Adventure, November 1915 — page 154: what you’re looking at

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

bs oo > Te 152 : “Mr. Kozu has been found on the deck— shot. All of you are requested to come at once to the Captain’s cabin.” He said it like a man reciting a speech he has learned by heart, in a loud tone, so that Colonel Cowper who, with his nose buried in a book, was sitting before a half-consum- ed soda on the opposite side of the room, might hear. Mr. Robinson turned in his seat and, placing his hand behind his ear; asked in a mildly curious voice. “What did you say, sir? Some one has been shot? Is he dead?” “Ves, a first-class Japanese passenger, Mr. Kozu. The Captain wants to see every one who is now on deck.” Colonel Cowper had risen, finished his drink, and was approaching the officer. “Rummy business, eh? Who did it?” “That’s what we want to find out,” said the man sharply. “Please come at once.” There were a dozen or more people, beside the Captain, in his cabin when we entered, evidently couples who had been rounded up on deck “These are all, Captain!” said the officer saluting. The Captain waved him a curt dismissal. You could see at a glance that he was furiously angry. He toyed for a moment with his grizzly mustache, which stuck out in Bismarckian fashion, before briefly re- counting what had happened and asking us to await the doctor’s report. [ll tell you the silence in that cabin was electrical. Everybody glanced furtively at his neighbor who had suddenly changed from an inconspicuous passenger to the potential notoriety of the central figure in a ship’s murder case. “Who was this ‘man, Captain?” asked Colonel Cowper. “A pottery manufacturer of Osaka. He was found lying on deck by the night watch- man.’ A moment afterward the doctor entered and in a low tone reported to the Captain. In his left hand, he carried a small, care- fully wrapped package which he presently handed to the Captain who placed it, un- opened, on his desk, as he turned his chair to-face us. 3 “The man has been dead probably less than an hour,” he said. ‘‘The bullet has been located. It penetrated the heart. Has Adventure any one seen or heard anything which might throw a light on the matter?”’ The Captain’s question was met with a blank silence. Every one seemed afraid to speak, as if by so doing he might draw sus- picion on himself. I was on the point of making a beginning, when the Englishman cut in: “You were talking with him this evening, Mr. Crossly, were you not? Perhaps he said something which might have given you a clue.” At this a tall, thin man, one of those men who seem always to delight in anything which gives them a momentary impor- tance, a Mr. Kling from somewhere on the Pacific Coast, added significantly: “And I saw Mr. Crossly walking around the deck tonight, it must have been just about the time the shot was fired. He cer- tainly ought to be able to tell us some- thing.” bees S His voice had a ring of triumph in it; you could see he was more than ready to take over the réle of prosecutor. The others looked at me expectantly, half-convinced already that I had done for the Jap. I said that I had talked with Kozu about _ such subjects as any two casual acquaint- ances might discuss, nor had I-noticed any suggestion of apprehension or fear in his manner, although there might have beena faint trace of depression. I ‘had not seen him since I had left him reading in the smoking-room after saying “good night.” I had come up again at the request of Mr. Robinson as I was on the point of entering my cabin. Mr. Robinson bore me out, and in his placid, semi-deferential way, explained that there had been nothing hurried or excited in — my manner. 3 “But,” said Mr. Kling, “‘here is a man found shot on deck. Somebody must have done it, and he must have done it with a pistol. You can’t shoot a man with your finger you know. I was sitting in my chair until the first-officer called me, and I didn’t see a single soul but you. Did you see any one? And are you sure you heard nothing?” “My friend,” I said, “Mr. Kozu himself must have passed from the smoking-room to the fore part of the deck, but there is no mystery in the fact that you did not see him. He must simply have walked up the other side of the ship. And as for some one having shot him, may the explanation not EOPMIGLOOO KS (EO)