aration before the
hour of its execution.

By the side of the narrow path which led through the woods, stood a
small cedar tree upon the summit of a slight rise in the ground. Its
spare, straggling branches were found to have been interwoven with
branches of another tree, so as to form a complete screen from the
approach from the railroad, in the direction which Henry Schulte must
inevitably come on his way from the depot. Here, undoubtedly, the
murderer had been concealed, and as the old man passed by,
unconscious of the danger that threatened him, he had glided
stealthily after him and struck the murderous blow.

These, and these only, were the facts discovered, and the question as
to whose hand had committed the foul deed remained a seemingly
fathomless mystery.

Midnight tolled its solemn hour, and as the tones of the bell that
rang out its numbers died away upon the air, the weary party wended
their way homeward, leaving the dead and the living in the little
farm-house upon the "Hill," memorable ever after for the dark deed of
this dreary night.

CHAPTER V.

_The Hearing before the Coroner._--_Romantic Rumors and Vague
Suspicions._--_An Unexpected Telegram._--_Bucholz Suspected._

The next day the sun shone gloriously over a beautiful winter's day,
and as its bright rays lighted up the ice-laden trees in the little
wood, causing their branches to shimmer with the brilliant hues of a
rainbow's magnificence, no one would have imagined that in the gloom
of the night before, a human cry for help had gone up through the
quiet air or that a human life had been beaten out under their
glittering branches.

The night had been drearily spent in the home which Henry Schulte had
occupied, and the body of the murdered man had been guarded by
officers of the law, designated by the coroner who designed holding
the customary inquest upon the morrow.

To the inmates of the house the hours had stretched their weary
lengths along, and sleep came tardily to bring relief to their
overwrought minds. Bucholz, nervous and uneasy, had, without
undressing, thrown himself upon the bed with Sammy Waring, and during
his broken slumbers had frequently started nervously and uttered
moaning exclamations of pain or fear, and in the morning arose
feverish and unrefreshed.

The two girls, who had wept profusely during the night, and before
whose minds there flitted unpleasant anticipations of a public
examination, in which they