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Show The Mardi Gras Mystery By H. BEDFORD-JONES , Copyright bj Doubleday, Page A C. a CHAPTER XII Continued. 19 Gramont frowned. "What has that got to do with our present business?'' "Quite a bit, I fancy." A thin smile curved the lips of Jachin Fell. "Mail-lerd "Mail-lerd is not guilty of the murder but you are." "War!" Gramont started from his chair as those three words burned into him. "Liar! Why, you know that I weat home " "Ah, wait !" Fell lifted his hand for peaM. His voice was calm. "Ansley and f M'Hi saw you depart, certainly. We ha-e since learned that you did not reach home until some time after midnight. You have positively no alibi, Gramont. You may allege, of course, that you were wandering the streets " "As I was!" cried Gramont, heatedly. heat-edly. "Then prove it, my dear fellow ; prove it if you can. Now, we shall keep Lucie out of all this. What remains? re-mains? I know that you were the Midnight Masquer. My man, Ben Cha-cherre, Cha-cherre, can prove hy another man who accompanied him that the Masquer's loot was taken from your car. A dictograph dic-tograph in the private office, yonder, has a record of the talk between us of the other morning, in which you made patent confession to being the Masquer. "Once let me hand this array of evidence over to the district attorney, and you will most certainly stand trial. And, if you do stand trial, I can promise you faithfully that you will meet conviction. I have friends, you see, and many of them are influential, influ-ential, in such small malters." It was not a nice smile that wirved the lips of Fell. Gramont choked back any response, holding himself to silence with a firm will. He dared say nothing, lest he say too much. He saw- that Fell could indeed make trouble for him and that he must strike his own blow at Fell without great delay. It was a battle, now; a fight to the end. Fell regarded Gramont cheerfully, seeming to take this crushed silence as evidence of his own triumph. "Further," he added, "your man Hammond is now In jail at Houma, as you know, for the murder of the sheriff. sher-iff. Now, my influence is not confined con-fined to this city, Gramont ; 1 may be able to clear Hammond of this charge if you decide to vote with me. I may keep what I know about the Midnight Mid-night Masquer from the press and from the district attorney if you decide de-cide to vote with me. You comprehend?" compre-hend?" , Gramont nodded. He saw now why Fell wanted to "get something" on Hammond. Fell had rightly reasoned that Gramont would do more to save Hammond than to save himself. "You think I murdered Maillard, thenV" he asked. "Gramont, I don't know what to , think, and that's the honest truth!" answered Fell, with a steady regard. "But 1 am absolutely determined to put this (til deal across, to make Lucie Ledaiicis at least independent, if not wcallhy. I can do it, I've made all my plans to do It, and I will do it! "We'll hold another meeting day after tomorrow Saturday morning." Fell rose. "That will give me time to conclude all arrangements. I trust, Mr. Gramont, that you will vole with me for the adjournment?" "Yes," said Gramont, dully. "I will." "Tliiink you," and .Tachhi Fell bowed slightly, not without a trace of mockery in his air. CHAPTER XIII. The Coin Falls Heads. Graiunnt sat in his own room that afternoon. It seemed to him that lie had been away from the cily for weeks and men! lis. Yet only a day had intervened, lie sat fingering the only piece of mall that had come to him a noiice from the post of the American Legion which he had joined, to the effect that there would be a meel ing, 1 hat Thursday evening. Only Thurdtiy! And tomorrow was Friday. Fri-day. If he was to effect anything against the headquarters of Fell's gang he musi act on the morrow or not at all. Gumherts was to lie out there tomorrow. tomor-row. Gumberls would talk with the ratty little man of the projecting teetlt ami adenoids, would find Gramont Gra-mont had imposed upon the fellow, and there would be upheavals. The gang would lake to (light, certainly, or at least make certain that Grainont's mouth was shut. Ho sat lingering the postal from the Legion, and turning over events in his mind. Against Fell he had no particular particu-lar animosity. All that the little gray man hud done had been done w ith the thought of Lucie Ledanois as a spur. "If I'm to strike a blow. I'll have to do it tomorrow before noon tomorrow, to-morrow, nlso. I'll have to leave here mighty early, and get there before Gumberls does. What was it Hammond Ham-mond said that day about him that nobody in the country had ever caught Memphis lz?.y? I bet I could do it. and his whole gang with him if 1 knew how. 