The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1919-03-13

picture Oh MIN at al events. III
reserve further consideration Of
his personality until l have seen
him."
"'You believe implicitly all that
story Of Bates, do you, Mr..
Stonef" and Haviland looked
obviously at the detective.
Eyes, / do, at present. IL any
thing turns up to disprove any
part of it, / may have to revise
my ideas. But, just now, it seems
to me that Bates told the simple
truth. To be sure, he only told it
because he feared an accusation
Of murder, and he knew that to
confess to the lesser crime would
go far to help him deny the
greater"
"You may be right. But might
there not be collusion between
Friend Count and Batesf'
"Collusionf"
"Just that" and Gray shook
his head doggedly. "I've a vague
idea that Frenchy is mixed up in
this thing somehow. Now, he
couldn't possibly have admins
tered the poison, himself, person
ally, nor could he have struck the
blow personally, but couldn't he
have hired the man Bates to do
it for him7"
"On the face Of things, Mr..
Haviland, does that look plaus-
ible9 Is the Count, as you de-
scribe him, a man who would en-
gage a burglar Of the Bates type
to commit a brutal crime2 Again,
if. Bates were merely the Counts
tool, would he not, when caught,
pass the blame on to his en-
ployerf" y
"He sure would You are right,
Mr.. Stone, those two never hooked
up togetherl It's out of the ques-
ton. But, as Estelle and Bates
are in cahoots, why didn't she give
Miss Darlington the poison her.
self" h e
well, she did fix the bromide,
hoping to make her mistress sleep
soundly. But the lady never took
it. Now, il the maid had given
or expected to give the poison,
why the bromide at allH"
"But, look here" broke in
Hardy, "mightn't it be that Es-
telle did do the poisoning and ar
ranged the bromide as a blind, to
put us off the track, exactly as it
has donef"'
"There's small use specializing
about that poison" said Stone
thoughtfully, 1--WE must go at that
Systematically. We must find out
where it was bought and by whom.
People can't go around buying
deadly poison without a record
being made Of the sale. We must
inquire Of druggists until we find
out these facts" -.'
"There s no druggist about here
who would sell aconitine," said
Hardy; cit doubtless was bought
in New York" .,..~
"That, of course, adds to the
difficulty Of tracing the sale, but
it must be done. Mr.. Hardy, / will
ask you to do all you can to find
out about that"
"You want to look up a French
apothecary," advised Haviland.
"That Count is at the bottom Of
this, as sure as shootin', and he's
full clever enough to hide his
tracks mighty closely. Why, that
man is a fortune hunter and an
adventurer, and he wanted that
$4,000, and he poisoned Miss
Lucy to get It'll That's what he
did, And he was on deck that
night, after the jewels, that's
where he wasl 1t was he in that
room talking, it was he who left
his glove thereof course, he
didn't know it-and now you've
got him under lock and key, I
hope you'll keep him there, and
not let this Bates discovery get
him the slip. If the two were not
working together, then, surely
they are incriminated separately,
and you want to look into the
case Of little old MI. Count"
".You may be right, Mr.. Havi-
land" and Fleming Stone smiled
at him, "but ] think you are as
Stunning a lot because of your pref
udice against the Frenchman. Was
he very attentive to Miss Caring
toni Had he proposed marriage
to her2"
"That we don't know. Of
course, we had all been afraid he
would"
"Why afraid2",
"Oh, we didn' t want my cousin
to marry an adventurer. OF
course, he only wanted her for