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diff --git a/21891-h/21891-h.htm b/21891-h/21891-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..41efb99 --- /dev/null +++ b/21891-h/21891-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8344 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Brand Of Silence, by Harrington Strong</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Brand of Silence, by Harrington Strong</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Brand of Silence<br /> +A Detective Story</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Harrington Strong</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 21, 2007 [eBook #21891]</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Sigal Alon, Brett Fishburne, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRAND OF SILENCE ***</div> + +<h1>The Brand of Silence</h1> + +<h3>A DETECTIVE STORY</h3> + +<h2>By HARRINGTON STRONG</h2> + +<h5>CHELSEA HOUSE 79 SEVENTH AVENUE NEW YORK CITY<br /> +Copyright, 1919 by STREET & SMITH<br /> +(Printed in the United States of America)</h5> + +<h5>All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign +languages, including the Scandinavian.</h5> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">In the Harbor</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">The Girl on the Ship</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">Some Discourtesies</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">A Foe and a Friend</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">The Cousin</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">Murk—and Murder</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Evidence</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">Lies and Liars</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Puzzled</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">On the Trail</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">Concerning Kate Gilbert</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">Battered Keys</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">A Plan of Campaign</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">More Mystery</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">A Moment of Violence</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">Murk Receives a Blow</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">Murk is Tempted</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">A Woman's Way</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">Coadley Quits</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">Up the River</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">Recognition</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. <span class="smcap">An Unexpected Visitor</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. <span class="smcap">A Startling Story</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. <span class="smcap">High-handed Methods</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV. <span class="smcap">An Accusation</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI. <span class="smcap">The Truth Comes Out</span></a><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE BRAND OF SILENCE</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>IN THE HARBOR</h3> + +<p>Now the fog was clearing and the mist was lifting, and the bright +sunshine was struggling to penetrate the billows of damp vapor and touch +with its glory the things of the world beneath. In the lower harbor +there still was a chorus of sirens and foghorns, as craft of almost +every description made way toward the metropolis or out toward the open +sea.</p> + +<p>The <i>Manatee</i>, tramp steamer with rusty plates and rattling engines and +a lurch like that of a drunken man, wallowed her way in from the +turbulent ocean she had fought for three days, her skipper standing on +the bridge and inaudibly giving thanks that he was nearing the end of +the voyage without the necessity for abandoning his craft for an open +boat, or remaining to go down with the ship after the manner of skippers +of the old school.</p> + +<p>Here and there showed a rift in the rolling fog, and those who braved +the weather and lined the damp rail could see other craft in passing.</p> + +<p>A giant liner made her way past majestically, bound for Europe, or a +seagoing tug clugged by as if turning up her nose at the old, battered +<i>Manatee</i>.</p> + +<p>Standing at the rail, and well forward, Sidney Prale strained his eyes +and looked ahead, watching where the fog lifted, an eager light in his +face, his lips curved in a smile, a general expression of anticipation +about him.</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale himself was not bad to look at. Thirty-eight he was, tall +and broad of shoulder, with hair that was touched with gray at the +temples, with a face that had been browned by the weather. Sidney Prale +had the appearance of wearing clothes that had been molded to his form. +He had a chin that expressed decision and determination, lips that could +form in a thin, straight line if occasion required, eyes that could be +kind or stern, according to the needs of the moment. A man of the world +would have said that Sidney Prale was a gentleman of broad experience, a +man who had presence of mind in the face of danger, a man who could +think quickly and act quickly when such things were necessary.</p> + +<p>He was not alone at the rail—and yet he was alone in a sense, for he +gave no one the slightest attention. He bent over and looked ahead +eagerly, waving a hand now and then at the men on passing craft, like a +schoolboy on an excursion trip. He listened to the bellowing sirens and +foghorns, drank in the raucous cries of the ship's officers, strained +his ears for the land sounds that rolled now and then across the waters.</p> + +<p>"It's great—great!" Sidney Prale said, half aloud.</p> + +<p>He bent over the rail again. A hand descended upon his shoulder, and a +voice answered him.</p> + +<p>"You bet it's great, Prale!"</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale's smile weakened a bit as he turned around, but there was +nothing of discourtesy in his manner.</p> + +<p>"You like it, Mr. Shepley?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Do I like it? Does Rufus Shepley, forced to run here and there around +the old world in the name of business, like it when he gets the chance +to return to New York? Ask me!"</p> + +<p>"I have my answer," Prale said, laughing a bit. "And judge, then, how I +like it—when I have not seen it for ten years."</p> + +<p>"Haven't seen New York for ten years?" Rufus Shepley gasped.</p> + +<p>"A whole decade," Prale admitted.</p> + +<p>"Been down in Honduras all that time?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"And you live to tell it? You are my idea of a real man!" Rufus Shepley +said.</p> + +<p>Shepley took a cigar from his vest pocket, bit off the end, lighted it, +and puffed a cloud of fragrant smoke into the air. Rufus Shepley was a +man of fifty, and looked his age. If human being ever gave the +appearance of being the regulation man of big business affairs, Rufus +Shepley did.</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale had held some conversation with him on board ship, but they +had not become very well acquainted, though they seemed to like each +other. Each man seemed to be holding back, waiting, trying to discover +in the other more qualities to like or dislike.</p> + +<p>"Ten years," Sidney Prale went on thoughtfully. "It seems a long time, +but the years have passed swiftly."</p> + +<p>"I always had an idea," Rufus Shepley said, "that a genuine white man +who went to one of those Central American countries turned bad after the +first year and went to the devil generally. But you don't look it."</p> + +<p>"The idea is correct, at that, in some instances," Prale admitted. "Some +of them do turn bad."</p> + +<p>"They get to drifting, eh? The climate gets into their blood. Do you +know what I think? I think that, in seven cases out of eight, it's a +case of a man wanting an excuse for loafing. I knew a chap once who went +down to that part of the world. Got to drinking too much, threw up his +job, used to loaf all the time, married some sort of a half-black woman +who had a bit of coin, and went to the dogs generally."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there are many such," Sidney Prale admitted. "But the majority of +them are men who made some grave mistake somewhere else and got the idea +that life was merely existence afterward. A man must have an incentive +in any climate to make anything of himself—and down there the incentive +has to be stronger."</p> + +<p>"I assume that you—er—had the proper incentive," Rufus Shepley said, +grinning.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how some persons would look at the propriety of it. I +wanted to make a million dollars."</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! Your ambition was a modest one, I must say. And you +managed to win out? Oh, I beg your pardon! It isn't any of my business, +of course!"</p> + +<p>"That's all right," Prale answered good-naturedly. "I don't mind. I'm so +happy this morning that I'm willing to overlook almost anything. And I +don't mind telling you that I've won out."</p> + +<p>"A million in ten years," Shepley gasped.</p> + +<p>"Yes; and with an initial capital of ten thousand dollars," Sidney Prale +replied. "I'm rather proud of it, of course. I suppose this sounds like +boasting——"</p> + +<p>"My boy, you have the right to boast! A million dollars in ten years! +Great Scott! Say, would you consider being general manager of one of my +companies? We need a few men like you."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale laughed again. "Sorry—but I'm afraid that I can't take the +job," he replied. "I am going to have my little holiday now—going to +play. A million isn't much in some quarters, but it is enough for me. I +don't care for money to a great extent. I just wanted to prove to myself +that I could make a million—prove it to myself and others. And, ready +to take my vacation, I naturally decided to take it in New York—home!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! Home's in New York, eh? Old friends waiting at the dock, and all +that!"</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale's face clouded. "I am afraid that there will be no +reception committee," he said. "I didn't let anybody know that I was +coming—for the simple reason that I didn't know whom to inform."</p> + +<p>"My boy!"</p> + +<p>"I have a few old friends scattered around some place, I suppose. I have +no relatives in the world except a male cousin about my own age, and I +never communicated with him after going to Honduras. There was a girl +once——"</p> + +<p>"There always is a girl," Shepley said softly, as Prale ceased speaking.</p> + +<p>"But that ended ten years ago," Prale continued. "I stand alone—with my +million."</p> + +<p>"You advertise that fact, my boy, and there'll be girls by the regiment +looking up your telephone number."</p> + +<p>"And the right one wouldn't be in the crowd," Prale said, the smile +leaving his face again.</p> + +<p>"Well, you are in for a fine time, at least," Rufus Shepley told him. +"There have been quite a few changes in New York in the past ten years. +Yes, quite a few changes! There are a few new boarding houses scattered +around, and a new general store or two, and the street cars run out +farther than they used to."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've kept up to date after a fashion," Sidney Prale said, laughing +once more. "I'm ready to appreciate the changes, but I suppose I will be +surprised. The New York papers get down to Honduras now and then, you +know."</p> + +<p>"I've always understood," Shepley said, "that there are certain +gentlemen in that part of the world who watch the New York papers very +closely."</p> + +<p>"Meaning the men who are fugitives from justice, I see," said Prale.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean anything personal, of course."</p> + +<p>"It does look bad, doesn't it?" said Prale. "I went straight to Honduras +when I left New York ten years ago, like a man running away from the +law, and I have remained there all the time until this trip. And I have +been gone ten years—thereby satisfying certain statutes of +limitation——"</p> + +<p>"My boy, I never meant to insinuate that——"</p> + +<p>"I know that you didn't," Prale interrupted. "My conscience is clear, +Mr. Shepley. When I land, I'll not be afraid of some officer of the law +clutching me by the shoulder and hauling me away to a police station."</p> + +<p>"Even if one did, a cool million will buy lots of bail," Rufus Shepley +said.</p> + +<p>The fog was lifting rapidly now. Here and there through the billows of +mist could be seen the roofs of skyscrapers glistening in the sun. +Sidney Prale almost forgot the man at his side as he bent over the rail +to watch.</p> + +<p>"Getting home—getting home!" he said. "I suppose no man ever gets quite +over the home idea, no matter how long he remains away. Ten years ought +to make a change, but I find that it doesn't. I'll be glad to feel the +pavements beneath my shoes again."</p> + +<p>"Sure!" said Rufus Shepley.</p> + +<p>"Confound the fog! Ah, there's a building I know! And there are a few I +never saw before. We're beginning to get in, aren't we? Ought to dock +before noon, don't you think?"</p> + +<p>"Sure thing!"</p> + +<p>"A hotel, a bath, fresh clothes—and then for hour after hour of walking +around and taking in the sights!" Prale said.</p> + +<p>"Better engage a taxi if you expect to take 'em all in before night, my +boy," Shepley said.</p> + +<p>"I forgot! We haven't any too many taxis in Honduras. I had a car of my +own, but sold it before I came away."</p> + +<p>"You let the busy auto agents know that, and you'll have a regiment of +them——"</p> + +<p>"And there!" Sidney Prale cried. "Now I know that I am home! There is +the Old Girl in the Harbor!"</p> + +<p>Prale removed his cap, and a mist came into his eyes that did not come +from the foggy billows through which the ship was plowing. The sun was +shining through the murk at last, and it touched the Statue of Liberty. +The great figure seemed like a live thing for a moment; the mist made it +appear that her garments were waving in the breeze.</p> + +<p>"Now I know that I am home!" Sidney Prale repeated.</p> + +<p>"She sure is a great old girl!" Rufus Shepley agreed. "Always glad to +see her!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I've got to get ready to land; I'm not going to waste any time," +Prale said. "I'm glad that I met you—and perhaps we'll meet again in +the city."</p> + +<p>"Hope we do!" said Shepley, grasping Prale's hand. "Our factories are +out in Ohio, but the company headquarters are in New York, of course. +Here's my business card, my boy. And I generally put up at the +Graymore."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale took the card, thanked Rufus Shepley, and hurried down the +deck toward his stateroom, one of the best on the ship. Rufus Shepley +looked after him sharply.</p> + +<p>"Went straight to Honduras and stayed there for ten years, eh?" Rufus +Shepley said to himself. "Um! Looks bad! I never put much stock in those +Honduras chaps—but this one seems to be all right. Never can tell, +though!"</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale, still smiling, and humming a Spanish love song, reached +his stateroom and threw open the door; and just inside, he came to a +stop, astonished.</p> + +<p>Somebody had been in that stateroom and had been going through his +things. The contents of his suit case were spilled on the floor. A bag +was wide open; he had left it closed and in a corner less than an hour +before.</p> + +<p>Prale went down on his knees and made a quick inspection. There did not +seem to be anything missing. A package of papers—business documents for +the greater part—had been examined, he could tell at a glance, but none +had been taken.</p> + +<p>"Peculiar!" Prale told himself. "Some sneak thief, I suppose. No sense +in complaining to the ship's officers at this late hour, especially +since nothing has been stolen. Makes a man angry, though!"</p> + +<p>He put the suit case on the table and began repacking the things that +had been scattered on the floor. Then he gathered up his toilet +articles, bits of clothing he had left out until the last minute, a few +souvenirs of Honduras he had been showing a tourist the evening before. +He turned toward the berth to pick up his light overcoat.</p> + +<p>There was a sheet of paper pinned to the pillow, paper that might have +been taken from an ordinary writing tablet. Sidney Prale took it up and +glanced at it. A few words of handwriting were upon the paper, words +that looked as if they had been scrawled hurriedly with a pencil that +needed sharpening badly.</p> + +<p>"Retribution is inevitable and comes when you least expect it."</p> + +<p>The smile fled from Sidney Prale's lips, and the Spanish love song he +had been humming died in his throat. He frowned, and read the message +again.</p> + +<p>"Now what the deuce does this mean?" he gasped.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE GIRL ON THE SHIP</h3> + + +<p>Sidney Prale folded the piece of paper carefully and slipped it into his +wallet. Winning a fortune in ten years in a foreign country had taught +Prale many things, notably that everything has its cause and effect, and +that things that seem trifles may turn out to be of great importance +later.</p> + +<p>He finished his packing, locked the suit case, put on coat and hat and +went out upon the deck. The <i>Manatee</i> was docking. A throng was on the +wharf. Prale glanced at the buildings in the distance and forgot for the +time being the scrap of paper, because of his happiness at being home +again and his eagerness to land. Returning to New York after an absence +of so many years was in the nature of an adventure. There would be +exploring trips to make, things to find, surprises at every turn and on +every side.</p> + +<p>The passengers were crowding forward now, preparing to go ashore. Sidney +Prale picked up his suit case and started through the jostling crowd. +Already those on board were calling greetings to relatives and friends +on the wharf, and Prale's face grew solemn for a moment because there +was nobody to welcome him.</p> + +<p>"Not a friend in the world," he had said to Rufus Shepley that morning.</p> + +<p>"A man with a million dollars has a million friends," Shepley had +replied. "The only trouble is, you can't enjoy that sort of friends +except by getting rid of them, unless you happen to be a miser."</p> + +<p>Well, that was something, Sidney Prale told himself now. He had ample +funds, at least, and perhaps he could enjoy himself after ten years of +battling with financial sharks, of inspecting and working mines, of +cutting through dense forests and locating growths that could be turned +into wealth.</p> + +<p>Prale put his suit case against the rail to wait until he could move +forward again. He looked down at the throng on the wharf, and up and +down the rail at his fellow passengers. Then he saw the girl again!</p> + +<p>He had seen her before. The first time had been at Tegucigalpa, at a +ball given by some society people for charity. He had known her at once +for an American, and finally had obtained an introduction. Her name was +Kate Gilbert, and she lived in New York. It was understood that she was +of a wealthy family and traveling for her health. She was accompanied +only by a middle-aged maid, a giant of a woman who seemed to be maid and +chaperon and general protector in one.</p> + +<p>That night at Tegucigalpa, Prale had talked to her and had danced with +her twice. He judged her to be about twenty-eight, some ten years +younger than himself. She was small and charming, not one of the +helpless butterfly sort, but a woman who gave indication that she could +care for herself if necessary.</p> + +<p>Prale had been surprised to find her aboard the <i>Manatee</i>, but she had +told him that she was going home, that her health had been much +benefited, and that she felt she could not remain away longer. It had +seemed to Prale that she avoided him purposely, and that puzzled him a +bit. He could not understand why any woman should absolutely dislike +him. His record in Honduras was a clean one; it was known that he did +not care much for women, and surely she had learned that he was a man of +means, and did not think he might be a fortune hunter wishing to marry a +prominent heiress.</p> + +<p>He had not spoken to her half a dozen times during the voyage. She made +the acquaintance of others aboard and, for the first few days, had been +busy in their company. The last three days had been stormy ones, and +Kate Gilbert had not been much in evidence. Prale judged that she was a +poor sailor.</p> + +<p>Now she stopped beside him, the middle-aged maid standing just behind +her.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're home, Mr. Prale!" she said.</p> + +<p>"I suppose that you are glad to get home?"</p> + +<p>"Surely!" she replied. "And I'll be angry if there are not half a dozen +to meet me when I land. I've been trying to spot some friends in that +crowd, but it is a hopeless task."</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll not be disappointed," Prale said.</p> + +<p>As he spoke, he glanced past her at the middle-aged maid, and surprised +a peculiar expression on the face of the woman. She had been looking +straight at him, and her lips were almost curled into a sneer, while her +eyes were flashing with something akin to anger.</p> + +<p>Prale did not understand that. Why should the dragon be incensed with +him? He was making no attempt to lay siege to the heart of Miss Kate +Gilbert. He was no fortune hunter after an heiress. The expression on +the face of the maid amused Prale even while he wondered what it could +mean.</p> + +<p>"Picked your hotel?" Kate Gilbert was asking.</p> + +<p>"Not yet, but I hope to get in somewhere," Prale told her. "May I be of +assistance to you when we land?"</p> + +<p>"Marie will help me, thanks—and there will be others on the wharf," she +answered.</p> + +<p>A cold look had come into her face again, and she turned half away from +him and looked down at the crowd on the wharf. Sidney Prale looked +straight at her, despite the glare of the middle-aged maid. Kate Gilbert +was a woman who would appeal to a majority of men, but there seemed to +be something peculiar about her, Prale told himself. He knew that she +had avoided him purposely during the voyage, and that she had spoken to +him purposely now, yet had asked nothing except whether he had chosen a +hotel.</p> + +<p>Why should Kate Gilbert wish to know where he was going to stop? Perhaps +it had been only an idle question, he explained to himself. In her +happiness at getting home, she had merely wished to speak to somebody, +and none of her shipboard friends happened to be near.</p> + +<p>He turned from her and glanced at the maid again. She was not the sort +to be named Marie, Prale told himself. Marie called up a vision of a +petite, trim woman from sunny France, and this Marie was nothing of the +sort. She appeared more to be a peasant used to hard labor, Prale +decided.</p> + +<p>And he could not understand the expression on the woman's face as she +looked at him. It was almost one of loathing.</p> + +<p>"Got me mixed up with somebody else, or somebody has been giving me a +bad reputation," Prale mused. "Enough to make a man shiver—that look of +hers."</p> + +<p>Kate Gilbert, apparently, did not intend to have anything more to do +with him. Smiling a little at her manner, Prale lifted his hat, picked +up the suit case, and turned away. Once more he tried to force a passage +through the jostling crowd. He had not taken three steps when Kate +Gilbert touched him on the arm.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Mr. Prale, but there is something sticking on the end of +your suit case," she said.</p> + +<p>Prale glanced down. On one end of the suit case was a bit of paper. It +had been stuck there by a drop of mucilage, and the mucilage was still +wet.</p> + +<p>He thanked Kate Gilbert and picked the paper off, but he did not throw +it over the rail into the water. He crumpled it in his hand and, when he +was some distance away, he smoothed it out.</p> + +<p>There was a single word written on it, in the same handwriting +as that of the note he had found pinned to the pillow in the +stateroom—"Retribution."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale glanced around quickly. Nobody seemed to be paying +particular attention to him. Kate Gilbert and her maid had passed him +and were preparing to land. Prale put the piece of paper into his coat +pocket and picked up his suit case again. That bit of paper, he knew +well, had not been on the suit case when he had left the stateroom. It +had been put there as he had made his way through the crowd of +passengers along the rail. Who could have stuck it there—and why?</p> + +<p>Now the passengers were streaming ashore, and Sidney Prale stepped to +one side and watched them. Perhaps he had some business enemy on board, +he told himself, some man he had not noticed, and who was trying to +frighten him after a childish fashion. He searched the faces of the +landing passengers, but saw nobody he had known in Central America, +nobody who looked at all suspicious.</p> + +<p>"Either a joke—or a mistake," Prale told himself again.</p> + +<p>He started ashore. He saw Kate Gilbert just ahead of him, the bulky maid +at her heels. An elderly man met her, but did not greet her as a father +would have been expected to do. Prale saw them hold a whispered +conversation, and it seemed to him that the elderly man gave him a +searching glance.</p> + +<p>"I must look like a swindler!" Prale mused.</p> + +<p>Finally, as he went out upon the street to engage a taxicab and start +for a hotel, he saw Kate Gilbert and her maid and the elderly man again, +getting into a limousine. The girl held a piece of paper in her hand, +and was reading something from it to the elderly man. As she got into +the car, she dropped the piece of paper to the curb.</p> + +<p>The limousine was gone before Prale reached the curb. He put his suit +case down and picked up the piece of paper. There was nothing on it +except a couple of names that meant nothing to Sidney Prale. But his +eyes bulged, nevertheless, as he read them.</p> + +<p>For the paper was similar to that upon which had been written the note +that he had found on the pillow in the stateroom—and the coarse +handwriting was the same!</p> + +<p>"What the deuce——" Prale caught himself saying.</p> + +<p>Had Kate Gilbert written that message about retribution and had her maid +leave it in the stateroom? Had Kate Gilbert written that single word and +had her maid paste it on his suit case as he passed, or pasted it there +herself?</p> + +<p>Why had Kate Gilbert—whom he never had seen and of whom he never had +heard until she appeared at the ball in Tegucigalpa—avoided him in such +a peculiar manner? And why had the misnamed Marie glared at him, and +expressed loathing and anger when her eyes met his?</p> + +<p>"What the deuce——" Prale asked himself again.</p> + +<p>Then a taxicab drew up at the curb, and he got in.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>SOME DISCOURTESIES</h3> + + +<p>Sidney Prale obtained accommodations in a prominent hostelry on Fifth +Avenue, bathed, dressed, ate luncheon, and then went out upon the +streets, walking briskly and swinging his stick, going about New York +like a stranger who never had seen it before.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, he never had seen this New York before. He had +expected a multitude of changes, but nothing compared to what he found. +He watched the crowds on the Avenue, cut over to Broadway and +investigated the electric signs by daylight, observed the congestion of +vehicles and the efforts of traffic policemen to straighten it out. He +darted into the subway and rode far downtown and back again just for the +sport of it. After that he got on an omnibus and rode up to Central +Park, and acted as if every tree and twig were an old friend.</p> + +<p>He made himself acquainted with the animals in the zoo there, and +promised himself to go to the other zoo in the Bronx before the end of +the week. He stood back at the curb and lifted his head to look at new +buildings after the manner of the comic supplement farmer with a straw +between his teeth.</p> + +<p>"Great—great!" said Sidney Prale.</p> + +<p>Then he hurried back to the hotel, dressed for dinner, and went down to +the dining room, stopping on the way to obtain a ticket for a musical +revue that was the talk of the town at the moment.</p> + +<p>Prale ordered a dinner that made the waiter open his eyes. He made it a +point to select things that were not on the menus of the hotels in +Honduras. Then he sat back in his chair and listened to the orchestra, +and watched well-dressed men and women come in and get their places at +the tables.</p> + +<p>But the dinner was a disappointment to Prale after all. It seemed to him +that the waiter was a long time giving him service. He remonstrated, and +the man asked pardon and said that he would do better, but he did not.</p> + +<p>Prale found that his soup was lukewarm, his salad dressing prepared +imperfectly, the salad itself a mere mess of vegetables. The fish and +fowl he had ordered were not served properly, the dessert was without +flavor, the cheese was stale. He sent for the head waiter.</p> + +<p>"I'm disgusted with the food and the service," he complained. "I rarely +find fault, but I am compelled to do so this time. The man who has been +serving me seems to be a rank amateur, and twice he was almost insolent. +This hotel has a reputation which it scarcely is maintaining this +evening."</p> + +<p>"I'll see about it, sir," the head waiter said.</p> + +<p>Prale saw him stop the waiter and speak to him, and the waiter glared at +him when he brought the demi-tasse. Prale did not care. He glared back +at the man, drank the coffee, and touched the match to a cigar. Then he +signed the check and went from the dining room, an angry and disgusted +man.</p> + +<p>"Another thing like that, and I look for the manager," he told himself.</p> + +<p>He supposed that he was a victim of circumstances—that the waiter was a +new man and that it happened that the portions he served were poor +portions. His happiness at being home again prevented Sidney Prale from +feeling anger for any length of time. He got his hat and coat and went +out upon the street again.</p> + +<p>He had an hour before time to go to the theater. He walked over to +Broadway and went toward the north, looking at the bright lights and the +crowds. He passed through two or three hotel lobbies, satisfied for the +time merely to be in the midst of the throngs.</p> + +<p>At the proper time, he hurried to the theater and claimed his seat. The +performance was a mediocre one, but it pleased Sidney Prale. He had seen +a better show in Honduras a month before, had seen better dancing and +heard better singing and comedy, but this was New York!</p> + +<p>The show at an end, Prale claimed his hat and coat at the check room and +walked down the street toward a cabaret restaurant. He reached into his +overcoat pocket for his gloves, and his hand encountered a slip of +paper. He took it out.</p> + +<p>There was the same rough handwriting on the same kind of paper, and +evidently with the same blunt pencil.</p> + +<p>"Remember—retribution is sure!"</p> + +<p>"This thing ceases to be a joke!" Prale told himself.</p> + +<p>His face flushed with anger, and he turned back toward the theater. But +he had been among the last to leave, and already the lights of the +playhouse were being turned out. The boy in charge of the check room +would be gone, Prale knew.</p> + +<p>He thought of Kate Gilbert again, and the bit of paper she had dropped +as she got into the limousine down on the water front. Surely she could +have no hand in this, he thought. What interest could Kate Gilbert, a +casual acquaintance and reputed daughter of a wealthy house, have in him +and his affairs?</p> + +<p>"Somebody is making a mistake," he declared to himself, "or else it is +some sort of a new advertising dodge. If I ever catch the jokesmith who +is responsible for these dainty little messages, I'll tell him a thing +or two."</p> + +<p>Prale turned into the restaurant and found a seat at a little table at +one side of the room. The after-theater crowd was filling the place. The +orchestra was playing furiously, and the cabaret performance was +beginning. Sidney Prale leaned back in his chair and watched the show. +The waiter came to his side, and he ordered something to eat and drink.</p> + +<p>Then he saw Kate Gilbert again, at a table not very far away from his. +She was dressed in an evening gown, as if she had just come from the +theater or opera. She was in the company of the elderly man who had met +her at the wharf, and a young man and an older woman were at the same +table.</p> + +<p>Prale's eyes met hers for an instant, and he inclined his head a bit in +a respectful manner. But Kate Gilbert looked through him as if he had +not been present, and then turned her head and began talking to the +elderly man.</p> + +<p>Prale's face flushed. He hadn't done anything wrong, he told himself. He +merely had bowed to her, as he would have bowed to any woman to whom he +had been properly introduced. She had seen fit to cut him. Well, he +could exist without Kate Gilbert, he told himself, but he wondered at +her peculiar manner.</p> + +<p>He left the place within the hour and went back to the hotel and to bed. +In the morning he walked up the Avenue as far as the Circle, dropped +into a restaurant for a good breakfast, and then engaged a taxicab and +drove downtown to the financial district. He had remembered that he was +a man with a million, and that he had to pay some attention to business.</p> + +<p>He went into the establishment of a famous trust company and sent his +card in to the president. An attendant ushered him into the president's +private office immediately.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Mr. Prale," said the financier. "I am glad that you came to +see me this morning. I was just about to have somebody look you up."</p> + +<p>"Anything the matter?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"Your funds were transferred to us by our Honduras correspondent," the +financier said. "Since you were leaving Honduras almost immediately, we +decided to care for the funds until you arrived and we could talk to +you."</p> + +<p>"I shall want some good investments, of course," Prale said. "I have +disposed of all my holdings in Honduras, and I don't want the money to +be idle."</p> + +<p>"Idleness is as bad for dollars as for men," said the financier, +clearing his throat.</p> + +<p>"Can you suggest some investments? I have engaged no broker as yet, of +course."