The Argosy, December 1905 — page 121: what you’re looking at

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

THE OUTCAST. details regarding the wound must be added to the official report, and Med- bury was a stickler for the red-tape of his office. Knowing something of the strain under which Dr. Burress had suffered for the preceding twenty-four hours, his townspeople would not think it strange that the young physician should show so haggard and seamed a face, and, much . as he shrank from the ordeal, he dared not ask Munhall to go in his stead. He remembered the ancient supersti- tion regarding the fresh opening of the vietim’s wounds when the murderer is brought into the house where the corpse lies, and he was in a state of mind to believe in the possibility of such a fan- tastic notion. It seemed certain that something aw- ful must take place when he came to rest his profane gaze upon the body of the old man. But to utterly break down there in the undertaker’s shop, under the strain of viewing the corpse, would cause less comment, Burress believed, than seek- ing to avoid the issue altogether by sending a substitute. Orrin told him that Cartaret was still in town, and Burress feared Cartaret. The insistent ereditor’s had been the only face which expressed . suspicion connecting Burress with old .Solon’s death. Orrin came especially to bear him company to the undertaker’s rooms. The herb-gatherer admitted to the doc- tor as they went along that his mind was vastly disturbed over the gun which he had found upon the scene of the shoot- ing. “ey swanny, doc, I ben’t doin’ right, an’ I know it. I’m hidin’ all this from the coroner, an’ I been under oath, too! But that poor boy # “Let your good heart speak for him, Orrin,” the physician said quickly. “Remember that you do not really know anything about the shooting. The gun proves nothing.” “Proves nothin’? Waal, I guess yes, it do!” snapped the old fellow. “I been thinkin o’ this purty nigh all night, doc, wile I was watchin’ with See. If that wound in Solon’s head was 39 made by a ball the caliber of See’s gun, th’ proof’s purty conclusive, ain’t it, now?” : Burress stopped short in the road and looked at him. He knew Lloyd’s gun well—as well as he did his own. It was an entirely different weapon from the rifle he' had hidden in the swamp. Lloyd’s rifle was a Marlin repeater, throwing a 30-30 ball, while his own had been a Winchester, using 32-40 car- tridges. The wound in the man’s head would be larger and much more ragged than a hole bored by a ball from Lloyd’s lighter gun. 3 The nature of the wound, therefore, would disprove at once any suspicion that might fall upon Lloyd; but he dared say nothing of this to Orrin Pad- dock at the moment. In saving his friend he could not afford to attract suspicion to himself. “ Come on; come on, sir,” quoth Or- rin, tugging at his sleeve; “ you’ve got ter go, ye know. God knows I don’t wish the boy harm, but I solemnly be- heve I’ve done wrong in hidin’ that un.” “Jt will not mend matters to pro- duce it now, Orrin,” Burress interposed quickly. “ Let us wait and see how it all comes out.” “Aye! There’s allus a chance that See won’t never be any better, an’ a crazy man can’t be punished for his deeds, that’s sartain!”’ declared the old man sullenly. Orrin was determined to look upon Lloyd as insane, and perhaps it was as well that he did. The herbalist evidently needed some such salve for his con- science; his secrecy regarding the find- ing of Lloyd’s gun troubled him much. The usual crowd of loungers who at- tended such entertainments as police court sessions and inquests already thronged the undertaker’s room. Way was made for the doctor and Or- rin that they might go forward, and several of his townsmen greeted Burress in hoarse whispers. It was a gloomy room, and the ses- sion had all the solemnity of the funeral ceremony itself, CORmMICLOOOKS (C@