St. Tammany farmer., 1922-10-14


will soon shut your mouth ~
$50" Querted Gramont, his brows
lifted. "You seem much in Mr.. Felrs
confidence, Ben. But I think I'll leave
you tied up little while. Memphis
1zzy is going down to his summer cot
tage tomorrow, isn't hef TIL be there
but you won't. By the way, I think
I'd better look through your pockets" !"
Ben Chacherre writhed suddenly,
hurting a storm Of curses at Gramont.
The latter, unheeding the contor-
tions Of his captive searched the man
thoroughly. Except for a roll Of
money, the pockets gave up little Of
interest. The only paper Gramont Sc
cured was a fresh telegraph blank.
He would have passed this unheeded
had he not noted a snaky fitting Of
Chacherre's eyes to 1t.
"Ah!" he said, pleasantly. ''You ap-
pear to be interested In this, Ben.
Pray, what IL the secret 7"
Chacherre merely glared at him. and
a sudden exclamation broke from him.
He held the bit of yellow paper to
the light at varying angles.
'It's the most natural thing In the
world" he said after a moment, "for
q man to walk into telegraph ONCE,
write out telegram, and then find
that he's torn two blanks instead Of
one from the pad on the desk. Eh7
I've done It, often-and I've always
put the extra blank into my pocket,
Ben, thinking it might come in handy /:
just as you did, eh1 Now, let's see!
"You were excited when you wrote
this, weren't -youl You'd just thought
Of something very important, and you
took care Of it hurriedly-that made
you jab down your pencil pretty hard.
Who's Dick Hearne at Houma3 An
agent Of the bang therer'
Chacherre merely glared, sullenly
defiant. Word by word, Gramont
made out the message:
"Burn bundle under rear seat my
car. Have done at once"
Gramont looked up and smiled
thinly.
"Your cart Why, you left It in the
garage at 9umberts' place. eh3 That
little roadster Of Falls, with the extra
seat behind. II you'd been just Z little
bit cooler yesterday, Ben. yen would
have made fewer mistakes. It never
occurred to you that other people
might have been there In the bushes
when the sheriff was murdered, chr
Chacherre went livid.
ut was another mistake to throw
away your knife after you killed him. :
pursued Gramont, redectively. "You
should have held ON to that knife, Ben.
There's no blood, remember, on Ham
mond's knife-a hard thing for you
and your friends to explain plausibly.
Yet your knife Is heavy with blood,
which tests will show to be human
blood. Also, the knife has your name
on It; quite handsome knife, too.
On the whole, you must admit that
you bungled the murder from start
to finish
Chaeherre broke in with a frightful
oath--a frantically obscene storm OF
curses. So furious were his words
that Gramont very efficiently gagged
him with cloths, gagged him hard and
fast.
II think that I'll send another wire
to Dick Hearne on this blank which
you so thoughtfully provided. I'll or
der him, in your name, not to burn
that bundle after all; I fancy 1t may
prove of some value to me. And TIL
also tell your friend-I suppose he
has some familiar cognomen, such %
Slippery Dick-to meet Henry Gra-
mont at Houma early In the morning.
I'd like to gather Dick In with the
other gentlemen. I'll mention that
you were kind enough to supply few
names and Incidents"
At this last Ben Chacherre writhed
anew, for it was 4 shrewd blow. He
and his friends belonged to that class
Of crook which never peaches" II
by any mlschancs one Of that class 10
Jailed and convicted, he invariably
takes his medicine silently, knowing
that the whole gang Is behind him,
and that when he emerges from prts-
on he will be sure to find money and
friends and occupation awaiting him.
To know that he would be placed.
In the estimation OF the gang, In the
same class with stool-pigeons, must
have bitten deeper into Ben Chacherro
than any other lash. He stared at
Gramont with a frightful hatred In
bis blazing eyes-a hatred which
gradually passed into q look Of help
lessness and of impotent despair.
Gramont, meantime, was writing out
the telegram to Dick Hearns. This
hnished, he got his hat and coat, and
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