Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1918-03-07
ito confirm his supposition. The
Sconndra1a had hoon that 1vav

na0 Deen Cnat way.
Suddenly he gave a movement
of delight. Against the border Of
the path, among the leaves of q
little clump of rhododendrons, he
saw something red, the shape Of
which at once struck him. He
stopped. 1t was an apple, the
fourth apple, the one whose alb
sence from the fruit dish he had
noticed.
"Excellent!" he said. "Hippo-
lyte Fauville did not eat it. One
of them must have carried it away
"a fit of appetite, a sudden hun
gcr-and it must have rolled from
his hand without his having time
to look for it and pick it up"
He took up the fruit and exam
ined it.
"What!" he exclaimed, with q
start. "Can it be possible2"
He stood dumfounded, a prey to
real excitement, refusing to admit
the inadmissible thing which new
ertheless presented itself to his
eyes with the direct evidence Of
actuality. Some one had bitten in
to the apple; into the apple which
was too sour to eat. And the teeth
had left their markl
lis it possible 2" repeated Don
Luis. els it possible that one Of
them can have been guilty of such
an imprudence! The apple must
have fallen without his knowing
Or he must have been unable
to find it in the dark"
He could not get over his sur
prise. He cast about for plausible
explanations. But the fact was
there before him. Two rows of
teeth, cutting through the thin red
peel, had left their regular semi
circular bite clearly in the pulp of
the fruit. They were clearly
marked on the top, while the low
er row had melted into a single
curved line.
"The teeth Of the tiger!" MUIR
INJURED Prenna, who could not re-
move his eyes from that double i'm
print. "The teeth of the tiger! The
teeth that had already left their
mark on Inspector Verot's piece Of
chocolate! What a coincidencel
1t can hardly be fortuitous. Must
we not take it as certain that the
same person bit into this apple
and into that cake of chocolate
which Inspector Verot brought to
the police office as an incontesta-
BILE piece Of evidenced"
He hesitated a second. Should
he keep this evidence for himself,
for the personal inquiry which he
meant to conduct? Or should he
surrender it to the Investigations
Of the police7 But the touch of the
object filled him with such repug-
nance, with such a sense Of phys
ical discomfort, that he flung
away the apple and sent it rolling
under the leaves Of the shrubs.
And he repeated to himself:
"The teeth of the tiger! The
teeth Of the wild beast!"
He locked the garden door be-
hind him, bolted it, put back the
keys on the table and said to
Mazeroux:
"Have you spoken to the chief
of policeY"
eyes"
IFS he coming?"
eyes"
"Didn't he order you to tele-
phone for the commissary Of 20.
lice?"
emo" -F~7
"That means that he wants to
see everything by himself. So
much the better. But the detective
!office9 The public prosecutorq"
"He's told them"
whats the matter with you.
AexandreH l have to drag your
answers out of you. Well, what is
It'll You're looking at me very
queerly. What's up7"
Nothing"
"That's all right. 1 expect this
business has turned your head.
And no wonder. - The prefect
won't enjoy himself, either, SO
especially as he put his faith in mo
q bit light heartedly and will be
called upon to give an explanation
of my presence here. By the way,
it's much better that you should
take upon yourself the response
bility for all that we have done.
Don't you agreei Besides, it'll do
you all the good in the world.
"Put yourself forward, fatty !;
suppress me as much as you can;
and. above all - I don't