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Show Wliat the Gray Houase Mid CHAPTER X Continued 18 "You fool I" Bald Appleton, coldly venomous. "I do not object to your killing 1 1 hi. II Is thu manner of disposing dis-posing of the body that stamps you as an Imbecile. Why didn't you bury It where nobody could find It? What madness made you put It In the stream? It Is beyond recovery by us, but tlio other will llnd It, and they will hold It like a club not over you or Jim, but over me. You will find it hurts you, tool Well, It's done now, and we know that It will be discovered. discov-ered. Also we know that the men we are dealing with will make capital out of It." Appleton's Icy rage grew with the thought of the disaster. ''1 shall be the sufferer 1, who thought that after tonight I should have no worries In the world!" lie pointed at I.nlgl. "And this mass of clay from Palermo's Paler-mo's underworld, who has bad sanctuary sanc-tuary here, and food and drink, when he should be In an Italian Jail, has twice Imperiled us!" "That Isn't fair, Fred," the woman protested. Aloue of them she seemed to be In no fear of him. "Kerr, or Chapln, 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 Luigl had to get hlra. or we might all have been discovered." "Stupid!" he commented crossly. "Why do you ull persist In misunderstanding misunder-standing me? You seem to think I ara worrying about the death of nn es raped convict, when 1 am only remembering remem-bering that l.ulgl. Instead of concealing conceal-ing the body here, must throw It in the lake, under the Impression that there was an end of It." lie waved his hand to the Sicilian. "Go! Remember, Re-member, we need ull your strength today. Sleep, If you want to. Jim will call you when we are ready." Luigl' great carcass bowed, anu animated Itself wiib relief. El ta was a child's mentality. He bowed to them alL Jim liked his cooking. "1 getta you your breakfas', Jeem," he said, smiling. "1 make-a the tomato, toma-to, garlic, and potato you like." He took his way to the storeroom gayly. After the meal he would sleep. After that, there would be work for lilm that no other man here could perform. Jim Delaney was stronger than most men, but he was not like Luigl, who had carried a grand piano on his back. "You see, Jim," said Appleton. when the Sicilian bad gone, "that we are now In the position of dealing with people who hold something deflnlie against us." "They're in as deep as we are." said Jim. "Nothing of the kindl We may suspect them of a dozen murders, but whereas we have only suspicion they have a corpus delicti actually the body of the crime. They cant help Ending 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 I" "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. "The won't want to give you away, anyhow." any-how." "There's risk in the whole alTulr ' Appleton retorted. "If the deul goes through sufely, they will use theli knowledge to- cut my price. It I re fuse, they will pay. perhaps, bui they'll get 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 sheei luck flint the police dropped the Bed Chapln case when they found the mangled body of an old cell male wb-had wb-had threatened to kill him. This thing worries me. Of course, you iiilatit get the body at the culvert, but you would most likely be seen. Sufer. perhaps, to let things go. See thai Luigl is ready when we need nlm. Jim walked 'o the storeroin, culling the Sicilian by name. This cellar nail been so const: jcted as to be sound proof. It was Juniors quick ear that 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 biru." Hanby said. There were four now who crept toward the storeroom. They entered il Just as Jim was kneeling by Luigl 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 Luigl nibbled viciously against gags. "Now for Tom Burton I" said Unn by, when they left the storeroom. When the door opened, Burton stood up and clenched his lists. He knew that souk day Luigi's inherent love of torture would lapse Into soue such exhibition of violence as would kill him. Burton had great ideas of Nordic racial pre-eminence. He would show t' at even in their moments of dying, the Nordic strain was the thoroughbred one. "Ahl" he said satirically. "The gentle Luigl 1 Good morrow. Call ban !" Not until that moment had Hanbj really liked Burton. It was as he saw him standing braced for punishment, and unafraid, that there came a change of heart "Tom, old man," he said. "Junior Bill, and I are here. We vp irnwwl I up two gallows birds. liow many more are there?" The lysfcry of a Haunted Mansion - Vy - Wyndham Marty n W. N. U. Si'rvlra Copyright by Wyndham Mnrtyo When the light was turned on. it was seen that Tom Burton had suffered suf-fered at his warder's hands. Ills face waa thin and lined, his body bruised nnd aching. There were tears In his eyes us he shook his rescuers' hands. Burton hail Utile to tell. He knew only that the InfamouB Appleton, who had tipped him Into the pit, ruled here absolutely. Burton bad seen only