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Show Wliai tine Gray JSouse Slid V , Tlae Mystery of a tiaantedl Mansion By 17jncarn Marty n W. N. U. Service Copyright by Wyndham Martya When the light was turned on. It was seen thnt Tom Burton had suf fered ut his warder's hnnds. Bis face was thin and lined, his body bruised and uehlng. There were tears In his eyes us he shook his .escuers' hands. Burton had little to tell. He knew only that the Infamous Appleton, who had tipped him into the pit. ruled here absolutely. Burton had seen only Luigi, Jim, and SmuJ;er. There might he others of whom be had not heard, lie had no idea for what purpose pur-pose Appleton had made his home here, or that he had been Imprisoned beneath his cousin's house. "We're here to clean out this place," Hardiy said. "You'd better come along with us." The searchers made slow progress, because they were as jet unaware ol the number of Inhabitants this subterranean sub-terranean fastness concealed. The general layout was speedily made clear. The large cellar with the lumber lum-ber was the main feature. Then there were. three little cells, a kitchen, a storeroom, and one other apartment. It was through the doors of this lasl that by straining their ears they could hear the faint hum of human voices. While they were wondering whether to attempt to force an entrance, or to wait until the people within came out. they were relieved of making the de Appleton sighed profoundly. "That wakes a difference, I admit. Well, Mr. llanby, charge me what you think Is a fair price for my tenancy and 1 will pay." "There's another charge, too," Han-by Han-by reminded hitii. "Murder! It doesn't matter whether you strangled Smucker or your strong-nrm men did It. You'll have trouble dodging the chair I "When you have made a complete confession, duly witnessed and signed, I shall turn you over to the police. Appleton, your goose 'Is cooked, and you ought to have sense enough to know It. Why have you been scheming schem-ing for years to get possession of this place? Why did you keep tenants away V" "It was a fad," Appleton returned blandly. "Every man has one. You, for example, desired to be the owner of an estate. Well, that was my ambition, ambi-tion, too. 1 have lost. You have won. Why, then, not be generous and let me go?" Ue made a movement as If ie wished to lead them away from the door. He did not notice that Pelhani slipped behind him and produced a bunch of keys. Appleton was only aware that the door opened suddenly and he was pushed Into the room. It was the only apartment well furnished. fur-nished. Breakfast things were on a small table. In a chair a woman, still pretty, but . no longer young, was smoking a cigarette. She jumped up In alarm. "What's the matter, Fred?" she cried. "Who are these men?" "Mr. Hanby," Appleton began amiably, amia-bly, "is incensed at discovering our retreat Having found nothing Irregular, Ir-regular, he decides to accuse us ail of murder. You are witness that this poor creature" he pointed to Burton Bur-ton "assaulted a giant huckleberry hawk Intent on his destruction." "My G d I" cried Burton, Incoherent in his anger. "He asked me to look at, a giant fuchsia mothl" "There Is no such thing, of course," Appleton said pityingly. "You can see that bis mind has gone. 1 had him put under partial guard. I shall admit that he suffered from a homicidal homi-cidal mania? He assaulted Smucker directly he came in, and later, unfortunately, unfor-tunately, he killed the poor fellow. There are witnesses to this." "All d d lies!" roared the professor. pro-fessor. "Execrable falsehoods 1" "As to Smucker," continued Apple-ton, Apple-ton, "he came here for the sole purpose pur-pose of setting tire to the Gray house and killing its owner and all its Inmates. In-mates. 1 kept him here because 1 liked and respected Mr. Hanby and his family." Appleton's keen eyes were fixed, on Hanby's face. "If Mr. Hanby denies knowledge of Smucker's avowed enmity, I shall be greatly surprised." sur-prised." "We found him with matches and gasoline all ready to set fare to your house," the woman contributed. "1 don't doubt it," Peiham said dryly ; "and 1 don't doubt that you were glad enough to stop him. If he had burned the Gray house, you would have died in Its ruins. So far you haven't made out a case." She shrugged her shoulders. "If you don't want to be reasonable," reason-able," she said, "that Is your affair. If you want a murder trial, with a relative of the Haubys In danger of hanging, call in the police. Two cred Ible witnesses saw the murder committed." com-mitted." "Madam," said the professor coldly, "you lie!" "Poor old huckleberry hawk 1" she mocked. "You've probably forgotten very conveniently, but you'll be hanged, for all that. If the police ever know aboul it I" There was a certain Insolence about her that compelled admiration. "We may as well tell the truth," she went on. "Fred and I have been fond of each other for years. His wife wouldn't consent to a divorce, and my husband can't be located. Fred arranged this place where we could be undisturbed. He didn't fill In the lake completely, as you've no doubt found out He fenced It with barbed wire, and planted thorn hedges to keep out trespassers." Hanby Interrupted her. ("TO BE CONTINUED.) km CHAPTER X Continued 18 "You fool I" said Appleton, coldl venomous. "1 do not object to your killing biin. It Is the manner of dis posing of the body that stamps you os an Imbecile. Why didn't you hurj It where nobody could find It? What madness made you put It In the stream? It Is beyond recovery by us. but the other4 will find It, and they will hold It like a club not over vou or Jim, but over me. You will find It hurts you, tool