B li n d M an )
E yej
BY
WILLIAM M ac HARG** EDWIN DALMER.
Illustrations by R.H.Ltvir^stone
( Y NO Pt Ik
CIUITRH IV -Kalon rv*l«oa « l.to-
fnr» artdtwaoO la l*>wr*n<a Killward
Which ha claim*
It warna him ba to
bain« fallow**
CHAtTFH V-rasala» through th* ear.
Connery notlewa Dura* a hand hanalng
outald* th* b*rth
>1* ascertain* Dorn*'*
ball ha* rocwaily rune
Parlurbotl. h*
to>*atleataa and find* Dorn* with bl*
Ciuli rru*h*d
il* , alto a autv*on. Dr
adalr. oa th* train
CHAPTaH V!.-ainelalr roeoenlaaa tbo
Injured man a* Baal I Hantolne. who, al
though blind, I* a pa> ultor pow*r la th*
■aaaelal world a* adrlaar to "big In tor-
eel* “ Illa roc-ovary to a matter of doubt
(Continued from last week.)
“Who did you any thia aaaf** be <1»
mantled of Avery.
“I eald bla name waa Nathan
Dorne." Avery evaded.
“No, no I" Sinclair Jerked out Im
patiently.
"Isn't Ibia—”
He heat-
tated. and finished In a voire suddenly
lowered: “Isn't thia Basil Hantolne?"
Avery, If he still wished to do *o.
found It Impossible to deny.
"Basil Hantolne!“ Connery breathed.
To the conductor alone, among the
four men standing by the berth, the
name seemed to have come with the
Sharp shock of a aurprlae. with It had
come an added venae of responsibility
and horror over what had happened
to the paeornger who had been con
tided to hla care, which made him
whiten aa he once more repeated the
name to hlm«elf and staled down at
the man In the berth.
Conductor Connery knew Basil Han-
totne only In the way that Hantolne
waa known to great numbers of other
people—that Is, by name but not by
Bight.
“He Waa Operataci On Recentlyt*
Basil Hantolne at twenty-two had
been graduated from Harvard, though
blind.
Ills connections—the family
waa of well-to-do southern stock—his
possession of enough money for hla
own support, made It possible for him
to live Idly If he wished; but Hantolne
had not chosen to make hla bllndneaa
an excuse for doing this. He had
at once settled himself to hla chosen
profession, which was law. He had
not found It easy to get a start In
thia, and ho had succeeded only after
great effort In getting a place with a
amali and unimportant firm. Within
a short time, well within two years
men had begun to recognise that In
thia struggling law firm there waa a
powerful, dear, compelling mind.
Hantolne, a youth living In darkness
unable to see the men with whom he
talked or the documents and books
Which must be rend to him, waa be
ginning to put the stamp of hla per
sonality on the arm's affairs A year
later hla name appeared with others
of the arm; at twenty-oight hla was
the leading name. Ho had begun to
specialise long before that time, In
corporation law; be married shortly
after this. At thirty the arm name
represented to these who knew Ita
particulars only one personality, the
penonallty of Hafhotne ; and at thlrty-
ave— though hla Indifference tn money
was proverbisi—he wae many timed a
millionaire.
But except among the
small and powerful group of men who
had learned to consult him, Hantolne
himself at that time was utterly un
known
J
Consulted continually ny men con
cerned In great projects Immersed
day and night In vast affaire, cepable
of living completely as he wished—he
liad been, at the age of forty-six, great
but not famous, powerful but not pub
licly known. At that time an event
had occurred which had forced the
blind man out unwillingly from bla
obscurity.
This event had been the murder of
the greet western flnaucfer, Matthew
Istron
There had t>een nothing In
this affair which had In any way
shadowed dishonor upon Hantolne. Ho
much as In hla role of a mind without
personality Hantolne ever fought, he
had fought against Latron; but hie
fight had been not against the man
but against methods. There had come
then a time of uncertainty and un
rest ; publie consciousness waa In
the process of awakening to the
knowledge that strange things ap
proaching close to the likeness of
what men call crime, had been being
done under the unassuming name of
business
Hcsndsl— financial scandal
—breathed more strongly against La-
iron than perhaps against any of the
other weatern men.
He hnd been
among their biggest; he had hla ens
mien, of whom Imitereonally Hantolne
might have been counted one. and he
had hla friends, both In high places;
he waa a world figure. Then, all of
a sudden, the man had been struck
down—killed, because of some private
I quarm. men whispered, by an obscure
and till then unheard-of man.
The trembling wires and cables
which should have carried to th« wait
ing world the expected news of La-
Iron's conviction, carried InstMd the
news of l«atr<>n*a death; and disorder
followed.
