him, but he came back again." + +"That was forgiving," commented Terry. "In general, though, I understand +that the relations between the two were rather strained?" + +"At times they were," I admitted, "but things had been going rather +better for the last few days." + +"Until the night before the murder. They quarreled then? And over a +matter of money?" + +"Yes. Radnor makes no secret of it. He wanted his father to settle +something on him, and upon his father's refusal some words passed +between them." + +"And a French clock," suggested Terry. + +I acknowledged the clock and Terry pondered the question with one eye +closed meditatively. + +"Had Radnor ever asked for anything of the sort before?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"Why did he ask then?" + +"Well, it's rather galling for a man of his age to be dependent on his +father for every cent he gets. The Colonel always gave him plenty, but +he did not want to take it in that way." + +"In just what way did he want to take it?" Terry inquired. "Since he was +so infernally independent why didn't he get to work and earn something?" + +"Earn something!" I returned sharply. "Rad has managed the whole +plantation for the last three years. His father was getting too old for +business and if Rad hadn't taken hold, things would have gone to the +deuce long ago. All he got as a regular salary was fifty dollars a +month; I think it was time he was paid for his services." + +"Oh, very well," Terry laughed. "I was merely asking the question. And +if you will allow me to go a step further, why did Colonel Gaylord +object to settling something on the boy?" + +"He wanted to keep him under his thumb. The Colonel liked to rule, and +he wished everyone around him to be dependent on his will." + +"I see!" said Terry. "Radnor had a real grievance, then, after all--just +one thing more on this point. Why did he choose that particular time to +make his request? You say he has had practical charge of affairs for the +past three years. Why did he not wish to be independent last year? Or +why did he not postpone the desire until next year?" + +I shrugged my shoulders. + +"You'll have to ask Radnor that." I had my own suspicions, but I did +not wish to drag Polly Mathers's name into the discussion. + +Terry watched me a moment without saying anything, and then he too +shrugged his shoulders as he turned back to the newspaper clippings. + +"I won't go into the matter of Radnor's connection with the ha'nt just +now; I should like to consider first his actions on the day of the +murder. I have here a report of the testimony taken at the inquest, but +it is not so full as I could wish in some particulars. I should like to +have you give me the details. First, you say that Radnor and his father +did not speak at the breakfast table? How was it when you started?" + +"They both appeared to be in pretty good spirits, but I noticed that +they avoided each other." + +"Very well, tell me exactly what you did after you arrived at Luray." + +"We left our horses at the hotel and walked about a mile across the +fields to the mouth of the cave. We had lunch in the woods and at about +one o'clock we started through the cave. We came out at a little after +three, and, I should say, started to drive back about half past four." + +"Did you notice Radnor through the day?" + +"Not particularly." + +"Did you see either him or the Colonel in the cave?" + +"Yes, I was with the Colonel most of the time." + +"And how about Radnor? Didn't you see him at all?" + +"Oh, yes. I remember talking to him once about some queerly shaped +stalagmites. He didn't hang around me, naturally, while I was with his +father." + +"And when you talked to him about the stalagmites--was there anyone else +with him at the time?" + +"I believe Miss Mathers was there." + +"And he was carrying her coat?" + +"I didn't notice." + +"At least he left it later in what you call the gallery of the broken +column?" + +"Yes." + +"I see," said Terry glancing over the printed report of the inquest, +"that the coroner asked at this point if Radnor were in the habit of +forgetting young ladies' coats. That's more pertinent than many of the +questions he asked. How about it? Was he in the habit of forgetting +young ladies' coats?" + +"I really don't know, Terry," I said somewhat testily. + +"It's a pity you're not more observing," he returned, "for it's +important, on the whole. But never mind. I'll find that out for myself. +Did you notice when he left the rest of the party?" + +"No, there was such a crowd of us that I didn't miss him." + +"Very well, we'll have a look at his testimony. He left the rest of you +in this same gallery of the broken column, went straight out, strolled +about the woods for half an hour or so and then returned to the hotel. I +fancy 'strolled' is not precisely the right word, but at any rate it's +the word he uses. Now that half hour in the woods is an unfortunate +circumstance. Had he gone directly to the hotel from the cave, we could +have proved an alibi without any difficulty. As it is, he had plenty of +time after the others came out to remember that he had forgotten the +coat, return for it, renew the quarrel with his father, and after the +fatal result make his way to the hotel while the rest of the party were +still loitering in the woods." + +"Terry--" I began. + +He waved his hand in a gesture of dissent. + +"Oh, I'm not saying that's what _did_ happen. I'm just showing you that +the district attorney's theory is a physical possibility. Let's glance +at the landlord's testimony a moment. When Radnor returned for his horse +he appeared angry, excited and in a hurry. Those are the landlord's +words, and they are corroborated by the stable boy and several loungers +about the hotel. + +"He was in a hurry--why? Because he wished to get away before the others +came back. He had suddenly decided while he was in the woods--probably +when he heard them laughing and talking as they came out of the +cave--that he did not wish to see anyone. He was angry--mark that. All +of the witnesses agree there, and I think that his actions carry out +their evidence. He drank two glasses of brandy--by the way, I understood +you to say he had stopped drinking. He ordered the stable boy about +sharply. He swore at him for being slow. He lashed his horse quite +unnecessarily as he galloped off. He rode home at an outrageous rate. +And he was not, Solomon gives me to understand, in the habit of +maltreating horses. + +"Now what do you make of all this? Here is a young man with an +unexpended lot of temper on his hands--bent on being reckless; bent on +being just as bad as he can be. It's as clear as daylight. That boy +never committed any crime. A man who had just murdered his father would +not be filled with anger, no matter what the provocation had been. He +might be overcome with horror, fear, remorse--a dozen different +emotions, but anger would not be among them. And further, a man who had +committed a crime and intended to deny it later, would not proclaim his +feelings in quite that blatant manner. Young Gaylord had not injured +anyone; he himself had been injured. He was mad through and through, and +he didn't care who knew it. He expended--you will remember--the most of +his belligerency on his horse on the way home, and you found him in the +summer house undergoing the natural reaction. By evening he had got +himself well in hand again and was probably considerably ashamed of his +conduct. He doesn't care to talk about the matter for several reasons. +Fortunately Solomon is not so scrupulous." + +"I don't know what you're driving at, Terry," said I. + +"Don't you?" he inquired. "Well, really, it's about time that I came +down!" He paused while he scrawled one or two sentences on his copy pad, +then he glanced up with a laugh. "I don't know myself, but I think I can +make a pretty good guess. We'll call on Miss Polly Mathers in the +morning and see if she can't help us out." + +"Terry," I expostulated, "that girl knows no more about the matter than +I do. She has already given her testimony, and I positively will not +have her name mentioned in connection with the affair." + +"I don't see how you can help it," was his cool reply. "If she's in, +she's in, and I'm not to blame. However, we won't quarrel about it now; +we'll pay her a call in the morning." He ran his eyes over the clippings +again, then added, "There are just two more points connecting Radnor +Gaylord with the murder that need explaining: the foot-prints in the +cave and the match box. The foot-prints I will dismiss for the present +because I have not seen them myself and I can't make any deductions from +hearsay evidence. But the question of the match box may repay a little +investigation. I want you to tell me precisely what happened in the +woods before you went into the cave. In the first place, how many older +people were there in the party?" + +"Mr. and Mrs. Mathers, a lady who was visiting them and Colonel +Gaylord." + +"There were two servants, I understand, besides this Mose, to help about +the lunch. What did they do?" + +"Well, I don't know exactly. I wasn't paying much attention. I believe +they carried things over from the hotel, collected wood for the fire, +and then went to a farm house for water." + +"But Mrs. Mathers, it seems, attended to lighting the fire?" + +"Yes, she and the Colonel made the fire and started the coffee." + +"Ah!" said Terry with a note of satisfaction in his voice. "The matter +begins to clear. Was Colonel Gaylord in the habit of smoking?" + +"He smoked one cigar after every meal." + +"Never any more than that?" + +"No, the doctor had limited him. The Colonel grumbled about it +regularly, and always smoked the biggest blackest cigar he could find." + +"And where did he get his matches?" + +"Solomon passed the brass match box from the dining-room mantelpiece +just as he passed it to us to-night." + +"Colonel Gaylord was not in the habit of carrying matches in his pockets +then?" + +"No, I think not." + +"We may safely assume," said Terry, "that in this matter of making the +fire, if the two were working together, the Colonel was on his knees +arranging the sticks while Mrs. Mathers was standing by, giving +directions. That, I believe, is the usual division of labor. Well, then, +they get to the point of needing a light. The Colonel feels through his +pockets, finds that he hasn't a match and--what happens?" + +"What did happen," I broke in, "was that Mrs. Mathers turned to a group +of us who were standing talking at one side, and asked if any of us had +a match, and Rad handed her his box. That is the last anyone remembers +about it." + +"Exactly!" said Terry. "And I think I can tell you the rest. You can see +for yourself what took place. Mrs. Mathers went back to the spot where +they were building the fire, and the Colonel took the match box from +her. No man is ever going to stand by and watch a woman strike a +match--he can do it so much better himself. At this point, Mrs. +Mathers--by her own testimony--was called away, and she doesn't +remember anything further about the box. She thinks that she returned +it. Why? For no reason on earth except that she usually returns things. +As a matter of fact, however, she didn't do it this time. She was called +away and the Colonel was left to light the fire alone. He recognized the +box as his son's and he dropped it into his pocket. At another time +perhaps he would have walked over and handed it back; but not then. The +two were not speaking to each other. Later, at the time of the struggle +in the cave, the box fell from the old man's pocket, and formed a most +damaging piece of circumstantial evidence against his son. + +"On the whole," Terry finished, "I do not think we shall have a very +difficult time in clearing Radnor. I had arrived at my own conclusions +concerning him from reading the papers; what extra data I needed, I +managed to glean from Solomon's lies. And as for you," he added, gazing +across at me with an imperturbable grin, "I think you were wise in +deciding to be a corporation lawyer." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +TERRY ARRIVES AT A CONCLUSION + + +"And now," said Terry, lighting a fresh cigar, and after a few +preliminary puffs, settling down to work again, "we will consider the +case of Cat-Eye Mose--a beautiful name, by the way, and apparently a +beautiful character. It won't be my fault if we don't make a beautiful +story out of him. You, yourself, I believe, hold the opinion that he +committed the murder?" + +"I am sure of it," I cried. + +"In that case," laughed Terry, "I should be inclined to think him +innocent." + +I shrugged my shoulders. There was nothing to be gained by getting +angry. If Terry chose to regard the solving of a murder mystery in the +light of a joke, I had nothing to say; though I did think he might have +realized that to me, at least, it was a serious matter. + +"And you base your suspicions, do you not, upon the fact that he has +queer eyes?" + +"Not entirely." + +"Upon what then?" + +"Upon the fact that he took part in the struggle which ended in my +uncle's death." + +"Well, certainly, that does seem rather conclusive--there is no mistake +about the foot-prints?" + +"None whatever; the Mathers niggers both wore shoes, and anyway they +didn't go into the cave." + +"In that case I suppose it's fair to assume that Mose took part in the +struggle. Whether he was the only man or whether there was still a +third, the cave itself ought to tell a pretty clear story." + +Terry rose and paced up and down the room once or twice, and then came +back and picked up one of the newspaper clippings. + +"It says here that the boot marks of two different men are visible." + +"That's the sheriff's opinion," I replied. "Though I myself, can't make +out anything but the marks of Mose and the Colonel. I examined +everything carefully, but it's awfully mixed up, you know. One really +can't tell much about it." + +Terry impatiently flung himself into the chair again. + +"I ought to have come down last week! If I had supposed you people could +muddle matters up so thoroughly I should. I dare say you've trampled the +whole place over till there isn't one of the original marks left." + +"Look here, Terry," I said. "You act as if Virginia belonged to you. +We've all been working our heads off over this business, and you come in +at the last moment and quarrel with our data. You can go over tomorrow +morning and collect your own evidence if you think it's so far superior +to anyone else's. The marks are just as they were. Boards have been laid +over them and nothing's been disturbed." + +"You're rather done up, old man," Terry remarked, smiling across at me +good-humoredly. "Of course it's quite on the cards that Cat-Eye Mose +committed the crime--but there are a number of objections. As I +understand it, he has the reputation of being a harmless, peaceable +fellow not very bright but always good-natured. He never resented an +injury, was never known to quarrel with anyone, took what was given him +and said thank you. He loved Colonel Gaylord and watched over his +interests as jealously as a dog. Well now, is a man who has had this +reputation all his life, a man whom everybody trusts, very likely to go +off the hook as suddenly as that and--with no conceivable +motive--brutally kill the master he has served so faithfully? A man's +future is in a large measure determined by his past." + +"That may all be true enough," I said, "but it is very possible that +people were deceived in Mose. I have been suspicious of him from the +moment I laid eyes on him. You may think it unfair to judge a man from +his physical appearance, but I wish you could once see Cat-Eye Mose +yourself, and you would know what I mean. The people around here are +used to him and don't notice it so much, but his eyes are +yellow--positively yellow, and they narrow in the light just like a +cat's. One night he drove Radnor and me home from a party, and I could +actually see his eyes shining in the dark. It's the most gruesome thing +I ever saw; and take that on top of his habits--he carries snakes around +in the front of his shirt--really, one suspects him of anything." + +"I hope he isn't dead," Terry murmured wistfully. "I'd like a personal +interview." + +He sat sunk down in his chair for several minutes intently examining the +end of his fountain pen. + +"Well," he said rousing himself, "it's time we had a shy at the ghost. +We must find out in what way Radnor and Mose were connected with him, +and in what way he was connected with the robbery. Radnor could help us +considerably if he would only talk--the fact that he won't talk is very +suggestive. We'll get at the truth without him, though. Suppose you +begin and tell me everything from the first appearance of the ha'nt. I +should like to get him tabulated." + +"The first definite thing that reached the house," I replied, "was the +night of my arrival when the roast chicken was stolen--I've told you +that in detail." + +"And it was that same night that Aunt What-Ever-Her-Name-Is saw the +ghost in the laurel walk?" + +I nodded. + +"Did she say what it looked like?" + +"It was white." + +"And when you searched the cabins did you go into the one where the +grain is stored?" + +"No, Mose dropped his torch at the entrance. And anyway Rad said there +was no use in searching it; it was already full to the brim with sacks +of corn meal." + +"Do you think that Radnor was trying to divert you from the scene?" + +"No, I am sure he hadn't a suspicion himself." + +"And what did the thing look like that you saw Mose carrying to the +cabins in the night?" + +"It seemed to be a large black bundle. I have thought since that it +might have been clothes or blankets or something of that sort." + +"So much for the first night," said Terry. "Now, how soon did the ghost +appear again?" + +"Various things were stolen after that, and the servants attributed it +to the ha'nt, but the first direct knowledge I had was the night of the +party when Radnor acted so strangely. I told you of his going back in +the night." + +"He was carrying something too?" + +"Yes, he had a black bundle--it might have been clothes." + +"And after that he and Mose were in constant consultation?" + +"Yes--they both encouraged the belief in the ha'nt among the negroes and +did their best to keep everyone away from the laurel walk. I overheard +Mose several times telling stories to the other negroes about the +terrible things the ha'nt would do if it caught them." + +"And he himself didn't show any fear over the stories?" + +"Not the slightest--appeared rather to enjoy them." + +"And Radnor--how did he take the matter?" + +"He was moody and irritable. I could see that something was preying on +his mind." + +"How did you explain the matter to yourself?" + +"I was afraid he had fallen into the clutches of someone who was +threatening him, possibly levying blackmail." + +"But you didn't make any attempt to discover the truth?" + +"Well, it was Rad's own affair, and I didn't want the appearance of +spying. I did keep my eyes open as much as I could." + +"And the Colonel, how did he take all this excitement about the ha'nt?" + +"It bothered him considerably, but Rad kept him from hearing it as much +as he could." + +"When did the ha'nt appear again after the party?" + +"Oh, by that time all sorts of rumors were running about among the +negroes. The whole place was haunted and several of the plantation hands +had left. But the next thing that we heard directly was in the early +evening before the robbery when Mose, appearing terribly frightened, +said he had seen the ha'nt rising in a cloud of blue smoke out of the +spring-hole." + +"And how did the Colonel and Radnor take this?" + +"The Colonel was angry because he had been bragging about Mose not +being afraid, and Rad was dazed. He didn't know what to think; he +hustled Mose out of the way before we could ask any questions." + +"And what did you think?" + +"Well, I fancied at the time that he had really seen something, but as I +thought it over in the light of later events I came to the conclusion +that he was shamming, both then and in the middle of the night when he +roused the house." + +"That is, you wished to think him shamming, in order to prove his +complicity in the robbery and the murder; and so you twisted the facts +to suit your theory?" + +"I don't think you can say that," I returned somewhat hotly. "It's +merely a question of interpreting the facts." + +"He didn't gain much by raising all that hullabaloo in the middle of the +night." + +"Why yes, that was done in order to throw suspicion on the ha'nt." + +"Oh, I see!" laughed Terry. "Well, now, let's get to the end of this +matter. Was any more seen of the ha'nt after that night?" + +"No, at least not directly. For five or six days everyone was so taken +up with the robbery that the ha'nt excitement rather died down. Then I +believe there were some rumors among the negroes but nothing much +reached the house." + +"And since the murder nothing whatever has been seen of the ha'nt?" + +I shook my head. + +"Just give me a list of the things that were stolen." + +"Well, the roast chicken, a box of cigars, some shirts off the line, a +suit of Rad's pajamas, a French novel, some brandy, quite a lot of +things to eat--fresh loaves of bread, preserves, a boiled ham, sugar, +coffee--oh, any amount of stuff! The niggers simply helped themselves +and laid it to the ha'nt. One of the carriages was left out one night, +and in the morning the cushions were gone and two lap robes. At the same +time a water pail was taken and a pair of Jake's overalls. And then to +end up came the robbery of the safe." + +"The ha'nt had catholic tastes. Any of the things turned up since?" + +"Yes, a number of things, such as blankets and clothes and dishes have +gradually drifted back." + +"The carriage cushions and lap robes--ever find them?" + +"Never a trace--and why anyone should want 'em, I don't know!" + +"What color were the lap robes?" + +"Plain black broadcloth." + +Terry got up and paced about a few moments and then came back and sat +down. + +"One thing is clear," he said, "there are two ha'nts." + +"Two ha'nts! What do you mean?" + +"Just what I say. Suppose for convenience we call them ha'nt number one, +and ha'nt number two. Number one occupied apartments over the grain bin +and haunted the laurel walk. He was white--I don't wonder at that if he +spent much time crawling over those flour sacks. He smoked cigars and +read French novels; Mose waited on him and Radnor knew about him--and +didn't get much enjoyment out of the knowledge. It took money to get +rid of him--a hundred dollars down and the promise of more to come. +Radnor himself drove him off in the carriage the night he left, and Mose +obliterated all traces of his presence. So much for number one. + +"As for number two, he appeared three or four days before the robbery +and haunted pretty much the whole place, especially the region of the +spring-hole. In appearance he was nine feet tall, transparent, and +black. Smoke came from his mouth and blue flames from his eyes. There +was a sulphurous odor about him. He was first seen rising out of the +spring-hole, and there is a passage in the bottom of the spring-hole +that leads straight down to hell. Solomon is my authority. + +"I asked him how he explained the apparition and he reckoned it was the +ghost of the slave who was beaten to death, and that since his old +master had come back to haunt the laurel walk, he had come back to haunt +his old master. That sounds to me like a plausible explanation. As soon +as it's light I'll have a look at the spring-hole." + +"Terry," I said disgustedly, "that may make a very picturesque +newspaper story, but it doesn't help much in unravelling the mystery." + +"It helps a good deal. I would not like to swear to the flames or +sulphur or the passage down to hell, but the fact that he was tall and +black and comes from the spring-hole is significant. He was black--mark +that--so were the stolen lap robes. + +"Now you see how the matter stands on the night of the robbery. While +ghost number one was out driving with Radnor, ghost number two entered +the house through the open library window, found the safe ajar and +helped himself. Let's consider what he took--five thousand dollars in +government bonds, two deeds, an insurance policy, and a quart of small +change--a very suggestive lot of loot if you think about it enough. +After the robbery he disappeared, nothing seen of him for five or six +days; then he turned up again for a day or so, and finally disappeared +forever. So much for ha'nt number two. He's the party we're after. He +pretty certainly robbed the safe and he possibly committed the +murder--as to that I won't have any proof until I see the cave." + +He stretched his arms with a laugh. + +"Oh, this isn't so bad! All we've got to do now is to identify those two +ghosts." + +"I'm glad if you think it's so easy," I said somewhat sullenly. "But I +will tell you one thing, if you go to basing any deductions on Solomon's +stories you'll find yourself bumping against a stone wall." + +"We'll have Rad over to dinner with us tomorrow night," Terry declared. + +He rose and pulled out his watch. + +"It's a quarter before ten. I think it's time you went to bed. You look +about played out. You haven't been sleeping much of late?" + +"No, I can't say that I have." + +"I ought to have come down at once," said Terry, "but I'm always so +blamed afraid of hurting people's feelings." + +I stared slightly. I had never considered that one of Terry's weak +points, but as he seemed to be quite in earnest, I let the remark pass. + +"Do you think I could knock up one of the stable-men to drive me to the +village? I know it's pretty late but I've got to send a couple of +telegrams." + +"Telegrams?" I demanded. "Where to?" + +Terry laughed. + +"Well, I must send a word to the Post-Dispatch to the effect that the +Luray mystery grows more mysterious every hour. That the police have +been wasting their energies on the wrong scent, but that the +Post-Dispatch's special correspondent has arrived on the scene, and that +we may accordingly look for a speedy solution." + +"What is the second one?" I asked. + +"To your friend, the police commissioner of Seattle." + +"You don't think that Jeff--?" + +"My dear fellow, I don't think, unless I have facts to think +about.