</p> + +<p>"I—er—I am afraid that we have nothing at the present moment," the +financier said.</p> + +<p>"The market must be good," Prale observed. "I never knew a time when +investments were lacking."</p> + +<p>"I would not offer you a poor one, and good ones are scarce with us at +present," said the banker. "Sorry that we cannot attend to the business +for you. Perhaps some other trust company——"</p> + +<p>"Well, I can wait for something to turn up," Prale said. "There is no +hurry, of course. Probably you'll have something in a few weeks that +will take care of at least a part of the money."</p> + +<p>The banker cleared his throat again, and looked a trifle embarrassed as +he spoke. "The fact of the matter is, Mr. Prale," he said, "that we do +not care for the account."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon!" Prale exclaimed. "You mean you don't want me to +leave my money in your bank?"</p> + +<p>"Just that, Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"But in Heaven's name, why? I should think that any financial +institution would be glad to get a new account of that size."</p> + +<p>"I—er—I cannot go into details, sir," the banker said. "But I must +tell you that we'd be glad if you'd make arrangements to move the +deposit to some other bank."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you don't like to be bothered with small accounts," said +Prale, with the suspicion of a sneer in his voice. "Very well, sir! I'll +see that the deposit is transferred before night. Perhaps I can find +banks that will be glad to take the money and treat me with respect. And +I shall remember this, sir!"</p> + +<p>"I—er—have no choice in the matter," the banker said.</p> + +<p>"Can't you explain what it means?"</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to say—nothing at all to say," stammered the financier. +"We took the money because of our Honduras correspondent, but we'll +appreciate it very much if you do business with some other institution."</p> + +<p>"You can bet I'll do that little thing!" Prale exclaimed.</p> + +<p>He left the office angrily and stalked from the building. Were the big +financiers of New York insane? A man with a million in cold cash has the +right to expect that he will be treated decently in a bank. Prale walked +down the street and grew angrier with every step he took.</p> + +<p>Before going to Honduras he had worked for a firm of brokers. He hurried +toward their office now. He would send in his card to his old employer, +Griffin, he decided, and ask his advice about banking his funds, and +incidentally whether the financier he had just left was an imbecile.</p> + +<p>He found the Griffin concern in the same building, though the offices +were twice as large now, and there were evidences of prosperity on every +side.</p> + +<p>"Got an appointment?" an office boy demanded.</p> + +<p>"No, but I fancy that Mr. Griffin will see me," said Prale. "I used to +work for him years ago."</p> + +<p>Then he sat down to wait. Griffin would be glad to see him, he thought. +Griffin was a man who always liked to see younger men get along. He +would want to know how Sidney Prale got his million. He would want to +take him to luncheon and exhibit him to his friends—tell how one of his +young men had forged ahead in the world.</p> + +<p>The boy came back with his card. "Mr. Griffin can't see you," he +announced.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's busy, eh? Did he make an appointment?"</p> + +<p>"No, he ain't busy," said the boy. "He's got his feet set up on the desk +and he's readin' about yesterday's ball game. He said to say that he +didn't have time to see you this mornin', and that he wouldn't ever have +time to see you."</p> + +<p>"Don't be discourteous, you young imp!" Prale said, his face flushing. +"You're sure you handed Mr. Griffin my card?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I handed it to him—and don't you try to run any bluff on me!" the +boy answered. "From the way the boss acted, I guess you don't stand very +high with him!"</p> + +<p>The boy went back to his chair, and Sidney Prale went from the office, a +puzzled and angry man. There probably was some mistake, he told himself. +He'd meet Griffin during the day and tell him about the adventure.</p> + +<p>He was anxious to meet some of the men with whom he had worked ten years +before, but he did not know where to find them. He'd have to wait and +ask Griffin what had become of them. Then, too, he wanted to transfer +his funds.</p> + +<p>Prale got another taxicab and started making the rounds of the banks he +knew to be solid institutions. Within a few hours he had made +arrangements to transfer the account, using four financial institutions. +He said nothing, except that the money had been transferred to the trust +company from Honduras, because the company had a correspondent there.</p> + +<p>His funds secure, Prale went back uptown and to the hotel. The clerk +handed him a note with his key. Prale tore it open after he stepped into +the elevator. This time it was a sheet of paper upon which a message had +been typewritten.</p> + +<p>"You can't dodge the law of compensation. For what you have done, you +must pay."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale gasped when he read that message, and went back to the +ground floor.</p> + +<p>"Who left this note for me?" he demanded of the clerk.</p> + +<p>"Messenger boy."</p> + +<p>"You don't know where he came from?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>Prale turned away and started for the elevator again. A bell hop stopped +him.</p> + +<p>"Manager would like to see you in his office, sir," the boy said. "This +way, sir."</p> + +<p>Prale followed the boy, wondering what was coming now. He found the +manager to be a sort of austere individual who seemed impressed with his +own importance.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prale," he said, "I regret to have to say this, but I find that it +cannot be avoided. When you arrived yesterday, the clerk assigned you to +a suite on the fifth floor. He made a mistake. We had a telegraphic +reservation for that suite from an old guest of ours, and it should have +been kept for him. You appreciate the situation, I feel sure."</p> + +<p>"No objection to being moved," Prale said. "I have unpacked scarcely any +of my things."</p> + +<p>"But—again I regret it—there isn't a vacant suite in the house, Mr. +Prale."</p> + +<p>"A room, then, until you have one."</p> + +<p>"We haven't a room. We haven't as much as a cot, Mr. Prale. We cannot +take care of you, I'm afraid. So many regular guests, you understand, +and out-of-town visitors."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll have to move, I suppose. You may have the suite within two +hours."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>Prale was angry again when he left the office of the manager. It seemed +that everything was conspiring against his comfort. He got a cab, drove +to another hotel, inspected a suite and reserved it, paying a month in +advance, and then went back to the big hotel on Fifth Avenue to get his +baggage. He paid his bill at the cashier's window, and overheard the +room clerk speaking to a woman.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, madam," the clerk was saying. "We will have an excellent +suite on the fifth floor within half an hour. The party is just vacating +it. Plenty of suites on the third floor, of course, but, if you want to +be up higher in the building——"</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale felt the blood pounding in his temples, felt rage welling +up within him. He felt as he had once in a Honduras forest when he +became aware that a dishonest foreman was betraying business secrets. He +hurried to the office of the manager, but the stenographer said the +manager was busy and could not be seen.</p> + +<p>Prale whirled away, going through the lobby toward the entrance. He met +Kate Gilbert face to face. She did not seem to see him, though he was +forced to step aside to let her pass.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A FOE AND A FRIEND</h3> + + +<p>After settling himself in the other hotel, Prale ate a belated luncheon. +For the first time that day, he looked at the newspapers. He had +remembered that a New Yorker reads the papers religiously to keep up to +the minute; whereas, in Honduras, it was the custom for busy men to let +the papers accumulate and then read a week's supply at a sitting.</p> + +<p>Aside from his name in the list of arrivals, Prale found no word +concerning himself, though there was mention of other men who had come +on the <i>Manatee</i>, and who had no special claim to prominence.</p> + +<p>"I don't amount to much, I guess," said Prale to himself. "Don't care +for publicity, anyway, but they might let the world know a fellow has +come home."</p> + +<p>He went for another walk that afternoon, returned to the hotel for +dinner, and decided that, instead of going to a show that evening, he +would prowl around the town.</p> + +<p>He walked up to the Park, went over to Broadway, and started down it, +looking at the bright lights again, making his way through the happy, +theater-going throngs toward Times Square. In the enjoyment of the +crowds he forgot, in part, the discourtesies of the day, but he could +not forget them entirely.</p> + +<p>Why had the banker acted in such a peculiar fashion? It was not like a +financial institution to refuse a deposit of a round million. Why had +Griffin refused to see him? Why had he as good as been ordered out of +the hotel?</p> + +<p>"Coincidence," he told himself. "No reason on earth why such things +should happen unless I am being taken for somebody else—and that +wouldn't be true in the case of Griffin."</p> + +<p>He came to a prominent hotel and went into the lobby, looking in vain +for some friend of the old days with whom he could spend an hour or so. +Down in Honduras he had had his million and friends, too; and here, in +his old home, he had nothing but his money. At this hour, down in +Honduras, the band would be playing in the plaza, and society would be +out in force. There would be a soft breeze sweeping down from the hills, +bringing a thousand odors that could not be detected in New York. Here +and there guitars would be tinkling, and men and maidens would be +meeting in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>There would be a happy crowd at a certain club he knew, at which he +always had been made welcome. A man could sit out on the veranda and +look over the tumbling sea, and hear the ship's bells strike. Sidney +Prale found himself just a bit homesick for Honduras.</p> + +<p>"Got to get over it," he told himself. "No sense in feeling this way. +I'll have a hundred friends before I've been in town a month!"</p> + +<p>He went out upon the street, made his way down it, and dropped in at +another hotel. There he saw Rufus Shepley sitting in an easy-chair, +smoking and looking at an evening paper.</p> + +<p>Well, he knew Shepley, at least. Shepley was only a steamship +acquaintance, but he was a human being and could talk. Prale was just a +bit tired of confining his conversation to waiters and cigar-store +clerks.</p> + +<p>He stopped before Shepley and cleared his throat.</p> + +<p>"Well, we meet again, Mr. Shepley!" he said.</p> + +<p>Rufus Shepley looked up, and then sprang to his feet, but his face did +not light and he did not extend a hand in greeting. Instead, his +countenance grew crimson, and he seemed to be shaking with anger.</p> + +<p>"You presume too much on a chance acquaintance, sir!" Rufus Shepley +thundered. "I do not wish you to address me again—do you understand, +sir? Never again—either in public or private!"</p> + +<p>"Why——" Prale stammered.</p> + +<p>"I don't want anything to do with a man of your stamp!" Rufus Shepley +went on. "Ten years in Honduras, were you? We all know why men go to +Honduras and spend years there."</p> + +<p>Shepley had raised his voice, and all in the lobby could hear. Men began +moving toward them, and women began walking away, fearing a scene and a +quarrel.</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale's face had flushed, too, and he felt his anger rising +again.</p> + +<p>"I am sure I do not wish to continue the acquaintance if you do not, +sir," he said. "I can be courteous, at least."</p> + +<p>"Some men are not entitled to courtesy," Shepley roared.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?" Prale demanded.</p> + +<p>"I mean that I don't want anything to do with you, that's all! I don't +want you to speak to me again! I don't want anybody to know that you +even know me by sight!"</p> + +<p>"See here!" Prale cried. "You can't talk to me like that without giving +me some explanation! You can't defame me before other men——"</p> + +<p>"Defame you?" Shepley cried. "You can't make a tar brush black, sir?"</p> + +<p>Rage was seething in Prale now. There was quite a crowd around them, and +others were making their way forward.</p> + +<p>"I don't pretend to know what is the matter with you, and I don't much +care!" he told Shepley. "If your hair wasn't gray, I'd take you out on +the sidewalk and smash your face in! Please understand that!"</p> + +<p>"Threaten me, will you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not threatening you. I don't fight a man with one foot in the +grave."</p> + +<p>"Why you——"</p> + +<p>"And I don't care to have you address me in public again, either," +Sidney Prale went on. "It probably would be an insult."</p> + +<p>"Confound you, sir!" Shepley cried.</p> + +<p>He reached forward and grasped Prale by the arm. Sidney Prale put up a +hand, tore the grasp loose, and tossed Rufus Shepley to one side.</p> + +<p>"Keep your paws off me!" he exclaimed. "I think that you're insane, if +you ask me!"</p> + +<p>The hotel detective came hurrying up.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to cut that out!" he said. "What's the row here, anyway?"</p> + +<p>"The place is harboring a maniac!" Prale said.</p> + +<p>"It's harboring a crook!" Shepley cried.</p> + +<p>Prale lurched forward and grasped him by both arms, and shook him until +Rufus Shepley's teeth chattered.</p> + +<p>"Another word out of you, and I'll forget that your hair is gray!" Prale +exclaimed, and then he tossed Shepley to one side again.</p> + +<p>"Either of you guests here?" the house detective demanded. "No? Then +maybe you'd both better get out until you can cool off. If you want to +stage a scrap, go down and rent Madison Square Garden and advertise in +the newspapers. I wouldn't mind seeing a good fight myself. But this +lobby isn't any prize ring. Get me?"</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale, his face still flaming, whirled around and started for the +entrance, the crowd parting to let him through. Rufus Shepley, fuming +and fussing, followed him slowly. The house detective accompanied him to +the door.</p> + +<p>Prale was waiting at the curb, a Prale whose face was white now because +of the temper he was fighting to control. He stepped close to Shepley's +side.</p> + +<p>"I don't know why you insulted me, but don't do it again!" Prale said. +"I ought to settle with you for what you've said already."</p> + +<p>The house detective, who had heard, stepped forward again, but Sidney +Prale swung across the street and went on his way.</p> + +<p>He walked rapidly for a dozen blocks or more, paying no attention to +where he was going, until his anger began to subside.</p> + +<p>"Why, the raving maniac!" he gasped, once or twice.</p> + +<p>He didn't pretend to guess what it meant. Shepley had seemed to be +friendly enough when they had separated aboard ship. What could have +happened to make the man change his mind and attitude?</p> + +<p>"Must be some mistake!" Prale told himself. "If there is any more of +this, I'll have to get to the bottom of it!"</p> + +<p>He reached Madison Square, and sat down on a bench to smoke and regain +his composure. He knew that he had a terrible temper, and that it had to +be controlled. A temper that flashed was all right at times in the +jungles of Honduras, but it was not the proper thing to exhibit in the +heart of New York City. It might get him into serious trouble with +somebody.</p> + +<p>He finished his cigar, listened to the striking chimes, and lighted +another smoke. A pedestrian stopped beside him.</p> + +<p>"Old Sid Prale, or I'm a liar!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Prale looked up, and then sprang to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Jim Farland, the sleuth!" he cried in answer. "Old Jim, the holy terror +to evildoers. Now I am glad that I'm home!"</p> + +<p>"When did you get in?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday. Sit down. Have a cigar. You're the first old friend I've +met!"</p> + +<p>Detective Jim Farland sat down and lighted the cigar. "You've been gone +some time," he said.</p> + +<p>"Ten years, Jim."</p> + +<p>"Went away rather sudden, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"I did. I made my decision one night and sailed the night following," +said Prale.</p> + +<p>"I always wondered why you went, and what became of you. Had a good job +with old Griffin, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"The job was all right, Jim. But there was a girl——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, ha!"</p> + +<p>"And she threw me over for a fellow who had some money. That made me +huffy, of course. I swore I'd shake the dust of New York from my shoes, +go to some foreign country, take with me the ten thousand dollars I had +saved, and turn it into a million."</p> + +<p>"And came back broke!" Farland said.</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the sort, Jim. I came back with a million."</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! I suppose I'd better be on my way then. I ain't in the +habit of having millionaires let me associate with 'em."</p> + +<p>"You sit where you are, or I'll use violence!" Prale told him. "I +suppose you are still on the force? Still fussing around down in the +financial district watching for swindlers?"</p> + +<p>"I left the force three years ago," Jim Farland replied. "Couldn't seem +to get ahead. Too honest, maybe—or too ignorant. I'm in a sort of +private detective business now—got an office up the street. Doing +fairly well, too—lots of old friends give me work. If you have anything +in my line——"</p> + +<p>"If I have, you'll get a job," said Prale.</p> + +<p>"Let me slip you a card," said Farland. "You never know when you may +need a detective. So you came back with a million, eh?"</p> + +<p>"And ran into a mess," Prale added.</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine a man with a million running into much of a mess," +Farland said.</p> + +<p>"That's all you know about it. I may need your services sooner than you +think. There is a sort of jinx working on me, it appears."</p> + +<p>"Spill it!" Jim Farland said.</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale did. He related what had happened at the bank, at the +hotel, in Griffin's office, and told of the scene with Rufus Shepley.</p> + +<p>"Funny!" Farland said, when he had finished. "I know old Rufus Shepley, +and as a general thing he ain't a maniac. Something behind all this, +Sid."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but what on earth could it be?"</p> + +<p>"That's the question. If anything else happens, and you need help, just +let me know."</p> + +<p>"I'll do that, surely," said Prale. "And I'm glad that I've got one +friend left in town."</p> + +<p>"Always have one as long as I'm here," Jim Farland assured him. "And it +ain't because of your million, either. It's true about the million?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely!"</p> + +<p>"Gee! That's more than old Griffin himself has in cash, anyway," Farland +declared. "Maybe it's a good thing that girl turned you down. You'd +probably be a clerk at a few thousand a year, if she hadn't. How'd you +make the coin?"</p> + +<p>"Mines and fruit and water power and logs," said Prale.</p> + +<p>"Sounds simple enough. When the detective business goes on the blink, I +may take a turn at it myself."</p> + +<p>"If you ever need money, Jim, call on me. If you want to engage bigger +offices, hire operatives, branch out——"</p> + +<p>"Stop it!" Farland cried. "I want nothing of the kind. I'm a peculiar +sort of duck—don't care about being rich at all. I just want to be sure +I'll have a good living for myself and the wife and kids, and have a few +friends, and be able to look every man in town straight in the eye. I'd +rather work for a friend for nothing than do work I don't like for ten +thousand an hour."</p> + +<p>"I believe you!" Prale said.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE COUSIN</h3> + + +<p>An hour later, having parted with Detective Jim Farland, Sidney Prale +walked slowly up Fifth Avenue, determined to go to his hotel suite and +rest for the remainder of the evening. His conversation and short visit +with Farland had put him in a better humor. There was no mistaking the +quality of Farland's friendship. He and Prale had been firm friends ten +years before, when Farland was on duty in the financial district, and +they had made it a point at that time to eat luncheon together when +Farland's duties permitted.</p> + +<p>New York seemed a better place, even with one friend among several +million persons. So Prale swung his stick jauntily, and hummed the +Spanish love song again, and told himself that Rufus Shepley and Kate +Gilbert, old Griffin and the hotel manager and the rest of the motley +crew that had made the day miserable for him amounted to nothing in the +broader scheme of things, and were not to be taken seriously.</p> + +<p>He came to a block where there were few pedestrians, where the great +shops had their lights out and their night curtains up. He heard steps +behind him, and presently a soft voice.</p> + +<p>"Sid! Sid!"</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale whirled around, alert and on guard, for he did not +recognize the voice. A medium-sized man stood before him, a man of about +his own age, who had a furtive manner and wore a beard.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know me, Sid?"</p> + +<p>"Can't say that I do!"</p> + +<p>"Why, I'm your cousin, George Lerton. I'm the only relative you've got +in the world, unless you got married while you were away."</p> + +<p>Prale stepped aside so that the nearest light flashed on the face of the +man before him.</p> + +<p>"Well, if it isn't!" he said. "Didn't recognize you at first. How long +have you been wearing the alfalfa on your face?"</p> + +<p>"Two or three years," George Lerton told him, grinning a bit. "I saw +your name in the passenger list, Sid, and wanted to see you. I found out +where you are stopping——"</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you come to the hotel, then, or leave a note?" Prale asked. +"Come on up now."</p> + +<p>"I—I wanted to talk to you——"</p> + +<p>"And I want to talk to you. What are you doing for yourself, George? +Still working in a broker's office?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've got an office of my own now."</p> + +<p>"Getting along all right?"</p> + +<p>"Fairly well," Lerton said. "Business has been pretty good the last +year."</p> + +<p>"Maybe you can dig up a few good investments for me, then," Prale said. +"I've got some coin now."</p> + +<p>"I understand that you're worth a million, Sid."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've made my pile, and came back to New York to enjoy it. But come +along to the hotel."</p> + +<p>"I'd—I'd rather not."</p> + +<p>"Why not? We've got to talk over old times and find out about each +other. We're cousins, you know."</p> + +<p>The truth of the matter was that Sidney Prale never had thought very +much of his cousin. Ten years before they had worked side by side for +Griffin, the broker. There was something furtive and shifty about George +Lerton, but he never had presumed on his relationship, at least. He and +Sidney Prale had been courteous to each other, but never had been warm +friends.</p> + +<p>They came from different branches of the family. Lerton had some traits +of character that Prale did not admire, but he always told himself that +perhaps he was prejudiced. They had seen a deal of each other in a +social way in the old days.</p> + +<p>"Let us just talk as we walk along," Lerton now said.</p> + +<p>"All right, if you have an engagement," Prale replied. "We can get +together later, I suppose. How have the years been using you? Married?"</p> + +<p>"I was—I am a widower."</p> + +<p>"Sorry," said Prale. "Children?"</p> + +<p>"No—not any children. I—I married Mary Slade."</p> + +<p>"What?" Prale cried.</p> + +<p>He stopped, aghast. Mary Slade had been the girl who had turned him down +for a man with money—and that man had not been George Lerton, who did +not have as much as five thousand at that time.</p> + +<p>"It—it's a peculiar story," Lerton said. "You went away so quick—after +you quarreled with her. And that other man—she threw him over, soon. +She couldn't endure him, even with all his money. She regretted her +quarrel with you. I'm quite sure she wanted you for a time. I got to +taking her about. You didn't write, and she was too proud to look you +up, and so—after a time——"</p> + +<p>"You married her," said Prale.</p> + +<p>"About three years after you went away, Sid. She died after we had been +married a year."</p> + +<p>"But she always wanted money, and I had as much as you."</p> + +<p>"I made a strike soon after you left, Sid. I plunged with my five +thousand, and turned it into a hundred thousand inside four months. I +kept on, and got more. I was worth almost half a million when we were +married."</p> + +<p>"I see. Well, there are no hard feelings, George. She was a good woman, +in a way, and I'm sorry you lost her. I suppose we'll have to get +together, for old time's sake."</p> + +<p>"Are you going to stay here long, Sid?"</p> + +<p>"Long? I've sold out all my Honduras holdings, and I'm here to spend the +rest of my days. I've come home for good, George. The United States is +plenty good enough for me. I'm going to be a civilized gentleman from +now on."</p> + +<p>"You—you're not going back?"</p> + +<p>"Why should I? I brought that million with me. I left nothing in +Honduras except a few friends. I suppose I'll run down there some day +and see them, but this is going to be home, you can bet."</p> + +<p>"Don't do it, Sid!" Lerton exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Don't do what?"</p> + +<p>"Don't stay here, Sid. Get out as quick as you can! Go back to +Honduras—anywhere—but don't stay in New York."</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't I? What on earth is the matter with you? Are you insane?"</p> + +<p>"I—I can't tell you, Sid. But you are in danger if you don't leave New +York. I can tell you that much. That's why I didn't call at the hotel; +I'm afraid. Sid, I'm afraid to have anybody see me talking to you. If +you came to my office, I'd refuse to see you——"</p> + +<p>"Why?" demanded Sidney Prale, in a stern voice.</p> + +<p>"I—I can't explain, Sid."</p> + +<p>"I've endured a lot of nonsense to-day, and I'm not going to endure any +more!" Prale said. "You're going to open your mouth and tell me what you +mean, if I have to manhandle you."</p> + +<p>"You can beat me until I'm unconscious, Sid, but you can't make me +talk!" Lerton told him.</p> + +<p>"But what does it all mean?"</p> + +<p>"You'd better go away, Sid; you'd better get out of the country and stay +out!"</p> + +<p>"No reason why I should. I never gave up my citizenship; I haven't done +anything wrong. I'm back in my old home, and I fail to see why I +shouldn't remain here if that is my wish."</p> + +<p>"But you're in danger!"</p> + +<p>"In danger from what?" Sidney Prale cried.</p> + +<p>"You have powerful enemies, Sid."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know, exactly. But you have powerful enemies. Some of my +best customers have informed me that they are through doing business +with me if I have anything to do with you. They told me that before you +had been back three hours."</p> + +<p>"Powerful enemies? Why? Business enemies?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Um! So that is why the bank refused my deposit, why I was turned out of +a hotel, and why old Rufus Shepley raised such a row with me! Powerful +enemies, have I? But there isn't sense in it! I haven't done anything to +make powerful enemies, or any other kind. I'm about fed up with this +stuff!"</p> + +<p>"Go away, Sid. You've got money—you can live anywhere!"</p> + +<p>"You bet I can! And I'm going to live in New York!"</p> + +<p>"Don't try it, Sid!"</p> + +<p>Prale whirled and faced him. "You know more than you're telling!" he +accused. "You open your face and talk! I never did have any too much +love for you, and you can wager that I'm not going to let you frighten +me into running away from New York! Talk!"</p> + +<p>"I haven't anything more to say, Sid!"</p> + +<p>"If I have to choke it out of you right here——"</p> + +<p>"You'd better not. It would give your enemies a chance!"</p> + +<p>"Lerton, I've fought the Honduras jungles! I've fought half-savage men +and treacherous employees, snakes and fever, financial sharks and common +adventurers. I didn't come back to New York to back down in front of a +man like you—or half a hundred like you. Maybe that is strong talk—but +you have it coming! Give my enemies a chance? I'll give them all the +chance they want. Maybe they'll come into the open, then, and let me see +whom I'm fighting! I don't like foes that fight from the dark!"</p> + +<p>"You'd better go away, Sid. I'm talking for your own good!"</p> + +<p>"For my good? For yours, you mean! Afraid you'll lose a few customers +and a few dollars, by standing by your cousin, are you? Why don't you be +a man, tell me what you know, help me to fight! Bah! I'm disgusted with +you!"</p> + +<p>He hurled George Lerton away from him, curled his lips in scorn of the +man.</p> + +<p>"I've tried to warn you," Lerton whimpered.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand this and I'm sure you could explain a lot, if you +would. Perhaps I've got more dollars than the customers you are so +afraid of losing. Suppose I hand my million to you for investment. Will +you talk, then?"</p> + +<p>"I—I wouldn't dare touch it," Lerton whimpered.</p> + +<p>Prale looked at him closely. "It must be something pretty bad to make +you toss aside the chance to handle a million in investments," he said. +"I know you, George! You'd sell your soul for money! You got anything +more to say to me about this?"</p> + +<p>"I—I dare not say anything more."</p> + +<p>"Very well. If you are afraid to be seen in my presence, kindly keep +away from me hereafter and don't worry about me looking you up at your +office. I'll not take the trouble!"</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale said nothing more; he whirled around and walked rapidly up +the Avenue, enraged, wondering what it all meant, determined to find out +as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>Lerton ran after him.</p> + +<p>"Won't you go away, Sid?" he whimpered.</p> + +<p>"No. I'll stay here, and if I have enemies I'll fight them!" Prale told +him. "Why are you so eager to have me run away?"</p> + +<p>"I don't want to see you in trouble, Sid."</p> + +<p>"That's peculiar. In the old days you used to gloat whenever I got in +trouble. You seem to have a wonderful and sudden regard for my welfare, +and I can't explain it to myself."</p> + +<p>Once more, Prale whirled around and started up the Avenue. His brain was +in a tumult. What did George Lerton know that he refused to tell? Why +should there be powerful enemies? He knew of no reason in the world.</p> + +<p>"He's dead eager to get me out of town," Prale mused. "There's something +behind it, all right."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>MURK—AND MURDER</h3> + + +<p>Instinct, intuition, or some similar faculty caused Prale to turn off +the Avenue eastward toward the river. He was not angry now. His mind was +in action. He had convinced himself that there was something behind all +this, and he was eager for the solution.</p> + +<p>Those mysterious warnings had begun on board ship, he remembered. The +piece of paper Kate Gilbert had dropped, and which he had picked up, had +writing similar to the messages he had received. He would have to engage +Jim Farland, he told himself, and learn a few things concerning Miss +Kate Gilbert.</p> + +<p>Had the journey because of ill health been a subterfuge? Had Kate +Gilbert gone to Honduras to watch him? If she had, what was the reason +for it?</p> + +<p>"It's enough to make a man a maniac," Prale mused. "And that Shepley +man! He was all right when we parted on the ship. Somebody said +something to him about me after he landed. He treated me as if I had +been a skunk."</p> + +<p>Then he thought of George Lerton, his cousin. He couldn't quite make up +his mind about Lerton. The man seemed frenzied in his eagerness to get +Prale to leave New York. And Prale knew that it was not because of an +overwhelming love George Lerton had for him, not anxiety lest ill +fortune should come to Sidney Prale.</p> + +<p>He would have to think it out, he told himself. At least, he knew that +he had foes working against him, and could be on guard continually. Down +in Honduras he had won a reputation as a fighter, and a fight was a +fight in any clime, he knew; there might be a difference in the rules +here and there, but the same qualities decided the winner.</p> + +<p>He continued walking down the street toward the river. In Honduras he +had become accustomed to walking up and down the beach and looking at +the water whenever he wanted to think and solve some problem, and it +probably was habit that sent him to the water front now.</p> + +<p>He tossed away the butt of his cigar and did not light another at the +moment. For a time he stood looking out at the black water, at the craft +plying back and forth, their lights flashing. He stepped upon a little +dock and started walking its length. After a time he came near the end +of it without having encountered a watchman, and sat down on a box in a +dark, secluded corner.</p> + +<p>There, his back braced against the building and the building shielding +him from the cold wind that came up from the distant sea, Sidney Prale +sat and tried to think it out.</p> + +<p>One thing made a comfortable thought—he had money with which to fight. +Either he was the victim of some injustice, or a grave mistake was being +made. He wished that he had forced George Lerton to tell him more, and +he decided that he would do so if they met again. He might even hunt him +out and force him to speak. Sidney Prale thought nothing of handling a +man like Lerton.</p> + +<p>He heard steps on the dock and remained silent in the darkness, thinking +that possibly some watchman was making the rounds. If he was discovered, +he would say that he had been looking at the river, give the watchman +his card and a tip, and leave.