Page:The Millbank Case - 1905 - Eldridge.djvu/195

 "And you are on the track of the right man?" McManus demanded.

"I've been on his track from the moment I entered that library and knew that it had been searched by the man who fired the fatal bullet. I've been on his track from that day to this, and I shall keep on it until I catch up with him or he kills me; but as surely as that last happens, he'll swing. It isn't given to any man to commit murder twice and cover his tracks. If I go down, it'll end in his going up."

"But really, Mr. Trafford, you take this thing more seriously than I imagined. You're not in earnest in this talk of an attempt to murder you!"

"So much in earnest that I never go out without thinking I may not come back."

"But why?"

"Because already one attempt has been made."

"You astound me!" McManus exclaimed. "I agreed at the start to co-operate with you so long as you had the case in hand, but, certainly, I'm entitled to know something! Why do you say it's because you are supposed to have the papers? Might it not be simply to shield the murderer? You leave