The first public concern
had been, of course, for the stocks and
bonds of the great I-atron properties;
and Istron'a blgnesa had seemed only
further evidenced by the stanchneaa
with which the I-atron banka, the Lk-
trow railroads and mines and pubtie
utilities stood firm even agalnat the
shock of their builder’s death
As
sured of th|s public Interest had shift
ed to the trial, conviction and sen
tence of Istron'e murderer; and It
wan during this trial that Knntolne's
name had become more publicly
known. Not that the blind man wae
suspected of any knowledge—much
loss of any complicity—In tl-e crime;
the murder had been because of a
purely private matter; but In the ea
ger questioning Into I<atron'a circum
stances and surroundings previous to
the crime, hantolne was summoned
Into court as a witness.
The blind man, led Into the court,
sitting sightless in the witness chair,
revealing himself by hla spoken, and
even more by hla withheld, replies na
one of the unknown guiders of the
destiny of the Continent and as coun
selor to the most powerful—himself
till then handy heard of but plainly
one of the nation's “uncrowned rulers"
—had caught the public sense. The
fate of the murderer, the crime, even
I-atron himself, lost temporarily the'-
Inte <it nt the public curiosity Orel
the p< i Mmnllty of Hantolne.
Il hnd been reported for some day»
Hint Sniilolne luid come to Seattle <11
rectl.v after Warden's death; but
wl en this was admitted, his asaoci-
iijox had always been careful to add
that Hantolne, having been a close
personal friend of Gabriel Warden,
hnd come purely In a personal capac
ity. and the Impression waa given that
Hantolne had returned quietly some
days liefore. The mere prolonging of
his stay In the West was more than
suggestive that affairs among the
powerful were truly In such state as
Warden hnd proclaimed; this attack
upon Hantolne, so similar to that
which had slain Warden, and deliv
ered within eleven days of Warden's
death, must he of the gravest signifi
cance.
Connery stood overwhelmed for the
moment with this fuller recognition
of the seriousness of the disaster
which had come upon this man In
trusted to hie charge; then be turned
to the surgeon.
“Can you do anything for him here.
Doctor?" he asked.
The surgeon glanced down the car.
"That stateroom—Is It occupied?"
"It's occupied by hla daughter."
“We’ll take him tn there, then.”
The four men lifted the Inert figure
of Basil Hantolne, carried It Into the
drawing room and laid It on Its back
upon the bed.
"I have my Instruments.'' Sinclair
■aid. "I’ll get them; but before I de
cide to do anything, I ought to see
hla daughter Since she Is here, her
consent Is necessary before any opera
tion on him."
“Mias Hantolne Is in the observation
ear." Avery Mid. "Til get her."
The tone waa In some way false—
Baton could not tell exactly how.
Avery started down the stale.
“One moment, please, Mr Avery I"
said the conductor. "Ill ask you not
to tell MI m Hantolne before any
other passenger that there baa been
and whoever elae waa making Investl-
an attarfc upon her father. Walt un
til you get bar Inside the door at this gatloon with them evidently were not
letting anyone know that an Inveetl-
ear."
“You youraelf said nothing, then, gatlon was being made. Baton went
that can have made bar suapect It?" to lunch; on his way back from the
diner, he saw the conductors with pa
Baton asked.
Connery shook hie bead; the con pers In their hands questioning a pas-
ductor. In doubt and anxiety over ex. sen ger They evidently were starting
actly what action the Mtuatlon called systematically through the cars, exam
for - unable, too, to communicate any ining each person; they were tasking I
hint of It to his superiors to the west the plea of necessity of s report to
because of the wires being down-
the railroad offices of names and ad-
dearly had resolved to keep the at dresses of all held up by the stoppage
tack upon Hantolne secret for some of the train.
time. “1 Mid nothing definite even
Baton atarted on toward the rear
to the trainmen." he replied; "and 1 of the train.
want you gentlemen to promise me
“A monu-nt. sir I" Connery called.
before you leave this ear that you will
Baton halted. The conductor con
say nothing until I give you leave."
fronted him.
Hla gyes shifted from the face of
“Your name, sir?“ Connery asked.
one to another, until he had assured
“Philip D. Eston."
himself that all agreed.
Aa Avery
Connery wrote down the answer.
left the car, Eaton found a seat tn “Your address?"
one of the end sections near the draw
“I—have no addreaa. I was going
ing room. Hr did not know whether to a hotel in f'hlcago—which one I
to ask to leave the car. or whether be hadn't decided yet."
ought to remain; and he would have
“Where are you coming from?"
gone except for recollection of Har
"From Asia.”
riet Hantolne. Then the curtain at
“That's hardly an addreaa, Mr. Ea
the end of the car wan pushed further
ton r
aside, and she came tn.
