The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-01-11
The cree :lfi1: Man
by Frances Shelley Wees

| GOrQOn signed. 1nen ne sat up In
bed, and pointed his finger straight
before him. ell tell" he shouted.
"I'll tell . we'll get you .
Freddie :. =" he sank back.
The doctor lifted his wrist.
you'll have to CO." he said to
Tuck imperatively. II must give
him sedative. This can't go on"
Tuck turned and made her way
from the room. What had she
learned? Nothing except that the
Creeping Man really existed
but. if that were so. if it had been
he who hit Gordon . then Dun
can was innocent! Duncan had
been with Bunny when they saw
the Creeping Man. Out along the
cliffs ~. then perhaps Michael and
Gordon had been searching for
him that day . certainly they
had. And that meant that Michael
knew Duncan wasn't the fiend he
was looking for.
She stood on the path behind
the Deane house and thought. Her
brain raced. To find himl But she
would never dare go out there
alone. 1t was foolhardy and
she wouldn't dare. The Creeping
Man! He might come up behind
her, and do what he had done to
Gordon =. or to old Mrs. Devoe
or to Edgar Murchison
There were cautious footsteps
out in the wood. She looked up.
Out in the darkness of the trees
stood tall figure with the short
pOliceman's cape that told its
identity. He did not move. but
waved a reasSuring hand.
Tuck waved back. and started
for her own gate. Agamemnon
came racing to meet her, and
walked by her side, brushing and
arching himself against her skirt.
She did not notice him. What was
it Gordon had said? Game up out
of the ground" How?
And then Tuck stopped short in
her walk. She had remembered
the hairpin the hairpin she
and Bunny had found that day,
out by the stump. Mrs. DEVICES
hairpin. Surprising why had
that hairpin lain where it did?
Surprising it lay there because old
Mrs. Devoe had fallen there? And
supposing, - supposing she had
been murdered because she
had been standing right there
when the Creeping Man came up
out of the ground! That was why
he had murdered her.
I've Found Something
TUCK glanced up at the sky
swiftly. Another half hour be-
fore dark. 1t would still be light
out on the cliffs. Her mind was
made up. She couldn't wait until
tomorrow to know.
She turned toward that dark
figure out in the wood. leaning
there against a tree, and called
out softly. "Mr. Donovan" she
said. I'm going out along the
cliffs. Will you come behind me
in the trees, and see that moth
ing happens to me?"
He raised his billy, and straight
ened up. She went up the path on
flying feet, and looked his way
only occasionally to see that he
followed Agamemnon came too,
daShing ahead of her happily.
They reached the fork of the path,
and Tuck raced madly through
the darkness.
Like flash she ran up to the
big stump where she and Bunny
had seen the hairpin. She scanned
the ground all about it, with care
full search. to distinguish. perhaps,
a trap door set into the earth. It
seemed a little ridiculous. now
that she was here. Trap doors do
not open into the earth -.
The earth was perfectly solid,
as far as she could see. Agamem-
non nosed around her. shifting. It
was getting dark very rapidly. it
seemed. 1t was strange. eerie, out
here, with the sun dropping out
Of sight over the rim of the hills
ahead. with the water surging
along so blackly not bird
was singing. She turned swiftly
to look for Donovan, and he was
standing tall and straight under
the edge of the trees. He was
keeping her safe.
Then she looked at the stump;
and her eye was caught and held
by the straight line of a cut run
ming around it very near the bot
tom. She caught her breath, and
moved closer. She bent over and
looked. She saw one cut running
half round the stump on the river
side and another tranSversing it
across the top. and running down
both sides. 1t was as if half of it
had been sawed loose and never
removed.
An idea came to her. She stood
up and beckoned to Donovan. He
was already coming toward her.
II think I've found something
-" she SAID, and stopped.
She stared at him. This was not
Donovan this was
He was laughing, a dark, sheer
ing laugh. He came straight on to-
ward her. She was paralyzed.
ayes" he said smoothly. you've
found something. I thought you
would"
Her eyes were fixed on his face.
It changed suddenly. He was half
crouching now. He reached out
one hand. and seized her wrists,
tore her hand away from her
mouth. He. held her at arms
length.
Another body" he said even
ly. might be little inconve-
nient." And so saying, he lifted
a wooden pin from the side of the
stump, and lowered the side next
the river.
Tuck glanced down involun-
tarily. There, beneath the stump,
/ ,x-as a y,arrov., Iorl- q:,,LA 80 49,,