Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-16

ute I saw he was dead as a door nail-like j
stroke Of lightning. Naturally it sobered me-
up. I told you we took something out OF
Curlin's shop when we left there last spring.
What we took was q camera. It really
wasn't worth a damn, but the old man
thought it yds great stuff; and he might use
it, you see. to make Notwithstanding law
suits over the patent and so on. I thought
we'd better have it. 80 I took it away. It
was n fool thing, pretty near as big as Il
shoe box.
"Id had it in the cellar up there at Slow
River--under THAT mess of broken up crates
and stun. But after Curtin and young
Whiteside broke into the factory that day 1
buried it-in the trunk It'd brought it up
there In. So I dug it up Ind put Steinman
in the trunk and buried him in the cellar.
It's just a dirt floor, you know. You can
dig anywhere.
''And now, you see, how it all turns out.
Steinman and I had planned to go away.
I'd told 'em at the boarding house we was
going away, and I'd told Peter Green. Every
thing was fixed up for it in. advance. I
don't know: a mans brain does queer things
sometimes. Maybe knowing that everything
was all fixed up for it in advance was SOME.
where or other in my mind when I hit him
that lick with the bottle. You never can
tell" He seemed to ponder that psychology
cal point a moment, and again drew a long,
SlS ulItS vi "a Iii hIAu SOuSlANCa 6AdtCASs tN0Ap
anyhow, that's the way it stands, and you
can see why I want to get settled up with
you and clear out Of here right away
They've got q lot of curiosity in those little
towns They may be prying around any
day and find somethir :. l ain't satisfied
~entirely-about Peter Green. Maybe he's
got something on his mind about Steinman.
l gotta get away. you Sec"
HARDWOOD had been listening latterly in 4
sort Of CHASTITY chill. There was a horrible
verisimilitude about the narrative as 'Kromf
slowly unfolded it. TIL narrator's impress.
sion Of the affair as only an unlucky acci.
dent made it all the worse. There was 4
slight perspiration on the lawyers brow and
upper lip-and somewhere within him a
strong push, like q propelling hand. This
push urged him to rise and declare:
If you're telling the truth you are d muir.
derer. md I shall and you over to the
police!"
Krom again put his hand to his brow and
observed soberly: eve can get the patent
fixed up in a week il we push it right along.
I'll sell out to you for a song-compara-
lively"
The invention for the moment was all in
this fellows hands. That could. be made,
secure In aI,Week. And it was; implicit IN the
situation that Krom wouldn' have confessed
the murder except that ~he-expeoted Harwool
to take his view Of it-as. an unlucky acci..
dent. To smash Krom was to smash the
invention. sThe inner push subsided.
" You can afford" said Krom. !" to pay me
Enthusiastically as now you won't have
Steinman to settle with. Thatll turn the
whole thing over to you. OF course, I know
it's worth . lot more. But I gotta get away
from. here. I'm going to Germany myself. =,
HARDWOOD then spoke for the first time:
. I'll agree % that II the pictures come up to
the samples you've shown me-. when I get
the patents:" So that inner push Was den.