'There's th rub ! Fell won't hesitate a minute In having me arrested. And as he said, once he got me arrested, I'd be gone. He must "-7Se uMo to exert a powerful influence, that man l" Should lie strike or not? If he struck, he might expect the full weight of ,1achin Fell's vengeance unless h-.a blow- would include Fell among the victims. S7 C of four Thursdays, you fool! So you know about things, eh? My master will soon shut your month !" "So?" queried Gramont, his brows lifted. "You seem much in Mr. Fell's confidence, Ben. But I think I'll leave you tied up a little while. Memphis Izzy is going down to bis summer cottage cot-tage tomorrow, isn't be? I'll be there but you won't. Ey the way, I think Td better look through your pockets." Ben Chachcrre writhed suddenly, hurling a storm of curses at Gramont. The latter, unheeding the contortions contor-tions of his captive, searched the man thoroughly. Except for a roll of money, the pockets gave up little of interest. The only paper Gramont secured se-cured was a fresh telegraph blank, lie would have passed this unheeded had he not noted a snaky flitting of Chaeherre's eyes to it. "Ah !" he said, pleasantly. "You appear ap-pear to be interested in this, Ben. Fray, what is the secret?" Chacherre merely glared at him, and a sudden exclamation broke from him. He held the bit of yellow paper to the light at varying angles. "It's the most natural thing in the world." he said after a moment, "for a man to walk into a telegraph office, write out a telegram, and then find that he's torn two blanks Instead of. one from the pad on the desk. Eh? I've done it, often and I've always put the extra blank into my pocket, Ben, thinking It might come In handy; just as you did-, eh? Now, let's see! "You were excited when you wrote .this, weren't you? You'd just thought of something very important, and you took care of it hurriedly that made you jab down your pencil pretty hard. Who's Dick Hearne at Houma? An ageut of the bang there?" Chacherre merely glared, sullenly defiant. Word by word, Gramont made out the message: "Burn bundle under rear seat my car. Have done at once." Gramont looked up and smiled thinly. "Your car? Why, you left it in the garage at Guraberts' place, eh? That little roadster of Fell's, with the extra seat, behind. If you'd been just a little bit cooler yesterday, Ben, you would have made fewer mistakes. It never occurred to you that other people might have been there in the bushes when the sheriff was murdered, eh?" Chacherre went livid. "It was another mistake to throw away your knife after you killed him," pursued Gramont, reflectively. "You should have held on to that knife, Ben. Tfiere's no blood, remember, on Hammond's Ham-mond's knife a hard thing for you and your friends to explain plausibly. Yet your knife Is heavy 'with blood, which tests will show to be human blood. Also, Hie knife has your name on it; quite a handsome, knife, too. On the whole, you must admit that you bungled the murder from start to finish " Chacherre broke in with a frightful oath a frantically obscene storm of curses. So furious were his words that Gramont very efficiently gagged j him with cloths, gagged him hard and ; fast. "I think that I'll send another wire 10 Pick Hearne on this blank which vim so thoughtfully provided. I'll or- . dor him. in your name, not to burn i lmt bundle after all; I fancy it may prove of some value to mo. And I'll also tell your friend I suppose he has some familiar cognomen, such as Slippery Hick to meet Henry Gramont Gra-mont at Houma early in the morning. I'd like to gather Pick In with the other gentlemen. I'll mention that you were kind enough to supply a few names and incidents." At this hist Ben Chacherre writhed anew, for it was a shrewd blow. He and his friends belonged to that class of (Took which never "peaches." If by 4H1.V mischance one of that class is jailed and convicted, he invariably takes bis medicine silently, knowing that the whole gang is behind him. and that when he emerges from prison pris-on he v ill be sure to find inunev and friends and oeeup.'l t inn awriitilig hiin. To knew that he wniild he placed, ill the cslimal inn of the gang. In the same H:is with .slucl-pigei.n-'. must lone bitten deeper into Ben Cliiieherre than any olher lash. Gramont. meantime. iv;i willing mil the telegrnnt fu Pick llcarne. This finished, he gt his h:il and coal, and frnlu the bureau drawer 1xik an automatic auto-matic pisiel. which lie pocketed. Then lie smiled pleasantly at his prisnnpr. "This evening. lien. I think that I'll r.tlend a nicotine; of mv po:t of ike American Legion. Y"ii don't belong to ilint organisation by any cha nee V No. I'm quite sure you don't. Very few of your exclusive neipi::l;it:iiiees ,o belong. be-long. Well, see yon biter! Work on those bonds you like you're quite, safe. I'm cartons 10 see what is in that bundle under the rear seat of your car: I have an idea that it inay prove iid crest :ng. lloori a fierl-uon !" Craiooh eios.d IN- door, and left the lions,.. Going dew mown, he leaded I he letter let-ter io Fed. confident t !j;it i tit- hi;trr would receive it on ;ho fodov.Thg morniig: but tie did noi le'cplione I-'ell. lie preferred to ie:ie l,e Absence Ab-sence .if Chjiel'.erre lUiexphtined. riuS.tiy !n.!ci:ic sh.