Then, banishing such cracked-up excuses for
delay he put aside his fears and went around the tiny shelter to
where the rotted door hung loose upon one broken hinge.
Within lay a human figure. The hair was wet and matted and
prickly leaves were stuck in it. The face was streaked with
blood, the clothes were torn. One of the legs lay in a very
unnatural attitude. The eyes were wide open and staring with a
glassy look at some rough fishing rods which lay across the rafters
above. One of the arms was outstretched and the hand lay open as if
its owner were saying, "Here I am, you see." There was something
very appalling about that dumb attitude of speech and welcome when
the voice and the eyes could not speak. For he had "got dead," this
poor troubled creature "got dead" after committing one hideous
crime to hide another.
The people in the nearest house along the now deserted highway
came at Pee-Wee's breathless summons and gazed down silently but
would not touch the figure with outstretched arm and opened hand
that seemed to say, "Step in, you're welcome, here I am."
So they called the coroner and the body of Deadwood Gamely was borne
away and it was soon known that he had died from injuries received
in falling down the embankment which he was scrambling up after
setting fire to one of the supports of the old bridge.
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