“Six months ago a party of prospectors were coming over the Divide by a rocky foot trail. “There were twelve in the party, and they were all miners. Some had had fair luck, and others were going home empty-handed. “Suddenly one of them espied what he believed was a huge buffalo grazing in the canyon far below. “At once the question of marksmanship came up. There were two expert shots in the party, Bert Mason and Sid Powell. “A wager was made as to which one could hit the buffalo. It was arranged that both should shoot at the same time, using marked bullets. “The bullet nearest the buffalo’s heart should belong to the winner. “The trick was quickly made, the stakes put up, and both men fired. “The supposed buffalo leaped in the air with a wild yell of pain and fell to the ground, while a mule cantered away up the canyon. “The object had not been a buffalo, but a white man with a fur coat on riding slowly along on a mule. “Of course Mason and Powell looked at each other with horror. “‘Great beavers, Sid!’ gasped Mason, ‘we’ve killed a man!’ “‘I swan that’s so!’ agreed Bert Mason, in horror. ‘What’ll we do?’ “Of course there was nothing else to do but to climb down and see if the victim was really dead. “The two horrified prospectors did so. “They found that the man was dead to a certainty. One bullet had lodged in his brain and the other in his shoulder. “The bullet in the brain of course was the fatal one, and that bore Bert Mason’s mark. “It looked as if he was the real murderer, if the affair could be called murder. What made the matter worse, however, was the fact that the man was a prominent citizen of Silver City. “Neither Mason nor Powell dared to go to Silver City after that. “Both cut sticks and went into the woods to hide. Sid Powell was killed by Indians, but Bert Mason became a road agent. “He was hunted for years for the murder of Clem Johnson. Suddenly he disappeared and was seen no more in those parts. “But six months ago a man was arrested in Silver City who answered his description to a jot, and who went by the name of Benjamin Astley. “He was horrified when accused of being identical with Mason. He was at the altar with a happy bride-elect when arrested. The shock nearly killed the bride, who fainted upon the spot. “Astley is in a terrible state of mind. He has detectives looking for the real Bert Mason. What makes the case look worse for Astley was the fact that one of the marked bullets was found upon him, and it tallied with the one found in Clem Johnson’s skull. “Astley has been convicted as the murderer and will doubtless hang. Yet the evidence would look to be purely circumstantial, and an innocent man may suffer for the crime.” Frank Reade, Jr., had become deeply interested in the complex case. “That man is innocent!” he declared, with firm conviction. “It is too bad to hang him upon such evidence.”