</p> + +<p>The steps came nearer and Prale could make out the form of a man +slipping along the dock's edge in a furtive manner. There was not light +enough for Prale to see his features. He was walking bent over, a short, +heavy-set man who did not wear an overcoat.</p> + +<p>Prale watched as the man passed within six feet of him and went to the +edge of the dock. There he stood, outlined against the sky, looking down +at the water. Prale imagined that he heard something like a sob, and +gave closer attention. Then he saw the man take off his coat and drop it +behind him, remove his cap and place it on the coat, and look down at +the water again.</p> + +<p>And then Sidney Prale sprang straight forward, and grasped the body of +the other as it was in mid-air.</p> + +<p>"No, you don't!" Prale exclaimed.</p> + +<p>He found immediately that he had a fight on his hands. The other whirled +and began kicking and striking. Sidney Prale hurled him backward, +rushed, caught him up again in a better hold, threw him back against the +building, and held him there, breathless and panting.</p> + +<p>"Another smash out of you, and I'll drop you into the river myself!" +Prale said. "Suppose you take time to get your breath now."</p> + +<p>"I—I thought you was a cop."</p> + +<p>"Afraid of the cops?"</p> + +<p>"It's against the law to—to try to commit suicide."</p> + +<p>"So I understand," said Prale. "Well, I am not a cop. Trying to drown +yourself, were you? Why?"</p> + +<p>"Why not?" the other asked. "I'm done with livin'."</p> + +<p>"Not just yet, but you would have been if I hadn't been sitting here."</p> + +<p>"I've knocked all over the world—and made a few mistakes," said the +derelict. "Oh, nothin' that would get me in trouble with the cops! But I +just found out that I'm clutterin' up the earth and don't amount to +anything. I'm sick of half starvin' to death, and workin' like a dog +when I get the chance just to get enough to keep a few old clothes hung +on me."</p> + +<p>"Disgusted generally with your lot?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Friends or relatives?"</p> + +<p>"Not any."</p> + +<p>"What's your name?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"You mean my real name? I don't remember. It's been so long since I've +used it, and I've used so many others since that I don't know. What's +the difference?"</p> + +<p>"I'll call you Murk," said Prale. "That expresses the dark river, the +deed you were about to do, and the evident state of your feelings."</p> + +<p>"It's as good as any, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"What's your particular grievance against the world in general?"</p> + +<p>"It ain't anything in particular," said Murk. "It's just general."</p> + +<p>"I see. A drifter, are you?"</p> + +<p>"I reckon I am."</p> + +<p>"Sore at existence, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Well, what's the use of livin'?" Murk demanded. "There ain't a man, +woman or child in the world that gives a whoop what becomes of me. I'm +just in the way to be kicked around."</p> + +<p>"Maybe you haven't found your proper place in the scheme of things."</p> + +<p>"I've sure done some travelin' lookin' for it, boss, but maybe I ain't +found it, as you say. I sure ain't found any place that looks like it +needed me bad."</p> + +<p>"Hard to make a living?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I get along. But, what's the use?" Murk wanted to know. "I ain't +got anybody—I get lonesome lots of times. If I had money, it might be +different."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure about that," said Prale, smiling a bit. "I've got a +million dollars, and, as far as I know right this minute, I have just +one friend in New York."</p> + +<p>"If I had a million dollars I wouldn't care whether I had a friend or +not," Murk said.</p> + +<p>"You can be just as lonesome with a million dollars as you can without a +cent," Prale told him. "I was sitting down here because I was lonesome, +and because there are some enemies working at me, and I don't know who +they are or why they want to trouble me."</p> + +<p>"Well, let's jump in the drink together," Murk said.</p> + +<p>"Why not fight it out?" asked Sidney Prale.</p> + +<p>"Mister, I've been fightin' for years, and it don't get me anything. It +just tires me out—that's all. The next world can't be any worse than +this."</p> + +<p>"Are you a fighter, or a quitter?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody ever called me a quitter."</p> + +<p>"But you were trying to be a few minutes ago. You were going to quit +like a yellow dog!" Prale told him. "You were going to throw up the +sponge and give the devil a laugh."</p> + +<p>"That's between me and the devil—nobody else would care."</p> + +<p>"If you had a friend, an influential friend, and didn't have to keep up +a continual fight to hold body and soul together, could you manage to +face the world a little longer?"</p> + +<p>"I reckon I could."</p> + +<p>"How old are you?"</p> + +<p>"Thirty-five," said Murk.</p> + +<p>"Old enough to have some sense. I am three years older. I'm almost as +lonesome as you are. Why not join forces, Murk?"</p> + +<p>"Sir?"</p> + +<p>"If I showed you a corner where you would fit in, would you be loyal? +Would you stand by me, help me fight if it was necessary, and all that?"</p> + +<p>"You just try me—that's all."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Murk, I'm going to trust you. I told you the truth when I +said I had a million dollars. I have but one friend I can depend upon, +and I have enemies. I like to fight, Murk, but I like to have a good pal +at my back when I do."</p> + +<p>"That's me, too, sir; but I ain't ever had the pal."</p> + +<p>"You've got one now, Murk. You'd be dead now, but for me. So you must be +my man, understand?"</p> + +<p>"I don't quite getcha."</p> + +<p>"You're under my orders from now on, Murk. We'll have a nice row, +standing back to back perhaps. I'll take you on as a sort of valet and +bodyguard. You'll have good clothes and a home and plenty to eat and a +bit of money to spend. I'll expect you to be loyal. If I find that you +are not—well, Murk, I got back yesterday from Central America. I got my +million down there, by fighting for it, and there were times when I had +to handle men roughly. I can read men, Murk. Can you imagine what I'd do +to a man who double crossed me?"</p> + +<p>"I getcha now! You needn't be afraid I'll double cross you. I don't +think this is real."</p> + +<p>"It's real, Murk, if we strike a bargain. Do we?"</p> + +<p>"I've got everything to win and nothin' to lose—so we do!" Murk said.</p> + +<p>"Fair enough. Now we'll get off this dock. Pick up your cap and coat."</p> + +<p>Murk picked them up and put them on, and then he followed at Prale's +heels until they were on the street and beneath the nearest light. There +they stopped and looked each other over.</p> + +<p>Murk was short, but he was built for strength. Prale could tell at a +glance that the man, even poorly nourished as he was, had muscles that +could be depended on. Prale liked the look around Murk's eyes, too. Murk +was a dog man, the sort that proves faithful to the end if treated +right.</p> + +<p>"Well, how do you like me?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"You look good to me, sir."</p> + +<p>"My name is Sidney Prale."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"You understand our little deal thoroughly?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Come along, then. Here is a cigar—light up!"</p> + +<p>Murk lighted the cigar, and Prale lighted another, and they went rapidly +up the street to Fifth Avenue. Prale signaled a passing taxicab, and +they got in. When the cab stopped, it was in a district where some cheap +clothing stores remain open until almost midnight.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later they emerged again. Murk was dressed in a suit which +was somber in tone, and which was not at all a bad fit. He was dressed +in new clothing from the skin out. Prale took him to a barber shop, and +waited until the barber gave Murk a hair cut and a shave.</p> + +<p>"Gosh!" Murk said, when he looked at himself in the glass. "This can't +be me!"</p> + +<p>"It is, however," Prale assured him. "Now, we'll go home, Murk, and get +settled."</p> + +<p>"Where is home?"</p> + +<p>Prale named the hotel.</p> + +<p>"I'd get thrown out on my bean if I ever stuck my nose in the kitchen +door," Murk said.</p> + +<p>"You're not going into the kitchen, Murk. You're going to be registered +as my valet and bodyguard, and you're going up in the elevator with me. +Kindly remember, Murk, that you are the personal servant of Mr. Sidney +Prale."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"And your boss has a million dollars and nobody knows how many secret +enemies. Those things give you a standing, Murk. When we are alone, of +course, you'll be a sort of pal. I never had a valet before and I +couldn't stand a regular one. Instead of being a valet, when we are +alone, I want you to be a regular fellow."</p> + +<p>"I getcha, Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"Off we go, then."</p> + +<p>They arrived at the hotel, and Prale registered Murk as his valet and +took him up to the suite.</p> + +<p>"You bunk in there, Murk," Prale said, pointing to another room. "Take a +bath and go to bed and get some rest. If you are inclined to throw me +down, you'll find some money and jewelry in the top drawer of the +dresser. Rob me and sneak out during the night, if you want to. Cut my +throat, if it's necessary."</p> + +<p>"You needn't be afraid, sir—you can trust me!"</p> + +<p>"I do!" said Sidney Prale.</p> + +<p>Prale slept well that night. When he awoke in the morning, Murk was +dressed and sitting by the window. He drew Prale's bath without being +told, and then stood around as if waiting to be of service.</p> + +<p>"I—I found this slipped under your door, sir," he said, after a time.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Murk?"</p> + +<p>"A piece of paper with writing on it, sir."</p> + +<p>"More news from the enemy, I suppose. What does it say?"</p> + +<p>"It says as how a man's sin always finds him out."</p> + +<p>"That's interesting, isn't it? Do you think I am a sinner of some sort, +Murk?"</p> + +<p>"I don't care if you are, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Murk! You needn't get excited about it. Put the paper in the lower +drawer of the dresser; I'm making a collection of them," Prale said. He +went back into the other room and continued dressing. "Go to the +telephone and order breakfast served to us here, Murk," he directed.</p> + +<p>"What shall I order, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Order plenty of whatever you like, and tell them to make it double," +said Prale.</p> + +<p>Murk grinned and gave a proper order. Prale was dressed by the time the +breakfast was served. He and Murk made a hearty meal.</p> + +<p>And then Prale lighted his morning cigar and began reading the +newspapers. Murk went around the suite, straightening things and trying +to be of service. He looked at Sidney Prale often; it was plain to be +seen that Prale was Murk's kind of man.</p> + +<p>There came a knock at the door.</p> + +<p>"See who it is, Murk," Sidney Prale said.</p> + +<p>He did not even look up from the paper he was reading. He supposed it +was some hotel employee. Murk stalked across to the door and threw it +open. Two men stood there. Murk flinched when he saw them. He did not +know either of them, but he knew them immediately for what they were. +Murk was a man of experience.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prale in?" one of them asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>Without asking permission, the two men stepped inside, and one of them +closed the door. Prale dropped the newspaper and turned around to face +them.</p> + +<p>"Are you Sidney Prale?" one of them asked.</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>"You are under arrest, Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon?"</p> + +<p>"Under arrest," I said. "You know your rights, perhaps, so you need not +talk unless you wish to do so."</p> + +<p>"You are officers?"</p> + +<p>They showed their shields.</p> + +<p>"Straight from headquarters," one of them replied. "We want to take a +look around your room while we are here."</p> + +<p>"Suppose," said Sidney Prale, "that you tell me, first, why I am under +arrest? Of what crime am I accused?"</p> + +<p>"You are charged with murder."</p> + +<p>"Murder? What crazy joke is this?" Prale cried. "And what particular +person am I accused of murdering?"</p> + +<p>"You are charged with the murder of Mr. Rufus Shepley," the detective +replied.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>EVIDENCE</h3> + + +<p>Many times in his life, Sidney Prale had been greatly surprised, +astonished, shocked. But never had he experienced such a feeling as he +did at this bald announcement of a police detective.</p> + +<p>The statement was like a blow between the eyes. Prale stared at the two +detectives for an instant, his face flushed, and then he began to laugh.</p> + +<p>"It isn't a laughing matter, Mr. Prale," one of the detectives told him.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, but it is so utterly preposterous," Prale replied. "I fail +to see how I can be accused of such a crime. I am not a cut-throat, and +Rufus Shepley was a man I met on shipboard casually, and have seen him +only once since."</p> + +<p>"You can do your talking at headquarters, Mr. Prale," the officer said. +"I'll have to ask you to come along with us. I'll leave my partner here +to look through your rooms."</p> + +<p>"The sooner I get to headquarters, the sooner this thing will be +straightened out," Prale said. "Murk, you will remain here in the rooms +until you hear from me. Let the officer look at anything he wishes to +inspect."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Murk, glaring at the two detectives.</p> + +<p>Prale faced the detective who had been speaking to him.</p> + +<p>"Be with you as soon as I get my hat and coat," he said. "It'll not be +necessary, I hope, to put handcuffs on me."</p> + +<p>"We can go to headquarters in a taxi, and I guess I can handle you if +you try any tricks," the detective replied.</p> + +<p>"There are going to be no tricks tried," Prale said.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, I think I'll keep a close eye on you."</p> + +<p>"Do so, by all means!" Prale retorted.</p> + +<p>"Ain't there anything I can do, sir?" Murk asked.</p> + +<p>"Nothing except to remain in the rooms until you hear from me," Prale +told him. "If I should—er—be detained, I'll probably send for you."</p> + +<p>"Very well, sir."</p> + +<p>One of the detectives left the suite with Prale and walked down the hall +to the elevator. The second officer remained behind to go through +Prale's things in an effort to find evidence.</p> + +<p>Prale said nothing regarding the crime as they journeyed in the taxicab +to police headquarters. His mind was busy, though. This appeared to be a +culmination of the annoyances to which he had been subjected.</p> + +<p>At headquarters he was ushered into a room where a captain of detectives +awaited him.</p> + +<p>"Don't have to talk unless you want to, Mr. Prale, but it probably will +be better for you to do so, and have an end of it," the captain said. +"Why did you kill Rufus Shepley?"</p> + +<p>"That's a fool question. I didn't kill him. I had no idea he was dead +until the officer arrested me for his murder. I scarcely know the man, +captain. I made his acquaintance aboard a ship coming from Central +America, and I met him but once after leaving the ship. He told me his +business and gave me his card, and that is all. I'm ready to answer any +questions you may ask. This is some terrible mistake. I want to talk +about it—have an end of it, as you say."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Prale," the captain said.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prale, if you please. I have not been convicted yet and am entitled +to some courtesy, it seems to me."</p> + +<p>"All right, if you're going to be nasty about it," the captain said. +"But you won't gain anything by taking a high-and-mighty attitude with +me."</p> + +<p>"I simply object to being addressed in the tone you used," Prale +replied. "I am no crook. Let's get down to business. Ask me any +questions you like, and I'd like to ask a few myself."</p> + +<p>"That is fair enough," the captain said, a shrewd expression coming into +his face.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you take it for granted, for a few minutes, that I am innocent, +and tell me when Rufus Shepley was killed, and where, and just how."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Mr. Prale. A hotel attendant found the body at an early hour +this morning. It was in Mr. Shepley's room. The man was fully dressed. +The physicians say that he was killed about eleven o'clock last night."</p> + +<p>"I understand; go on, please."</p> + +<p>"He had been stabbed through the heart," said the captain. "Death had +been instantaneous."</p> + +<p>"But why suspect me of the crime?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"This was found beside the body," the captain replied.</p> + +<p>From the desk before him he picked up a fountain pen. It was an +elaborate pen, chased with gold, and on one side of it was a tiny gold +plate, upon which Prale's name had been engraved.</p> + +<p>"You recognize it?" the captain asked.</p> + +<p>"Certainly; it is mine."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you admit that, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Naturally. But I fail to see how it came to be beside the body of Rufus +Shepley."</p> + +<p>"A man who has committed a murder generally is in a hurry to get away," +said the captain. "It is easy to drop a fountain pen from a pocket, +especially if a man is bending over."</p> + +<p>"I don't even know where Shepley's rooms were located," Prale said. "I +didn't know the pen was missing until this minute——"</p> + +<p>"Possibly not," replied the captain of detectives.</p> + +<p>"And I am quite sure I do not know how it came to be beside the body, +but of one thing I am certain—I did not drop it there."</p> + +<p>"Naturally, you would say that."</p> + +<p>"And where is the motive?" Prale demanded. "Suppose you tell me what you +have against me, and then I'll proceed to tear your shabby evidence to +pieces."</p> + +<p>"We have this particular case so well in hand that I can afford to do +that," the captain said. "Attend me closely and you'll see the futility +of denying your guilt."</p> + +<p>"I am waiting to hear the evidence," Prale said.</p> + +<p>"Very well. In the first place, you have recently spent some years in +Central America."</p> + +<p>"Ten years in Honduras," said Prale.</p> + +<p>"You made a fortune down there. We have communicated with the +authorities there and have learned many things about you. We have +learned that you have a hot temper and know how to handle men. You have +been known to beat natives terribly——"</p> + +<p>"Rot! I was kinder than nine out of ten men of affairs. I have punished +a few natives caught stealing, for instance."</p> + +<p>"Recently, Mr. Prale, you cashed in on all your properties down there +and announced that you were about to leave the country."</p> + +<p>"That is correct," said Prale. "I made the million I went down there to +make. Honduras is all right in some ways, but a man likes to live with +his own kind. My home was in New York, and so, naturally, I decided to +return here."</p> + +<p>"Did you not tell some of your friends and acquaintances, before you +left, that you were returning to New York for a certain purpose."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that I did. My purpose was no secret. I had my pile and +wanted to enjoy life a bit and perhaps I wanted to show off a bit, too. +That was only natural, I suppose. I am proud of my success."</p> + +<p>"Did you not hint that the purpose was something sinister—that you were +going to have revenge, or something like that?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not."</p> + +<p>"Very well; let us get on," said the captain of detectives. "You say +that you first met Rufus Shepley aboard the <i>Manatee</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Never saw him in my life until I met him in the smoking room on the +ship, and never had heard his name before."</p> + +<p>"That is peculiar. Mr. Shepley was a man of large affairs."</p> + +<p>"But I had been in Honduras for ten years, out of touch with men of +affairs in the United States," Prale replied. "I did the most of my +business with firms in South America."</p> + +<p>"Just how did you happen to meet Mr. Shepley?"</p> + +<p>"In the smoking room. We spoke, as passengers are liable to speak to +each other on a boat or a train. We talked of ordinary things and +exchanged cards."</p> + +<p>"Did you happen to <i>play</i> cards?"</p> + +<p>"One evening, for a short time. But the game did not amount to anything, +and we quit early. Are you trying to insinuate that I killed the man as +the outcome of a gambling quarrel?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the sort," said the captain, "Let us get on. You had no +trouble with Mr. Shepley on the ship—no trouble of any sort?"</p> + +<p>"Not the slightest. We parted good friends just before the ship docked. +I went to my stateroom for my things and I suppose that he did the +same."</p> + +<p>"When did you see him next?" the captain asked.</p> + +<p>"Last evening, in the lobby of a hotel on Broadway," said Prale.</p> + +<p>"What happened then?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see where you are trying to get the motive," Prale said. "But I +think that you will agree with me, before we are done, that it is a slim +thing upon which to hang a serious charge of murder. I saw Mr. Shepley +sitting in the lobby and went up and spoke to him. We had been friendly +on the ship, I was feeling lonesome, and was glad to find somebody with +whom I could talk. Besides, he had expressed a desire to see me again."</p> + +<p>"Well, what happened?"</p> + +<p>"Something I am at a loss to understand. He berated me for daring to +address him. He acted like a maniac. I rebuked him for his manner, and +the hotel detective advised us to leave the place until we cooled off, +or something like that."</p> + +<p>"Who left first?" the captain asked.</p> + +<p>"I did. I was angry because there was a crowd around and I hated the +scene that had been caused. I went through the main entrance and stepped +to the curb."</p> + +<p>"Shepley follow you?"</p> + +<p>"Almost immediately."</p> + +<p>"And you went up to him and threatened him, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>Prale thought a moment. "I told him that I didn't know why he had +insulted me, but I didn't want him to do it again."</p> + +<p>"What else?" the captain demanded.</p> + +<p>"I believe I said that I ought to settle with him for what he had said +already."</p> + +<p>"And then——"</p> + +<p>"And then I went on down the street. The hotel detective, I think, heard +me speak to Mr. Shepley."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know that he did," said the captain. "And the hotel detective +also says that you were white with anger, and that you went off down +Broadway like a man with murder in his mind. Do you care to say anything +more?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Prale. "I went down to Madison Square, and there I sat +down on a bench."</p> + +<p>"Meet anybody there?"</p> + +<p>"I did. I met an old friend, Jim Farland, who used to be on your +detective force, and who now runs a private agency."</p> + +<p>"I know Farland well, and I'll send for him."</p> + +<p>"I talked with Jim for some time," Prale went on. "I told him, I +believe, that I seemed to have enemies working in the dark. I told him +about the scene with Shepley."</p> + +<p>"Um! What did Farland have to say?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, except that he couldn't understand why Shepley had acted so. +We talked the matter over for a while and then we separated."</p> + +<p>"Very well. And where did you go next?"</p> + +<p>"I walked up Fifth Avenue," said Prale. "It was after nine o'clock by +that time."</p> + +<p>"Go straight to your hotel?"</p> + +<p>"I did not," Prale said.</p> + +<p>"Care to tell me where you went and what you did?"</p> + +<p>"I have no objections. I walked up the Avenue, and met my cousin, George +Lerton, the broker."</p> + +<p>"Meet him accidentally?"</p> + +<p>"He overtook me—called to me."</p> + +<p>"How long did you talk to him?"</p> + +<p>"For only a few minutes," said Prale. "You must understand that, while +George Lerton is my cousin, we are not exceptionally friendly, and never +have been. We worked for the same firm ten years ago, and after I went +to Honduras, George made some money and got into business for himself; +at least he told me so last night."</p> + +<p>"So you merely shook hands and renewed your acquaintance?" the captain +asked.</p> + +<p>"There was something peculiar about the meeting," Prale replied.</p> + +<p>"In what way?"</p> + +<p>"Lerton urged me to leave New York and remain away. He said that I had +powerful enemies."</p> + +<p>"What about that?"</p> + +<p>"It is what has been puzzling me. So far as I know, I haven't a powerful +enemy on earth. I suppose I have a few business foes in Central America; +a man can't make a million without acquiring some enemies at the same +time. But I don't know of a single influential person who is my enemy."</p> + +<p>"Didn't Lerton explain to you?"</p> + +<p>"He refused to do so," said Prale, "and I told him to go his way and +that I'd go mine."</p> + +<p>"Doesn't that story seem a bit weak to you, Mr. Prale?"</p> + +<p>"It may, but it is a true story. Get Lerton and question him if you +wish. I couldn't make him talk—maybe you can. I'd like to know the +names of these enemies of mine, if I really have them."</p> + +<p>"Anything else lead you to believe you might have enemies?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I have received several anonymous notes, some on board ship and +some since landing, that say something about retribution about to be +visited upon me."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, captain. I never did anything in my life to merit such +retribution. I am sure of that."</p> + +<p>"What time was it when you parted from Lerton?"</p> + +<p>"It must have been about nine thirty or a quarter to ten."</p> + +<p>"Go to your hotel then?"</p> + +<p>"No; I turned east and went to the river."</p> + +<p>"Wasn't that a peculiar thing to do at that hour of the night?"</p> + +<p>"It may seem so to you," said Prale, "and I scarcely can tell why I did +it. I suppose it was because I wanted to think over what George Lerton +had told me, and down in Honduras I always used to walk along the beach +when I was thinking."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"I went out on a dock and sat down in the darkness to think."</p> + +<p>"How long did you remain there?"</p> + +<p>"For more than half an hour; and I had an experience. Another man came +on the dock. He was going to jump into the river, but I convinced him +that suicide was folly, and said I'd give him a job."</p> + +<p>"Did you?"</p> + +<p>"I did," said Prale. "I took him downtown and bought him some clothes, +and then took him to a barber shop, and afterward to the hotel. I +registered him as my valet. I call him Murk. I can prove by him that I +could not have killed Rufus Shepley about eleven o'clock, because I was +in Murk's company at that time."</p> + +<p>"What time did you get back to your hotel with him?"</p> + +<p>"It was a few minutes of midnight. We spent considerable time buying the +clothes and visiting the barber shop."</p> + +<p>"Um!" the captain said. "We'll have to question a few of these people. +It seems peculiar to me that a millionaire would pick up a tramp and +turn him into a trusted servant."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it was peculiar. I can read men, I believe, and I decided that +Murk needed only a chance, and he would make good. He was broke and +friendless, and I was a millionaire and almost as friendless. That's the +only way I can explain it."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to send you to another office under guard, Mr. Prale," the +captain said. "I'll have these people here in a short time, and we'll +question them. Just tell me where you bought the clothes for this man, +and what barber shop you visited."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale did so, and the captain of detectives made notes regarding +the addresses.</p> + +<p>"That will be all for the present, Mr. Prale," he said. "I don't want to +cause any innocent man annoyance, but I can tell you this much—things +look very bad for you!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>LIES AND LIARS</h3> + + +<p>Sidney Prale waited in an adjoining office, a detective sitting in one +corner of it and watching him closely. It was almost a prison room, for +there were steel bars at the windows, and only the one door. Prale +walked to one of the windows and looked down at the street, his arms +folded across his breast, trying to think it out.</p> + +<p>The finding of that fountain pen in the room beside Rufus Shepley's body +was what puzzled and bothered him the most. How on earth could it have +come there? He tried to remember when he had used it last, when he had +last seen it. All that he could recall was that, the afternoon before, +he had used it to write a note in a memorandum book. How and where had +he lost it, and how had it come into Shepley's suite? Had he dropped it +in the hotel lobby during his short quarrel with Shepley, while he was +shaking the man? Had Shepley picked it up later and carried it home with +him? Prale did not think Shepley would have done that under the +circumstances.</p> + +<p>Well, he'd be at liberty soon enough, he told himself. It was natural +for the police to learn of his quarrel with Shepley and to make an +arrest on the strength of that and of finding the fountain pen. His +alibi was perfect; they soon would know that he could not have committed +the crime.</p> + +<p>It was almost an hour later when he was taken back into the other room +again. Prale had spent the time standing before the window, smoking and +trying to think things out. The captain of detectives was before his +desk when Prale was ushered into the office.</p> + +<p>"I've been investigating your story, Mr. Prale," the captain said, +looking at him peculiarly. "It always has been a mystery to me why a man +keen in business and supposed to possess brains goes to pieces when he +commits a crime and tells a tale that is full of holes."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon!" Prale said.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Mr. Prale, over there—and I'll have some of the witnesses +in. I have not questioned them yet, but my men have, and have reported +to me what they said. They have discovered several other things, too."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of anything they may have discovered," Prale told the +captain.</p> + +<p>"Last night, you told Jim Farland that you had had trouble with a bank, +and at the hotel where you first registered after you came ashore, did +you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; don't those things bear out my statement about the powerful +enemies?"</p> + +<p>"We'll see presently," the captain said.</p> + +<p>He spoke to the sergeant in attendance, who immediately left the room, +and presently returned with the president of the trust company. He +looked at Prale with interest, and took the chair the captain +designated.</p> + +<p>"You know this man?" the captain asked.</p> + +<p>"I do," said the banker. "He is Sidney Prale."</p> + +<p>"Ever have any business with him?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prale transferred a fortune to our institution from Honduras," the +banker said. "Yesterday he called at the bank, satisfied me as to his +identity, and made arrangements concerning the money."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prale has said that, for some reason unknown to him, you told him +you did not care to handle his business and didn't want his deposit," +the captain said.</p> + +<p>"I scarcely think that was the way of it," the banker replied. "We would +have been glad to take care of the deposit, which was practically one +million dollars. But Mr. Prale told me he had other plans and that he +would remove the deposit during the day, which he did."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale sat up straight in his chair. "Didn't you tell me that you +didn't want anything to do with me and my money?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," lied the banker. "You said that you wished to put your +funds in other institutions."</p> + +<p>Prale gasped at the man's statement. It was a bare-faced lie if one ever +had been spoken.</p> + +<p>"Why——" Prale began.</p> + +<p>"I do not care to discuss the matter further," the banker interrupted. +"I am a man of standing and cannot afford to be mixed up in a case of +this sort."</p> + +<p>"You'll not be mixed up in it," the captain said. "I just wanted to show +Mr. Prale that there were some holes in his story. That is all, thank +you!"</p> + +<p>The banker left the room quickly, and Prale sprang to his feet, his face +livid.</p> + +<p>"That man lied!" he exclaimed. "You could read it in his face! I don't +know why he lied, but he did!"</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Mr. Prale, and let's have more witnesses in," the captain +said.</p> + +<p>Once more he spoke to the sergeant, and again the latter went out, this +time to return with the manager of the first hotel at which Prale +registered.</p> + +<p>"Know this man?" the captain asked.</p> + +<p>"He registered at my place as Sidney Prale, of Honduras."</p> + +<p>"Well, what about it?"</p> + +<p>"We furnished him with a suite on the fifth floor," the hotel manager +said. "But he gave it up."</p> + +<p>"Gave it up!" Prale cried. "Why, you called me into your office and told +me to get out, that the suite has been reserved and that there was none +vacant in the house. The bell boy can testify that he called me into the +office."</p> + +<p>"Certainly he called you into my office, and at my request," the manager +said. "I wanted to know why you were leaving, whether any of the +employees had treated you with discourtesy. You told me that you had +been served poorly in the dining room the evening before, and that you +were done with the hotel!"</p> + +<p>Prale sprang to his feet. "That's a lie, and you know it!" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Captain," said the hotel man, "do I have to sit here and be insulted by +a man charged with a heinous crime?"</p> + +<p>"That will be all, thank you," the captain said.