My friend the murderer, and other mysteries and adventuresDoyle, Arthur Conan
General
My friend the murderer, and other mysteries and adventures
Doyle, Arthur Conan
Detective and mystery stories, English
A couple of months after narrating his experiences, Wolf Tone Maloney
finished his term, and was released. For a long time I neither saw
him nor heard of him, and he had almost slipped from my memory, until
I was reminded, in a somewhat tragic manner, of his existence. I had
been attending a patient some distance off in the country, and was
riding back, guiding my tired horse among the bowlders which strewed
the pathway, and endeavoring to see my way through the gathering
darkness, when I came suddenly upon a little wayside inn. As I walked
my horse up toward the door, intending to make sure of my bearings
before proceeding further, I heard the sound of a violent altercation
within the little bar. There seemed to be a chorus of expostulation or
remonstrance, above which two powerful voices rang out loud and angry.
As I listened, there was a momentary hush, two pistol shots sounded
almost simultaneously, and with a crash the door burst open and a pair
of dark figures staggered out into the moonlight. They struggled for a
moment in a deadly wrestle, and then went down together among the loose
stones. I had sprung off my horse, and, with the help of half a dozen
rough fellows from the bar, dragged them away from one another.
A glance was sufficient to convince me that one of them was dying
fast. He was a thick-set, burly fellow, with a determined cast of
countenance. The blood was welling from a deep stab in his throat, and
it was evident that an important artery had been divided. I turned
away from him in despair, and walked over to where his antagonist was
lying. He was shot through the lungs, but managed to raise himself up
on his hand as I approached, and peered anxiously up into my face. To
my surprise I saw before me the haggard features and flaxen hair of my
prison acquaintance, Maloney.
“Ah, Doctor!” he said, recognizing me. “How is he? Will he die?”
He asked the question so earnestly that I imagined he had softened at
the last moment, and feared to leave the world with another homicide
upon his conscience. Truth, however, compelled me to shake my head
mournfully, and to intimate that the wound would prove a mortal one.
Maloney gave a wild cry of triumph, which brought the blood welling
out from between his lips. “Here, boys,” he gasped to the little group
around him. “There’s money in my inside pocket. Damn the expense!
Drinks round. There’s nothing mean about me. I’d drink with you, but
I’m going. Give the Doc. my share, for he’s as good----” Here his
head fell back with a thud, his eye glazed, and the soul of Wolf Tone
Maloney, forger, convict, ranger, murderer, and Government peach,
drifted away into the Great Unknown.
* * * * *
I cannot conclude without borrowing the account of the fatal quarrel
which appeared in the columns of the _West Australian Sentinel_. The
curious will find it in the issue of October 4, 1881:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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