e muffled gun barrel which he
had tried to knock aside. The lover stood for an instant with his eyes
wide open, as if in wonder at a strange shock, but only for an instant.
Mark sprang to his side, and caught him as he fell to the ground.
There was a heavy crashing through the underbrush, then a voice was
raised in an oath and there was the sound of a struggle. Mark looked
up as Saunders broke through the bushes dragging after him the body of
the murderer. Dropping his unconscious burden, the detective came up
to where Mark was bending over the victim and pulled a little electric
glow lamp from his pocket.

"Let me look at him, Griffin," he said. He looked long and earnestly
at the man's face, then snapped off the light.

"He's the man," he announced.

[Illustration: Saunders looked long and earnestly at his face. "He's
the man!" he announced.]

"Who is he?" asked Mark quickly.

"The man I told you about--the man I took you for--the man for whose
sake the Duchess ran away--the chap I was watching for."

"And the other?" Mark nodded toward the gunman, who still lay
unconscious.

"Oh, he doesn't matter." Saunders spoke carelessly. "He'll get out of
it. It's all been arranged, of course. They really sent me here to
watch her; evidently they had him trailed from the beginning."

Crossing over, Saunders again snapped on his light, and examined the
face and clothing of the murderer.

"It's easy to see, Griffin, what the game was. This chap is one of the
foreigners at the railroad camp. He can say he was out
hunting--shooting squirrels--anything."

"He can't say that," put in Mark quickly, "for I saw him do it. I
tried to stop him."

Saunders turned quickly to Mark.

"Forget it, Griffin," he said earnestly. "You saw nothing. Keep out
of it. If it were only a common murder, I'd tell you to speak. But
this is no common murder. There are international troubles mixed up in
it. No one will thank you, and you will only get into difficulties.
Why, the biggest men in the country would have a special messenger down
here inside of twenty-four hours to keep you silent if they knew who
were behind this thing. For God's sake, leave it alone. Let this
fellow tell his story." He pointed to the man who was now coming to
his senses. "He has it all prepared."

"I'll leave it alone only if the man is dead; but, good God! you can't
expect me to leave him here to the mercy of that brood if he's only
wounded