Show 0 J owr I 1 he d M II 11 on the clifford by raymond ond dead mans hesta L vau service I 1 copyright the bobbs merrill c co aaa CHAPTER XIII continued 14 what did you do to tux amner ner down in the jungle the lieutenant asked double crossed him said ashley what do you want details for double crossed him what else makes a man mad for ever we lne were all crazy what do you think we were doing keep on guessing we were hunting for inca gold beat that I 1 I 1 don t want even to think of it you ve got a general idea of the story guess at the rest of it we didn dian t do much to him conald ering who we were and where we were just stole his map he had a map all these things start with maps and left him to die dle he didn dian t have a chance fever the trouble was the tough old devil didn t die dle say for blair that he did want to shoot turner or knock him on the head but that would have been murder and lieutenant you know how we feel about murder we restrained blair he ile always was too downright he ile said wed we d go to get help for turner his ills map was no good no map ever Is we just barely got out alive and we couldn coulden t have found our way back to him if we had wanted to we didn dian t want to I 1 don t know how turner ever found his way out I 1 never asked him and he never mentioned it all in a lifetime both ways you can always laugh it off or fight it out you say you stole his map what map the inca gold map where it was buried there s always a map with burled gold the whole story turner was a man to do extraordinary things crazy things he liked them he ile wanted his money hard and he be object to making it hard gen erous fisted devil but he liked gold I 1 guess he I 1 ked the look and feel of it he I 1 ked to hear the ring of one of his own double eagie on a bar he liked to feel the we gh of a money belt around his waist ar ara ld if he was carrying it in a tough gain gambi bl ng town or 0 I 1 field or mining camp I 1 e was happier A great guy he ile was the fellow who was born to hunt the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and probably find it free rree handed fellow and square I 1 the square fellow you double crossed I 1 the lieutenant sad sa d you make male murder seem I 1 ke a public duty isn t it the truth too bad you cant can t always pick the fellow for your d rf rt you have to take them as they come spanish gold that was what turner was vi as headed for some fellow had sold him a map he wasn gasn t the only one who ever went for buried treasure they re at it yet there are some fools hunting for that inca gold right now they 11 keep at it couldn coulden t ou on get a little excited by a map showing spanish gold inca gold turner picked up a gang and went for it most of us were broke he ile got blair and me off a cattle boat at new ew orleans roberts had been try ing to stake himself for another whirl at the gambling joints clayton he had found loafing in st louis clay ton gasn wasn t broke he ile had been with turner before on some alaskan pros pecking that d t plan out I 1 think he found trembly and brown in mem aphis contemplating some way inay of fill ng their pockets from some other fellow s pockets there wasn gasn t much to it all of us took spanish gold on the brain turner got s ck ek in the jungle we stole h s map because he aou wouldn ddn t give it up and left him dying because he was dying and helpless clayton had some idea of trying to get help to him when we wouldn t and could rit t carry him out we wouldn NN t because it was no use the map wasn gasn t any use either we IN e were N ere in luck to get out alive and we t much aine alin e the trouble was turner d t d e and he did get out well the boys hive been pay ng lor for it turner got out that was a break for him let lets s turn around now and look at mr blair maisie about how long d d you find mr blair a de bendable pen dable citizen please don t howard the woman said excuse me ma sorry but you 11 not mind if I 1 say it was about a month 0 no o reflection on you its it s just acton where Is the old devil sitting oh there he Is see over there never mind looking at acton we ve seen him before gile his lady a look beauty you don t know the half of it I 1 do I 1 introduced mr blair to that lady when less than a month from fro now no acton tells that lady he thinks hell be on his way he will he be but he wont won t know where nemesis maisie acton Is on his way to the coroner there you are lieu tenant murder as plain as day poor acton no chance do you want wint w int to take me in charge mr air blair chasn t a chance he ile t half the chance of clayton in the dutch mill of brown against the hunting knife of trembly with the red lights out or of roberts with the open window what he hes s up against is temperament his own and the lade lad s I 1 know the lady and he t the sucker never gets an even break and why should he maybe you think you ought to warn him wh not youre you re a policeman cleres s a crime shaping up under your nose he hed d laugh at you I 1 dont don t know what the lady would do but I 1 think that just at this moment shed she d laugh at you I 1 think they d have you s t down and amuse them she in swear at you in three or four lan ian gul geiges es ale sl e is adept funny runny thing 1 the first time I 1 saw that lady she still had