How did Mrs. Hemmingway happen to learn about Captain Killam?"
"Why," says I, "she had her ear out while, I was tellin' Miss Vee.
Would you believe, though, that an old girl like her--"
"I would," says he. "Humorous as it may seem to you, I should credit
almost anyone with wanting to dig up several million dollars, if they
could find where it was hidden."
"But--" I begins.
"Besides Miss Verona and her aunt," goes on Old Hickory, "how many
others have you made acquainted with what I was doing my best to keep a
secret?"
"Not a soul," says I. "Honest!"
"Temporary paralysis of the tongue, eh?" he asks. "It's a wonder you
didn't have it published in the morning papers. Quite thoughtless of
you. Hah!"
And say; next time I think I have a joke for Old Hickory I'll go down
to Thirty-third Street and try it first on the statue of Horace
Greeley. If he rocks back and forth in his bronze chair and lifts the
roof off the L station above, I'll know it may do to pass on to Mr.
Ellins. Yep! That's just the way I feel about it.
"I expect I'm released on this case, then?" says I, after waitin' while
Old Hickory chews his cigar savage for a couple of minutes.
"No," he snaps out. "You've succeeded in losing Captain Killam; now
you'll help find him again.
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