-.i Fell wen d ii..t he mr.'licuhirH M'.vioi s .iroi;; i';,,. in:in. 11 w:is now- 'Hull s !;: eveni;!. T!ie llicelii.g of tin- oil eolijojicv wo:;!d f. held :i: nice e:i Krhi;i eve;;!!.-. F'--Tween those two times Grairoi.t f.g-lir.-il oil many Things h:,p- ( :d.n-. TJ bii CO.N'flNl KUj Gramont was still pondering this dilemma di-lemma when Ben Chacherre arrived. Gramont heard the man's voice on the stairs. Ben's Impudence, perhaps added to his name and the Creole French upon his Hps, had carried him past the concierge unannounced, although al-though not without a continued exchange ex-change of repartee that served to give Gramont warning of the visitor. Smiling Smil-ing grimly, Gramont drew a coin from his pocket, and flipped It. The coin fell heads. He pocketed it again as Ben Chacherre knocked, and opened the door. "Ah, Chacherre!" he exclaimed. "Come in." Ben swaggered inside and closed the dor. "Brought a message for you, Mr. Gramont," he said, jauntily, and extended ex-tended a note. Gramont tore open the envelope and read a curt communication : "Kindly let me know your answer as soon as possible. By tomorrow evening eve-ning at latest. It will be necessary to arrange affairs for Saturday. "JACHIN FELL." To arrange affairs! Fell was taking tak-ing for granted that Gramont would give an assent, under force of persuasion, persua-sion, to the scheme. He would probably prob-ably have everything in readiness, and if assured by Friday night of Gra-mont's Gra-mont's assent, would then pull his strings and perhaps complete the whole deal before the following Monday. Mon-day. The meeting of the company had been adjourned to Saturday morning. Gramont thought a moment, then went to his buhl escritoire and opened it. Chacherre had already taken a seat. Gramont wrote: ' . "My Dear Mr. Fell : "If you will arrange the company meeting for tomorrow evening, say nine o'clock, at your office, I think that everything may then be arranged. As I may not see Miss Ledanois In the meantime, will you he kind enough to assure her presence at the meeting?" He addressed an envelope to Fell's office, and then stamped and pocketed pock-eted it. "Well, Chacherre," he said, rising and returning to the Creole, "any fur- As He Did So, Gramont's Fist Caught Him Squarely on the Point of the Jaw. ther news from Houma? They haven't found the real murderer yet?" The other came to his feet with an exclamation of surprise. As he did so. Gramont's list caught him squarely on the point of tlm jaw. Chacherre crumpled back across his chair, senseless for the moment. "I'm afraid to lake any chances with you, mv line bird." said Gramont, rubbing his knuckles. "You're too clever hy far, and to,, handy with your w capons." He obtained cloths, and firmly bound the ankles and wrists of Chacherre. Not content with tills, he placed tin: man in the chair and tied him to it with merciless knots. As he was finishing fin-ishing his task, Chacherre opened his eyes and ga.ed dazedly around. "Awake at last, are you?" said Gramont, Gra-mont, genially, lie got his pipe, filled and lighted it. The eyes of Chacherre were now fastened upon him venomously. venom-ously. "To hail for you, chacherre, that the coin fell heads up! That spelled action." "Are you crazy?" muttered the other in French. Gramont laughed, and responded in the same tongue. "It docs look that way, doesn't It? You're slippery, hut now you're caught." Chacherre must have realized that he stood in danger. He checked a curse, and regarded Gramont with a steady coolness. "Be careful !" he said, his voice deadly. "What do you mean by this?" Gramont looked at him and pulled his pipe. "The game's up. Ben." he observed. "I know all about the place down thore--:tbout the cars, and about the lottery. Your gang has had a pleasant pleas-ant time, eh': Hut now ynu and the others are going to do a little work for the state on the road gangs." "Bah! Ca vu rive seniaine quatte zheudis!" spat Chnc hcrre. contemptuously. contemptu-ously. "That w ill hapiK'n in the week |
