I I /s ^rtf*f»^ „!f, «,. V(a T( I ', ((J INTERNATIONAL FALLS PRESS The chievously Czar's Spy The sun had set, and the sky above "I don't see why he should object in showed the crimson of the distant the least. If you are good enough to Northern Minnesota Hospital afterglow, warning us that it was time assist me to search for my bracelet, we began to think of how to make our he surely ought to be much obliged to exit. We were passing around a sharp you." The Mystery of a Silent Love fhV'j bend in the glen where the bowlders I at once gladly accepted her invitation were so thickly moss grown that our to investigate the curious disappearance 3 By Chevalier William Le Queux il'i '-i*J feet fell noiselessly, when I thought of the body of poor Olinto's "-~u fc. 1 I heard a voice, and raising my hand fellow-victim, determined to obtain we both halted suddenly. the secret knowledge possessed Author of "THE CLOSED BOOK" Etc. by that smart, handsome girl before "Someone is there," I whispered W" l. W^.-V quickly. "Behind that rock." She me. That her suspicions were in the ILLUSTRATIONS by C. D. RHODES I 1 I right direction I felt confident, yet if nodded in the affirmative, for she, too, the dead woman had been removed had heard the voice. Copyright by the Smart Set Publishing Co. ind hidden by the assassin it must have We listened, but the sound was not been after the discovery made by me. repeated. That someone was on the a a She hesitated moment, then in "Be discreet," I tfaid, "And in return L. The fellow must have actually dared other side of the rock I knew, for in low, eager voice she said: I will do my very utmost to assist you to return to the spot and carry off the a tree in the vicinity a thrush was hopping "Because I have already seen that in hunting down the assassin." victim. Yet if he had done that, why from twig to twig, sounding its knife in another person's possession." And thus we made our attempt did he allow the corpse of the Italian alarm-cry and objecting to being disturbed. "Then what is your theory regarding Half an hour after I was driving in to remain and await discovery? He the affair?" I inquired. the dogcart through the pouring rain might perhaps have been disturbed Therefore we crept silently forward "It seems certain that the poor fellow up the hill out of gray old Dumfries and compelled to make good his together to ascertain who were the intruders. went to the wood by appointment, to my uncle's house. escape. The only manner, however, and was killed. The affair interested As I descended from the cart and "You tell me, Miss Muriel, that yon in which to get a view beyond the me, and as soon as I recognized the gave it over to a groom, old Davis, the suspect the truth, and yet you deny huge rock that, having fallen across the a old Italian knife in the hand of the butler, came forward, saying in all knowledge of the murdered man!" stream centuries ago, had diverted its low voice: keeper, I went up there and looked a 3t H. Monohan, M. D. Elizabeth Monohan, M. D. exclaimed in tone of slight reproach. channel, was to clamber up its mossy about. I am glad I did so, for I found "There's Miss Leithcourt waiting to sides to the summit This we did eagerly something whioh seems to have escaped Mary Ghostley, M. D. see you, Mr. Gordon. She's in the "Until we have cleared up the mystery and breathlessly, without betraying the notice of the detectives." morning room, and been there an hour. of the woman I can say nothing," Office over International State Bank. International Falls, Mm our presence by the utterance ol "And what's that?" I asked eagerly. She asked me not to tell anyone else R'as her answer. "I can only tell you, a single word and laying ourselves flat "Why, about three yards from the she's here, sir." Mr. Gregg, that if what I suspect is as we came to its summit. pool of blood wher- unfortunate I walked across the big hall and '-rue, then the affair will be found to Then together we peered over, just, foreigner was found is another small Along the corridor to the room the old 3e one of the strangest, most startling however, in time to see two dark figures pool of blood where the grass and man had indicated. and most ingenious plots ever demised of men disappearing into the ferns around are all crushed down as 8 And as I opened the door and Muriel by one man against the life of another." Border Wholesale Meat & Grocery Co. thicket on the opposite side of th« though there had been a struggle Leithcourt in plain black rose to glen. there." meet me, I plainly saw from her white, "Then a man is the assassin, you "Who are they, I wonder?" I asked. "There may have been a struggle at haggard countenance that something think?" I exclairpf?d quickly. ''Do you recognize them?" E. A. Yernberg, Manager that spot, and the man may have staggered "I believe so. But even of that I "No. They are entire strangers to some distance before he fell am not at all sure. We must first find me," was her answer. "But they seem dead," the woman." fairly well dressed. Perhaps two "Not If he had been struck in the Wholesale and Retail Meats, sportsmen from some shooting party heart, as they say. He would fall, Groceries, Fruits and Feed Rannoch wood was already in its in the neighborhood. They've lost' would he not?" she suggested. "No. gold-brown glory of autumn, and as I their way most probably." 1 The police seem very dense, and this stood with Muriel Leithcourt on the "But I don't think they carried guns,"j plain fact has not yet occurred to Home-Made Sausage and edge of it, near the spot where Olinto I said. "One of them had something1 them. Their theory is the same as Hamburger Santini had fallen, the morning sun over his shoulder?" whAt you suggest, but my own is something $ was shining in a cloudless sky. I "Wasn't it a gun? I thought it quite different, Mr. Gregg. I believe asked her opinion which was the most was." 