In thick dust that covered the floor were some
confused footprints near the door and along the
wall through which it opened. Along one of the ad-
joining walls, too, past the boarded-up windows,
was the trail made by the man himself in reaching
his corner. Instinctively in approaching the body the
three men followed that trail. The sheriff grasped
one of the out-thrown arms; it was as rigid as iron,
and the application of a gentle force rocked the en-
tire body without altering the relation of its parts.
Brewer, pale with excitement, gazed intently into
the distorted face. 'God of mercy!' he suddenly
cried, 'it is Manton! '
'You are right,' said King, with an evident at-
tempt at calmness: 'I knew Manton. He then wore
a full beard and his hair long, but this is he.'
He might have added: 'I recognized him when
he challenged Rosser. I told Rosser and Sancher
who he was before we played him this horrible trick.
When Rosser left this dark room at our heels, for-
getting his outer clothing in the excitement, and
driving away with us in his shirt sleeves--all
through the discreditable proceedings we knew
whom we were dealing with, murderer and coward
that he was!'
But nothing of this did Mr. King say. With his
better light he was trying to penetrate the mystery
of the man's death. That he had not once moved from
the corner where he had been stationed; that his
posture was that of neither attack nor defence; that
he had dropped his weapon; that he had obviously
perished of sheer horror of something that he saw
--these were circumstances which Mr.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186