Part 37 (2/2)
One of 'em is you, the other two is Mexicans. You're at a water-hole in the mesquite. Now there's a shooting sc.r.a.pe; I see the body of a dead man.” The speaker became silent; evidently his cataleptic vision was far from perfect. But he soon began to drone again. ”Now I behold a stranger at the same water-hole. He's alone--he's looking for something. He rides in circles. He's off his horse and bending over--What? A skeleton! Yes, it's the skeleton of one of them other Mexicans.” Strange's voice became positively sepulchral as his spirit control took fuller possession of his earthly sh.e.l.l and as his visions resolved themselves into clearer outline. ”See! He swears an oath to avenge. And now--the scene changes. Everything dissolves. I'm in a mansion; and the red-haired woman comes toward me. Over her head floats that skeleton--”
Dave broke in crisply. ”All right! Let's get down to cases. What's on your mind, Strange?”
The psychic simulated a shudder--a painful contortion, such as any one might suffer if rudely jerked out of the spirit world.
”Eh? What was I--? There! You've broke the connection,” he declared.
”Did I tell you anything?”
”No. But evidently you can.”
”I'm sorry. They never come back.”
”Rot!”
Phil was hurt, indignant. With some stiffness he explained the danger of interrupting a seance of this sort, but Law remained obdurate.
”You can put over that second-sight stuff with the Greasers,” he declared, sharply, ”but not with me. So, Jose Sanchez has been to see you and you want to warn me. Is that it?”
”I don't know any such party,” Strange protested. He eyed his caller for a moment; then with an abrupt change of manner he complained: ”Say, Bo! What's the matter with you? I've got a reputation to protect, and I do things my own way. I'm getting set to slip you something, and you try to make me look like a sucker. Is that any way to act?”
”I prefer to talk to you when your eyes are open. I know all about--”
”You don't know nothing about anything,” snapped the other. ”Jose's got it in for Mrs. Austin.”
”You said you didn't know him.”
”Well, I don't. He's never been to see me in his life, but--his sweetheart has. Rosa Morales comes regular.”
”Rosa! Jose's sweetheart!”
”Yes. Her and Jose have joined out together since you shot Panfilo, and they're framing something.”
”What, for instance?”
The fortune-teller hesitated. ”I only wish I knew,” he said, slowly.
”It looks to me like a killing.”
Dave nodded. ”Probably is. Jose would like to get me, and of course the girl--”
”Oh, they don't aim to get you. You ain't the one they're after.”
”No? Who then?”
”I don't know nothing definite. In this business, you understand, a fellow has to put two and two together. Sometimes I have to make one and two count four. I have to tell more'n I'm told; I have to shoot my game on the wing, for n.o.body tells me any more'n they dast. All the same, I'm sure Jose ain't carving no epitaph for you. From what I've dug out of Rosa, he's acting for a third party--somebody with pull and a lot of coin--but who it is I don't know. Anyhow, he's cooking trouble for the Austins, and I want to stand from under.”
Now that the speaker had dropped all pretense, he answered Dave's questions without evasion and told what he knew. It was not much, to Dave's way of thinking, but it was enough to give cause for thought, and when the men finally parted it was with the understanding that Strange would promptly communicate any further intelligence on this subject that came his way.
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