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House of Skulls - H Bedford-Jones · The House of Skulls

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of House of Skulls by H. Bedford Jones.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Ben Tucker. House of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Skulls by H. Bedford Jones, Chapter one, I Buy a house.
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  Speaker 1: I met Balliol as a result of answering an advertisement
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  Speaker 1: in a Los Angeles paper. It looked just like what
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I wanted. Here is the ad to speak for itself.
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  Speaker 1: For sale, twenty acre ranch, fine house, complete equipment, ten acres, walnuts,
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  Speaker 1: eight pears, electricity, water, abundant income five thousand dollars, but
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  Speaker 1: will sell cheap for cash, near Lake north of San Francisco.
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  Speaker 1: John Balliol met me by appointment for luncheon at a
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  Speaker 1: downtown hotel. Instantly I saw that something was very wrong
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  Speaker 1: with him. He was a fine looking young fellow, but
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  Speaker 1: was terribly nervous. He must have smoked ten cigarettes with
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  Speaker 1: the meal that, if you can have to know, is
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: purely a city habit. Then he had a way of
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  Speaker 1: glancing swiftly over his shoulder, as though afraid something were
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  Speaker 1: about to come at him, and his eyes wandered, flitted
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  Speaker 1: with lurking suspicion. He was afraid of something, but he
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  Speaker 1: was a gentleman, a man of education. One or two
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  Speaker 1: things he said gave me the idea that he was
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  Speaker 1: a Harvard Man. But he kept very close mouthed about himself.
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  Speaker 1: He had a queerly aggressive manner, the manner of one
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  Speaker 1: who fights yet knows that he is licked. Also, he
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  Speaker 1: wanted to sell and get his money at once before
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  Speaker 1: the following night. But you're not a rancher, mister Desmond,
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  Speaker 1: he said, suspicion in his eyes. Why are you interested
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  Speaker 1: in my property? I laughed, largely because it's a sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: for cash, I replied. I'm no rancher, but a sedate
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  Speaker 1: artist of a sort. Being a bachelor. I practice interior decoration,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: but I paint pictures as a preferential occupation. In the
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: past year, I've made so much money through supplying really
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  Speaker 1: worthless but gorgeously ended in terriers to war profiteers that
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  Speaker 1: my general physical condition has gone fluey, if you get
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  Speaker 1: my meaning. The New York Medicos sent me to California.
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  Speaker 1: The Los Angeles Medicos have ordered me to get on
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  Speaker 1: a ranch up north, where the climate is more bracing
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  Speaker 1: and not so deadly monotonous. I get you, he nodded, briefly,
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  Speaker 1: know anything about ranching. I can stretch an easel between
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  Speaker 1: rows of pear trees, can't I. At that, he laughed,
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  Speaker 1: and for a moment lost his nerve tensed expression. I
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  Speaker 1: need money, he said, after a bit. I need it
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  Speaker 1: badly before tomorrow night. I got the ranch several years ago.
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  Speaker 1: I've been improving it steadily in the house and property
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  Speaker 1: are now in first class shape, and I've spent a
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  Speaker 1: lot of money on it. Reason for selling, I inquired,
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  Speaker 1: strictly private. He looked slightly flurried, but his eyes remained steady,
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  Speaker 1: merely because I need the money, and need it more
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  Speaker 1: badly than I can tell you. It's a grand place
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  Speaker 1: up there, mister deasmon deer are a nuisance. You can
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  Speaker 1: shoot wild hogs any time if you like fishing. Clear
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  Speaker 1: Lake has the best in the state. In two or
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  Speaker 1: three years, after they get the boulevard through from Frisco,
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  Speaker 1: the whole valley will be opened up and land will
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  Speaker 1: be out of sight. At present, it's twenty miles from
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  Speaker 1: the railroad, and I can't honestly brag of the roads.
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  Speaker 1: He got out a map of Lake County and showed
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  Speaker 1: me the lay of the land. When I saw that
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  Speaker 1: the lake was thirty miles long, that his place was
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  Speaker 1: only a few miles from Lakeport, the county seat, that
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  Speaker 1: it was in the heart of the hills, and within
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  Speaker 1: easy distance of the big trees, and of San Francisco itself.
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  Speaker 1: I warmed up to the subject. Well, I said, what's
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  Speaker 1: the price, lowest cash? Ten thousand cash, if I can
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  Speaker 1: get it before tomorrow night. That looked queer to me.
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  Speaker 1: Ten thousand for a place bringing in five thousand a year.
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  Speaker 1: You want the money by tomorrow, I said, thoughtfully. I
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  Speaker 1: have an old friend in one of the banks here.
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  Speaker 1: He'll handle everything for us. He can make thorough inquiries
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  Speaker 1: as to the title and so forth by wire. If
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  Speaker 1: it's as you say, and if the title's clear, we
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  Speaker 1: can know by tomorrow noon, and I'll take it otherwise
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  Speaker 1: not he drew a long breath. I'm satisfied, mister Desmond.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, if you put through the deal, would
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  Speaker 1: you consider buying a car? I drove down here in
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  Speaker 1: mine a paragon fore passenger roads to her. I'll not
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  Speaker 1: need it, and I am already offering it for sale.
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  Speaker 1: If you haven't a car, you'll find it the best
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  Speaker 1: bargain on the market. Cost me five thousand about four
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  Speaker 1: months ago, and I'll take a thousand cash before tomorrow night.
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  Speaker 1: All right, I assented cautiously, if you're willing to have
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  Speaker 1: the Paragon agency here give her the once over. He
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  Speaker 1: was willing to have any kind of investigation made, either
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  Speaker 1: of the ranch or of the car. Inside of an hour,
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  Speaker 1: my bank had the ranch matter in hand and promised
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  Speaker 1: me a complete report. The following morning, John Balliol and
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  Speaker 1: I went to the Paragon Agency on Olive Street, where
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  Speaker 1: his car was laid up, and I found no report
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  Speaker 1: was needed. The car was strictly a beauty in first
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  Speaker 1: class shape. She was not exactly an economical car, but
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  Speaker 1: she would give good service for years, a nifty high
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  Speaker 1: class job all around. As the Paragon Agency described her.
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  Speaker 1: I liked her so well that I bought her on
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  Speaker 1: the spot, ranch or no ranch, and I've never had
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  Speaker 1: cause to regret the bargain. That night, I spent a
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  Speaker 1: good deal of time wondering about my friend John Balliol.
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  Speaker 1: He had all the ear marks of a gentleman, but
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  Speaker 1: for all I knew he might be a rank fraud.
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  Speaker 1: Not a word had he said about himself other than
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  Speaker 1: I have set down here. If he had not been
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  Speaker 1: in a hurry, and if his ranch was as described,
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  Speaker 1: he could have obtained twenty thousand for it easily, and
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  Speaker 1: his car was saleable for double the price I had paid.
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  Speaker 1: He was obviously in the position of one who is
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  Speaker 1: madly sacrificing all that he has in order to raise
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  Speaker 1: quick money. Before tomorrow night he had said, of course,
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  Speaker 1: it was none of my affair, aside from the business
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  Speaker 1: end of it. At ten the next morning, I went
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  Speaker 1: to the bank, where Balliol was already waiting. The cashier
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  Speaker 1: beckoned me into a private office and spread several telegrams
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  Speaker 1: before me. Everything looks correct, mister Desmond, he stated, In fact,
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  Speaker 1: everything is correct. The title is flawless, and the land
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  Speaker 1: is worth much more than is asked. And this mister
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  Speaker 1: Balliol himself. I said, will you satisfy yourself that he's
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  Speaker 1: what and whom he says he is. The cashier grasped
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  Speaker 1: this somewhat involved query and nodded. Then he summoned Balliol
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  Speaker 1: to join us. At first, Balliol was inclined to be insulted.
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  Speaker 1: Then we made him realize that the hand out ten
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  Speaker 1: thousand in cash to a man without identification was somewhat risky.
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  Speaker 1: He immediately calmed down and not only produced all kinds
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  Speaker 1: of papers, but had himself identified by one of the
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  Speaker 1: largest banks in the city, just around the corner from
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  Speaker 1: my own bank. In short, John Balliol was all to
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  Speaker 1: the good. You attend to the transfer, I said. When
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  Speaker 1: Balliol produced the deeds to the property and handed them
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  Speaker 1: to the cashier, the latter nodded and left us alone. Now,
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  Speaker 1: mister Balliol, I said, when I had written the check
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  Speaker 1: and was waiting for it to dry, the deal is
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  Speaker 1: going through. In fact, it has gone through. I wish,
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  Speaker 1: as between gentlemen, that you'd tell me anything you know
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  Speaker 1: against the property. Why you were giving it away. He
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  Speaker 1: turned a little white under his healthy ten and fished
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  Speaker 1: for a cigarette. Can't do it, mister Desmond, he responded,
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  Speaker 1: it's well, it's private, absolutely nothing whatever against the property.
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  Speaker 1: Upon my word, I got into a bit of trouble, however,
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  Speaker 1: and had to have the money. That's all, of course.
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  Speaker 1: I asked no further questions, and the deal was concluded
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  Speaker 1: on that basis. I had made out the check to
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  Speaker 1: him personally, and he did not cash it, but took
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  Speaker 1: it away with him. He did not even ask the
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  Speaker 1: bank about my standing, which made me feel rather ashamed
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  Speaker 1: of my insistence regarding him. But as we separated with
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  Speaker 1: mutual expressions of good will, I saw him walk away
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  Speaker 1: and glance again over his shoulder with fear in his eyes.
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  Speaker 1: He had two checks amounting to eleven thousand of my money,
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  Speaker 1: and I had his ranch in his car. And that
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  Speaker 1: little Paragon boat, believe me, was a wonder. It was
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  Speaker 1: a distinctive car with a specially built body in The
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  Speaker 1: color was bright canary yellow, light enough not to show
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  Speaker 1: dust easily. The top had plate glass and solid curtains,
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  Speaker 1: and was a deep maroon and hue. Taken all in all,
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  Speaker 1: the car could be recognized several miles away as the
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  Speaker 1: only one of its kind on earth, particularly as the
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  Speaker 1: wire wheels were a bright pea green. The top was
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  Speaker 1: low and deep of the back curved variety, which effectually
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  Speaker 1: hides the driver and passengers. Speaking for the New York decorator,
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  Speaker 1: I could not say that York Desmond was exactly wild
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  Speaker 1: about the color scheme of that car. I forgot this
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  Speaker 1: in the beauty of her performance. However, later on, perhaps
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  Speaker 1: I would have the paint changed. According to John Balliol,
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  Speaker 1: I would have nothing on earth to do except to
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  Speaker 1: sit around while my walnuts and pears grew and rake
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  Speaker 1: in the shekels when they were ripe. Everything was bought
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  Speaker 1: on the hoof, as it were, so I did not
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  Speaker 1: even have to pick the fruit. This suited me naturally.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, explained Balliol. The ground had to be cultivated
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  Speaker 1: once or twice a year, and the pear trees had
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  Speaker 1: to be sprayed in the summer, but all equipment was
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  Speaker 1: on the place. Such wild diversions would but relieve me
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  Speaker 1: from the monotony of having nothing to do. As they say,
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  Speaker 1: just off Broadway, it listened good. It was noon when
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  Speaker 1: the sale was consummated, as I have described. Within an
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  Speaker 1: hour I had two extra cord tires reposing on the
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  Speaker 1: hind end of my new car, and a complete outfit
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  Speaker 1: of maps from the Automobile Club and an outfit of
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  Speaker 1: suit cases on the running board. By two o'clock I
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  Speaker 1: had packed up my belongings, shipped my artistic impedimenta by
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  Speaker 1: express to myself at Lakeport, and at two five I
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: was heading toward Hollywood and the Coast Highway North. My
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  Speaker 1: mental attitude was precisely that of a child with a
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  Speaker 1: new toy. I wanted to drive that Paragon bus for
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  Speaker 1: all she was worth, and only the fear of speed
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  Speaker 1: cops held me down. I was wild to get up
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  Speaker 1: to my new ranch and see how the walnuts and
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  Speaker 1: pears grew. So, having nothing particular to keep me in
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  Speaker 1: lone angelus, I got on my way without delay. Either
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: I had bought a wondrously good thing, or I had
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  Speaker 1: somehow got wondrously stung, And the chances were that I
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  Speaker 1: had not been stung. By six o'clock that evening, I
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  Speaker 1: was safely arrived in Santa Barbara for the night. Ahead
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  Speaker 1: of me were the alternate patches of boulevard and most
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  Speaker 1: abominable detouring which constituted the State Highway to San Francisco,
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  Speaker 1: and I was supremely happy in the way. The Paragon
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  Speaker 1: rustled along. That canary car with the green wheels and
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: maroon top, certainly attracted attention. This was the only fly
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  Speaker 1: in my ointment. I am essentially a modest and retiring man,
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  Speaker 1: and I abominate being taken for some ornament of the
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  Speaker 1: film industry. Any One who had ever seen that car
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  Speaker 1: would remember it to his dying day. And I never
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  Speaker 1: passed a car on the road that my rear sight
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  Speaker 1: mirror did not show me the occupants craning forward for
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: another eye full of my beauty. All this bothered me,
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  Speaker 1: but caused me no particular worry. I could not forget, however,
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  Speaker 1: the peculiarity of John Balliol's manner. I felt sorry for
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  Speaker 1: the chap, felt rather as though I had taken advantage
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: of a man when he was down elated. As I
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  Speaker 1: was over my bargain, I thought to myself that if
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  Speaker 1: the ranch panned out, I'd send him an additional five
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  Speaker 1: thousand later. But I could not forget him, as I
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  Speaker 1: had last seen him glancing over his shoulder, as though
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  Speaker 1: half expecting something to pounce on him. End of chapter one,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Chapter two of House of Skulls by H. Bedford Jones.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recordings in the public domain read by Ben Tucker,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Chapter two, I Meet a Lady. It happens to be
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the case in California that the Los Angeles newspapers circulate
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  Speaker 1: north and the San Francisco papers circulates south until they
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  Speaker 1: overlap and die they circulate swiftly too. I was up
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  Speaker 1: and out of Santa Barbara before seven o'clock and had
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  Speaker 1: the last Los Angeles edition in my pocket when I
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: went to breakfast. The point of this digression will arrive
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: in its proper place beyond glancing over the headlines of
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: my paper. I did not look through it, but jammed
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: it into my overcoat pocket for later consumption. If only
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: I had read that paper, things might have happened otherwise,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: or they might not. All's for the best. I got
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  Speaker 1: off in a drenching fog and drizzle of rain, which
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  Speaker 1: I was assured was the usual southern California high fog.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: There were no speed cops out at this time of day,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: so in half an hour I was finishing the twenty
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  Speaker 1: odd miles of Boulevard north of the city, by which
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: time the fog was breaking and the sun streaming forth gloriously.
