WHIT HAPPENED BEFORE Lone out fishing with Alexander a d^tnctivf. tells of his projected trip Eotblpy I'ovvns. Pierce advisee him to rVj, wliltf open while there. On the I in a train Dr. Lon* is attracted by a I who lat^r faints*. Dr. Lonit treats her. I into h'-r half. Is astounded to I ? losiivtl revolver. I/wk Ahmad Das. an Oriental. r-^diKTH h"n to South ley Downs.. L ^ nfttl Mr. 8oathleX and his son j f . Ml Hajwoed and ris son! , and then Josephine South ley. who l.i i Ijr| he hud met on the train. Josephine fhim thf story of Southley Downs and which is not the ghost of a hu- i 1 brine but a titfer. Long has a quarrel with Vilas Hav over Jowphine. and finds that the Hay , havrt i -tr. nkv authority over the He is ordered to leave Southl?*y IT..- rain prevents him leaving at "p. I.(?mr and Ernest KO out on the ? the r:-in l"?>kin? for the tracks of a I that MM says are liicwe. At find the tracks. I-ater Ernest and c... prowlln* creature in the 1^ - at Downs. This frtgbtuui the 1 Hay ward, who also seen It. Ernest , f..' f? 1 thnt Ahmed Das is perpetrat Lute deviltry. , ,.,v- H ? ward is Inter found dead. I nik'-; if bv a plant's blow. , c.r'n. - -in i pollee arrive in order to ft Ij?te. !he murder. Dr. I.one must >. Downs. All the persons I I it ? t by Inspector Freeman. -ui'V ;?':i lolls of the love he Swtvcen Vilas Hnyward and iMirini; th? course of investlKa. hr ? rime l?r. Lorn? Itecoiws suppi o f a n in numed Robin. He determines trh him. ?r and Inspector Freeman Dr. Lorn? fi??*!>-- that his I at Southley Downs la coming to an and r>*tr? - leuvint; the habitat of the or ?rli<'fr feels he has a hopeless love. * South 1>fcins to show some u ' I Dr. l.onu durinc the course estimations of the murder. In Ire r. l.^nc meets Vilas Hayward. Iratch tin oriental. Ahmad Das. who p-obs^'ur-d in t! ? dim IlKht GO ON WITH THE STORY ? 11 tell you Ahmad," he cried, tell you all. I ni Strumburg, $ you said. and a fugitive from re. too. And I haven't anything ist Soutliley. Even my father n't ha\e proved his claim in I. and lie's dead. Let me go d! Don't raise your talons me." ? wild flow of words died [. ami for an instant the form shadow halted. Then it inov iwly forward again. tell you I'll go away, and never i again. W e never had any iroofs. \hmud! Let me go!"" 1 at thai instant I felt AIexan-| breath against my ear. "You H. didn't vou, Long?" he whis len the work's done." 'It the stir as his arm reached an electric switch on t}ie wall, essed it. Unknown to me. the ?1 lighting plant had been re I. All the great chandeliers library flashed on at once. first impression was blind But as my eyes became ad to the sudden glare, I knew part of the truth at last. The of the tiger had been most real convincing at the edge of the and ineffective candlelight. ? was more terrible than the Jrfeit giraffes that the clowns e in a circus ring, when the from the chandeliers came Before us. stripped of all de i? Ahmad Das rested on his and feet on the floor. He held low, his legs almost tit. to give the effect of length, him. in a rather ingenious '"as thrown a great, tawny tiger Hie four legs were fastened ?me simple device to his an wrists, and the great head, out with some light substance, on his. ?aped and siezed Alexander's | are crooks themselves. The elder Strum burg was a confederate in crime in Southley's own youth. I use the word guardedly, Long, and I think it is true. I haven't any doubt but lhat Southley's early life wouldn't bear investigation. But that dosen't matter now. It's a joy my boy, to eome to the aid of one who has eome to his own aid. Southley rose above that other life. '"I think that he escaped after a particularly reckless crime. It wasn't a crime lhat benefitted him financially, he says; but yet the hue and cry that was raised scared him from his criminal ways. A man was shot, and though there were extenu ating circumstances, he certainly would have gone to prison for twen ty years at least, according to the way men were sentenced in those days. First he went to India and Africa, and made his fortune. Then he came to America, as Andrew Las son. And all the time he lived in deadly fear that the long arm of the British law would reach out for him. "Then the elder Strumburg found him out. He adopted the name of Roderick, and sent out inquiries for this Andrew Lasson. He offered a huge reward to be paid a year after we found him, and of course Las son? or Southley as we call him now ? was to pay the reward. He came here at last, with his vicious son, and the work ot blackmail be gan. They told old Southley ? in the gray twilight of his days ? what to expect in case he didn't come, through with their demands. ' "They said they had proofs that* would put him back in prison. The terror of his long years came hack as never before, and he didn't have the strength and judgment to fight it any longer. Old age was upon him. He gave way again and again. And even today he wouldn't be free if it hadn't been for the real hero of Southley Downs ? his servant Ahmad Das. " \ hmad Has is a mystic. Long you're a doctor, and you don't be lieve in parental influence. You say it's all bunk. Yet it is true that Ah mad Das's mother was attacked by a tiger, that the creature died when \h mad Das was born ? and it is true that Ahmad has the most remark able. natural, catlike grace of any man I ever saw. Of course he just pretended the rest ? his propensities toward creeping around on his hands and knees. It all lent toward the effect. He's a mystic. 