HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGbN, THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1928.
PAGE THREE
WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE
Dr. Long, out fishing with Alexander
Pierce, a detective, tell of hU projected
trip to Southley Downs. Pierce advisee
him to keep his eyes wide open while
there. On the way In a train Dr. Long
is attracted by a girl, who later faints.
Dr. Long treats her, and looking Into
ner Dag, is astonished to find a loaded
revolver.
Dr. Long meets Ahmad Das, an Ori
ental, who conducts him to Southley
Downs, where he meets Mr. Southley
and his son Ernest Southlev. Mr. Hav-
ward and his son Vilas, and then Jose
phine Southley. who Is the elrl he had
met on the train. Josephine tells him
the story of Southlev Dwns and Its
ghost, which is not the ghost of a
numan Deing put or a tiger. Now read
on
CHAPTER m
"My father and some of the ser
vants went out both Ernest and I
were away at school. They couldn't
see In the shadows but my father
aays that beyond all chance- of
doubt some living creature bounded
through the thickets In front of
them. It might have been a calf
or even a large dog.
"A few weeks ago the details be
gan to vary: It was after my fa
ther's old friend, Mr. Hayward, and
his son came to visit -us. But tell
me this first Would you say the
younger Mr. Hayward would be
troubled with faulty nerves?"
"I Baw him jump tonight when
the owl hooted."
"Remember he has spent nearly
a month In this house. After a
month In it, you'll Jump, too. I
mean, under ordinary conditions,
away from this atmosphere."
"I would certainly say that Vilas
Hayward had no nerves to trouble
him."
"Just a few nights after his ar
rival, Vilas Hayward came In to
dinner with a curious look of ques
tion on his face. He said he had
seen something."
Josephine's eyes were full and in
tent upon mine, and the sentence
died away. The silence of the vast
room was the kind to be listened to
in remote deserts, or In the moun
tain nights.
"Yes?" I urged her.
"It Isn't very pleasant," she warn
ed.
"A doctor has the right to know
all the symptoms."
"He said when he came through
the long hall that leads from the
drawing-room something walked
before him. It was In the shadows,
and he could not see It plain. He
asked us If we kept a great yellow
and black dog, a hound as large, or
larger, than a Great Dane."
The elder Hayward and I were
strolling on the course, and a few
minutes before our host had been
with us. He had gone into the
house on some errand. Josephine
was with Vilas on the veranda, and
his chair was drawn close to hers.
At first I wasn't thinking about
Hayward or Ahmad either. I was
remembering with what astounding
fortune Vilas and Josephine always
seemed to be alone together.
It was a baffling thing. I couldn't
think of any conscious effort In
that direction. Yet seemingly pow
ers In the sky were always throw
ing them together. In one Instant,
all the occupants of Southley Downs
would be on the veranda together;
In the next, a group of us would
have wandered off, and Vilas and
Josephine would be alone.
I wondered how much of this
curious development was engineer
ed by Josephine herself. It wasn't
a particularly pleasant thing to
think about Of course, girls In
this age have a right to play all
their cards to win the love of a de
sirable man. It was all legitimate
all fair. But sometimes It seemed
to me that she would have prefer
red to stay with the rest of us, but
that some Inscrutable power, mys
terious and immutable, denied It
That power was either Josephine's
aged father, the elder Hayward, or
both.
Hayward and I were having a
good night cigar together. My wrist
watch indicated a few minutes after
ten. And then Hayward saw a
shadow waver In the moonlight of
the golf green.
It was hard to see at first Some
living creature was advancing along
the slope toward us something
that seemed dark and not very tall.
We stood still and waited. There
was nothing else for us to do.
Then all at once the creature's
form seemed to change. I can't de
scribe It except to say that upon
one instant It appealed to me as be
ing low and rather long, and on the
next tall and narrow. The change
was so abrupt that the creature
seemed fairly to leap. Yet It easily
could have been the effect of the
moonlight or the shadows. It might
have been simply a matter of per
spective. At once we saw the ad
vancing form that before had seem
ingly had the dimensions and out
line of a huge dog was Just the
form of a man. But I had been
enough In the mountains to know
that the moon and the darkness and
the jungles play strange tricks on
fancy and vision.
It was Ahmad Das. He was com
ing In from one of his long walks.
Hayward gasped behind me, and as
I moved back the back of our hands
touched.
Hayward's felt cold. Whatever
had been fancy and wrong perspec
tive before, this was the truth. His
blood wasn't In his hands, as It
should have been. Evidently It had
all gono up to his brain, playing
strange tricks with It.
