Somebody
will be along before I get through, and I'll
pay whatever is satisfactory, for eat I must."
He entered, seated himself, and ate heartily.
Still no one appeared.
"I don't want to go off without paying,"
thought Carl. "I'll see if I can find somebody."
He opened the door into the kitchen, but it
was deserted. Then he opened that of a small
bedroom, and started back in terror and dismay.
There suspended from a hook--a man of
middle age was hanging, with his head bent
forward, his eyes wide open, and his tongue
protruding from his mouth!
CHAPTER VIII.
CARL FALLS UNDER SUSPICION.
To a person of any age such a sight as that
described at the close of the last chapter might
well have proved startling. To a boy like
Carl it was simply overwhelming. It so happened
that he had but twice seen a dead person,
and never a victim of violence. The peculiar
circumstances increased the effect upon his mind.
He placed his hand upon the man's face, and
found that he was still warm. He could have
been dead but a short time.
"What shall I do?" thought Carl, perplexed.
"This is terrible!"
Then it flashed upon him that as he was
alone with the dead man suspicion might fall
upon him as being concerned in what night be
called a murder.
"I had better leave here at once," he reflected.
"I shall have to go away without paying for my meal."
He started to leave the house, but had
scarcely reached the door when two persons
--a man and a woman--entered. Both looked
at Carl with suspicion.
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