“Besides, I have a mind to demand the return of the $5 from you for attempting to extort money from me.”
“You would stand a great chance of getting it, too. Now, give me $30 or to the ‘cops’ I go.”
“You may go, but first listen to me and answer my questions. Did you not, in the presence of the janitor and myself, help place the corpse in the trunk? Did you not haul it here? Have you not assisted me in all this work?”
“Yes, I have.”
“That man was murdered. Speak a word about it to any one, and I will have you arrested as an accessory to his murder.”
The driver was evidently very much frightened, as his eyes widened and bulged, and his hair began to assume a perpendicular position.
“The body must go in the lake,” I continued, “and let the waves bury it forever from human sight. I hope you understand me.”
Then he told me that he did not want any more money, and as I knew his address, he would always be at my service at any future time.
Having purchased my ticket for the timber lands of Michigan, I checked my trunk, and it began its adventurous trip North.
Everything had gone along as well as I could have wished until our train was nearing Grand Rapids. My attention was attracted to a group of trainmen standing about a trunk in the baggage section which occupied the forward part of the smoker in which I was traveling.