Ahmad bowed to ub as he passed.
"Good Lord!" Hayward breathed.
"I wasn't looking for that wretch."
"He was just coming In from on
of his walks."
"Those walks of his! Why don't
Southley forbid 'em? I will If he
don't I'll be damned If I'll have
-him walking through those jungles
and creeping up on us this way!"
"Creeping up on us? I echoed.
"What way?" -
"Besides, what would a man want
to walk around in those Jungles
for?" he went on, unheeding me.
"Tell me that?" Then his voice
changed dropped tone by tone un
til it was almost a whisper. "And
tell me this, too, Long and tell me
the truth."
"Yes." .
"Did did you see anything curi
ous about about Ahmad's posture
as he came up the hill? Of course,
It was probably Just the moonlight
yet there was something puzzling
about It"
"I'll oonfess I didn't recognize
him at once.
"That Isn't it. That Isn't quite it
Long. Oh, the devil! It's nonsense.
anyway."
We walked up to the veranda and
halted for an instant on the steps
for a last look over the marsh,
There was a ring round the moon
that promised rain. We listened to
the night birds and the noise of the
insect world, like the strum of a
banjo infinitely remote, above the
drear, gray wastes. Then Hayward
touched my arm.
"If you'd go in, Long, and look at
Ahmad's hands," he told me, "you'd
find 'em with mud on em."
"Why, Mr. Hayward?"
"Because he was crawling up that
hill on hands and feet!"
Then his face grew Into a scowl,
and he entered the house.
I had a pipe by myself after he
had gone. At first I thought about
what he had said. But it didn't
make particularly good sense. It
was true that Hayward didn't like
the Indian, yet this would have
scarcely led to an accusation so bi
zarre. The glare with which Hay
ward's eyes followed him, when the
servant walked about the rooms
was little short of deadly I had ob
served It too many times to be mis
taken. Orders he gave were always
in the most insulting tone. It seem
ed to me just an unjustified aver
sion, and the taste of the thing
was open to question.
There was a tenseness, a heavi
ness, in the air. It was obviously
the calm before one of those blind
ing, crashing Floridlan thunder
storms.
I thought I had better warn the
occupants of the house. There might
be windows to close, or other pre
parations. The library was empty;
but I heard voices in the den that
opened from it And maybe it was
a sign that already the atmosphere
at Southley Downs had Instilled its
poison into my nerves that I did
not remember to stop and knock.
With' the memory of that myster
ious , calm behind me, I hurried
across the soft rug. The door open
ed softly beneath my hand.
The scene in the candle-light was
like a tableau. The light was so
yellow and soft, the shadows so
startling black, the actors stood so
motionless. With arms leaning up
on the little mahogany table in the
center of the den stood Vilas Hay
ward. There was a drunken look
about him; yet I knew it was not
from wine. His face was flushed.
Intent With the table between
them, as if for a shield, Josephine
faced him.
Don't come a step nearer," she
said as the door opened.
Her face was white as the candle
that burned between them, its lines
were deep, and her dark eyes were
smouldering. The little silken week
end bag I had seen on the train lay
before her on the table, and her
hand was lost in the lace of its
mouth.
There were wild, primal passions
at play In the room. One of them
was lust; and one was the fury of
murder. There is no use of minc
ing words. They were bared and
unmasked before me.
Vilas turned to me with an oath.
The girl slipped fainting to the
floor. I answered him without re
straint and lifted the girl Into my
arms. I crossed with her to the
little sofa at the side of the room
where the two had evidently been
sitting; then turned to meet the
man. He had followed me across
the room, and not six feet was be
tween us.
"I think, Dr. Long," Vilas cried,
that you're altogether too officious.
You'd better keep out of this."
I am not just sure what I an
swered him. But primal passions
had awakened in me, too, and the
words were straight He leaped at
me, and I met him with a blow.
He reeled, then caught at the ta
ble. And his hand reached for the
silken bag on the table,
I knew that the girl was scream
ing. The sound rose above the
noise of the storm. I leaped for
him, but he whirled about the table
before I could reach him. He tore
the pistol from the bag. Its glit
tered in his hand. '
I had no delusions about what
he would do with It The drawn
face, the smouldering eyes, told all
too plainly. He was too far for me
to leap at him. So I struck out the
candle.
The dark fell over us. The sound
of the storm obliterated his breath
ing . It was the truce of darkness
a truce remembered from primal
days.
