Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-04-21
More or Less Atoms

got to come botherin' me this time of
day, hey?" asked Shagbark. II don't
allow nobody to bother me when I'm
takin' my see-yester sleep"
Now hold on" pleaded Cargile. 1--WE
got money, Mr. Jones. You and me can
come to see you, amt 1? I've the money.
Money talks. hey?"
ut do sort of mingle in the CONVEX
sation of real men now and then said
Shagbark. more agreeably. What IS
that money OF yours try1n' to e1aculate,
as you might say"
"I came the minute I heard you were
here" repeated Cargile. That shows L
believe in you, don't it? know you're
able to solve mystery-any mystery
that ever happened in the United
IN the world" said shagbark.
Eyes, in the world" said Cargile.
fawningly. Il know you've come to Dig
to the bottom of this TaggLs murder.
And WILL" suiI shagbark. "A one
horse little murder like, this amt no
trouble for me--ain't hardly worth
while wastin' time on. Maybe in
couple of days I'll put in minute or
two solvin' it. If take the notion. just
to amuse the folks In town.
YES, put in a minute, or something
like that" said Cargile flatteringly. so
that is why came down to see you. I'm
this Ned Pangburn's lawyer. and 1t is
my business to get him off. I've got
money
said Shagbark. III that money Is start
in to talk, it had better talk where 1t
won't be too much overheard
He led the way to the after-deck.
Carlyle following. Black Pete was there
stretched at full length, asleep or seem
ingly so.
"Don't mind him." said shagbark.
He's only a niger. Now let's hear
Mr. Money say something
Black Pete opened his eyes and looked
at the lawyer. The glossy brown negro
looked especially unpleasant, FOR one
Lie down" said Shagbark, as the ne
gro made an attempt to arise: GO on,
Mr.. Dollars" he said to Cargile.
well n,w said Cargi1e. lowering
his voice, IT don't know whether Ned
Pangburn murdered this Grill Taggus
or not .,
Prom all I hear" said shagbark. its
a sort of pity If he didn't. this Grill Tag
gus was such an ornery devil
"Glad you feel that way said Car
gile. Well. then. do believe Ned Pang-
burn killed him. I speak right out. you
see 1 know you're going to find out all
about it-you always do; so speak right
out"
.'Yep. you speak" said shagbark: ''but
I don't hear no loud words from that
money"
you WILL" said Cargile. moving a little
closer and lowering his voice. 81 know
you are no fool. l know you are a mighty
shrewd man. Now, I am specializing on
this case: I'm taking my chances-making
it a gamble. This Ed Pangburn don't
seem to want to get free. He seems to
want to have folks know he murdered
Grill Taggus. He's proud OF 1t. He brags
about it. He says he wants folks to know
that is the way Pangbunr treats an
enemy. Well, he amt such fool as he
seems
Amt he?''
NO, he is not. And I'll tell you why.
I guess you notice he's in the county
jail here in Hardentown. and not in the
Illinois. And this is Iowa Well, there
are two reasons why he is here. They
are afraid to have him in that little
wooden Jail over there. for fear the Jail
would be burnt down and Ned Pangburn
rushed away. That's how afraid they are
of the Pangburn boys over there. So
they leave him here. And the other rea-
son is that he isn't in Jail for murder
at all. He Is in Jail for being drunk and
d,sorderly. And the reason for that Is
that they haven't got enough proof yet
that he did do murder. They haven't
got the corpus"
1.-THE what?"
1.-THE corpus-the body. They can't find
it, They can't find a trace Of It. 1t was
find a piece big enough to prove 1t is
what is left of Grill Taggus, and unless
they do. they can't prove Grill Taggus
was murdered, or that anybody was muir
dered."
81 reckon not" agreed shagbark.
Cargile watched his face with shrewd
eyes.
"And that's where the mystery comes
in, in this case, hey?'' he asked.
Seems So" agreed Shagbark nom
committally.
Look here" said Cargile. you
know it is SO; You know, mighty well
that that is what everybody is waiting
for-to find a piece of Grill Taggus
big enough to prove he is dead. And
know that is what you've got I know
you are a shrewd man, Jones. and l
know you stopped at Buckgrove Land
ing two days. I can put two and two
together. I can. You've got a piece of
Grill Taggus somewhere. That's what
you've got, and what you aim to do is
to spring 1t on the crowd when you
get ready That's all the mystery there
is to this case, and you wouldn't come
here until you were ready to do some
Of your mystery stuff and say: Some.
body look under that stone yonder,
or something like that. and there