In the Shadow of the HillsShedd, George C. (George Clifford)
General
In the Shadow of the Hills
Shedd, George C. (George Clifford)
Fiction
"Well, it was a little bit timely, as it turned out. Considering too
that we were coming to see you anyway, it was just as well to walk in
when we could do some good. Mary has something for you to read, if you
read Spanish."
"Yes, I do."
"That's good. Show 'em what you have, daughter."
Mary drew a knotted handkerchief from her bosom and undid the knots.
Appeared the doubled paper she had found. This she passed to Janet.
"Why,--why, this is the document I had!" the latter exclaimed,
joyfully. "Where did you find it?"
"Up by the smashed automobile, when father and I were at the cabin."
She exchanged a guarded look with her father. "There are names in it
that made me think it might be valuable. So when father came back from
Bowenville I showed it to him. But neither of us could read it. We
thought we'd better bring it to you to read."
"It is valuable, very valuable. I had it when I was seized by Ed
Sorenson and he took it away from me. Evidently, then, it fell from
his pocket at the time of the accident. Yes, indeed, it's important.
It means everything to certain parties. I'll read it, but you
understand what it tells is private at present."
"We understand--and I think I know what it's going to say," Johnson
remarked, grimly.
Thereupon while the others listened Janet read a translation of the
long document. To her and her father the facts were not new, for Weir
had already related such as he knew of the happenings in Vorse's
saloon on that eventful day thirty years previous. Nor for that matter
were they strange to Johnson and his daughter, though of course
neither Janet nor her father were aware of the rancher's more intimate
knowledge of the subject.
"A pretty good story as far as it goes, but like all lawyers' papers
long-winded," Johnson stated, critically.
"What do you mean, far as it goes?" Janet asked, curiously. "Did you
know this old Mexican? Did you ever hear him tell about the thing?"
"I knew he was there at the time, but he never told me anything."
Here Dr. Hosmer spoke.
"Saurez died yesterday. It must have been shortly after he made this
deposition. He died in Vorse's saloon, which gives a color of
suspicion to his death. In addition, Martinez, as you know, was
dragged away somewhere."
"Then Vorse learned old Saurez had blabbed, and killed him," Johnson
said, in a convinced tone. "Vorse is a bad bird, I want to say. But so
are all of them, Sorenson, Burkhardt and Judge Gordon as well."
Janet brought the talk back to the subject.
"You make me still wonder, Mr. Johnson," she said. "You seemed to
think there's more to the account than is told in this paper."
Again the rancher and his daughter glanced at each other, hesitatingly.
"Tell them, father," Mary broke forth all at once. "They know this
much, and you know you can trust them."
The man, however, shook his head with a certain dogged purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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