Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1932-05-27
CHAPTER vII-Continued


"If I was to guess" said the
doctor, II would say that she was a
man In a woman's head-dress and
cloak. would say further-but l
have gone far enough. Don't let prob
abilities deceive you. This is evident.
The daredevil alien crook arrives. He
is generous and agreeable COM
panion. in one Of the barrooms he
falls in with our local talent. They be-
come intimate. 1t is curious fact
that If you turn crook loose in Il
town, he will soon find his brother, II
there is one to be found. They will be
friends. Now, the stranger was a
deep and cunning man. With the help
of whisky he soon knew what our
novice had in his mind.
"a man like that has mastered the
arts of making alcohol his servant.
He may pretend to be drunk but he is
always able to do his work. The other
fellow unbuttons his mind. The skill
full crook doesn't. Our hayseed with
q rotten soul grew confidential In his
cups. Algyre was sympathetic. he
offered to help in some part of the
proceeding that was safe and easy.
You may be sure that he was to be
well paid In cash for his trouble. He
dug into the background Of the situa-
ton. He made few expert sugges-
tions.
II have wondered little that our
local talent should be capable of Great
ing a problem so intricate that even
a man of Colonel Blake's acumen has
been deceived. I think that the IA
nous criminal whom the Pinkertons
described conceived the plan of our
problem. The local bungler made a
mess of 1t. He killed the wrong party"
Shad said: "Yes. He meant to kill
Mrs. Doolittle but he had never used
that revolver. He didn't know how
to use it."
Exactly" the doctor exclaimed.
''You see at point on the road op-
posite his canoe our crook met the
murderer, who passed the revolver to
him. He slipped across the river,
dropped the weapon near Bumpy's
shack, put the cartridges in the old
mans jacket pocket, crossed and ran
down the river half mile. There he
left the canoe and went to the house
of Peter Lalone, where he was spending
the night-probably playing poker with
some Of our local sharps"
Shad's eyes glowed with interest and
delight as the doctor raveled out the
threads of the well-knit problem.
"The colonel will be glad to hear Of
this" he said.
IF you put my theory before him,
ne will naturally ask: why would a
clever criminal, involved in big things
and sought by the police, put his life
and liberty In danger in this small
AFFAIR."
Il answer, that he didn't. He took
the precaution to establish an I'M
shakable alibi. At precisely seven fif-
teen he called at Henry Lockwoods-
more than three miles from the scene
OF the crime-and asked for Mr.. Lock.
wood Learning that Lockwood was
not at home. he asked for Mrs. Lock-
wood. He was shown to the sitting
room. He gave her pair of mittens
which he had borrowed from Henry
the day before when he, Algyre, was
going off for long drive in the coun-
try Mrs. Lockwood asked him IL he
would sit down and wait for Henry.
He looked at the clock and answered:
mo, thank you. see it's a quarter
past seven and must be getting back.
Shad smiled with delight, saying:
'sThat man is no bungler. He knows
his business"
at is all we'll planned and rather
admirable" the doctor went on. "But
for one trifiing accident, which had no
right to happen. these thoughts would