Well, it's done now. and we know that it will be dlscov ered. Also we know that the men we are dealing with will make capital out of IL" Appleton's Icy rage grew with the thought of the disaster. "1 shall be the sufferer I, who thought that after tonight I should have no worries In the world I" He pointed at Lulgl "And this mass of clay from Palermo's Paler-mo's underworld, who has had sane -V tuary here, and food and drink, when' he should be in an Italian Jn.Il, has twice Imperiled us !" "Thut Isn't fair, Fred," the woman protested. Alone of them she seemed to be In no fear of hlra. "Kerr, or Oiiapin, or whatever his real name was, got that job because he knew there was some mystery here, and he hoped to blackmail us. Some one must have given us away. Either Luigi had to get hlra, or we might all have been discovered." "Stupid 1" he commented crossly "Why do you all persist in misunderstanding misunder-standing me? You seem to think 1 am worrying about the death of an es caped convict, when 1 am only remem bering that Luigi, Instead of concealing conceal-ing the body here, must throw It In the lake, under the impression that there was an end of it." He waved his hand to the Sicilian. "Go I Re member, we need all your strength today. Sleep, if you want to. .Tim will call you when we are ready." Luigi' great carcass bowed, nnu animated itself with relief. His was a child's mentality. He bowed to them all. Jim liked his cooking. "1 getta you your breakfas', Jeem," be said, smiling. "1 make-a the toma to, garlic, and potato you like." He took his vay to the storeroom gayly. After the meal he would sleep. After that, there would be work for biin that no other man here could perform. Jim Delaney was stronger than most men, but he was not like Luigi, who bad carried a grand piano on his back. "You see, Jim," said Appleton, when the Sicilian had gone, "that we are now in the position of dealing with people who hold something definitp against us." "They're In as deep as we are.'; said Jim. "Nothing of the kind! We maj suspect them of a dozen murders, hut whereas we have only suspicion the. have a corpus delicti actually the body of the crime. They can't heir' finding it. It has cost me a great deal of money and time to make it certain that they must find It. That's one of the exasperating things!" "Forget it, Fred." the woman said, patting his head. "Two weeks from now we'll be in Europe, living like lords." "Sure, chief," Jim declared. "Tue won't want to give you away, any how." "There's risk in the whole affair.' Appleton retorted. "If the deal goes through safely, tbey will use theii i knowledge to cut my price. If I re- ' fuse, they will pay, perhaps, but they'll gel me for Luigi's foolishness. If they are discovered, they will have to accuse me to save themselves Luck doesn't keep on. It was sheet luck that the police dropped ttie Ued Chapin case when they found the mangled body of an old cell mate who had threatened to kill him. This thing worries me. Of course, you might get the body at the culvert, but you would most likely be seen. Safer, perhaps, to let tilings go. See that Lulgl Is ready when we need him Jim walked fo the storeroin. calling the Sicilian by name. This cellar had been so const, jcted as to be sound proof. It was Juniors quick ear thnt heard him first, as he passed the door of Leslie Barron's cell. "They'll find that man and know we're here." he whispered. "We'll get him as he's finding him ' Hanby said. There were four now who crept toward the storeroom. They entered ll Just as Jim was kneeling by l.uigi's side, untying his bonds. It was Leslie Les-lie who made the first spring at him Jim had rot a chance. Outnumbered, taken by surprise, unable to rise to his feet, his struggle was futile. Side by side, he and Luigi nibbled vicloush against gags. "Now for Ton. Burton I' said Han by, when they left the storeroom. When the Jour ope.ied. Burion stood up and clenched his fists. He knew that sum. day Luigi's inherent love of torture would lapse into sot ie such exhibition of violence as would kill him. Burton had great Ideas of Nordic racial pre-eminence. He would show '.' at even in their moments of dying, the Nordic strain was the thoroughbred one. "Ah!" he said satirically. "The gentle Luigi! Good morrow. Call ban !" Not until that moment had llanln really liked Uurton. It was as he saw him standing braced for punishment and unafraid, that there came n change of heart. "Tom, old man," he said. "Junior Bill, and I are here. We ve trussed up two gallowa birds. How many wore are there?" "Poor Old Huckleberry Hawk!" She Mocked. cision. Mr. Appleton stepped out. He looked into the mouth of an automatic pistol in Hilton Hanby's hand. For a moment flaming hate looked out of his eyes; then it died away. He was again the bland and suave little man whom they had known so long. "I dislike revolvers," he said gently. "Furthermore, I am unarmed. You have something to say to me?" "Quite a lot," said Hanby. "1 trust you and your friends have been comfortable com-fortable in my house. I begin to understand un-derstand now on what you expended so much money. Mr. Douglas was puzzled about it. You ure going to tell me why you spent it." There was no question but that a look of relief passed over Appleton's face at what was virtually a confession confes-sion that his purpose remained a secret. "Call it a fad," he observed benevolently. benevo-lently. "This living underground Is nothing n'ew. The famous duke of Portland, as you no doubt remember, constructed a ballroom and a riding school under the lake of his famous Wei heck Abbey estate. Consider mf a humble disciple." "He did what he chose on his own property. You are trespassing on mine." |