Show rm inc bardi gras mystery by H BEDFORD JONE JONES copyright by doubleday r rage page age co CHAPTER IX continued 13 books be d ill dl snorted the chief a end nd leaned forward earnestly look lonk here fell I 1 do you bellene believe in your heart that Al maillard aillard killed his father fell vias nas silent a moment under that intent scrutiny from the evidence I 1 am forced against my mill to believe it lie he said bt at last of course hell be able to prove that lie he was not the Ila squer on previous occasions occasion his alibis will take care of that up to the point of the murder ills his story Is all right and tny my friend there is a chance a very allm tenuous chance that his entire story Is true in that case another person must have appeared as the bla squer which seems unlikely or else put in ben Clia cherre smoothly the real original Ala squer showed up there was nas an instant silence jachin fell regarded his henchman with steady gray eyes ben chacherie Chac Cha tierre cherre met the look with almost a trace of defiance the chief frowned barki darkly Y yes said the chief the size of it fell youre keepin quiet about the name of the real Ila squer why because bald fell calmly 1 I happen to know that lie be was in the auditorium at the time of the murder again silence ben Cha chacherie cherre stared at fell with amazement and admiration in his gaze when the master ties lies he lies magnia magnificently icentry he be murmured in french well and the chief gestured despairingly 1 I guess that lets out the real Bla squer eh exactly assented fell no use dragging his name darne into it ill 11 keep keep bt at work on this chief and if anything turns up to clear young mail laid ill lie very glad kil all right grunted the chief and rose ill be on toy way may ile iio departed depart ed neither fell nor clia cha cherre moved or spoke for a space when at length the clang of the elevator door re sounded through the deserted corridors ben Clia Clui cherre slipped from his chair and went to the outer door lie ile glanced out into the hall closed the door and with a nod 7 returned to his chair well jachin fell regarded him with intent searching eyes have you any light to throw on t the lie 0 occasion ca Clia Cha cherres usual air of cool impudence was never in evidence when he be talked with mr fell no he said shaking his bis head hammond ammond II worked on thecae until about nine then beat it to bed I 1 guess I 1 quit the job at ten and his light had been out some time well master this Is a queer affair I 1 theres no doubt that gramont pulled it eh you think so asked fell Chac lierre made a gesture of assent when the tree falls the kid can climb it any acy fool can see that gramont was wag the man dont you think so yourself master jachin fell nodded yes but weve no evidence everything ery thing lies against young maillard aillard Bl early in ID the morning gramont goes to paradas to examine that land of miss bliss I 1 I 1 it 01 look ook here fell do you believe in yur your heart that maillard killed his HI father Ledan ledanois along the bayou uell hell probably say nothing of this murder to hammond Ha and the chauffeur may not cot find out about it until a day or two they get gel few newspapers down there 1 drive down to paradis in the morn arg ben get into touch with ith hammond and discover what time gramont got home tonight write me what you find out then take charge bof of things rt t the gumberts Gum bertg place make swe sure every car is handled right A headquarters man from mobile will ibe be here tomorrow tout orrow to trace the nonpareil twelve that gramont Gra now owns chacherie Cha cherre under his breath what buchin fell smiled slightly sll fitly and codden cod ded yes yea it if gramont remains at Pars barsdis Farad dIs ls I 1 way may send him on dov down n there ini not sure yet I 1 intend to let co bething ou on that mau man hammond hut but you cant land hirn that way igaac rl lie ile bought the car and alia MIO ho told the car to the ga rage people they bought it innocently A peculiar smile twisted fells lips awry in fact they bought it from a man named nam halo mood mond as the evidence will show very clearly den ben chacherie Cha Clia cherre started since he be had sold that car himself then a slow grin came into his thin features a grin that widened into a noiseless laugh 11 master laster you are magnificent 1 he said and rose well if there Is ing further on hand band I 1 shall go to bed an excellent program said jachin fell and took his hat bat from the deki 1 must get some sleep myself they left the and the building together three hours af afterward tenard the dawn had set in a cold gray and dismal dawn that rose upon a city littered with the aftermath of carnival lean wednesday it was in sober fact thus far the city in general was ignorant of the which had talen taken place at the ery cry conclusion of its gayest carnival season within a few hours business and social circles would be swept by the fact of joseph Mall lards murder but at this early po point int of the day the city slept the inO IDIng papers which today carried a news story that promised to shock and stun the entire community were vere not yet distributed rising before daylight henry arn mout mont and hammond breakfasted early and were off by six in the car they were well outside town and sweeping on their way to terrebonne parish and the town of paradis before they realized that the day was not going to brighten appreciably instead it I 1 remained very cloudy and glo gloomy 0 m Y with a chill threat of rain in the a air weather mattered little to Grami gramont cint when finally the excellent hig highway liv al y was left behind and they started on the list last lap of their devent seventh nille mile ride they found the parish roads execrable and the going slow thus noon was at hand ahen they at length pulled into paradis ls the town closest to lucie ledanois Lc danois bayou land the rain was sti still I 1 I 1 holding off too cold to rain observed gramont lets lilt hit for the hotel and get something to eat rn ill haven have to locate the land which Is somewhere near town they discovered the hotel to be an ancient an el ent structure and boasting prices worthy of lafitte and his buccaneers bucca As in many small towns of louisiana howe however cr the food proved fit for a king after a light luncheon of quail era fish bisque and probably illegal venison gramont sighed regret that he con could eat no wore more and set about inquiring where the ledanois Leda farm lay there was very little indeed to paradis which lay on the bayou but well away from the railroad it was