--Don't look so nervous; I'm not accusing him of anything. I +merely want more details than you got; I'm a newspaper man, remember, +and I like local color even in telegrams. And now, go to bed; and for +heaven's sake, go to sleep. The case is in the hands of the +Post-Dispatch's young man, and you needn't worry any more." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +TERRY FINDS THE BONDS + + +I was wakened the next morning by Terry clumping into my room dressed in +riding breeches and boots freshly spattered with mud. + +They were Radnor's clothes--Terry had taken me at my word and was +thoroughly at home. + +"Hello, old man!" he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Been +asleep, haven't you? Sorry to wake you, but we've got a day's work +ahead. Hope you don't mind my borrowing Radnor's togs. Didn't come down +prepared for riding. Solomon gave 'em to me--seemed to think that Radnor +wouldn't need 'em any more. Oh, Solomon and I are great friends!" he +added with a laugh, as he suddenly appeared to remember the object of +his visit and commenced a search through his pockets. + +I sat up in bed and watched him impatiently. It was evident that he had +some news, and equally evident that he was going to be as leisurely as +possible about imparting it. + +"This is a pretty country," he remarked as he finished with his coat +pockets and commenced on the waistcoat. "It would be almost worth living +in if many little affairs like this occurred to keep things going." + +"Really, Terry," I said, "when you refer to my uncle's murder as a +'little affair' I think you're going too far!" + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," he returned good-naturedly, "I guess I am +incorrigible. I didn't know Colonel Gaylord personally, you see, and I'm +so used to murders that I've come to think it's the only natural way of +dying. Anyhow," he added, as he finally produced a yellow envelope, +"I've got something here that will interest you. It explains why our +young friend Radnor didn't want to talk." + +He tossed the envelope on the bed and I eagerly tore out the telegram. +It was from the police commissioner in Seattle and it ran: + + + "Jefferson Gaylord returned Seattle May fifth after absence six + weeks. Said to have visited old home Virginia. Had been wanted by + police. Suspected implication in case obtaining money false + pretences. Mistaken charge. Case dismissed." + + +"What does it mean?" I asked. + +"It means," said Terry, "that we've spotted ghost number one. It was +clear from the first that Radnor was trying to shield someone, even at +the expense of his own reputation. Leaving women out of the case, that +pointed pretty straight toward his elder brother. Part of your theory +was correct, the only trouble being that you carried it too far. You +made Jeff commit both the robbery and the murder, while as a matter of +fact he did neither. Then when you found a part of your theory was +untenable you rejected the whole of it. + +"This is how the matter stood: Jeff Gaylord was pretty desperately in +need of money. I suspect that the charge against him, whatever it was, +was true. The money he had taken had to be returned and somebody's +silence bought before the thing could be hushed up. Anyway, Seattle was +too hot to hold him and he lit out and came East. He applied to Radnor, +but Radnor was in a tight place himself and couldn't lay his hands on +anything except what his father had given him for a birthday present. +That was tied up in another investment and if he converted it into cash +it would be at a sacrifice. So it ran along for a week or so, while Rad +was casting about for a means of getting his brother out of the way +without any fresh scandal. But Mose's suddenly taking to seeing ha'nts +precipitated matters. Realizing that his father's patience had reached +its limit, and that he couldn't keep you off the scent much longer, he +determined to borrow the money for Jeff's journey back to Seattle, and +to close up his own investment. + +"That same night he drove Jeff to the station at Kennisburg. The +Washington express does not stop at Lambert Junction, and anyway +Kennisburg is a bigger station and travellers excite less comment. This +isn't deduction; it's fact. I rode to Kennisburg this morning and +proved it. The station man remembers selling Radnor Gaylord a ticket to +Washington in the middle of the night about three weeks ago. Some man +who waited outside and whose face the agent did not see, boarded the +train, and Rad drove off alone. The ticket seller does not know Rad +personally but he knows him by sight--so much for that. Rad came home +and went to bed. When he came down stairs in the morning he was met by +the information that the ha'nt had robbed the safe. You can see what +instantly jumped into his mind--some way, somehow, Jeff had taken those +bonds--and yet figure on it as he might, he could not see how it was +possible. The robbery seemed to have occurred while he was away. Could +Jeff merely have pretended to leave? Might he have slipped off the train +again and come back? Those are the questions that were bothering Radnor. +He was honest in saying that he could not imagine how the bonds had been +stolen, and yet he was also honest in not wanting to know the truth." + +"He might have confided in me," I said. + +"It would have been a good deal better if he had. But in order to +understand Rad's point of view, you must take into account Jeff's +character. He appears to have been a reckless, dashing, headstrong, but +exceedingly attractive fellow. His father put up with his excesses for +six years before the final quarrel. Cat-Eye Mose, so old Jake tells me, +moped for months after his disappearance. Rad, as a little fellow, +worshipped his bad but charming brother.--There you have it. Jeff turns +up again with a hard luck story, and Mose and Radnor both go back to +their old allegiance. + +"Jeff is in a bad hole, a fugitive from justice with the penitentiary +waiting for him. He confesses the whole thing to Radnor--extenuating +circumstances plausibly to the fore. He has been dishonest, but +unintentionally so. He wishes to straighten up and lead a respectable +life. If he had, say fifteen hundred dollars, he could quash the +indictment against him. He is Radnor's brother and the Colonel's son, +but Rad is to receive a fortune while he is to be disinherited. The +money he asks now is only his right. If he receives it he will disappear +and trouble Rad no more.--That, I fancy, is the line of argument our +returned prodigal used. Anyway, he won Rad over. Radnor was thinking of +getting married, had plenty of use for all the money he could lay his +hands on, but he seems to be a generous chap, and he sacrificed himself. + +"For obvious reasons Jeff wished his presence kept a secret, and Rad and +Mose respected his wishes. After the robbery Radnor was too sick at the +thought that his brother may have betrayed him, to want to do anything +but hush the matter up. At the news of the murder he did not know what +to think; he would not believe Jeff guilty, and yet he did not see any +other way out." + +Terry paused a moment and leaned forward with an excited gleam in his +eye. + +"That," he said, "is the whole truth about ghost number one. Our +business now is to track down number two, and here, as a starter are the +missing bonds." + +He tossed a pile of mildewed papers on the bed and met my astonishment +with a triumphant chuckle. + +It was true--all five of the missing bonds were there, the May first +coupons still uncut. Also the deeds and insurance policy, exactly as +they had left the safe, except that they were damp and mud-stained. + +I stared for a moment too amazed to speak. Finally, "Where did you find +them?" I gasped. + +Terry regarded me with a tantalizing laugh. + +"Exactly where I thought I'd find them. Oh, I've been out early this +morning! I saw the sun rise, and breakfasted in Kennisburg at six +forty-five. I'm ready for another breakfast though. Hurry up and dress. +We've got a day's work before us. I'm off to the stables to talk +'horses' with Uncle Jake; when you're ready for breakfast send Solomon +after me." + +"Terry," I implored, "where on the face of the earth did you find those +bonds?" + +"At the mouth of the passage to hell," said Terry gravely, "but I'm not +quite sure myself who put them there." + +"Mose?" I queried eagerly. + +"It might have been--and it might not." He waved his hand airily and +withdrew. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +POLLY MAKES A CONFESSION + + +At breakfast Terry drank two cups of coffee and subsided into thought. I +could get no more from him on the subject of the bonds; he was not sure +himself, was all the satisfaction he would give. When the meal was half +over, to Solomon's dismay, he suddenly rose without noticing a new dish +of chicken livers that had just appeared at his elbow. + +"Come on," he said impatiently, "you've had enough to eat. I've got to +see those marks while they're still there. I'm desperately afraid an +earthquake will swallow that cave before I get a chance at them." + +Fifteen minutes later we were bowling down the lane behind the fastest +pair of horses in the Gaylord stables, and through the prettiest country +in the State of Virginia. Terry sat with his hands in his pockets and +his eyes on the dash-board. As we came to the four corners at the +valley-pike I reined in. + +"Would you rather go the short way over the mountains by a very rough +road, or the long way through Kennisburg?" I inquired. + +"What's that?" he asked. "Oh, the short way by all means--but first I +want to call at the Mathers's." + +"It would simply be a waste of time." + +"It won't take long--and since Radnor won't talk I've got to get at the +facts from the other end. Besides, I want to see Polly myself." + +"Miss Mathers knows nothing about the matter," said I as stiffly as +possible. + +"Doesn't she!" said Terry. "She knows a good many things, and it's about +time she told them.