The Argosy, March 1907 — page 112: what you’re looking at

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

es en ~ SEO ee - - 7 - 4 ‘ Se rat Sm : = —e color as the result. ™~ He ee again. “T haven’t read much of the case— been too infernally busy—but ‘isn’t it pretty nearly the truth, eh?” “Have it all your own way,” said Radford quietly. ‘‘ The truth is that you killed the man, and that I happen to have proof of it.” He waited; the dart—spurious, of course—seemed to have had little effect. “Your friend, Mr- ‘ Pig’ Ryan, and at happened to meet this morning, and from him I gained some _ particulars about your charming self. Bah! Do you think you’re dealing with a child or 39 ‘Only a man excited,’ Catterson said thoughtfully. ‘ You’re not much _ to blame, Radford. I understand it pretty well, I think. A man isn’t accused of murder every day, and you're a bit off Really,” he laughed, “IT didn’t kill Mr.—er—Bandmann. If they hadn’t found poison in him I should be inclined to think that he expired from a sour disposition and an inclination to expose everything on earth but himself.” He took another puff. “And positively,” he finished, not acquainted with your friend the pig. “ Ryan ” Radford began. “When you sent up that fool mes- sage,” Catterson smiled, ‘I thought for sure that it was Ed Ryan, of Chicago— the kid millionaire, you know—off on another of his transcontinental jags. I supposed he’d discovered me and—oh, all that sort of thing.” He chuckled a little. ‘ And I believed that he had rec- ognized himself for the pig he is!” “Keep on, ,if it amuses you!” the druggist said unpleasantly. Catterson rose suddenly and thrust his hands into his trousers-pockets with an abruptness that very nearly cost him his life. Radford’s finger, on the trigger, re- laxed only at the last millionth of a sec- ond. In a way, the absolute careless- ness of the move had disarmed him. But if his mental state was apparent to Catterson, that gentleman paid no attention whatever to it. He stalked slowly back and forth, puffing in an irri- tated fashion on his excellent cigar and frowning now and then. “Oh, I say!” he began sharply. ¢é P’m ag ARGOSY. “Tt’s all right, you know, and I. undér- stand your side of the case perfectly, but—why—I absolutely cannot go back there and testify, you know!” “No?” Radford smiled. ‘No, indeed. There are. a dozen things to keep me in Chicago this next month or two. ‘There’s. that—well, never mind just what, but it’s a big deal, and if I have to spend half my time down here it’ll be all off!” 6é Ah? ) : “And that C. B. & D. matter, ‘too! I’m vice-president of the road, you know, and there’s no getting away from the fact that I’ve got to be present at the annual squabble, next week, as a major- ity stockholder!” He stopped squarely before Radford. ‘See here, my son. Why not call this off? I'll pay cash for it if you'll kindly disappear. very melodramatic and very charming, of course, but it’s all balderdash if you come down to facts. If you insist on my returning to Bondville I’ll—well, perhaps r ll go = perhaps I won't, but He ended with a ae of his fingers. ” Radford smiled, and tried to fill the smile with a confidence he did not feel. Acknowledged or not, this large per-- son was making an impression upon the druggist. Face to face with him, and in spite of all, it seemed to Radford very nearly impossible that Catterson, or Pen- der, could have committed the crime. “You'll go!” he said briefly, how- ever, and the revolver came up again. * 5 My dear boy ”"—Catterson’s hands were in view again, and the clenched right pounded emphatically upon the flat palm of the left—“ can’t I make you listen to reason? Must you sit there with that elephantine gun and flourish it to talk sense? I tell you, it’ll cost me thou- sands of dollars to go back there and be held for—God knows how long. You’ve been spotted as the murderer, haven’t you? All right, then. Go back. Let "em try you. and they can’t possibly convict you! ” This Wild West business is — ~ It’s a fool case, of course, ~ Radford looked at him, and the pistol .. lowered slightly. From his seemingly worst enemy, the druggist was receiving , precisely the sort of consolation he most needed. Eomichboo ‘S: COTE