</p> + +<p>The hotel manager hurried from the room, and the captain grinned at +Prale.</p> + +<p>"So he lied, too, did he?" the captain asked.</p> + +<p>"He did!" Prale cried.</p> + +<p>"There seems to be an epidemic of falsehood, to hear you tell it. +However, let us get on with the affair."</p> + +<p>Once more he instructed the sergeant, and this time the man brought in +the hotel detective who had witnessed the trouble between Prale and +Shepley.</p> + +<p>The hotel detective told the story much as Prale himself had told it, +except that he made it appear that Prale had threatened Rufus Shepley on +the walk in front of the hotel before they separated.</p> + +<p>"Did you pick up a fountain pen of mine after I had gone?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"I did not."</p> + +<p>"See anybody else pick it up?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said the hotel detective; and he went out of the room.</p> + +<p>The sergeant next ushered in George Lerton. Prale sat up straight in his +chair again. Here was where his proper alibi began, with the exception +of Jim Farland. George Lerton's face was pale as he sat down at the end +of the desk.</p> + +<p>"Know this man?" the captain asked.</p> + +<p>"He is my cousin, Sidney Prale."</p> + +<p>"How long has he been away from New York?"</p> + +<p>"About ten years," Lerton said. "He returned day before yesterday, I +believe. I saw his name in the passenger list."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prale says that he met you last night on Fifth Avenue, and that you +told him he had some powerful enemies seeking to cause him trouble, and +advised him to leave New York and remain away."</p> + +<p>"Why—why this is not so!" Lerton cried. "I haven't seen him until this +moment. I would have looked him up, but did not know at what hotel he +was stopping, and thought that he'd try to find me."</p> + +<p>Prale was out of his chair again, his face flaming. "You mean to sit +there and tell me that you didn't talk to me on Fifth Avenue last +night?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course I never talked to you, Sid. I never saw you. What are +you trying to do, Sid? Why have you done this thing? We never were close +to each other, and yet we are cousins, and I hate to see you in +trouble."</p> + +<p>"Stop your hypocritical sniveling!" Prale cried. "You are lying and you +know it! You saw me last night——"</p> + +<p>"But I didn't!"</p> + +<p>"You did—and tried to get me to run away, and wouldn't tell me your +reason for it."</p> + +<p>George Lerton licked at his lips and looked appealingly at the captain +of detectives.</p> + +<p>"I—I am a man of standing," he whimpered. "I am a broker—here is my +card. This man is my cousin, but I cannot lie to shield him. I never saw +him last night, and did not speak to him."</p> + +<p>Lerton got up and started for the door, and Sidney Prale did not make a +move to stop him.</p> + +<p>"It appears that your story is full of flaws," the captain said. "A +little of it is true, however; you did meet Jim Farland and talk to him +in Madison Square, and remained for the length of time you said. Jim has +told me that much. But he does not know where you went and what you did +after leaving him. What we are interested in is what you did in the +neighborhood of eleven o'clock last night. That is when Rufus Shepley +was killed. And now we'll have in that new valet of yours."</p> + +<p>There was a snarl on Murk's face as he came into the room and sat down +in the chair at the end of the desk. Murk did not like policemen and +detectives, and did not care whether they knew of his dislike. He +flashed a glance at Sidney Prale and then faced the captain.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Tell us where and how you met Mr. Prale first, what happened, and bring +the story right up to date," the captain commanded.</p> + +<p>"Well, I went down to the river to jump in," Murk said, as if stating a +simple fact. "I was tired of fightin' to live and had decided to end it +all. Mr. Prale grabbed me and hauled me back, and then he made me see +that suicide was foolish. He offered me a job, and I agreed to take it. +He was the first man who had treated me decent since I——"</p> + +<p>"Never mind that; get down to cases."</p> + +<p>"Well, we walked up the street and got a taxicab and drove downtown, and +Mr. Prale bought me some clothes."</p> + +<p>"What time was it when you met him?"</p> + +<p>"I guess it was about ten o'clock. We bought the clothes, as I said, and +then we went to a barber shop, and I got a hair cut and a shave. After +that we went to Mr. Prale's hotel and up to his rooms. We got to bed +pretty quick."</p> + +<p>"What time did you reach the hotel?"</p> + +<p>"About midnight."</p> + +<p>"What happened after you went to bed?"</p> + +<p>"Went to sleep," said Murk.</p> + +<p>"Never mind the jokes," the captain rebuked sternly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I stayed awake about an hour or so thinking how lucky I was, and +then I went to sleep. I woke up early in the mornin' and got up and +dressed. Mr. Prale got up later, and we ate breakfast in the suite. Then +the cops came. One of them took Mr. Prale away, and he told me to stay +in the rooms until sent for. The other cop rummaged around the rooms and +then left."</p> + +<p>Prale bent forward. "There is one man who can speak the truth," he told +the captain. "His story corresponds with the one I told you, doesn't it? +And doesn't it show that I could not have murdered Rufus Shepley at +eleven o'clock last night?"</p> + +<p>"The story is all right, and it certainly corresponds with yours," +replied the captain. "Just a minute!" He faced Murk again. "Who are you +and where did you come from?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"I ain't anybody in particular. I've been hangin' around town a couple +of months doin' odd jobs. Before that I was bummin' around the country +workin' whenever I got a chance."</p> + +<p>"You felt grateful to Mr. Prale for giving you a job and a home, didn't +you?"</p> + +<p>"Sure!" said Murk. "He talked to me decent, like I was a man instead of +a dog."</p> + +<p>"Well, you don't seem to have much standing in the world," the captain +said. "Your word, against that of several prominent citizens, does not +carry much weight. You must see that. And there happens to be something +else, too. I had the clothing merchant and the barber you mentioned look +you over while you were in the other room. The clothing merchant says he +sold some clothes a couple of days ago, the ones you are wearing now, +but that he certainly did not sell them last night, and the barber +swears that he never saw you before!"</p> + +<p>"Why, the dirty liars!" Murk cried.</p> + +<p>"Did they say that?" Prale demanded.</p> + +<p>"They did," the captain replied. "And they said it in such a way that I +believe them. Prale, your alibi is shot full of holes. You told the +truth about meeting Jim Farland, and that much is in your favor. Aside +from that, we have only the testimony of a tramp you said you picked up +and gave a job. You had plenty of time to kill Rufus Shepley. You had +ample time to concoct the story and get this man to learn it, so he +could tell it and match yours. You are worth a million dollars, and this +man probably was ready to lie a little for a wad of money."</p> + +<p>"He tells the truth——"</p> + +<p>"It's too thin, Prale! And don't forget the fountain pen that was found +beside Shepley's body, either! As for you Murk, or whatever your right +name is, you are under suspicion yourself."</p> + +<p>"What's that?" Murk snarled.</p> + +<p>"You are under suspicion, I said. You might have assisted at the murder, +for all I know. I don't know when you met Mr. Prale, or where, but I do +know that you got back to the hotel with Mr. Prale about midnight—an +hour after the crime was committed."</p> + +<p>"You can't hang anything like that on me!" Murk snarled. "All the cops +in the world can't do it! I met Mr. Prale just like I said, and he +bought me the clothes and took me to the barber shop, no matter what the +store man and the barber say! It's a black lie they're tellin'! Mr. +Prale is a gentleman——"</p> + +<p>"That'll be enough!" the captain exclaimed. "I'm going to allow you to +go, Murk, but you are to remain in Mr. Prale's rooms and take care of +his things. And you can bet that you'll be watched, too."</p> + +<p>"I don't care who watches me!"</p> + +<p>"As for you, Mr. Prale, you'll have to go to a cell, I think. The +evidence against you is such that I cannot turn you loose. You must +realize that yourself."</p> + +<p>Prale realized it. His face was white and his hands were shaking. He +looked across the room at Murk.</p> + +<p>"You go back to the hotel, Murk, and do as the captain says," he +ordered. "I'll come out of this all right in time. There are a lot of +things I cannot understand, but we'll solve the puzzle before we're +done."</p> + +<p>"Ain't there anything I can do, sir?" Murk asked.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, later. I'll engage a detective and a lawyer, and they may +visit you at the hotel. I'll send you money by the lawyer. That's all +now, Murk."</p> + +<p>Murk started to speak, then thought better of it and went from the room +slowly, anger flushing his face. Sidney Prale faced the captain of +detectives again.</p> + +<p>"No matter what you think, I am innocent, and know that my innocence can +be proved," Prale said. "You are only doing your duty, of course. I want +Jim Farland to attend to things for me. He is an old friend of mine and +he is an honest man. Will you send for him?"</p> + +<p>"He's waiting in the other room now," the captain said. "I'll let you +have a conference with him before I order you into a cell!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>PUZZLED</h3> + + +<p>Once more Prale was taken to the room in which he had first waited—the +room with the barred windows. This time the watching detective was +missing. When Jim Farland entered, he found Prale pacing back and forth +from one corner to the other. He was trying to think out his problem, +wondering what it all meant, why the witnesses had lied, and what would +be the outcome.</p> + +<p>Farland rushed into the room, grasped Prale by the hand, led him across +from the door, and forced him into a chair. This done, the loyal +detective sat down facing him.</p> + +<p>"Now let us have it from beginning to end!" Farland commanded. "I don't +want you to leave out a thing. I want to get to the bottom of this as +soon as possible."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale started at the beginning and talked rapidly, setting forth +all the facts, while Jim Farland sat back in his chair and watched him. +Now and then he frowned as if displeased at the recital.</p> + +<p>"Well, there is something rotten," he said, when Prale had concluded his +statement. "I want you to know, Sid, that I believe you. You're not the +sort of man to kill a fellow like Rufus Shepley over a little spat. I +believe your story about this Murk, too. But why should everybody have +it in for you?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't the slightest idea," Prale answered. "I must, indeed, have +some powerful enemies, but I cannot imagine who they are, and I know of +no reason why they should be against me. I'm simply up in the air."</p> + +<p>"You keep right on trying to figure it out," Farland advised him. "You +might think of something in time that will give me a start in my work."</p> + +<p>"Why did the banker and hotel manager lie?" Prale asked. "Why did the +clothing-store man and the barber lie? Why did George Lerton declare +that he did not see me and speak to me last night? And how did my +fountain pen get into Shepley's room?"</p> + +<p>"Huh! When we know a few of those things, we'll know enough to wipe this +charge away from your name," Jim Farland told him. "It's my job to +answer those little questions for you. And now—you want a lawyer, I +suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Can you suggest one?"</p> + +<p>"The greatest criminal lawyer in town is named Coadley. I'll send him +right up here after I explain about this case to him. Thank Heaven, you +have plenty of money! A poor man in a fix like this would be on his way +to the electric chair. Coadley can fix you up, if anybody can. He can +make a sinner look like a saint."</p> + +<p>"But I'm not guilty!"</p> + +<p>"I understand that, Sid, but it doesn't hurt an innocent man to have the +best attorney he can get. I'll send you Coadley. Give me a note to that +fellow Murk, for I may want him to help me. Sure he's loyal to you?"</p> + +<p>"I never saw him until last night, but I'd bank on him," said Prale. +"He'll stand by us!"</p> + +<p>"Fair enough! You write that note right now, and try to get out on bail. +Tell Coadley to get busy on that right away. Get out under police +supervision, under guard—any way—but get out!"</p> + +<p>Jim Farland hurried away, and Sidney Prale was conducted through dark +corridors to a cell, where he had the experience of hearing a door clang +shut behind him and the bolts shot. Prale never had expected to get into +jail when he was worth a million dollars, and most certainly he never +had expected to face a charge of murder.</p> + +<p>He was allowed to send out for some luncheon, and it was more than an +hour before Coadley, the attorney, arrived. Prale was taken into the +consultation room.</p> + +<p>He liked Coadley, and he liked the way in which Coadley regarded him +before he spoke.</p> + +<p>"I believe that you are innocent," the lawyer said.</p> + +<p>"The job will be to make other people think that way," Prale said, with +a laugh. The attorney's words had been like a ray of hope to him. "Did +Jim Farland tell you the story?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I'll try to get you out on bail, or get you out in some manner," +Coadley said. "This appears to be a peculiar case. It is not only the +charge of murder; it is the fact that several men told falsehoods about +you. You haven't an idea who your enemies are?"</p> + +<p>"Not the slightest."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad that Jim Farland is working on this case for you, Mr. Prale. +He is a good man, and I may need a lot of help. I'll get my own +investigators busy right away, too, and we'll coöperate with Jim +Farland. You go back to your cell and take it easy. I'll get you out +before night, if I can."</p> + +<p>Lawyer Coadley was a shrewd man, and his methods were the delight of +other attorneys and jurists. He lost no time when he was confronted with +a case that held unusual interest. Within an hour he was in court, +acting as if fighting mad.</p> + +<p>Had a reputable citizen any rights, he demanded? Were the police to be +allowed to throw an innocent man into jail simply because there had been +a crime committed and somebody had to be accused? His client did not +care for an examination at this time, he said. Arraignment and a plea of +not guilty were all right, however.</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale was arraigned, and the plea of not guilty was made and +entered. Then Coadley began his fight to have Prale admitted to bail.</p> + +<p>The district attorney opposed it, of course, since that was his +business. The judge listened to the statement of the captain of +detectives. He heard Coadley say that his client could put up cash bail +in any amount, and was willing to abide by any provisions. Finally the +judge freed Prale on cash bail of fifty thousand dollars, but designated +that the bail could be recalled at any time, and that he was to be in +the custody of a member of the police department continually.</p> + +<p>Coadley agreed, and left the jail with his client, a detective going +with them to stand guard. The detective had explicit orders. He was not +to annoy Sidney Prale. He was to withdraw out of earshot when Prale +talked with his attorney or anybody else with whom he wished to converse +privately. He was to allow Prale to come and go as he wished, except +that Prale was not to be allowed to leave the limits of the city. If he +attempted that, he was to be put under arrest immediately and taken to +the nearest police station.</p> + +<p>Prale read the newspapers as he rode to the hotel with Coadley and the +detective. The story of the crime was in all of them, the tale of his +quarrel with Rufus Shepley and of the finding of the fountain pen, and +the inevitable statement that the police were on the track of more and +better evidence.</p> + +<p>Prale expected to be ordered out of the hotel, but he was not, the +management stipulating only that he should not use the public dining +room. He went up to the suite, to find Murk there, sitting in front of a +window and glaring down at the street.</p> + +<p>A cot was moved in for the use of the detective. Coadley held another +conference with Prale, and then left to get busy on the case. Murk +regarded the detective with scorn, until Prale explained the situation +to him. After that, there was a sort of armed neutrality between them. +Murk had no special liking for detectives, and he was the sort of man +detectives do not like.</p> + +<p>Presently Jim Farland arrived.</p> + +<p>"Well, Sid, Coadley got you out of jail and home before I could get +here, did he?" Farland said. "I suppose I'll not need that note of yours +now. Is this Mr. Murk?"</p> + +<p>"It is," Prale said. "Murk, meet Jim Farland. He's a detective friend of +mine."</p> + +<p>"Gosh, Mr. Prale, ain't there anybody but cops in this town?" Murk +asked.</p> + +<p>"Jim is a private cop, and he has a job now to get me out of this +scrape," said Prale. "He's a friend of mine, I said."</p> + +<p>"I guess that makes it different," was Murk's only comment.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll get along all right," Farland put in. "I'm going to need you +in my business, Murk. I've told the folks at police headquarters that +I'd be responsible for you, so we can work together without being +pestered. Understand?"</p> + +<p>Murk grinned at him. "You just show me how to help get Mr. Prale out of +this mess, and I'll sure help," he said.</p> + +<p>Farland turned toward the police detective. "Go out into the hall and +take a walk," he suggested. "Mr. Prale will give you a couple of +cigars."</p> + +<p>The detective took the cigars and went out into the hall, smiling. He +had no fear of Sidney Prale slipping down a fire escape, or anything +like that. Jim Farland was responsible, and Jim Farland was known to the +force as a man who felt his responsibilities.</p> + +<p>"Now we'll get busy and dig to the bottom of this mess," Farland said. +"Been thinking it over, Sid? Know any reason why anybody should be out +after you?"</p> + +<p>"I can't think of a thing," Prale replied. "I suppose I made a few +business enemies down in Honduras, but none powerful enough to cause me +all this trouble. I can't understand it, Jim. It must be something big +to cause all those men to lie as they did."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it is, and maybe it is very simple when we get right down to it," +Farland said. "I've started right in to work it out. Let me see those +notes and messages you received."</p> + +<p>Prale got them from the dresser drawer and handed them to Farland. The +detective looked them over, even going as far as to use a magnifying +glass.</p> + +<p>"Don't laugh!" Farland said. "A lot of folks make fun of the fiction +detective who goes around with a magnifying glass in one hand, but, +believe me, a good glass shows up a lot of things. It isn't showing up +anything here, though. Where do you suppose these things came from?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Prale.</p> + +<p>"Got the first one on the ship, did you?"</p> + +<p>"The first two. One was pinned to the pillow in my stateroom, and the +second was pasted on the end of my suit case as I was landing. The +mucilage was still wet."</p> + +<p>"Didn't suspect anybody?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't think much about it at first," said Prale. "I thought it was a +joke, or that somebody was making a mistake."</p> + +<p>"Sid, have you told me everything?"</p> + +<p>Prale remembered Kate Gilbert and flushed.</p> + +<p>"I see that you haven't," Farland said. "Out with it! Some little thing +may give me the start I am looking for."</p> + +<p>Prale told about Kate Gilbert, about the piece of paper she had dropped +as she got into the limousine, about the peculiar way she acted toward +him, and the attitude of Marie, the misnamed maid.</p> + +<p>"Um!" Farland grunted. "We had one thing lacking in this case—and we +have that. The woman!"</p> + +<p>"But I only met her down there and danced with her twice."</p> + +<p>"Don't know anything about her, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Not a thing. It was understood that she belonged to a wealthy New York +family and was traveling for the benefit of her health. At least, that +was the rumor."</p> + +<p>"I know of a lot of wealthy families in this town, but I never heard of +a Kate Gilbert," Farland said. "I think I'll make a little +investigation."</p> + +<p>"But why on earth should she be taking a hand in my affairs?" Prale +wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"Why should you be accused of murder? Why should men tell lies about +you?" Farland asked. "Excuse me for a time; I'm going down to the hotel +office to find out a few things."</p> + +<p>Farland hurried away, and the police detective entered the suite again +and made himself comfortable. Jim Farland went directly to the office of +the hotel and looked at a city directory. He found no Kate Gilbert +listed, except a seamstress who resided in Brooklyn. The telephone +directory gave him no help.</p> + +<p>But that was not conclusive, of course. A thousand Kate Gilberts might +be living in New York, in apartments or at hotels, without having a +private telephone.</p> + +<p>"Have to get a line on that girl!" Farland told himself. "She's got +something to do with this. I'll bet my reputation on it."</p> + +<p>Jim Farland went to the smoking room and sat down in a corner. He tried +to think it out, groped for a starting point. He considered all the +persons connected with the case, one at a time.</p> + +<p>Farland knew that Sidney Prale had told the truth. Why, then, had George +Lerton told a falsehood about meeting Prale and talking to him, when the +truth would have helped to establish an alibi? Why had the clothing +merchant and the barber lied?</p> + +<p>"I suppose I'll have to use stern methods," Farland told himself. "Old +police stuff, I suppose. Well, I'm the man that can do it, take it from +me!"</p> + +<p>He went up to Prale's suite again.</p> + +<p>"Can't find out anything about that woman," he reported. "And I want to +get in touch with her. Keep your eyes peeled for her, Sid, and arrange +for me to catch sight of her, if you can. Now you'd better take a little +rest. You've been through an experience to-day. I'm going out to get +busy, and I'm going to take Murk with me."</p> + +<p>"What for?" Murk demanded.</p> + +<p>"You're going to help me, old boy."</p> + +<p>"Me work with a cop?" Murk exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"To help Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's different," Murk said. "Wait until I get my hat."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>ON THE TRAIL</h3> + + +<p>Farland engaged a taxicab, bade Murk get into it, got in himself, and +they started downtown. The detective leaned back against the cushions +and regarded Murk closely. He knew that Sidney Prale had guessed +correctly, that Murk was the sort of man who would prove loyal to a +friend.</p> + +<p>"This is a bad business," Farland said.</p> + +<p>"It's tough," said Murk.</p> + +<p>"If it was anybody but Sid Prale, I'd say he was guilty. It sure looks +bad. And there is that fountain pen!"</p> + +<p>"Somebody's tryin' to do him dirt," Murk said.</p> + +<p>"There's no question about that, Murk, old boy. Well, we are going to +get him out of it, aren't we?"</p> + +<p>"I'll do anything I can."</p> + +<p>"Like him, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Met him less than twenty-four hours ago, but I wish I'd met him or +somebody like him ten years ago," Murk replied. "If it hadn't been for +Mr. Prale, I'd be a stiff up in the morgue this minute."</p> + +<p>"Strong for him, are you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I am!"</p> + +<p>"Um!" said Jim Farland. "We're going to get along fine together. I was +strong for Sid Prale ten years ago, before he went away. And I'll bet +that, when we get to the bottom of this, we'll find something mighty +interesting."</p> + +<p>The taxicab stopped at a corner, and Farland and Murk got out. Farland +paid the chauffeur and watched him drive away, and then he led Murk +around the corner.</p> + +<p>"Know where you are?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Sure. Right over there is the little shop where Mr. Prale bought me my +new clothes," Murk said.</p> + +<p>"Fine! That goes to show that Prale told the truth. Well, Murk, you +stand right here by the curb and watch the front door of that shop. And +when you see me beckon to you, you come running."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>Jim Farland hurried across the street, opened the door of the little +shop, and entered. The proprietor came from the rear room when he heard +the door slammed.</p> + +<p>He knew Jim Farland and had known him for years. There were few +old-timers in that section of the city who did not know Jim Farland. The +man who faced the detective now was small, stoop-shouldered, a sort of a +rat of a man who had considerably more money to his credit than his +appearance indicated, and who was not eager to have the world in general +know how he had acquired some of it.</p> + +<p>"Evenin', Mr. Farland," he said. "Anything I can do for you, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe you can and maybe you can't," Farland told him. "You been +behaving yourself lately?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Mr. Farland? I've been trying to get along, but +business ain't been any too good the last year."</p> + +<p>"Save that song for somebody who doesn't know better!" Farland advised +him. "Change the record when you play me a tune."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Farland?"</p> + +<p>"Remember a little deal a couple of years ago?" Farland demanded +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I—I——"</p> + +<p>"I see that you do. One little word from me in the proper quarter, old +man, and you'll be doing time. You've sailed pretty close to the edge of +the law a lot of times, and once, I know, you slipped over the edge a +bit."</p> + +<p>"I—I hope, sir——"</p> + +<p>"You'd better hope that you can keep on the good side of me," Jim +Farland told him.</p> + +<p>"If there is anything I can do, Mr. Farland——"</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose you could tell the truth?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to give you a chance. If you tell the truth, I may forget +something I know, for the time being. But, if you shouldn't tell the +truth—well, my memory is excellent when I want to exercise it."</p> + +<p>Farland stepped to the door and beckoned, and Murk hurried across the +street and entered the shop.</p> + +<p>"Ever see this man before?" Farland demanded.</p> + +<p>The storekeeper licked his lips, and a sudden gleam came into his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I—he seems to look familiar, but I can't say."</p> + +<p>"You'd better say!" Farland exclaimed. "I want the truth out of you, or +something will drop. And when it drops, it is liable to hit you on the +toes. Get me?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know what to do," wailed the merchant.</p> + +<p>"Tell the truth!"</p> + +<p>"But—there is something peculiar about——"</p> + +<p>"Out with it! Know this man?"</p> + +<p>"I've seen him before," the merchant replied.</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"La-last night, sir."</p> + +<p>"Now we are getting at it!" Jim Farland exclaimed. "When did you see him +last night, and where, and what happened?"</p> + +<p>"He was in the store, Mr. Farland, about half past ten or a quarter of +eleven o'clock. He—he bought those clothes he's got on."</p> + +<p>"Pay for them?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Who paid for them?" Farland demanded.</p> + +<p>"A gentleman who was with him," said the merchant.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Know the gentleman?"</p> + +<p>"I saw him to-day—at police headquarters."</p> + +<p>"And you said that you never had seen him before—that he was not here +last night with this man. Why did you lie?"</p> + +<p>Jim Farland roared the question and smashed a fist down upon the +counter. The little merchant flinched.</p> + +<p>"Out with it!" Farland cried. "Tell the truth, you little crook! I want +to know why you lied, who told you to lie. I want to know all about it, +and mighty quick!"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't understand this," the merchant whimpered. "I was afraid of +making a mistake."</p> + +<p>"You'll make a mistake right now if you don't tell the truth!" Jim +Farland told him.</p> + +<p>"I—I got a letter, sir, by messenger. I got it early this morning, +sir."</p> + +<p>"Well, what about it?"</p> + +<p>"The letter was typewritten, sir, and was not signed. There was a +thousand dollars in bills in the letter, sir, and it said that a Mr. +Prale had just been arrested for murder, and that he probably would try +to make an alibi by saying that he was here last night and bought some +clothes for another man. The letter said that I was to take the money +and ask no questions, and that, if I was called to police headquarters, +I was to say the man had not been here and that I never had seen him in +my life before."</p> + +<p>"And you fell for it? You wanted that thousand, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"I'll show you the letter, Mr. Farland. There was no signature at all, +and the paper was just common paper. I—I thought it was politics, sir."</p> + +<p>"You did, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Thought it had something to do with politics, sir. I thought the letter +and money might have come from political headquarters. I was afraid to +tell the truth at the police station."</p> + +<p>"You mean you have been so crooked for years that you're afraid of +everybody who has a little influence," Farland told him.</p> + +<p>"I thought it was orders, sir, from somebody who had better be obeyed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I understand, all right. Well, I scarcely think it was politics. +You've been played, that's all. Get me that letter!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>The merchant got it and handed it over, together with the envelope. He +had told the truth. The letter was typewritten on an ordinary piece of +paper, and the envelope was of the sort anybody could purchase at a +corner drug store. Farland put the letter in his pocket.</p> + +<p>"Here between ten thirty and a quarter of eleven, was he?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said the merchant.</p> + +<p>"All right! You remember that, and don't change your mind again, if you +know what is good for you. You'll hear from me in the morning. That's +all!"</p> + +<p>Jim Farland went from the store with a grinning Murk at his heels, +leaving a badly frightened small merchant behind him.</p> + +<p>"I know that bird," he told Murk. "He's a fence, or I miss my guess. +It's no job at all to run a bluff on a small-time crook like that. And +now we'll run down and see that barber."</p> + +<p>They engaged another taxicab and made a trip. Once more Murk remained +outside, and Jim Farland entered and beckoned the barber to him.</p> + +<p>"Step outside the door where nobody will overhear," he said. "I want to +ask you something."</p> + +<p>The barber stepped outside, wondering what was coming. This man knew Jim +Farland, too, and he knew that a call from him might mean trouble.</p> + +<p>"Trying to see how far you can go and keep out of jail?" Farland +demanded.</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know what you mean, sir."</p> + +<p>"Trying to run a bluff on me? On me?" Farland gasped. "You'd better talk +straight. Do you expect to run a barber shop by day and a gambling joint +by night all your life?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I——"</p> + +<p>"Don't lie!" Farland interrupted. "I know all about that little back +room. Maybe I'm not on the city police force now, but you know me! I've +got a bunch of friends on the force, and if I told a certain sergeant +about your little game and said that I wanted to have you run in he +wouldn't hesitate a minute."</p> + +<p>"But what have I done, Mr. Farland?" the barber gasped. "I've always +been friendly to you."</p> + +<p>"I know it. But are you going to keep right on being friendly?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, sir."</p> + +<p>"Willing to help me out in a little matter if I forget about that +gambling?"</p> + +<p>"I'll do the best I can, Mr. Farland."</p> + +<p>"Then answer a few questions. Did you get a typewritten letter this +morning, with a wad of money in it?"</p> + +<p>The barber's face turned white.</p> + +<p>"Answer me!" Farland commanded.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I—I got such a letter and I don't know what to make of it," the +barber said. "I've got the letter and money in my desk right now. There +wasn't any signature, and I didn't know where the letter came from, or +what it meant."</p> + +<p>"Then why did you do what the letter told you to do?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"I—I don't understand."</p> + +<p>Farland motioned, and Murk now stepped around the corner.</p> + +<p>"Know this man?" Farland demanded.</p> + +<p>"I—I've seen him before."</p> + +<p>"That letter told you to go to police headquarters, if requested to do +so, and deny you knew this man, didn't it? It told you not to help a man +named Sidney Prale, arrested for murder, to make his alibi by telling +that he was here with this man last night about eleven o'clock, didn't +it?"</p> + +<p>"Y-yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"And you did just what the letter told you?"</p> + +<p>"I was afraid not to do it, sir. I didn't know where that letter came +from, you see."</p> + +<p>"Had an idea it came from some boss, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't know and I didn't dare take a chance, Mr. Farland. You know +how it is?"</p> + +<p>"I know how it is with a man who has busted a few laws and knows he +ought to be pinched!"</p> + +<p>"Did I make some sort of a mistake, sir? What should I do now?"</p> + +<p>"Something you don't do very often—tell the truth," Jim Farland +replied. "How about this man?"</p> + +<p>"He came here with the other gentleman last night about eleven o'clock, +sir. He got a hair cut and a shave, and the other gentleman paid the +bill."