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  Speaker 1: The worst road I ever took, or ever hoped to take,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: befell me then and there. It was a detour, and
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: there were miles of it alongside the newly constructed but
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: unfinished boulevard. Then I swung into a bit of presumably
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: finished road with unfinished culverts at the bottom of each hill.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: The first one nearly took my head off when we struck.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Then more miles and long miles of plain road about
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: as bad as the detour, then boulevard again, Thank Heaven
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: that lasted. This took me until eleven in the morning.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Consulting my road maps, I found that I was close
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: to a town the name m I have forgotten, and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: should reach San Luis obispo for luncheon with fair road.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Most of the way. Being in a hurry, I stopped
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: in the town long enough to buy gasoline, and I
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: happened to stop at the first gasoline sign I saw,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: which was near the railroad station. Recalling the circumstance later,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: I remembered that my car was headed north quite obviously.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: While the tank was being filled, a northbound train passed
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: through without a stop, and the garage man said that
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: it was the flier from Los Angeles. It had left
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: there some time the previous night and passed here regular
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: as clockwork. Naturally, at the moment, I thought nothing whatever
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: of the incident. Good highway all the way to San Louis,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: observed the man while he made change for me. No
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: speed cop out to day, neither the boy got run
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: into day before yesterday. So burn her up if you won't,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: but keep your eye skin nor to San Louis partner, gosh, say,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: ain't this car real creole? Though thanking him, I climbed
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: in and proceeded to burn her up. The bad roads
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: of the morning had delayed me, and I was anxious
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: to make time. I made such good time that I
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: passed the limited train just before reaching San Louis, and
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: finding that it was still on the good side of
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: the moon, I determined to push on to Passo Roebel
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: for luncheon. About twelve thirty I was in Paso Robels,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: still untouched of any speed cop Leaving my car before
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: the garage in the main street, I began to skirt
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the block from storefront to storefront in search of luncheon.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Now I do not want to pain the good citizens
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: of Paso Robels, but I was too ignorant to go
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: back a block to the big hotel. I merely asked
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: for a restaurant and was directed accordingly, so I had
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: no kick coming. At last, on the other side of
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: the block, I found a place, settled down to a table,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and to my surprise found the food really endurable. As
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I ate, I continued my perusal of the morning paper.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: It was the only Los Angeles paper in those parts
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: I am for I saw no other there or north
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: of there. The paper was in two sections, and on
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: the front page of the second section was a photograph
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: of John Balliol. As I glimpsed that picture, I felt
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: a premonition, a fore warning. Beneath it was his name
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: and nothing more. But to the left was a three
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: column story entitled Scion of prominent Eastern family a suicide.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Above this heading, after the custom of that particular paper,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: was another heading, and a very small type, being the
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: quotation one more unfortunate. It was just as well that
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: I had about finished my meal, for now I was
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: past eating. The thing stupefied me, left me blankly dazed,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: and to think that I had carried this paper with
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: me all the way from Santa Barbara. I plunged into
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the story, eager and horrified. There seemed to be no
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: mystery at all in the affair, so far as the
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: newspaper was concerned, except that there was no mention of
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Balliol having any money. He had merely plugged up his
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: room and turned on the gas. This he had done
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: shortly before midnight. An hour later, the thing had been discovered,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: and the story had broken in time for the newspaper
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: to cover it fully. In the last edition. Friends of
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Balliol had volunteered that he had left a sister whose
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: whereabouts were totally unknown, and an uncle in Boston. Balliol's
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: father had been a prominent Boston lawyer who had died
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: some years previously, leaving his family absolutely nothing. Balliol himself
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: had made a little money after leaving college, and some
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: years before had gone on a ranch in the northern
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: part of the state. There he had struggled along, fighting
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: a losing game against the lean wolf, poverty, and so forth.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: In desperation, he had come to Los Angeles, had tried
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: to sell his ranch, and had committed suicide. The story
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: was played up absolutely as that of a man wary
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: of striving against the world, and had evidently been obtained
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: from friends of Balliol for that very reason left me
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: dazed and bewildered. Four months previously, John Balliol had bought
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: a five thousand dollar car, a fact of which the
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: newspaper was ignorant, that did not look like the grim
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Wolf's stuff. He had expressly told me that the bar
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: cost him that amount, not that it had been presented
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: to him. Of course, he had wanted money very badly
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: on those two days when I had seen him, But
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: he had got the money. So why the deuce had
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: he killed himself? The paper stated that his hotel bill
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, where he had been stopping five days,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: had been unpaid, and that his personal effects amounted to nil.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: What the deuce had he done with my eleven thousand dollars?
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Then the thing began to look queer. Investigating more thoroughly,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I discovered that Balliol had been known at the bank
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: which had identified him for me, but that he had
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: no account there. One of the bank officers had known
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: him at college. That was all. Nothing was known about
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: his having sold anything to York Desmond. My checks had
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: not been found upon him, neither had my money. By
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the time this information came out, the paper would hardly
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: consider it worth reviving the affair. Balliol had killed himself.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: The present article made a plausible story, and nothing else mattered.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: He had certainly gone west of his own volition, and
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: act and motives were unimportant. Yet I knew that he
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: had not killed himself because of poverty, the man had
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: been afraid of something that was it. As I sat
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: there and stared at the paper, I felt absolutely convinced
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: that if the truth were known, John Balliol had killed
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: himself to escape from something that had made him a nervous,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: fear filled wreck. What had happened last night to make
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: him plunge over the brink. Realizing of a sudden that
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: I was outstaying the noon hour and my welcome, I
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: paid the waitress and asked to use a telephone. By
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: dint of paying the fee in advance, I got Los
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Angeles by long distance, and presently was speaking with the
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: cashier of my bank, York Desmond speaking, I informed him,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I'm at Passo Robles and going north through that ranch
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: I bought. Just saw the paper about Balliol. Did he
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: cash my checks? No, mister Desmond, returned the cashier. If
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: they are presented, we'll take every step to verify the endorsements.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Of course, it seems to be quite a mystery, all right,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: thanks address me at Lakeport in case of need. I
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: rang off and left the place, stuffing the newspaper into
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: my pocket. One thing was certain the reporter had got
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the wrong steer from Balliol's friends. Balliol had not killed
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: himself because of poverty, not in the least. Why he
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: had told me that he had furnished his ranch house
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: with all the electric appliances and the best furniture he
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: could get in San Francisco. No, his grim struggle had
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: been one fine little myth, but it had satisfied the press,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: and had evidently been meant to satisfy the press. Why
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to keep the real truth concealed? Of course, his friends
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: were shielding him. It was none of my business, but
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: I could not help checking up on my private convictions. First,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: John Balliol had been afraid of something, either something in
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: his past, such as disgrace which was hounding him, or
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: something tangible and terrible in his present. Second, this fact
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: was known to those in most intimate touch with him,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: and was being kept quiet. Thinking thus, and being more
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: or less absorbed in my trend of thought, I came
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: back to the main street in my bright hued car.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: A crowd of natives were standing about an admiring comment
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: which tended to make me want to get away from there.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I jumped in and released the brake, pressed the starter,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: and was off Regardless of warning signs. I went through
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: town on second at a pretty good clip, then eased
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: down into third and hit for San Francisco at an
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: even thirty. Damn the whole affair, I said aloud, what
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: if those checks were stolen from him last night? As
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the words left my lips, I heard a subdued gasp,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: then an exclamation. It came from the rear section of
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: my car. I flung one startled glance over my shoulder.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Then I switched off the mag and put on the brakes.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: As we came to a halt, I half turned in
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: my seat and stared blankly at the young lady in
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: the suitcase. She was staring at me just as blankly,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: more so, in fact, she seemed undeniably frightened. She had
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: the suitcase on the short rear seat behind her, and
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: it was a very good suitcase of expensive mate. Who
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: what what are you doing in this car? She stammered,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: anger creeping into her voice. I was up against it somehow,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: just how, I was not at all sure. She seemed
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: perfectly sane, and I liked her voice immensely. I liked
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: her face too. It was a healthy, sensible sort of face,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and it was exquisite. Into the bargain she was dressing
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: in a travel suit which spelled something better than California tailoring.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Who are you, she demanded, half startled and half angry,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: answer me, what are you doing with this car? Driving it? Madam?