--At any rate, you must admit that she's the owner of +the unfortunate coat that caused the trouble; I want to ask her some +questions about that. Why can't girls learn to carry their own coats? It +would save a lot of trouble." + +It ended by my driving, with a very bad grace, to Mathers Hall. + +"You wait here until I come out," said Terry, coolly, as I drew up by +the stepping stone and commenced fumbling for a hitching strap. + +"Not much!" said I. "If you interview Polly Mathers I shall be present +at the interview." + +"Oh, very well!" he returned resignedly. "If you'd let me go about it my +own way, though, I'd get twice as much out of her." + +The family were at breakfast, the servant informed me. I left Terry in +the parlor while I went on to the dining-room to explain the object of +our visit. + +"There is a friend of mine here from New York to help us about the +trial"--I thought it best to suppress his real profession--"and he wants +to interview Miss Polly in regard to the coat. I am very sorry--" + +"Certainly," said Mrs. Mathers, "Polly is only too glad to help in any +way possible." + +And to my chagrin Polly excused herself and withdrew to the parlor, +while her father kept me listening to a new and not very valuable +theory of his in regard to the disappearance of Mose. It was fifteen +minutes before I made my escape and knocked on the parlor door. I turned +the knob and went in without waiting for a summons. + +The Mathers's parlor is a long cool dim room with old-fashioned mahogany +furniture and jars of roses scattered about. It was so dark after the +bright sunshine of the rest of the house, that for a moment I didn't +discover the occupants until the sound of Polly's sobbing proclaimed +their whereabouts. I was somewhat taken aback to find her sitting in a +corner of the big horsehair sofa, her head buried in the cushions, while +Terry, nonchalantly leaning back in his chair, regarded her with much +the expression that he might have worn at a "first night" at the +theatre. It might also be noted that Polly wore a white dress with a big +bunch of roses in her belt, that her hair was becomingly rumpled by the +cushion, and that she was not crying hard enough to make her eyes red. + +"Hello, old man!" said Terry and I fancied that his tone was not +entirely cordial. "Just sit down and listen to this. We've been having +some interesting disclosures." + +Polly raised her head and cast him a reproachful glance, while with a +limp wave of the hand she indicated a chair. + +I settled myself and inquired reassuringly, "Well, Polly, what's the +trouble?" + +"You tell him," said Polly to Terry, as she settled herself to cry +again. + +"I'll tell you," said Terry, glancing warily at me, "but it's a secret, +remember. You mustn't let any of those horrid newspaper men get hold of +it. Miss Mathers would hate awfully to have anything like this get into +the papers." + +"Oh, go on, Terry," said I, crossly, "if you've got anything to tell, +for heaven's sake tell it!" + +"Well, as far as we'd got when you interrupted, was that that afternoon +in the cave she and Radnor had somehow got separated from the rest of +the party and gone on ahead. They sat down to wait for the others on the +fallen column, and while they were waiting Radnor asked her to marry +him, for the seventh--or was it the eighth time?" + +"The seventh, I think," said Polly. + +"It's happened so often that, she's sort of lost track; but anyway, she +replied by asking him if he knew the truth about the ghost. He said, +yes, he did, but he couldn't tell her; it was somebody else's secret. On +his word of honor though there was nothing that he was to blame for. She +said she wouldn't marry a man who had secrets. He said that unless she +took him now, she would never have the chance again; it was the last +time he was going to ask her--is that straight, Miss Mathers?" + +"Y-yes," sobbed Polly from the depths of her cushion. + +Terry proceeded with a fast broadening smile; it was evident that he +enjoyed the recital. + +"And then being naturally angry that any man should presume to propose +for the last time, she proceeded to be 'perfectly horrid' to him.--Go +on, Miss Mathers. That's as far as you'd got." + +"I--I told him--you won't tell anyone?" + +"No." + +"I told him I'd decided to marry Jim Mattison." + +"Ah--" said Terry. "Now we're getting at it! If you don't mind my +asking, Miss Mathers, was that just a bluff on your part, or had Mr. +Mattison really asked you?" + +Polly sat up and eyed him with a sparkle of resentment. + +"Certainly, he'd asked me--a dozen times." + +"I beg pardon!" murmured Terry. "So now you're engaged to Mr. Mattison?" + +"Oh, no!" cried Polly. "Jim doesn't know I said it--I didn't mean it; I +just wanted to make Radnor mad." + +"I see! So it was a bluff after all? Were you successful in making him +mad?" + +She nodded dismally. + +"What did he say?" + +"Oh, he was awfully angry! He said that if he never amounted to anything +it would be my fault." + +"And then what?" + +"We heard the others coming and he started off. I called after him and +asked him where he was going, and he said he was going to the d--devil." + +Polly began to cry again, and Terry chuckled slightly. + +"As a good many other young men have said under similar circumstances. +But where he did go, was to the hotel; and there, it appears, he drank +two glasses of brandy and swore at the stable boy.--Is that all, Miss +Mathers?" + +"Yes; it's the last time I ever saw him and he thinks I'm engaged to Jim +Mattison." + +"See here, Polly," said I with some excusable heat, "now why in thunder +didn't you tell me all this before?" + +"You didn't ask me." + +"She was afraid that it would get into the papers," said Terry, +soothingly. "It would be a terrible scandal to have anything like that +get out. The fact that Radnor Gaylord was likely to be hanged for a +murder he never committed, was in comparison a minor affair." + +Polly turned upon him with a flash of gray eyes. + +"I was going to tell before the trial. I didn't know the inquest made +any difference. I would have told the coroner the morning he came to +take my testimony, only he brought Jim Mattison with him as a witness, +and I couldn't explain before Jim." + +"That would have been awkward," Terry agreed. + +"Polly," said I, severely. "This is inexcusable! If you had explained to +me in the first place, the jury would never have remanded Radnor for +trial." + +"But I thought you would find the real murderer, and then Radnor would +be set free. It would be awful to tell that story before a whole room +full of people and have Jim Mattison hear it. I detest Jim Mattison!" + +"Be careful what you say," said Terry. "You may have to take Jim +Mattison after all. Radnor Gaylord will never ask you again." + +"Then I'll ask him!" said Polly. + +Terry laughed and rose. + +"He's in a bad hole, Miss Mathers, but I'm not sure but that I envy him +after all." + +Polly dimpled through her tears; this was the language she understood. + +"Good by," she said. "You'll remember your promise?" + +"Never a syllable will I breathe," said Terry, and he put a hand on my +shoulder and marched me off. + +"She's a fascinating young person," he observed, as we turned into the +road. + +"You are not the first to discover that," said I. + +"I fancy I'm not!" he retorted with a sidewise glance at me. + +Terry gazed at the landscape a few moments with a pensive light in his +eyes, then he threw back his head and laughed. + +"Thank heaven, women don't go in for crime to any great extent! You're +never safe in forming any theory about 'em--their motives and their +actions don't match." + +He paused to light a cigar and as soon as he got it well started took up +the conversation again. + +"It's just as I suspected in regard to Rad, though I will say the papers +furnished mighty few clues. It was the coat that put me on the track +coupled with his behavior at the hotel. You see his emotions when he +came out of that cave were mixed. There was probably a good deal of +disappointment and grief down below his anger, but that for the moment +was decidedly in the lead. He had been badly treated, and he knew it. +What's more, he didn't care who else knew it. He was in a thoroughly +vicious mood and ready to wreak his anger on the first thing that came +to hand. That happened to be his horse. By the time he got home he had +expended the most of his temper and his disappointment had come to the +top. You found him wrestling with that. By evening he had brought his +philosophy into play, and had probably decided to brace up and try +again. And that," he finished, "is the whole story of our young +gentleman's erratic behavior." + +"I wonder I didn't think of it myself," I said. + +Terry smiled and said nothing. + +"Radnor is naturally not loquacious about the matter," he resumed +presently. "For one thing, because he does not wish to drag Polly's name +into it, for another, I suppose he feels that if anyone is to do the +explaining, she ought to be the one. He supposed that she would be +present at the inquest and that her testimony would bring out sufficient +facts to clear him. When he found that she was not there, and that her +testimony did not touch on any important phase of the matter, he simply +shut his mouth and said, 'Very well! If she won't tell, I won't.' Also, +the coroner's manner was unfortunate. He showed that his sympathy was on +the other side; and Radnor stubbornly determined not to say one word +more than was dragged out of him by main force. It is much the attitude +of the little boy who has been unfairly punished, and who derives an +immense amount of satisfaction from the thought of how sorry his friends +will be when he is dead. And now, I think we have Rad's case well in +hand. In spite of the fact that he seems bound to be hung, we shall not +have much difficulty in getting him off." + +"But what I can't understand," I grumbled, "is why that little wretch +didn't tell me a word of all this. She came and informed me off-hand +that he was innocent and asked me to clear him, with never a hint that +she could explain the most suspicious circumstance against him." + +"You've got me," Terry laughed. "I give up when it comes to finding out +why women do things. If you had _asked_ her, you know, she would have +told you; but you never said a word about it." + +"How could I ask her when I didn't know anything about it?" + +"I managed to ask her," said Terry, "and what's more," he added +gloomily, "I promised it shouldn't go any further--that is, than is +necessary to get Rad off. Now don't you call that pretty tough luck, +after coming 'way down here just to find out the truth, not to be +allowed to print it when I've got it? How in the deuce am I to account +for Rad's behavior without mentioning her?" + +"You needn't have promised," I suggested. + +"Oh, well," Terry grinned, "I'm human!" + +I let this pass and he added hastily, "We've disposed of Jeff; we've +disposed of Radnor, but the real murderer is still to be found." + +"And that," I declared, "is Cat-Eye Mose." + +"It's possible," agreed Terry with a shrug. "But I have just the +tiniest little entering wedge of a suspicion that the real murderer is +not Cat-Eye Mose." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MR. TERENCE KIRKWOOD PATTEN OF NEW YORK + + +"There is Luray," I said, pointing with my whip to the scattered houses +of the village as they lay in the valley at our feet. + +Terry stretched out a hand and pulled the horses to a standstill. + +"Whoa, just a minute till I get my bearings. Now, in which direction is +the cave?" + +"It extends all along underneath us. The entrance is over there in the +undergrowth about a mile to the east." + +"And the woods extend straight across the mountain in an unbroken line?" + +"Pretty much so. There are a few farms scattered in." + +"How about the farmers? Are they well-to-do around here?" + +"I think on the whole they are." + +"Which do they employ mostly to work in the fields, negroes or white +men?" + +"As to that I can't say. It depends largely on circumstances. I think +the smaller farms are more likely to employ white men." + +"Let me see," said Terry, "this is just about planting time. Are the +farmers likely to take on extra men at this season?" + +"No, I don't think so; harvest time is when they are more likely to need +help." + +"Farming is new to me," laughed Terry. "East Side problems don't involve +it. A man of Mose's habits could hide pretty effectually in those woods +if he chose." He scanned the hills again and then brought his eyes back +to the village. "I suppose we might as well go on to the hotel first. I +should like to interview some of the people there. And by the way," he +added, "it's as well not to let them know I'm a friend of yours--or a +newspaper man either. I think I'll be a detective. Your young man from +Washington seems to have made quite a stir in regard to the robbery; +we'll see if I can't beat him. There's nothing that so impresses a rural +population as a detective. They look upon him as omnipotent and +omniscient, and every man squirms before him in the fear that his own +little sins will be brought to light." Terry laughed in prospect. +"Introduce me as a detective by all means!" + +"Anything you like," I laughed in return. "I'll introduce you as the +Pope if you think it will do any good." There was no keeping Terry +suppressed, and his exuberance was contagious. I was beginning to feel +light-hearted myself. + +The hotel at Luray was a long rambling structure which had been casually +added to from time to time. It was painted a sickly, mustard yellow (a +color which, the landlord assured me, would last forever) but it's +brilliancy was somewhat toned by a thick coating of dust. A veranda +extended across the front of the building flush with the wooden +side-walk. The veranda was furnished with a railing, and the railing was +furnished at all times of the day--except for a brief nooning from +twelve to half-past--with a line of boot-soles in assorted sizes. + +We drew up with a flourish before the wooden steps in front of the +hotel, and I threw the lines to the stable boy who came forward to +receive us with an amusing air of importance. His connection with the +Luray tragedy conferred a halo of distinction, and he realized the fact. +It was not every one in the neighborhood who had had the honor of being +cursed by a murderer. As we alighted Terry stopped to ask him a few +questions. The boy had told his story to so many credulous audiences +that by this time it was well-nigh unrecognizable. As he repeated it now +for Terry's benefit, the evidence against Radnor appeared conclusive. A +full confession of guilt could scarcely have been more damning. + +Terry threw back his head and laughed. + +"Take care, young man," he warned, "you'll be eating your words one of +these days, and some of them will be pretty hard to swallow." + +As we mounted the steps I nodded to several of the men whom I remembered +having seen before; and they returned an interested, "How-dy-do? +Pleasant day," as they cast a reconnoitering glance at my companion. + +"Gentlemen," I said with a wave of my hand toward Terry, "let me +introduce Mr. Terence Kirkwood Patten, the well-known detective of New +York, who has come down to look into this matter for us." + +The chairs which were tipped back against the wall came down with a +thud, and an awed and somewhat uneasy shuffling of feet ensued. + +"I wish to go through the cave," Terry remarked in the crisp, incisive +tones a detective might be supposed to employ, "and I should like to +have the same guide who conducted Mr. Crosby the time the body was +discovered." + +"That's Pete Moser, he's out in the back lot plowin'," a half dozen +voices responded. + +"Ah, thank you; will some one kindly call him? We will wait here." + +Terry proceeded with his usual ease to make himself at home. He tipped +back his hat, inclined his chair at the same dubious angle as the +others, and ranged his feet along the railing. He produced cigars from +various pockets, and the atmosphere became less strained. They were +beginning to realize that detectives are made of the same flesh and +blood as other people. I gave Terry the lead--perhaps it would be more +accurate to say that he took it--but it did not strike me that he set +about his interviewing in a very business-like manner. He did not so +much as refer to the case we had come to investigate, but chatted along +pleasantly about the weather and the crops and the difficulty of finding +farm-hands. + +We had not been settled very long when, to my surprise, Jim Mattison +strolled out from the bar-room. What he was doing in Luray, I could +easily conjecture. Mattison's assumption of interest in the case all +along had angered me beyond measure. It is not, ordinarily, a part of +the sheriff's duties to assist the prosecution in making out a case +against one of his prisoners; and owing to the peculiar relation he bore +to Radnor, his interference was not only bad law but excruciatingly bad +taste. My dislike of the man had grown to such an extent that I could +barely be civil to him. It was only because it was policy on my part +not to make him an active enemy that I tolerated his presence at all. + +I presented Terry; though Mattison took his calling more calmly than the +others, still I caught several sidewise glances in his direction, and I +think he was impressed. + +"Happy to know you, Mr. Patten," he remarked as he helped himself to a +chair and settled it at the general angle. "This is a pretty mysterious +case in some respects. I rode over myself this morning to look into a +few points and I shall be glad to have some help--though I'm afraid +we'll not find anything that'll please you." + +"Anything pleases me, so long as it's the truth," Terry threw off, as he +studied the sheriff, with a gleam of amusement in his eyes; he was +thinking, I knew, of Polly Mathers. "I hope," he added, assuming a +severely professional tone, "that you haven't let a lot of people crowd +into the cave and tramp up all the marks." + +The landlord, who was standing in the doorway, chuckled at this. + +"There ain't many people that you could drive into that there cave at +the point of the pistol," he assured us. "They think it's haunted; +leastways the niggers do." + +"Have niggers been in the habit of going in much?" + +"Oh, more or less," the sheriff returned, "when they want to make +themselves inconspicuous for any reason. I had a horse thief hide in +there for two weeks last year while we were scouring the country for +him. There are so many little holes; it's almost impossible to find a +man. Tramps occasionally spend the night there in cold weather." + +"Do you have many tramps around here?" + +"Not a great many. Once in a while a nigger comes along and asks for +something to eat." + +"More often he takes it without asking," one of the men broke in. "A +week or so ago my ole woman had a cheese an' a ham an' two whole pies +that she'd got ready for a church social just disappear without a word, +out o' the pantry winder. If that ain't the mark of a nigger, I miss my +guess." + +Terry laughed. + +"If that happened in the North we should look around the neighborhood +for a sick small boy." + +"It wasn't no boy this time--leastways not a very small one," the man +affirmed, "for that same day a pair o' my boots that I'd left in the +wood house just naturally walked off by theirselves, an' I found 'em the +next day at the bottom o' the pasture. It would take a pretty sizeable +fellow that my boots was too small for," he finished with a grin. + +"They _are_ a trifle conspicuous," one of the others agreed with his +eyes on the feet in question. + +I caught an interested look in Terry's glance as he mentally took their +measure, and I wondered what he was up to; but as our messenger and Pete +Moser appeared around the corner at the moment, I had no time for +speculation. Terry let his chair slip with a bang and rose to his feet. + +"Ah, Mr. Moser! I'm glad to see you," he exclaimed with an air of +relief. "It's getting late," he added, looking at his watch, "and I must +get this business settled as soon as possible; I have another little +affair waiting for me in New York. Bring plenty of calcium light, +please. We want to see what we're doing." + +As the four of us were preparing to start, Terry paused on the top step +and nodded pleasantly to the group on the veranda. + +"Thank you for your information, gentlemen. I have no doubt but that it +will be of the greatest importance," and he turned away with a laugh at +their puzzled faces. + +The sheriff and I were equally puzzled. I should have suspected that +Terry, in the role of detective, was playing a joke on them, had he not +very evidently got something on his mind. He was of a sudden in a frenzy +of impatience to reach the cave, and he kept well ahead of us most of +the way. + +"I suppose," said Mattison as he climbed a fence with tantalizing +deliberation--we were going by way of the fields as that was shorter--"I +suppose that you are trying to prove that Radnor Gaylord had nothing to +do with this murder?" + +"That will be easy enough," Terry threw back over his shoulder. "I +dropped _him_ long ago. The one I'm after now is the real murderer." + +Mattison scowled slightly. + +"If you can explain what it was that happened in that cave that upset +him so mightily, I'd come a little nearer to believing you." + +Terry laughed and fell back beside him. + +"It's a thing which I imagine may have happened to one or two other +young men of this neighborhood--not inconceivably yourself included." + +Mattison, seeing no meaning in this sally, preserved a sulky silence and +Terry added: + +"The thing for us to do now is to bend all our energies toward finding +Cat-Eye Mose. I doubt if we can completely explain the mystery until he +is discovered." + +"And that," said the sheriff, "will be never! You may mark my words; +whoever killed the Colonel, killed Mose, too." + +"It's possible," said Terry with an air of sadness, "but I hope not. I +came all the way down from New York on purpose to see Mose, and I should +hate to miss him." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE DISCOVERY OF CAT-EYE MOSE + + +Having lighted our candles, we descended into the cave and set out along +the path I now knew so well. When we reached the pool the guide lit a +calcium light which threw a fierce white glare over the little body of +water and the limestone cliffs, and even penetrated to the stalactite +draped roof far above our heads. For a moment we stood blinking our eyes +scarcely able to see, so sudden was the change from the semi-darkness of +our four flickering candles. Then Terry stepped forward. + +"Show me where you found the body and point out the spot where the +struggle took place." + +He spoke in quick, eager tones, so excited that he almost stuttered. It +was not necessary for him to act the part of detective any longer. He +had forgotten that he ever was a reporter--he had forgotten almost that +he was a human being. + +From where we stood we pointed out the place above the pool where the +struggle had occurred, the spot under the cliff where the body had lain, +and the jagged piece of rock on which we had found the coat. Moser even +laid down upon the ground and spread out his arms in the position in +which we had discovered the Colonel's body. + +"Very well, I see," said Terry. "Now the rest of you stay back there on +the boards; I don't want you to make a mark." + +He stepped forward carefully to the edge of the water and bent over to +examine the soft, yellow clay which formed the border of the pool on the +lower side. Instantly he straightened up with a sharp exclamation of +surprise. + +"Did any negroes come in with you to recover the body?" he asked. + +"No," returned the sheriff, "as old man Tompkins said, you couldn't hire +a nigger to stick his head in here after the Colonel was found. They +say they can hear something wailing around the pool and they think his +ghost is haunting it." + +"They can hear something wailing, can they?" Terry repeated queerly. +"Well I begin to believe they can! What is the meaning of this?" he +demanded, facing around at us. "How do you account for these peculiar +foot-prints?" + +"What prints?" I asked as we all pressed forward. + +At the moment the calcium light with a final flare, died out, and we +were left again in the flickering candle light which seemed darkness to +us now. + +"Quick, touch off another calcium!" said Terry, with suppressed +impatience. He laid a hand on my shoulder and my arm ached from the +tightness of his grip. "There," he said pointing with his finger as the +light flared up again. "What do you make of those?" + +I bent over and plainly traced the prints of bare feet, going and coming +and over-lapping one another, just as an animal would make in pacing a +cage. I shivered slightly. It was a terribly uncanny sight. + +"Well?" said Terry sharply. The place was beginning to get on his nerves +too. + +"Terry," I said uneasily, "I never saw them before. I thought I examined +everything thoroughly, but I was so excited I suppose--" + +"What did you make of them?" he interrupted, whirling about on Mattison +who was