MURDER BY LEGACY

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 85, 11 April 1931, Page 12 (Supplement)

MURDER BY LEGACY

By W. A. SWEENEY.

CHAPTER XXII. Non-stop to Reno. When Dick woke again the train was at a standstill. He blinked rather stupidly for a moment or two, and then he woke up Carl. "We've arrived somewhere," he said. "And it's daylight." That it .was daylight he could perceive through the chinks and crannies of the box car, which threw rapierlike beams of light into their dark prison of hemp-seed. "What do we do now?" asked Carl, sitting up and displacing about a hundredweight of seed as he did so. "That's what I don't know," said Dick doubtfully.. "First of all, are we at Reno, do you think? Anyway, we can hardly walk out of that manhole as if we were strolling out of the Savoy bar, in the middle of the day." "But we must get out some time," objected Carl. Dick considered a moment. "Yes, you're right," he said, then. "Here goes. I'm going to reconnoitre from the manhole.'"' He opened this door and looked out | and around carefully. It was broad daylight, and he glanced rapidly at his watch. Then he got one of the shocks of his life. "Carl," he said, "do you know what time it is 1" "No." "Half-past four in the afternoon." "Good God! And we've slept since about eleven o'clock last night!" "It seems so. Moreover, this can't be Reno, otherwise surely this hemp-seed would have been dumped out before now." Dick looked about him. "I don't see any officials about, anyway," he added. A strange expression came into his face as he continued to view his surroundings from the manhole opening. "Carl," he said suddenly, in a queer eort of voice. "Did you wake up at all during the night?" "Several times." "Were we stopped at any time?" "Not while I was awake. But I heard the most infernal row going on—banging and crashing all around. We must have passed a lot of stations, for I heard the most infernal din of steam whistles going off and on. I was too sleepy to pay much attention, though. Anyway, we must have travelled some hundreds of miles."

"We have travelled," said Dick slowly, "some hundreds of yards." "What on earth are you talking about?" asked Carl. "Just this. We are still at Denver. All night long this train has been switched from place to place to allow the making-up of other trains, and we are simply a short distance away 011 another line from where we were when we entered last night. And this," added Dick bitterly, "is the twentieth of the month." "Can you be quite certain that you aren't mistaken, Dick?" asked Carl. "After all, we couldn't take our bearings last night in the darkness." "There is a shed over there which I noticed as soon as we came in sight of the rail-yard last night. I noticed it because of its peculiar shape," "My God!" said Carl. "We're done again." "The damnable thing about it," said Dick, "is that we don't know how far this confounded place is from Reno. I wish I had, paid more attention to geography in my childhood. If " He stopped suddenly, closed the manhole, and llopped down beside Carl. "Two people coming along," he said, laconically. "One seems to be a train official, but the other's a policeman." "That's settled us, I should think," muttered Carl. Dick motioned him to be silent as the footsteps approached. Nearer and nearer drew the footsteps, and the two in the hemp-seed could almost hear their own hearts beating. Then Dick, made a rapid movement and whispered frantically to Carl. "What fools we are! Hide in the middle of the seed! Quick!" With wrigglings and twistings like the movements of two eels they buried themselves in the mass of hemp-seed, face downwards, for they had no time to choose their attitude, and the last pile of seed had ceased to roll when there was a noise at the door of the car The railway official was testing it to see if it was locked. Dick and Carl, choking in that huge mass of seed and fearful to breathe almost, lest the tumbling of the seed would betray their presence, listened while the man outside unbolted and unlocked the door. He glanced in casually, and locked and bolted it again. "Non-stop run to Reno, this time?" said a voice. "Yeh. All the stuff aboard's for Reno." The footsteps moved away a little. The voice then came again, this time faintly. "By the way, you didn't 6ee no signs of two guys without hats round this way last night, Tom? Two English guys. They . . ." This time the footsteps were beyond earshot and Dick and Carl heard no more. After waiting a while they emerged from the hemp-seed and sat up gasping while seed ran off them like streams of water.

"Another minute of that," said Carl, "and I would have been suffocated." "Another minute of it and I would have laughed out loud and that freight inspector, or whatever he is, would have had the fright of his life. I thought of the two of us — members of the Rovers' Club and esteemed citizens of the British Empire—standing nearly upside down and red in the face in a pile of hemp-seed in a goods train, and if I hadn't nearly swallowed about a quart of seed I would have roared with hysterical laughter. I'll bet those two have never heard seed laughing to itself before." "It looks as if this train is going to start pretty soon," said Carl, "when he's going round examining the cars. By heavens! Dick, we've had a narrow escape." "We've had them before. Now our course is clear. This train's going to Reno, so we'll stay on it till it goes. Moreover, it was a positive blessing that that fellow came round, for now we know that the first stop is Reno and we know where to get out." "That's true," said Carl. "Fin as hungry as a famished wolf." "So am I," said Dick, "but I'm afraid we'll have to tighten our belts and wait unless we have a go at tlie seed." "No, I don't think I'd like to touch that on an empty stomach," said Carl. "Wonder when we'll get into Reno!"