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I answered, I I trust you don't mind. She stared
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: at me again. I removed the big yellow goggles, pushed
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: up my cap, and threw open my duster. Now, I said, comfortably,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: we're on an even basis. Since you wear gloves, I
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: presume you are not a Californian, probably a mere Californiac.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: I hope you won't think me offensive when I say
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: that this is literally a charming surprise. Probably there's a
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: mistake somewhere. I don't see, possibly how I can have
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: got into the wrong car. Stop that nonsense, she cried out,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: and I observed she had very blue eyes and remarkably
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: pretty eyes. Drive this car back instantly, back where I inquired, back,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Have you stolen this car? She flung at me, as
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: if she really thought I had. No, I said, and laughed, no, madam,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: this car is protected from theft by reason of its color.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: No thief would attack it. The car belongs to me,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: it really does, I went on. For her appearance of
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: fright sobered me. If you doubt it, look at the
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: prescribed card here by the dash, which was legally affixed
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: before I left Los Angeles. It bears my name and
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: the car's number. Do you dare pretend that you are
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: John Balliol? She flashed out, scornfully. Heaven forbid, I said, gravely.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Balliol's dead. I bought the car Madame day before, yesterday,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: only an hour ago. I saw in the paper an
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: account of his death. I cursed the impulsive words, for
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: she stared at me, her eyes slowly widening in horror,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: the color ebbing out of her face. Then she collapsed
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: in a dead faint end of chapter two, chapter three
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: of the House of Skulls by H. Bedford Jones. This
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Ben Tucker.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Chapter three, I receive a warning. I had never had
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: a fainting lady on my hands before, except once, when
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Missus Wanderhoof of Peoria saw the fifth Avenue apartment I
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: had decorated for and looked at the bill. In that instance,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: mister Wanderhoof had assumed charge. But in this instance we
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: were out of sight of Passo Robles, and there was
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: not a soul nor a house in view. There was
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: no water to throw on the girl's face. She was
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: no more than a girl, I judged, and the radiator
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: water was apt to be dirty. So, not knowing what
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: else to do, I swung over into the rear seat
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: beside her and set her slim, drooping body upright against
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the cushions. As I did so, I was relieved to
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: see her blue eyes flutter open. Then I remembered a
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: flask of whiskey in the door pocket and produced it.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: I got the screw cup to her lips, but at
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the first taste she pushed it away. Thank you, she said,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: in a low voice. I I am very well now.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: She seemed unable to take her eyes from me. The
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: color slowly crept back into her cheeks, but in her
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: eyes I read a bewildered fear. Then she said something strange.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: You said they killed Jack after all? I was puzzled Jack. Oh,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: she must mean John Balliol. Poor girl. I must have
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: given her a stiff jolt. No, I said, gently, No
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: one killed Balliol. Madam. I have the paper here with
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: an account of it. It was suicide. May I ask
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: if you are a friend of his? She seemed to
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: shudder slightly and drew a long breath. Yes, I am
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: a friend, she said in a low voice, and flushed.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: I had the uneasy conviction that she was lying to me.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Your words were a shock. I saw him only last
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: night before my train left, or rather yesterday afternoon, when
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: this car passed the train this morning, I felt that
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: it was he. I knew we were ahead at Passo Rubbles,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: so I left the train and waited, and I saw
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the car and got in. When you came along, I
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: thought it was Jack and meant to surprise him. And
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: when you spoke, I discovered she broke off, the words
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: failing her that told me the whole story. Of course,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: even from the train, she had not been able to
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: mistake this accursed car. But I objected gently. You must
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: have known that Balliol could not be ahead of you
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: if you saw him just before your train left. But
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: it was only six last night when I saw him,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and my train did not leave until nearly midnight. There's
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: been a wreck somewhere and the trains were all held up.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: It never occurred to me that he was not in
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: the car. She broke off again, staring at me. My
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: name is York, Desmond, I said, trying to make matters smooth.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: To my dismay, I saw her eyes widen again with
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: that same startled expression. I could have sworn that she
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: had heard my name before I met mister Balliol two
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: days since on business. I bought a ranch from him,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: in fact, and bought this car to boot. I'm on
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: my way up to the ranch. Now, if, as I
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: presume you are en route to San Francisco, I shall
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: be very glad to place the car at your disposal.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: She looked away from me, looked at the horizon with
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: a fixed, despairing gaze. My dismay became acute when I
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: perceived that she was going to cry, and she did. Oh.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: She flung up her hands to her face suddenly. Oh,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: and to think that it took place last night, right afterward,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: and now it's too late. A spasm of sobbing shook
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: her body. Not knowing what else to do, and feeling
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: that I had been a blundering ass, I went for
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: a walk and let her cry it out. All my
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: married friends tell me that crying it out is the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: only solution. As I paced down the roadside, I found
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: myself extremely puzzled, even suspicious. She had admitted to me
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: that she had seen Balliol the previous evening, But first,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: when she had not been on guard at all, she
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: had cried out that killed Jack after all, Upon hearing
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: that Balliol was dead, she had immediately taken for granted
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: that they had killed him. Things looked rather badly. The
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: initials on her suit case, which I had seen were
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: M J B. Was she a Balliol? No. She had
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: said that she was a friend, and had distinctly said friend,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: not relative, and she had been lying about it somehow.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: A minute later she had lied when she told of
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: seeing Balliol the previous night, for her train had not
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: been late. It had left Los Angeles a little before midnight,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: on regular schedule, regular as clockwork, had said the garage man.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: As the train had passed us. I remembered that incident. Now,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: this girl must have known Balliol pretty well. She had
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: seen him last night, and he had gone from her
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: to his suicide, and by heaven, she knew it. She
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: was lying well. This conclusion gave me quite a jolt.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: To be frank. That girl did not look like an
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: ordinary liar, and she did not lie with practiced ease.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Why should she deliberately set out to deceive me? I
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: could not see any light whatever, and the mysterious they
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: whom she took to be Balliol's murderers. The whole affair
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: was strictly none of my business. As I walked back
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: to the car, I took out my pipe and filled it.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: This girl was in trouble, and my best course was
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: to mind my own affairs and ask no questions. When
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: I had regained the car, I found that the girl
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: had composed herself and was now staring at the horizon again,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: a poor, crumpled bit of exquisite femininity. I removed my
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: cap and addressed her, Madam, it seems that there has
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: been a mistake somewhere. Please consider me at your service
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: in any way possible. If you want to get to Frisco,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: we can reach there to night. I believe her gaze
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: came to me for a moment, and she drew a
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: deep breath. Thank you, mister Desmond, she said quietly, but
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: she did not give me her name. Jack told me
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: of selling his ranch to you, but did not mention
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: the car. That was how my mistake came to be made.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Her lips quivered, and she looked down. Then she forced
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: herself and to calm again. If if it would not
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: be asking too much, will you take me on to
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: San Francisco with you? She pursued. I'm very sorry, indeed,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: to have made this terrible blunder. It will be entirely
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: my pleasure, madam, I returned rather pointedly. But she did
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: not take the hint, and obviously intended to keep her
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: identity to herself. So I got into the car, and
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: as I did so, removed the paper from my pocket.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Here is the newspaper in question, I added, handing it
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: to her. She took it in silence and leaned back again.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: I started the car and we went on for the
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: remainder of the afternoon. The two of us exchanged scarcely
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: a word once or twice. I attempted to divert her
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: thoughts by comments upon the road or the country, but
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: she discouraged my efforts quite visibly. I was too occupied
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: with the road, which again alternated good with bad, to
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: let my mind dwell upon the mystery of the girl.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: We made time, however, I took the chance of speed
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: cops and let out the Paragon on the good stretches
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: to my satisfaction. We got into Salinas a trifle before
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: seven o'clock, with fine boulevard all the rest of the
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: way to San Francisco. We have about a hundred and
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: twenty miles ahead, I remarked to my companion as we
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: rolled into Salinas, we'd better get a bit to eat here,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: for we can't make Frisco before ten or eleven o'clock.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: I imagine you had no luncheon, I added, hastily, seeing a
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: refusal in her eye. So I must really insist that
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: you eat something. She had been crying again, but assented
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: composedly to my request. We located a Greek restaurant and
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: went in together. After a cup of execrable coffee and
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: some alleged food, we felt better now for the last lap,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: I said cheerfully, as we came out again to the car.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: I have a much faith in the speed cop myth,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: so we'll let her out while the going's good. I'll
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: set yes, thank you, she responded, settling herself in the rear.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: We started north, and the Paragon flitted along like a
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: bat out of purgatory. She was a sweep boat for speed.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: When it got gloomy, I threw on the headlights in
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: the big spotlight, which formed a part of her equipment,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: and we zoomed past the California landscape in the finest
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: fashion imaginable. These vast stretches of country were entirely different
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: from the driving around New York, and I like to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: change immensely. It was intoxicating. Then we came to the
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: extra territorial suburbs of San Francisco, after getting through San
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Jose and Palo Alto and safely past the military camp.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: I am not at all certain where the spot was,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: but I know the paragon was hitting a pretty good
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: clip when into the zone of light beside and ahead
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: of us flashed a man on a motorcycle. He passed
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: us like a flicker. Then he slowed down and extended
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: his hand. Good night, I remarked with sinking heart. There
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: was a basis for the myth, after all. When we
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: were halted, the motorcycle planted itself at my elbow, and
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: the officer took out his pencil and pad. Know how
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: fast you were going, he inquired, I'm afraid to guess,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: I said, meekly. Your word's good, officer, I made at
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: fifty eight. He observed, Also, there's a headlight law in
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: this state, and you've got a blaze of lights there
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: that would blind a shooting star, and your tail light
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: is on the bum. That's three counts. You seem to
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: be sober. Thank Heaven, I am, I returned anything else.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: He grinned and took down more information about me than
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: would have filled a passport. Then he gave me a
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: slip and told me to report to a certain San
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Francisco judge at ten in the morning. Isn't there any
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: way out of the delay, I queried, I'm trying to
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: get north in a hurry, so I judged. He retorted,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: too much of a hurry. Well, I must say you've
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: took it like a gent Tell you what, Run along
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: with me and we'll drop in on a justice of
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: the peace. This is a first offense, so you can
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: give bail and forget it. See. Of course we're not
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: supposed to give this info. But but you're a gentleman,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: I added, and I'll make it right with you. If
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: you can fix that tail light of mine, i'd appreciate it.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Jolted out of contact, I guess, he said. A moment later,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: go ahead. Half an hour later, We were once more
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: on our way, with full instructions as to the proper
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: rate of speed, and I was minus fifty five iron men,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: and luckily to get off that cheaply. But the whole
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: thing had delayed us so that it was hard on midnight.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: When we saw the gay white way of van Ness
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Avenue off to our left, I halted the car and
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: turned around asleep. Comrade, no, Well, if you'll be good
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: enough to give me orders, I'll take you wherever you're going.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: M J B gave me the name of a hotel
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: on Sutter Street, where she was known favorably, it seemed,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: and instructed me to drive up van Ness. She appeared
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: quite at home in the city. I followed her instructions,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: and ten minutes later drew up beside the doorway of
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: a quiet family hotel. I helped her out of the
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: car with her suit case, but she refused to let
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: me take it inside for her. She held out her hand.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you, mister Desmond, for your kindness, she said earnestly.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: And I've been trying to think over what's right to do.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Would you take some very serious advice from me? I'd
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: take anything from you, I said, smiling, shoot. I am
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: not joking, mister Desmond. She made grave response. Please please
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: do not go on to the ranch. I can't give
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: you any reasons, but I mean it deeply. For your
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: own's sake, do not go on to that ranch. Not
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: until the end of the month, at least good bye.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: She picked up her suit case and was gone, leaving
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: me staring after her end of chapter three Chapter four
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: of the House of Skulls by H. Bedford Jones. The
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Ben Tucker.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter four, I hear a bullet out of sheer decency.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: I had to seek another hotel. Naturally, I did not
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: pay much attention to m j B's warning at midnight
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: after a tremendously hard day's ride in a car after
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: a stiff shock and fainting spell, the girl would be
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: in pretty bad nervous condition. I took for granted that
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: she was overwrought and let it go at that. As
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: I wanted to reach Lakeport the next night and had
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: a plenitude of bad roads ahead, I was up and
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: off at seven the following morning. Ferrying over to Saucelito
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: delayed me, and before getting to San Rafael, I was
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: off on a detour which took me around nearly to Petaluma.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: The road was fair, but outside Petaluma I picked up
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: a tenpenny nail held upright by a scalp of wood,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: and it took one of my cord tires and a
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: jiffy fixing that held me up a little while. I
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: got to Santa Rosa in time for an early luncheon
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: and discovered that I was going to make Lakeport in
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: the afternoon, barring accidents. This was good news. I also
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: discovered that the last place I could get any liquid
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: refreshment was at the famous tavern kept by one mac
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Gray on a head. So about one o'clock I drew
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: up before the wide spreading place in the shade of
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: the immense oaks that shade the tavern grounds, and went
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: in to get a long, slim drink. In view of
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: the after developments of that same day, it might well
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: be to set down that I had one drink and
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: one only. Upon returning to my car, I came to
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: an abrupt halt in some astonishment. A young man was
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: standing by the off rear wheel, and he was not
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: observing me at all. He was well dressed but rather
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: swarthy in complexion. This country was full of Italian, French
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: and Swiss grape specialists, as I had learned coming north,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: so there was no stating the antecedents of the young man.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: What interested me, and seemed to be absorbing him, was
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: the fact that he had a knife in his hand
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: and was industriously pecking away at one of my rear tires.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: At times I yield to impulse, and this was one
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: of those times. I reached that young man in two
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: jumps and banged him solidly into the car, and jerked
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: him upright and planted my fist rudely against his nose,
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: allowing him to sprawl in the dust. He picked himself
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: up and went away in a hurry, swearing as he
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: went of all the infernal deviltry. I exclaimed as he
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: vanished among the trees, that Fellow certainly had his nerve.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I was relieved to find that he had effected no
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: damage beyond a hole in the casing that had not
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: yet reached the breaker's strip. Taking for granted that he
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: had had a drop too much, I climbed into the
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: car and departed. Within no long time I had reached
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: the village of Hopland, my destination on the highway. From
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: here a toll road ran over the hills to Lakeport,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: and I turned off without pause in the village, thankful
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: that the end of my trip was in sight. As
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: I thought that road was a brute thick with dust,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: barely wide enough for two cars to pass, and with
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: crumbly edges and a sheer drop at that and a
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: steep upgrade for five solid miles. In places it was
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: a very beautiful road, winding up between forested growths of
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: red woods and giant conifers. As I nursed the Paragon
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: up that road at fifteen miles an hour, I had
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: plenty of time for reflection. Back to questions again. Out
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: of the general muddle, these had resolved themselves into certain
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: distinct and coherent queries, and they fell under two heads
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: John Balliol. One whom had he been afraid of? And why? Unknown? Two?