1 tell you ? perhaps a believer in the theory of reincarnation of souls: and that dark, oriental mind of his conceived an idea that I don't think most An glo-Saxons would have ever thought of. '"He knew he couldn't kill the Haywards. That was murder, and would defeat their own ends in that I it might draw attention to the past I life of Southley. He knew that i Southley coudn't satiate their rapa* Icious appetites. They would cling land suck till the last cent was gone. Southley bought those clothes ? paid for their cars. Other things were! planned for this winter. So Ahmad Das conceived of the desperate scheme of scaring the Strumburgs ? or the Haywards as they called themselves ? from the estate by means of the tiger legend. "Ahmad Das had all the material in the world to work with. He knew it when he thought out the plan. This jauguar ? a tawny streak in the jungle, and leaving its tracks in the mud ? was of course his greatest card. His own natural feline grace and Hayward's naturally superstiti tious nature were cards, too. Wicked men usually are superstitious. Of course Ahmad couldn't get the ja gaur into the house: but it was a simple matter to rig up thai tiger skin. Every day he put a piece of meat out on a certain flat rock on ithe hillside. It wasn't human blood and flesh you saw there. It was| ? good red beef : and Ahmad Das got ; blood stains on his shirt carrying it; | down there. And it wasn't any time jat all until they got that big cat sol | that he stayed around the jungle at the base of the hill. The inside! (work couldn't be done in the bright! ; light, so it was necessary to pretend 'that the lighting plant was broken. | I The faint light of candles gave justj the proper atmosphere. "Fm crazy about the whole i scheme, Long. It worked out to j perfection except for one thing. No body had counted on the jaguar kil ling Hayward." "What were you doing with that shirt ? and the beef blood?" "Simply making the necessary tests ? so to prove my story to the jury tomorrow. If I hadn't Free man would have had poor Ahmad ? ] the most faithful soul in the world ? convicted and hung for murder by now ? mentally, at least." "And, lastly, how did you come, to be involved in this affair at all? Did you come just because I sent for you?" "Fm a private detective. Long," was his quiet answer. "I don't work for the State, although the State em ploys me sometimes. Southley him Iself wrote for me to come ? to help I him out. I told him I couldn't at first ? that was some weeks ago ? ?but I knew a young man that would jbe the greatest assistance to him in the hour of need. That young man had been in two or three bad messes before ? the affair at Wildmarsh, and the story of the cobra curse, and the Mole. South ley had met the young man in a visit in Tampa, and he liked him. So the next day this young chappie ? and what a hone head he has been got a letter from Southley asking hirn down for a week's shooting, fishing, and rest. He was a doctor, and his name was Long." Vilas left on the night train. He packed his hag in silence, and was rowed over t<> the railroad track whence he could go to the station. When midnight hung still and mysterious over the water world. Josephine and 1 found ourselves alone on the great veranda. "Lets walk down to I lie water's edge,' she suggested. "It's drying lip so quickly. It will he gone in a few days more." "And 1 will he gone, too,*' I told her. She walked in front of me. down the narrow path. And I was strug gling for words that wouldn't come. "Did you know. Miss Southley. that Alexander Pierce was responsi ble for my invitation here?" I asked her at last. She did not even turn her head. "I found it out tonight." "Do you see what that means? That I was sent here to serve. And all 1 did was make mistakes. "They started on the day we met ? when I let you go without provid ing means of ever seeing you again," I went on. "Fate protected me then. I wonder if I can ask it to protect rne now ? after all the other mis takes I've made. And the worst of them all ? the ones that hurt most ? are the things that I said and thought of you." Her voice was scarcely more than a whisper when she answered me. "They hurt me, too." "They showed me up as the poor er clay," 1 told her sadly. "They exposed me ? a doubting and suspi cious man, and a blind man, too. One who is unable to believe in his finer instincts. Of course, I see now why you brought the pistol in your vanity bag. Tell me, Josephine! It was for no other reason than to pro tect yourself from Vilas Hay ward, if worse came to worst?" "I don't believe you art* done doubting \et. or you wouldn't ask," she