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. Sure about the time?"</p> + +<p>"I know that it was almost a quarter after eleven when they left the +shop."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad you can speak the truth. Get on your hat and coat!"</p> + +<p>"I—what do you mean, sir? Am I arrested?"</p> + +<p>"No. Get that letter and come with me. I want you to tell the truth to +somebody else, that's all."</p> + +<p>The frightened barber got his hat and coat and the letter, and followed +Jim Farland and Murk to the corner. There Farland engaged another +taxicab, and ordered the chauffeur to drive back to the little clothing +store.</p> + +<p>"Running up a nice expense bill for Prale, but he won't care," Jim +Farland said to Murk.</p> + +<p>He compelled the merchant to shut up his shop and get into the cab, and +then the chauffeur drove to police headquarters. Farland had telephoned +from the clothing store, and the captain of detectives was waiting for +him. He ushered the merchant and the barber into the office, looked down +at the captain, and grinned.</p> + +<p>"What's all this?" the captain demanded.</p> + +<p>"It's Sid Prale's alibi," Jim Farland said. "These two gents want to +tell you how they lied to-day, and why they lied. It is an interesting +story."</p> + +<p>The captain sat up straight in his chair, while Jim Farland removed his +hat, sat down, motioned for Murk to do the same, and made himself +comfortable.</p> + +<p>"About that alibi," Farland said. "I know that George Lerton lied about +meeting Sid Prale on Fifth Avenue, but you don't, and so we'll let that +pass for the time being and get to it later. I just want to show you now +that Prale's story about meeting this man Murk was a true tale. This +clothing merchant is ready to say now that Prale and Murk were in his +place last night about half past ten, and that Murk got his clothes +there. And this barber is ready to swear that Prale and Murk arrived at +his shop about a quarter of eleven or eleven, and did not leave until a +quarter after eleven. Prale and Murk got to the hotel, as you know, at +midnight. Prale couldn't have gone to that other hotel, murdered Rufus +Shepley, and got to his suite by twelve o'clock, not if he left that +barber shop far downtown at a quarter after eleven, could he?"</p> + +<p>"Scarcely," said the captain.</p> + +<p>"Very well. Ask these two gents some questions."</p> + +<p>The captain did. He read the two typewritten letters and he understood +how the fear of a political power might have been in the hearts of the +two men. He rebuked them and allowed them to go.</p> + +<p>"Well, it looks a little better for Mr. Prale," the captain said, "but +this isn't the end, by any means. Remember that fountain pen of his that +was found beside the body of Rufus Shepley!"</p> + +<p>"I didn't say that it was the end," Jim Farland declared. "I don't want +it given out that any evidence has been found that is in Prale's favor. +I just want you to whisper in the ear of the court that the alibi looks +good, and let it go at that. There's something behind this case, and we +want to find out what it is. Prale is out on bail—and let it go at +that, as far as the public is concerned."</p> + +<p>"I grasp you," said the captain. "You want these enemies of his to think +he is in deep water, so they'll be off guard and you can do your work."</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said Jim Farland.</p> + +<p>"Good enough. I'll do my part."</p> + +<p>"Know anything about a woman calling herself Kate Gilbert?"</p> + +<p>"Never heard of her."</p> + +<p>Farland explained what Prale had told him. The captain fingered his +mustache.</p> + +<p>"Several thousand women in this town answer that general description," +he said. "I'm afraid I can't help you, unless you can pick her up."</p> + +<p>"That's what I'll do as soon as I can," Farland replied. "If I can get +my eyes on her once, I'll trail her and find out a few things. She may +have nothing to do with this, and she may have a great deal to do with +it. What do you know about George Lerton?"</p> + +<p>"Shady broker," the captain replied. "Never done anything outside the +law, as far as I know, but he's come pretty close to it. I'd hate to +have him handling my money."</p> + +<p>"Well, he lied about meeting Prale. He did his best to get Prale to run +away from town. That was a couple of hours before the murder, of course, +so it probably had nothing to do with that. But why should he try to get +Prale out of town? And, being a man of that sort, why did he say that he +wouldn't handle Prale's funds? You'd think a man of his sort would like +nothing better than to get his fingers tangled up in that million."</p> + +<p>"I'll have a man take a look at George Lerton."</p> + +<p>"Don't strain yourself," said Jim Farland. "I'm going to take a look at +him myself, the first thing to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>He left headquarters with Murk, and this time he did not engage a +taxicab. He walked up the street, Murk at his side, and puffed at a +cigar furiously.</p> + +<p>"Well, Murk, we've made a good start," Farland said, after a time.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"How do you like working with a detective now?"</p> + +<p>"Aw, you ain't a regular detective," Murk said.</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>"I mean you ain't an ordinary dick. You got some sense."</p> + +<p>"Thanks for the compliment. I know men who would dispute the statement," +Farland told him.</p> + +<p>They walked and walked, and after a time were on Fifth Avenue and going +toward the hotel where Prale had his suite. Suddenly, just ahead of +them, they saw Sidney Prale and the man from headquarters. They hurried +to catch up with them.</p> + +<p>"What's the idea?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"Needed a walk," Prale replied. "Didn't feel like going to bed, and a +walk would do me good, I knew."</p> + +<p>"I'll have some things to tell you in the morning," Farland said. "But +I'm not going to tell you to-night, except to say that it is good news, +and I'm issuing orders to Murk not to tell you, either. I want you to +forget the thing and get some rest."</p> + +<p>"All right," Prale said, laughing; and then he stopped still and gasped.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"Kate Gilbert!"</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"There—just getting into that limousine. See her? The girl with the red +hat!"</p> + +<p>"I see her," Farland replied, signaling the chauffeur of a passing +taxicab. "This is what I was hoping for, Sid. Go on to the hotel with +Murk and guard. I'm going to find out a few things about Miss Kate +Gilbert!"</p> + +<p>He gave the chauffeur of the taxicab whispered directions, and then +sprang into the machine.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>CONCERNING KATE GILBERT</h3> + + +<p>Given a definite trail to follow, Jim Farland was one of the best +trackers in the business. He liked to know his quarry by sight, and +conduct the hunt in a proper manner. And so he rejoiced, that now he was +following a person he believed to be interested in some way in the +Shepley case.</p> + +<p>The limousine went up Fifth Avenue toward Central Park, and the taxicab +with Jim Farland inside followed half a block behind. Farland did +nothing except look ahead continually and make sure that his chauffeur +did not lose the other machine. He wanted to discover, first, where Miss +Kate Gilbert was going, and after that he wanted to acquire all the +information he could concerning her.</p> + +<p>There was little traffic on the Avenue at this hour, and the limousine +made good progress. It curved around the Circle and went up Central Park +West. In the Eighties it turned off into a side street, and finally drew +up to the curb and stopped. The taxicab came to a halt a hundred feet +behind it. "Wait," Jim Farland instructed the chauffeur, showing his +shield. "Wait until I come back, even if I don't come back until +morning. You will get good pay, all right."</p> + +<p>The chauffeur settled back behind his wheel, and Farland stepped to one +side in the darkness and watched. He saw an elderly gentleman emerge +from the limousine and turn to help Kate Gilbert out. Then the elderly +gentleman got into the car again and was driven away, and Kate Gilbert +went into the apartment house before which the limousine had stopped.</p> + +<p>Detective Jim Farland hurried forward, but when he came opposite the +apartment house he slowed down and walked slowly, glancing in. It was +not an apartment house of the better sort. The lobby was small, there +was an automatic elevator, and no hall boy was on duty, that Farland +could see. There was a row of mail boxes against a wall, with name +plates over them.</p> + +<p>Farland went up the steps, opened the door, and stepped inside the +lobby. He walked across to the mail boxes and began looking at the +names. He found some one named Gilbert had an apartment on the third +floor, front.</p> + +<p>The stairs were before him, and Farland was about to start up them when +a door leading to the basement was opened, and a janitor appeared. He +was an old man, bent and withered, and he looked at Farland with sudden +suspicion.</p> + +<p>"You want to see somebody in the house?" he asked, in a voice that +quavered.</p> + +<p>"I want to see you," Jim Farland answered.</p> + +<p>"What about, sir?"</p> + +<p>Farland exhibited his shield, and the old janitor recoiled, fright +depicted in his face.</p> + +<p>"I ain't done anything wrong, mister," he said hoarsely. "I obey all the +regulations about ashes and garbage and everything like that."</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid of me," Farland said. "I'm not accusing you of doing +anything wrong, am I? I can see that you're a law-abiding man. You +haven't nerve enough to be anything else. Suppose you step outside with +me for a few minutes. I just want to ask you a few questions about +something."</p> + +<p>"All right, sir, if that's it," the old janitor said.</p> + +<p>He opened the front door and led the way outside, and Farland forced him +to walk a short distance down the street, and there they stopped in a +doorway to talk.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to ask you a few questions, and you are going to answer them, +and then you are going to forget that you ever saw me or that I ever +asked you a thing," Farland said.</p> + +<p>"I understand, sir. I won't give away any police business," the old +janitor replied. "I know all about such things. I had a nephew once who +was a policeman."</p> + +<p>"There's a party living in your place who goes by the name of Gilbert, +isn't there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"How many are there in the family, and who are they, and what do you +know about them?"</p> + +<p>"There is an old man, sir," the janitor answered. "He's a sort of +cripple, I guess. He always sits in one of them invalid chairs, and when +he goes out somebody has to wheel him. If he ain't exactly a cripple, +then he's mighty sick and weak."</p> + +<p>"Who else is in the family?"</p> + +<p>"He's got a daughter, whose name is Miss Kate," the janitor said. "She's +a mighty fine-lookin' girl, too. She's a nice woman, I reckon. 'Pears to +be, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Do you know anything in particular about her?" Jim Farland asked him.</p> + +<p>"Well, she's been away for about three months, and she just got back," +the janitor replied. "I don't know where she was—didn't hear. While she +was gone, there was a man nurse 'tended to her father—cooked the meals +and kept the apartment clean and took him out in his wheel chair. Miss +Kate has a maid they call Marie—a big, ugly woman. She takes care of +things generally when she is here, but she was away with Miss Kate."</p> + +<p>"How long have they lived here?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"About three years, sir. But I don't know much about them. They ain't +the kind of folks a man can find out a lot about. They act peculiar +sometimes."</p> + +<p>"Are they rich?"</p> + +<p>"My gracious, no!" said the old janitor. "They pay their rent on time, +and they always seem to have plenty to eat, and I guess they can afford +to keep that maid and hire a nurse once in a while, but they ain't what +you'd call rich. But Miss Kate comes home in a big automobile now and +then, and she seems to have a lot of clothes. There's something funny +about it, at that."</p> + +<p>"Think she isn't a decent woman?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think she's a bad sort, sir, if that is what you mean. She +doesn't seem to be, at all. I guess she gets her swell clothes honest +enough. I think that she works for somebody and has to dress that way."</p> + +<p>"Do they get much mail and have many visitors?"</p> + +<p>"They get a few letters, and some newspapers and magazines," the janitor +replied. "And they don't seem to have many visitors. I've seen a man +come here once or twice to see them, and once he brought Miss Kate home +in an auto. He looks like a rich man."</p> + +<p>"Is he old or young?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he has gray hair, sir, and looks like a distinguished gentleman, +like a lawyer or something. I guess he's rich. I think maybe he is an +old friend of Mr. Gilbert's, or something like that."</p> + +<p>"They live on the third floor, don't they?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Any vacant apartments up there?"</p> + +<p>"Why, the apartment adjoining theirs happens to be vacant just now, +sir."</p> + +<p>"You take me up to that vacant apartment," Jim Farland directed. "Let me +in without making any noise, and then forget all about me until I speak +to you again. Here is a nice little bill, and there will be more if you +attend to business. I'm an officer, so you'll not get in trouble with +the landlord."</p> + +<p>The old janitor accepted the bill gladly, and led the way back to the +house. Jim Farland refused to use the elevator; he insisted on walking +up the stairs, and on going up noiselessly. When they reached the third +floor, he was doubly alert.</p> + +<p>The old janitor pointed out the door of the vacant apartment, and handed +Farland a key. Then he pattered back down the stairs. Farland slipped +along the hall, unlocked the door of the vacant apartment, darted +inside, and locked the door again, putting the key in his pocket. And +then he moved noiselessly through the apartment until he had reached the +front.</p> + +<p>He could hear voices in the apartment adjoining, and could make out the +conversation. A woman was speaking—Farland decided that she was Kate +Gilbert—and the weak voice of a sick man was answering her now and +then.</p> + +<p>"Let's not talk about it any more to-night, father," the girl was +saying. "You'll not sleep well, if you get to thinking about it. You +must go to bed now, and we'll have a real talk about things when I have +something of importance to tell you. Get a good sleep, and in the +morning Marie can take you out in the Park."</p> + +<p>Jim Farland could hear the old man mutter some reply, and then there +reached his ears the squeaking of a wheel chair being rolled across the +floor. He remained for a time standing against the wall, listening. He +decided that those in the Gilbert apartment were preparing to retire. +Half an hour later, Farland slipped from the room and went to the +basement to find the janitor.</p> + +<p>"Here's your key," he said. "I'll be back here in the morning, and I'll +want to see you. And remember—you're not to say a word about all this."</p> + +<p>"Not a single word, sir."</p> + +<p>Farland went back to the taxicab and drove to his own modest home, where +he tumbled into bed and slept the sleep of the just. When Jim Farland +slept, he slept—and when he worked, he worked. Farland did not mix +labor and rest.</p> + +<p>He arose early, hurried through his breakfast, got another taxicab and +went up into the Eighties again. The old janitor was sweeping off the +walk in front of the apartment house. The curtains at the windows of the +Gilbert apartment were still down.</p> + +<p>"Give me that key again and give me a pass key, too," Farland told the +old janitor. "If the maid takes Mr. Gilbert out, and Miss Gilbert is +gone at the same time, I want to get into their apartment and take a +look around. Understand? And I'll want you to watch, so I'll not be +caught in there."</p> + +<p>"I understand, sir. Here are the keys."</p> + +<p>Farland reached the vacant apartment without being seen. The Gilberts +were up now and eating breakfast. He could hear Kate Gilbert trying to +cheer her father, but not a word she said had anything to do with Sidney +Prale, or Rufus Shepley, or anybody connected in any way with the +Shepley murder case.</p> + +<p>"Now you must let Marie take you to the Park, father," he heard the girl +say. "It is a splendid day, and you must get a lot of fresh air. You can +go down and watch the animals. I'm going out now, but I'll be back some +time during the afternoon, and then we'll talk about things."</p> + +<p>Jim Farland waited in the vacant apartment until he heard Kate Gilbert +depart. A quarter of an hour later, he opened the front door a crack and +saw the gigantic Marie wheel out the chair with Mr. Gilbert in it. They +went down in the elevator.</p> + +<p>Farland waited for another quarter of an hour, until the old janitor +came up and told that he had watched the maid wheel Mr. Gilbert into the +Park.</p> + +<p>"I'll just leave the elevator up here until somebody rings," the old +janitor said, "and I'll watch the floor below from the top of the +stairs. Then, if any of them come back, I'll tell you so you can get +out."</p> + +<p>He took his station at the head of the stairs, leaving the elevator door +open so that the contrivance could not be operated from below. Jim +Farland unlocked the door of the Gilbert apartment and stepped inside.</p> + +<p>The first glance told him that it was an ordinary apartment furnished in +quite an ordinary manner. It certainly did not look like a home of +wealth, and Sidney Prale had said that it had been understood in +Honduras that Kate Gilbert was of a rich family and traveling for her +health.</p> + +<p>Many tourists claim to have money when they are away from home, of +course, but the part about traveling for her health seemed to Jim +Farland to be going a bit too far. Would such a woman be traveling for +her health and leave behind her at home an old father who was an +invalid?</p> + +<p>"There's something behind that little trip of hers," Farland told +himself. "It looks to me as if she had gone down to Honduras to look up +Sid Prale for some reason. And Honduras isn't exactly on the health-trip +list, either."</p> + +<p>He began a close inspection of the apartment, leaving no trace of his +search behind him, disarranging nothing that he did not replace. Jim +Farland was an expert at such things.</p> + +<p>He ransacked a small desk that stood in one corner of the living room +and found a tablet of writing paper similar to that upon which had been +written the anonymous messages Sidney Prale had received. He found +scraps of writing in the wastebasket, too, and inspected them carefully.</p> + +<p>"Somebody in this apartment wrote those notes, all right," Farland +mused. "But why? That's the question I want answered, and I'll have to +be careful how I start in to find out. You can't bluff that girl; one +look is enough to tell me that. If I jump her about those notes, she'll +probably get wise and cover her tracks, and then I'll be strictly up +against it."</p> + +<p>He found nothing else of importance in the apartment. There were some +letters, but they seemed to be from relatives scattered throughout the +country, ordinary letters dealing with family affairs of no particular +consequence, and they told Jim Farland nothing that he wished to know.</p> + +<p>But Kate Gilbert was only one angle of the case, he reminded himself, +and so he decided that he was done for the present as far as she was +concerned. It would be only a waste of valuable time, he thought, to +remain longer in the Gilbert apartment; and there were plenty of other +things for him to be doing.</p> + +<p>Farland went all over the apartment once more, making sure that he was +leaving everything in its proper place, that there would be nothing to +show that anybody had been making an investigation there. Then he +hurried out and locked the door, returned the keys to the old janitor, +gave him another bill and instructed him to forget the visit, lighted a +black cigar, and started walking rapidly southward.</p> + +<p>When the proper time arrived, Jim Farland would tell Miss Kate Gilbert +that he knew she had written the anonymous notes to Sidney Prale—or +that her maid had—and he would ask her why.</p> + +<p>He reached Columbus Circle, made his way over to Fifth Avenue, and +continued his walk down that broad thoroughfare. Farland had decided to +go to the hotel and have a talk with Sidney Prale and Murk. He told +himself that he was going to like Murk, the human hulk who suddenly had +become of some use in the world.</p> + +<p>But he did not get a chance to go to the hotel just then. He came to a +busy corner, and stopped to wait for a chance to cross the street +congested with traffic. Suddenly, a few feet to his right, he saw Kate +Gilbert, who had left her apartment only a short time before.</p> + +<p>There was nothing startling in that fact alone, for this was a district +where there were fashionable shops and beauty parlors, and well-dressed +women were on every side.</p> + +<p>What interested Detective Jim Farland the most was that Kate Gilbert was +standing before the show window of a fashionable shop in intimate +conversation with George Lerton, Sidney Prale's cousin!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>BATTERED KEYS</h3> + + +<p>Farland started moving slowly toward them, making his way through the +crowd in such fashion that he did not attract too much attention to +himself. He was feeling a sudden interest in this case. There were great +possibilities in the fact that two persons connected with it from +different angles were in conversation.</p> + +<p>As he made his way toward the show window, he remembered how this George +Lerton had tried to induce Sidney Prale to leave the city and remain +away, and how, afterward, he had denied that he had seen Prale on Fifth +Avenue and had spoken to him.</p> + +<p>"He's connected with this thing in some way," Farland told himself. +"It's my job to discover exactly how."</p> + +<p>But he was doomed to be disappointed. Before he could get near enough to +make an attempt to overhear what they were saying, they suddenly parted. +Kate Gilbert went into the shop, and George Lerton crossed the street +and hurried down the Avenue.</p> + +<p>It was no use wasting time on Kate Gilbert. Farland knew where to find +her if he wanted her, and he knew there would be no use in shadowing her +now, since she probably had gone into the shop to purchase a hat. But +George Lerton was quite another matter.</p> + +<p>The detective did not hesitate. He swung off down Fifth Avenue in the +wake of George Lerton.</p> + +<p>Farland was a rough and ready man, and he had little liking for male +humans of the George Lerton type. Lerton always dressed in the acme of +fashion, running considerably to fads in clothes, appearing almost +effeminate at times. And yet it was said in financial circles that +Lerton was far from being effeminate when it came to a business deal. +There had been whispers about his dark methods, and it was well known +that a business foe got small sympathy or consideration from him. He was +a fashionable cut-throat without any of the milk of human kindness in +his system.</p> + +<p>It was a surprise to Jim Farland to see Lerton walking. He was the sort +of man who likes to advertise his success, and he had a couple of +imposing motor cars that he generally used. But he was walking this +morning, and the fact gave Farland food for thought.</p> + +<p>Lerton continued down the Avenue, and Jim Farland followed him closely. +He expected to see Lerton meet some one else and engage in another +whispered conversation, but Lerton did not.</p> + +<p>"That boy is worried," Farland told himself. "He's one of those birds +who like to walk when they want to think something out. If I could only +know what was going on in that mind of his——"</p> + +<p>Lerton had reached Madison Square, and there he did something foreign to +his nature. He crossed the Square, proceeded to Fourth Avenue, and +descended into the subway.</p> + +<p>Farland was a few feet behind him, and got into the same car when Lerton +caught a downtown train. He followed when Lerton got off and went up to +the street level again, and now the broker made his way through the +throngs and along the narrow streets until he finally came to the +financial district. After a time he turned into the entrance of an +office building—the building where his own offices were located.</p> + +<p>The detective watched him go up in the elevator, and then he turned back +to the cigar stand in the lobby and purchased more of the black cigars +he loved. For a time he stood out at the curb, puffing and thinking. He +watched the building entrance closely, but George Lerton did not come +down again.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Farland scarcely had expected that he would. He +believed that Lerton had kept an appointment with Kate Gilbert, and then +had continued to his office to take up the work of the day. Farland +decided that he would give Lerton a chance to attend to the morning mail +and pressing matters of business, before seeking an interview.</p> + +<p>Finally, Farland threw the stub of the cigar away, turned into the +entrance of the building once more, and walked briskly to the elevator. +He shot up to the tenth floor, went down the hall, and entered the +reception room of the Lerton offices. An imp of an office boy took in +his card.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lerton will see you in ten minutes, sir," the returning boy +announced.</p> + +<p>Farland touched match to another cigar. He was a little surprised that +Lerton had sent out that message. Lerton knew Farland, as Sidney Prale +had known him in the old days. He knew Farland's business, and he knew +that the detective and Prale were firm friends. He could guess that +Prale had engaged Jim Farland to work on this case and clear him of the +charge of having murdered Rufus Shepley.</p> + +<p>After a time the boy ushered him into the private office. George Lerton +was sitting behind a gigantic mahogany desk, looking very much the +prosperous man of business.</p> + +<p>"Well, Farland, this is a pleasure!" Lerton exclaimed. "Haven't seen you +for ages. How's business?"</p> + +<p>"It could be better," Jim Farland replied, "and it could be a lot worse. +I'm making a good living, and so have no kick coming."</p> + +<p>"If I ever need a man in your line, I'll call you in," George Lerton +said. "And the pay will be all right, too."</p> + +<p>"Don't doubt it," Farland replied.</p> + +<p>"Want to see me about something special this morning?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if you can give me a few minutes."</p> + +<p>"All the time you like," Lerton replied.</p> + +<p>That was not like the man, Jim Farland knew. Lerton was the sort to try +to make himself important, the always-busy man who had no time for +anybody less than a millionaire.</p> + +<p>Farland smiled and sat down in a chair at one end of the desk. He +twisted his hat in his hands, looked across at George Lerton, cleared +his throat, and spoke.</p> + +<p>"You know about Sidney Prale being in a bit of trouble, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Can't understand it," Lerton replied, frowning. "Sidney always had +a temper, of course, but I never thought he would resort to murder +during a fit of it. You know, I never got along with him any too well. +He had a quarrel with his sweetheart in the old days and left for +Honduras twenty-four hours later and remained there for ten years."</p> + +<p>"I know all about that, of course," Farland said. "You perhaps have +guessed that he sent for me—engaged me to get him out of this little +scrape."</p> + +<p>"Murder, a little scrape?" Lerton gasped. "I should call it a very +serious matter."</p> + +<p>"Let us hope that it will not be a serious matter for Sid," Farland said +with feeling. "I believe that the boy is innocent, and I hope to be able +to clear him. Will you help me?"</p> + +<p>"I never had any particular love for Sidney, and neither did he for me," +George Lerton said. "However, he is my cousin, and I hate to see him in +trouble. But how can I help you? I don't know anything about the +affair."</p> + +<p>"An alibi is an important thing in a case like this," Farland said. "We +want to prove an alibi, if we can, of course. Sidney says that you met +him on Fifth Avenue——"</p> + +<p>"And I cannot understand that," Lerton interrupted. "Why should he say +such a thing?"</p> + +<p>"You didn't meet him?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly did not! I cannot lie about such a thing, even to save my +cousin. Why, it would make me a sort of accessory, wouldn't it? I cannot +afford to be mixed up in anything of the sort. You must understand +that!"</p> + +<p>"And you didn't urge him to leave New York and remain away for the rest +of his life?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't see him at all," George Lerton persisted. "Why on earth should +I care whether he remains in New York or takes his million dollars +elsewhere?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, I'm sure," Farland said. "But it seems peculiar to me +that Sid would tell a rotten falsehood like that. Doesn't it look +peculiar to you?"</p> + +<p>"I must confess that it does not," George Lerton replied. "I suppose it +was the first thing that came into his head. He was trying to establish +an alibi, of course, and he probably thought he would get a chance to +telephone to me and ask me to stand by the story he had told, thinking +that I would do it because of our relationship."</p> + +<p>"I was hoping that you would tell me you had met him on Fifth Avenue," +Farland said. "It would have made his alibi stronger, of course, and +every little bit helps."</p> + +<p>"Stronger? You mean to say that he has any sort of an alibi at all?"</p> + +<p>"A dandy!" Farland exclaimed. "In fact, we have an alibi that tells us +that Sid was quite a distance from Rufus Shepley's suite when Shepley +was slain."</p> + +<p>"Why, how is that?"</p> + +<p>"Sid picked up a bum and tried to make a man of him. He bought the +fellow some clothes and took him to a barber shop. The clothing merchant +and the barber furnish the alibi."</p> + +<p>An expression of consternation was in George Lerton's face, and Jim +Farland was quick to notice it.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I am glad for Sidney's sake," Lerton said. "But I had really +believed that he had killed Shepley. It caused me a bit of trouble, +too."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"Shepley was a sort of client of mine," Lerton said. "I handled a deal +for him now and then. He has been traveling on business for some time, +as you perhaps know. I had hopes that he would give me a certain large +commission and that I would make a handsome profit. He was about +convinced, I am sure, that I was the man to handle it for him. His small +deals with me had always been to his profit and my credit."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I understand!"</p> + +<p>"And a possible good customer is removed," Lerton went on. "So you have +an alibi for Sidney, have you? In that case—if he did not kill Rufus +Shepley—he must have told that story about meeting me when he was in a +panic immediately following his arrest. Sid always was panicky, you +know."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that a panicky man could pick up a million dollars in ten +years."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I suppose Sidney was fortunate. There are wonderful opportunities +at times in Central America, and I suppose he happened to just strike +one of them right. He was very fortunate, indeed. Not every man can have +good luck like that."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm sorry that I troubled you," Farland said. "And now, I'll get +out—if you'll do me a small favor."</p> + +<p>"Anything, Farland."</p> + +<p>"I see you have a typewriter in the corner, and I'd like to write a +short note to leave uptown."</p> + +<p>"Just step outside and dictate it to one of my stenographers," said +George Lerton.</p> + +<p>"That'd be too much trouble," Farland replied. "It's only a few lines, +and I can pound a typewriter pretty good. Besides, this is a little +confidential report that I would not care to have your stenographer know +anything about."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see! Help yourself!"</p> + +<p>Farland got up and hurried over to the typewriter. He put a sheet of +paper in the machine, wrote a few lines, folded the sheet and put it +into his coat pocket.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm much obliged," he said. "I think we'll have Sid out of +trouble before long."</p> + +<p>"Let us hope so!" George Lerton said.</p> + +<p>There was something in the tone of his voice, however, that belied the +words he spoke. Farland gave him a single, rapid glance, but the +expression of Lerton's face told him nothing. Lerton was a broker and +used to big business deals. He was a master of the art of the blank +countenance, and Jim Farland knew it well.</p> + +<p>Farland had said nothing concerning Kate Gilbert, for he was not ready +to let George Lerton know that he suspected any connection of Miss +Gilbert with the Rufus Shepley case. Farland was not certain himself +what that connection would be, and he knew it would be foolish to say +anything that would put Lerton on guard and make the mystery more +difficult of solution.</p> + +<p>He thanked Lerton once more and departed. Out in the corridor and some +distance from the Lerton office, he took from his pocket the note he had +written on Lerton's private typewriter and glanced at it quickly. +Farland was merely verifying what he had noticed as he had typed the +note.</p> + +<p>"That was a lucky hunch about that typewriter," he told himself. "This +case is going to be interesting, all right—and for several persons."</p> + +<p>Farland had noticed particularly the typewritten notes that had been +received by the clothing merchant and the barber. There were two certain +keys that were battered in a peculiar manner, and another key that was +out of alignment.</p> + +<p>He knew now, by glancing at the lines he had written himself, that those +other notes had been typed on the same machine. He guessed that it had +been George Lerton, the broker, who had sent those notes and the money +to the barber and the merchant.