Part 37 (1/2)

”Then call up over there and tell the sheriff we want him. It has to do with the Renaud murder.”

The loafer sprang to the street and veered across, shouting the news as he went, while Ba'tiste made hurried arrangements regarding the silent form of the lonely cabin. A few moments later, the makes.h.i.+ft boarding-house lobby was crowded, while Barry Houston, reverting to the bitter lessons he had learned during the days of his own cross-examinations, took his place in front of the accused man.

”In the first place, Thayer,” he commanded. ”You might as well know one thing. You're caught. The goods are on you. You're going up if for nothing else than an attempt to murder Ba'tiste Renaud and myself.”

”I--I thought you were robbers.”

”You know that's a lie. But that's a matter for the court room. There are greater things. In the first place--”

”About that other--” Still he clung to his one shred of a story, his only possibility of hope. Conscience had prompted the first outcry; now there was nothing to do but follow the lead. ”I don't know anything. She told me--that's all. And she's dead now.”

”Ah, _oui_!” Ba'tiste had edged forward. ”She is dead. And because she is dead--because she have suffer and die, you would lay to her door murder! Eet is the lie! Where then is the ten thousand dollar she took--if she kill my Julienne? Eh? Where is the gun with which she shot her? Ah, you cringe! For why you do that--for why do you not look at Ba'teese when he talk about his Julienne! Eh? Is eet that you are afraid? Is eet that your teeth are on your tongue, to keep eet from the truth? _Oui_! You are the man--you are the man!”

”I don't know anything about it. She told me she did it--that those were Mrs. Renaud's things.”

”Ah! Then you have nev' see that ring, which my Julienne, she wore on her finger. Ah, no? You have nev' see, in all the time that you come to Ba'teese house, the string of bead about her neck. _Oui_! Eet is the lie, you tell. You have see them--eet is the lie!”

And thus the battle progressed, the old man storming, the frowning, sullen captive in the chair replying in monosyllables, or refusing to answer at all. An hour pa.s.sed, while Tabernacle crowded the little lobby and overflowed to the street. One by one Ba'tiste brought forth the trinkets and laid them before the thin-faced man. He forced them into his hands. He demanded that he explain why he had said nothing of their presence in the lonely cabin, when he had known them, every one, from having seen them time after time in the home of Renaud. The afternoon grew old. The sheriff arrived,--and still the contest went on. Then, with a sudden s.h.i.+fting of the head, a sudden break of reserve, Thayer leaned forward and rubbed his gnarled hands, one against the other.

”All right!” he snapped. ”Have it your way. No use in trying to lay it on the woman--you could prove an alibi for her. You're right. I killed them both.”

”Both?” They stared at him. Thayer nodded, still looking at the floor, his tongue licking suddenly dry lips.

”Yeh, both of 'em. One brought on the other. Mrs. Renaud and John Corbin--they called him Tom Langdon back East.”

CHAPTER XXV

It was staggering in its unexpectedness. A gasp came from the lips of Barry Houston. He felt himself reeling,--only to suddenly straighten, as though a crus.h.i.+ng weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He whirled excitedly and grasped the nearest onlooker.

”Go get Medaine Robinette. Hurry! Tell her that it is of the utmost importance--that I have found the proof. She'll understand.”

Then, struggling to rea.s.sure himself, he turned again to the prisoner.

Two hours later, in the last glint of day, the door opened, and a woman came to his side, where he was finis.h.i.+ng the last of many closely written sheets of paper. He looked up at her, boyishly, happily.

Without waiting for her permission, he grasped her hand, and then, as though eager for her to hear, he turned to the worn-faced man, now slumped dejectedly in his chair.

”You understand, Thayer, that this is your written confession?”

The man nodded.

”Given in the presence of the sheriff, of Ba'tiste Renaud, of myself, and the various citizens of Tabernacle that you see here?”

”Yes.”

”Of your own free will, without threats or violence?”

”I guess so.”

”And you are willing to sign it?”