The Chinese Parrot (Charlie Chan Detective Series) — page 244: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

= oe thin gray hair—I couldn't make no mistake about Madden. There he was standin’, the gun in his hand, an’ he looks toward the window. I ducks back. An' at that minute this Thorn you're speakin' of—he comes tearin' into the room. 'What have you done now?’ he says. 'I've killed him,' says Madden, ‘that's what I've done.' 'You poor fool,’ says Thorn. ‘It wasn't necessary.’ Madden throws down the gun. 'Why not?’ he wants to know. 'T was afraid of him.’ Thorn sneers. 'You was always afraid o' him,’ he says. 'You dirty coward. That time in New York—' Madden gives him a look. 'Shut up,’ he says ‘Shut up an’ fergit it. I was afraid o' him an' I killed him. Now git busy an’ think what we better do." The old prospector paused, and regarded his wide-eyed audience. "Well, mister," he continued. "An' miss—I come away. What else was there to be done? It was no affair o' mine, an' I wasn't hungerin' fer no courtroom an’ all that. Jest slip away into the night, I tells myself, the good old night that's been yer friend these many years. Slip away an’ let others worry. I runs to the barn an’ gits my pack, an' when I comes out, a car is drivin' into the yard. I crawls through the fence an' moseys down the road. I thought I was out o' it an' safe, an' how you got on to me is a mystery. But I'm decent, an' I ain't hidin' anything. That's my story—the truth, s'help me." Bob Eden rose and paced the sand. "Man alive," he said, "this is serious business.” "Think so?" inquired the old prospector. 244 comiicboeoe S CO