The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-07
On the Trail of 'Biq Finger"

Joseph" said HiXon, 1urtlNely
watching him.
Joseph eh?" smiled Boyd. Name
sake of him who wore a coat of many
coIors. Ell? No offense. Mr.. HixOn, of
course. Now, where's the other gentle
man."
Hixon started slightly.
Mr. Curley? / told you that he
never is here in the afternoon"
True, so you did" murmured Boyd
complacently. But your cutter?'
L do the cutting, Mr.. Boyd. L am a
tailor by trade"
''Ah. 1 see." said Boyd, drawing him
self UP with a curious light in his cold
gray eyes. But the third man-what
has become of him.
Third MANI demanded Hixon, with
rising evaporation.
Certainly"
But there is no third man! We're
quite alone here"
so I see, Mr.. Hixon," drawled Boyd.
"But-but what has become of him?
You don't seem to understand what I
am trying TO get at"
mo, I'm hanged if / do!'
Il want to know where the third
man has gone
But there is no third man. Are you
mad, gone daffy, or what? At what
are you driving? What do you mean
by a third MANI"
Hixon, despite an Impotence border
ing upon anger, had grown gray as
ashes, as if all of the blood in his body
had suddenly gone down to his feet.
Dalton, with eyes beginning to glow
like living Goals, had shifted about in
his chair and slipped one hand beneath
his coat.
Yet Felix Boyd, though he saw the
change in one and the move of the 9TH
er, appeared ObliviOus to both. With
notebook and pencil i'm hand, still with
that curious light i'm his steadfast eyes,
he stood complacently surveying them,
quite as if ignorant that their very
lives hung upon his reiterated question
cOncerning-the third man.
In responding to that of HiXOn, how
ever, his voice took on a slightly sharp
er ring.
I'll tell you what I mean, Hixon."
said he, deliberately. Il mean the man
who was clad and made up to resemble
yonder figure. The man who stood in
the stairway niche while yOnder figure
was briefly removed. The man who,
timed to a nicely, was there when
Debbs came up the stairs with his batch
of bonds, but with neither fear nor
suspicion of the familiar figure he was
about TO pass so near. / mean the man
who, as DebbS passed, struck him dead
with a bludgeon, then seized the bonds,
and"
God above. man. are you mad?"
cried Hixon. vehemently.
mot at all. HIxOn. Is he not here
that third man? Nor the stolen bonds?
Well, well, I'll summon a brace of Off
GERS and see what a search will bring
forth. If l am wrong Ha, what's
this?"
With a bound like that of a leopard,
with an agility fairly marvellous in a
man Of his weight and build, Dalton
had left his chair and leaped between
Boyd and the corridor door. His beard
ed features were twitching as if with
suppressed commissions. His hand had
come from under his coat with lgiht-
ning-like move, and Felix Boyd found
himself staring into the black mouth of
a leveled revolver.
Don't make a mover" Kissed Dalton,
with caution that was frightful be-
cause of its intensity. IF you utter a
cry or drop your hands, I'll send a bull
let through you You've made a shrewd
guess, Mr.. Felix Boyd. Take heed or
. twill cost you your life"'
With scarce a change of countenance,
and still toying with his notebook and
pencil. Boyd had fallen back until his
shoulders touched the rolls of cloth on
the table behind him. Before he could
reply to DaltOn's threat, however, the
latter brought HiXon out of daze of
overwhelming dismay by snarling
fiercely:
"Out with your gun. Joe, Cover this
man, and shoot if he speaks or moves!
l know him of old for tricky blood
hound! Watch him. or the games up
and we are done for! Cover him until
I can lock that corridor door and call
Kelly from the closet"
Though his words came swift and
subdued, they were imbued with all the
fear and fury of man who suddenly
realized that his life was hanging by a
thread. Their passionate enunciatiOn,
together with his desperate aspect,
stimulated the quaking heart of Hixon,
and he snatched a revolver from the
table drawer, and leveled it at Boyd's
head.
Yet Mr.. Felix Boyd had not stirred.
Though now covered by two weapons,
he appeared as unmoved, as uncOn-
cerned, as the fateful lay-figure stand
ing near the corridor door some twelve
| feet away. His thin. firm lips wore
smile approaching a sneer, and his
cold, gray eyes were steadfastly bent
upon Dalton. whose immediate grasp
ing of the desperate situation reminded
him of one encountered many a time
before.
The Iatter's looks and movements
were. in fact, of a kind to be remem-
bered. Not for an instant had his re-
volver deviated from line with BOyd's
breast. Crouching as breast crouches
when cornered, with his weapon con-
stantly leveled, with his cleaning eyes
constantly fixed upon Felix Boyd, he
began moving backward step by step
toward the corridor door. bent upon
| locking it against possible intruders
before attempting to secure this man
by whom his liberty and life now were
| threatened.
When opposite the door of the closet.
he reached out his left hand and
opened it, still watching Boyd and
keeping him covered, while he snarled
fiercely through his teeth.
Come out here, Kelly! Come out
and find a piece of rope. Get a cord
while 1 turn the key in yonder doori
We're cornered like rats in a trap I'm