United States or Haiti ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
A second report, and Voles crumpled up. His bold spirit had not yielded nor his hand failed him in the last moment of his need. A bullet was lodged in his brain. He was dead ere the huge body thudded on the deck. When Carshaw found Winifred in a cabin to open the door they had to obtain the key from Voles's pocket the girl was sobbing pitifully.
The chief disliked melodrama in official affairs. Any man, even a crook, ought to know when he is beaten, and take his punishment with a stiff upper lip. But Voles's face was white, and in one of his temperament, that was as ominous a sign as the bloodshot eyes of a wild boar.
Fowle's unhappily-timed appearance was explained by Rachel Craik when her frenzy at the news of Voles's death had subsided. A chuckling remark by Mick the Wolf that "There'd been a darned sight too much fuss about that slip of a girl, an' he had fixed it," alarmed her. She sent Fowle at top speed to Smith's Pier to warn Voles. He arrived in time to be shot for his pains.
The detective's cool use of Winifred's right name, and of the name by which Rachel Craik herself ought to be known, was positively demoralizing. Fowle, too, was greatly alarmed. The police-officer said nothing about not wanting him. With Voles's superior will withdrawn, he began to quake again. But Rachel was a dour New Englander, of different metal to a man from the East Side.
The district police would make the official inquiries as a preliminary to the inquest which would be held next day. Carshaw must attend, but Winifred would probably be excused by the authorities. He conveyed this information in scraps of innuendo. Winifred did not know of Voles's death or the shooting of Fowle till many days had passed. Fowle did not die.
Winifred, reviving in the open air when that hateful sponge was removed from mouth and nose, struggled spasmodically in the arms of her captor. Polly knew that women in a faint lie deathlike. That never-to-be-forgotten scent, too, caused a wave of alarm, of suspicion, to creep through her with each heart-beat. "Where are the others?" she said, leaning over, and striving to see Voles's face.
Word Of The Day