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: What had brought him to suicide? Not poverty certainly? Three?
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: What had he done with my checks when they were cashed?
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: I would know? Four? Why had he needed the money
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: by a certain knight? The knight he was to meet
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: m J B. The knight he killed himself? Unknown? M
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: J B. The fair unknown One. What was her connection
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: with Balliol? Mystery? Two? Did his suicide hinge on his
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: meeting with her? Problematical? Three she had said they killed him?
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: Were they microbes or gunmen? Unknowable? Four? Why her warning
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: against my going to the ranch? My answer to that
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: final query was because she liked me. It was a
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: satisfactory answer too. It made me glow happily. I had
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: always been a sedate bachelor, but I must say that
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: m j B Was the most attractive girl I had
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: ever met, and to find her interested in me was,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: to say the least, very pleasing. My only regret was
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: that I had left her in San Francisco. I thought
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: of going back to the city as soon as I
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: had inspected my ranch. Just then I observed that my
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: radiator was boiling, what with the grade and the hot sun,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: and ahead of me was a spring beside the road
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: with the turnout. I halted the car at the turnout,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: baled cold water into the radiator with a rusty tin can,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: and sat down to smoke and let my engine cool off.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: It was a cool and pleasant spot under lofty pines.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: I was just knocking out my pipe when I heard
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: voices and the creaking of a vehicle around the sharp bend.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Ahead came a horse and buggy, the latter occupied by
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: three men. All three carried rifles and knives, and beneath
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: the buggy trotted a big hound. They nodded to me
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: and drove to the spring, letting the horse have a mouthful.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Obviously they were natives. Good afternoon. I returned their greetings.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Why the artillery Sheriff's posse. They grinned and laughed. Dear
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: season opened yesterday. One of them replied, thought you had
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: come up from the city for the same reason. Not
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: I was my answer. Plenty of deer around here, that's
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: what they say, but there ain't none when we want
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: to get em. Most of the folks in Lake Port
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: are out from the chink laundryman to the sheriff. They
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: drove on down the trail, but as they went I
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: could see they were looking back and making observations, probably
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: on my car. Until they passed out of sight at
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: the next curve, they were still staring backward and discussing something,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: either me or the car. I took for granted that
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: it was the car and it was the dear season
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: did not interest me particularly because I have no taste
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: for hunting. Cursing the foot, thick dust and the road,
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: I got into the car and went on. At last,
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: to my deep relief, I attained the summit of the divide,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: where the toll gate was located. I paid my dollar
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: fifty and had a magnificent view of clear Lake in
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: the distance amid the hills. Then started downward. The descent
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: was steep enough and winding, but three miles of it
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: brought me to the floor of the valley, in a
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: region of jack pine and brush and hog backs. And
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: as I turned a quick curve, there before me and
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: the road stood too dear doze. For the fraction of
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: an instant they gazed at me. Then they flung away
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: like brown streaks. They went over the nearest hill and
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: were gone. Instinctively, I halted the car, gazing after the
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: graceful creatures. A moment later, I shoved my foot towards
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: the starter, but I was still staring at the hill side.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Instead of touching the starter, my foot touched the accelerator
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: and touched it with a particular pet corn. I smothered
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: an oath and leaned far forward to clutch my aching
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: toe for the stab of pain was acute, and as
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: I leaned over thus a bullet came exactly where I
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: had been sitting, at about the height my head had been.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: I know it was a bullet because I heard it,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: and because the effect was terrific. It plumped through the
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: rear of the top on one side, it passed above me,
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: and its shrill song was lost in a rattling smash
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: of glass as it took the top half of my
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: windshield into slivers. Then came the crack of a rifle
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: to prove that it was a bullet. If I had
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: not happened to lean over, and to lean over pretty far,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: that bullet would have finished me. Sure. My first instinct
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: was to start the car and get away. Then I
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: checked the impulse and slid out to terra Firma. Someone
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: not very far off was shooting recklessly, and it made
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: me angry. Hopping out into the road, I stared around naturally.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: I saw nobody. If any hunter had mistaken that maroon
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: top for a deer, he was not advertising his mistake
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: to me. Show for home. Balliol cried out a rough voice,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: Shove quaker, He'll give you a closer one. The voice
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: came from somewhere behind and to the left of the car.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: Balliol I was being mistaken for Balliol, and there was
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: no mistake being made. As this astonishing fact percolated to
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: my brain, I wasted no time asking questions, but climbed
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: into the car, started her up, and rolled away from
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: there in a hurry. Balliole who, in the name of
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: goodness was trying to assassinate John Balliol, And that rough
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: voice from the hillside had been a deadly earnestness which
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: had impelled me to flight. It brought home to me
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: in a flash that I was up against something serious
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: under the blue sky, under the hot August sunlight. The
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: thing was extremely matter of fact. I thought again of
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: the young man who had been jabbing my tire, and
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: of the warning administered by m J B. The sequence
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: was pretty plain absurd, as it seemed this land cruise
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: of mine was actually taking me into perilous waters. It
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: was the fault of the car, of course, people thought
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: that Balliol was driving it. As I rattled across a
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: bridge and entered upon excellent dirt roads, the realization cheered
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: me immensely. Balliol had admitted that he had gotten into
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: trouble up here of a private nature. Well, the minute
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: his enemies discovered that I was not John Balliol but
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: York Desmond, I would be left alone. Yet, why in
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: such case had the girl warned me? I gave it
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: up with a suddenness for which I was unprepared. Lakeport
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: jumped into my immediate foreground. I had anticipated a county
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: seat of some importance, but I found it a village
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: struggling along the lake shore, with a single main street
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: and outlying residences. The valley had been settled by Missourians
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: back in the fifties, and they were still here presently.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: I descried a charming square and court house with a
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: fine new Carnegie library down by the lake front. Except
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: for a couple of docks and some moored launches and
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: house boats, the lake front consisted of reed beds and
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: was not beautiful, but the lake itself, with the mountains opposite,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: was magnificent. Volcanic action had done its work well in
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: this place, and it was the sweetest spot I had
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: seen in California. Once the town was wakened from its
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: sleeping repose, it would be a second geneva, as the
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: deed to my ranch had been sent on here for recording.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: I drove directly to the court house, left the car
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: and walked up to the County Recorder's office on the
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: right of the main building. There I found everything in
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: order in awaiting me. I inquire for the sheriff, meaning
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: to set him on the trail of my near assassin,
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: but found that he was hunting deer, so was every
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: one else in town who could get away, even as
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: my hunter informants had stated. I walked half a block
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: to the bank, with whom my Los Angeles bank had corresponded.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: The bank was closed, for it was after four o'clock,
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: but I telephoned and obtained admission. I presented my credentials
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: to the banker, an extremely cordial chap, and asked directions
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: to my property. He showed me exactly where my ranch
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: lay and outlined the road. Tell me one thing confidentially,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: I inquired, do you know why Balliol left here? Do
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: you know anything against that property, any reason why I
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: shouldn't have bought it? Certainly not, he answered, with evident surprise.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: Balliol left because of his health, I believe, and for
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: no other reason. The property is absolutely good, and the
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: giveaway at the price mister Desmond, you got a good thing.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: He was in earnest beyond a question. But as I
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: sought the street again, I found myself wishing that he
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: had phrased it in some other fashion than because of
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: his health. After my late experiences, it had an ominous sound.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: End of chapter four chapter five of The House of
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: Skulls by H. Bedford Jones. This LibriVox recording is in
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Ben Tucker. Chapter five, I
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: discover Skulls. I stopped at the hotel that night, and
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: the next morning departed to my ranch. It lay about
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: twenty miles from town by road, as I had to
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: get around Mount Conochty to reach it by water, it
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: would be much closer. The ranch lay at the edge
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: of the lake, and Ballyol had done his clearing with
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: the eye of an artist. The house itself was built
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: of rough hewn timber and cement, and was admirably situated
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: at the edge of a small bluff over the water.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: About it stood gigantic white oaks, while the orchards ran
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: back on the other side of the road. Although I
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: had half expected more excitement on my trees, I met
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: with nothing untoward. In Lakeport, I had loaded up with
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: camping supplies, a bit of forethought which came in handy.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: As I ran down the side road to the house
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: and opened up the gates, I was filled with delighted anticipation.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: With half an eye, I could see the place with
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: a gem of beauty. The gates open. I ran the
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: car inside, then shut the gates again. I was in
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: my own domain at last. Fortunately I had telephoned the
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: electrical people on the previous afternoon so that I found
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: the electricity turned on. The place was on the power line,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: which in California gives right to the juice, whether it
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: be in the desert or a mountain canyon. Of course,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: one expects to get something for ten thousand cash. But
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: as I opened up the house and saw what things
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: were like, I was astounded. Baliol must have laughed in
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: his sleeve at finding me to be an interior decorator.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: The place was furnished and literally crammed with things which
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: in New York would have been beyond price. They had
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: come over with the Missourians and prairie schooners, and Balliol
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: had bought them at various farms for a song. There
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: were two rosewood pianos, one an importation from holland several
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: ancient clocks with original glass and running order. The chairs
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: were fiddlebacks of crotch mahogany. There were two satin wood cabinets,
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: genuine sheratons, and the beds. Each of the two bedrooms
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: was furnished complete in walnut, not the Borol walnut of
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: late Victorian days, but the old carved French walnut of
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: the earliest period. All in all, that furniture was a
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: delight to the heart. On the more practical side, the
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: place was ready for use, from the bedding to the
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: electric stove in the kitchen. By the time I had
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: investigated everything and opened up the house, the morning was
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: nearly gone, and it was about eleven o'clock when I
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: descended the short path that ran down the bluff to
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: the lakeside. Here was a boat house with a short
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: dock beside it. When I had gained access to the
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: boat house by means of Ballyol's keys, I found a
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: launch of small size but sturdy construction, and a fine
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Morris canoe. Fishing tackles strung the walls, and in one
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: corner was a drum half filled with gasoline. I took
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: out my pipe and sat down in the launch. Not
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: only was everything here which Baliol had described, but more,
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: much more. To think of what I had dropped into
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: astounded me. It was much too good to be true.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: The acres of fruit trees, which must be worth a
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: good sum as income property, could no doubt be rented
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: to neighbor ranchers. I resolved to see about it at once.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: All I wanted was this house and what was in it.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: No gentleman's ranch for mine, but a gentleman's country home.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: My ideas had changed since seeing the place brought face
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: to face with pear and walnut trees. As it were,
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: I lost enthusiasm. Fishing, tinkering with old furniture and painting
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: suited my lazy inclination a good deal better. I'll get
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: something to eat, I said, knocking out my pipe into
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: the water. Then I'll try out the launch and visit
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: the neighbors and see about renting the orchard. It has
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: a crop on right now, so it ought to be
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: a good thing. I trudged back up the path, and
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: when I reached the house, I noticed a curious thing.
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: The foundations were of cement and a low semi wall
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: foundation ran the full length of the front veranda. There
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: were a number of curious projections from that cement, and
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: when I came up to the wall and examined them,
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: I found that they were human skulls. The gruesome find
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: rather staggered me. They were real skulls, set in the
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: cement walls so as to project three or four inches,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: and they were in good condition. I am not superstitious,
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: and I had no objections to the scheme of decorations
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: on personal grounds. But it struck me that Ballyol had
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: carried his search for novelty just a bit too far.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: It's only a step from Beau's art to bizarre, I reflected,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: My friend Baliol seems to have taken the step. Where
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: did he get him? I wonder two four, six and
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: even half dozen? Wonder if he put any more inside.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: I didn't notice them. I hastened inside the house, my
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: thoughts on the big hearth and chimney of cobbles, But
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: I confess that, to my relief, I found it was
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: quite lacking in further remains. All the skulls were outside.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: With that, I paid little more attention to the matter. Practically,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: dismissing it from my mind, and for excellent reasons. I
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: passed out on the veranda, meaning to go round to
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: the car at the side of the house and get
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: my provisions. But at the first step I came to
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: a dead halt, with a cold chill at my throat.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: Upon the cement floor of the veranda were wet tracks.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: They began at the door and ended abruptly in the
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: middle of the floor. Yet the veranda was empty. Those
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: were not the tracks of a man. Something in their
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: very appearance sent queer horror rippling through me, sent my
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: gaze quickly over my shoulder at the empty house. I
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: had been gone not twenty minutes. These tracks were still wet,
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: and whatever had made them must have come from the
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: lake while I was down there. Undeniably shaken by the
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: mystery of it, I rushed back through the house to
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: the back door. Absolutely nothing was in sight. I ran
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: around the house, passed the car and saw nothing. At
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: the edge of the bluff, I could se the shore
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: line below, and it was deserted. I came back to
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: the veranda and stared again at those tracks, now fast drying.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: They frightened me. There was something about them vaguely unnatural,
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: and never in my life had I seen anything like them.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: Of course, I had opened the wide veranda windows, and
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: a bird might have walked in, then flown out and away.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: But a bird of this size, a bird from the lake.