"I'd give a lot to know that," said Dick, solemnly "Well, there's nothing else to do but hang on here anyway and see. It is now about five and—" He stopped suddenly and held up his hand. The footsteps were coming back again. Again they heard a voice speaking. "Had a nasty one yesterday morning it seems. As I said to Harry Mason, there's always something happening on this darned run. Cleared it? Oh yeh. Cleared it yesterday and we should run in about ten to-morrow morning, according to schedule." The voice, still speaking, died away with the footsteps. "So we'll be in at ten to-morrow," said Dick Tarlton, softly, a wild light of excitement in his eyes. "The end of the journey at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, Carl, and only two hours to claim that legacy. This trip is going to finish up in a manner worthy of its beginning. Only two hours' margin!" "A close thing," said his companion. "If there's a delay on the line—" "There won't be a delay on the line!" cried Dick violently. "There can't be a delay on the line now —after all this. Such a thing could not be. Am I to lose this after undergoing perils devised by all the fiends of hell, and outwitting their designs up till now in order to miss this legacy because of a delay on the line ? No, such things cannot be. I'd rather lose it by anything on earth— shattering and cataclysmic—than by the insensate stupidity of a delay on the line." "Let's hope for the best," said Carl. "Now we're off again." The train had moved into motion and Dick took out a cigarette. "First stop Reno," he said, as if to himself. He smoked in silence for a while, and then Carl said: "It seems to me there's nothing much for us to do but go to sleep. This darkness is rather conducive to it, anyway." "You're right," said Dick. "They say he who sleeps eats, and as we can't eat, we had better put in all the sleep we can. We may need some energy in the .two hours before mid-day to-morrow." "Dick," said Carl, turning round in the darkness, "I don't know if you really realise how solemn are those words you have just uttered. I am more afraid now, at the journey's end, than at any time since we started on this dangerous business. 1 am more depressed than I have been since the beginning. Probably it is want of food and this horrible darkness, but I feel as if my soul had been steeped in some foul fluid, like the ghastly liquids that certain horrible fish eject at the bottom of the sea, for weeks past; and I feel that everything is nearing a climax—a terrible climax. What it is I do not know, but 'I know that the climax is to be terrible, and it is near at hand. I tell you sincerely that lam heartily sorry you ever heard of this legacy, or that it ever existed. It is a legacy with a curse on it."

"I don't believe in legacies with curses on them," returned Dick. "Whatever evil this legacy has caused was bred and born in the minds of scoundrels whose destiny it is to work evil in any case. If a man assaults me and steals my pocket-book am I to say that iny pocketbook i 3 accursed? Carl, you're in low spirits, and it is no wonder. But this is not the moment to let superstition get the upper hand. The climax is at hand, as you say, but it need not be terrible. It will not be terrible if I can help it."

Carl said nothing for a while. "Perhaps you're right," he said then from the darkness, and Dick thought he detected a new note in his voice. "Yes, you're right. This is not the moment to let depression get the upper hand." The evening wore on and they smoked and dozed and talked. Night came, as they saw by their watches, and still the freight train we'nt rolling on its way, past hill and dale and woodland. About eleven o'clock they prepared to make themselves comfortable for the night and sleep till morni'ng, if possible. "We must be ready to get off this train by nine o'clock," said Dick. "No sleeping till the afternoon or till they open this door and shoot us out with the seed." They said good-niglit to each other and stretched themselves as best they could to try and sleep. Carl was awakened by Dick shaking him. "It's after nine o'clock," he said. "We must be getting somewhere near Re'no. Now this is our plan of action. As soon as we come near the station the train will slow down a bit and then we must climb out of here and jump it. We had better not go together. The two of us slipping along between trains would be sure to be spotted, especially after what that policeman said last night. I suggest that Igo off first and that you go farther in on the train and then slip off and make your way to the main entrance of the station, or rail yard, where I shall come and meet you. You will probably be there before me, of course. Is that agreed?"

