human
So you've got it! Then you know about it! Well, now, sir, what do you think of that?
gpt
Sit down, Hodge, said Frank, calmly.
human
You seem all out of breath. You are excited.
gpt
Excited! shouted the dark-faced youth.
human
Well, isn't that enough to excite a man of stone!
gpt
Do you mean this?
human
Yes, that! What in the name of creation do you suppose I meant?
gpt
I wasn't certain.
human
Wasn't cert---- Oh, say; that's too much! What do you think? What are you made of, anyway?
gpt
Now, my dear fellow, you must stop going on like this. You'll bring on heart disease if you keep it up.
human
Well--I'll--be--blowed!
gpt
You are nearly blowed now, said Frank.
human
You seem quite out of breath.
gpt
Is it possible you have read that paper you hold in your hand?
human
Yes, I have read it.
gpt
Well, I do not understand you yet! I thought I did, but I'm willing to confess that I don't.
human
Why, man alive, don't you understand that we are charged with murder--with murder?
gpt
Yes, said Frank, still unruffled,
human
And you take it like that!
gpt
What is the use to take it differently?
human
Use? Use? Sometimes I think you haven't a drop of good, hot blood in your body.
gpt
If a person has plenty of good, hot blood, it is a good thing for him to cool it off with good, cool brains. Hot blood is all right, but it should be controlled; it should not control the man.
human
I don't see how you can talk that way, under such circumstances. Why, we may be arrested for murder any moment!
gpt
We shall not.
human
Shall not?
gpt
No.
human
Why not?
gpt
Because our unknown enemy does not dare come out into the open and make the charge against us.
human
What makes you think so?
gpt
This.
human
That?
gpt
Yes.
human
Why should that make you think so?
gpt
If our enemy had intended to come out and make the charge against us openly, this would not have appeared. It is simply an attempt to hurt us from under cover, or to arouse others against us--against me, in particular.
human
Well, even you must acknowledge that the unknown enemy may succeed in his purpose, said Hodge.
gpt
There were a number of persons who saw something of the struggle on the train. This may arouse some of them, or one of them, at least, to do something.
human
It may.
gpt
You confess that?
human
Yes.
gpt
Didn't think you would.
human
I don't believe it will. Hodge, I have a fancy that, in this case, same as in the other, my enemy will overshoot the mark.
gpt
How?
human
Something tells me that this warning, intended to turn suspicion against me, will serve as an advertisement. Of course, it will be a most unpleasant notoriety to have, but it may serve to bring people out to see me.
gpt
I never thought of that,
human
I had far rather not had the notoriety, admitted Frank;
gpt
The veiled woman----
human
Is in it, I fancy. I believe there was some connection between the veiled woman and the veiled man--the one who plunged from the train into the river.
gpt
I have thought of that, but I've been unable to figure out what the connection could be. Why was the man veiled and disguised thus?
human
So that I would not recognize him.
gpt
Then, it must be that you would know him if you saw him face to face.
human
As he knew me. He called me by name as he sprang upon me.
gpt
Well, he's done for, but I believe the woman will prove the most dangerous. Something tells me she was the real mover in this business.
human
I fancy you are right, Hodge. At first, in Denver, I thought she had been piqued by the manner in which I replied to her, but since all these strange things have happened, I know it was more than a case of pique.
gpt
When you make a woman your enemy, she is far more dangerous than a man, for women are more reckless--less fearful of consequences.
human
That's right, nodded Frank.
gpt
Women know they will not be punished to the full extent of the law, no matter what they do. Juries are easily hypnotized by pretty women. Where a woman and a man are connected in committing a crime, and the woman is shown to be the prime mover, a jury will let the woman off as easily as possible. A jury always hesitates about condemning a woman to death, no matter if she has committed a most fiendish murder. In the East, women adventuresses ply their nefarious arts and work upon the sympathies of the juries so that, when called to the bar, they are almost always acquitted. It is remarkable that men should be so soft. It is not gallantry; it is softness. The very man who would cry the loudest if he had been hit by an adventuress is the most eager to acquit the woman in case he happens to be on the jury to pronounce the verdict in her case.
human
Well, said Hodge,
gpt
Don't let this little attempt to injure us frighten you, Hodge, advised Frank, rising.
human
I think it will miscarry entirely. We've got plenty of work for to-day, and to-night I believe I shall be able to tell beyond a doubt whether 'True Blue' is a success or a failure. I think the test will come right here in Puelbo, where we met disaster before.