Evening star., 1928-03-19
CHAPTER XIV.
The Cabin on the Lower Deck

A DAY and a night. and another
~ day had gone. and now it was
"A the short twilight Of the tropics,
4 \ already near its close. Peter
Blake paced up and down the
narrow confines Of small cabin that
from Storeroom of some sort had been
metamorphosed into cabin cell. Three
steps one way-three steps the other.
There had been hours of this--two
days of it-with respites only when he
flung himself uncomportably. restlessly,
down upon his bunk. But no respite of
mind from a refrain, jagling refrain
that obSeSSed his brain and tortured
him and would not cease and would
not be driven away:
In whose place was he standing here?
And then came the probings, seek
ing to answer that QueStion-like a
surgeons probe searching in raw flesh
when the nerves lay bare and the mercy
of an anesthetic was denied. And the
beginning of 1t was q very long time
ago-on a night when a man had
laughed and another man had died.
Was there any connection between
that night on Murchisons island and
that night here when, with the same
vicious craftineSs and the same dia-
bolical callouSness that had character
lied the first murder. second murder
had been committed and laid at his
door?
Was the second murder corollary of
the first? How could it be?-except
that, IN so far as he was concerned,
the discovery that he was Peter Blake
had pointed him out as a natural
Scapegoat ready to hand, and he had
been made use of as SUCH
Who killed Tom Murchison? The
-@nl Yk
question his tormented brain always
answered: A man who laughed, to-
gether with another man who was a
white man-and others who were not
white men, but who did the bidding of
the other two.
A hundred other questions had no
answers at ALL
Who murdered J. George Jaffray?
Why was Jaffray murdered? How did
Jaffray know, how had Jaffray found
out that he. Peter Blake, was-Peter
Blake? Did Jaffray know?
VINO wrote the accusation that had
been found in Jaffray's cabin?
Was Rand's theory or explanation
tenable? Physically. It was possible.
But II Janray had not been killed out
right and was still able to write at all
Jafiray surely knew that he, Peter
Blake, was not his aSsaiiant. Why
then should Jaffray, dying. make a
false accusation that woud shield and
give Immunity TO his own murderer?
incrediblel But did Jaffray really know
VINO had attacked him? Suppose the
CRIME mad been committed In the dark,
tnat the murderer. in some way, by
voice, or act. or suggestion, Intentionally
impersonating Peter Blake. had caused
Jahray to believe that IL was Peter
Blake? Jaffray, dying. his brain func-
tioning abnormally In its last agony.
might have accepted the impression.
tnat was perhaps cunningly being
thrust upon 1.-THE murderer for in
stance, whispering: 80 I answer to
Peter Blakes description, do I? Wen
] am Peter Blakel" That would have
cone it. But that presupposed that
JaHray had spoken of the resemblance
70 some one else besides Capt. Mumm
ano himself. Peter Blake, In the cabin
the night before last. Well, why not?
1t would have been natural enough
But TO whom? No one had come for
ward to say that Jaffray had done
anything OF the kind. But, granting
this theory, what was the actual mur-
oerers reason for impersonating Peter
Blake? To shift the crime from his
own shoulders, OF course: Yes. of
coursel But did 1t go any farther? The
reward OF $4,000 didn't enter into It,
did It? Jaffray. dead. couldn't claim
the reward. How could the murderer
step forward and claim II? Quite
absurdl Nevertheless Jaffray's refer
| ence TO the reward on that paper was
the strongest evidence that Jaffray
himself had written 1t. On the other
hand 1t was the cieverest thing the
murderer could have done in order to
stamp that dying statement as genuine.
But II Jaffray knew that Alec Dunn
was Peter Blake, why had he waited
until he was being murdered TO dis
slose the fact? Why hadn't he prompt
ly gone TO Mr.. Garth, to Capt. Stone,
TO anybody In authority on board. and
| disclosed that fact7 4iad he ever found
out? Was 1t only the murderer who
had found out and who had written
| that paper? Or was ii the murderer
who. in his impersonation Of Peter
| Blake TO shift the crime from his
own shoulders, had made Jaffray be-
lieYe he was being attacked by Peter
| Blake, and Jaffray then. as Rand had
suggested, had managed TO reach the
table and scrawl those words?
/ axx