from whence the sounds came.
Jasper led, and his heart beat fast as he bounded through the woods,
unheeding scratches upon his face and hands from the rough branches
which brushed his body.

It took him only a few minutes to accomplish this, and he suddenly came
upon the men grouped around something which was lying upon the ground.
When his eyes rested upon the form of David huddled there, he gave a
half-suppressed cry, and brushing the men aside, dropped upon his knees
by the old man's side.

"Is he dead?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Dead as a door nail," Jim Goban replied. "Guess he's been dead fer
some time by the look of things. Mighty bad piece of business this, I
call it."

"Do you suppose he was killed?" Jasper enquired.

"Sure. There's no doubt about that from the mark on his head. He's
been knocked down like an ox."

A shiver shook Jasper's body at these words, and he straightened
himself up. He did not notice that several of the men were watching
him closely and observing his every word and action.

"Who could have done such a diabolical thing?" Jasper mused, as if to
himself. "Let us examine the ground very carefully to see if the man
who did this deed left any trace. He might have dropped something."

"We have looked," Jim replied, "and we found this."

Jasper's eyes had been searching the ground, but something in Jim's
voice caused him to turn suddenly, and as he did so his heart almost
stopped beating and his face turned ghastly pale, for there in the
man's out-stretched hand was an envelope with his own name upon it.

"Where did you find that?" he gasped, as he reached out to take it.

But Jim drew back, while an expression of exultation gleamed in his
eyes.

"No, I guess I better keep it," he replied. "It might come in handy
later on. We found it right there," and he pointed to a spot near
where the dead man was lying. "Guess we all saw it at once."

A sickening feeling suddenly overwhelmed Jasper, and he felt faint. He
looked keenly into the faces of the men standing near, but their eyes
were averted. Did they believe him to be guilty of such a foul deed?
he asked himself. Something told him that they did, and the less he
now said the better it would be. He wanted to get away from their
presence to think it all over.

"You better carry the body to the Haven," he at length suggested in a
voice as calm as possible. "I'm afraid I can't be of any more service."

With t