The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-01-15
CHAPTER vi.

ne HuStitn9 6ehln0 the Door.
The red spot was a spot Of blood, which
euriousiy enough had dried into a shap.
somewhat resembling a tiny heart; and
looking at 1t Dicks veins thrilled 1t
was as If a magnetic current ran through
the silver handled corkscrew into his fin
gers. communicating the tremor felt by
the hand which had held it last.
1t was the man who opened that cham
payne bottle who committed the MUIR
ders," Dick said to himself, half aloud.
He knew that in asserting this so con-
fidently he was springng to conclusion
scarcely justified by any evidence which
he had found. But he was picturing the
scene, even putting himself in the place
of the murderer as he carried out his
hideous. self-appointed task. Dick
knights nature was peculiarly sensitive
and imaginative. Possibly the mystery
which surrounded his own early child
hood had exaggerated certain tendencies;
but be that it might, he was extraor-
dinariy quick to feel outside influences.
F1e felt instictively things which slower
men would be obliged to work out by
rule. and his impressions were seldom
wrong. His vivid imagination took the
form of sympathy; for as he could always
imagine how others must feel in any given
circumstance. it was easy for him to put
himself In another mans place, for the
moment. This is the faculty which is
valuable to writer's of fiction; and though
Dick Knight had never thought Of writ
Ing stories, he now began to live one.
He remembered how Edgar Allan Poe
had said that by initiating closely the ia
eial expression worn by a person whose
thoughts you wished to read. you might
at length arrive at his state Of mind
when committing certain acts. sDicl,
could not call up the murderer's express
sion. since he had never seen the face
I'M ha fho lf,,~o " It'll
the crime Cif crime there had been) must
have been committed; he would have
staked his life that the motive for sucf
a crime must have been overwhelmingly
strong to nerve a mans soul to It; ant
holding the blood-stained corkscrew ii
his hand as If it had been an electric bat
terry communicating with some strange
thought machine, he strove his utmost tt
deduce by intuition the state Of the muir
derer's mind, and the deeds committed
one after another, because Of that men
lal condition.
He came on board meaning to do it.
Dick went on his eyes dreamy and intro
spective. Yes, it must have been SO
Nothing bad enough could have happened
on the trip to inctte him to such horrors
He had it all planned out. He must hav
had to wait till the time was favorable
perhaps till the weather was fair, an,
the yacht near enough to land for him t
have good hope Of getting away, somehow
Just how I can't guess yet. But sa
that the time has come: he has every
thing ready; 1t is now or never. H
doesn't want violence; he has decide
upon poison. Yes. it must have been tn
cook. But no common cook. The min
Of a genius In crime has planned thi
coup. He engaged on the yacht as cook
that was 1t. But how did cook contriv
to come into the dining saloon, and ope
bottle of champagne for his master
luncheon. when that sort Of thing is tn
stewards work? ,'r'
To manage 1t he must have been a per