how we was to get right out."

Hull paused to wipe the small sweat beads from his forehead. He was
not enjoying himself. A cold terror constricted his heart. Was he
slipping a noose over his own head? Was he telling more than he
should? He wished his wife were here to give him a hint. She had the
brains as well as the courage and audacity of the family.

"Well, sir, I claim self-defense," Hull went on presently. "A man's
got no call to stand by an' see his wife shot down. Cunningham reached
for a drawer an' started to pull out an automatic gun. Knowin' him, I
was scared. I beat him to it an' lammed him one over the head with my
gun. My idea was to head him off from drawin' on Mrs. Hull, but I
reckon I hit him harder than I'd aimed to. It knocked him senseless."

"And then?" Kirby said, when he paused.

"I was struck all of a heap, but Mrs. Hull she didn't lose her presence
of mind. She went to the window an' pulled down the curtain. Then we
figured, seein' as how we'd got in bad so far, we might as well try a
bluff. We tied yore uncle to the chair, intendin' for to make him sign
a check before we turned him loose. Right at that time the telephone
rang."

"Did you answer the call?"

"Yes, sir. It kept ringing. Finally the wife said to answer it,
pretendin' I was Cunningham. We was kinda scared some one might butt
in on us. Yore uncle had said he was expectin' some folks."

"What did you do?"

"I took up the receiver an' listened. Then I said, 'Hello!' Fellow at
the other end said, 'This you, Uncle James?' Kinda grufflike, I said,
'Yes.' Then, 'James talkin',' he said. 'We're on our way over now.' I
was struck all of a heap, not knowin' what to say. So I called back,
'Who?' He came back with, 'Phyllis an' I.' I hung up."

"And then?"

"We talked it over, the wife an' me. We didn't know how close James,
as he called himself, was when he was talkin'. He might be at the
drug-store on the next corner for all we knew. We were in one hell of
a hole, an' it didn't look like there was any way out. We decided to
beat it right then. That's what we did."

"You left the apartment?"

"Yes, sir."

"With my uncle still tied up?"

Hull nodded. "We got panicky an' cut our stick."

"Did anybody see you go?"

"The Jap janitor was in the hall fixin' one of the windows that was
stuck."

"Did he say anything?"

"Not then."

"Afterward?"

"He come to me after the murder was discovere