'i that a second person also fell likely corner, but she replied: "No, he wasn't carrying it like he'd Give us a Trial and You Will a victim," she added in a low, distinct "I know so little of this place, Mr. carry a gun. It was short—and tone. Stay With Us & seemed more like a spade." Gregg. You have known it for years, I gazed at her open-mouthed. Did Ve while this is only my first season "A spade!" she gasped quickly in, she, I wondered, know the actual 8 a low voice. here." Our Prices are Always Right and Our Stock Always Fresh truth? Was she aware that the woman At the moment my eye caught sight, "Very well," I answered. "Let us who had fallen there had disappeared? of a portion of the ground below usi start here, and first take a small circle, "A second person!" I echoed, as Second Ave. and Fifth Street International Falls, Mum. at the base of the rock which had evidently examining every bush carefully. The though in surprise. "Then do you believe Is been recently disturbed. body may have easily been pushed in that a double murder was committed?" "It is a spade the man is carrying!" beneath a thicket and well escape observation." I cried excitedly. "Look down there! "I draw my conclusion from the fact They've just been burying something!" that the young man, on being struck And so together, after taking our eV^eV^eV^eV^eV^eV^eV^eV^ »V^»#r Her quick eye3 followed the direction in the heart, could not have gone such bearings, we started off, working our I indicated, and she answered: way into the thick undergrowth, beating a distance as that which separates the "I really believe they have concealed one mark from the other." with our sticks, and making mi- something!" "But he might have been slightly DOWN DEEP IN YOUR POCKET Then when we had allowed the men wounded—on the hand, or in the face— to get beyond hearing, we both slipped at first, and then at the spot where down to the other side of the bowlder he was found struck fatally," I suggested. and there discovered many signs that The coins ache for freedom. .They exert an the earth had been hurriedly exca- She shook her head dubiously, but 4 vated and only just replaced. made no reply to my argument. Her influence over you to be put into circulation. .No Quicker than it takes to describe the confidence in her own surmises made exciting incident which followed, we it quite apparent that by some unknown temptation to spend needlessly when the money is broke down the branch of a tree and means she was aware of the with it commenced moving the freshly second victim. Indeed, a few moments in the bank on interest. Start an account now with disturbed earth, which was still soft later she snid to me: JS®® Revealing to Me a White, Hard, Set and easily removed. whatever surplus you have—even a dollar will open "It is for this reason, Mr. Gregg, that Face With Closed Eyes and Dropped ft Muriel found a dead branch in the I have sought you in confidence. Nobody Jaw. vicinity, and both of us set to work an account. Don't allow your money to work you must know that I have come here with a will, eager to ascertain what had happened—that she had been to you, or they would suspect and if was hidden there. That something suspicion fell upon me it would bring make it work for you, this is theway others get ahead. forced by circumstances to come ta had certainly been concealed was, to me in strictest confidence. upon me a fate worse than death. Remember, us, quite evident, but what it really Was she, I wondered, about to reveal therefore, that my future is was we could not surmise. to me the truth? entirely in your hands." Digging with a piece of wood was FIRST NATIONAL BANK "I don't quite understand,'" I said, hard and laborious work and it was rising and standing before her in the CHAPTER VI. a long time before we removed sufficient fading twilight, while the rain drove International Falls, Minn. earth to make a hole of any size. upon the old diamond window panes. The Gathering of the Clouds. But Muriel exerted all her energy, and "Mr. Gregg," exclaimed the girl with "But I can only assure you that whatever both of us worked on in dogged silence agitation, as she put forth her blackgloved confidence you repose in me, I hand, "I—I suppose you know full of wonder and anticipation. With shall never abuse, Miss Leithcourt." a spade we should have soon been able —you've heard all about the discovery "I know, I know!" she said quickly. to investigate, but the earth having today at the wood? I need not tell "I trust you in this matter implicitly. apparently been stamped down hard you anything about it." I have come to you for many reasons, prior to the last covering being put "Yes, Miss Leithcourt, I only wish chief of them being that if a second upon it, our progress was very slow you would tell me about it," I said victim has fallen beneath the hand 5^ DON'T ORDER YOUR AUTO Until you have seen the and difficult. gravely, inviting her to a chair and of the assasin, it is, I know, a woman." seating myself. Who is the man?" At last, a quarter of an hour or so "A woman! Whom?" W. after we had commenced, Muriel, "Ah! that we don't know," she replied, "At present I cannot tell you. I pale-faced and anxious. "I standing in the hole and having dug must first establish the facts. If this "METZ" 25 her stake deeply into the ground, suddenly wanted to see you alone—that's the woman were really stricken down, if. cried: reason I am here. They must not then her body lies concealed somewhere know at home that I've been over "Look! Look, Mr. Gregg! Whywhatever in the vicinity. We must find f, if is that?" here." it and bring home the crime to the Then Together We Peered Over. '«f, "Why, is there any service I can I bent forward as she indicated, and guilty one." FULLY EQUIPPED WITH my eyes met an object so unexpected render you?" nute examination of every