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: There was no other water except in the well behind
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: the house, from which the house itself was supplied by
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: an electric motor. And were those the tracks of any
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: bird alive? I doubted it. The size was immense, the
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: shape was that of a small central foot with four
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: immense toes, and beyond these the marks of long claws.
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: Unless I were mistaken, what was the thing? Monster or hallucination?
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: I tried to argue that I was self deceived, and
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: I failed miserably. There were the wet prints on the
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: cement before my eyes, slowly drying away. They could not
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: have been made more than a few moments before I
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: returned from the boat house. I felt suddenly prickly cold
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: and very uncomfortable, and turned into the house to go
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: ahead with luncheon was for the moment impossible. I went
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: into the living room, and as I passed one of
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: the two pianos, I suddenly descried a book lying open
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: upon it. I paused a glance at the book. To
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: my astonishment, I saw upon the printed page a cut
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: of the exact print which I had seen on the verandah.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: Beneath the illustration was the legend fossil imprint of Pterodactyl,
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: March Collection, Vale College. The realization smote me like a
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: blow as I leaned over the book and read Balliol
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: had left that book open here. Of course, Balliol had
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: seen the same prince, or had he seen the thing itself?
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: Had he seen the living, actual Pterodactyl, the creature that
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: had become extinct when the world began, the flying dragon
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: of myth and legend. He had seen the tracks at
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: any rate, just as I had seen them. This proved
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: that I was under no delusion about those press prints.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: But was the thing credible? It was not. The bowl
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: of this lake was an ancient volcano. The whole valley
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: was a volcanic creation. Mineral springs abounded. A few miles
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: distant were a quicksilver mines. The water in my own
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: well was mineralized. Now, I had read stories about prehistoric
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: monsters coming back into the world via extinct volcanoes and
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: bottomless lakes and so forth. Stories that is, which were
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: purely fiction. At such a thing really come about here
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: in Lake County, California, upon my own ranch. Not a
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: damn sight, I exclaimed, throwing the book across the room.
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: Balliol was frightfully nervous. I'm not. He may have been
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: frightened out of here by his imagination, but I am
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: going to be shown then and there. I dismissed the
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: unnatural fears which had shaken me. If the creature existed,
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: I would shoot it if the whole affair were one
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: of those queer mental quirks which come to all men,
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: If the prints were caused by some natural agency, not
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: at the moment obvious to my deduction, Well and good.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: I went around to the car and hauled in my provisions.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: The electricity was on in the house, and I got
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: the electric range working and managed to make myself a
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: fairly decent meal. At times I found myself desirous of
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: casting quick glances over my shoulder at windows or doors,
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: but I repressed it firmly. I was not going to
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: get into Balliol's condition if I could help it. Lunch over,
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: I dragged a rocker to the veranda and enjoyed a
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: smoke with the beauties of the lake outspread before me.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: My reason of a deep inundation of the lake shore.
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: The bluff on which my house was built faced almost
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: due east opposite me. Across the bight, I saw the
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: roofs of a farm house, doubtless my nearest neighbor in
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: that direction. It occurred to me that if I wanted
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: to talk business, the noon hour would be an excellent
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: time to do it. So I went down to the
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: boat house again, opened up the water doors, and filled
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: the boat's tank with gas. She was in good shape,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: and almost with the first turn of the wheel, the
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: spark caught. A moment later, I was chugging out into
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: the lake, feeling intensely pleased with myself, and I headed
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: directly down to my neighbor's dock. Among the tools or reads.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: The neighbor himself I found sitting on his front porch.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: He was a brawny bearded man of stolidly slow speech,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: Henry Dawson by name. I introduced myself as the new
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: owner of Balliol's ranch, and was in turn introduced to
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: missus Dawson into strapping Dawson boys. They all eyed me
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: with frank curiosity. I lost no time in setting forth
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: my business. Dawson, like all farmers, was content to let
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: me talk as long as I would. When I cautiously
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: broached the subject of renting my land, however, he nodded
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: his head in slow assent. All to rent, he stated,
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: as though he thought just the opposite. Maybe, don't know
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: as folks would want the house, though I want that myself.
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: I said, what I want to rent is the fruit land.
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: Could you handle it? At this direct assault? He hemmed
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: and hawed. He was a very decent chap, however, and
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: when I made it clear that I was not after
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: extortion at rental's, he came around quickly. I could see
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: that the house had killed the place for some reason.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: Just what's the matter with that house? I demanded, While
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: he was making up his mind about rental? Is it
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: those skulls in the front wall? Blamed? If I know?
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: He rejoined slowly, reckonence. That much as anything gives folks
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: a creepy feeling. Why didn't Baliol get along there? He
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: gave me a slow stare got along? Why? I guess
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: he got along all right. He was kind of queer
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: in his ways, you might say, but he got along right, well,
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: mister Desmond, Where on earth did he get those skulls?
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: Though dug them up right on the ground. I heard
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: he done all the work himself on that house, except
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: what he hired done. Guess it was an old engine cemetery.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: There was a heap of engines here in the old days,
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: quite a bunch here. Yet they sent em to a reservation,
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: but the poor devils got homesick and were allowed back
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: rot prosperous farmers, some of em to day. Well about
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: that orchard, I reckon, we can manage it if we
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: settle on the right terms. We settled then and there
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: at terms which were satisfactory to both of us. End
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: of Chapter five, Chapter six of The House of Skulls
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: by H. Bedford Jones. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: public domain read by Ben Tucker. Chapter six, I buy
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: a gun. I asked Dawson about big birds, but he
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: said there was nothing larger than a buzzard around the lake.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: And presently I went home again. The rest of the
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: day passed quietly, and after writing a few letters, chiefly
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: on business, I went to bed and slept the sleep
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: of the just. I was well satisfied with my new home,
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: and for the coming six months my part in New
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: York could run the decorating business without my aid, so
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: there was nothing to worry me. The next morning, I
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: was up and off early, this time in the canoe,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: and got in an hour's fishing before sunrise. Although it
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: was distinctly the wrong season for fish. I trolled down
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: along the shore of the reed beds and picked up
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: two fine bass, both over three pounds. About sunrise, I
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: headed for home. Well content with the results. I wanted
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: to visit Lakeport this morning, chiefly to see if there
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: was any news from my Los Angeles bank about those checks.
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: That Balliol had struggled along in poverty on his ranch,
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: as the newspaper account had said, was quite absurd. That
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: he had died in poverty with eleven thousand dollars in
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: his pocket was entirely nonsensical. Across the little bay from
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: my place, I paused suddenly. I had already learned from
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: neighbor Dawson that Balliol had obtained his skull decoration from
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: relics of the Red Men, so their gruesomeness was removed
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: in some measure, But that did not explain what I
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: now saw, as it chanced I had found a pair
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: of field glasses in the niche and the cobbled chimney,
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: and had brought them along. Now I raised and focused
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: on my house, rather on the front wall under the veranda,
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: where the skulls were located. To my uneasy surprise, I
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: found my eyesight corroborated. The eyes of those six skulls
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: were gleaming and flaming with a brilliant crimson optical delusion.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: Not a bit of it reflections from the rising sun
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: on the concrete which filled the skulls to the bone level.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: Not a bit of it. Such reflections would not come
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: in a scarlet flame from the eyes of each and
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: every skull. They were reflecting the lurid sunrise squarely at me,
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: of course, But those hollow eye sockets were filled with
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: red fire. I dropped the glasses, seized the paddle, and
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: spurted for home, savagely determined to run down the uncanny
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: hoodoo which had settled on this house of mine. As
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: I drew nearer to my landing, I could see those
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: red skull eyes flaming more and more distinctly. There was
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: no opt illusion whatever. Then I was in the boat house,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: beneath the bluff, and of course the house was shut
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: from view. Making fast the canoe, I paused to pick
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: up a broken oar to serve as club, then ran
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: up the path, puffing. I gained the bluff in front
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: of the house. Confound it. I exclaimed, blankly, Am I
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: going off my head? The crimson flame was gone from
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: the skull eyes. There was not a sign of it
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: in the sockets. The white cement came close to the surface,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: and there could be no mistake. I was completely taken
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: aback by this startling development. Of course, I told myself
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: there must be an explanation. Perhaps the sand in the
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: cement was glassy and at certain angles reflected the sun.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: That would be plausible in a single instance, but it
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: would not do for twelve eye sockets. Whatever the explanation
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: might be, it was certainly beyond my comprehension. Then again,
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: the color of those eye sockets had been a distinct
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: blood hue. As I stood there staring at the cement wall,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: I jumped Suddenly from the kitchen of the house came
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: a banging crash, and I remembered a double boiler I
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: had set out on the stove. Someone or something was
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: in the kitchen, and it knocked it over. Swearing under
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: my breath, I leaped to the veranda and ran through
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: the house. Now I glanced at every room in my course,
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: and I can swear that the house was absolutely empty.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: So was the kitchen when I reached it. Yet by
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: the stove, whence it had obviously been knocked by some
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: direct agency. The double boiler lay on the floor, a
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: pool of water surging from it and running directly to
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: the stove from the doorway. But not back again, was
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: a single line of muddy tracks. They were the tracks
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: of the pterodactyl. I was staggered, right enough. A prehistoric
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: monster with a wing spread of twenty five feet does
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: not hide easily in a bare kitchen. Yet I looked around,
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: as if expecting to see the brute before me. Then
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: I rushed to the windows. The yard was absolutely empty.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: The monster might be somewhere in the encircling trees. It
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: might have flown out and down in the lake while
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: I was coming through the house. But by the gods,
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: it had been here. Those muddy tracks on the floor
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: reassured me, certified to my sanity and common sense. Hastening outside,
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: I looked around the barn, which served as garage, was empty.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: I could discover no hole about the house where any
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: such beast could hide. I flung my club, worrying in
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: the nearest trees, and strode back into the house. Damn it,
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: I remarked, as I set about cooking my two fish.
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: I'm going to get a shotgun and settle this mystery.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: I don't believe in fictionists dreams coming true. And as
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: for this flying dragon, I'll settle him with buckshot if
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: I get one crack at him. The red eyes of
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: the skulls had paled into insignificance before this mysterious visitant,
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: and I forgot the lesser matter for the time being.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: That double boiler knocked off the stove, and those muddy
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: tracks settled the pterodactyl once and for all as a
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: living creature, and I meant to go after him. I
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: only regretted that I must have missed him by less
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: than a minute. My second day in my new home
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: was beginning in a way to make me realize why
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: Balliol had come to Los Angeles with the jumps riding him.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: An hour after these things happened, I had closed up
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: the house and was chugging merrily away from the boat
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: house in my launch. Navigation was no difficult problem here,
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: I merely had to head straight up the lake, which
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: I did. The voyage was monotonous, as are all launch
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: trips in ordinary craft, and as I throbbed along the
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: wind ruffled water, the memory of m j B recurred
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: to me with a twinge of self irritation that I
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: had not even her name. Why had she warned me?
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: And who was the dark complexed chap who had cut
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: at my tires back at mac Gray's tavern, and who
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: had fired that shot at me? These were perplexing problems,
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: but m j B was more perplexing yet. I once
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: again pictured her face before my mental vision, the trim
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: sweetness of her, the capable manner which she wore, the
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: energetic womanhood that lay in her blue eyes. Hang it,
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: i exclaimed, I'm getting romantic. It won't do York, Desmond.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: You'll never see that girl again, So forget her. Easier
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: said than done. I was still thinking of her as
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: I tied up the dock at Lakeport and walked up town,
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: past the library to the main street, and within five
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: minutes I was thinking of her again. The telegraph office
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: was a dingy little place, messages being received here by phone.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: When I inquired for any wires, the young lady in
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: charge handed me an envelope. I found it to be
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: a night letter from the cashier of my bank in
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles. It read as follows, check for ten thousand
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: cashed yesterday, First National, San Francisco, returned here this afternoon,
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: endorsements John Balliol, Martha J. Balliol, no further developments, suicide,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: good luck with Ranch. The ulterior meaning of this message
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: gradually percolated through my brain, and I wandered forth to
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: a bench on the court House square and sank to rest.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: The check had been cashed the same morning I left
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: San Francisco, and it had been cashed by Martha J. Balliol,
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: no other than my M. J. B. No wonder she
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: had seemed to know my name when she must have
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: borne in her pocket that check of mine. Balliol had
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: given it to her the previous night, just before his suicide.
