“Yas, I did, ye smart Aleck! What of it? Puttin’ a snake into a house ain’t killin’ nobody. I only done it to scare him.”
“So? A fine way to scare a man—cutting off those rattles! You’ll be saying next that you only meant to scare me awhile ago when you shot at me on the floor. You only intended to scare me when you let that copperhead out of the box on Dickie Barre, maybe—without letting me know it was there. Of course! You know mighty well what killed Jake, and Nat, too, and you’ve been expecting the same thing to get me here—that rattler. Now you all listen a minute while I tell you what Dalton’s Death was.”
And for the first time Douglas revealed the truth about the ha’nt.
“That’s the only reason why you let me live here in peace,” he accused. “You thought your snake would finish me as it finished Jake. When it didn’t you put Nat up to stabbing me, while you stayed outside——”
“Ye can’t prove nothin’!” flared Snake, eyeing him in hot hatred. “I wisht a dozen snakes had bit ye, ye meddlin’ sneaker! But ye can’t prove what ye said—ther’ ain’t a witness nowheres! An’ how would I know the snake had gone to livin’ into the bed? How’d I know it didn’t go outen the house? I didn’t make it bite Jake—I didn’t know ’twas here when Nat come—ye can’t prove I put Nat up to comin’—an’ that shootin’ jest now was a accident—my thumb slipped——”
“Lies, lies, lies!” Douglas growled. “Accident? The same kind of accident that threw Lou over the edge of the Wall! But your accidents are finished now, thanks to the accident that she hit that tree and wasn’t killed. All right, Ward. I’ll shut up. Take him away.”
Ward was scowling, as if Douglas had upset his program. But he nodded shortly and reached under his coat. His hand came away with a pair of handcuffs.
“No need of any more grillin’, I guess,” he said. “We’ve got all the proof we need about the Brackett matter, and this guy can tell his side to the judge. Stick out your hands, Sanders!”
Snake seemed paralyzed. His eyes were bulging, and he stared at Douglas as if disbelieving his ears. His mouth worked twice before words came.
“She warn’t kilt?” he blurted. “She ain’t dead?”