Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine — page 86: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

428 ARGOSY AND RAILROAD MAN’S MAGAZINE, “That’s so,” he conceded grudgingly, staring hard at the opposite bulkhead as if in profound thought. ‘“ That’s different agin. But I guess we can’t git round that there proposition—that’s the answer to that question. Somehow I can’t git the idee out o’ my dome that Letcher croaked the skipper. Him a bug-ketcher — poison —_ bite—spiders—an’ Jessup gone. ‘Ye kin take my advice or leave it, but I’m strong fer not leavin’ him git back aboard; he’ll only stir up trouble agin. But now it was Miss Dor’thy done it, an’ all along I thought it was Letcher. Why, I guess I never heerd o’ sitch a think! Wouldn’t it beat ye, doc?” he cried, laugh- ing explosively and slapping his chest. ‘“ All along I thought it was Letcher, an’ now it was Miss Dor’thy! He, he!” The horrifying confession of murder which I had just listened to had startled me considerably, but as Mankus talked I re- volved it in my mind and began to see day- light. Was it possible Dorothy had be- lieved that the man whom Mankus saw shuffling along toward the ’tween-decks with something in his hand was her own father? Tf so, her motives in attempting to assume the guilt were obvious: by her confession she hoped not only to clear Letcher, a man - in whose fate she seemed vitally interested, but to shield her father and turn aside any suspicion of him that might later arise in the minds of any of us. T now recalled Dorothy’s anguish on sev- eral occasions when the subject had been discussed, and when any new line of in- quiry had been opened. Without a doubt she had seen her father go toward the *tween-decks that night—or return from it. I remembered, also, how Daniel Gaylord had persistently declined all discussion of the subject, his nervousness when it was referred to, and his hasty retreats to his cabin several times in the very midst of the inquiry. As for Dorothy’s vexation at Falkens, I knew not what to think. Suppose she knew that Falkens also had seen her father go toward the ’tween-decks that night. Falkens’s refusal to shield him would natu- rally rouse her anger, for if the guilt were allowed to rest on her shoulders, she would probably escape punishment, but if it were her father who should be convicted the se- quel would tell quite another story. I was not quite certain, either, that Man- kus was as completely taken-in by Dorothy as he allowed us to think. It seemed to me that Mankus, when accused of the crime, had shown too much confusion for a man with a clear conscience. Mankus had not been entirely frank with us; he had kept some conclusive bit of évidence in reserve; might even have manufactured a situation for the purpose of damning Letcher and justifying himself in refusing to allow Letcher aboard. If Mankus himself were guilty, that alone would explain his great complacence at Dorothy’s confession: his rollicking high spirits marred only by the knowledge that Letcher must now be allowed to return. A more interesting phase of the situa- tion occurred to me; what if Mankus feared George Letcher not only as a rival for the girl, but because Letcher was in’ possession of some damaging testimony against him? “Now about that boat,” said Falkens abruptly. “ We’ve wasted a quarter of an hour in talk. Lacking bamboo for outrig- gers, we’ll have to devise something else.” “No, we won’t!” I exclaimed. “ One trip up the ladder to the top of the cliff will furnish us with enough bamboo for ten outriggers.” Mankus snorted and interposed all sorts of objections, but, finding himself ignored, he eee out on deck, By the time I had prepared for my trip he had concluded to accept conditions with ‘good grace, for he returned and said af- fably: “Well, doc, I see yér dome is set on get- tin’ that Letcher back agin, an’ nothink won’t change it. No use to take the hard- est way about, says I, and mebbe I kin help ye.” He paused and looked about. ““ Where’s the cap?” igs Who??”’ Ss ‘“Where’s Mr. Falkens?” “ He’s down getting tools—here he comes now.” Mankus turned and faced him. “ Ye won’t need them tools, Mr. Falkens,” he said respectfully. ‘‘ Jist now, when I was comicbooks:com