"A dead man?" repeated the policeman gravely, looking at the girl.
"Are you sure he's dead?"

Anna nodded. "His eyes are all glassy and I saw blood on his back."

"Well, you're evidently very much frightened, and I suppose you
don't want to go down there again. I'll look into the matter, if
you will go to the police station and make the announcement. Will
you do it?"

"Yes, sir."

"All right, then, that will gain time for us. Good-bye, Miss Anna."

The man walked quickly down the street, while the girl hurried off
in the opposite direction, to the nearest police station, where she
told what she had seen.

The policeman reached his goal even earlier. The first glance told
him that the man lying there by the wayside was indeed lifeless.
And the icy stiffness of the hand which he touched showed him that
life must have fled many hours back. Anna had been right about the
blood also. The dead man lay on the farther side of the ditch, half
down into it. His right arm was bent under his body, his left arm
was stretched out, and the stiffened fingers ... they were slender
white fingers ... had sought for something to break his fall. All
they had found was a tall stem of wild aster with its purple blossoms,
which they were holding fast in the death grip. On the dead man's
back was a small bullet-wound and around the edges of it his light
grey coat was stained with blood. His face was distorted in pain