"You ain"t got any ideas about that?" asked Montgomery.
Gilmore shot him a swift glance.
"I don"t know whether I have or not," he replied.
"I have, boss."
"You?" His tone betrayed neither eagerness nor interest.
"That"s what fetches me here, boss!" Joe replied, sinking his voice to a whisper. "I got a d.a.m.n good notion who killed old McBride; I could go out on the street and put my hand on the man who done it!"
"You mustn"t come here with these pipe dreams of yours, Joe; you have been drunk and all this talk about the McBride murder"s gone to your head!" retorted Gilmore contemptuously.
"I hope I may die if I ain"t as sober as you this minute, boss!"
returned the handy-man impressively.
"Well, what do you know--or think you know?" asked Gilmore with affected indifference.
"Boss, did I ever lie to you?" demanded Montgomery.
"If you did I never found you out."
"And why? You never had no chance to find me out; for the reason that I always tell you the almighty everlastin" truth!"
"Well?" prompted Mr. Gilmore.
"Boss," and again Montgomery dropped his voice to a confidential whisper, "boss, I seen a man climb over old man McBride"s shed yesterday just before six. I seen him come up on top of the shed from the inside, look all around, slide down to the eaves and drop into the alley, and then streak off as if all h.e.l.l was after him!"
Gilmore"s features were under such admirable control that they betrayed nothing of what was pa.s.sing in his mind.
"Stuff!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed at last, disdainfully.
"You think I lie, boss?" cried Montgomery, in an intense whisper.
"You know best about that," said Gilmore quietly.
"He come so close to me I could feel his breath in my face! Boss, he was puffin" and pantin" and his breath burnt,--yes, sir, it burnt; and I heard him say, "Oh, my G.o.d!" like that, "Oh, my G.o.d!""
"And where were you when this happened?" demanded Gilmore with sudden sternness.
Montgomery hesitated.
"What"s that got to do with it, boss?"
"A whole lot; come, out with it. Where were you to see and hear all this?"
"I was in White"s woodshed," said Montgomery rather sullenly.
"Oh, ho, you were up to your old tricks!"
"He"ll never miss it; I couldn"t freeze to death; there"s a livin"
comin" to me," said the handy-man doggedly.
"You"ll probably have a try for it back of iron bars!" said Gilmore.
But it was plain that Montgomery did not enjoy Mr. Gilmore"s humor.
"White"s coal house is right acrost the alley from old McBride"s shed.
You can go look, boss, if you don"t believe me, and there"s a small door opening out on to the alley, where the coal is put in."
"All the same you should keep out of people"s coal houses, or one of these days you"ll bring off more than you bargained for; say a load of shot."
"Maybe you"d like to know who I seen come over that roof?" said the handy-man impatiently.
"How many people have you told this yarn to already?" asked Gilmore, who seemed more anxious to discredit the handy-man in his own eyes than anything else.
"Not a living soul, boss; I guess I know enough to hang a man--"
"Pooh!" said Gilmore.
"You don"t believe me?"
"Yes, I"ll believe that you were stealing White"s coal."
"Leave me tell it to you just as it happened, boss," said Montgomery.
"Then if you say I lie, I won"t answer you back; we"ll let it go at that."
Gilmore appeared to consider for a moment, his look of mingled indifference and contempt had quite pa.s.sed away.
"I guess it sounds straight, Joe!" he said at length slowly.
"Why? Because it _is_ straight, every d.a.m.n word of it, boss."
And as if to give emphasis to his words the handy-man swung out a grimy fist and dropped it into an equally grimy palm.
"What did you do after that?" asked Gilmore.
"Not much. I laid low and presently lifted my sack of coal out and ducked around to Lonigan"s saloon. I went in there by the back door and left my sack leanin" against the building. Mike wanted his mail and he give me a drink of whisky if I"d take his keys and go to the post-office for him; I"d just come into the Square when I run into Shrimp who was tellin" how old man McBride was murdered. I went into the store and found you there with Colonel Harbison, you remember, boss?" Gilmore nodded and Montgomery continued. "I hadn"t a chance to tell you what I"d seen, and all night long I kept hearin" him say it!"
"Say what, Joe?"
"Say, "Oh, my G.o.d!" like I told you, boss; I couldn"t sleep for it,--I wonder if he slept!"
"Joe," said the gambler, "I"ll tell you something that I have only told the sheriff. I was in Langham"s office late yesterday and John North was there; he left to go to McBride"s. Conklin"s been looking for him this morning, but he can"t find him, and no one seems to know what"s become of him. Do you follow me?"
"What"s North got to do with it, boss?"
"How do you know it wasn"t North you saw in the alley?" urged Gilmore.