</p> + +<p>Why had George Lerton been so eager to destroy his cousin's alibi?</p> + +<p>Why was George Lerton trying to have Sidney Prale sent to the electric +chair for murder?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>A PLAN OF CAMPAIGN</h3> + + +<p>Naturally, a man facing prosecution on a murder charge is liable to be +nervous, whether he is innocent or not. If an attempt is being made to +gather evidence that will clear him, he wishes for frequent reports, +always hoping that there will be some ray of hope. And so it was with +Sidney Prale this morning, as he paced the floor in the living room of +his suite in the hotel.</p> + +<p>Murk had done everything possible to make Sidney Prale comfortable. Now +he merely stood to one side and watched the man who had saved him from a +self-inflicted death, and tried to think of something that he could say +or do to make Prale easier in his mind.</p> + +<p>They had not seen or heard from Jim Farland since the evening before, +when he had engaged the taxicab and had started in pursuit of the +limousine Kate Gilbert had entered. Prale wondered what Farland had been +doing, whether he had discovered anything concerning Kate Gilbert, +whether he had found a clew that would lead to an unraveling of the +mystery.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure about that Farland man, Mr. Prale?" Murk asked, after a +time.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that, Murk?"</p> + +<p>"Well, he's a kind of cop, and I never had much faith in cops," said +Murk.</p> + +<p>"Farland is an old friend of mine, Murk, and he is on the square—if +that is what you mean."</p> + +<p>"He sure started out like a house afire, sir, but he seems to be fallin' +down now," Murk declared. "He sure did handle that barber and the +clothin' merchant, but he ain't showed us any speed since he left us +last night."</p> + +<p>"He is busy somewhere—you may be sure of that," Sidney Prale declared.</p> + +<p>"Well, boss, I ain't got any education, and I ain't an expert in any +particular line, but I've often been accused of havin' common sense, and +I'm strong for you!"</p> + +<p>"Meaning what, Murk?"</p> + +<p>"Nothin', boss, except that I'd like to be busy gettin' you out of this +mess. Seems to me I know just as much about it as you do, and if we'd +talk matters over, maybe I'd get some sort of an idea, or somethin' like +that."</p> + +<p>Prale sat down before the window, lighted a cigar, and looked up at +Murk.</p> + +<p>"Go ahead," he said. "It won't hurt anything, and it will serve to kill +time until we hear from Jim Farland. What do you want to talk about +first?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," said Murk, clearing his throat and attempting to speak +in an impressive manner, "that this is a double-barreled affair."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, there's the murder thing, and then there's this thing about you +havin' some powerful and secret enemies that are tryin' to do you dirt +without even comin' out in the open about it. Maybe them two things are +mixed together, and maybe again they ain't. If they ain't, we've got two +jobs on our hands."</p> + +<p>"And, if they are?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"Then it looks to me, boss, like the gang that's after you is tryin' to +hang this murder on you after havin' had somebody croak that Shepley +guy."</p> + +<p>"I've thought of that, Murk. But it doesn't look possible," Prale said. +"If my enemies merely wanted to hang a murder charge on me, as you have +suggested, I think they would have planned better and would have made +the evidence against me more conclusive. It would mean that there would +be a lot of persons in the secret; the men who plan murder do not like +to take the entire town into confidence about it."</p> + +<p>"Well, that sounds reasonable," Murk admitted.</p> + +<p>"And why Rufus Shepley?"</p> + +<p>"Because you had that spat with him in the lobby of the hotel, and it +could be shown that you had a reason for knifin' him," Murk said, with +evident satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Nobody could have known I was going to have that quarrel with Shepley, +because I had no idea of it myself when I entered the hotel lobby," +Prale said. "After I left the hotel, I met Farland and then walked down +to the river and met you—and you know the rest. How could they have +contemplated hanging that crime on me when they did not know but that I +had a perfect alibi? I think we're on the wrong track, Murk."</p> + +<p>"Well, boss, how about your fountain pen?" Murk asked. "How come it was +found beside the body?"</p> + +<p>"That is one of the biggest puzzles in the whole thing, Murk. I cannot +remember exactly when I had the pen last. I cannot imagine how it got +into Shepley's room and on the floor beside his body. That fountain pen +of mine is an important factor in this case, Murk, and it has me +worried."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," Murk said, "that if I had any powerful enemies after +my scalp, I'd know the birds and be watchin' out for them all the time, +to see that they didn't start anything when I was lookin' in the other +direction."</p> + +<p>"But, Murk, I haven't the slightest idea who they are," Sidney Prale +declared. "I don't know why I should have enemies that amount to +anything, and that is what makes it so puzzling. How can I work this +thing out when I don't even know where to start? I wish Jim Farland +would come."</p> + +<p>Jim Farland did, at that moment. Murk let him in, and the detective +tossed his hat on a chair, sat down in another, lighted one of his own +black cigars, and looked at Sidney Prale through narrowed eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jim?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"I talk when I've really got something to say, but I'm not going to make +general conversation and muddle your brains with a lot of scattered +junk," Jim Farland replied. "I'll say this much—things are looking much +better for you."</p> + +<p>"That sounds good, Jim. Can't you tell me anything?" Prale asked, +sitting forward on his chair.</p> + +<p>"The barber and the clothing merchant have fixed up a part of your +alibi, Sid, as perhaps Murk has told you. That is the first point. It +makes it look impossible for you to have slain Rufus Shepley, and I +think Lawyer Coadley could get the charge against you dismissed on that +alone."</p> + +<p>"But I want to be entirely cleared."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. You don't want to leave the slightest doubt in the mind of a +single person. There is but one way to clear you absolutely, Sid. We've +got to show conclusively that you could not have killed Shepley, and the +best way to do that is to find the person who did."</p> + +<p>"I understand, Jim."</p> + +<p>"There seems to be some sort of a mysterious alliance against you, Sid. +You say that you can't understand why you should have enemies that hate +you so, and I know you're telling the truth. Whether that business has +anything to do with the murder, or not, I am not prepared to say now. +But we want to find out about this enemy business, too, don't we?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," Prale said.</p> + +<p>"I followed Kate Gilbert. I know where she lives. She does not belong to +a rich family and does not live in splendor. But she wears expensive +gowns and has plenty of spending money, and has mysterious dealings with +a distinguished-looking man. Her father is mixed up in it in some way, +too. I went through their apartment, Sid. Somebody in that apartment +wrote the anonymous notes you received."</p> + +<p>"What?" Prale gasped.</p> + +<p>"I found a tablet of the same sort of paper, and scraps of writing in +the wastebasket that were in the same hand. Think, Sid! On the ship——"</p> + +<p>"By George!" Prale exclaimed. "She could have slipped into my stateroom +and pinned that note to my pillow, and she could have stuck the second +one on my suit case as I walked past her on the deck."</p> + +<p>"And could have sent the others," Farland added.</p> + +<p>"But, why?" Prale demanded. "I never saw the woman until I met her at a +social affair in Honduras. What could she or any of her people have +against me?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it was the maid," Farland said.</p> + +<p>"She could have done it, of course, the same as Kate Gilbert," Prale +said. "But the same difficulty holds good—why? Kate Gilbert did seem to +avoid me, and I caught her big maid glaring at me once or twice as if +she hated the sight of me. But why on earth——"</p> + +<p>Farland cleared his throat. "Here is another thought for you to digest," +he said. "This Kate Gilbert knows your cousin, George Lerton."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale suddenly sat up straight in his chair again, his eyes +blinking rapidly.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't that open up possibilities?" Jim Farland asked him. "The woman +seems to be working against you for some reason, and we know that George +Lerton lied about meeting you on Fifth Avenue that night. It appears +that he is working against you, too, for some mysterious motive."</p> + +<p>A dangerous gleam came into Sidney Prale's eyes. "That simplifies +matters," he said. "I'll watch for Kate Gilbert, and when I see her I'll +ask why she sent me those notes. Then I'll get George Lerton alone and +choke out of him why he lied about meeting me on the Avenue. I've +trimmed worse men than George Lerton."</p> + +<p>"You'll be a good little boy and do nothing of the sort," Farland told +him. "We are playing a double game, remember—trying to solve this enemy +business, and at the same time trying to clear you of a murder charge. +If any of those persons get the idea that we are unduly interested in +them, we may not have such an easy time of it."</p> + +<p>"I understand that, of course."</p> + +<p>"Let me tell you a few more things, Sid. I saw Lerton talking to Miss +Gilbert on the street. They were speaking in very low tones. When they +parted, I followed Lerton to his office, and went in and talked to him. +I did it just to size him up. He still declares that he never met you on +Fifth Avenue. He acts like a man afraid of something; and I discovered +an interesting thing, Sid. He has a typewriter in his private office, +one for his personal use. I managed to type a short note on it."</p> + +<p>"What of that?"</p> + +<p>"That typewriter has a few bad keys, Sid. And I discovered this—that +the notes sent to the barber and merchant, that caused them to lie and +try to smash your alibi, were written on the typewriter in George +Lerton's office!"</p> + +<p>Prale sprang to his feet. "Then Lerton has something to do with this!" +he cried. "He tried to get me to leave town, and he tried to break down +my alibi. How did he know I was going to make an alibi like that?"</p> + +<p>"My guess is that your cousin has been having you watched since you got +off the ship."</p> + +<p>"But, why?" Prale cried. "It is true that he married the girl who had +jilted me a few years before, but I do not hold that against him. I know +of no reason why he should work against me so."</p> + +<p>"Know anything about him that might cause him serious trouble if you +talked?"</p> + +<p>"No," Prale replied. "As much as I dislike him, as much as I suspect +that he is crooked in business, all that I really could say would be +that he had a mean disposition and was not to be trusted too far."</p> + +<p>"I thought maybe you had something on him, and he was trying to get you +out of the way so you'd not talk," Farland said. "That would explain a +lot, of course."</p> + +<p>"It can't be that."</p> + +<p>"Then we are up in the air again."</p> + +<p>"Why not ask him?" Prale demanded. "Believe me, I'll wait for him to +come from his office—and he'll answer me, and tell the truth!"</p> + +<p>"Put that hot head of yours under the nearest cold-water faucet!" +Farland commanded. "You make a move that I don't sanction, and I'll quit +the case! You'll spoil things, Sid, if you're not careful. Just digest +what I have told you."</p> + +<p>"You're in command, Jim!"</p> + +<p>"Very well. You leave George Lerton to me, Sid. There are many angles to +this case, and I can't attend to all of them at once. I don't want to +call in other detectives, because they may be in the pay of these +mysterious enemies of yours, and I haven't an assistant with an ounce of +brains. Sid, you've got to turn detective yourself—you and Murk."</p> + +<p>"I was just wonderin' if I was goin' to get a chance to do anything," +Murk said.</p> + +<p>"Plenty of chances," Farland replied. "Sid, you pick up this Kate +Gilbert, if you can. Act as if you did not suspect a thing. Try to talk +to her—you were introduced to her in Honduras, and all that. Don't let +her get nervous about you, but watch her as much as you can, and let me +know everything you see and hear. Take a look at that big maid, Marie, +when you get a chance. If you can do so, and think it advisable, put +Murk on Marie's trail. I'll want to use Murk later myself."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale was quick to agree. And thus, without being aware of it, he +started on a short career of adventure and romance.</p> + +<p>Had Murk been a crystal gazer or something of the sort, and could he +have looked into the future in that manner, he would have said that the +crystal lied.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>MORE MYSTERY</h3> + + +<p>Jim Farland went from the hotel to Coadley's office, to ascertain +whether the attorney's private investigators, who were working +independently of him, had unearthed anything of importance in connection +with the case.</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale stated that he would go for a walk, and the police +detective, now thoroughly convinced that he would not try to run away, +raised no objection. It was Prale's intention to make an attempt to meet +Kate Gilbert. Murk hurried around getting his coat and hat and gloves +and stick.</p> + +<p>"Fool idea!" Prale told himself. "Kate Gilbert has given me the cold +shoulder already, and she certainly will do it now, since I stand +accused of murder. Not a chance in the world of getting better +acquainted with her now."</p> + +<p>"What do you want me to do, boss?" Murk asked. "I don't seem to be +amountin' to much in this game. I'd like to be in action, I would! Can't +I take a hand?"</p> + +<p>"As soon as possible," Prale told him. "Remember, Farland said he wanted +you to help him later."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather help you or work alone," Murk said. "I reckon he is pretty +decent for a detective, but I don't put much stock in any of 'em."</p> + +<p>Prale laughed as he finished dressing, put on his hat and gloves, and +reached for his stick.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you just shadow me this fine day," he told Murk. "Get a little +practice in that line. Don't bother me, but just follow and watch."</p> + +<p>"I getcha, boss. You want me to be within hailin' distance in case you +need help?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly, Murk. We never can tell what is going to happen, you know. I +may need you in a hurry."</p> + +<p>"I'll be on hand," Murk promised.</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale went down in the elevator, Murk going down in the same car. +Prale lounged about the lobby for a time, and Murk made himself as +inconspicuous as possible in a corner. Prale believed, as Farland had +intimated, that he was being followed and watched, possibly by the +orders of George Lerton, his cousin. He did not know why Lerton should +have done it, but it angered him, and he wanted to discover the man +following him.</p> + +<p>He saw nobody in the lobby who appeared at all conspicuous, and after a +short time he left and started walking briskly down the Avenue, like any +gentleman taking a constitutional. The midday throngs were on the +streets. Prale was forced to walk slower, and now and then he stopped to +look in at a shop window. Once in a while he stepped to the curb and +glanced behind. But if there was a "shadow" Prale did not see him.</p> + +<p>He did see Murk, however, and he smiled at Murk's methods. Murk remained +a short distance behind him, moving up closer whenever Prale was forced +to cross the street, so he would not lose him in the throng. Murk was +ordinary-looking and had a happy faculty of effacing himself in a crowd. +He was on the job every minute, watching Sidney Prale, glancing at every +man or woman who approached Prale or as much as looked at him.</p> + +<p>Prale reached Forty-second Street, crossed it, and came opposite the +library. He glanced aside—and saw Miss Kate Gilbert walking down the +wide steps.</p> + +<p>It was a ticklish moment for Sidney Prale, but he remembered that he was +fighting to protect himself. If Kate Gilbert ignored him, he could not +help it. At least, he would give her the chance.</p> + +<p>She could not avoid seeing him, for they met face to face at the bottom +of the steps. Prale lifted his hat.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Miss Gilbert," he said.</p> + +<p>She turned and met his eyes squarely, and he could see that she +hesitated for a moment. Then her face brightened, and she stepped toward +him.</p> + +<p>"Good morning," she replied. "Although it is a little after noon, I am +afraid."</p> + +<p>Her words might have been for the benefit of any who heard. They were +light enough and cordial enough, but she did not offer him her hand, and +the expression on her face was scarcely one of welcome.</p> + +<p>"I am glad to see you again," Prale said.</p> + +<p>"You are settled and feeling at home?"</p> + +<p>"In a measure," he said.</p> + +<p>She had not mentioned the crime of which he was accused, and he did not +wish to be the first to speak of it. She stepped still closer.</p> + +<p>"I want to talk to you, Mr. Prale," she said. "Kindly get a taxi and +have the chauffeur drive us through the Park."</p> + +<p>Prale scarcely could believe his good fortune. He had doubted whether he +would have a chance to talk to her, and here she was asking him to +engage a taxicab so that they could enjoy a conversation.</p> + +<p>He hailed a passing taxi, put her in, gave the chauffeur his directions, +and sprang in himself. The machine turned at the first corner and +started back up the Avenue in the heavy traffic.</p> + +<p>"You wished to speak to me about something in particular?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I have read of the crime of which you are accused. I am sure that +you are not guilty."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Miss Gilbert. I assure you that I am not. It is an +unfortunate affair, which we hope to have cleared up within a short +time."</p> + +<p>"I hope that you will be free soon," she said. "And then you will be +able to enjoy yourself, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"I hope to have my vacation yet," Prale said.</p> + +<p>"You are going to remain in New York?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly; it is my home."</p> + +<p>"Sometimes a man does better away from home."</p> + +<p>"But I have been away from home for ten years. I have made my pile, as +the saying is, and have come home to show off and lord it over my +neighbors," Prale replied, laughing.</p> + +<p>They had reached the lower end of Central Park now, and the taxi turned +into a driveway, and made its way around the curves toward the upper +end. The chauffeur was busy nodding to others of his craft and paying no +attention to his fares. Sweethearts, he supposed, talking silly nothings +as they were driven through the Park. The chauffeur was used to such; he +hauled many of them.</p> + +<p>Kate Gilbert leaned a bit closer to Prale, and when she spoke it was in +a low, tense voice.</p> + +<p>"Go away from New York, Mr. Prale!"</p> + +<p>"Why should I do that?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It would be better for you, I feel sure."</p> + +<p>"Because of the absurd charge against me? I intend to have my innocence +proved, and I'd hate to run away and let people think that perhaps I was +guilty after all."</p> + +<p>"You have the right to prove your innocence of such a charge to all the +world," she said. "But, after you have done it conclusively, you should +go away."</p> + +<p>"Why?" he asked, again.</p> + +<p>"Because—you have enemies, Mr. Prale!"</p> + +<p>"I have discovered that; but I do not know why I should have enemies."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you did something, some time, to create them."</p> + +<p>"But I haven't," Prale declared.</p> + +<p>"Retribution comes when we least expect it, Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"Yes. I believe that you wrote that in one of your notes."</p> + +<p>He had said it! And Jim Farland had told him not to let her suspect that +they knew. Well, he couldn't help it now.</p> + +<p>Kate Gilbert gasped and sat back from him.</p> + +<p>"In my note?" she said.</p> + +<p>"The notes interested me greatly, Miss Gilbert. I have saved them. But +why should you send them to me?"</p> + +<p>"You can ask me that!" she exclaimed. "So you know that I wrote them, do +you? In that case, Mr. Prale, you know why I spoke of retribution, you +probably know my identity and intentions, and you know why you have +enemies!"</p> + +<p>"But I do not!" he protested.</p> + +<p>"Please do not attempt to tell a falsehood, Mr. Prale. You know I wrote +the notes, do you? Then you know everything else. So you are going to +fight."</p> + +<p>"I fail to understand all this."</p> + +<p>"Another falsehood!" she cried. "I have asked you to leave New York +and——"</p> + +<p>"And I fail to see why I should."</p> + +<p>"Then remain—and receive the retribution!" she said. "You will deserve +all you get, Sidney Prale! When I think of what you have done——"</p> + +<p>She ceased speaking, and turned to glance through the window.</p> + +<p>"You were kind enough to say that you believed me innocent of the murder +charge——"</p> + +<p>"I do. I hate to have you facing a thing like that when you are +innocent. But this other thing is——"</p> + +<p>"Can't you explain? I give you my word of honor that I do not understand +this."</p> + +<p>"Your word of honor!" she sneered, facing him again. "You speak of +honor—you? That is the best jest of all!"</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale's face flushed.</p> + +<p>"I had hoped that I was a man of honor," he said. "I always have tried +to be honorable in my dealings with men and women, all my life. Please +understand that, Miss Gilbert."</p> + +<p>"If you have tried, you have failed miserably. Why do you persist in +telling falsehoods, Mr. Prale. Do you think that I am a weak, silly +woman ready to be hoodwinked by lies?"</p> + +<p>"But I assure you——"</p> + +<p>"I do not care for any of your assurances," she interrupted. "I wish it +understood that we are strangers hereafter. You are going to fight, are +you? Fight, Sidney Prale—and lose! What I said was correct—you cannot +dodge retribution. It will take more than a million dollars to be able +to do that."</p> + +<p>"My dear young lady——"</p> + +<p>"I am done, Mr. Prale. I have said all that I intend saying to you."</p> + +<p>"Then it is my turn to talk!" Prale said. "This thing is getting to be +so serious that I demand an explanation. Why should you, and others, be +so eager to run me out of New York?"</p> + +<p>"Others?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—particularly one man we both know."</p> + +<p>"His name, please?"</p> + +<p>"Why ask, Miss Gilbert?"</p> + +<p>"Very well."</p> + +<p>"Why do you want me to run away?"</p> + +<p>"I did not know that others were trying to get you to leave," she said. +"I suggested it because—well, because I am a woman, I suppose. You +deserve the worst that can happen to you. But a woman, has a kind +thought now and then. I hate to see any man ground down and down, no +matter how much he deserves it—and that is what is to happen to you if +you do not go away. If you leave, your enemies will not use such harsh +measures, perhaps. But when you are here before their very eyes, they +will lift their hands against you!"</p> + +<p>"Who are these enemies, and why are they after my scalp?"</p> + +<p>"You know, Sidney Prale, as well as I. I can see that it is useless to +talk to you. I am sorry that I had a moment's compassion and made the +attempt. Please stop the cab and let me out here."</p> + +<p>"But I demand to know——"</p> + +<p>"Do as I say, or I shall make a scene!"</p> + +<p>Prale gave the signal, and the taxi stopped. He helped her out, and she +started briskly down the nearest path. Sidney Prale paid the chauffeur, +and started to follow.</p> + +<p>He glanced back, and saw Murk getting out of another taxicab. He had +forgotten Murk in his interest in the conversation with Kate Gilbert. +But Murk had not forgotten. Murk had his orders, and he was carrying +them out; he was keeping in sight, to be on hand if he was needed.</p> + +<p>Murk had a little money Prale had given him, enough to pay the taxi +chauffeur. Prale motioned for him to approach.</p> + +<p>"Here's a roll of bills," he said. "Keep up the game, Murk. Don't get +too far away."</p> + +<p>"I'll be right at your heels, boss."</p> + +<p>"And keep your eyes open."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"That woman was Kate Gilbert."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll know her whenever I see her again, sir."</p> + +<p>Prale hurried on down the path. Murk kept pace with him, a short +distance behind.</p> + +<p>Kate Gilbert had been walking swiftly. She had reached the street, and, +as Prale watched, she crossed it. Prale followed.</p> + +<p>The girl did not look behind. She came to the middle of the block and +ran up the steps of an apartment house. Prale passed the entrance, +glanced at the number, and continued down the street. At the corner he +allowed Murk to catch up with him.</p> + +<p>"She turned in at the address Jim Farland gave us," Prale said. "She has +gone home, Murk. I fancy that we are done with her for to-day!"</p> + +<p>A lot he knew about it!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>A MOMENT OF VIOLENCE</h3> + + +<p>Sidney Prale turned around and walked back along the street to the Park, +Murk once more following at a short distance, as he had been ordered to +do.</p> + +<p>Because he wanted to think of his predicament, Prale crossed into the +Park and began following one of the paths toward the south, making his +way along it slowly, paying little attention to the persons he passed +now and then.</p> + +<p>He crossed a drive and followed another path; and now he came to a +secluded spot where the path was hidden from passers-by on the other +walks and drives. Here the way ran through a tiny gulch, the sides of +which were banked with bushes. Squirrels scampered and birds chattered +at him, but Prale saw none of them.</p> + +<p>He was trying to explain to himself why Kate Gilbert had warned him to +leave New York, why she had interested herself in his affairs at all, +asking himself for the thousandth time what species of net it was in +which he suddenly had found himself enmeshed without knowing the reason +for it.</p> + +<p>He had demanded information and it had not been given him. She had said +nothing at all that gave him an inkling as to the nature of what seemed +to be a plot against him. He had been as firm as he dared, he told +himself. A man could not threaten a woman, could not use violence in an +attempt to make her speak and reveal secrets.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to work from another corner," Sidney Prale told himself. "I +can't threaten a woman, but I can pummel a man; and if I meet George +Lerton again, I am liable to forget what Jim Farland told me and use my +own methods."</p> + +<p>He walked on through the tiny ravine. He came to a cross path, and a man +lurched down it and against him.</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon!" Prale murmured.</p> + +<p>"Wonder you wouldn't look where you're going!" the other exclaimed. "Got +an idea you own the whole Park, or something like that? Men like you +shouldn't be running around loose!"</p> + +<p>"You ran into me, not I into you," Prale reminded him.</p> + +<p>As he spoke, he looked at the other closely. He saw a gigantic man who +had the general appearance of a thug, whose chin was thrust forward +aggressively, and whose hands were opening and closing as if he wished +they were around Sidney Prale's throat.</p> + +<p>"I've a notion to smash you one!" the fellow said, advancing toward +Prale a bit.</p> + +<p>Prale's temper flamed at once. His own chin was shot forward, and his +own hands closed.</p> + +<p>"If that is the way you feel about it, start in!" Prale said. "Perhaps I +can teach you to act decently and keep a civil tongue in your head!"</p> + +<p>The man before him made no comment—he simply launched himself forward +like a thunderbolt. Sidney Prale darted quickly to one side, and tossed +his hat and stick on the ground. He did not have time to get off his +coat; he could not even remove his gloves.</p> + +<p>The other, missing him in that first rush, turned and came back, +swinging his fists. Prale did not dart aside now. He put himself on +guard, braced himself against the side of the little gulch, and waited +for the attack.</p> + +<p>They clashed, and Prale knew that he had a real fight on his hands, for +the man who had attacked him was no mean antagonist. But, after the +first real clash, Prale had no fear of the outcome. The man was brutal, +but he had no skill. He delivered blows that would have felled any +one—but they did not reach their objective.</p> + +<p>Then a second man crashed down through the brush and joined in the +attack. Sidney Prale realized in that moment that the attack had been +premeditated and the fight forced upon him purposely. It fed fuel to the +flames of his wrath. He did not know whether this was the work of some +of his unknown enemies or whether these thugs were mere robbers intent +upon getting his wallet and watch. It made little difference to him +which they were.</p> + +<p>With his back against the side of the gulch, he fought with what skill +he could, trying to stand off both of them. The attack had come with a +rush, and all this had occupied but a few seconds.</p> + +<p>Presently a human whirlwind appeared and took part in the battle. There +was an angry roar from a human throat, a raucous curse, a rushing body, +the thuds of swift, hard blows. Mr. Murk had reached the scene!</p> + +<p>The battle immediately became two-fold. Murk fought as these thugs +fought, disregarding the finer rules of combat, seeking only to put his +opponent out, no matter by what means. Murk was not unaccustomed to +fighting of that character, and he was doubly formidable now, for he was +angry at the attack on Sidney Prale. Murk had been too far away to hear +what had been said when the trouble started, but he had seen, and he +guessed immediately that some of Sidney Prale's enemies were engaged in +the attempt.</p> + +<p>Murk went after his opponent with determination if not with skill. He +fought him down the path, and there the fellow rallied from the surprise +and rushed back. But Murk was not the sort to give ground. In a fight, a +man should stand up to another until one of them was whipped, Murk +thought.</p> + +<p>He knew how to give blows, but not how to guard against them. He was +marked, and marked well, before the battle was a minute old, but he had +the satisfaction of seeing blood on the face of his antagonist. Foot to +foot they stood and hammered each other, and gradually Murk began +wearing the other man down.</p> + +<p>As for Sidney Prale, now that he had but the one thug against him, he +fought with skill and cunning, knowing that the other was a bit the +stronger, but realizing that he would be victor if he used reasonable +care.</p> + +<p>His flare of anger had passed, and now he was fighting like a clever +pugilist. He warded off the other's powerful blows, and now and then he +slipped beneath a guard, or smashed his way through one, and sent home a +blow of his own.</p> + +<p>At the end of three minutes, the thugs were getting much the worst of +it. Gradually they were being fought back toward the nearest driveway. +Back and back they went, but did not turn and run. Sidney Prale sensed +that they were fighting for money, that they were being paid for this +attack, and he realized that, but for the presence of Murk, he would +have had no chance whatever, and probably would be a senseless, bleeding +thing now.</p> + +<p>None of them knew that the fight had attracted attention, but it had. +Two women, coming around a curve in the path, had seen it, and had run +back toward the nearest driveway, screeching. Two mounted policemen +hurried toward them, heard the story, and charged down the path.</p> + +<p>The two thugs made no effort to escape. They stopped fighting, and Prale +and Murk ceased also, though the latter was eager to continue until a +decision had been rendered. Murk had fought often where there was no +interference and he disliked to be bothered now, but he desisted at +Prale's command.</p> + +<p>"Well, what's all this about?" one of the officers demanded. He did not +address any of them particularly. "I was walking along the path, and +these men attacked me," Sidney Prale said. "My valet was a short +distance behind and he came to my assistance. I never saw these fellows +before."</p> + +<p>"Nothin' like it!" one of the thugs snarled. "Me and my pal were walkin' +along this path and met these men, and the one with the stick ordered us +out of the way as if we were dogs. When we didn't move quick enough, +they jumped into us."</p> + +<p>"That's a lie——" Murk began.</p> + +<p>"You can settle this at the station," the officer replied. "All of you +come along with us!"</p> + +<p>Prale picked up his hat and stick, took off his torn gloves and threw +them away, and motioned for Murk to walk at his side and to keep quiet. +They went to the driveway and along it, the policemen watching the four +of them closely, the thugs growling to each other and remarking that it +was a fine day when honest workingmen could not stroll in Central Park +without a dude and his valet trying to beat them up.</p> + +<p>There was a short wait when the station was reached, and then, at the +lieutenant's command, one of the thugs poured forth his story. He gave +his name and address, as did the other, and both made the statement that +they were out of work at present.</p> + +<p>Prale stepped forward and gave his name. The lieutenant stared at him in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's the guy who croaked that man Shepley!" one of the thugs +cried. "There ought to be a way of stoppin' him runnin' around and +assaultin' and killin' folks. If it hadn't been for the cops——"</p> + +<p>"Shut up!" Sidney Prale commanded loudly, ignoring the presence of the +officers. "You fellows made a deliberate attack on me and you know it. +And I want to know who paid you to do it—understand?"