He
acknowledged the wash-tub incident, caused, he explained, by an act of
simple courtesy on his part and by John Borg's unreasoning anger. He
acknowledged that Bella had been killed by his own pistol, but stated
that the pistol had been borrowed by Borg several days previously and
not returned. Concerning Bella's accusation he could say nothing. He
could not see why she should die with a lie on her lips. He had never
in the slightest way incurred her displeasure, so even revenge could
not be advanced. It was inexplicable. As for the testimony of Bishop,
he did not care to discuss it. It was a tissue of falsehood cunningly
interwoven with truth. It was true the man had gone into Alaska with
him in 1888, but his version of the things which happened there was
maliciously untrue. Regarding the baron, there was a slight mistake in
the dates, that was all.
In questioning him. Bill Brown brought out one little surprise. From
the prisoner's story, he had made a hard fight against the two
mysterious men. "If," Brown asked, "such were the case, how can you
explain away the fact that you came out of the struggle unmarked? On
examination of the body of John Borg, many bruises and contusions were
noticeable. How is it, if you put up such a stiff fight, that you
escaped being battered?"
St. Vincent did not know, though he confessed to feeling stiff and sore
all over.
Pages:
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334