The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1906-10-12
CHAPTER ~.

stared at him In the most pro-
found Amusement.
Yes, murder, Cousin Robert; as de-
liberate and cold-blooded doing to
death Of an innocent man as has ever
befouled corner OF Gods fair world"
+ He rose from IS chair and plowed
heavily up and down the room. The
veins started in his forehead; his huge
hands knotted themselves tensely.
Listen. This afternoon a man lay
asleep on that couch in the corner. We
know the manner Of man--a keen in
honest fighter: but one who had never
done in all his life a mean or ignoble
action. There comes a creak upon the
stairs, the door Is opened softly, head
peers in. He--the murderer--enters the
room. He knew the custom of the house
in this warm September weather: the
doors open, the old servant asleep, the
master taking his regular siesta. How
far Is he criminal how far luna
tic? Is this act premeditated. or the
sudden tempting of opportunity? Who
can say? It is enough that in his dis
eased ina gination he has come to regard
the sleeper as an enemy who maliciously
set himself to destroy his theories and
to bring ridicule on the laborious work Of
years. His desire for revenge Is con-
centrated on the man before him.
"How the thing came into his pos
session / cannot guess, though that
should be a point easily discovered. He
himself may have obtained 1t from AZ
RIGA, or It may have come into his hands
by chance. as the chief Of the Entomo-
| logical Museum. But he has 1t safe
enough shut up In the tin boz which fell
from his pocket in your rooms. The
spring of the lid was defective, you may
remember; it Is that same defective
spring that viii hang him.
"He stands over there, listening and
watching. There Is no sound; the sleeper
will not wake. He opens the case upon
the dressing-table and lifts the thing
with tweezers-for every hair Of 1t has
its poison. With scissors he cuts of
some score of hairs, catching them In
the crease of folded sheet of note
paper. He replaces 1t In the case and
closes the lid. Like an ugly shadow
he fits across to the couch, kneels by its
side, and one, two, three times blows
the hairs from the creased paper across
the intake Of the sleeper's breath. He
turns, snatches mp the case from the
table. and is gone. In five hours Profess
sor Won Stockmar Is dead of intiamma.
ton of the lungs. There is not doc
tor in all Germany who would chal
lenge that diagnosis. In nine hours Pro
lessor Rudolf Marnac is accused by me
Henry Graden, of murder"
"But this deadly 'thing'l'' cried, witt
a sinking horror at my heart. "Thi.
beast, reptile, insect-what Is 1t? Wher,
Is 1t nowT al
For answer he thrust his fingers into
his pocket and drew out the same wooder
matchbox that had seen him with b,
the bedside of the dead man. He slil
it half open and tapped 1t sideways OF
the table under the lamp. A round
fluffy ball rolled out and lay motionless
Suddenly a little black head protruded
4 score of tiny feet padded into motion
and across the table there crept Il hair,
caterpillar-a loathsome, disreputabl
object, for across its back lay a ragget
scar, where the hairs had been shorl
away.
do you recognize the speciesY
J In faint-hearted way / leaned acros
to grasp 1t, but with sudden motion b
} brushed my hand aside.
} II see you do not" said he grimly
: at is common enough in South Africa.
With the end of a match he CAREFUL,
, pushed the insect back into the box
} and replaced it in his pocket.
'aThe luck was against Marnac," b
: continued. ''Not for one moment do
suggest that otherwise should have sus
I pected the truth. To begin with, the dc
! fective spring of the case allowed tn
I caterpillar to escape while he was benz
ing over poor Hermann. After ne ha
done his awful work he slipped it bac