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: So much was evident. But she had been Balliol's sister,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: Then why she not admitted her identity. Perhaps she would
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: have done so, I argued, but for the news of
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: her brother's death after that to find herself traveling in
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: her brother's car with the man who had bought that
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: car in the ranch to boot must have disconcerted her
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: immensely at first, and after telling me that she was
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: a friend of Balliol, she probably had lacked the nerve
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: to confess her white lie and give her real name.
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: Perhaps she had merely considered it unnecessary. I felt relieved, folly,
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: though it undoubtedly was. I'd indulged a secret conviction that
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: m J. B. Was Balliol's sweetheart. Now she proved to
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: be his sister. But although this fact afforded great relief,
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: it none the less gave me new anxiety. I have
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: always noticed that girls, especially very charming and attractive girls
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: like Martha Balliol, we're all too seldom free in herdhole.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: Somebody else always seems to get acquainted with them first.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: That was one reason that I was still a bachelor.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: But never had I met anyone like Martha Balliol. The
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: more I thought about her, the more I felt like
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: a fool for having left her in San Francisco as
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: I'd done, at last realizing that I had bungled everything
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: very sadly, and that it was now close to noon
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: and I was very hungry. I got up and sauntered
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: toward the bank, seeking information. On the way, however, I
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: passed a hardware store and bethought me of the pterodactyl.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: There was an attractive display of guns in the window,
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: so I entered and besought the proprietor to sell me
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: a shotgun. What a license, I suppose, he inquired amiably.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: I'm the game warden here. You know, I don't know
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: why you're going after deer with a shotgun. I'm not,
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: I rejoined. I'm going after pterodactyl's, and there's no close
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: season on them. He rubbed his chin and with a
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: mystified air, agreed with me. Well, I reckon, not, hey,
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: you the man just bought the Balliol ranch. Yes, Desmond
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: is my name, Stark's mine, gladi. Meet ye see any
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: ghosts around there yet? Ghosts? I met his eye, and
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: he chuckled, what do you mean? Well, that place is
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: belt right close to where the old engine chiefs is buried,
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: and I hear tell their ghosts around there at times,
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: nothing doing, I rejoined, cheerfully. Not so far. Anyhow, where's
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: the best place to get a meal in town? Well?
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: You might go several places but if I was you,
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: I'd go up to miss the St. John's back of
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: the court house. He directed me, leaving the shotgun till
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: after luncheon. I went to the boarding house back of
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: the town square. Ghosts see that was a new angle
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: at The Natives played unpleasant jokes upon John Balliol because
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: of his skull decoration. No, the very notion was silly, grave,
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: stolid farmer folks like Dawson were not given to such
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: trivial foolishness. Besides, Balliol's affrighted nerves to have come from
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: months and years of fear, not days or weeks, and
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: jokes do not extend over months and years. I found
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: the boarding house simple and thoroughly delightful, the cooking wholesome,
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: and the company very mixed, ranging from a stage driver
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: to an itinerant preacher. It was a warm noon and
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: conversation flagged. I was just finishing my meal when in
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: the intermittent and broken off speech of farming men, two
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: workmen at the other end of the table spoke hard.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: Young Balliol sister, come in this mornin', said one. Uh
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: said the other, and looked toward the stage driver. Good
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: look or Matt stage driver glanced up, got him. Be
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: it all hollow? He observed, come in on the morning train,
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: goin up the lake, I reckon. I paid for my
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: meal and departed, feeling a bit dizzy. Balliol's sister. What
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: the deuce was she doing here? Calling for my gun
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: at the hardware store? I arranged about mail at the
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: post office and went down to the dock and out
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: on the dock all alone she was standing. End of
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: chapter six, chapter seven of the House of Skulls by H.
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: Bedford Jones. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: Read by Ben Tucker. Chapter seven, I make discoveries. To
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: see me sauntering along with a gun under my arm
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: seemed to cause her some alarm. And two she seemed
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: very self repressive. Her greeting was cold, then with a
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: quick change of mood, she smiled, are you going hunting
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: like everyone else? Mister Desmond? I am, miss Balliol, I responded.
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: An adorable flush stole into her cheeks, but her blue
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: eyes did not falter. I must apologize for that, she said, simply.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: It was abominable. But at first I I said that
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: I was a friend, and you turned out to be
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: a sister. I cut in. Please, miss Balliol, don't explain.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: I figured it out for myself later on, and I
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: understand perfectly. But if it is not an impertinence, may
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: I ask what on earth you're doing here? This is
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: an outlandish place in which to meet any one, particularly
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: a person of one whom has thought so much and
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: often her gaze dwelt upon me, thoughtfully, searchingly, even suspiciously.
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: To be candid, mister Desmond, I hadn't the least intention
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: of confiding in you, she stated coolly. But I can't
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: help believing that you are honest. Oh who said that?
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: I Wasn't you implied as much by buying my brother's
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: property here? Thanks, I murmured, feeling pretty well dazed. I'm
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: going to Dawson's farm for a short visit, she went on.
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: If you care to see me there, I'll be very
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: glad to explain matters fully. I think the up Lake
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: launch is about due. I did not know anything about
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: the up Lake launch, but I took chances no, I
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: said positively. She ran on a mud bar this morning
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: and is stuck with a broken propeller. If you want
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: to get the Dawsons, will you let me take you in?
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: My launch. There's not another to be hired, I assure you. Besides,
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: it will let us talk on the way. I have
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: a suspicion that she knew I was lying, but if so,
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: she did not mind at all events. She accepted my
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: invitation as she had only her suit case. We were
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: chugging away from Lakeport inside of ten minutes. She added
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: to the mystery by stating that Dawsons took borders and
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: that while she was totally unknown here, she had determined
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: to pay a visit to the lake on business. I
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: began to feel somewhat uncomfortable. There are several things to
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: straighten out, miss Balliol, I observed, first your remarks about
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: my honesty. Then, if you remember when I told you
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: about your brother, you exclaimed that they had killed him.
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: She whitened a little. Please, she checked me swiftly. Let
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: me take things in order, mister Desmond, I should not
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: have made that remark about your honesty. It requires another
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: apology from me. Now, let me get these things out.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: She opened her hand back and began to look over papers. Meantime,
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: she went on to give me some idea of her
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: brother's past life and of her own. Balliol senior, who
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: had been a wealthy lawyer in Boston, had died suddenly
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: six years previously. He had left few resources except a
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: family residence near Boston and two small, undeveloped ranches here
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: in Lake County. Martha Balliol had at once fitted herself
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: for a position as stenographer, remaining at home with her mother.
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: John Balliol, a boy nearly through Harvard, had come to
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: California and had to set to work developing the two
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: ranches on Clear Lake. He had worked like a trojan too.
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: As the girl told me of what he had accomplished
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: lone handed, I felt a pang of pity for him.
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: Two years before this present time, he had sold one
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: of the ranches for a handsome sum. He had sent
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: a large part of the money home to relieve conditions
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: there and pay off the mortgage on the family home. Then,
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: meaning to bring his mother and sister to Clear Lake,
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: he had built his house on the twenty acre ranch,
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: and had built it well. The work had taken him
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: nearly a year, for he had done most of it
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: with his own hands. During that time, however, some trouble
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: had developed. To balance this, he had made money off
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: his crops and had ordered his Paragon car specially built,
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: but with one thing and another. He had spent every
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: red scent that he could raise, being confident of the future,
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: then went on the girl. The trouble increased. What it was,
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I can't find out. He only wrote
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: about it once, and then he sent this photograph. It
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: explains itself, so far as I can discover. Jack must
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: have made an enemy of this man and took his
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: picture while they were having an argument. I was like Jack.
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: He had no lack of nerve or of nerves either,
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: I added to myself as I took the letter in
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: picture which she handed me. The picture was a Kodak
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: snapshot of a very angry young man shaking his fist
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: at the camera. There was no doubt about his anger.
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: A snarling, venomous rage was stamped all over him. As
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: I recognized his face, however, an exclamation escaped me. For
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: beyond all question, it was the same swarthy young man
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: who had tried to cut my tires at mcgray's tavern.
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: What's the matter, broke out Miss Balliol. You know him,
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: I've seen him, I commented, tell you about it in
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: a minute. Beneath the picture was written, John talks registering rage.
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: Taking the letter, I read a marked paragraph. It dealt
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: with the same John talksa a name whose very queerness
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: made me wonder what nationality the young man could be.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: Balliol had not explained this, but had written, I'm having
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: more trouble with the individual whose picture I enclose. However,
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: I hope to obviate further trouble with him. The whole
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: thing is so silly that one hesitates to write any explanation.
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: Don't worry about it. That was finally indefinite, was it not.
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: It was about six months ago resumed Miss Balliol. We
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: got into terrible trouble, and I was afraid to write
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: Jack about it because we were trying so hard not
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: to increase his worries. Mother was very ill, and we
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: had to mortgage the house again. Then a private bank failed,
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: a bank in which father had left us a block
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: of stock. The stock had never been any good. And
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: then on the failure of the bank, we had to
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: pay a tremendous assessment to secure the depositors, and that
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: finished everything for us. Mother died suddenly. When it was
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: all over, I wrote Jack what had happened? Then I
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: went back to work. I did not hasten her recital,
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: and she paused for a few moments. We were chugging
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: merrily down the lake, and the heat of the sun
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: was relieved by a cool breeze, which brought stray locks
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: of Martha Balliol's hair about her face in distracting fashion.
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: It was a hard blow to Jack, of course, she
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: went on, Now, what has happened? I don't know and
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: can't discover. Mister Desmond. He wired me a month ago
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: to meet him in Los Angeles at once, He wrote
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: little or nothing in the interim. I came to Los
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: Angeles and he did not turn up. I could not
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: get in touch with him at all. Then one morning
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: he called me up on the telephone and told me
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: to catch the night train for San Francisco and to
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: meet him at the station an hour before the train left.
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: I felt that something terrible was happening, but he gave
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: no explanation. When we met at the station, he was
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: a nervous wreck, and he was frightfully mysterious about everything.
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: He told me to go on to San Francisco and
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: that i'd hear from him en route. How did you
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: recognize his car from the train, I broke in. You've
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: never seen it, no, but he had sent us the
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: colored pictures when he had ordered it built, and he
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: had sent photographs of it after he had received it.
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: It's such a distinctive car that no one could possibly
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: mistake it. That was very true, as I had discovered well.
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: That night at the station, she pursued. Jack gave me
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: an envelope and said to open it after the train
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: had started. He made me promise him. Then he kissed
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: me good bye and said not to worry, that he
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: had fixed everything all right for me. That's the last
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: I saw of him, mister Desmond. Later on the train,
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: I opened his letter and found your check to him
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: with this note. She handed me a note in Balliol's
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: writing which read as follows, Dearest Sis, the game's up
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned. You'll hear about it soon enough.
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: They were too much for me at the ranch. They
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: drove me out, to put it bluntly. If I hadn't
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: had too much cursed pride, I might have done otherwise.
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: But I fought them, and now they'll get me sure
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: if I go back. Besides this, I've got in bad
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: with another deal if I go through with it. Then
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: you'll lose everything, and I can't face it. I guess
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty well broken down, says I've been a fool,
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: that's all. There's only one way to secure to you
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: what can be secured, and I've taken it. I've sold
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: the ranch for ten thousand, which is far below its value,
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: and enclose the check. Cash it immediately in San Francisco.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: Good Bye, dear little siss and make the best of it. Jack.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: That was, on the face of it a cowardly letter,
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: considering that an hour later Balliol had killed himself. But
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: I could not help remembering all that he must have
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: endured and fought for in the past years. Still we
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: haven't solved the secret of the mysterious they I observed,
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: except that John talkso whoever he is, is concerned in it.
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: This letter, too, speaks of another deal, vague and mysterious
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: as ever. Miss Balliol, do you have any idea why
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: your brother did what he did in Los Angeles? She
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: shook her head. His suicide was still a mystery to her.
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: I told her about my encounter with John toalksa and
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: with a shot from the hills. She had warned me
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: in San Francisco, merely on impulse, for she had felt
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: that there was something vaguely but distinctly hostile about that ranch. Also,
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: she had been distrustful of me, for she had imagined
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: that I might have been concerned in some conspiracy to
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: beat down the value of the ranch and get it cheap.
