kick soft neither I'm tellin' you.
This guy who is a big bum with whiskers an' side burns, gives a funny sorta whine an' just flops down on the floor. He is hurt plenty for which I am very pleased.
I reckon that I have gotta work quick. I close the door quietly with my foot, an' then I get to work on this guy. I turn him over an' over with my feet, until I have got him away from the door. He is still makin' funny whinin' noises an he is crazy with pain. I reckon I have given him something to think about.
When I get him on his face I see that he has gotta knife in the usual place - stuck in his pants waistband at the back.
I get down on my knees an' work this knife out with the bits of fingers that I have got stickin' out of the rope that is tyin' me, an' when I have got it in between the tops of my fingers I get up an' turn this guy over on his back again.
I get up an' I go over to the door. I stick the point of the knife into the door an' I press my chest against the handle. This way I have got the knife fixed so that I can rub the edge of the blade against the ropes that are around my chest. In another few minutes I cut the rope. The guy on the floor is not so good. He has rolled over into the corner. I reckon I needn't worry about this guy. He is hurt plenty.
I go over to him an' search him because I wanta find the Luger that they have taken off me, but he ain't got it. I leave him, open the door an' start gumshoem' up the stone steps. These steps lead up to the ground floor an' at the top I find another door that opens out into what looks like a rough sorta kitchen. There ain't anybody there, but I am very glad to see that my Luger is lyin' on the table in the corner. I cannot see my shoulder holster which they have taken off me, so I don't worry about it. I just stick the gun in my right hand coat pocket, a business which I am goin' to be very pleased about a little later on.
I look around an' I listen, but I can't hear a thing. I think that maybe there was only one guy in this business - the guy downstairs - an' that he was the palooka who knocked me out an' drove me here. I got a hunch that the old dame has gone off to tell their pals that they have got me spread - eagled, an' I think I had better get outa this quick before somebody else starts something.
I also think that I had better get my business done around here in Mexico just as pronto as I can, otherwise some of these guys are goin' to start makin' one big mess of Mrs Caution's little boy an' I certainly am not partial to that.
I scram outa the house an' stuck around at the back behind a horse-shack I find the car, an' believe me I am plenty glad to find it. I get in an' start off back again an' get on the road to get to Zoni. I am feelin' pretty lousy, my nose is hurtin' considerable where the old Mexican dame kicked it, an' generally I could do with a shot of rye.
It is three o'clock when I get to Zoni. It is the usual sorta one-horse-near-village with a few ranchos an' shacks stuck around. I pull up an' sittin' in the car I clean myself up as well as I can. Then I start lookin' around. Away over on my left is a white painted house in front of some trees. It is a two story place shaped like an 'L' an' it looks to me that this is goin' to be the doctor's house, the place where Rudy Benito is hangin' out.
I drive over an' leave the car in front of this place. Then I bang on the door. A guy opens it. He is a young Mexican an' he is wearin' a white coat. He also looks as if he washed sometimes which is a good sign. An' he also looks very surprised to see me. I reckon he is right because I must have looked a funny sight.
I tell him that I want to see Senor Madrales, an' that the matter is very urgent even if it is in the middle of the night. He says all right an' tells me to go in. I go in. I am in a big hallway with doors leading off left an' right. In front of me is some stairs runnin' up to the first floor. The guy in the white coat tells me to sit down an' goes off.
Pretty soon he comes back an' with him is another guy who says that he is Doctor Madrales an' what do I want. He speaks swell Spanish. He is a tall thin guy; he has got a little pointed beard an' he wears eyeglasses. He is a clever lookin' cuss with long thin taperin' fingers which he rubs together while he is talkin' to me.
I tell him what I want. I tell him I am an insurance investigator an' that I am makin' some inquiries into the suicide of Granworth Aymes. I tell him I have had a conversation with Mrs Benito an' that she has said that I oughta have a few words with her husband Rudy. I say what about it an' I hope that this Rudy ain't too ill to be woke up as I have not got a lotta time to waste.
He shrugs his shoulders.
'I don't think it matters whether my patient is awake or not, senor,' he says. 'As Mrs Benito has probably told you he is a very sick man. I am afraid that he will not be long with us.'
He shrugs his shoulders again.
'It is, I think, merely a matter of a month or so. However, he is very weak and I suggest that you talk to him as quietly as possible. If you will wait here for a moment I will go and prepare him. I think I had better give him an injection before you see him.'
He goes off.
While I am waiting I am doing some quiet thinkin'. I am thinkin' about this bezusus about bein' smacked over the dome while I was comm' out here an' I am thinkin' that it is darn funny that somebody should have recognised me in the Casa de Oro as being the guy who pinched Caldesa Martinguez. I have got a coupla ideas about this as you will see later on.
After a bit this Madrales comes to the top of the stairs. He says I am to go up. At the top of the stairs is another passage an' we go into a room on the left. One side of the room is practically all windows which are open, an' in one corner there is a screen. On the other side of the room pushed up against the wall is a low bed.
I look at the guy in the bed. He is lyin' there lookin' straight up at the ceilin'. He has got a thin funny sorta face an' there is a funny strained sorta look about it.
Tere is very little furniture in the room. Beside the bed there is a low table with a polished top an' there are some bottles on it an' a lamp. Madrales goes over an' stands by the side of the bed.
'Benito,' he says, 'this is Mr Caution. He wants to ask you some questions. Just keep very quiet and don't worry about anything.'
The man in the bed don't say anythin'. Madrales walks over to the other side of the room an' brings a chair. He sticks it by the side of the bed for me. Then he says:
'Senor Caution, I will leave you now. I know that you will treat my patient with as much consideration as is possible;'
He goes off still rubbin' his hands together.
I go an' stand over by the bed. The sick guy turns his eyes so that they are lookin' at me an' his lips break into a little sorta smile.
I am feelin' plenty sorry for this guy. It looks to me like he has had a pretty low deal all round. I talk to him nice an' quiet.
'Listen, Rudy,' I tell him. 'Take it easy. I am sorry I gotta come over here askin' you things, but that's just the way it goes. I'm goin' to make it as short as possible. I just wanta check up on what that swell wife of yours Paulette has been tellin' me tonight, an' while I think of it I gotta tell you that she sent you her love. I reckon maybe she'll be along in the mornin' to see you. Well, here's the way it goes.
'It's about this Granworth Aymes business. Your wife tells me that Granwortb was takin' you for plenty since you was doin' business with him as a stockbroker. She says that you found it out, that she went an' saw Aymes an' gave him the choice of cashin' in or else she was goin' to the cops.
'She says that Granworth turned over two hundred grand in Registered Dollar Bonds to her an' that's the money you got now, the money that paid for you to be brought down here. Is that OK, Rudy?'
He speaks very quiet. His voice sounds as if it was comin' from a long way away.
'Sure,' he says slowly, 'that's how it was, an' I am durned glad Aymes bumped himself off. If I hadn't been sick I would have liked to have shot that lousy guy.'
'OK, Rudy,' I tell him, 'that's that. An' there's just one little thing I wanta ask you an' maybe I'm sorry I've got to ask you it because I don't wanta make things tough for you right now. It's this way. Henrietta Aymes, Granworth's wife, got an unsigned letter from some guy. This letter tells her that Granworth is playin' around with this guy's wife.'
I speak to him nice an' soft.
'Listen, Rudy,' I say, 'did you send her that letter? It musta been you. What about it?'
There is a long pause. Then he turns his eyes over towards me again.
'That's right,' he says. 'I sent it. I just had to do something.'
