Read The Grub-And-Stakers Move a Mountain for Free Online

that lovely old house before anybody else even knew it was up for sale, and had it torn down that very same night. Nobody knew a thing till we heard the crashing and banging and by then it was too late to stop him.”
    “I know. And then what did he do but level off the lot and blacktop it to make more parking for the inn. That used to be such a nice place. Since he took it over, it’s nothing but a honkytonk.
    And he never got a variance for the parking lot or a permit to demolish the house, which ought to have been preserved in the first place because it was one of the finest buildings in town.”
    “And furthermore,” Dittany snarled, “those exit and entrance signs are still sitting on town property even though McNaster was served with a writ to remove them ten months ago, and why?”
    “Because he’s got the darn town council in his pocket, that’s why,” said Hazel, letting Dittany refill her glass without even murmuring, “I shouldn’t be drinking this at all, I’m too fat already,”
    which showed what sort of state she was in. “But how could McNaster possibly get his grubby claws on the Enchanted Mountain? The Hunnekers deeded the land to the town in perpetuity.
    There’s simply no way.”
    “Oh yeah?” snorted Dittany. “What do you bet McNaster’s already convinced the Development Commission that the common weal would best be served by turning the grant into tax producing private building lots? Why else would Jim Streph be talking about nice houses up there? Why else would Architrave send a new man who wouldn’t be expected to know any better up there to do perk tests? Hazel, I still haven’t told you what really happened about Mr. Architrave.”
    Dittany proceeded to do so. Hazel’s pleasant brown eyes grew wider and wider, her gasps more frequent. “Well, I never!” was her verdict. “I don’t see how you had the nerve to stay there. I’d have hightailed it for home and crawled under the bed. What makes you so sure it was a hunter?”
    “Who said I was sure? I said this man Frankland said it must have been a hunter and Sergeant Mac Vicar said that was a reasonable theory but you never know what Sergeant Mac Vicar’s really thinking till it’s about half a second too late. Anyway, it can’t have been McNaster who shot him because he’s the lousiest shot in town and poor old Architrave was drilled through the middle of the back as neatly as-as I could have done it myself,”
    Dittany finished in a sort of horrified whisper.
    “Pooh,” said Hazel. “You couldn’t kill anybody. You even threw a kitten fit when you found out Minerva Oakes was shooting those squirrels that had chewed their way into her attic.”
    “Well, I must say I’d never have thought it of Minerva. Anyway, I have an alibi because I was with that Frankland man when the other arrow came over the ridge and plunked itself in the tree. And he has one because he was with me, and Mr.
    Architrave-Hazel, what am I talking about?”
    “You’re having a delayed reaction, that’s all. Perfectly natural.
    Take a little more sherry. No, not for me, thanks. I won’t be able to find the stove to get supper as it is. You know, Dittany, I was just thinking. I read an Agatha Christie once where somebody was supposed to have shot somebody from a blowgun only it turned out he’d stuck in the poisoned dart with his hand instead.
    Why couldn’t McNaster have sneaked up behind John Architrave and-“
    “Hazel, the arrow went clean through his body and stuck out in front far enough to pin him to the ground. You couldn’t stab anybody that hard with an arrow, not just holding it in your hand. It’s not like one of those rapiers Arethusa’s always pinking the bad guy with, where there’d be a long, thin, sharp-pointed steel blade with a handle you could get a good grip on. Wait a second. I’ll get an arrow and you try to stab me.”
    “Dittany, you’re drunk! What if I succeeded? Go down cellar and fetch a pumpkin.”
    “I