looking over our shoulders. + +"I--I didn't see them," Mattison stammered. + +"For heaven's sake, men," said Terry impatiently. "Do you mean they +weren't there or you didn't notice them?" + +The sheriff and I looked at each other blankly, and neither answered. + +Terry stood with his hands in his pockets frowning down at the marks, +while the rest of us waited silently, scarcely daring to think. Finally +he turned away without saying a word, and, motioning us to keep back, +commenced examining the path which led up the incline. He mounted the +three stone steps, and with his eyes on the ground, slowly advanced to +the spot where the struggle had taken place. + +"How tall a man did you say Mose was?" he called down to us. + +"Little short fellow--not more than five feet high," returned the +sheriff. + +Terry took his ruler from his pocket and bent over to study the marks at +the scene of the struggle. He straightened up with an air of +satisfaction. + +"Now I want you men to look carefully at those marks on the lower +borders of the pool, and then come up here and look at these. Come along +up in single file, please, and keep to the middle of the path." + +He spoke in the tone of one giving a demonstration before a kindergarten +class. We obeyed him silently and ranged in a row along the boards. + +"Come here," he said. "Bend over where you can see. Now look at those +marks. Do you see anything different in them from the marks below?" + +The sheriff and I gazed intently at the prints of bare feet which +marked the entire vicinity of the struggle. We had both examined them +more than once before, and we saw nothing now but what had already +appeared. We straightened up and shook our heads. + +"They're the prints of bare feet," said Mattison, stolidly. "But I don't +see that they're any different from any other bare feet." + +Terry handed him the ruler. + +"Measure them," he said. "Measure this one that's flat on the ground. +Now go down and measure one of those prints by the borders of the pool." + +Mattison took the ruler and complied. As he bent over the marks on the +lower border we could see by the light of his candle the look of +astonishment that sprang into his face. + +"Well, what do you find?" Terry asked. + +"The marks up there are nearly two inches longer and an inch broader." + +"Exactly." + +"Terry," I said, "you can't blame us for not finding that out. We +examined everything when we took away the body, and those marks below +were simply not there. Someone has been in since." + +"So I conclude. Now, Mattison," he added to the sheriff, "come here and +show me the marks of Radnor Gaylord's riding boots." + +Mattison returned and pointed out the mark which he had produced at the +inquest, but his assurance, I noticed, was somewhat shaken. + +"That," said Terry half contemptuously, "is the mark of Colonel Gaylord. +You must remember that he was struggling with his assailant. He did not +plant his foot squarely every time. Sometimes we have only the heel +mark: sometimes only the toe. In this case we have more than the mark of +the whole foot. How do I account for it? Simply enough. The Colonel's +foot slipped sideways. The mark is, you see, exactly the same in length +as the others, but disproportionately broad. At the heel and toe it is +smudged, and on the inside where the weight was thrown, it is heavier +than on the outside. The thing is easy enough to understand. You ought +to have been able to deduce it for yourselves. And besides, how did you +account for the fact that there was only one mark? A man engaged in a +struggle must have left more than that behind him. No; it is quite +clear. At this point on the edge of the bank there was no third person. +We are dealing with only two men--Colonel Gaylord and his murderer; and +the murderer was bare-footed." + +"Mose?" I asked. + +"No," said Terry, patiently, "not Mose." + +"Then who?" + +"That--remains to be seen. I will follow him up and find out where he +comes from." + +Terry held his candle close to the ground and followed along the path. +At the entrance to the little gallery of the broken column it diverged, +one part leading into the gallery, and the other into a sort of blind +alley at one side. Terry paused at the opening. + +"Give me some more calcium light," he called to the guide. "I want to +look into this passage. And just hand me some of those boards," he +added. "It's very necessary that we keep the marks clear." + +The rest of us stood in a huddled group on the one or two boards he had +left us and watched him curiously as he made his way down the passage. +He paused at the end and examined the ground. We saw him stoop and pick +up something. Then he rose quickly with a cry of triumph and came +running back to us holding his hands behind him. + +"It's just as I suspected," he said, his eyes shining with excitement. +"Colonel Gaylord had an enemy he did not know." + +"What do you mean?" we asked, crowding around. + +"Here's the proof," and he held out towards us a well gnawed ham bone in +one hand and a cheese rind in the other. "These were the provisions +intended for the church social; the pies, I fancy, have disappeared." + +We stared at him a moment in silent wonder. The sheriff was the first to +assert himself. + +"What have these to do with the crime?" he asked, viewing the trophies +with an air of disgust. + +"Everything. The man who stole those is the man who robbed the safe and +who murdered Colonel Gaylord." + +The sheriff uttered a low laugh of incredulity, and the guide and I +stared open-mouthed. + +"And what's more, I will tell you what he looks like. He is a large, +very black negro something over six feet tall. When last seen, he was +dressed in a blue and white checked blouse and ragged overalls. His +shoes were much the worse for wear, and have since been thrown away. He +was bare-footed at the time he committed the crime. In short," Terry +added, "he is the chicken thief whom Colonel Gaylord whipped a couple of +days before he died," and he briefly repeated the incident I had told +him. + +"You mean," I asked, "that he was the ha'nt?" + +"Yes," said Terry, "he was the second ha'nt. He has been hiding for two +or three weeks in the spring-hole at Four-Pools, keeping hidden during +the day and coming out at night to prowl around and steal whatever he +could lay his hands on. He doubtless deserved punishment, but that fact +would not make him the less bitter over the Colonel's beating. When I +heard that story, I said to myself, 'there is a man who would be ready +for revenge if chance put the opportunity in his way.'" + +"But," I expostulated, "how did he happen to be in the cave?" + +"As to that I cannot say. After the Colonel's beating he probably did +not dare to hang about Four-Pools any longer. He took to the woods and +came in this direction; being engaged in petty thieving about the +neighborhood, it was necessary to find a hiding place during the daytime +and the cave was his most natural refuge. We know that he is not afraid +of the dark--the spring-hole at Four-Pools is about as dismal a place as +a man could find. He established himself in this passage in order to be +near the water. See, here in the corner are drops of candle grease and +the remains of a fire. On the day of the Mathers's picnic he doubtless +saw the party pass through and recognized Colonel Gaylord. It brought to +his mind the thrashing he had received. While he was still brooding +over the matter, the Colonel came back alone, and it flashed into the +fellow's mind that this was his chance. He may have been afraid at first +or he may have hesitated through kindlier motives. At any rate he did +not attack the Colonel immediately, but retreated into the passage, and +the old man passed him without seeing him and went on into the gallery +and got the coat. + +"In the meantime, the negro had made up his mind, and as the Colonel +came back, he crept along behind him. It is hard to trace the marks, for +another bare-footed man has walked over them since. But see, in this +place at the edge of the path, there's the mark of a palm, showing where +the assassin's hand rested when he crouched on the ground. He sprang +upon the old man from the rear and they struggled together over the +water--touch off a light, please--you see how the clay is all trampled +over on both sides of the path, 'way out to the brink of the pool. There +is no second set of marks here to obliterate it; we are dealing with +just two people--Colonel Gaylord and his assassin." + +Terry bent low and picked up from a crevice what looked like a piece of +stone covered with clay. + +"Here, you see, is the end of the Colonel's candle. He probably dropped +it when the man first sprang, and in the darkness he could not tell who +or what had attacked him. In his frenzy to have a light he snatched out +his match box--Radnor's box--and that too was dropped in the scuffle. + +"Now, even if the original motive of the crime were not robbery but +revenge--as I fancy it was--at any rate the murderer, being a tramp and +a thief, would have robbed the body. But he did not. Why was that? +Because he saw or heard something that frightened him, and what could +that have been but Mose running to his master's assistance?" + +Terry strode over to the steps which led to the incline, and motioning +us to follow, pointed out some marks on the sloping bank at the side of +the path. + +"See, here are Mose's tracks. He was in such a hurry that he could not +wait to come up by the steps; he tried to take a cross cut. He scrambled +up the slippery bank so fast that he fell on his hands and knees in +this place and slid back. That accounts for those long dragging marks, +which none of you appear to have noticed. Mose did his best, but he +could not reach his master in time. The murderer seeing--or rather +hearing him, for it must have been dark--was seized with sudden fear, +and with a convulsive effort he threw the old man against the rock wall +here, where his head struck on this broken stalactite. If you look +carefully you can see the marks of blood. He then hurled him into the +pool and fled." + +"It sounds plausible enough," said the sheriff slowly, "but there are +one or two points which I'm afraid will not bear examining. Suppose your +man did thrown the Colonel into the water and run for it, then what, I +should like to know, has become of Cat-Eye Mose?" + +"That," said Terry, knitting his brows, "is still a mystery and a fairly +deep one. There is something uncommonly strange about those tracks on +the lower borders of the pool and I confess they puzzle me. Only one +explanation occurs to me now and that is not pleasant to think of. We +have some clues to work with however, and we ought not to be long in +getting at the truth. If I had had your chance of examining the cave on +the day of the crime," he added, "I think I should know." + +"You might, and again you might not," said Mattison. "It's easy enough +for you fellows to come down here and make up a story about a lot of +people you've never seen, but I'll tell you one thing, and that is that +you're not so likely to hit the truth as the men who've been brought up +in the country. In the first place it comes natural to niggers to be +whipped and they don't mind it. In the second place if your tramp _did_ +want to take it out on the Colonel why should he be scared by Mose, who +was a little bit of a sawed-off cuss that I could lick with one hand +tied behind me? You may be able to impress a New York jury with a ham +bone and a cheese rind, Mr. Patten, but I can tell you, sir, that a +Virginia jury wants witnesses." + +"We shall do our best to provide some," said Terry, coolly. + +"And perhaps you can tell," added Mattison with the triumphant air of +clinching the matter, "what has become of the five thousand dollars in +bonds? You can never make me believe that any nigger--" + +"Oh, they're back in the safe at Four-Pools. I found 'em this morning in +the spring-hole where the man had thrown them away.