I don't know how long It had
continued when Hayward and
Southley came. Their forms sud
denly appeared in the opon door;
and each of them carried candles.
Vilas still held the pistol; and It
gleamed in the candlelight.
"Vilas!" his father called. 'Tut
down that thing!"
He hastened about the table, and
my "aged host leaped in front of me.
I tried to push him away; and his
answer was a laugh one grim syl
lable of laughter, ironical.
"He wont kill me," he said. "I'm
the goose that lays the golden
eggs. He won't kill me."
Vilas screamed at us. The murder-madness
was on him yet
"He struck me," he cried. "The
devil struck me. He's got to apolo
gize. He found me with Josephine,
and he struck me as if I were a
dog." "
His father "look the pistol from
his hands, and put It in his pocket
Southley sighed a little, and placed
his candle on the table. The girl
rose up behind us, and I was amaz
ed at her self-control. It had all
come back.
"He struck me," Vilas said again
and again. "What are you going
to do about it Southley? You ve
got just ten minutes to turn him
out of this house or else I'll go
instead."
"Let's forget it " the old man
answered with utter weariness.
"Forget nothing, Southley!" he
exclaimed. "We've got to get to
the bottom of this. If my son was
struck, he s got to have satisfaction.
I lived long enough on the conti
nent to know that, and so has he.
And so have you. It isn't the way
it's done over there. If a man's
struck the other pays."
"Your son is sufficiently able to
take care of himself, I hope," I sug
gested, "If he'd taken care of himself,
you'd be luying under this table
now with your blood spoiling a
good Oriental rug," the elder Hay
ward answered with startling mal
ice. "I'm not sure but that he'd
ought to have done It I believe it's
up to you, Long, to give satisfactory
explanation."
"I have nothing to explains" Then
I turned my back upon him, and
faced the broken old figure that was
my host Sir, if there is any expla
nation to be made it will have to
come from your daughter."
It was a curious expression that
came to the old man's face. Its
lines seemed to grow slack. There
was hopelessness in it and the
weakness of long years, and above
all things else, hopeless, utter im-
potency. '
It seemed to me that the girl
opened her lips to speak. But be
fore the words came, the elder Hay
ward had answered for her.
"What has this young pup to do
with the relations between Joseph
ine and my son?" he asked, queru
lously. "They have already been
settled. If that is the issue, it only
makes it more certain what course
remains. They can't go on living
here, guests in the same house, with
this between them. Tell him. South
ley that he has two choices. One
Is to apologize. The other is to
leave the house."
"Is that the truth?" I asked my
host
"Tell him It Is the truth," Hay-
ward's Indomitable words went on.
The tone was of a threat ominous,
determined. The eyes of the two
elder men met
'She has nothing to explain,"
Southley told me falteringly.
I looked at the girl, and no man
can measure or describe the ang
uish that was In her eyes. But she
dldn t look straight at me. First
she glanced at the strong, bull-dog
figure of the elder Hayward. Then
she searched for her father's time
dimmed eyes, and here she found
her answer.
He's right Dr. Long," she told
me. "You must make your own explanations."
It seems the odds are against
me," I told them simply. "Mr.
Southley, I have only done what
any American man would have to
do, and I can't and won't apologize
to anyone. I have carried out the
obligation of a guest to his host in
the way my Instincts told me. Noth
ing will make me believe that I did
wrong. It Is evident that you up
hold what theBe other men say
and your daughter upholds them,
too. And if you will have my bag
brought to me, I will go at once.'
The girl clasped her father's
hands. A world of appeal was in
her dark eyes.
"He can't go in this dark storm,"
she told him. "The road along the
levee isn't safe. Tell him he can't
go till the storm is over."
The elder Hayward chortled from
beyond the table.
"A good wetting might teach him
manners," he suggested. "What
about It Southley?"
The tone was insistent, and per
haps it had a scornful quality, too,
"Of course, he can't go until the
rain is done. I won't send out my
cars on a night like this."
The girl whirled to me. Appeal
was all over her.
"You won;t go till tomorrow?"
she pleaded. "Tell me, doctor. You
won't go 1111 the storm's over."
"I can't very well, if your father
won't let the cars go out" I tried
to speak bitterly; but even after her
betrayal, the very look of her soft
ened me.
I found young Southley sitting
before a little fire in the library, and
he called to me as I passed. In
spite of the warmth of the night
the little flame looked hospitable
and kindly. .,
"Heavens, what a night!" Jie ex
claimed. 'I suppose you've heard
about about the tiger?"
"Of course, I know the legend.
Anything new?"
