Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-04-08
CHAPTER IContinued

CHAPTER I-COnClnue0
P
..'You know this Floyd Garden
well?"
Vance nodded. "Fairly well. He's
a member Of the Far Meadows club
and I've often played polo with him.
He's a fve-goaler and owns couple
Of the best ponies in the country. /
tried to buy one of them from him
once-but that's beside the point.
The fact is, young Garden has in
vited me on several occasions to
join him and his little group at the
apartment when the out-of-town
races were on. It seems he has a
direct loud-speaker service from all
the tracks, like many of the horse
fanatics. The professor disapproves,
in a mild way, but he raises no
serious objections because Mrs.
Garden is rather inclined to sit in
and take her chances on a horse
now and then"
''Have you ever accepted his in
vitation?" asked Markham.
"No," Vance told him. Then he
glanced up with far-away look in
his eyes. "But I think it might be
an excellent idea"
"Come, come, Vance!" protested
Markham. "Even if you see some
cryptic relationship between the dis
connected items of this message
you've Just received, how, in the
name Of Heaven, can you take it
seriously?"
Vance drew deeply on his ciga-
rette and waited moment before
answering.
'"You have overlooked one phrase
in the message: 'Equaninaity is es-
sential,' he said at length. Zone of
the great race-horses of today hap
pens. to be named Equanimity. He
belongs in the company of such inn
mortals of the turf as Man O. War,
Exterminator, Gallant Fox, and
Reign Count. Furthermore, Equa-
ninity is running in the Rivermont
Handicap tomorrow"
"Still see no reason to take the
matter seriously" Markham OBJ
jected.
Vance ignored the comment and
added Moreover, Doctor Miles
Siefert told me at the club the
other day that Mrs. Garden had
been quite i'll for some time with a
mysterious malady."
Markham shifted in his chair and
broke the ashes from his cigar.
"The affair gets more muddled
by the minute" he remarked irrita-
bly,. whats the connection be-
tween all these commonplace data
and that precious phone message of
yours?" He waved his hand con-
temptuously toward the paper which
Vance still held.
IT happen to know" Vance an
swered slowly, "who sent me this
message"
"Ah, yes?" Markham was obvi-
ously skeptical.
"Quite. 1t was Doctor Siefert."
Markham showed a sudden. in
terest.
''Would you care to enlighten me
as to how you arrived at this con.
clusion?" he asked in a satirica.
voice.
"It was not difficult" Vance an.
swered, rising and standing before
the empty hearth, with one arm
resting on the mantel. ''To begir
with, I was not called to the tele
phone personally. Why? Because il
was some one know. To continue
the language of the message bears
the earmarks of the medical pro
fession. Psychological tension ane
'resists diagnosis are not phrases
ordinarily used by the layman, al
though they consist of commonplace.
enough words. To 60 another step
the message obviously assumes tina
am more or less acquainted will
the Garden household and the race
track passion of young Garden
Therefore, we get the results tina
the sender of the message is a doc
tor whom I know and one who i.
aware of my acquaintance with tn.
Gardens. The only doctor who full
fills these conditions, and who, Incl
dentally, is middle-aged and cul
tured and highly judicial-Currie'
description, y'know - is Mile,
Siefert. And, added to this sinpl,
deduction, I happen to know tina
Siefert is a Latin scholar-I ono,
encountered him at the Latin so
ciety club-rooms. Another point il
my favor is the fact that he is tn
family physician Of the Gardens an,
would have ample opportunity Il