The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1923-07-18

| one day, while / was In the doctor,
Office, be kept drawing little figures
| on q pad before him as he talked
When he was called to the phone,
took out the piece Of paper on which
| he had been drawing and had care
lessly thrown IL into waste-paper
basket as he passed. On 1t were the
same figures that | had found on the
magazine cover Even then | was slow
though science had proved that per-
son always draws the same design.
found the same symbols on the knife
handle. There was but one way he
could have been killed"
my Cd, howT Roche gasped out.
1.-THE knife blow came from the
front. You who sat next to the chauf-
feur heard nothing. No one could
have crept up on him without making
some sound. Therefore the knife had
to be thrown"
''ThfownT we gasped.
Eyes. That was the only way 1t
could have reached him. The blow
came from directly In front OF Brif-
feur. 1t could only be thrown Upon
the knife handle were the circles such
as l had found elsewhere. Someone
had scratched them on 1t in a mo
ment of idleness. 1t was trench
knife. Doctor King had been to the
front; he was the only one directly
in. ~ Drift nd
who could have thrown 1t. We had
all agreed that Briffeur was killed be-
cause he knew who had murdered
Slyke, and that the same man muir
dered them both. There is another
proof, also. The only person, outside
of the family. that the dog liked was
Doctor King. The day we found
Slyke dead the dog came In. growled
at the rest of us but let King pat
him."
The doctor raised his head, his face
white save for two red spots in either
cheek. His eyes were pools Of blaz-
ing light. He looked at US wildly for
a second, then threw out his hands
and in a voice, low at first but grow
ing louder as he continued, he admit
ted, Eyes, 1 killed them. 1 never in
tended to do so. God knows! II all
goes back some time"
BARLEY interrupted him. ITO the
time when you got mixed up with
Slyke and Briffeur. selling whisky
"Yes-yes, that was 1t II goes
back to that" His voice faltered. then
he recovered. Il came back from the
war, broke. Slyke suggested that
go in with him on running whisky. l
had a camp and fast motorboat on
Lake Champlain; II was all l did
have. He suggested We run the whis-
ky down the lake from Canada to my
camp, then bring 1t on here and hide
1t In the vault. He never played fair
with us; he cheated US again and
again That's why Briffeur suggested
we break into the house and see If
he had told the truth about the
amount of money he said he got for
1t. He kept the records of all our
sales in his safe. We tried to-you
know the rest about the robbery"
His voice trailed off into whisper.
l recalled that he had been she'll
shocked, and wondered If he could
stand the strain he was undergoing.
1.-The night was at Currie's to din
ner and met Mr.. BARLEY It was Slyke
who called me up on the phone"
His voice was shrill now. and l
thought he would break down at any
HE said he wished to see me. and
| started oyer here. l ran into Brit
feur, who told me that Slyke had sold
the rest Of the whisky for $4,000. |
Well-where was ~ He stopped. |
confused. and passed his hand over
his face.
"Oh. yes-the whisky. I went up |
to the tower. and he suggested We go |
put on the balcony-why, don't know |
[ asked him what he got for the wills |
", and he said $4,000. l knew he
led. and | told him so. We quar-
-eled. quarreled- All at once, he
dashed a revolver on me and said he
lad a good mind to kill me-he had
,een drinking"
Again his voice trailed away into
ilence and his eyes closed. Then he
himself with an effort and
continued. Just what happened then,
don't know-dOn't know, Ny nerves
ave been in pieces since l was she'll
hooked. We struggled. and l know
shot him. 1 did as you say. Took
i'm downstairs. undresSed him, and
ut the revolver in his hand. l knew
-knew-that most people would
hink he had killed himself l was
sorry-but l am hardly TO
lame for his death. Ny big mistake
as calling in Mr.. BARLEY the next
forming. 1 knew. If 1 could fool him.
could fool everyone"
He paused: his head sank again
Ito his hands. 1 saw that Barley
tiled him deeply and his voice was
,ft and his face grave as he asked.
And Briffeur?"
With an effort the doctor raised his
cad. I
"T WAS ALWAYS afraid of that man 7