ned to England
from India he had disappeared on account of a foolish row with our
father. Our only sister, Helen, had married a scamp against the wishes
of the family, and had left England also. Shortly after that both our
parents died, and I came to America with the intention of finding both
my sister and brother, and this is how it has turned out."

Tears were coursing down the major's pale cheeks.

"Don't you see how it is?" he asked, holding out the photograph to Ted.

Suddenly it dawned upon Ted, and he took the photograph and gazed at it
eagerly.

It was Helen Mowbray, the sister of the major and of Farnsworth, or Fred
Caruthers, to give him his real name--the woman who had been strangled
to death in her house at Rodeo.

This was a shock indeed.

The complications which had arisen in these few hours were sufficient to
shatter the strongest nerves, and Ted himself trembled a little at the
possibilities unfolded by this unforeseen and unexpected knowledge,
while it entirely unnerved the major, and left him as weak as a child.

What was to be done? It was not likely that Fred Caruthers could be
found at once. That he knew that it was his sister who had been
murdered, and that he was charged with the crime, would be sufficient to
spur him on and on, his brain and heart filled with horror. And that he
had just found his brother, who might have given him all the moral
support he needed at such a time, only to be driven from him by the fear
of mob law, which he knew would give him no chance whatever for his
life, was an additional sting.

The major sat on the edge of the bed with drooping head, holding in one
hand the letter from his dead mother, and in the other the photograph of
his murdered sister.

He was too dazed with the suddenness of the shock with which the
revelation had come to him to stir.

Ted saw that he must be roused from this immediately.

"Come," he said, placing his hand gently, on the major's shoulder, "we
must do something at once."

"What can we do?" asked the major, in a stifled voice.

"In the first place, we must ride to Rodeo with all speed. Do not forget
that your sister lies there dead, and that it is your duty to care for
her."

"Of course. I had forgotten. All the ghosts of the past crowded in upon
me until I forgot my duty to the dead. We will go at once. Will you take
charge of things? I am not able yet to do so."

"Certainly. Leave it all to me."

Ted left the major w