a desolate spot unpainted and unkempt the parish seat of bourna bouma had bad robbed it of all life and growth on the one hand on the other the new oil and gas district had not yet touched it southward lay the swamp fully forty miles of it merging by degrees into the gulf forty miles of cypress marsh and winding bayou uncharted unexplored save by occasional hunters or semi deml occasional sheriffs no man knew who or what might be in those swamps and no one cared to know the ilie man who brought in fish or oysters in his skiff might be a bayou fisherman and he might be a murderer wanted in ten states curiosity was apt to prove extremely unhealthy like the Atchafala atchafalaya Atcha talaya ya where chance travelers find themselves abruptly ordered elsewhere the terrebonne swamps have their own secrets and know how to keep them gramont had no difficulty in locating the ledanois Leda land and he found that it was by no means in the swamp A part of it lying closer to houma had been sold and was now included in the new oil district it was this portion which joaeph Bl malllard aillard had bad sold 0 off ff th the remainder and the largest portion lay north of paradis and ran along the west bank of the bayou for halt half a mile A long abandoned farm it was high ground with the timber well cleared off and excellently located but tenants were hard to lo get and shiftless when obtained so that the place had not been farmed for the last alve years or more after getting these facts gramont consulted with hammond wed better belter buy rome grub here in town and arrange to stay a couple of nights on the farm it if necessary lie sald said there are some buildings there so BO well find shelter along the bayou are summer bummer cottages I 1 believe some of them rather pretentious places and we ought to find the road pretty decent its only three or four talles miles out of town with provisions plied piled la the car they set forth the road wound along the bayou side past ancient cajun farms and the squat homes bomes of fishermen here and there had bad been placed camps and summer cottages nestling ue amid groups of huge oaks and cypress whose fronds of silver gray moss hung in drooping clusters like pate pale and ghostly shrouds watching the road closely gramont suddenly found the landmarks that had been described to him and ordered hammond to stop and turn in lit at a gap in the fence which had once been an entrance gate here we are I 1 those are the buildings off to the right whew I 1 should say it had been abando abandoned 1 nothing much left but ruins go abend before them as they drose in from the road by a grass covered drive showed bowed a house shed and barn amid a cluster of towering trees indeed trees were e everywhere erdi sicre about the farm which had bad grown up in a regular sapling p forest the buildings were in a ruinous state clapboards imaging hanging loosely roofs dotted by gaping holes doors and windows long ion since gone leaving the car gramont followed by the chauffeur went to the front doorway and surveyed the wreckage inside what do you say hammond ammond IT think we can stop here bere or so go back to the hotel its not much of a run to town hammond pointed to a wide fireplace facing them 1 I can get tills this shack cleaned out in about half an hour this one room anyhow when we get a fire goin in there and board up the windows and doors we ought to be comfortable enough but suit yourself creni its your funeral gramont Grain ont lau laughed glied all right go ahead aud and lean clean up then and if rain comes down we can camp here lie be sure and look tor for snakes and vermin the floor seems jeems sound and if theres figr I 1 think we can stop here or go dack cack to the hotel plenty of moss on the trees we can make up comfortable beds too bad youre not a fisherman or we ae might get a fresh fish out of the alie bayou 1 I got of some tackle in town and hammond grinned widely good work then make yourself at home and go to it weve most of the afternoon before us gramont left the house and headed down toward the bayou shore lie ile took a letter from his pocket opened it and glanced over it anew it was an old letter one written him nearly two years previously by lucie Leda ledanois it had been written merely in the endeavor to distract the thoughts of a wounded soldier to bring his mind to louisiana away from the stricken fields of france in the letter lucie had described some of the more interesting features of bayou bayon Terr terrebonne elionne the oyster and shrimp fleets the chinese and filipino villages along the gulf the tar far spread cypress swamps the bubbling fountains natural curiosities that broke up through the streams and bayous of the whole wide parish fountains that were caused by gas seeping up from the earths interior and breaking through gramont knew that plans were already afoot to tap this field of natural gas and pipe it to new orleans oil had been found too and all the state was now oil mad fortunes were being made daily and other fortunes were being lost dally daily by those who dealt with oil stocks instead of with oil those gas fountains did the work ill reflected gramont an and a according ec to this letter theres one of of those fountains here in the bayou cl close oe to her property just opposite the dock slie she says the ne first tiling thing Is to ind find the dock then the fountain after that well deride decide if its true mineral gas gaa if it Is then the works done for ill sure take a chance on finding oil near it gramont came to the bayou and begun began searching his way along the thick and high fringe of bublies and saplings that girded the waters edge ly lie he came cagne upon the ruined evidences of what had once been a small boat shed not fir far from tills this lie found the dock referred to in the letter nothing was left of it except a few protruding from the alie surface of the water but lie had no need to look farther directly before him he saw that which lie ho was seeking A dozen feet out from shore the water was rising and falling in a continuous dome or fountain of highly charged bubbles that rose a foot above the surface gramont stared at it motionless lie ile watched it tor for a space then abruptly he started it was a violent start a start of sheer amazement and incredulity ile he leaned forward staring no longer at the gas dome but at the water closer inshore for a moment he thought that his senies had deceived him then lie he saw that the thing there indeed there beyond any doubt a very taint faint trace of iridescent light that placed blaed over the surface of the water TO BE CONTINUED |