The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-27
SContinued.l

 ir was half past 10 An idea seized me. and went over the fiat with 2 small tooth comb There was nebo{ly there nor any trace of anybody. but l shuttered and bolted all the windows and put the chain on the door.
 By this time my wits were coming back to me and I could think again. It took me about an hour to figure the thing out, and I did not hurry, for, rn- less the murderer came back, had till about 6 o'clock in the morning fol my cogitations.
 I was in the soup-that was pretty clear. Any shadow of a doubt might have had about the truth of Scudd CTS tale was now gone. The proof of ii was lying under the tablecloth. The men who knew that he knew what he knew had found him and had taken the best way to make certain of his silence.
 Yes. but he had been in my rooms four days, and his enemies must have reckoRed that he had confided in me. So I wonId be the next to go It might be that very night or next day Sf the day after. but my number was up. all right
 z Then suddenly I thought of another probability supposing went out now and called in the police or went to bed Iand let Paddock find the body and call sthern in the morning. What kind of II sstory was to tell about Scudder2
 I had lied to Paddock about him, and the whole thing looked desperately sflshy. If made clean breast of it And told the police anything he had told me they would simply laugh at me. The odds were a thousand to one that I would be charged with the mur- der, and the cfrcumstantiaI evidence was strong enough to hang me.
 Few people knew me in England I had no real pal who could come for ward and swear to my character. Per haps that was what those secret enc mics were playing for. They wert' clever enough for anything, and an English prison was us good way of getting rid of me till after June 15 as a knife in my chest.
 Resides, if told the whole story and aoy any miracle was believed would be playing their game. Karoiides would stay at home, which was what they wanted Somehow or other the sight of Scudder's dead face had made me a firm believer in his scheme.
 He was gone, but he had taken me into his confidence, and was pretty well bound to carry on his work. You may think this ridiculous for man in danger 6f his life, but that was the way looked at it. I am an ordinary sort of fellow, not braver than other people, but I hate to see good man downed, and that long knife would not be the end of Scudder if could play the gamei in his place.
 It took me an hour or two to think this out, and by that time I had come to a decision. I must vanish somehow and keep vanished till the end of the second week of June
 Then I must somehow find a way to get in touch with the government peo- pie and tell them what Scudder had told me-
 I wished to heaven he had told me more and that I had listened more carefully to the little he had told me. knew nothing but the barest facts. There was a big risk that even if I weathered the other dangers would not be believed in the end. Lmust take my chance of that and hope that some thing might happen which would con firm my tale in the eyes of the gov ernment. My first job was to keep going for
 
 24th day of May, and that meant twenty days of hiding before could venture to approach the powers that be- reckoned that two sets Of people would be looking for me-Scuddar s enemies, to put me out of existence and the police, who would want me for Scudder's murder.
 It was going to be a giddy h1at, and it was queer how the prospect com forted me. I had been slack so long that almost any chance of activity was welcome. When I had to sit alone with that corpse and wait on fortune was no better than a crushed worm, but if my neck's safety was to hang on my own wits I was prepared to be cheerful about it.
 The next thought was whether Scud- der had any papers about him to give me better clew to the business. I drew back tho tablecloth and searched his pockets I had DO longer any shrinking from the body. The face was wonderfully calm for a man who had been struck down in a moment
 There was nothing in the breast pocket and only few loose coins and cigar holder in. the waistcoat. The trousers held a little penknife and some silver, and the side pocket of his jacket contained an old crocodile skin cigar case.
 Thera was no sign of the little black book in which had seen him making notes. That had no doubt been taken by his nnurderexs
 But as loorscd up from my task saw that some drawers had been pull ed out in the writing table. Scudder swou1d never have left them in that state. for he was the Ediest of rnortaIg. Some 0ne p1ust have been searching