</p> + +<p>"You're crazy!" said one of the thugs.</p> + +<p>Prale turned to the lieutenant. "I'd like to have Jim Farland sent for," +he said. "He has been handling things for me. I want him to investigate +these men. I have an idea that the names and addresses they gave are +fictitious. Recently enemies of mine have caused me considerable +trouble, and I feel sure that these men were hired to attack me. +Fortunately, my valet was walking a short distance behind me, and rushed +up and helped me hold them off."</p> + +<p>"I'm ready to put up bail, and so is my pal!" said one of the thugs +angrily.</p> + +<p>"In that case, I'll have to let you go for the present," the lieutenant +said. "The charge is fighting and disorderly conduct, and bail will be +one hundred dollars in each case. You may use the telephone if you wish, +Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>Prale hurried to the telephone, called Jim Farland's office, and was +informed that Farland had not been there, and that the girl in charge +did not know where he was, or what he was doing, or when he would +return. Prale left instructions for Farland and went back to the desk.</p> + +<p>"This is a serious business, though it may not look like it on the +face," he said. "I'd like to have these men held until we can make sure +they have given correct names and addresses."</p> + +<p>"No use holding them if they have given bail," the lieutenant replied. +"I think it's nothing but a regular scrap. You can talk to the judge +later, all of you."</p> + +<p>Prale took a roll of bills from his pocket and put up cash bail for both +Murk and himself. One of the thugs followed suit and pulling out a roll +of bills, stripped off two hundred dollars, and arranged for the release +of himself and his partner.</p> + +<p>"You seem to have a lot of money for men who are out of work," Prale +said.</p> + +<p>"Been savin' it, and it's none of your business anyway," growled the +other.</p> + +<p>They started toward the door, and Prale and Murk followed them, watched +them until they started away, and then turned back to bathe their faces +and hands. Then Prale got a taxicab, and drove to the office of a +physician, who did his best to make the countenances of Prale and Murk +presentable.</p> + +<p>It was an hour later when Jim Farland called Prale by telephone at the +hotel.</p> + +<p>"I've investigated that little matter, Sid," he reported. "Those fellows +gave fictitious addresses, as you supposed they had done, and it is an +even bet that the names they gave were fictitious, too. No doubt about +it, Sid—they were hired to get you. You'd better be on guard and a bit +careful."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>MURK RECEIVES A BLOW</h3> + + +<p>An hour before dinner, Detective Jim Farland suddenly appeared in Sidney +Prale's suite at the hotel.</p> + +<p>"They are working on me now, Sid," he said. "I got a telephone message +when I was in the office, and the gent at the other end of the line +informed me that it would be beneficial to my health if I immediately +ceased having anything to do with the Rufus Shepley murder case and +stopped working for you."</p> + +<p>"Any idea where the message came from?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"It came from a public pay station in the subway. I had the call traced +immediately, of course. No chance of finding out who sent it, naturally. +I doubt whether I'd recognize the voice if I heard it again—could tell +by the way the fellow talked that he was trying to disguise his tones. I +told him to go to blazes, and he informed me that I was up against +something too big for a man to face, or something like that."</p> + +<p>"Jim, if there is any danger, I don't want you to work for me," Sidney +Prale said. "You're married and a father and——"</p> + +<p>"And that will be about all from you, Sid!" Farland interrupted. "Think +I'm going to let some man who doesn't tell me his name throw a scare +into me?"</p> + +<p>"But, if there is danger——"</p> + +<p>"I thrive on danger," said Jim Farland. "Think I'm going to desert you +at this stage of the game? That is what they want, of course. If I did, +you'd probably hire another detective, and it might be one of their own +men—whoever they are. I'm in this game to stay, Sid, first because you +are an old friend of mine and I think you are being made the victim of +some sort of a dirty deal, and also because I'm not the kind of man to +be bluffed out of a job. We are going right ahead. I got a note at the +office, too."</p> + +<p>"A note!" Prale gasped.</p> + +<p>"Typewritten, but not on George Lerton's battered typewriter this time. +It remarked that unless I gave up this case, somebody would make things +hard for me, or words to that effect. Old stuff! If they are so scared +that they send threatening letters, they're whipped right now—and they +know it!"</p> + +<p>"I had an interesting experience this afternoon," said Prale.</p> + +<p>"The fight?"</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that. I met Kate Gilbert in front of the library. She +asked me to get a taxicab and drive her through the Park. I did it. She +begged me to leave New York and remain away, and said that my enemies +might not be so harsh if I did. I tried to get her to explain, and she +insisted that I knew all there was to know. She left the taxicab and +walked to her home."</p> + +<p>"I'll have to investigate that girl more thoroughly," Farland said.</p> + +<p>"She is on guard now, as far as I am concerned."</p> + +<p>"Does she know Murk by sight?"</p> + +<p>"I think not."</p> + +<p>"Then here is where Murk gets a steady job for a time," Jim Farland +declared. "Murk, you go up to Kate Gilbert's home and watch a bit. Give +him plenty of money, Sid, for expenses. Just see if she leaves the +place, Murk, and if so, where she goes, and to whom she talks. Get any +general information you can. Try to keep her from knowing that you are +watching her, but if she finds it out drop the chase and get back here, +and we'll put another shadow on the job. When you are sure that she has +decided to remain in her apartment for the night, report back here to +Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"You watch me," Murk said. "I never expected to be caught doin' +detective work and I reckon it's somethin' like a disgrace, but this is +a sort of special occasion."</p> + +<p>Prale gave Murk more money, in case he would have to engage taxicabs or +follow Kate Gilbert where money would be necessary for tips and bribes.</p> + +<p>"Your face looks pretty good, but you want to remember that there are +some marks on it," Prale told him.</p> + +<p>"It's looked worse, boss," Murk replied, grinning. "I'll try to do this +thing right."</p> + +<p>Murk hurried down in the elevator and went from the hotel. He got a cab +immediately, and promised that dire things would happen to the chauffeur +if he did not get to a certain corner up beside the Park in record time. +Jim Farland had given him a badge to be used if he was questioned by a +police officer, and he was to say that he was an operative attached to +Farland's office.</p> + +<p>Murk discharged the taxi at the proper corner, touched match to +cigarette, and walked slowly down the street toward the apartment house +where Kate Gilbert lived with her father and her maid.</p> + +<p>Jim Farland had told him the location of the Gilbert apartment, and Murk +saw that the lights in it were burning. It was about time for dinner, he +knew.</p> + +<p>He went to a drug store on the nearest corner and hurried into a +telephone booth. He called the apartment house and asked to be connected +with the Gilberts. A woman's hoarse voice answered his call, and he +guessed that it was the maid speaking.</p> + +<p>"Miss Kate Gilbert there?" Murk asked.</p> + +<p>"Who is calling, please?"</p> + +<p>"Tell her it is about that Prale affair," Murk replied.</p> + +<p>"One moment. I'll call her."</p> + +<p>Kate Gilbert's voice came to him over the wire almost immediately.</p> + +<p>"Miss Gilbert?" Murk asked. "I was to tell you that——"</p> + +<p>And then Murk jerked down the receiver hook, and grinned as he put the +receiver on it. Kate Gilbert would believe that a careless central girl +had cut them off and put an end to the conversation.</p> + +<p>He had learned what he had wished to learn—that Kate Gilbert was at +home. He walked back up the street. All he had to do now was to watch, +and if Kate Gilbert left the place follow her. If she did not, Murk +would wait half an hour or so after the lights in the apartment were +turned out, to be sure that she had retired, and then would hurry back +to the hotel.</p> + +<p>Murk watched from a distance at first, and then went slowly forward, for +he did not wish to attract attention by remaining in one position too +long. There were few persons on the block; and now and then some +automobile or taxicab would discharge a passenger and go on. Murk made +his way slowly to the end of the block, always watching the entrance of +the apartment house, crossed the street, and started back on the other +side.</p> + +<p>He came in front of a dark passageway between two buildings, and went +on. And out of the mouth of that dark passageway came a blow that caused +Murk to groan once and topple forward. Hands gripped his unconscious +body and drew him back into the darkness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>MURK IS TEMPTED</h3> + + +<p>The next thing that impressed itself upon Murk's consciousness was the +fact that he had a terrific pain in the back of his head. Many times +during his career Murk had experienced similar pains. And he knew that +the best thing to do was to remain quiet for a short time, keep his eyes +closed, and gradually pull himself together.</p> + +<p>So he pretended that he had not regained consciousness. He knew that he +had been stretched upon a bed or couch of some sort, and that his wrists +were lashed together, and his ankles. He was not gagged, however.</p> + +<p>Gradually the pain ceased, Murk's senses cleared and he became aware of +what was going on around him. He could hear whispered voices, but could +not distinguish words and sentences; neither could he tell whether the +voices were those of men or women.</p> + +<p>Finally Murk opened his eyes.</p> + +<p>He found that he was in a small room furnished in quite an ordinary +manner. He was stretched on an old-fashioned sofa. There were a few +chairs scattered about, and a cupboard in one corner. In the middle of +the room was an ordinary table covered with a red cloth. Upon the table +a kerosene lamp was burning.</p> + +<p>Murk groaned and made an attempt to sit up, but fell back again because +of a fit of dizziness. It became evident that his groan had been heard +in the room adjoining, for the door, which had been ajar, now was thrown +open wide, and two men entered.</p> + +<p>Murk knew them instantly; they were the men who had attacked Sidney +Prale in the Park.</p> + +<p>"Back to earth, are you?" one of them snarled. "If I had my way, you'd +have been cracked on the head for good."</p> + +<p>Murk snarled in reply, despite the fact that he was bound and at the +mercy of these men.</p> + +<p>"Sore because I smashed your face!" Murk said.</p> + +<p>"That'll be about all out of you! I may take a smash at you yet!"</p> + +<p>"You've got a good chance while my hands and feet are tied," Murk +replied. "It's the only time you could get away with it, all right! Turn +me loose and I can clean up the two of you!"</p> + +<p>"You're not doin' any cleanin' for the present," he was told.</p> + +<p>Murk began wondering at the object of the assault upon him. He could +feel the roll of bills Prale had given him bulging his vest pocket, so +he guessed robbery was not the motive. He managed to sit up on the sofa +now, and he glared at the two thugs before him with right good will.</p> + +<p>One of the men went back into the adjoining room, and the other remained +standing before Murk, sneering at him, his hands opening and closing as +if he would take Murk's throat in them and choke the life out of Sidney +Prale's valet and comrade in arms.</p> + +<p>Then the man who had left the room returned, and there was another with +him. Murk looked at this stranger with sudden interest. He was well +dressed, Murk could see, but he wore an ulster that had the wide collar +turned up around his neck, and he had a mask on his face—a home-made +mask that was nothing more than a handkerchief with eye slits cut in it.</p> + +<p>"Afraid to show yourself, are you?" Murk sneered. "Who are you—the +chief thug?"</p> + +<p>The masked man pulled a chair up before the sofa and sat down. His eyes +glittered at Murk through the slits in the handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"You are not going to be harmed, my man—if you are reasonable," he +said.</p> + +<p>"Reasonable about what?" Murk demanded.</p> + +<p>"We want some information and we think you can give it to us; that is +all."</p> + +<p>"I don't know much," said Murk.</p> + +<p>"Tell us why you were prowling around that house near the Park."</p> + +<p>"Maybe I was takin' a walk," Murk answered.</p> + +<p>"And maybe you were spying, as I happen to know you were. We assume that +Sidney Prale sent you to watch the comings and goings of a certain young +woman and her friends."</p> + +<p>"Go right ahead assumin'."</p> + +<p>"It will avail you nothing, my man, to adopt this attitude," Murk was +told. "And it might help you a great deal if you are willing to listen +to reason."</p> + +<p>"I'm listenin'," Murk replied.</p> + +<p>"You haven't been working for Sidney Prale very long, have you?"</p> + +<p>"Only a few days—since you seem to know all about it, anyway. Why ask +foolish questions?"</p> + +<p>"Very well. We understand that Prale kept you from committing suicide +and then gave you a job. There is no reason why you should feel an +overwhelming gratitude for Prale. He merely got a valet cheap."</p> + +<p>"What about it?" Murk growled.</p> + +<p>"Sidney Prale has a million dollars, but you'll never see much of it. He +isn't the sort of man to toss his money away. And there are others, not +particularly Prale's friends, who have many millions between them."</p> + +<p>"Well, that ain't doin' me much good."</p> + +<p>"But it may do you a lot of good. We want information and we stand ready +to pay for it."</p> + +<p>"I guess you'll have to do a little explainin'," Murk told him. "I never +was any good at guessin' riddles. Life's too short to be spent workin' +out silly puzzles."</p> + +<p>"Very well," the masked man said. "As you perhaps are aware, Prale has +certain enemies. That is enough for you to know, if he has not told you +more. If you can give me information concerning Sidney Prale's plans, +and tell us how much he knows, we will pay you handsomely."</p> + +<p>"I getcha," Murk said.</p> + +<p>"And if you can manage to continue working for Prale, and let us know +everything as it comes up, there'll be considerably more in it for you."</p> + +<p>"Want me to do the spy act, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Call it whatever you like. There is a chance for you to earn some good +money."</p> + +<p>"How much?" Murk demanded.</p> + +<p>"That depends upon the services you render us. But let me assure you +that you will be richly rewarded. We will not fool you or defraud you."</p> + +<p>"What do you want to know?"</p> + +<p>"What is Jim Farland, the detective, doing? What has he reported to +Prale?"</p> + +<p>"He ain't reported much of anything," said Murk.</p> + +<p>"We want to know what Prale thinks about the situation. Tell us all you +know concerning the Rufus Shepley murder case. Has Sidney Prale said +anything you have been able to hear about the enemies who are bothering +him? You understand what we want to know—everything possible about +Prale's plans. And we want you to watch henceforth, and keep us informed +in a way I shall explain to you."</p> + +<p>"Well, explain it!" said Murk.</p> + +<p>"Scarcely, until we know that you are our man. Try to think of things +now, and tell us. Be sure you let us have everything. What you deem +unimportant may be really important to us."</p> + +<p>"I'd feel a lot more friendly to you gents if you'd untie me," said +Murk. "I can't talk business when I'm treated like a prisoner, or +somethin' like that."</p> + +<p>"You'll be untied as soon as we feel sure of you, and not before," Murk +was told. "We are not taking chances with you. Are you going to work for +us?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure that the proposition looks good to me," Murk said. "I make +a deal with a man whose face I can't see, and do the dirty work—and +then maybe you turn me down cold and don't give me a cent, and I lose my +job with Mr. Prale and get in a nice fix. Don't you suppose I got some +common sense?"</p> + +<p>"Make the deal with us, and you shall have five hundred dollars in cash +before you leave this room," the masked man promised. "And, take my word +for it, you'll be rewarded richly if you serve us well."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know much about this business," Murk said. "You know I +ain't been with Mr. Prale very long. All I know is that he's got some +enemies who are tryin' to get the best of him. He says he ain't guilty +of that murder charge, and I happen to know he ain't, because he was +with me when Shepley was killed."</p> + +<p>"Maybe you both had a hand in the killing," the masked man said. "And if +you don't come to terms with us, you may find yourself in jail charged +with being an accessory."</p> + +<p>"You can't bluff me, and you can't threaten me and get away with it!" +Murk cried.</p> + +<p>"Softly—softly!" said the masked man. "I was merely showing you where +you stand."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't start talkin' to me that way, if you want to do business +with me. If I'm goin' to work for you, I've got to know what's what. +Who's got it in for Mr. Prale, and why? That's what I want to know. And +what is it you're tryin' to do to him? How can I help if I ain't wise?"</p> + +<p>"Some of the wealthiest and most influential men in the city are against +Sidney Prale. They are determined to run him away from this, his old +home town. They are going to strip him of his fortune if they can. They +are going to grind him down until he is nothing better than a tramp."</p> + +<p>"Well, why are they goin' to do all this?"</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary for you to know at present. Perhaps you will learn +that from Sidney Prale, if you keep your ears and eyes open. All we want +you to do is to watch and listen and make frequent reports to us. You'll +have to be loyal to us, of course. If you are not, we shall punish you."</p> + +<p>"But what did Mr. Prale ever do to get such a bunch down on him?" Murk +demanded.</p> + +<p>"You'll find that out in time—maybe."</p> + +<p>"I guess I'd better know right now."</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary. Besides, we are not sure of you yet, please +remember."</p> + +<p>"How could you ever be sure of me?" Murk cried. "If I threw down Mr. +Prale, wouldn't I be liable to throw you down, if somebody happened +along and raised the price? Why, you simp, I wouldn't turn against Mr. +Prale for a million dollars! He's treated me decent, and he was the +first man who ever did that! I was just stringin' you, you fool! Mr. +Prale himself don't know why your gang is causin' him trouble, and I was +tryin' to pump you and find out!"</p> + +<p>"So he has told you that he doesn't know why he has enemies?"</p> + +<p>"He has—and he told the truth. There's something phony about that +murder case; somebody's tryin' to frame him. And when Jim Farland gets +through, somebody is goin' to jail!"</p> + +<p>"So you will not work for us?"</p> + +<p>"You're right; I won't. Maybe I don't amount to much, but I'm mighty +square compared to some people I know about."</p> + +<p>"And what do you suppose is going to become of you, if you refuse to do +as I say?"</p> + +<p>"I guess I'll manage to struggle along," Murk said.</p> + +<p>"We'll see about that!" the masked man replied, getting up from the +chair. "Perhaps a night spent in your present position, without food or +water, will cause you to change your mind. If it does not, there are +other methods that can be used."</p> + +<p>"Goin' to pull rough stuff, are you?" Murk sneered. "Go as far as you +like! You can manhandle me, but you can't make me turn against Sidney +Prale. That's a golden little thought for to-day, as the preacher says."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>A WOMAN'S WAY</h3> + + +<p>The masked man stepped forward, snarling behind his mask, his hands +closing, and the two thugs stepped forward also, as if to use Murk +roughly if the other gave the command.</p> + +<p>But there was an interruption. Kate Gilbert came in from the adjoining +room.</p> + +<p>The masked man whirled to meet her.</p> + +<p>"You should not—" he began.</p> + +<p>"It makes no difference," Kate Gilbert said. "This man knows me, or he +would not have been set to spying on me. Sidney Prale knows that I am +associated with his enemies, since I was talking to him to-day. It is +not necessary for <i>me</i> to mask my face!"</p> + +<p>"It really was not necessary for you to come," said the masked man. +"This fellow refuses to have anything to do with us."</p> + +<p>"I cannot blame him. You used violence to get him here. I am afraid that +I should refuse to have business relations with a man who knocked me on +the head."</p> + +<p>"It was the only way. We couldn't approach him on the street very well. +We have him here now and perhaps may be able to force him to see the +light."</p> + +<p>"I shall not countenance more violence!" Kate Gilbert said. "I told you +in the beginning that force was not to be used. This man is not to be +blamed in any way. He merely is an employee of the man we are fighting."</p> + +<p>"I think it justifiable to use any method that will get results," the +masked man told her. "You seem to forget——"</p> + +<p>"I do not forget!" Kate Gilbert cried. "Who has a better right to hope +to see Sidney Prale punished? Who has suffered more than I and mine? But +I do not wish to see violence used. This man may be made to help us, but +I fear you have taken the wrong method. And what do you intend doing +now?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it will be as well for you to return home and allow us to +handle this part of the affair," the masked man told her. "No woman +likes violence, of course, but at times it is necessary. We are going to +leave him here to-night to think things over. He will be stiff and sore +and hungry in the morning."</p> + +<p>"But——" Kate Gilbert protested.</p> + +<p>"It is the better way, I assure you—and quite necessary. This thing is +so big that it must be handled with firmness and decision. You have +aided us greatly, but I think it will be a mistake to let you take +command of the situation."</p> + +<p>Kate Gilbert's eyes flashed angrily, and her face flushed.</p> + +<p>"Very well, sir," she said. "But let me talk to this man alone. Perhaps +common sense and kindness will prevail where violence did not. I +sincerely hope so."</p> + +<p>"I am willing to let you talk to him, but you are to be guarded in your +speech. Tell him nothing about the real affair; we want to be sure of +him before we take him fully into our confidence. All we wish him to do +is to keep us informed about Prale and Jim Farland, and any others who +may be helping Prale."</p> + +<p>"I understand, and I am not quite a fool!" Kate Gilbert told him, still +angry.</p> + +<p>The masked man motioned the two thugs out of the room, and then followed +them, closing the door behind him. Kate Gilbert sat down in the chair +before the sofa, and looked at Murk.</p> + +<p>"First, I want you to know that I had nothing to do with the blow you +received," she said. "That was going a bit too far. I knew nothing of it +until I received a telephone message saying that you were spying on the +place where I live, and that you had been captured and brought here."</p> + +<p>"I understand that, lady," Murk replied.</p> + +<p>"I know that you have been with Mr. Prale only a few days. If he were in +your place now, I might be inclined to turn my back and let those men +handle him. But you are not to be blamed for the faults of your +employer."</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am," said Murk.</p> + +<p>"I am going to tell you only this much: Sidney Prale committed a great +wrong against several persons. Those persons have banded together to +have vengeance. Sidney Prale deserves everything that can happen to +him."</p> + +<p>"I think you've got him wrong, ma'am," said Murk. "He's even accused of +murder, and I know he ain't guilty."</p> + +<p>"Neither do I believe that he is guilty of that crime, but that has +nothing to do with this other affair. The persons who are banded +together against Sidney Prale have nothing to do with the murder charge, +I am sure."</p> + +<p>"I reckon he'll be glad to know that. But you've got him wrong in this +other thing, lady. Mr. Prale is worried almost to death because he don't +know who his enemies are, or why they are causin' him a lot of trouble."</p> + +<p>"He has led you to believe that?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I know he's tellin' the truth, ma'am. He's got a detective workin' +tryin' to find out what it all means."</p> + +<p>"Then he is fooling you, and the detective also. Sidney Prale knows who +his enemies are, and why they are troubling him. He tried to tell me +that he did not know, and almost in the same breath he told me something +that convinced me he did know. You have received an offer to help us. +Are you willing?"</p> + +<p>"I don't intend to turn against Mr. Prale!" Murk declared. "I ain't a +man like that! These gents can keep me here and starve me and beat me +up, and that's all the good it'll do 'em. I know a man when I see one, +and Mr. Prale's a man, and a square man, and I'm goin' to stand by him!"</p> + +<p>"He has fooled you! You do not know him for the scoundrel that he is."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it's you that's bein' fooled, lady."</p> + +<p>"No. If you knew all, you would understand."</p> + +<p>"Well, why don't you tell me, then? If you prove to me that Mr. Prale is +a crook or somethin', and that you people ain't, maybe I'll change my +mind about some things."</p> + +<p>"I can tell you nothing now, except that I am right and that Sidney +Prale is fooling you," Kate Gilbert said.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll stay right here and take my beatin' at the hands of them +thugs."</p> + +<p>"You will do nothing of the kind," she said. "I will not see them use +violence toward you."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how you're goin' to help it, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"I am going to have you released. You may return to Sidney Prale and +tell him that we intend to punish him, but that I, for one, will not +resort to violence. He may fight unfairly, but we do not." She lowered +her voice and bent toward him. "I'll attract their attention, and send +my maid to release you," she said. "Remain where you are."</p> + +<p>"Yes'm."</p> + +<p>Without another word, Kate Gilbert got up and left the room, closing the +door behind her. In the other room were the masked man, the two thugs, +and Marie, the maid.</p> + +<p>"I have talked to him, and I have a plan," Kate Gilbert told the others. +"Marie, I wish you to do something for me. Take the taxicab and go on +the errand, and after I am done here I will go home in another car."</p> + +<p>She stepped across to the maid and gave her whispered instructions, +while the men waited. Marie left the room, walked through the hall, and +left the house. Kate Gilbert sat down at the table and called the others +to her.</p> + +<p>"That man is loyal to Prale," she explained. "Prale has fooled him. He +honestly believes that Prale does not know his enemies or why he is +being bothered, and he is grateful to Prale for what Prale has done for +him. So, naturally, he refuses to turn against his employer."</p> + +<p>"If you will leave the matter in my hands——" the masked man suggested.</p> + +<p>"I may do so after we have had this little talk. Come closer, so I can +speak in a low tone and he will not hear."</p> + +<p>They pulled their chairs up to the table.</p> + +<p>"This man is stubborn," she said. "You could starve him or beat him, and +it would do you not the slightest good. It would only make him the more +determined to be faithful to Prale. We would gain nothing. We've got to +convince him that we are in the right."</p> + +<p>"I object to telling him the whole truth," said the masked man.</p> + +<p>"He could do nothing except tell it to Prale—and Prale knows it +already, doesn't he?" Kate Gilbert asked.</p> + +<p>"You want to let the fellow go?" the masked man cried. "Why, we can use +him as a sort of hostage!"</p> + +<p>"As if Sidney Prale would care if he never saw his valet again!"</p> + +<p>"He is more than a valet; he is one of Prale's spies! If we can hold +this man prisoner, and attend to Jim Farland, that detective, Prale +would stand alone. There are not many men he would trust to help him. +And, if he stands alone, it will be easier for us to torment him, cause +him trouble, drive him away!"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I regret that we started this thing," Kate Gilbert said. +"What will it avail us to make Prale's life miserable?"</p> + +<p>"You seem to forget—"</p> + +<p>"I forget nothing! I know how I have suffered, how my father and others +have suffered. But I am not sure that retribution will not visit Sidney +Prale even if we keep our hands off."</p> + +<p>"You're a woman; that is why!" the masked man accused. "You have a soft +heart, as is right and proper in a woman. But when you remember your +father——"</p> + +<p>"I am not quitting!" she declared. "I will continue the game. But I will +not permit violence toward anybody, least of all to a poor fellow who +has nothing to do with the affair except that he is working for Sidney +Prale. We can accomplish our aims without becoming thugs and breaking +laws ourselves. I understood that we always were to keep inside the +law."</p> + +<p>"Well, what have you to suggest?" the masked man asked.</p> + +<p>"Let Prale's valet go, for he can do us no harm. Prale knows that I am +against him, but he can make no move unless we break the law and his +detective has us apprehended. We play into Sidney Prale's hands if we do +that. Can't you see it? We do not want to give him an advantage, do we? +If we use violence or break a law, we do just that. We must break him +down cleverly."</p> + +<p>"I see that point, all right."</p> + +<p>"I am astonished that you did not see it before. You appear to be very +vindictive lately, yet you did not suffer as some others suffered."</p> + +<p>"I have my reasons. I always have hated Sidney Prale."</p> + +<p>"Then you are making this fight for personal reasons?"</p> + +<p>"Do not forget that some very good friends of mine suffered because of +Prale. But, about the valet——"</p> + +<p>"Let him go, I say. What harm can he do?"</p> + +<p>"We slugged him to get him here. He can report it to the police, and +have you arrested, and these two men."</p> + +<p>"And what evidence would he have?" she asked. "Who would testify that he +was telling the truth? These two men can keep out of sight for the +present. He has not seen your face because of your mask. And to charge +me with slugging him would be ridiculous."</p> + +<p>"This house——"</p> + +<p>"Is vacant, so far as the neighbors know; it is owned by a man whose +wife died, and who has been gone for more than a year. The agent who +rented it to us furnished, is one of us. We can simply close it up and +not come here again. If he complained, and the police investigated, they +would find the house closed, and the nearest neighbors would declare +that it had been closed since the owner went away. The furniture is not +even dusted."</p> + +<p>"That part is all right."</p> + +<p>"And that attack on Prale in the Park during the afternoon!" she went +on. "That was a mistake. Suppose Detective Farland managed to connect +that with us. I tell you we must not break a law, or Sidney Prale may +get the advantage!"</p> + +<p>"We can't handle an affair like this with kid gloves!" the masked man +declared.</p> + +<p>"We do as I say, or I shall go to Sidney Prale and tell him everything +and rob you of your vengeance!"</p> + +<p>"You would do that!" the masked man cried, springing from his chair.</p> + +<p>"I'll do it if there is any more violence!" she declared. "It was +understood that no rough tactics were to be used, and I demand that we +carry out the original plan!"</p> + +<p>"We'll see about this!" the masked man cried. "I'll talk to some of the +others——"</p> + +<p>"And I'll leave the game if there is any more violence—do not forget +that!" Kate Gilbert cried.</p> + +<p>She continued to talk and plan, for she was fighting for time. She had +known that, at the last moment, this man would refuse to release Murk.</p> + +<p>Marie, the big maid, had hurried from the house, which sat far back from +the street and was surrounded by trees. But she had returned after +watching for a few minutes.</p> + +<p>Murk, sitting on the sofa, heard somebody at one of the windows. He +watched the sash being raised slowly and cautiously, and after a time +saw the head of Marie. She motioned him for silence, listened a moment, +and then crawled inside.</p> + +<p>Marie hurried across to Murk and fumbled with the cords that bound his +wrists together behind his back. The bonds slipped away, and Murk made +quick work of the one around his ankles. He hurried across the room, got +through the window, and helped the big maid through. Marie led him +toward the street.</p> + +<p>"Come right along with me!" she commanded, when they were some distance +from the house.</p> + +<p>"Thanks for helpin' me out, but I guess I'll hang around," Murk replied. +"I'm right eager to get a look at the face of the man who was wearing +the mask."</p> + +<p>"I supposed you'd want to do that," the big maid told him. "And that's +what I've got orders to keep you from doing. You come along with me!"</p> + +<p>Murk got a surprise. Marie gripped his shoulder with her left hand—and +it was no gentle grip. Then he saw that she was holding an automatic +pistol in her right hand.</p> + +<p>"There is a taxi at the corner," she informed Murk. "We are going to get +into it and drive back to the city. You may be able to find this house +afterward, but I doubt it."</p> + +<p>"Suppose I take a notion not to go?" Murk asked.</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid to shoot," Marie informed him.</p> + +<p>"Aw, let me go!" he exclaimed. "You're in wrong in this deal; see? I +tell you that Mr. Prale, my boss, is an all-right man, and you people +are makin' some kind of a mistake."