--Now, gentlemen," he +added with a touch of impatience, "I want to try a little experiment +before we leave the cave. Will you all please put out your lights? I +want to see how dark it really is in here." + +We blew out our candles and stood a moment in silence. At first all was +black around us, but as our eyes became accustomed to the darkness, we +saw that a faint light filtered in from somewhere in the roof above our +heads. We could make out the pale blur of the white rock wall on one +side and the merest glimmer of the pool below. + +"No," Terry began, "he could have seen nothing; he must have--" He broke +off suddenly and gripping my arm whispered out, "What's that?" + +"Where?" I asked. + +"Up there; straight ahead." + +I looked up and saw two round eyes which glittered like a wild beast's, +staring at us out of the darkness. A cold chill ran up my back and I +instinctively huddled closer to the others. For a moment no one spoke +and I heard the click of Terry's revolver as he cocked it. Then it +suddenly came over me what it was, and I cried out: + +"It's Cat-Eye Mose!" + +"Good Lord, he can see in the dark! Strike a light, some one," Terry +said huskily. + +The sheriff struck a match. We lit our candles with trembling hands and +pressed forward (in a body) to the spot where the eyes had appeared. + +Crouched in a corner of a little recess half way up the irregular wall, +we found Mose, shivering with fear and looking down at us with dumb, +animal eyes. We had to drag him out by main force. The poor fellow was +nearly famished and so weak he could scarcely stand. What little sense +he had ever possessed seemed to have left him, and he jabbered in a +tongue that was scarcely English. + +We bolstered him up with a few drops of whisky from Mattison's flask, +and half carried him out into the light. The guide ran ahead to get a +carriage, spreading the news as he ran, that Cat-Eye Mose had been +found. Half the town of Luray came out to the cave to escort us back, +and I think the feeling of regret was general, in that there had not +been time enough to collect a brass band. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MOSE TELLS HIS STORY + + +We took Mose back to the hotel, shut out the crowd, and gave him +something to eat. He was quite out of his head and it was only by dint +of the most patient questioning that we finally got his story. It was, +in substance, as Terry had sketched it in the cave. + +In obedience to my request, Mose had gone back after the coat, not +knowing that the Colonel was before him. Suddenly, as he came near the +pool he heard a scream and looked up in time to see a big negro--the one +my uncle had struck with his crop--spring upon the Colonel with the cry, +"It's my tu'n, now, Cunnel Gaylord. You whup me, an' I'll let you see +what it feels like." + +The Colonel turned and clinched with his assailant, and in the struggle +the light was dropped. Mose, with a cry, ran forward to his master's +assistance, but when the negro saw him climbing up the bank he suddenly +screamed, and hurling the old man from him, turned and fled. + +"The fellow must have taken him for the devil when he saw those eyes, +and I don't wonder!" Terry interpolated at this point. + +After the Colonel's murder, it seems that Mose, crazed by grief and +fear, had watched us carry the body away, and then had stayed by the +spot where his master had died. This accounted for the marks on the +border of the pool. Knowing all of the intricate passages and hiding +places as he did, it had been an easy matter for him to evade the party +that had searched for his body. He ate the food the murderer had left, +but this being exhausted, he would, I haven't a doubt, have died there +himself with the unreasoning faithfulness of a dog. + +When he finished his rambling and in some places scarcely intelligible +account, we sat for a moment with our eyes upon his face, fascinated by +his look. Every bit of repugnance I had ever felt toward him had +vanished, and there was left in its place only a sense of pity. Mose's +cheeks were hollow, his features sharper than ever, and his face was +almost pale. From underneath his straight, black, matted hair his eyes +glittered feverishly, and their expression of uncomprehending anguish +was pitiful to see. He seemed like a dumb animal that has come into +contact with death for the first time and asks the reason. + +Terry took his eyes from Mose's face and looked down at the table with a +set jaw. I do not think that he was deriving as much pleasure from the +sight as he had expected. We all of us experienced a feeling of relief +when the doctor appeared at the door. We turned Mose over to him with +instructions to do what he could for the poor fellow and to take him +back to Four-Pools. + +As the door shut behind them, the sheriff said (with a sigh, I thought), +"This business proves one thing: it's never safe to lynch a man until +you are sure of the facts." + +"It proves another thing," said Terry, dryly, "which is a thing you +people don't seem to have grasped; and that is that negroes are human +beings and have feelings like the rest of us. Poor old Colonel Gaylord +paid a terrible price for not having learned it earlier in life." + +We pondered this in silence for a moment, then the sheriff voiced a +feeling which, to a slight extent, had been lurking in the background of +my own consciousness, in spite of my relief at the denouement. + +"It's kind of disappointing when you've got your mind worked up to +something big, to find in the end that there was nothing but a chance +nigger at the bottom of all that mystery. Seems sort of a let-down." + +Terry eyed him with an air of grim humor, then he leaned across the +table and spoke with a ring of conviction that carried his message home. + +"You are mistaken, Mattison, the murderer of Colonel Gaylord was not a +chance nigger. There was no chance about it. Colonel Gaylord killed +himself. He committed suicide--as truly as if he had blown out his +brains with a gun. He did it with his uncontrollable temper. The man +was an egoist. He has always looked upon his own desires and feelings as +of supreme importance. He has tried to crush the life and spirit and +independence from everyone about him. But once too often he wreaked his +anger upon an innocent person--at least upon a person that for all he +knew was innocent--and at one stroke his past injustices were avenged. +It was not chance that killed Colonel Gaylord. It was the inevitable law +of cause and effect. 'Way back in his boyhood when he gave way to his +first fit of passion, he sentenced himself to some such end as this. +Every unjust act in his after-life piled up the score against him. + +"Oh, I've seen it a hundred times! It's character that tells. I've seen +it happen to a political boss--a man whose business it was to make +friends with every voter high and low. I've seen him forget, just once, +and turn on a man, humiliate him, wound his pride, crush him under foot +and think no more of the matter than if he had stepped on a worm. And +I've seen that man, the most insignificant of the politician's +followers, work and plot and scheme to overthrow him; and in the end +succeed. The big man never knew what struck him. He thought it was luck, +chance, a turn of the wheel. He never dreamed that it was his own +character hitting back. I've seen it so often, I'm a fatalist. I don't +believe in chance. It was Colonel Gaylord who killed himself, and he +commenced it fifty years ago." + +"It's God's own truth, Terry!" I said solemnly. + +The sheriff had listened to Terry's words with an anxiously reminiscent +air. I wondered if he were reviewing his own political past, to see if +by chance he also had unwittingly crushed a worm. He raised his eyes to +Terry's face with a gleam of admiration. + +"You've been pretty clever, Mr. Patten, in finding out the truth about +this crime," he acknowledged generously. "But you couldn't have expected +me to find out," he added, "for I didn't know any of the circumstances. +I had never even heard that such a man existed as that chicken +thief--and as to there being two ghosts instead of one, there wasn't a +suggestion of it brought out at the inquest." + +Terry looked at him with his usual slowly broadening smile. He opened +his mouth to say something, but he changed his mind and--with a visible +effort--shut it again. + +"Terry," I asked, "how _did_ you find out about the chicken thief? I +confess I don't understand it yet." + +He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. + +"Nothing simpler. The trouble with you people was that you were +searching for something lurid, and the little common-place things which, +in a case like this, are the most suggestive, you overlooked. As soon as +I read the story of the crime in the papers I saw that in all +probability Rad was innocent. His behavior was far too suspicious for +him really to be guilty; unless he were a fool he would have covered up +his tracks. There was of course the possibility that Mose had committed +the murder, but in the light of his past devotion to the Colonel it did +not seem likely. + +"I had already been reading a lot of sensational stuff about the ghost +of Four-Pools, and when the murder followed so close on the heels of +the robbery, I commenced to look about for a connecting link. It was +evident that Radnor had nothing to do with it, but whether or not he +suspected someone was not so clear. His reticence in regard to the ha'nt +made me think that he did. I came South with pretty strong suspicions +against the elder son, but with a mind still open to conviction. The +telegram showing that he was in Seattle at the time of the murder, +proved his innocence of that, but he might still be connected with the +ha'nt. I tried the suggestion on Radnor, and his manner of taking it +proved pretty conclusively that I had stumbled on the truth. The ha'nt +business, I dare say, was started as a joke, and was kept up as being a +convenient method of warding off eavesdroppers. Why Jefferson came back +and why Radnor gave him money are not matters that concern us; if they +prefer to keep it a secret that's their own affair. + +"Jeff helped himself pretty freely to cigars, roast chickens, jam, +pajamas, books, brandy, and anything else he needed to make himself +comfortable in the cabin, but he took nothing of any great value. In the +meantime, though, other things commenced disappearing--things that +Radnor knew his brother had no use for--and he supposed the workers +about the place were stealing and laying it to the ghost, as a +convenient scapegoat. + +"But as a matter of fact they were not. A second ghost had appeared on +the scene. This tramp negro had taken up his quarters in the spring-hole +and was prowling about at night seeking what he might devour. He ran +across Jeff dressed in a sheet, and decided to do some masquerading on +his own account. Sheets were no longer left on the line all night, so he +had to put up with lap robes. As a result, the spring-hole shortly +became haunted by a jet black spirit nine feet tall with blue flames and +sulphur, and all the other accessories. + +"This made little impression at the house until Mose himself was +frightened; then Radnor saw that the hoax had reached the point where it +was no longer funny, and he determined to get rid of Jeff immediately. +While he drove him to the station he left Mose behind to straighten up +the loft; and Mose, coming into the house to put some things away, met +ghost number two just after he had robbed the safe. If Mose's eyes +looked as they did to-day I fancy the fright was mutual. The ghost, in +his excitement, dropped one package of papers, but bolted with the rest. +He made for his lair in the spring-hole and examined his booty. The +bonds were no more than old paper; he tossed them aside. But the pennies +and five-cent pieces were real; he lit out for the village with them. +The robbery was not discovered till morning and by that time the fellow +was at 'Jake's place' on his way toward being the drunkest nigger in the +county. + +"He stayed at the Corners a week or so until the money was gone, then he +came back to the spring-hole. But he made the mistake of venturing out +by daylight; the stable-men caught him and took him to the Colonel, and +you know the rest. + +"As soon as I heard the story of the beating I decided to follow it up; +and when I heard of a jet black spirit rising from the spring-hole, I +decided to follow that up too. At daylight this morning I routed out one +of the stable-men, and we went down and examined the spring-hole; at +least I examined it while he stood outside and shivered. It yielded an +even bigger find than I had hoped for. Chucked off in a corner and +trampled with mud I found the bonds. A pile of clothing and carriage +cushions formed a bed. There were the remains of several fires and of a +great many chickens--the whole place was strewn with feathers and bones; +he had evidently raided the roosts more than once. + +"When I finished with the spring-hole it still lacked something of six +o'clock and I rode over to the village hoping to get an answer to my +telegram. I wanted to get Jeff's case settled. 