Argosy All-Story Weekly, March 15, 1924 — page 139: what you’re looking at

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

768 He stepped noiselessly forward. ‘“ Well!” he rapped out. At the sound of the harsh word the man. faced about quickly. Rainham stepped. back a pace. fore him stood Cranhouse, the very man who had inflamed his volatile nature to the exploding point and had threatened to take. his last dollar. Cranhouse stared at him a insolently, even ‘ sneeringly. . Infuriated by his expression Rainham roared, ‘Don’t .you see that sign— } No Trespassing’ —in my woods—” “ Vour woods!” sneered Cranhouse. All the rancor, the blind fury and the hate which.was pent up in Rainham’s ex- ‘citable nature now broke loose. Drawing in his breath with a hissing sharpness, he leaped at the man facing him. His fist shot out. It todk Cranhouse squarely on the jaw. He went down like a slain bul- lock, striking his head on a half-projecting root. The tin pail rattled raucously, vague- ly reminding Rainham of that. sinister minor note he had just. heard in the bird’s low carol. The water splashed upon his an- ‘les and chilled him to the very heart. Cranhouse still remained motionless where he had fallen. Rainham’s boiling anger cooled. Fear crept in from the inter- stices of the woods. It bore down upon him—overwhelmingly oppressed him. - He stooped over and touched the -pros- trate Cranhouse’s wrist. It was pulseless. He tried again. With the same result. The man was dead. Horror now descended upon "Rainham. Cranhouse dead, and he his murderer! The death would, moreover, appear premedi- tated, done in cold blood. The motive would not be far to seek. It was the debt he could not pay. Perspiration beaded his brow. He shivered, backed .away, and planned to flee befd.. Nit was too late. T hey must not find him heré: Then he paused sharply in his flight to- ward his hidden car. He heard the shrill honk-honk of an auto approaching Dead Men’s Curve from the south. He was erateful for the falling darkness. It hid him and the havoc he had wrought in his hasty anger. Blindly he strove to think. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY For ‘bes . -with its’ head against the root. _ stopped abruptly. WEEKLY. The intense stillness of the woods calmed him slightly. He kept his back toward the body of the dead man. _ Then a plan began to fall into shape in his mind—a way out. Cranhouse’s death must not appear suspicious. made to bear ail the earmarks of an acci- dent. Shutting his teeth he forced hirhself to make a minute examination of the body. Once he jumped, almost unnerved by the_ dry. crackle of a twig. | glance over his shoulder showed him noth- ing. Again he turned his attention to the still figure, examining it with frenzied care. Then his breath wheezed sharply in relief. For the body of Cranhoise seemed. quite unmarked. Concussion of the brain prob- ably. Carefully he replaced the prone figure Hurriedly he examined the pine-strewn area ‘in the vicinity. There was nothing there to whis- per of violent death. Cranhouse might ‘even have been .seized with a paralytic stroke, with some insidious heart malady, and fallen heavily, striking his head against the deadly tree-extremity. With a final glance behind him Rainham stole by another path toward his concealed car.- Half way to his destination he The tin can which Cran- house had been filling now dominated his mind. In a flash he understood its méan- ‘ing. Cranhouse had come in his car, of course. He was getting water for the radiator. The machine might-even now be parked by the roadside.. In an hour full darkness would descend. The car would be a menace in the road, would demand investigation. The woods would be searched for the missing owner. Cranhouse's body would then be discovered. Rainham now became desperately anx- ious to see the car. He crept to the edge of the thick-growing underbrush by the roadside, and walked along some paces. Finally his straining eyes discerned the powerful black roadster parked off the road -under the heavy shadows of overhanging trees and bushes. It was even now hardly visible to the motorist exerting every nerve 8 A CONNMUC It must be Yet his shivering. : Funny how the thing. had escaped. ‘him before. NOOK CO