The San Francisco call., 1913-07-27
lIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiITIIiiTIiiTIi TIiiTiIiiiiiiiIiiiIiT

Observation-Disclosures
the incident of the morning might
have been forgotten
thought | heard his teeth grit to-
gether in his effort to suppress q ris-
ing rage.
| 1t was evident to me now that In
spite of an affected nonchalance my
reference to the Chinaman's poachina
had aroused his interest, so I con-
tinued:
Your man told the lodge keeper
that you sent him over to borrow q
rifle"
s"You don't mean to tell me you'd
believe Chinaman, do your" he re-
turned.
! 1T wasn't for me to believe or dis
believe. The lodge keeper believed
| him"
And so he borrowed rife, and
then with one Of Cameron's own in
struments of destruction proceeded to
destroy Cameron's game? Is that It?
What did he shoot? A deer or one OF
those starved looking white dogs that
Cameron has following him about?"
Apparently Murphy knew much
more of my friend than my friend
Ey,aw nf M.rrphv
Neither, I fancy In fact. I'm not
sure just what he did shoot in the
way of game But he seems to have
| INDUCED In bit of target practice.
He found a piece of an old portrait,
tackled it to a tree and shot holes in 1t.
Rather silly. eh?"
How do you know that" he
growled, with an inadvertent dropping
of his mask.
Il saw the target" answered, SIM
ply.
That's like saying | caught a
II pound bass. Here's the hook and
line to prove it."
II have a scale of the bass"
"A what?'
Something your Chinaman dropped
beside the tree
Phlegmatic though he was, some
thing very like a start followed upon
my words. Then he shrugged his
shoulders.
His visiting card, I suppose.
Nearly as good" l supplied. The
bowl of his opium pipe"
At that moment Jerry came around
the corner of the house and stopped
abruptly, stupefed by surprise, for
from the open mouth of the giant
there issued roar of bass laughter.
"You bally IDIOT" he cried IT sup
pose no person except Chinamen
smoke opium. eh. And that being 50,
no Chinaman but my Chinaman could
have made target of piece Of an
old portrait and dropped his pipe bowl
at the foot of tree! Go on with you!
You make me sick!" And then, seeing
Jerry: Didn't find him, eh? Well,
/ that's not strange. Having lost the
bowl of his pipe, he's probably gone
to borrow another from laundryman
friend in Cos Cob; and that, by the
way, is about the nearest place for you
to buy gasoline
The next day l spent at nay ONCE in
New York, busy with the hundred
details that go to the making of pc
riodical. For the time being my con-
sideration of Cameron and his strange
problem was suspended.
When, however. my business day
was ended, and had boarded the train
for Greenwich. the whole involved
enigma spread itself again before me.
And in the midst of 1t, stretching his
great shadow over it to the farthest
limit, appeared that frowsy red giant,
Murphy, a mystery within a mystery.
There was little in the line of rea-
son to convict Murphy Of any knowl-
edge of the matters which had so dis
turbed US. And yet felt intuitively
that he possessed an intimate ac-
quaintance with the whole affair.
At the Greenwich station / found
my touring car waiting, my mother In
the tonneau.
You look tired. Philip she an
nounced when I had kissed her. Was
1t very warm in the city,
Not uncomfortable, l answered, in
diligently.
I'VE have had some little excite
ment here, she fastened, eager to
give me the news. "Old Romney
called you up on the telephone about
noon. When / told him you were
in New York and would not be back
until o'clock it just seemed he
couldn't wait to unburden himself.
Won't you please tell him, Mrs. Clyde
he said, that Mr. Murphy's Chinaman
was found at daybreak this morning.
lying dead just outside Murphy's back
door,"
Found dead." cried, in amaze
ment.
That is what he said. Then he
added that the poor fellows head had