t
January
r i K
trench
} their
room
bending
beat of
crowd of ani
•ered aroand
meal f<
and loci
amining
way the
up and
on
inuetj from Page 17)
i i \ i I L ;
were ahuffling through the hall on
formation. Peering idly in the
paaaed it, they aaw Ptnnycuick
body. Their curiosity getting the
swarmed into the
nd a piece of candy,
prostrate body of
forgotten. Jim cleared
Ke door, returned to the
•aigna of violence indicative of the
died. Finding none, he straightened
£o open the door for Joe Davis and
Colonel
"What’a wrong, Pennycuick?'* quern
rnloti.' I r J .! , Z I
“I don’t know. sir. Fish Sloan came up to my
room and tofcl tne that Fish Matthews was dead,
and w'hen’ I came down I found him here in the
chair.” 1
"Has-aqyomc been in here besides you and
Sloan ?” rT. / j, 1 : !•
"Yes sili about half of the company came in
on the way
"Well;
on until
in good co|
"As fhr
condition. H<
spewlbair'
The Col
formation.”
everyone out of here from now
how he died. I suppose he was
ion physically?”
I know he was in good physical
played intramural basketball and
turned to Fish Sloan. "Was he
ever sick, S!< *n?”
”No si^. He was always full of life and every
thing.”
"Hum,” the colonel turned to his h
assistant Wit}i an air of puzzlement, "Joe, what
do you thinkLabout this?”
"Don't, kbow, Johnny. Looks kinds like heart
failure. Have .you sent for the doctor, Penny-
cuick?”
"Yes sir,•here he is now.”
Doctor Atfarsh walked into the room wath the
query, "What's w’rong here, Johnny?"
"We've gpt a dead boy here. Doctor. Looks
iM i
like heart
him?”
Doctor r
his nimble fi
it over and* 1
colonel and
hospital on<|e
and again Writ
"What
Da via gazed
"Don
to me. Do you happen to know
I i
bent over the body of the boy,
rs feeling here and there, turned
of the heart. He turned to the
"Why yes. He came over to the
twice. Once for a broken ankle
a broken finger.”
you think about it. Doctor?” Joe
ed wflpnderingly at the doctor.
't know yet. I'l) have to take the boy
1
IN
\
/
r
21
over to thie hospital and examine him.
but I want to be sure,
get several boys to carry the b#y over
if, T /'
Yes, air,” and Pennycuick went outi to get
doctor.
was an awkward silence while Jde Dav-
ed carefully around the room. He had been
once when he had lived in Houston
and He was not satisfied with the general opinion
of heart failure. He had seen too many casts that
werea’t a id besides, why should any boy physi
cally conditioned as this one was, die of heart
j Pajnatakingly he collected a candy wrap
per lying on the table, a cigarette butt ^n the
floor, a letter from the boy’s girl in Houstcm, and
a bottle with cyanide in It.'
lonel Mitchell w'as puzzled. "Whatfs the
idea ih that* Joe?”
isten, Johnny, I’ve seen the time whejb little
thing] like this solved a problem. You think the
boy d ed of heart failure, don't you ?'*
"Why yes. There weren’t any marks o|i him,
were there? How do you think he could have
died "
"I don’t know. But I’m not sure that
failur^ was the cause.”
O^ie of the freshmen who had helped
Matthews over to the hospit
rapidly, and toki the groi
the dekrtor wanted them at the hospital,
last )ot>k around the room, they filed out.
^ •
heart
\i
"(gentlemen, the boy was poisoned,
r. Marsh’s verdict broke like a piece o
hit witjh a hammer on the group in the
ing r<*>m “I haven’t decided just what
poison ‘
r:
M -i.
to do so.”
Kind of
t was, and it will take several days for me
I was profoundly coi
could he have been poisoned gi his
% there’s only one way he Could
"How
room.
have been, and that’s by something he at?. P^nny-
cuick, ip Sloan, Matthews* roommate, here?
r. Fir call him."
ler ate something after b
that w^s poisoned or else something at trial
did it,’’ continued the Colonel.
Th i doctor’s face broke into a pained
‘Johnny, there are more ways of poisoni
by eatiiig.
‘I understand that, but why wculJ h > get
poisone< any other way?”
"T1 at’s what we’ve got to find out.
Fis i Sloan came into the room. "You
to see n e, Colo^le^. ,,,
Did Matthews eat or drink
It