THE STORYTELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 69, 17 April 1909, Page 4

THE STORYTELLER.

p THE BLACK CAT. k', SEXTON BLAKE "LAVS A GHOST.' fe With the exception of Mrs. Trevelyan F and lier son, and possibly th« village !.'■• constable—though he is doubtful—there f 'C was not a man, woman, or chrld in Peni'"- leven who did not believe that the outsj rages were the work of a particularly P.' spiteful and malignant ghost. And. al- § though one may laugh" at the siipcratiP tion of these simple Cornish li-hci-lolk, i f. one u bound to confess that ther-- were £. several features of the case which at 5. first sight seemed incapable of any but '< a supernatural explanation. r , , James Ritchie, the local coaastguard, '' was the first victim of the ''ghost." He • was on night duty at the time, and was patrolling the cliffs on the north side of the bay. It was a pitch-dark night, towards the end of January, and a strong and somewhat gusty breeze was blowing from the south-west. Snow had fallen earlier in the evening, and as Rit- •' chie was the first to come this way .since the snow liad ceased, the path which ran along the edge of the cliffs was covered , with a. soft, white, fleecy carpet two r. inches thick, whose smooth and unbroken surface Ritchie's footprints were the first to mar.

He had reached a point about half a

mile south-west of the village when r » suddenly he was startled to hear a wild, ■? weird cry, which, in his own words, ■-' ''froze his blood to the marrow of his ". bones." The cry appeared to come Irom ._< some spot close behind hiin, but ere he i could turn round he received a blow on jj the back of the head which caused him r 1 to stumble fotwards and fall ou his Z hands and knees. The blow was so severe that Ritchie I was partially stunned, and lay for scv--5 eral moments where he had fallen. When Ws scattered wits returned he scrambled to his feet and relit his lan- * torn, which had.'been extinguished by his fall. And then came the mysterious part of the affair. ** Ritchie'3 assailant had disappeared! t' t but, seeing that the ground', as already j■" stated, was covered with a virgin mantle of fleecy snow, the coastguard naturally expected to be able to give chase to '.' his assailant by following his footprints '!" in the snow. Imagine, therefore, his '„ stupefied bewilderment when, though he i"'' examined the surface of the snow for L tiftv yards on each side of the spot *■" where he had been struck, he failed to 'X discover a single footprint except his ?'~ About the same time that Ritchie was '■- assaulted in this mysterious fashion, » the Rev. Mr. Trevelyan, the rector of t- Penleven, was returning to the rectory £' after visiting a eick parishioner m the K village. A short cut from the village S** v to the. rectory was across one of the |.r iriebe-fields, known as the ten-acre pa.W lure. In this field-which, of course, 1 ' was carpeted with snow, like the rest Bt', of the countryside—was an open shed, I * which served as a night-shelter for the |f rector's ponv, which was always turned

rout" for the winter. Mr Travelyan tad crossed this held £ < on his wav to the village to see his sick gi parishioner, and he crossed it again on fc* his way back to thu rectory. At least, SS* he started to cross it; but, m consefc- quenee of something which happened &' when he was half-way across the held, §?' he had not returned to the rectory R- when midnight struck. _ & ' When half-past twelve arrived and. Zr ' there was still no sign of the rectors W return, bis wife hecame uneasy. At one I-' o'clock-bv which time the moon had »• rSen-shc'asked her son, Philip Trevel- &. van to go down to the village and ascertain why his father was so long in f~ coming bacK. , Philip Trevelvan, like his father, took "k the short cut across the ten-acre .pas- &„ tui-. Half-way across the field he came •r n the unconscious form of the rec- " ' tor lying face downwards in the snow, & „Hb an ugly wound on the back ot his %. head By'his sido stood the pony, '», shiveriug with pain and terror, and £,•*' bleeding profusely from a horrible gash. £ ■ on the left side of its meek. Vff \nd again the only prints in the snow f were those of the feet of the rector and

