Evening star., 1923-07-31
By Herbert FOotner
Copyright by George H. Doran Company

1t was the body of man of middle
age, plump rather than corpulent he
was well dressed in a somewhat Old
| fashioned style, the open overcoat re-
vealing a cutaway beneath, while
silk hat, not new, lay on the seat OF
| the cab where 1t had fallen. A gold
watch chain still stretched across his
| waistcoat and the little finger Of the
hand Greg touched displayed a hand
some ring. So he had not been rob-
bed. This ring bore curious red
stone cut in octagonal form. the
benignant look-this had been
| kind old gentleman in life; he was
very dark and had slightly foreign
| look, Spanish American, Greg
guessed. There was nothing to show
how he had come by his death. The
| bag under his body was an old-fash-
| ioned suit case with collapsible
side.
Meanwhile the question was ham,
mering on GreG's brain: What am
| to do? What am l to do?" His OBJ
vious duty. of course. was to take
| the body to the nearest police sta
| ton. but he shivered at the prospect
| of what would assuredly follow, the
| searching questions, the pitiless pub
licity. He could not hope to conceal
| his identity, for as yet the cabman,
Elmer Fishback, had no background.
| And then to have his family and
| friends read next morning how Greg
ory Parr had become the driver OF
an owl taxi and was implicated in
| murder-well, anything rather than
| that
Why not dump the body out where
| he was and let things take their
course? The crime was none OF ms.
Hur suppose. just as he started To
| drag 1t out of the cab, some one
turned into the street or came out OF
| one of the houses? Or suppose, as
was not unlikely, that the crime was
| already known and the police even
now were in search of cab bearing
| his number? In that case to cast
| the body adrift would be to incrlm-
mate himself. For moment or two
| Greg was inclined to abandon the
whole outfit where it stood, but II
now represented all he possessed in
the world, and his native obstinacy
would not permit OF a surrender so
abject. After all, he had done nothing
wrong; he determined to see the thing
| through.
A hot tide of anger surged up in
him against the man who had fooled
him. What made it more bitter was
| the fact that he had liked the gar
rulous little cabman and had taken
his word, only to he betrayed. How
easily he had been deceived-fool
that he was! But if he could get hold
| of him. Well even now IL was
! only half-past twelve, and If the man
really intended to sail on the Savoia
| there was time! At this point in
his reflections Greg shut the door
again, and sliding back into the
drivers seatoturned his car and has
tened back across town.
His state of mind was very differ
| ent from that in which he had so
| blithely set forth. for now he carried
a burden of horror behind. The pic
| ture of that poor form of human clay
| seemed etched on his brain, and he
! could not forget 1T for an instant.
He was frankly terrified, too: the
hardest thing in the world to get rid
of is a dead body that you cannot
account for. He conceived the idea
of driving out in the country and
abandoning it in a lonely road. In
that case he would have to have
gasoline. Suppose while his tank
was filling some one glanced inside.
Perhaps he ought to stop and set the
body up on the seat and put its hat
on it's head-but what was the use?
At the first jolt it would fall over
again When Greg passed a police
man he instinctively slumped down
in his seat, and his heart stood still
for a moment as he awaited the ex-
pected peremptory hail. But he was
allowed to pass.
CONTINUED in Tomorrow's Starr