"Hasn't old Hayward told you?
He and my father have been out
talking to the servants, just a little
while ago. He's quite an old beast
you know. Well, the colored peo
ple say he is walking again tonight"
"Nice little thing to think about
as I drop to sleep," I suggested.
"Isn't it? We have an old gar
dener that we call Mose. Mose was
in town today, and he came back
riding a horse about eleven o'clock.
Rather it was somewhat before
eleven, because you and the older
Hayward were out on the golf
green for your late evening's walk."
"Go on," I urged. "Mose was
riding hpme. I suppose he saw the
ghost-tiger floating through the air,
or riding a broomstick "
"Nothing quite so bizarre as that
I'm sorry to say. Maybe I talk
lightly, but I'm feeling rather seri
ous,. Long. If our tiger had done
nothing except ride a broom, or fly,
or something, it would have been
a good legend to tell our children
and toast to in good vintages. But
unfortunately our tiger took other
ways of manifesting himself. All
he did was frighten Mose's horse
and leave his track in the earth."
The man spoke wholly without
emotion. He smiled a little, too a
rather wan, hopeless smile that was
singularly upsetting to the spirit
"His track!" I echoed. "You don't
mean that"
"He saw a great yellow and black
cat almost as large as a pony. But
that isn't quite all. Mose kept his
head. He told himself it was a
delusion, just as you and I have told
ourselves many times. So he con
trolled his horse; then looked down
at the moonlit road. It was cov
ered with dust and he could see
very plainly. And he saw just
what I told you."
I spoke very quietly.
"Tracks?"
"Yes as big as his two hands,
clear across the road. He wanted
to take father and the Haywards
and I down to see them. I think
all of us except father, who is rath
er old for such excursions, were
going but something has evidently
diverted them. They were to meet
me here."
I suppose the rain has spoiled
them now."
"Weakened them, anyway. Of
course, the colored people are terri
fied. The night the tiger first went
wild was just on such a night as
this in the middle of the storm.
They say on such nights as these
he likes to come back into the
warm, dry house, and play in the
curtains.
In a few minutes more we were
Pioneers
Grangers
Chautauquans '
Welcome
Farmers & Stockgrowers National
Heppner Bank egon
out where the rain beat upon us.
The road was already washed with
water. It didn't seem possible that
If there had really been mysterious
tracks in the dust, that they could
have endured the storm.
"I've got some fine plans for to
morrow if it Just clears up," the
youth told me joyously as we
tramped up the road. I think he
was trying to divert his mind, as
well as mine, from the business in
hand.
"I'm sorry, Ernest," I told him.
"I'm going borne tomorrow."
He stopped in his tracks, and I
urged him on.
"Going home? Good Lord, why?
I thought you'd stay to see us
through. Of coarse, I can't blame
you "
"I've got to make a living," I told
him lightly. "It's time I went to
work."
"But you were going to stay a
full week and you promised sis
last night that yqu would make it
ten days or two weeks."
"Did she tell you that?"
"Tell me? I should say she did.
She danced a highland fling."
It didn't make the scene of the
hour before any more pleasant to
remember. She had seemed glad
when I told her I had postponed
my departure. And even now Er
nest's words filled me with a strange
soaring gladness that I tried to
fight off. She had proved the hour
before how much she really cared.
She belonged to Vilas, not me, in
spite of the fact that she had been
ready to kill him when I opened
the door of the den. I remembered
every smile each had been an
epoch every softness in her dark
eyes, every tremor of her lips.
We tramped through the down
pour, and soon we came to the
point that the negro had described.
Then we began to search about with
the lanterns. It must have made
a strange picture the distant light
ning, the glowing lanterns, our own
tall figures in the yellow raincoats.
The great house was dark behind
us. ,
(Continued next week.)
NOTICE TO PROPERTY
OWNERS.
Property owners of Heppner are
hereby notified to clear away all
grass and weeds from buildings on
their premises, that may act as a
fire hazard during the dry season.
Prompt compliance will obviate fur
ther action and help safeguard the
city.
By order of the Common Council.
E. G. NOBLE, Mayor.
NOTICE OF ESTRAT.
I have at my place one brown
mare, about seven years of age,
branded circle T and weighing
about 1350 pounds. Owner may
have said animal upon calling at
my place and paying for this adver
tisement O. G. HAGUKWOOD,
lone, Ore. 10-12.
FOR SALE Pair Chippewa high
top shoes; heavy; size 7. - Inquire
this office. - lltf.
JkumwidiVoitablc
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