November Joe; Detective of the Woods - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI THE MURDER AT THE DUCK CLUB November Joe had come to Quebec to lay in his stores against the winter's trapping. He had told me that the best grounds in Maine were becoming poorer and poorer and that he had decided to go in on the south side of the St. Lawrence, somewhere beyond Rimouski. I knew that November was coming since two hours before his arrival a cable had been brought in for him, for when in Quebec, although he stayed at a downtown boardinghouse, he was in the habit of using my office as a permanent address. I was therefore not at all surprised to hear his soft voice rallying my old clerk in the outer office. A more crabbed person than Hugh Witherspoon it would be impossible to meet, but it cannot be denied that like so many others he had a kindliness for November. Presently there was a knock at the door and Joe, his hat held between his two hands, sidled into the room. He was never quite at ease except in the open, and as he came towards me with his shy smile, his moccasins fell noiselessly on the polished boards. I handed him his telegram, which he opened at once. It ran: -- Offer you fifty dollars a day to come at once to Tamarind Duck Club. Eileen M. East. Joe whistled and characteristically said nothing. "Who is Eileen M. East?" I asked. Joe made no reply for a moment, then he indicated the telegram and said: -- "This has been redirected from Lavette. Postmaster Tom knew I'd be in to see you. Miss East was one of an American party I was with, 'way up on Thompson's salmon river this spring." At this moment a clerk knocked and entered, bringing with him a second telegram. Joe read it: -- You must come. Murder done. A matter of life and death. Please reply. Eileen M. East. "Will you write out an answer for me?"...