his son and the hoofs of the pony! Raising his father in his arms, Philip carried him up to the rectory. A doctor '. was Milt for, and afterwards the village ~K constable iras communicated with. By * that time Ritchie had also communi- £ cated with the constable; and by nine £ o'clock next.morning the whole village ?■ knew that Ritchie had been assaulted, r and the' rector had been stumicd, and £ lis ponv had been mutilated, by some |„ mv,terious assailant who was able _to §fe; travel across the snow; without leaving Sj - an\ footprints! fat In view of these facts, and also co.iB- sidcriae that neither Ritchie nor the P r , rtorhad been robbed, the superstitious K- villagers had no hesitation in attnbutKf in" the outrages to the machinations E o'" o uhostly visitant. Seedless to say, IL neither lira. Trevelyan nor Philip wok £ content with this explanation: and |* n hen night earns, and the investigations %■ of the local police had failed to shed <f- anv light on the mystery, Mrs. Trevclr, j.in wired for Sexton Blake.

t rra.ver.inf by the night express, the £. detustive arrived at Peuleven abmit * hall past one in the afternoon. By that - time the pony, had succumbed to its m--1 juries; but the rector, though, still un--s** contuious, was, accordiug to the doctor, I progressing favorably, and likely to rej? to\ev. . ~ Lj, After listening attentively to Philip %} Trcvelyan's story, the detective exE anuued the dead pony, and afterwards, E- with the doctor's permission, examined K ihv wound at the back of the rector's & Jie.id Then he asked to be taken 10 I " the field in which the outrage bad bi-n ■y perpetrated. iltr* The rector's son conducted hi in to the f" ten acre pasture, and showed him the f exact 6pot where he had fuu.id his f 'lie was lying just here, hi' said, Es ''with his right arm doubled under his ft head. He had apparently eUgg.'rcd f»r- ---£ ward a few paces before falling; but V there were no signs of a struggle, and I no footprints in the snow except Ins ft-' own That red stain over there is where ?•> the pony was standing. She was bleidL' )ng profusely; but in her case, as in the case of my'father, the scoundrel who fe- had attacked her had left no trace of |l. his presence." S The snow in the neighborhood of the f spot where the rector had been struck 5 down had been trampled into slush by Sf the feet of innumerable morbid sightfi> seers, Bevond this trampled area, li'iwg. e\ei the'field presented an unbrokvi 6 surface of white and glistening >now. JS* At least, the snow was white for the % part, but here and there, stretchg- ing in a line towards the aorth-oant E corner of the field, were several brown-

BR • ish looking par,enes. Wf bexton Blake walked over to one of §?< these patches, and picked up a handful W of discolored snow. He examined it. t. rubbed it between his fingers, anil j>", nodded his head. lb* '.rust what I expected." he muttered. ¥, -Le Chat Soir. without a doubt." H Philip Treveryan caught the hall--5i spoken words. P 1 I* Chat X-airJ" he repeated, m a I- pulled voice. "The Black Cat?'' ti- 'ics." said Sexton Blake, with a IT »mile. "The Black Cat—that's the ex- | J planation of the mystery. Xow take in • *• to r-ee Ritchie/' & They found the coastguard at homo, "*'-" cleaning his accoutrements. He repeatEed the story he bad told to the i-ou-stable the night but one before, and readily consented to show the detective the spot where the "ghost" had assault- ' ed him. , Here, again, the snow had, been trampled into meaningless slush; ana here again, not on-the summit of the ■ cliff, hut on its ..sloping, enow-clad face, were Several brownish patches similar to those- which Sexton Blake had obW" served in the ten-acre pasture. V "Yon were'struck on the back of the •H head. I understand," said Sexton Blake * lo Ritchie. "Naturally, therefore, you ' jji- did not see who struck yont" s>' r "That's so," said Ritchie. - ";' "Have \au any idea what you wore P ? »truek witht" gflf "It might have been a stick, i.r it fe&jjwght ha\c be»n the butt-end of a reAnyhow, it -was something Bn&C "Where were \a\\ when you were "Just abreaU of those bushes." | Bfijfc Sexton Blake all oiled over to a eluiup Rjjjffof gorsi' hu-nes growing on the very WgS&irtee of the cliff Drawing on his ?\>ves, K|P*e srroped amongst the litishes. and prcgfll|«ntly drew out a small mahogany. Siglfcraas-boiind bo\ eontahiinz an aneroid gg^twometer. "This settles the matter, I think, he Hgfeaiil quietly. B& "Settles the matter?' gasped PhihP HgfeTrevelyan "Why' How? What do mean?" ■!§£- Before the detective nad time to i''Hb a fisherman came running down ■glptpath. evidently in a slate of great

