“I am sorry to say, my man, that there is but little hope for you.”
There was another pause.
“I’ll confess,” Snags finally said. “Carlos Conrad shall not suffer from any silence of mine. I think I am growing weaker, and I’ll begin at once. Do you think it will improve my chances in the next world to do what I can now toward making things right?”
“Every good act has its weight with the Great Judge of us all,” said Mr. Stark.
“Will you take down what I say?”
Leonard prepared himself, with pen, ink, and paper, to make a memorandum of Snags’ statements. Then the dying man began:
“You probably don’t need to be told much about the smuggling business. You have caught us, and will find enough to satisfy you at Rocky Beach. Roake and I had charge of the place, and took care of the goods as they came in. We always selected dark nights, and one night expected an arrival, when our ‘Boss’ sent me on an errand that has brought about all this ill luck. It was last August. According to directions, I went to the house of Colonel Conrad, to make discoveries.
“I was to steal into his room, pry open his desk, and see if I could find any papers or documents that told of a quarrel with his brother, and to take particular notice if there was anything like a will—in which case I was to carry it off with me.I was to make these visits every night, until I had accomplished something, for the ‘Boss’ wanted to know, for some reason, all about Colonel Conrad’s plans and purposes.
“On the very first night I found the colonel writing. I stole in softly, to look over his shoulder. He turned and saw me, and I was taken off my guard. I drew my knife and struck at him. There was but one thrust, and it did the work—it killed him. But, before God, murder wasnot in the plan. My errand was just what I have stated it to be. The killing was accidental, as one might say, but let it be understood that I did it—that Carlos Conrad is innocent.”
The voice of Snags had been gradually growing weaker, and here he stopped, gasping for breath. The physician gave him a few drops of brandy, and he resumed: