ht, and there
would be no session until the following Monday. Mr. Crow was very sleepy
for a detective. He snored all the way home.

The next morning two farmers drove madly into Tinkletown with the
astounding news that some one had been murdered at schoolhouse No. 5. In
passing the place soon after daybreak they had noticed blood on the snow
at the roadside. The school-room door was half open and they entered.
Blood in great quantities smeared the floor near the stove, but there
was no sign of humanity, alive or dead. Miss Banks's handkerchief was
found on the floor saturated.

Moreover, the school-teacher was missing. She had not returned to the
home of Mrs. Holabird the night before. To make the horror all the more
ghastly, Anderson Crow, hastening to the schoolhouse, positively
identified the blood as that of Miss Banks.

CHAPTER XIII

A Tinkletown Sensation

Sensations came thick and fast in Tinkletown during the next few hours.
Investigation proved that 'Rast Little was nowhere to be found. He had
not returned to his home after the spelling-bee, nor had he been seen
since. Mrs. Holabird passed him in the road on her way home in the
"bob-sled." In response to her command to "climb in" he sullenly said he
was going to walk home by a "short cut" through the woods. A farmer had
seen the stylish Farnsworth sleigh driving north furiously at half-past
eleven, the occupants huddled in a bunch as if to protect themselves
from the biting air. The witness was not able to tell "which was which"
in the sleigh, but he added interest to the situation by solemnly
asserting that one of the persons in the rear seat was "bundled up" more
than the rest, and evidently was unable to sit erect.

According to his tale, the figure was lying over against the other
occupant of the seat. He was also, positive that there were three
figures in the front seat! Who was the extra person? was the question
that flashed into the minds of the listeners. A small boy came to the
schoolhouse at nine o'clock in the morning with 'Rast Little's new derby
hat. He had picked it up at the roadside not far from the schoolhouse
and in the direction taken by the Farnsworth party.

Anderson gave orders that no word of the catastrophe be carried to
Rosalie, who was reported to be ill of a fever the next morning after
the spelling-bee. She had a cough, and the doctor had said that nothing
should be said or done to excite her.

The crowd at the sch