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KEEBAN

on the subject of pineapple and quite fluent about it until he had drawn me off alone with him. Then he said, "'Kidnapped' and 'Westward Ho' says to Steve, 'They crossed us last night; but stick. Not a word; you can help and we'll get them. Stick, Steve.'"

That was all he would say; when I asked him anything more, he went back to pineapple; he was a buyer again, seeking satisfaction on a claim.

This word, which surely was from Jerry, of course helped me to stick. It meant to me that he'd tried to prevent the murder and, having been "crossed" somewhere, had failed; but he counted on me to stick while he kept after Keeban.

A few minutes later, Fred Scofield 'phoned me and asked me to come up to his father's place.