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: There is the contradiction of woman for you. Well, in
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: sight of twenty minutes, we were on a solid footing
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: of friendship. I managed to convince her as to my
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: entire ignorance of the trouble, and I could see that
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: the poor girl had been driven nearly wild by the
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: mystery which had shrouded Balliol's latter days. As we drew
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: up the lake, I suggested to Martha Balliol that she
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: might care to stop at the ranch and look over
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: the house. There may be books or other personal belongings
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: of your brothers that you'd like to keep, I explained, really,
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: miss Balliol, I'd feel much relieved if you'd go through
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: his effects and take everything that you'd like to have.
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: I felt very badly over the deal, because I've seemed
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: to take undue advantage of his circumstances, and I feel
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: as though some reparation and expiation were due you later.
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: I thought I'd add at least five thousand to the
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: purchase price of the ranch, but of course this was
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: not the moment to broach such a matter, since it
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: was early in the afternoon. Miss Balliol thanked me and
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: consented to stop in at the ranch for Dawson's lay
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: just across the bay, and we could run over there
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: in ten minutes. Accordingly, we ran into the dock, and
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: on this occasion there was no red flare in the
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: skull sockets. Nor did I say anything to her about
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: the skulls, for the subject was not a very pleasant
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: one to bring before the girl's mind. I was careful
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: to steer her up the hill and then around to
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: the side of the house. As we reached it, I
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: heard a bell buzzing away. Hello, I ejaculated. I ordered
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: the telephone unplugged this morning. The instrument was in of course,
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: some one's calling to see if the line's working. Maybe
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: go right in and make yourself at home, Miss Balliol,
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: I'll answer the call. The telephone was in the kitchen,
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: and a moment laylater I was at the instrument, York
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: Desmond speaking. I said, Hello, it was my friend the
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: banker at Lakeport speaking, and what he had to say
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: was one little earful it certainly was. What he wanted
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: from me was the address of John Balliol. For no
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: one in these parts seemed to know that Balliol was dead.
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: I wanted to know why he wanted it. Being a banker,
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: he was mighty hard to pin down and hold on
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: the mat, But at last I made him cough up
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: the information. It appeared that some time previously Balliol had
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: gone on the note of a friendly rancher to the
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: tune of six thousand dollars. Fire had wiped out the
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: rancher's property. This was over in High Valley, and the
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: man himself had broken both legs in an accident, and
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: it was up to John Balliol to make good the
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: six thousand now overdue. What date was it due? I demanded.
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: The banker told me that note had become due the
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: day after I had bought balliol ranch. You listen here,
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: I said, thinking fast, I'll come into Lakeport tomorrow and
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: see you, and I'll make good that sum. Savvee. Never
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: mind my reasons. I owe Balliol that money, so I'll
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: explain further tomorrow. I rang off and dropped into the
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: nearest chair light on the subject, I should say. So
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: this was the other deal to which Balliol had referred,
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: and he sure had been a fool to indorse the
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: other man's note. He knew it also, and knew that
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: to make it good would wipe him out. That was
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: why he had given up the fight. He had sold
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: out his ranch to me at a giveaway price in
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: order to secure the ten thousand to his sister. He
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: had given her the money. Then who killed himself. He
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: had left no estate. Whatever whether or not the law
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: could reach that ten thousand, I did not know at
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: all events. He had, of course figured that it was
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: safe to Martha. The banker had told me that Balliol
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: had sent back one thousand from Los Angeles, the thousand
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: of which I had given him for his car. Of course,
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: this explained Balliol's haste to get the money. It did
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: not explain the enmity which had existed between Balliol and
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: this John talks. But of that I took little heed
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: At the moment. Instead of giving Martha Balliol the extra
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: five thousand, I would pay it over to the bank,
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: clear Balliol's name, and square myself with the dead man.
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: As I looked at it. Martha Balliol need never know
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: of it. I had figured this out to my own
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: satisfaction as the best possible course, when from the front
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: of the house I heard a cry followed by a scream.
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: Then I remembered that cursed Tero dactyl for the first time.
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: End of chapter seven, Chapter eight of The House of
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: Skulls by H. Bedford Jones. This LibriVox recording is in
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Ben Tucker. Chapter eight, I
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: go hunting. Martha Balliol had fallen against the cobbled chimney
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: of the fireplace and lay in a crumpled heap, arms outflung.
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: To my horror, I thought her dead. Then I saw
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: upon the floor of the muddy tracks of the flying dragon.
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: She stirred a little, and at the motion I leaped
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: for the door. The room was empty, safe for the girl,
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: but I knew that the crew was somewhere close at hand,
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: and I had left a shotgun in the boat. I
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: went down the path like a madman, secured the gun,
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: tore open the box of shells, and as I ran
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: back up to the house, I loaded both chambers. As
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: I came to the doorway, I saw that Martha Balliol
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: was sitting up, holding one hand to her head. She
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: stared at me. But what was it? She exclaimed, That's
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: what I want to know. I turned my back on her,
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: perhaps ungallantly to seek some sign of movement from the yard.
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: Nothing stirred. If the thing had been here, it had
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: gone quickly. It had vanished among the trees. I heard
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: you scream something. Some one came up behind and pushed me.
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: Martha Balliol was standing now, and anger was flashing in
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: her blue eyes. I heard nothing at all. The surprise
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: made me scream, and I must have fallen against the
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: stones here. She suddenly saw the tracks upon the floor
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: and paused. Her eyes widened with a swift fear as
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: she pointed to them. I nodded carelessly, then left the
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: door and placed a chair for her, Without exaggeration, but
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: omitting nothing. I told her about the skull eyes, which
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: I had seen only that morning, and also the pterodactyl.
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: She listened in silence, but her incredulous gaze made me
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: squirm a bit. You speak as if you believed it,
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: she commented. At last, look at the tracks for yourself,
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: I countered. Then, getting her Balliol's book, I showed her
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: the illustration in question that shook her fine scorn of
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: the story. She declared herself quite unhurt and refused to
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: let the matter drop, but sat in thoughtful silence for
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: a little. There's something queer about this house, she said
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: at last, and rose, let's look at those skulls, mister Desmond.
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: I believe Jack said something about them in one of
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: his letters, but I don't remember the exact words. They
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: were Indian relics. I believe he did not say that
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: he was building them into the house. Together, we went outside,
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: and while she inspected the skulls, I scrutinized the trees
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: and shores. But vainly, the devilish thing had hidden itself absolutely,
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: and I could see no particular sense in going to
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: find it. I can't honestly say that I care for
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: this scheme of decoration, declared Martha Balliol. Jack was always
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: given to odd notions like this. However, as for your
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: story of the red eyes, well, I'll pass on it
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: when I see them for myself. Now, let's go up
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: and look at the house, that is, if you still
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: care to have me do so. Do you still want to?
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: I queried, surprised by her coolness. You've had a shock.
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: I've been very silly. You mean, she corrected me severely,
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: as we walked toward the steps, about this prehistoric thing,
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: mister Desmond, didn't you say that the steps always came
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: into the center of a room then ended the footprints?
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, well, that does not look right to me.
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: Of course, the creature might have come so far then
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: have flown away. You admit there's a creature. Then I
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: struck in. I admit there's something to make those tracks,
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: she said, and laughed merrily. I wish I had looked
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: over my shoulder when I felt a shove. Perhaps the
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: confounded place is haunted, I said gloomily. We spent half
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: an hour going over the house. Miss Balliol picked out
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: a few pictures and other things which she would like
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: to have, and I promised to pack them up for her.
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: She was planning to stay for a week or two
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: with the Dawsons, although she did not say it in
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: so many words. I realized that her reason for coming
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: here had been to settle the mystery which surrounded her
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: brother's death, and she would settle it. There was no
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: doubt that within a few days she would find out
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: about that note at the bank. The other trouble, the
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: trouble which had smashed Balliol's nerves, and which was somehow
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: concerned with John Toksa, whoever he was, lay in the
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: background unsolved. So when she had finished with the house,
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: I told her frankly what the banker had just telephoned
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: to me. To be more exact, I told it with
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: some additions and evasions, for I did not think it
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: necessary to say I was paying off the five thousand.
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: I got around that by saying that the creditor had
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: paid up, having unexpectedly gotten some money, and that the
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: banker had phoned to let Balliol know it was all
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: right beyond question. I got things a little involved. But
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: Martha Balliol did not probe the story. To her mind,
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: her brother might still have been living, had he only
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: learned in time that he would not have to meet
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: the note. It was a sad business, of course. Out
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: of justice to the dead chap, I felt an honor
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: bound to relate his reasons for suicide, which did his
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: heart better credit than his head. Yes, taking it up
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: and down, it was a sorry and a sordid and
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: a dashed brave little story. Balliol was a fool and
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: a coward, perhaps, but the thing he did was done
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: in a bravely silent fashion. Martha Balliol cried a little
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: and tried to laugh a little, but she finished with
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: a clear and sober understanding of why her brother had
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: killed himself. Then she said that she thought i'd better
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: take her on to Dawson's by road, the sun being
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: pretty hot on the water, so I went out and
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: got the car ready, and I kept the shotgun handy.
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: The road, which ran down along the lake shore was
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: very dusty. The dust was six inches deep in places.
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: This did not trouble the Paragon, of course, as we
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: hummed into the Dawson yard in fine fettle. Missus Dawson
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: was there to receive us, and under her wing Martha
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 1: Balliol vanished almost at once. I paused to help myself
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: to a few nectarines from a tree near the house,
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: then set forth for home. I drove rather fast, for
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: the road was good, and I got almost to my
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: own place when something happened. Both front tires blew at
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: the same instant. Fortunately the Paragon was a heavy boat,
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: or we'd have gone topsy turvy. As it was, I
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: almost went into the trees. Of course, cord tires do
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: not act as those had acted without very definite reasons.
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: The reasons were in the shape of stout nails set
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: in scraps of board which had been buried in the dust.
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: I am afraid that I said some very unscriptural things
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: as I drove home on the rims. Who was the miscreant?
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: The thing was intentional. Those bits of board had been
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: planted since I had left home. I cursed some more
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: while I sat working on the tubes and then pumping
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: up the refitted tire sufficiently to reach Lakeport and an
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: air hose. One thing was sure I had inherited John
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: Balliol's enemies. Of this I had no further doubt. If
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: some one were lurking about the place, it was a
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: case of catch or get caught, and the afternoon was
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: young or young enough to do a good deal of catching.
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: In With these brilliant deductions crowding me into action, I
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: began to use my head a little. Obviously I had
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: two sets of enemies, human and inhuman. The human type
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: was very possibly the man John Toksa. The inhuman was
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: the pterodactyl. I was as much concerned over one as
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: over the other, and as I abandoned my tire labors
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: and glanced up at the house, a sudden scheme struck me.
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: I picked up my shotgun and sauntered around to the
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: front of the house. For a moment, I stood at
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: the lip of the bluff, watching the water in the shore,
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: planning just what I would do. Then I hurried down
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: the path to the boat house and beneath its shelter,
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: laid the gun in the canoe and covered it with
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: fishing tackle and some burlap. After this, I shoved out
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: and paddled down the shore away from Dawson's. Since I
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: kept close in to the shore, I was in five
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: minutes beyond sight of my place and to anyone watching.
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: Was off for a fishing trip. But I jerked into
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: shore and landed for I had gone fifty feet farther.
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: Pulling up the canoe, I stowed it among the bushes,
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: took my shotgun and struck directly up the steep slope.
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: It was a hard scramble, but I made it, and
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 1: in fifteen minutes I gained the road, Hot and puffing.
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: I was not a mile from the house, and I
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: went down the road at a good walking clip, certain
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: of being unobserved, The trees to either hand effectually concealed me.
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: When at length the trees opened up to the left,
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: I had an excellent view of my house and farm yard.
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: I paused, made myself comfortable among the trees, got my
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: pipe going, and began to watch, flattering myself that I
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: had flanked the entire place very neatly. I was well
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: placed to see whatever was going on. But nothing was
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: going on. It seemed things happened around that place in bunches,
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: and just now was a quiet moment. I sat with
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: the gun over my knees and reflected that this had
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: been a crowded day. It was very nice to think
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: that Martha Balliol was just across the bay at Dawson's farm.
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: The neighborhood seemed very agreeable to me. Of course, the
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: poor girl was over come because of her brother, but
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: this was a grief which lay in the past. She
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: had nothing unhappy ahead of her. I wished that I
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: were sure of the same for myself. Then, abruptly, in
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: the sunlight flooded clearing around my house. I saw that
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: for which I had been watching and waiting. End of
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: Chapter eight. Chapter nine of the House of Skulls by H.
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: Bedford Jones slibrivox recording is in the public domain. Read
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: by Ben Tucker, Chapter nine, I meet John Talks In
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: plain sight of me. Walking out across the open space
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: toward my house was a man. He carried a bucket
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: in one hand and a basket in the other hand.