Carl nodded. Dick stood up and looked out of the manhole. "•I can see the rail yard/' he said. "It's pretty big. I'm going to climb out and get ready to jump as soon as she begins to slow down a bit." He climbed out and stood crouching ready to spring down as soon as the train slackened speed. Carl sat silently amid the* hemp-seed. Nearer and nearer drew the train to the rail yard of Reno and Dick Tarlton's face grew set and tense. Suddenly, he turned his face swiftly to Carl, "Cheerio!" he said, and the next moment he had disappeared. Carl climbed to the manhole. He was stiff and tired still, and he moved with difficulty. The train was now reducing speed considerably. It was already abrgnst of lines of other goods trains, though not yet in the rail-yard. Carl waited a little longer. The train went o'n slowing down more and more, but getting more and more among congested railway traffic. Carl looked around, but he could see nobody likely to observe his exit from the box-car. He was nearly in the goods station 'now. Then he jumped, and walking rapidly along the line, slipped between two carriages of a'nother train, and crossing line after line and passing 'between stationary trains that seemed to be deserted, finally, reached a kind of open space bounded by a small fence. He

went over the fence, after a quick look round/ and fou.ul himself in a road. It only remained now for him to stroll up to tlie main entrance of the station and wait for Dick. Dipk, lie guessed, would corns alone; by the same road as he. It was not difficult to find the main entrance to the station, as it stood only a short way from where lie had crossed the fence. He would probably have to wait some time for Dick, thought Carl, and. as this thought erod ed his mi ad, so did another and he lacked about 'iim. Dick Tarlton came to the main entrance of the station as he said lie would. But he did not come by the road. He came out of the station itself, and with him were two men. One was a policeman and the other a railway official. He was between the two. CHAPTER XXIII. An Old Acquaintance Turns Up. Carl Rayner was standing in the public square of the town of Reno. He was looking for a building which the inhabitants, called somewhat vaguely, the courthouse. He had been directed to this square, and now it remained to find out the particular building he wanted. "In London," he said, to himself, "this thing would be in the hands of the Probate Court, but here I don't know what the method is. This is the country town of Reno, in the State of Nevada. It's as likely as not the head constable, or some such person, does this business at his house." He glanced up at the public clock and found it was half-past ten. Then he walked into the courthouse and to the first person he met <he explained his business. He was shown into a room where a man sat behind a desk. He got up, politely enough, as Carl entered. "It is to-day, I understand, that the Tarlton concessions expire," said Carl. "That is correct," said the official. "They expire at noon to day." "You have no news of Richard Tarlton, who has come to claim them from England?" demanded Carl. The other shook his head. "Nor of a Miss Lucienne Tarlton?" "No." Carl took a deep breath. "If Mr. Richard Tarlton is not here to claim these concessions by noon, to whom do they go?" "If they are not claimed bjy the nearest heir of the testator before twelve o'clock they will pass out of the hands of any one individual and be sold."

"There is somebody else who has an interest in them?" went on Carl. "I'm asking you all this because I have an interest in them myself," he explained. The official smiled. "There are many people who have an interest in those concessions," he said. "It is hot unnatural, as they are reputed to be worth millions." v "Millions!" said Carl. "In what way?" "In silver mines," said the other laconically. Carl passed his hand over his brow. He stood for a moment deep in thought. "I wonder," he said. Then, "if you would be good enougfi to give me the address of a good hotel here. You see, I am a stranger in Reno." The official looked at him a trifle curiously, and then said: "Why, certainly. I guess the Golden Star is about the best we can boast of in Reno. Just round the corner." "Thank you very much," said Carl. "Good morning." "Good morning," said the other, affably. He picked up a cigar out of a box as Carl went out, and said, "An Englishman. Pretty curious about the Tarlton silver mines, anyway." Carl went straight to the hotel and engaged a room. Then he told the attendant to bring him note-paper and envelopes. He sat down to write, and wrote for a long time. When he had finished, he placed the letter carefully in the envelope, addressed it, and then glanced at his watch. It was half-past eleven. He reached for the cloth cap he had bought that morning in Reno, and went out. He walked round the corner to the courthouse and was shown in once more to the man he had spoken with earlier. "I'm sorry to disturb you again—" he began, but the other broke in, affably: "No disturbance at all. I'm here for that. What can Ido for you?"

"About those Tarlton concessions," said Carl. "Nobody has turned up for them yet?" "Not yet," said the official. He glanced at the clock. "They haven't much time now," he added tranquilly. "Twentyfive minutes to twelve." Carl's face, he noticed, was pale and haggard-looking. He was wondering What this Englishman had to do with the Tarlton concessions. Carl also looked at the clock, which was ticking loudly, ticking away, second by second, this legacy for which Dick Tarlton had braved so many dangers and suffered so much persecution. Carl said good morning again and went out once more into the square. He hesitated for a little and then turned and made his way slowly to the hotel.

He glanced at his watch again as he approached the hotel. He had walked very slowly. It was now 18 minutes to 12. He glanced, casually down the street just as he was about to enter the building and, as he did so, his eyes gaped in his head and his mouth fell open. Something very strange was coming down the street. It was an open car, and in it were Dick Tarlton, Lucienne and Gustave Tarlton. Carl Rayner sprang inside the hotel, out of sight. He made his way straight to his room. A moment later a shot rang through the Golden Star Hotel, and a frightened attendant rushed into the Englishman's room. She found him stretched dead upon the floor, while blood trickled on the carpet from a wound in his head. On the table lay a letter addressed to Dick Tarlton. (To be concluded Saturday Next.)