“I can give you no address abroad
Khe was very pale, but quite eon
I had no fixed addreaa there. I waa
trolled, as Eaton knew ahe would be
traveling most of the time. I arrived
“Can You Do Anything for Him Hera,
Ooctorr* Ho Asked.
Rhe looked st Baton, but did not
speak aa ahe passed; ahe went di
rectly to the door of the drawing
room. o[»ened It and went in, followed
by Avery, The door cioeed, and for
a moment Eaton could bear voices In
side the room—Harriet Hantolne’s,
Sinclair's. Oooiirry'x The conductor
then came to the door of the drawing
room and seat the porter for water
and clean linen; Eaton heard the rip
of linen being torn, and the car be
came filled with the smell of anti
septics.
I •
•
>
I>onald Avery came out of the draw
ing room and dropped Into the eeat
across from Eaton
He seemed dee[>-
ly thoughtful—eo deeply. Indeed, as to
be almost unaware of Eaton's pre»
ence.
And Eaton, observing him.
sgaln had the sense that Avery's ab
sorption was completely In conse
quences to himself of what was going
on behind the door—tn how Basil
Hantolne'* death or continued exist
ence would affect the fortunes of Don
ald Avery.
A long time passed—how long, Ea
ton could not huve told; he noted
only that during It the shadows on
the snowbank outside the «rlndow ap
preciably changed their position. Fi
nally the door opened, nnd Harriet
Hantolne came out, paler than before,
and now not quite so steady.
Enton rose as she approached
them; and Avery lennerl up, all con
cern nnd aympatlu for her immoll.
atcly ahe appeared. Re met her In
the aisle nnd took her hand.
"Was it successful, dear?" Avery
asked.
Hhe shut her eyes before she an
swered, and stood holding to the back
of a seat; then she opened her eyes,
naw Eaton and recognised him snd
sat down In the seat where Avery had
been sitting.
"I>octor Hinclalr says we will know
In four or five days,” she replied to
Avery; ahe turned then directly to
Eaton. “He thought there probably
wan a clot under the skull, and he
operated to find It and relieve it.
There was one. snd we hsve done all
we can; now we may only wait. Doc
tor Hinclalr has appointed himself
nurse; he says I can help him. but
not Just yet. I thought you would
like to know."
"Thnnk you; I did want to know,"
Eaton acknowledged. He moved away
from them, and Mt down In one of
the seats further down the car.
Soon he left for hls own car, and
as the door was closing behind him,
s sound came to hla ears from the car
he Just had left—a young girl sud
denly crying in abandon.
Harriet
Hantolne, he understood, must have
broken down for the moment, after
the strain of the operation; and Ea
ton halted as though to turn back,
feeling the blood drive suddenly upon
hla heart. Then, recollecting that he
had no right to go to her, he went on.
CHAPTkR VII
“Your Name, •let" Connery Asked.
tn Seattle by the Asiatic steamer and
took thia train."
"Ah I you came
the Tamba
Maru."
Connery made note of thia, as be
had made note of all the other ques-
tioos and answers.
Then he said
something to the Pullman conductor.
who replied In the Mme low tone;
what they Mid waa not audible to
Enton.
“You can teil us at least where
your family la. Mr. Raton.' Connery
suggested.
«-*- •
“I hava no family."
“Friends, then?”
"I—I have no friends.”
"Nowhere?"
“Nowhere.”
Connery pondered for several mo
ments.
"The Mr. Hlllward—Law
rence Hlllward. to whom the telegram
was addressed which you claimed
this morning, your iissoctate who was
to have taken this train with you—
will you give me his address?"
“I don't know Hillward's address."
“Give me the address, then, of the
man who sent the telegram."
“I am unable to do that, either."
Connery spoke again to the Pullman
conductor, and they conversed Inau
dibly for a minute.
"That Is all.
then," Connery said finally.
He signed his name to the sheet
on which he hnd written Eaton’s an-
NH CJ'tL QIUI »UHldosI it t*> th*» Uxill >nu vs
conductor, who also signed It and re
turned It to him; then they went on
to the passenger now occupying Sec
tion Four, without making any fur
ther comment.
Eaton told himself that there should
be no danger to himself from this In
quiry, directed against no one, but
including comprehensively everyone
on the train. When the conductors
had left the car, he put his magazine
away and went Into the men's com
partment to smoke and calm his
nerves. His return to America had
passed the bounds of recklessness;
snd what a situation he would now he
In If his actions brought even serious
suspicions against him! He finished
his first cigar and was debating
whether to light another, when be
heard voices outside the car, and
opening the window and looking out,
he saw Connery and the brakeman
struggling through the snow and mak
ing. apparently, some search. Pres
ently Connery passed the door of the
compartment
carrying
something
loosely wrapped In a newspaper tn
his hands. Baton finished his cigar
and went back to his seat In the car.