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: These he sat down at the veranda steps and then
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: turned scrutinizing the lake and shore. His face showed clearly.
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: A low word escaped me as I watched. I recognized
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: that face on the instant. He was no other than
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: the enemy of John Balliol, the man whom I had
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: met at mac Gray's tavern, the man with the queer
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: name John talk So. An instant later he had vanished
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: inside the house. Now, I said to myself, here's one
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: mystery about to be solved in a hurry. A moment
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: longer I waited, Talcso appeared again, stooped over the basket
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: he had been carrying, and then went round to the
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: front of my house. What he did there I could
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: not see. He reappeared, took up both bucket and basket,
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: and went into the house. I started for the house
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: with a gun under my arm, both barrels loaded. When
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: I got safely over the gate and into the yard,
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: I knew that I had my man this time. There
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: was going to be an explanation. To judge from his
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: attire when I had seen him at mac Gray's tavern.
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: This Tocso had money, and he was going to settle
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: what he owed me, chiefly in the matter of tires.
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: What he was doing in my house was another thing.
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: And if he had fired that bullet at me from
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: the hills. At that juncture, I heard the telephone ringing.
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: The kitchen windows were open, and I stole toward the
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: back entrance. An instant later I heard a man speaking
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: at the telephone. Toxa was answering the call. His infernal
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: impudence made me chuckle, for at the instrument he must
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: be standing with his back to the door. He was
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: playing directly into my hand. He's not here out fishing,
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: I heard him say. Somebody obviously was asking for me,
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: who's this? Oh hullo, this hu Sheriff West. There was
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: a moment of silence, during which time I gained the
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: back door and paused. Taxa was standing at the telephone
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: right enough, entirely unconscious of my presence. The hell you say,
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: he exclaimed suddenly, the snarling intonation in his voice. None
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: of your cursed business what I'm doing here, mister West?
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: What you come out here? If you want to, I'll
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: be gone by Then again, he paused, and again made
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: angry response to the sheriff. Nonsense, you've nothing on me.
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: Don't try bluffing me, mister West. You can't do it
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: that shot. Go ahead and tell Desmond all you want.
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: You know, damn well, you can't prove anything on me.
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: And I know it too. I'll have Desmond out of
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: here inside of a wheat. Oh, I won't eh much
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: you know about it? With a snarling oath, he slammed
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: the receiver on the hook. As he did so, I
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: pushed open the screen door and stepped inside. Falx caught
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: the squeak of the door and whirled about like a cat.
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: I guess the sheriff was right talk, so I said,
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: cordially over the sight of my shotgun. Hoist your hands,
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: thank you. That's the way it's always done in the films.
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: So the Sheriff's coming out here, eh good, Then he
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: can take you back with him unless we come to terms.
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: Falxo stood perfectly motionless, his hand slightly raised. The surprise
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 1: of my appearance had confounded him, But now passionate rage
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: convulsed his swarthy features, and in the snaky blackness of
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: his eyes flickered a scornful hatred. The contempt expressed in
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: his eyes rendered me uneasy. You, he udded, flinging the
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: word at me in almost inarticulate fury. What do you
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: think you're doin anyway? I don't think, I assured him.
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 1: I'm perfectly confident about it. My friend. By the way,
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: did you fire a shot at my car the other day,
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: mistaking me for Balliol? I wish to hell the bullet
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: had got you, he foamed. You're a charitable cuss, and
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: since then you've given me a lot of tire trouble,
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: to say the least. What's the idea, anyhow? What's back
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: of the feud between you and Baliol? He seemed to
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: take no notice of the question. You poor fool, he said, scornfully,
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: I could have killed you any time in the past
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: day or two. Well you didn't, I chipped in, Come
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: ahead and loosen up, let's have an explanation. To my horror,
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: I realized that he was coming at me. He had
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: the silky, invisible movement of a snake. To blast the
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: life out of him with that shotgun was impossible. He
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: seemed to be leaning forward, leaning toward me, farther and farther,
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: and then he was in the air and on me.
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: He gripped me and the gun together and we struggled
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: for it. I was ready enough to drop the gun
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: and slam into him with my fists, but I saw
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: no use in letting him perforate me with my own gun,
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: so I hung on and fought it out by arm power.
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: In the middle of it, we lost balance and went
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: to the floor, and the shotgun went off with a
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: deafening explosion between us. I realized quickly enough that I
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: was not hurt and rolled backward, leaping to my feet.
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: Both barrels had exploded, sending both charges into the telephone,
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: which hung wrecked and useless against the wall. Talso was
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: not heard either. First thing I knew he was up
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: and coming at me with a yell, brandishing the shotgun
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 1: like a club. According to jiu jitsu experts, the easiest
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: thing in the world is to lay out a man
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: bearing down on you with a club, as it happens.
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: I am not a jiu jitsu expert. Talso had been
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: an easy mark in the road by mcgray's, but he
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: was something else now. He shoved the butt of the
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: gun into my stomach, and when I doubled up, he
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: slammed me over the skull with the barrel. Then he
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: swung up the gun for a finishing stroke. By this
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: time I was just beginning to realize that it was
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: me for swift action or the count, and I came
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: out of my dream to be candid. It is only
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: in books that two men get into a hot mix
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: up and follow the Queensberry rules with meticulous chivalry and
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: a real scrap of real men. It's hit hardest with
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: anything that will count. I followed the most natural rules,
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: and being backed against the stove, I went for Tocso
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: with an iron skillet that was handy. I ducked the gun,
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: banged him over the ear, and then swung the skillet
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: on his wrist. He dropped the gun in a hurry.
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: Into even matters, I dropped the skillet and began to
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: finish off his education. He knew something about fighting, and
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: he tried to fight, but that skillet had him groggy.
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: From the start. In about two minutes, he was trying
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: to get through the door, so I let him out
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: and hopped right after him. I caught him by the
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: pump and laid him out. Finally, when he came to himself,
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: I had him tied wrists and ankles with dust cloths
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: from the car, and was wasting good mineral water pumping
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: over his torso. In spite of all my kindness, however,
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: he would do nothing except splutter curses at me. So
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: finally I tired of trying. Very well. Then lie here
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: and talk to yourself, I stated, in disgust, when the
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: sheriff gets here, maybe we'll learn a few things. I
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: was dead right about that too. End of chapter nine,
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: Chapter ten of The House of Skulls by H. Bedford Jones.
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: This libribox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker. Chapter ten, I build a wall. On the
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: morning after my encounter with John toalksa, I was working
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: like a beaver on the skull wall in front of
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 1: my house. I had been working there since dawn. In
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: front of the wall, I had a solid framework of
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 1: staked boards edge to edge six inches from the wall's face.
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: The inn spaces were closed with other boards. From the shore,
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: I had toted barrow loads of sand until my palms
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: were blistered. And from the barn behind the house, I
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: had brought a couple of sacks of cement which had
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: lain there unmolested. For lack of a mixing bed, I
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: was utilizing a depression in the rock at the head
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 1: of the path. Boulders of all sizes were handy, and
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: with these I had partially filled the space in front
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 1: of the wall enclosed by the boards. I mixed my
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: concrete rapidly, and after four or five batches had been
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: shoveled into the gap, my work was done. The former
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: face the wall, together with the protruding skulls, was nicely
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: buried behind six inches of concrete. I was lighting my
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: pipe and vastly admiring my handiwork when I heard a voice, Mercy,
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: what on earth is the matter with your telephone here?
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: I've walked all the way over here just to see
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: if the pterodactyl had eaten you up. It was Martha J. Balliol,
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: flushed and laughing. Hooray, I exclaimed, I've been building a wall.
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: Sure the phone is wrecked, but I have a few
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: things to show you important things too. Come up to
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: the veranda and sit down while I explain. But you
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: are a mason, no, I said, I'm a pterodactyl, and
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: I can prove it. When she was sitting in one
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: of my porch chairs, which I placed in the middle
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: of the veranda floor, I excused myself and got the
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: bucket and basket which John Toxo had left behind after
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: departing the previous afternoon. Now shut your eyes, miss Balliol,
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: promised not to peep cross my heart. She returned gaily.
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: I slowly crossed the floor to her, then stepped away
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: a pace or two. Open her one, tering gaze fell
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: upon the concrete floor. From the door of the living
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: room to the side of her chair extended a line
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 1: of fresh, muddy pterodactyl tracks. She almost jumped. Then her
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: blue eyes went to me. Exhibit A, I said, holding
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: up the bucket of muddy water and in the other
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: hand the plaster of Paris cast which had made the tracks.
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: John Toso was here yesterday, so was the sheriff. Toso
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: left these things behind and he's not coming back. Her
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: face sobered. What do you mean, mister Desmond Well, I
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: explained this Toso was an educated chap He knew what
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: a pterodactyl was, you see, and he knew that the
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: other men knew. Then he left some other things. Typical
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: of them was a set of twelve pieces of round
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: crimson glass. These, when placed in the eyes of those skulls,
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: made a fine crimson effect when seen from the lake.
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: You get the idea. Her eyes widened, Toso, that man,
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: But what about my brother? I'm coming to that. Between
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: the sheriff and Tokso, we got the whole thing straightened
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: out yesterday afternoon. Telling her something of what had happened.
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: I explained, your brother, miss Balliol, had peculiar notions of
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: what to do with Indian relics and building this house.
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: He uncovered the so called graves of the former chiefs
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: of the Indian tribe which inhabited this valley and which
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: still inhabits it. In places. Your brother used the skulls
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: for decoration, and once set in concrete, the skulls could
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: not be removed without destroying the foundation wall of the house.
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: You see, She nodded, watching me with eager absorption. Well,
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 1: I pursued this John talkso found out about it. He
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: came after your brother in a rage, and there was
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: a fight on the spot in which Talksau got worsted.
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: Then he set to work to drive your brother off.
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: Invented some clever stage stuff, such as the pterodactyl tracks,
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: and the red glass and the skull sockets. He also
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: had some other tricks in his basket, and all of
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: them clever. He had managed to make everyone believe that
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: this house was haunted. He had once or twice attempted
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: your brother's life. But why broke in? The girl astounded?
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 1: Whatever made the man act so was he mad? Not
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 1: a bit of it. He was sane. He was also
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: well educated, but marked this. He was not a white man.
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: He was a half breed Indian, and he was the
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 1: last of the Indian chiefs in this particular valley. He
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 1: had all the Indian's sense of outrage at seeing the
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: skulls of his forefathers ornamenting this house. So naturally he
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: tried to drive out the desecrators, your brother and me.
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: He did not go in for murder in cold blood yesterday.
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: He merely entered the room behind you and gave you
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: a shove. For example. In general, he contented himself with
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 1: such things. But when I met him at mc gray's
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: tavern and beat him up. He lost his head. He
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: hiked over another road from mc gray's, a shorter road
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 1: east of the river, and got here ahead of me.
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: But the sheriff and another man were hunting and they
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: saw talcso deliberately ambush my car. It was an assault
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: with intent to kill, right enough, and it meant the
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: coup for mister Talkso but that while you were building,
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: exclaimed Martha Balliol. Now that's the sheriff's idea. Our sheriff
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: is a bright man, I returned, laughing. Gulls, you note
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: are now buried completely, yet the foundation of the house
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: is not damaged. Thus the feelings of John Toalksa have
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: been smoothed over, particularly as he faced the penitentiary. If
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: they were not smoothed over, he and his family are
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: rich ranchers across the lake, and beyond having him bounded
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: to keep the peace, I'll not punish him further. Then
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: you think sure everything's all right. A little later that day,
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: Martha Balliol was bidding me farewell. There was nothing to
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 1: keep her here further, she said, at least she knew
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: of nothing, nor did I unhappily she would go back
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: east and take up the broken threads again. But I proffered,
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: will you not let me take you as far as Lakeport?
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: It will be very kind, mister Desmond. Of course it's
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: a promise. I anxiously inquired word of honor. Eh, the
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 1: blue eyes inspected me with surprise. Why, of course it
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: is good. I lighted my pipe and pulled contentedly to
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: tell you the truth. The car is useless. I failed
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: to fix my tires efficiently. There's no gas to run
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: the launch on. I forgot to fill up when we
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: left Lakeport. I was so excited over your arrival. Naturally,
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: we do not want to walk, so miss Balliol, we
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: must go by canoe, by canoe, she echoed. Why Lakeport
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: is miles and miles away and I can't paddle a stroke?
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 1: We never get there, well, I said, inquiringly. She met
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: my eyes. Slowly, a rosy glow crept into her cheeks.
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: Then she turned and passed toward the canoe. End of
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: Chapter ten End of the House of Skulls by H.
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: Bedford Jones