'Miller's store' was not +open but 'Jake's place' was, and it was not long before I got on the +track of my man. There was no doubt but that I had him accounted for up +to the time of the thrashing; after that I could only conjecture. He +had not appeared in the village again; the supposition was that he had +taken to the woods. Now he might or he might not have come in the +direction of Luray. All the facts I had to go upon were, a man of +criminal proclivities, who owed Colonel Gaylord a grudge, and who was +used to hiding in caves. It was pure supposition that he had come in +this direction and it had to be checked at every point by fact. I didn't +mention my suspicions because there was no use in raising false hopes +and because, well--" + +"You wanted to be dramatic," I suggested. + +"Oh, yes, certainly, that's my business. Well, anyway I felt I was +getting warm, and I came over here this morning with my eyes open, ready +to see what there was to see. + +"The first thing I unearthed was this story of the church social +provisions. There had, then, been a thief of some sort in the +neighborhood just at the time of Colonel Gaylord's murder. The further +theft of the boots fitted very neatly into the theory. If the fellow had +been tramping for a couple of days his shoes, already worn, had given +out and been discarded. The new ones, as we know, were too small--he +left them at the bottom of the pasture--and went bare-footed. The marks +therefore in the cave, which everyone ascribed to Mose, were in all +probability, not the marks of Mose at all. Actual investigation proved +that to be the case. The rest, I think, you know. The Four-Pools mystery +has turned out to be a very simple affair--as most mysteries +unfortunately do." + +"I reckon you're a pretty good detective, Mr. Patten," said Mattison +with a shade of envy in his voice. + +Terry bowed his thanks and laughed. + +"As a matter of fact," he returned, "I am not a detective of any +sort--at least not officially. I merely assume the part once in a while +when there seems to be a demand. Officially," he added, "I am the +representative of the New York Post-Dispatch, a paper which, you may +know, has solved a good many mysteries before now. In this case, the +Post-Dispatch will of course take the credit, but it wants a little more +than that. It wants to be the only paper tomorrow morning to print the +true details. We four are the only ones who know them. I should, +perhaps, have been a little more circumspect, and kept the facts to +myself, but I knew that I could trust you." + +His eye dwelt upon the sheriff a moment and then wandered to Pete Moser +who had sat silently listening throughout the colloquy. + +"Would it be too much," Terry inquired, "to ask you to keep silent until +tomorrow morning?" + +"You can trust me to keep quiet," said Mattison, holding out his hand. + +"Me too," said Moser. "I reckon I can make up something that'll satisfy +the boys about as well as the real thing." + +"Thank you," Terry said. "I guess you can all right! There doesn't seem +to be anything the matter with your imaginations down here." + +"And now," said Mattison, rising, "I suppose the first thing, is to see +about Radnor's release, though I swear I don't know yet what was the +matter with him on the day of the crime." + +"I believe you have the honor of Miss Polly Mathers's acquaintance? +Perhaps she will enlighten you," suggested Terry. + +A look of illumination flashed over Mattison's face. Terry laughed and +rose. + +"I have a reason for suspecting that Miss Mathers has changed her mind +and, if it is not too irregular, I should like by way of payment to +drive her to the Kennisburg jail myself and let her be the first to tell +him--I want to give her a reason for remembering me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +POLLY MAKES A PROPOSAL + + +I was dropped in Kennisburg to attend to the legal formalities +respecting Radnor's release, while Terry appropriated the horses and +drove to Mathers Hall. His last word to Mattison and me was not to let a +whisper reach Radnor's ear as to the outcome of the investigation. He +wanted a spectacular denouement. The sheriff assented very soberly. The +truth had at last forced itself upon him that his chances with Polly +were over. + +Terry reappeared, two hours later, with a very excited young woman +beside him. They joined us in the bare little parlor of the jail, and if +Mattison needed any further proof that the end had come, Polly's +greeting furnished it. An embarrassed flush rose to her face as she saw +him, but she shook hands in a studiously impersonal way and asked +immediately for Radnor. + +Mattison met the situation with a dignity I had scarcely expected. He +called a deputy and turned us over to him; and with the remark that his +services were happily no longer needed, he bowed himself out. I saw him +two minutes later recklessly galloping down the street. Polly's eyes, +also, followed the rider, and for a second I detected a shade of +remorse. + +As we climbed the stairs Terry fell back and whispered to me, "I tell +you, I laid down the law coming over; we'll see if she's game." + +As the door of the cell was thrown open, Rad raised his head and +regarded us with a look of bewildered astonishment. Polly walked +straight in and laid her hand on his shoulder. + +"Radnor," she said, "you told me you would never ask me again to marry +you. Did you really mean it?" + +Rad still stared confusedly from her to Terry and me. + +"Well!" Polly sighed. "If you did mean it, then I suppose I'll have to +ask you. Will you marry me, Radnor?" + +I laid a hand on Terry's arm and backed him, much against his will, into +the corridor. + +"Jove! You don't suppose he's going to refuse her?" he inquired in a +stage whisper. + +"No such luck," I laughed. + +We took a couple of turns up and down the corridor and cautiously +presented ourselves in the doorway. Polly was telling, between laughing +and crying, the story of Mose's discovery. Radnor came to meet us, his +left arm still around Polly, his right hand extended to Terry. + +"Will you shake hands, Patten?" he asked. "I'm afraid I wasn't very +decent, but you know--" + +"Oh, that's no matter," said Terry, easily. "I wasn't holding it up +against you. But I hope you realize, Gaylord, that it's owing to me +you've won Miss Mathers. She never would have got up the courage to ask +you, if--" + +"Yes, I should!" flashed Polly. "I wanted him too much ever to let him +slip through my fingers again." + +Terry's boast came true and Radnor dined at Four-Pools Plantation that +night. The news of his release had in some way preceded us, and as we +drove up to the house, all the negroes came crowding out on the portico +to welcome home "young Marse Rad." But the one person who--whatever the +circumstances--had always been first to welcome him back, was missing; +and the poor boy felt his home-coming a very barren festival. + +Terry was steadfast in the assertion that he had an engagement in New +York the next day, and as soon as supper was over I drove him to the +station. He was in an ecstatically self-satisfied frame of mind. + +"Do you know I'm a pretty all-round fellow," he observed in a burst of +confidence. "I've always known better than the proprietor how the paper +ought to be run, and I can give the police points about detective work. +I'm something of a cook, and I can play the hand-organ like Paderewski; +but this is the first time I ever tried my hand at matchmaking and it +comes as easy as a murder mystery!" + +"You think that their engagement is due to you?" + +"But isn't it? If it weren't for me they'd have it all to go over again +from the beginning, and there's no telling how long they'd take about +it." + +"I hope they appreciate your services, Terry. You're so modest that what +you do is in danger of being overlooked." + +"They appreciate me fast enough," returned Terry, imperturbably. "I +promised Polly to spend my first vacation with 'em after they're +married--Oh, you'll see; I'll make a farmer one of these days!" + +I laughed and then said seriously: + +"Whether you made the marriage or not, you have cleared Radnor's name +from any suspicion of dishonor, and I don't know how we can ever +sufficiently show our gratitude." + +"That's all right," said Terry with a deprecatory wave of his hand. "I +enjoyed it. Never did anything just like it before. I've arranged a good +many funerals of one sort or another, but this is the first time I ever +arranged a marriage. And Jove! but I could make a story out of it," he +added regretfully, "if she'd only let me tell the truth." + + +The events which I have chronicled happened a number of years ago, and +Four-Pools has never since figured in the papers. I trust that its +public life is ended. In spite of the most far-reaching search, the +murderer of Colonel Gaylord was never found. Radnor and I have always +believed that he was lynched by a mob in West Virginia some two years +later. The description of the man tallied exactly with the appearance of +the tramp my uncle had thrashed, and something he said in his +ante-mortem statement, made us very sure of the fact. + +Mose, until the time of his death, was an honored member of the +household, but he did not long outlive the Colonel. The memory of the +tragedy he had witnessed seemed to follow him constantly; an unreasoning +terror looked from his eyes, and he started and shivered at every sound. +The poor fellow had lost what few wits he had ever possessed, but the +one rational gleam that stayed with him to the end, was his love for his +old master. When he lay dying. Radnor tells me, he roused after hours of +unconsciousness, to call the Colonel's name. I have always felt that +this devotion spoke equally well for both of them. The old man must have +had some splendid traits underneath his crusty exterior to awaken such +unquestioning love in a person of Mose's instinctive perceptions. +Perhaps after all, half idiot though he was, Mose could see clearer than +the rest of us. He now lies in the little family burying-ground on the +edge of the plantation, a stone's throw from the grave of Colonel +Gaylord. + +There has never been any further rumor of a ha'nt at Four-Pools, and we +hope that the family ghost is laid forever. The deserted cabins have +been torn down, and the fourth pool dredged and confined, prosaically +enough, within its banks. Its mysterious charm is gone, but it yields, +every season, some fifteen barrels of watercress. + +It was the following April--a year from the time of my first +visit--that Terry and I snatched a couple of days from our work, +purchased new frock coats, and served as ushers at Polly's wedding. She +and Radnor have been living happily at Four-Pools ever since, and the +house with a young mistress is a very different place from the house as +it used to be. Marriage and responsibility have improved Radnor +immensely. He has developed from a recklessly headstrong boy into a +keen, rational, upright man; I am sure that Polly has never for a moment +had cause to regret her choice. + +When the estate was settled, Radnor, very justly, insisted on breaking +his father's will and giving to Jeff his rightful share of the property. +Jeff has since become middle-aged and respectable. He owns a raisin +ranch in southern California with fifty Chinamen to run it. When he +comes back to Four-Pools Plantation on an occasional visit, he occupies +the guest room. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Four Pools Mystery, by Jean Webster + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOUR POOLS MYSTERY *** + +***** This file should be named 21264.txt or 21264.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/6/21264/ + +Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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