taring curiously at him. With an effort Perry assumed
an inscrutable expression and determined to stare the other out of
countenance. Reluctantly the man glanced away, and after a moment, under
Perry's stony gaze, he suddenly arose and chose a new seat in front of
the car. Perry took to the solace of a cigarette and stared out at the
flying telegraph poles. From time to time he noted familiar landmarks.
The train had evidently left Keegan far behind and was already nearly
into the home town.

For the balance of the ride the reporter experienced pure nightmare. The
peculiar sensations of dizziness, accompanied by frightful periods of
insensibility, kept recurring, now, however, not lasting more than ten
or fifteen minutes at a time. At such times as he was conscious he found
opportunity to wonder in an abstracted sort of way how he had ever
managed to get on the train and pay his fare, which must have been a
cash one, without arousing the conductor's suspicions. Discovery of a
rebate in his pocket proved that he must have done so, however. The
business of leaving the train and getting to the office has always been
an unknown chapter in Perry's life.

He came out of one of his mental fogs to find himself seated in the
private editorial sanctum of the Journal. Evidently he had just arrived.
Bland, a thick-set man with the jaw of a bulldog, was eyeing him
intently.

"Well! Any report to make?" The question was crisp.

The reporter passed a hand across his perspiring forehead. "Yes, I guess
so. I--er--that is--you see--"

"Where's Handlon? What happened to you? You act as if you were drunk."
Bland was not in an amiable mood.

"Search me," Perry managed to respond. "If Skip isn't here old man Kell
must have done for him. I came back alone."

"You wha-a-t?" the irate editor fairly roared, half rising from his
chair. "Tell me exactly what happened and get ready to go back there on
the next train. Or--no, on second thoughts you'd better go to bed. You
look all used up. Handlon may be dead or dying at this minute. That Kell
could do anything." He pressed the button on his desk.

"Johnny," he said to the office boy, "get O'Hara in here on the double
quick and tell him to bring along his hat and coat."

* * * * *

He turned again to Perry, who was gazing nervously at the door. "Now
tell me everything that happened and make it fast," he ordered.

The reporter complied, omitting nothing exc