"Please, Mr. Blake," he said, address- t ing the detective, "the doctor says will I you please come to the Pollard Arms as quick as you can?" "Why?" asked Sexton Blake. "They've found another of 'em!" said ' the fisherman. ' "They? Who!" < 'Two of Sir .John Pollard's game- ' keepers. They; was passing through : Padley Wood about 'arf an hour ago, wh -,i ihcy came across the body of an unknown man lying in the snow. He was unconscious, an' one of his legs was broken, an' lie was cut about the 'ead something 'orrible. It must 'ave been the ghost what doe it, because " V He dropped his voice to an awed whisI per. "The keepers say," he said, ''as there wasn't a single footprint in the snow for a hundred yards all round the man!" "An unknown man, I think you said?" said Sexton Blake. "Yes," replied the fisherman. "A foreigner?" "1 doir't know," said the fisherman. I "But he's a big toff, anyhow, judgin' ,by his fur-lined coat, an" 'is dianioud ring, an' 'is gold watch, an' " The detective turned to Philip Trevelyan. "The owner of the Black Cat!" he said. ''Come along!" 111. "Mystery!" said Sexton Blake, as he and Philip Trevciyan trudged through the deepening dusk to the Pollard Arms. "There is no mystery. There 1 never was. Surely what has happened • is as clear as anything can be?" "To you, perhaps," said Trevelyan. ' "To me, I confess, the whole affair is 1 an inscrutable enigma." : The detective shrugged his shoulders. 1 . ''That w because you do not give your 1 i reason unfettered play," Ire said. ''lf ' .you approached the problem in the same spirit as you .would tackle a sum in ! I arithmetic, the answer would suggest ' ■ itself at once. You have only to ex- • icludv all those factors which fail to ; satisfy the conditions, and what remains, however improbable, it may sound, is bound to be the true solution. s I "Both Ritchie and your father," he continued, "were undoubtedly struck on ' the head by something, or somebody, "which, or who, was able to travel across ■ the snow without leaving any footprints ' 'Neither you nor I believe in ghosts, and J a bird is- out of the question. What, \ then, remains!" 5 • Trevelyan shook his head. 3 i "I don't know," he said.

1 "Yet you have heard of such things as balloons, I suppose!" said Sexton Blake.

i Trevelyaa. started. "By Jove!" he said. "You think " 1"I don't think—l'm sure!" said Sexton Blake. "As soon as I had heard your story, I realised! that a balloon ■was the only possible explanation. When I examined those brownish patches in the ten-acre pasture, and found they -were due to the presence of sand, my theory was confirmed. When I found 'that aneroid barometer, my theory ceased to be a theory, and became n certaiaty. ' "Without a doubt, what happened the night before last was this," he went on. "Somebody in a balloon, which was probably partly deflated, was drifting across the English Channel. Suddenly ■he found himself in danger of being Bashed against the face of the cliffs to the south-west of this village. Uttering thai try of alarm which Ritchie heard, he threw out some ballast, and thereby caused those brownish patches on the Bnow-clad face of the cliff.

: "In consequence of this manoeuvre, the balloon shot upwards, and cleared the edge,of tlic cliff. As it did so it evidently lurched to one side, and that mahogany ease, containing the baroknetet, was thrown out. The case struck Ritchie on the back of the head, and afterwards rolled into that clump of bushes. The balloon then drifted inland and floated over the ten-acre pasture. ) ,f \Vbat happened next," continued Sexton Blake, "is only conjecture, but conjecture, I think, which is founded 'on sound reasoning. The aeronaut's I grapnel, I opine, was dangling from the i car. and it was one of the flukes of the grapnel which caught the pony and inliflicted that wound in her neck, and IKvhieli aftenvards struck your father iand stunned him. | "Owing to the darkness," concluded the detective, "the occupant of the baliloon did not see what happened. He ■ only knew that his grapnel had caught in something which had failed to hold it. At the same time, probably, he saw the lights of the rectory in front of him, and, not wishing to be dashed against the walk of the house, he threw out the contents of another sandbag. Hence the line of brownish patches ! which we saw, stretching away towards I the north-cast corner of the field." Trevclyan gazed at him admiringly. y ''You have solved the mystery, without a doubt," he said. "But what was j the meaning of your mysterious allusion to the Black Cat, and who is the 1111I known man who was found in Padley I Wood!"

By way of reply tlic detective drew from his pocket -a copy of that day's Daily Mail. .'•Read that, and then you will understand," he said, handing the paper and Ms pocket electric lamp to Trevclyan, and pointing to a paragraph 071 the fifth page. 'Which was headed "The Fate of the Corute de Passy. Hie Balloon Found near Exeter."

There is no need to reproduce the paragraph in full. Suffice to say that it recounted how the Comte de Passy, a well-known Parisian aeronaut, had ascended in his balloon, which he had christened "Lc Chat Xoir"—i.e., "The Black Cat"—with the intention of attempting to cross the English Channel; how the wind had backed to the east shortly after the ascent, with the result that the Comte had been blown out to sea; how the wind had afterwards veered round to the south-west, and had thereby given rise to a hope that the intrepid Comte might land somewhere in England, after all. "Such hope, however, must now be abandoned." the paragraph concluded. "Early yesterday morning a derelict balloon was observed to be floating over Exeter. It eventually collapsed and fell into a field on the outskirts of the city. From papers and other evidence found in the car, no doubt remains that the balloon is Le Chat Xoir." "I read that in the train on my way down here," said Sexton Blake; "and after 1 had heard your story, and had eatisfied myself that a balloon was responsible for the alleged attack on your father and the coastguard, 1 had little hesitation in deciding that the balloon must have been that of the unfortunate Comte de Passy—especially as I knew that Penlevcn' is due south-west of Exeter, so that a balloon drifting with the wind that was blowing the night before last would, after passing over Penleven. eventually reach Exeter.' "And the unknown man who was rownd in iPadley Wood this afternoon*'' asked Trevelvan. '•ls the Comte de Passy, no doubt, said Sexton Blake. "His balloon was apparently unmanageable when _he I reached the English coast, and after drifting over the ten-acre pasture it must have lurched to one side again and thrown the Comte out. just as if had previously thrown the barometer out. Then, lightened by the loss of the Comic de l'assy's weight, it bounded up into the air. drifted with the wind towards the north-east, and eventually settled down near Exeter."

"All of which -uuiids very plausible." said Trevelyan. "and is. no doubt, the truth. At any rale, we shall soon knew whether you are right or not. for here is the Pollard Arms."

Thev turned into the only publichouse'wJiieh Penleven possessed. The doctor was coming downstairs, and met them in the sanded front passage. • "(Ireat news!" he said to Sexton Blake. "From papers' found in my patient's pocket, wo have discoveredltis Identity. And who do you think he is?" "The Comte de Passy." said Sexton Blake.

The doctor gasped. "You—vou must bo a wizard!" he exclaimed. '"'How on earth did you know?' How the detective knew, the reader alrcadv knows. Tor the rest, it i- only necewarv to sav that both the rector and tlie'Comte do Pussy eventually recovered from their injuries, wlren Sexton Blake'* theory of what had happened was proved to be as correct as if he had been an actual eye-witness of the whole affair.—"Answers."