bush or "But if we succeed in finding it, Sf "Yes. A very great one," she responded that I was held dumb and motionless. heap of dead leaves. All through the could we place our hand upon the GRAY & DAVIS ELECTRIC The amazing enigma was surely with quick eagerness, "I— morning we walked on, our hands assassin?" I asked, looking straight at complete! well—the fact is, I have summoned badly torn by brambles. My own coat her. & LIGHT AND STARTER- courage to come to you and beg of was badly torn, and more than once I "If we find it, the crime would then (To be continued next week.) you to help me. I am in great distress—and was compelled to scramble through tell its own tale—it would convict the FULL STREAMLINE BODY I have not a single friend almost impassable thickets yet we person in whose hand I have seen that Swims After Hat Drowns. Sf whom I can trust—in whom I oan confide." found no trace of any previous intruder, fatal weapon," was her clear, bold St. James.—Several young men from 32 BY 2y2 TIRES, FOR ONLY and having completed our answer. this city went to Mary's lake and the Her lips moved nervously, but no circle were compelled to admit that "Then you wish me to assist you in $600. bat of one was carried by the wind far Sfc sound came from them, so agitated the gruesome evidence of the second this search, Miss Leithcourt? My out on the water. Severin Erickson, was she, so eager to tell me some* c^ime did not exist at that spot. 5* search may bring suspicion upon me. an expert swimmer, disrobed and thing and yet at the same time reluctant Muriel was untiring in her activity. It will be difficult to examine the whole swam out after the hat. Just before •i to take me into her confidence. Hither and thither she went, beating wood without arousing the curiosity of reaching the shore he threw up his "It concerns the terrible discovery down the high bracken and tangles of somebody—the keeper or the police." hands and went down. Parties have International Machine Co. made up in Rannoch wood," she said weeds, poking with her stick into every "I have already thought of that," she been diving and dredging ever since,, in a hoarse, nervous voice at last. hole and corner, and going farther but the body has not been secured* said. "I will pretend tomorrow to lose "That unknown man was murdered— and farther into the wood in the this watch bracelet in the wood," and Erickson and his brother Carl, so far stabbed to the heart. I have suspicions." certainty that the body was therein es known his only relative in this she held up her slim wrist to show S S 3 3 S S S S concealed. me the little enameled watch set country, came from Sweden in June "Of the murdered man's identity?" Soon we came to a deep wooded ravine Of last year. her bracelet. "Then you and I will "No. Of the assassin. I want you of the existence of which I was search for it diligently, and the police to help me, if you will." In ignorance. It was a kind of small will never suspect the real reason of I Turnbezlrk at New Ulm. International Falls Abstract Co. 1 "Most certainly," I responded. "But glen through which a rivulet flowed, New Ulm.—Rain interfered with the our investigation. Tomorrow I shall If you believe you know the assassin a but the banks were covered with open-air gymnastic tournaments of the write to you telling you about my you probably know something of the thick, impenetrable undergrowth. Minnesota Turnbezlrk in Turner park, BURDICK, KREMER & KING, Proprietors. loss, and you will come over to Rannoch victim?" "This is a most likely place," declared but some of the events took place in and offer to help me." he a "Only that looked like foreigner." Abstracts, Real Estate and Insurance my dainty little companion as the hall. Prizes and diplomas were I was/ silent for a moment. we approached it. "Anything could swarded. "Is Mr. Woodroffe bach at the I ex* "Then you have seen him?" easily be concealed in that high castle? I heard he was to return today." CoUectiocis, Conveying and claimed, much surprised. bracken down there. Let us search Saskatchewan Battalion Depleted. My remark caused her to hold her the whole glen from end to end," she J. £. BURDICK, Manager "No. I had a letter from him from breath for an instant. Then she answered, cried with enthusiasm. Bordeaux a week ago. He is still on Regina, Sask., July 10.—Casualties International Falls Minnesota rather lamely, it seemed to Acting upon her suggestion and the continent. I believe, indeed, he xxsttttgxxxxxxxsa me: the fifth battalion, practically all without thought of luncheon, we made has gone to Russia, where he sometimes men from Saskatchewan, have depleted "From his features and complexion I a descent of the steep bank until has business." the battalion to one-fifth of its ordinary guessed him to be an Italian. I saw we reached the rocky bed of the "I asked you the question, Miss Muriel, strength, according to a letter received him after the keepers had found him." stream. Undaunted, she went on, because I thought if Mr. Woodroffe from F. M. Bagshaw, who went "Besides," she went on, "the stiletto springing from stone to stone and were here he might object to Subscribe For The Press with the battalion in the first contingent. was evidently an Italian one, which steadying herself with her stick. If our searching in company," I explained, a Of the men out of commission, would almost make it appear that we could only discover the body of the smiling. nearly one-third have either been foreigner was the assassin." dead woman, then the rest would be Her cheeks flushed slightly, as killed or captured, another fourth are, "Is that your own suspicion?" clear, she declared. She would openly though confused at my reference to seriously injiii ed and the remainder "No." denounce the assassin. her engagement, and she said mis­ are reported less seriously hurt "Why?" DEFECTIVE PAGE