the knife in her hand I 1 don t want to elaborate but it was red there was a drop which was slowly growing big enough at the point to fall fascinating sort of thing to watch the gentleman in error was on the floor that was in sumatra the verdict in effect was that the gentleman was not riot only a d n scoundrel but a d n fool corn ing back from hawaii who was on the boat but this tiger lily illy they re going to dance watch them do you know the lady stanton asked mals e I 1 never saw her I 1 lie ne never heard of her Is ashley kidding us the lieu tenant asked how should I 1 ki ow do you mean did howard see her with the knife and a drop forming on it maybe there s your ech bit lieutenant said ashley turning half around you re a remarkable detective don dont t you know you re the only one who ever started with the solution of a series of murders before they were committed and knew just what to ex hect before it happened and then t do anything about it after it had there s delilah for you out stepping with samson CHAPTER XIV the turner will Is administered it might interest you was about the last thing ashley said to stanton to know that I 1 im in going to take care of maisie that girl has always fixed her clock so she neier nener had even a good chance at a breach of promise suit and of course ashes never been within miles of alimony or a dowry she ashes s been a fine f ine girl but prudence chasn t been her partner and she won t t hae haie much she can take to the bank so maisie and I 1 will regard ourselves as the survive sur surviving vivi veterans of this war what would you you think of us settled down in an ital an garden by an italian lake with poplars and cypress an italian moon and maisie playing chopin home from the wars april 17 the lieutenant had a letter from mr darling after greetings he wrote you may or may not know that blair and ashley are dead if you know that you have all the informs tion regarding it that I 1 have A cable gram from juan les pines alpes marl times france signed maisie and received yesterday tells me that nair 1 and ashley have been shot and killed I 1 recall that you inquired of a woman named maisie when you met roberts ashley and blair here with me and it Is my recollection that one of them told you she was mrs arthur trem bly it must be she who has cabled me I 1 am inclined to accept it as true it was expectable it Is credible I 1 might confirm by inquiry of the kurete general which would be a reasonable inquiry if there were more reason for it whatever that may mean but so far as my function as trustee Is con berned I 1 have only to wait until I 1 hear or do not hear from them in proper form and time nevertheless I 1 am curious albe t I 1 am also convinced but here Is an other thought I 1 have seen nothing of this tn in the news I 1 read the papers with the fidelity of an old man who keeps contact with the world by read I 1 ing it seems odd that blair and ash lev could kill each other or be killed without a paragraph of news escaping to this country I 1 doubt that they have been inconspicuous with their considerable income and the r flashy temperaments yven if our intriguing little story of vengeance Is not known abroad id I 1 d think the murder of two americans of wealth would have produced a line or two on this side possibly it was printed and I 1 overlooked it poss bly iou could have some chinnel of I 1 in n formation strictly and wonderfully secret you see how I 1 am impressed by the potency of the police that impression Is derived from admiration of you justify me by letting me know if you have any information as to this liquidation of my old friend tom tur ner s passion for getting even and be lieve me your servant to command and your friend most alost cord ally asa darling the news was not astonishing to stanton but it was news he ile found he was sorry that ashley had not sur an odd regret but one which the fate of the cheerful asnass ass iss n somehow could evoke the lieutenant tele graphed mr darling 7 that he had no information and his inquiries at head quarters found that none had been given the chicago department by the french police the next morning april IS 18 he read in the tribune a short story tory from paris which gave the outlines of the event the relation of blair and ash ley ey to the turner will had been for gotten or was unknown and the police intelligence as to the deaths of the two americans was delayed in reach ing the news P d buting centers stanton read that an american named blair had shot a fellow coun tryman named ashley in a quarrel over a woman who had shot and killed the murderer the woman wis thought to be an eurasian hyster leal almost maniacal man lacal in the custody of the police an odd reversal of all expectations stanton thought ashley killed by blair blair killed by the woman the turner will had been administered the outraged gold hunter had accod his full purpose he could rest easy the men who had injured him had been extinguished by his purpose arising out of his gave ile had had fun april 25 stanton had a letter from france it was postmarked post marked juan les pines the envelope was addressed in a feminine hand but the letter en closed was from ashley who had written I 1 have a sort of affection for you loot you ve been so d n square in a situation which