Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 145: what you’re looking at

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

THE BLACK TUBE, “Why?” queried Craton in an even voice. “Because it is a damned lie,” snarled Buckwell. “Why did Mrs. Sands run away to Stam- ford?” ‘ Because she thought I’d killed her hus- band. I say she didn’t know the man who came down the road because she thought it was me, and it wasn’t. She went to Stamford, taking me along because she wanted to get me to run away; it was her first wild idea. I had just about persuaded her I was innocent and how foolish the act was, Innocent or guilty, when your man called on me.” ‘““Why so foolish if innocent?” “Why? What you mean is it was foolish if guilty.” “ Well, Buckwell,” mused Craton calmly, “ you know just what ’m thinking because you are thinking the same thing.” For a second the big bulk of a man stood over Craton with flaming face. Then pallor slowly crept into his features. With a low moan he sank into the nearest chair. ‘God, yes,” he whispered, ‘‘ I am think- ing it, but, Craton, it’s a cursed thought to have—a doubt no honest, decent man should have—a man came out of the darkness and fired that shot, as she says. Say I’m right, man, say I’m right!” CHAPTER XXIV. HOW JIM SANDS DIED. UCKWELL was gone, Again Homes B and Craton faced each other, a trou- bled frown on the sheriff’s counte- nance. “T don’t want to interfere,” said Homes, a little uneasily, “ but it seemed to me, Mr. Craton, you accept the stories these dif- ferent people tell you too readily.” “Tt may look that way,” admitted Cra- ton, “but I only do so when the facts substantiate what they say.” “Then you have facts enough to elimi- nate Deston, Miss Thurston, Akron, this MacKensie girl, Buckwell, Vrooman, and Mrs. Sands. Who then could have done it?” ‘““As Mr. Marsh and I agreed—as I think 135 we all agreed—there is a chance that any man who had a contract with Sands might have done it.” “That means some hunt, then. We've got to sift down every man who had busi- ness dealings with Sands.” “We may. I will know by morning or by to-morrow night at this time. Now I think we’d better take up one phase of this case and get it out of the way.” ‘What do you mean?” ‘““T refer to the death of young Sands. I’m going to give you the name of the man who was responsible for Jim Sands’s death, and you can make an arrest if you find him Rave. The sheriff wheeled on Craton sharply. “Well?” he demanded. “Samuel Vrooman, sheriff. He and Wil- let Sands had many business deals together. Vrooman got into Sands’s power—I have this from Vrooman himself, so we can ac- cept it for the truth. At one time Vrooman was president of the West Side Trust. He looted that bank. He claims he did it under Sands’s instructions, misappropriated trust funds and allowed Sands to use the money for other purposes. ‘What the actual facts were is fmma- terlal. The truth is that Sands made good the money in the end when an exposure seemed inevitable. He did this only after Vrooman had signed a confession admit- ting that he, and he alone, had misused those funds. You see, it was either up to Vrooman to sign or go to jail for he couldn’t prove that Sands was implicated. Sands had that statement and he carried it with him, as he did those contracts. Lately he has been forcing Vrooman to do certain things for him, threatening an exposure. Vrooman, who, by the way, has a weak heart, was growing positively ill, fearing Sands would turn on him any minute and ruin him. He decided he had to have that confession at any cost. “He went to a chemist, a friend of his, whose name he absolutely refuses to di- vulge. J didn’t insist upon it because it is immaterial in a way. You can get it if you want. Vrooman swears, however, that he didn’t tell the chemist the purpose for which he wanted a small quantity of gas which oO GCOMIGDoOOKSEcoO