Aa he glanced at the seat where
he had left hla locked traveling bag.
he mw that the hag was no longer
there. It stood now between the two
seats on the floor, and picking It up
end looking at it, he found It unfas
tened and with marks about the lock
which told plainly that It had been
forced.
He set It on the floor between hl*
knees and checked over Its contents.
Nothing had been taken, co far aa
he could tell; for the bag had con
tained only clothing, the Chineee dic
tionary and the box of cigar«, and
these all apparently were still there.
He had laid out the things on the
seat across from him while checking
them up, and now be began to put
them back la the bog. Suddenly he
noticed that one ef hie socks was
nstaslng; what had “— eleven pairs
was new only tea
ank one odd
was so strange, so hlxarre, so per
plexing that—unless ft waa acciden
tal—he could not account for It at all.
No one opens s man's bag and steals
one sock, «mV he waa quite sure there
haft been eievfn complete pairs there
earlier In the day. Certainly then. It
had been accidental: the bag had
been opened. Its contents taken out
and examined, end In putting them
back, one aock had been dropped un
noticed.
The absence of the sock,
than, meant no more than that the
contents of the bsg had been thor
oughly Investigated. By whom? By
the man against whom the telegram
directed to Itowrence Millward had
warned Eaton?
Ever since hla receipt of the tele
gram, Eaton—as be [maned through
the train In going to and from the
diner or for other reasons—had been
trying covertly to determine which.
If anyone, among the passengers, was
the "one” who, the telegram had
warned him, waa “following” him.
For at first be bad Interpreted It to
mean that one of “them" whom he
had to fear must be on the train.
Later he had felt certain that this
could not be the case, for otherwise
any one of “them" who knew him
would have spoken by this time. Now
his suspicions that one of “them" must
be aboard the train returned.
The bag certainly bad not been
rled out the forward door of the
or he would have seen It from
compartment at that end of the
where be bad Mt smoking. The
therefore, had been carried out
rear door, and the man who
opened It. If a passenger, must
be In the rear part of the train.
Eaton, refilling hla cigar-case to
give bls action a look of casualneaa,
got up and went toward the rear of
the train. A porter was still posted
at the door of the Hantolne ear, who
warned him to be quiet in passing
through. The car. he found, was en
tirely empty; the door to the drawing
room where Hantolne lay was dosed,
went on Into the observation
A few men and women passen-
here were reading or talking.
Glancing od past them through the
glass door at the end of the car. he
saw Harriet Hantolne standing alone
on the observation platform.
The
girl did not see him; her back was
toward the car. As be went out onto
the platform and the sound of the
closing door came to her. ahe turned
to meet him.
She looked white and tired, and
faint gray shadows underneath her
eyes showed where dark circles were
beginning to form.
“I am supposed to be resting," she
explained quietly, accepting him as «
one who had the right to aak.
,
“How Is your father?"
“Just the same; there may be no
change. Doctor Hinclalr says, for days.
It seems all so sudden and so—ter
rible. Mr. Eaton."
Eaton, leaning against the rail be
side her and glancing at her. saw that
her lashes were wet, and his eyes
i dropped as they caught hers.
“They have been Investigating the
attack?”
“Yea; Donald — Mr. Avery, you
know—and the conductor have been
working on It all day. They have
been questioning the porter."
“The porter?"
"Oh. I don't mean that they think
the porter had anything to do
It; but the bell rang, you know.
“The bell?"
"The bell from Father’s berth,
thought you knew. It rang some time
before Father was found—some few
minutes before; the porter did not
hear It. but the pointer was turned
I
down. They have tested It. and It
cannot be Jarred down or turned in
any way except by means of the
••
Eaton looked away from her. then
back again rather strangely.
“Is that all they have learned?"
"No; they have found the weapon.”
“The weapon with which your fa
ther was struck?"
“Yes; the man who did It seems not
to have realized that the train was
stopped—or at least that It would
be stopped for so long—and he threw
It off the train, thinking, I suppose,
we should be miles away from there
by morning.
But the train didn’t
move, and the snow didn't cover It
up. and it was found lying against
the snow hank thia afternoon. It cor
responds, Doctor .Sinclair says, with
Father’s Injuries."
“What was It?"
“It seems to have been a ?>sr of
metal—of steel, they Mid. I think,
Mr. Eaton—wrapped In a man's black
sock.”
“A sock!" Eaton's voice sounded
strange to himself; he felt that the
blood had left his cheeks, leaving him
pale, and that the girl must notice it
"A man's sock 1"
Then ho saw that she had not no
ticed, for she had not been looking
at him.
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February 11
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