Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, December 1956 — page 143: what you’re looking at

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

Kelly swore that he could not sleep that night and that he and- Seaman Rollins had played a make- shift game of checkers until Burke came back with the news. Rollins verified this. That left only one person who could have killed Bo- swain Sykes. The men were for ieee Burke on the spot. But Lt. Benton had- another idea. There was only cir- cumstantial proof that he had killed the boswain and no proof that he had anything to do with the deaths of the other two. So he pro-- posed that we rig a sail on our boat, store it with provisions for two weeks and set Burke adrift in it. With the warning that if he headed back to the island and was found he would be executed on the spot. However, if he made it to friendly territory or was picked up by a friendly ship and informed them of our plight, he, the Lieu- tenant, would see that he got a fair trial and recommend clemency “if outright pardon could not be ob- tained. This-judgment appealed to everyone. So Burke was set adrift this afternoon doubtlessly thankful to escape alive although maintain- ing his innocence all the while. I believe that more than one were hoping he would make it. It seems as though Lt. Benton has handled this situation with an admirable degree of er | June4 . Aldoct three weeks now. since SIX AND TWO MAKE NINE Burke was set to sea and the ten- sion seems to have passed. We are all faring well now except for slight attacks of fever. I seem to have recurrences quite frequent- ly now associated with headaches. I have sent Seamen Crawford and Rollins itt search of the plant that helps alleviate fever. I sent with them as a sample the last bit I had for my own private use: | June7 Seamen Rollins and Eriawtond have not yet returned. If they are not back in another day we will have to organize a search. At least that is what Lt. Benton has said. That should be interesting; three men searching for two—who will be discovered, we or they? My fever seems to have gone down but my head feels as if it shall surely split. June9 We started and finished our search for Crawford and Rollins yesterday. We found them by a burnt-out campfire, their throats cut. Buzzards, companions of our island I had ‘not been aware of, acted as guides. All the way back. ee bie we - tried to walk abreast through the sometimes ‘densé underbrush. It seemed obvious that one of the three was a homicidal maniac. None of us said a word through- out the return. Finally, when we entered the hut in silence, Lt. Ben- 141 Gomichbooksteco