Luigl, Jim, nnd SmuvLer. There might be others of whom he hud not heard. Ho had no Idea for what purpose pur-pose Appleton had made his home here, or that he bad been Imprisoned beneath his cousin's house. "We're bcre to clean out this place," Hanby said. "You'd beitet come along with ub." The searchers made slow progress, because they were as jet unaware of the uumber 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 111 tie cells, a kitchen, a storeroom, and one other apartment. It was through the doors of this lust that by straining their ears they could hear the faint hum of human voices. While they were wondering whether to attempt to force un entrance, or to wait until the people within came out. they were relieved of making the de- aw mm "Poor Old Huckleberry Mawkl" She Mocked. clslon. .Mr. Appleton stepped out. He looked Into the moutb of an automatic pistol In Hilton llanby's hand. For a moment flaming hale looked out of his eyes; then It died away. He was again the bland uud suave little man whom they had known sc long. "I dislike revolvers," he said gently. "Furthermore. I uiu unarmed. You have something to say to me?" "Quite a lot." said Hanby. "1 trust you and ;our friends have been coin fonahle In my house. I begin to un derstand now on what you expended so much money. Mr. Pnitglas was puzzled ahiiu' II. You are going to tell me why you spent it." There was no question hut that a look of relief passed over Apple-tuns face at what was virtually a confession confes-sion that bis purpose . remained u secret. "Call It a fad." he ohserved henevu-leutly. henevu-leutly. "This living underground Is nothing new The famous duke of I'ortland. as you 110 doubt remember, constructed a ballroom and n ridinu school under the lake of his famous Welbeck Ahbej estate. Consider u:r a hiimhlt disciple." "He did what he chose on his own property. You are trespussing on mine." I- Appleton sighed profoundly. "That makes a difference, I admit. Well, Mr. Hunliy, charge mu what you think Is a fair price for my tennncy. and I will pay." "There's iinollior charge, too," Hanby Han-by reminded Mm. "Murder 1 it doesn't matler whether you strangled Kmucker or your strong-arm men did It. You'll have trouble dodging the chair 1 "When you have made a complete confession, duly witnessed und signed, 1 shall turn you over to the police. Appleton, your goose is cooked, and you ought to have sensb 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?" "It was a fad," Appleton returned blandly. "Kvery man has one. You, for example, desired to he the owner of an estate. Well, that was my amhi tlon, too. I have lost i'ou have won. Why, then, not be generous aud lot me go?" He made a movement as If -le wished to lead them uwuy from the door, lie did not notice that Tellium slipped behind him und produced a bunch of keys. Appleton. was only aware that the door opened suddenly and be 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 all of murder. You are witness that this poor creature" he pointed to Burton Bur-ton "ussaulted a giunt 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 moth I" "There is no such thing, of course," Appleton suld pityingly. "You can see that bis mind bus gone. 1 bad blm put uuder partial guard. I shall admit that be suffered from a homicidal homi-cidal mania? He assaulted Smucker directly be came In, and later, unfortunately, unfor-tunately, he killed the poor fellow. There are witnesses to this." "AJ1 d d lies!" roared the professor. pro-fessor. "Execrable falsehoods 1" "As to Smucker," continued Apple ton, "he came here for the sole purpose pur-pose of setting fire to the Gray bouse and killing Its owner and all Its In-nmtes. In-nmtes. 1 kept tiim here because 1 liked and respected Mr. Hanby and his family." Appleton's keen eyes were fixed on llanhy's face. "If Mr. Ilanhy denies knowledge of Smncker's avowed enmity, I shall be greatly surprised." sur-prised." "We found blm with matches and gasoline all ready to set fire to your house," the woman contributed. "1 dou't doubt It" Pelham said dryly; "und 1 don't doubt that you were glad enough to stop blm. 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 ber shoulders. "If you don't want to be reasonable," reason-able," she said, "that is your affair. If yon want a murder trial, with a relative of the Hanbys In danger of hanging, cnll in the police. Two cred 1 Isle witnesses saw the murder com mined." "Madam," said the professor coldly, "you lie!" "I'oor old huckleberry hawk I" she mocked. "You've probably forgotten very conveniently, but you'll be hanged, for all that If the police ever know about 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. Hla wife wouldn't consent to a divorce, and my bushnnd can't be located. Fred urranged this place where we could be undisturbed. He didn't till In the lake completely, as" you ve no douht found out He fenced It with barbed wire, nnd planted thorn hedges to keep out trespassers." Hanhy Interrupted her. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |