Hopkins, wasn't it? — thought you were a friend of old Duncan."
"He was a little bit wise afterward."
"Yes. That's why we had to get rid of him. I did that. Posed as a book agent. Saw the old fellow's pills on the table. Dropped a few potent pellets in with them. Of course the big job was when I used your information about the hiding place. Jupe stole the whole works. I was afraid he would strangle young Duncan. I had to whistle for him."
"Yes. A murder would have been bad. Still, it might have been well to put Duncan out of the way.
Coffran was worried about him."
"Well, if he found out that Duncan was dangerous, he probably attended to him. I don't think the boy knew enough to make trouble. It was Coffran's job to attend to him, so I let it go at that. The old man doped out the scheme; he sent the letters, that's all. It wasn't too much to ask him to attend to one man in New York, even if it meant a murder."
As Frenchy was about to speak, Jupe leaped from the table and glared wickedly at the corner beyond the pine-board boxes. He began to snarl, then he started forward. Chefano whistled sharply. The ape-faced man came back to the table.
"What's the matter?" asked Frenchy.
"He does that right along," replied Chefano. "Thinks he sees something."
Frenchy looked toward the corner.