could drive a copper either nutty or crooked or both I 1 came to like you you old fathead thank me for nothing you say so sav I 1 but the thing has become so 4 A delilah for you out stepping with samson comic that I 1 must tell you about it I 1 am your boy friend who t have any idea how deep the water was acton has broken all precedents he remains infatuated his ills gal has had a million names let lets s call her now marcella laugh this off acton Is faithful and she Is trifling with me malsie maisie urges me to get away I 1 can t the girl is poison to me but the plot interests me the whole thing is going against law order and pre predest destina lna tion how can anyone live in so crazy a world you re a nice copper I 1 want you to get this never trust logic or experience or even probability or plausibility good crimes always deny everything 0 but then you know that you re a it good copper or I 1 wouldn t be writing you watch your step what do you think of me as the victim of marcella marcellas s affection mals e sa s go away so it may be but not just now good old blair is just a fathead once a fathead al ways a fathead ile t got a chance hes ile s a nice old brute but hell he 11 do for himself some way even if it isn t going just as I 1 expected it to be and as it should have been and I 1 cant can t tear myself away until it hap pens you know the worlds world s big enough only for one of us in the following mall mail a letter came from maisie herself she explained that ashley had written the day he was killed and had laid the letter aside intending to address an en delope later ashley had been genuinely kindly she said it was hard to say whether he was the most twisted or the least twisted of the oblique characters in evolved in the will on one occasion you took one view on another occa sion slon another view but whatever else he might be he had a vein of kandil ness she continued I 1 had tried to persuade him to go away he would agree but delay even before we left the united states anyone could see that blair was out of form they will all tall fall once ac ton had his experience coming and long overdue this girl was some thing he tor for once seemed to want to keep she looked like a reptile to me and I 1 think howard was truthful when he said sala she was poison to him but she was beautiful that t quite seem the word and it be lovely it had to be something poisonous and she d d not try much to disguise it probably that is why blair was infatuated he may have fallen really in love with the little brute because she was vile and dan berous I 1 do not know whether hether NN she really was attracted to ligaard how lIo ard Aard or just want ed to make male trouble he wis the type of man who could fascinate her just as acton was the type of man who could be fascinated by her it he hed d been interested in t the he 7 girt 1 I 1 maisie would have pulled her own freight but I 1 was sure he wasn gasn t and I 1 am sure now it was just his wild contrariness the night it happened which come to think of it was night before last we were at dinner separately that Is howard and I 1 and blair and the poison beatr left her for a moment and she motioned to howard to come to her table he did and as he was talking to her he did not see blair behind him blair shot him she got up went to blair s side took his gun from him as if she thought of hiding it and shot him he fell on top of howard and there you were then she began to shriek that seems to be the end of the tur ner will as a police case there s a boy isn t there who inherits it was wicked to keep him from his father fathers s money but then it was the father who did and he knew what he w want ant ed I 1 suppose the police pollee will make it more or less uncomfortable for me tor for a while but when I 1 am permitted to I 1 am returning I 1 have some money ashley was generous to me but he was extravagant in everything he did and there never was much to lay aside im retiring to scratch up a respectable living As a care careerist er I 1 m quite plainly through but a fellow continues to live when I 1 can see you if you have an interest for more details the police here will think funny I 1 im in writing to a lieutenant of chicago police and when you take an other look at it isu t it funny adios maisie the lady was right as to the french police commissioner russell had a cablegram of inquiry which stanton answered by letter giving an outline of the turner will crimes and making plain maisie s lack of complicity that he thought might help her another letter brought young mr turner back to mind being fro from him he ile inquired if any of the men in evolved in his fathers father s will had dependents pen dents who might be suffering from what had been caused by it rewrote he wrote you know I 1 would not have inter if I 1 could to prevent my fa ther and these men having it out to his satisfaction but as to other peo pie that Is an entirely different mat ter we are to have so much money that it will be almost disturbing and I 1 know that if my father thought that in having it out with these men he had bad hurt a canary bird or kitten be longing to one of them he would have been hurt himself so let me know lieutenant it if you know of any canaries we think well we 11 add another half acre to the garden and maybe buy a |