</p> + +<p>"I like to see a man stick up for his boss," replied the gigantic Marie. +"And I'm stickin' up for mine right this minute, and she told me to see +that you went to town. Why don't you quit that man Prale and get a real +job with a gentleman? You're not a bad-looking man at all."</p> + +<p>Murk felt himself blushing at this unexpected announcement. Praise from +the lips of a woman was something new in his life. He glanced at the +amazon beside him.</p> + +<p>"And you're sure some woman!" he said. "And that ain't just nice talk—I +sure mean it! But you ain't got this from the right angle. I've got to +work for Mr. Prale. I'd be a dead one this minute if it wasn't for him. +If I didn't stick by him now, I'd never be able to look at myself in a +shavin' mirror again. You don't want me to be an ungrateful pup, do you? +You see——"</p> + +<p>Having directed her attention to another topic for a moment, Murk put +his plan into action. He made a quick lunge forward as he spoke, +springing a bit to one side as he did so, and trying to seize the +automatic and tear it from her grasp.</p> + +<p>But the gigantic Marie had been anticipating something like that, +despite Murk's speech and his manner that said he was a willing captive. +She lurched forward and hurled Murk back, sprang after him, crashed the +butt of the weapon against the side of his head, and then, while he was +a trifle groggy from the blow, she grasped him with her powerful hands +and piloted him toward the street with strength and determination.</p> + +<p>"Never try to play them child's tricks on me!" she announced.</p> + +<p>Murk regarded her with mingled admiration and chagrin, and spoke with +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Some woman!" he commented.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>COADLEY QUITS</h3> + + +<p>Murk, compelled to ride back to the city in the taxicab with Marie, +spent the time in ordinary conversation with the amazon, and told +himself repeatedly that she was a great woman, a dangerous state of mind +for a bachelor.</p> + +<p>The only reason Murk wanted to remain in the vicinity of the cottage was +to catch a sight of the countenance of the man who had worn the mask. As +far as the cottage itself was concerned, he had noticed a signboard on a +street corner not far from it, and he would be able to locate it again +if Sidney Prale or Jim Farland thought it necessary.</p> + +<p>Marie stopped the taxicab near the Park, and Murk got out and gallantly +offered to pay the bill for his enemy, but Marie would not allow it.</p> + +<p>"Hope to see you often and get to know you better when this little scrap +is over," Murk made bold to say, and then, chuckling at her retort, he +started walking down the street.</p> + +<p>He did not care to ride, for it was not so very many blocks to the +hotel, and Murk wanted time to formulate in his mind the report he +intended to make to his employer.</p> + +<p>Prale was waiting for him, and Murk told his story in detail and without +embellishment.</p> + +<p>"So Kate Gilbert had you freed, did she?" Prale said. "And she told the +others that she would quit them if they used any more violence? Murk, +old boy, when our foes begin fighting in their own camp it is time for +us to begin to hope. A house divided against itself cannot stand, as you +probably have heard."</p> + +<p>"She certainly panned the man who wore the handkerchief over his face," +Murk said. "I think I'd know him again, boss. He talked a good deal, +remember, and he got careless toward the last and used his regular +voice. And I watched his hands—boob didn't have sense enough to wear +gloves. Anybody but a boob would know that a hand can be recognized as +easy as a face."</p> + +<p>"Let us hope that they make a lot of mistakes like that, Murk," Prale +replied. "I'll be glad if we ever solve this confounded mystery. It's +getting on my nerves."</p> + +<p>They remained up until one o'clock in the morning, but Jim Farland +neither visited the hotel again nor called them up, and so they went to +bed.</p> + +<p>They did not rise early, but had breakfast in the suite and took their +time about eating it. After that, they waited for Farland to arrive or +telephone and give orders and tell news. Farland did not come, but +Attorney Coadley did.</p> + +<p>Murk admitted him, and the distinguished criminal lawyer sat in the +window beside Prale, a grave expression on his face, his manner that of +a disconcerted man.</p> + +<p>"I gather you do not bring good news, judging from your countenance," +Prale said.</p> + +<p>"At least, I have not come to say that the case against you is any +stronger," Coadley replied. "I'd like to speak to you alone, Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"Certainly. You may go into the other room, Murk, and remain until I +call."</p> + +<p>Murk obeyed, and Sidney Prale bent forward in his chair and looked at +the attorney again, wondering what this visit meant, what was coming, +half fearing that the news would be ill after all.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prale," Coadley said, "I have come here to your apartment to tell +you that I wish you to get another attorney."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon!" Prale gasped.</p> + +<p>"I wish to withdraw from the case, Mr. Prale—that is all. An attorney +does that frequently, you know."</p> + +<p>"But I want you to handle my case," Prale said. "I have been given to +understand that you are one of the foremost criminal lawyers in the +city. And you have done so much already——"</p> + +<p>"I insist that I withdraw, Mr. Prale. I shall be ethical. I shall give +the man you name in my place all the knowledge at my command regarding +this case, and I shall see that the change does not embarrass you or +place you in jeopardy. The court will grant extensions if they are +necessary."</p> + +<p>"Farland has given me to understand that my alibi now is of such a +nature that the case against me may be dismissed. I had hoped that you +had come here this morning to tell me so."</p> + +<p>"I fancy that any good attorney can get the charge dismissed," Coadley +said.</p> + +<p>"But I do not want to be freed under a cloud. I want the public to be +sure I did not kill Rufus Shepley—I want to have the public know the +identity of the man who did."</p> + +<p>"That is what I thought, and that will take considerable time, perhaps," +Coadley said. "And so I wish to withdraw——"</p> + +<p>"If it is a question of fee——"</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the sort, Mr. Prale. I am sure you would pay me any +reasonable fee I asked. There is no question regarding your financial +ability."</p> + +<p>"May I ask, then, why you desire to leave the case?" Sidney Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather not state my reasons, Mr. Prale. Just let me withdraw, and +make arrangements with the court, after you have named the man to take +my place. The bail arrangement will stand, of course."</p> + +<p>"So you do not care to tell your reasons!" Prale said. "Mr. Coadley, a +banker refused to handle my funds. A hotel manager ordered me out, you +might say, for no good reason whatever. I understand that I have some +powerful enemies who are working in the dark, and who cause these +annoyances. Do you wish me to understand, Mr. Coadley, that they have +been to see you? Do you wish me to think that you are under the thumbs +of these persons, whoever they may be?"</p> + +<p>The attorney's face flushed, and he looked angry for an instant, but +quickly controlled himself.</p> + +<p>"I do not care to go into details, Mr. Prale," he said.</p> + +<p>"Then it is the truth!" Prale said. "The big criminal lawyer is not so +big but that others can force him to do as they please."</p> + +<p>"Let us say as I please, Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"Then you think that you have a good reason for withdrawing?"</p> + +<p>"I do."</p> + +<p>"In other words, something has been told you that convinced you I am not +a fit client. Is that it? And, instead of telling me what it is, and +giving me a chance to refute the charge or explain, you simply take the +easiest course and believe my enemies. Do you call that an example of +the square deal?"</p> + +<p>"Let us not talk about it further, Mr. Prale," Coadley replied. "I feel +quite sure that you have a complete understanding of the situation."</p> + +<p>"But I have not! I seem to be able to understand nothing in regard to +this affair of which I am the central figure. I would give half my +fortune, I believe, to have an explanation and be able to set things +right."</p> + +<p>"No doubt you would be willing to give half your fortune to set things +right!" Coadley said. "It is your privilege, of course, to say that you +do not understand. Mr. Prale, you must see that this interview is +painful to me, and it must be painful to you. Why prolong it?"</p> + +<p>"As far as I am concerned, this interview may be terminated at once, +sir!" Sidney Prale exclaimed. "I'll send you a check for your services +as soon as you submit your bill; and please do not neglect to do so at +once. I'll inform you as soon as possible of the name of the man I +select to fill your legal shoes in this matter. That is satisfactory? +Very well. Murk!"</p> + +<p>Murk hurried in from the adjoining room when he heard Sidney Prale's +call.</p> + +<p>"Show Mr. Coadley to the hall door, Murk!" Sidney Prale said. "And while +you are about it, please close that ventilator in the corner of the +room. It creates a draft, I am sure, and Mr. Coadley already has cold +feet!"</p> + +<p>The attorney glared at Prale, and then got up and walked quickly across +to the door, which the grinning Murk held open to let him pass out.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>UP THE RIVER</h3> + + +<p>Coadley had not gone for more than an hour when Detective Jim Farland +arrived at the hotel and made his way immediately to Sidney Prale's +suite.</p> + +<p>He found Prale pacing the floor angrily, and Murk sitting in a corner +and watching him. The police detective, after doing duty for a few days, +had been withdrawn, as it seemed evident that Prale had no intention of +jumping his bail or eluding trial in any other way.</p> + +<p>"What's the trouble now?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"Coadley has just been here," Prale replied. "He has quit us. Our +friends the enemy have reached him."</p> + +<p>"You couldn't get any sort of an explanation out of him?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all. He simply informed me that he was done, and that I had +to get another lawyer."</p> + +<p>"I'll try to find an honest one for you," Farland declared. "I happen to +know a clever young chap who probably will take the case, especially if +I explain the thing to him, for he loves a fight. There is no special +hurry, but I'll try to attend to it some time to-day."</p> + +<p>"Anything new?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"That is what I am waiting to hear. What did you do last night, Murk?"</p> + +<p>Murk related his adventure at length, while Jim Farland listened +gravely, nodding his head now and then, and looking puzzled at times.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know the identity of that masked man," the detective said, +when Murk had finished. "The main trouble in this case is that we do not +know the people we are fighting. We know that Kate Gilbert is one of +them, and have reason to suspect that George Lerton is another. But +there is somebody bigger behind, and that's a fact."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do next?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to pay a little attention to the Rufus Shepley murder case. +I'm going to find out, if I can, who killed Shepley, and why. I am of +the opinion that the murder is distinct from this other trouble, Sid. +Perhaps a clew to the murder, however, will give us a clew to the whole +thing, for it is certain that somebody has attempted to hang that crime +on you."</p> + +<p>"How about George Lerton?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"We know that he tried to help smash your alibi by telling a falsehood, +and by sending those notes to the barber and the merchant. But we do not +know his motive, unless it is simply a hatred of you, Sid, and envy of +the million dollars you got in Honduras. I'm going to get out of here +now, and get busy."</p> + +<p>"Anything for us to do?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"Keep out of trouble—that is the principal thing. It appears that every +time either of you goes out, you get knocked on the head. I'll report +again as soon as I can."</p> + +<p>Jim Farland left them and hurried from the hotel. He went to the +hostelry where Rufus Shepley had met his death, was admitted to the +suite, and made an exhaustive investigation, which revealed nothing of +importance.</p> + +<p>He visited the New York offices of the company in which Shepley had been +interested, and questioned officials and clerks, but got no inkling of a +state of affairs that might have led to a murder. He was told that the +company's business was in proper shape, and that Rufus Shepley had had +no financial trouble of any sort so far as his associates knew.</p> + +<p>Farland left the office and continued his investigations. In the evening +he went to his home for a meal, and admitted to himself that he did not +know any more than when he had started out that morning.</p> + +<p>"It gets my goat!" he said to his reflection in the bathroom mirror. +"I'll have to begin working from some other starting point. I've made a +mistake somewhere, or overlooked something that I should have seen. +Makes me sore!"</p> + +<p>The telephone bell rang, and Farland went to the instrument to hear the +voice of a man he did not know.</p> + +<p>"I understand that you are interested in the Shepley murder case," his +caller said.</p> + +<p>"I am working on it, yes. Who is talking?" Farland demanded.</p> + +<p>"I'm not ready to mention any names. If you want to hang up, go ahead +and you'll miss something important. Or if you want to listen for a +minute——"</p> + +<p>"I'll listen!" Farland said.</p> + +<p>"I know a lot about that Shepley case, but I am in a position where I +have to be careful. If you'll do as I say, you can learn something you'd +like to know."</p> + +<p>"What do you want me to do?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"Meet me in some place where nobody will see us talking, and I'll tell +you a few things. But I must have your promise that you'll not reveal +the source of the information."</p> + +<p>"I'll protect you, unless you are mixed up in it to such an extent that +I'd dare not do so," Farland said. "I'm not guaranteeing to shield any +murderer or accessory."</p> + +<p>"I had nothing to do with the murder, if that is what you mean," came +the reply.</p> + +<p>"Then where do you want me to meet you—and when? Can you make it this +evening?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and suppose that you set the meeting place, one that you know will +be all right for both of us."</p> + +<p>Farland was glad to listen to that sentence. He had half believed that +this was nothing more than a trap, that some of Sidney Prale's +mysterious enemies were attempting to lure him to some out-of-the-way +place and get him in their power. But if he was to be allowed to name +the meeting place, it seemed to indicate that everything was all right +in that regard.</p> + +<p>Farland though a moment, and then suggested a certain famous restaurant +on Broadway and a table in a corner of the main room, where a man could +lose himself in the crowd. But that did not meet with the approval of +the man at the other end of the telephone wire.</p> + +<p>"Nothing doing in that place," he said. "One of the men interested in +this thing hangs out there almost every evening. He'd be sure to see us, +he knows how much I know about it, and he'd suspect things in a second +if he saw me talking to you. Then it'd be made hot for me. I've got to +protect myself, of course."</p> + +<p>"Suggest a place yourself," Farland said.</p> + +<p>"Make it outside somewhere. How about some place in Riverside Park?"</p> + +<p>"Suits me," Farland replied.</p> + +<p>The man at the other end of the wire gave the directions after much +seeming speculation and many changes. Jim Farland was to go to Grant's +Tomb, and from there to a certain place near the river. The other man +would be in the neighborhood watching, he said, would recognize Farland +as he passed the Tomb, and then would follow and speak to him when +nobody else was near.</p> + +<p>Farland agreed, and made the engagement for an hour and a half later, +saying that he could not get there before that time. It would not be the +first time that Jim Farland had obtained an important clew because +somebody interested had grown disgruntled and had turned against his +pals; and he supposed this to be a case of that sort.</p> + +<p>Before leaving home, Farland made sure that his automatic was in +excellent condition, and that he had his handcuffs and electric torch +and other paraphernalia of his trade. He made his way to Columbus +Circle, having decided to walk to the rendezvous. Farland was in no +hurry. He observed all who passed him, and he frequently made +experiments to ascertain whether he was being followed. He decided, +after a time, that if he was being shadowed the person doing it was too +clever for him.</p> + +<p>He came to Riverside Drive through a cross street, and approached the +famous Tomb as cautiously as possible, keeping in the shadows, alert to +discover anybody who might be acting at all suspiciously. Farland felt +sure that this was no trap, but he was not taking chances. He always had +been known to his friends as a cautious man.</p> + +<p>He reached the Tomb finally, and glanced around. Half a dozen persons +were passing, some men and some women, some alone and others in couples, +but none were of suspicious appearance.</p> + +<p>Farland glanced at his watch to be sure that it was the appointed time. +He strolled around the Tomb and waited ten minutes longer, for he did +not care to find later that he had left the appointed spot too early and +that the other man had not seen and followed him.</p> + +<p>At the end of the extra ten minutes, Farland lighted one of his big, +black cigars and started walking toward the river, following the route +the other man had designated over the telephone. He walked slowly and +not for an instant did he throw caution aside.</p> + +<p>Here and there were dark spots where Farland expected to hear his name +spoken, spots where an attack might be made if one was contemplated by +foes.</p> + +<p>It was as he was passing one of these that a whisper came from the +darkness:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Farland!"</p> + +<p>The detective whirled toward the sound, one hand diving into a coat +pocket and clutching his automatic.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Be as silent as possible. Do not flash your torch yet; you may do so +presently, so you can see who is talking. I am the man who called you up +by telephone."</p> + +<p>"Come out where I can get a glimpse of you," Farland commanded, ready +for trouble.</p> + +<p>He could see a shadow detach itself from the patch of gloom in front of +him and approach.</p> + +<p>"That is close enough for the present!" Farland said. "I'm not taking +chances on you until I know who's talking to me."</p> + +<p>"I don't blame you, Mr. Farland, under the circumstances. If you are +sure there is nobody approaching, I'll come out into the light so you +can see my face."</p> + +<p>Farland glanced up and down the walk quickly. As he did so, he heard a +step behind him. He whirled, the automatic came from his pocket ready +for use—and a man crashed into him.</p> + +<p>The one who had been talking from the patch of shadow rushed forward at +the same instant. Farland managed to fire once, but the shot went wild. +Then a third man rushed from the darkness, and the detective had the +automatic torn away, and found that he had a battle on his hands.</p> + +<p>One man was upon his back, throttling him so that he could not utter a +cry. The others were trying to throw him to the ground. Farland wondered +whether that single shot had been heard, whether assistance would reach +him, for he knew that here was a battle he could not win by force.</p> + +<p>Finally they got him down. Something was thrust into his mouth and +bandaged there, effectually gagging him. He was turned over on his face, +and his wrists were lashed behind him. Then his ankles were fastened, +and two of the men, at the whispered instruction of the third, picked +him up like a sack of meal and carried him into the deep shadows.</p> + +<p>They did not stop there, but continued toward the river, holding a +conversation in whispers at times, and stopping now and then for a +moment to rest and listen. Farland had been quiet, gathering his +strength, and suddenly he began to struggle.</p> + +<p>It was nothing worse than annoyance for his opponents. He was unable to +make an outcry that would attract attention, and he was unable to put up +an effective fight. They threw him upon the ground again and held him +there.</p> + +<p>"Another little trick like that, and we'll give you something to keep +you quiet," one of the men whispered into his ear. "We've got you, and +you'd better let it go at that!"</p> + +<p>Once more they picked him up and went toward the river. They reached it, +and one of the men hurried away while the other two guarded Farland. +Five minutes passed, and then a powerful motor boat slipped toward the +shore. An instant later Farland was aboard it, a prisoner, and the boat +was rushing through the great river toward the north.</p> + +<p>Farland made an attempt to watch the lights along the shore, but one of +the men threw a sack over his face, so that he could not see. And so he +merely listened to the beating of the boat's engine, and tried to +estimate with what speed they were running and how much mileage the +craft was covering.</p> + +<p>The sack was heavy, and Jim Farland felt himself half smothered, the +perspiration pouring from his face and neck. He had grown angry for a +moment, angry at himself for walking into the trap even while suspecting +that one might exist, angry at these three men who had captured him so +close to Riverside Drive.</p> + +<p>Then his rage passed. He was experienced enough to know that an angry +man is at a disadvantage in a game of wits, and that wits and nothing +else could get him out of the present predicament.</p> + +<p>Finally, he felt the boat turning, the speed was cut off, and it drifted +against something. Farland was lifted out of the motor boat, but one of +the men held the sack over his head, and he was unable to see. Once more +he was carried, this time away from the river, and he could tell nothing +except that the men who carried him were struggling up a sharp slope.</p> + +<p>Farland made no attempt to fight or struggle now, knowing that it would +avail him nothing to attempt to throw off these three men. He had +decided to conserve his strength, and to trust to his usual good fortune +to get a chance later to even things by turning the tables on his +captors.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the sack was taken from his head, and he was able to breathe +better. He found that he was beside a road in which stood an automobile. +Two of the men lifted him, tossed him inside the machine, and then got +in themselves. The driver started the engine, threw in the clutch, and +soon the car was being driven at a furious pace along the winding road.</p> + +<p>"Look around all you want to!" one of Farland's captors growled at him. +"You won't even know where you are when you get there!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>RECOGNITION</h3> + + +<p>Through a maze of crossing and winding roads the car made its way, now +over highways as smooth as a city pavement, and now over rough mileage +that jolted the occupants and threatened the springs with destruction.</p> + +<p>Jim Farland did not recognize this particular district. He did not even +know upon which side of the river he was being hauled along as a +prisoner. In the city proper, his abductors would have found it very +difficult to take him to a section where he could not have recognized +some sort of a landmark, but here they had him at a serious +disadvantage.</p> + +<p>The night was dark, too, and a fine drizzle was falling. Farland tugged +at his bonds when he could, and finally convinced himself that they +would not give. He tried to work one end of the gag from the corner of +his mouth and found that he could not do that. He was utterly helpless +for the time being, at the mercy of the three men who had kidnaped him, +and the chauffeur, and whoever might be where they were going.</p> + +<p>For half an hour longer the car made its way across the country, and +then Farland noticed that it left the principal thoroughfare and turned +into a rough, narrow lane that was bordered with big trees. At the end +of a quarter of a mile of this lane, the chauffeur brought the car to a +stop. Farland could see a building that had the appearance of being an +abandoned farmhouse.</p> + +<p>He was lifted from the car and carried to the door. One of the men threw +it open, and Farland was carried inside. They took him through a hall, +turned into a room, and tossed him upon a couch in a corner there. One +of them struck a match, lighted a lamp, and then they turned to survey +him.</p> + +<p>Farland glared at them, waited for them to speak. They were making no +attempt to hide their features. Typical thugs they were, the three of +them, and Farland supposed that the chauffeur, who had not come into the +house with the others, belonged to the same class.</p> + +<p>One of them stepped forward and removed Farland's gag, while another +went into another room and presently returned with a dipper of water, +which he held to Farland's lips. He drank greedily, for the gag had +parched his mouth and throat.</p> + +<p>"Bein' as how you are a copper, I'd slip a knife between your ribs and +call it a good job," one of the men told him, "but we are supposed to +treat you nice and keep you in condition for a little talk with the +boss. So you needn't tremble with fear any."</p> + +<p>"It'd take more than three bums like you to make me afraid!" Farland +told him.</p> + +<p>"Nasty, ain't you? Maybe we'll get a little chance to beat you up later, +especially if your little talk with the boss ain't what they call +productive of results. You've got some reputation as a dick, but I +reckon it's all a fake. We didn't have much trouble gettin' you and +bringin' you here."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that enough to make you worry a bit?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I wanted to be captured and +hauled here? Have you any idea how many men watched and trailed us? +You've led me to where I wanted to come, to a place I wanted to find, +perhaps."</p> + +<p>"That bluff won't work," came the reply. "We had a couple of men +watchin' for that very thing, and they'd have given us a high sign if we +had been followed. You're here all by your lonesome, and so you'd better +be good."</p> + +<p>Two of the men left the room, and the third sat down by the table to act +as guard. Fifteen minutes passed, during which Jim Farland and the man +by the table exchanged pleasant remarks concerning each other, neither +getting much the best of the argument.</p> + +<p>Then the hall door was opened again, and a masked man entered the room!</p> + +<p>Remembering what Murk had related to him concerning his experience of +the night before, Jim Farland looked up at this newcomer with sudden +interest.</p> + +<p>This man, undoubtedly, was a sort of leader, one who had hired others to +help him in his work and who knew the identities of Sidney Prale's +mysterious enemies, and why they were working against him; perhaps, +also, the man who could tell a good deal about the murder of Rufus +Shepley.</p> + +<p>Farland did not betray too much interest, though, for he sensed that he +was opposed to a person of brains and cunning, a different type from the +thugs he hired to work for him. So the detective merely blinked his eyes +rapidly as he looked up at the other and waited for him to speak.</p> + +<p>"You are Jim Farland, a detective?"</p> + +<p>The voice was low and harsh, a monotone, a disguised voice in fact. Jim +Farland knew that at once.</p> + +<p>"That's my name, and some people are kind enough to say that I am a +detective," Farland replied. "What's the idea of treating me rough like +this?"</p> + +<p>"I regret that violence was necessary to get you here, Mr. Farland," the +masked man replied, "but it seemed to be the only way in which I could +get a chance to talk to you freely without subjecting myself to danger."</p> + +<p>"Why regret?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"Because I want you for my friend instead of my enemy, Mr. Farland, and +I fancy that we may be able to come to terms. I shall send this man of +mine from the room and submit a proposition to you. I hope you see fit +to accept it."</p> + +<p>He motioned for the other man to leave, which he did immediately, +closing the hall door behind him. Then the masked man sat down in the +chair by the table.</p> + +<p>Farland was watching him closely now. The collar of his coat and the +handkerchief mask effectually shielded his face and head. But, as Murk +had told, this man did not have the common sense to cover his hands, and +Farland looked at them when he could, careful not to let the other +suspect his object.</p> + +<p>"I am the man who talked to Mr. Prale's valet last night," Farland heard +the other say. "In some manner, the valet escaped, and so we were +obliged to have you brought here instead of to the place where we had +him, and which was considerably nearer the city. I regret it if the long +ride annoyed you, but you will appreciate that it was necessary for my +men to bind and gag you."</p> + +<p>"It certainly was if they expected to get me here!" Jim Farland +declared.</p> + +<p>He heard the masked man chuckle.</p> + +<p>"I understand that you have been engaged by Sidney Prale to clear him of +the charge of murdering Rufus Shepley."</p> + +<p>"I don't mind admitting that, since the whole city knows it," said +Farland.</p> + +<p>"And also to aid Sidney Prale in outwitting certain persons who are +trying to punish him for something he did."</p> + +<p>"I don't know anything about that. I do know that some people are trying +to make things hot for Sid Prale, and he doesn't deserve it, and——"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, if I interrupt!" the masked man said. "You say that he does +not deserve it. Do you believe that influential persons would persecute +him if he did not deserve it?"</p> + +<p>"Sid Prale doesn't know what it is all about!"</p> + +<p>"That is what he told the valet, too. But believe me when I say that he +does know what it is all about, and is deceiving you when he says +otherwise."</p> + +<p>"What has all this to do with me?" Jim Farland demanded. "Did you have +me brought here to argue the case with me?"</p> + +<p>"I had you brought here because I want you to cease working for Sidney +Prale. I want you to go back to him and tell him that you are done."</p> + +<p>"As Coadley, the attorney, did?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly!"</p> + +<p>"Your people must be men of influence if they can buy off Coadley like +that!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Coadley was shown that it would wreck his future if he +continued working for Prale."</p> + +<p>"Well, you can't wreck my future, because I haven't any," Farland told +him.</p> + +<p>"Do not be too sure of that, Mr. Farland. Agree to my proposition and +you may have a great future. You may find business thrown your way. You +may find yourself able to spread out, have a protective service, become +a wealthy man. If you give up the Prale case, we'll see that you are +paid cash immediately, of course, in lieu of the fee you would receive +from Prale—and considerably more than he would pay you."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that would appeal to a lot of men," Jim Farland said, "but it +isn't the right bait to use if you are eager to catch me. I have all the +business I want. I can make a living for myself and my small family, and +we do not hanker after riches. A larger business would make me a human +machine, and I'd rather just drift along and be an ordinary good husband +and father. I'd rather be running a little, third-rate detective agency +as I am, making just enough to get along, and have a lot of friends. I +wouldn't throw down a friend for a million dollars! I suppose I'm the +only man in town that thinks this way, but I'm a sort of peculiar duck!"</p> + +<p>"You mean to tell me that you are not anxious to better yourself, to get +along in the world?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I manage to get along!" Jim Farland replied. "I even eat meat now +and then. I haven't seen the face of the famous wolf outside my door for +some time. What is money?"</p> + +<p>"Everything!" the masked man replied.</p> + +<p>"That's what you think. It gives me an inkling as to what sort of man +you are. I happen to know a fellow to whom money is everything—and I +have reason to suspect that he is considerably interested in the case of +Sidney Prale. Be careful you do not betray your identity to me!"</p> + +<p>Farland had the satisfaction of hearing the masked man gasp, and he +chuckled.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is the proposition?" Farland inquired. "You seem to waste a +lot of time."</p> + +<p>"We want you merely to tell Sidney Prale that you will not work on the +case any more—that you are done. Then go about your regular business. +We'll have you watched, and as soon as we are satisfied that you are +keeping faith with us, we'll send you ten thousand dollars in cash. If +you make the agreement with me, I'll give you a thousand cash to-night +before you leave this place, as a sort of retainer and expression of our +sincerity. Then, following the fee of ten thousand dollars, you'll find +that much business is flowing your way. All you have to do to get all +this is to withdraw from the Prale case at once."</p> + +<p>"You must be afraid that I am finding out some things," Jim Farland +suggested.</p> + +<p>"That is scarcely the reason," the masked man answered. "We want Sidney +Prale to stand alone, to be without help of any sort—that is all."</p> + +<p>"But I am more than Sidney Prale's employee. I am his friend!" Farland +protested.</p> + +<p>"You were his friend ten years ago, sir, but a man may change a great +deal in ten years. Are you quite sure that the Sidney Prale of to-day is +the boyish, friendly Sidney Prale of ten years ago?"</p> + +<p>"I am quite sure; and that is why I am trying to help him," Jim Farland +declared.</p> + +<p>"I fear that he is fooling you—as he is deceiving others. He is not +worthy of such friendship as you are giving him."</p> + +<p>"How do I know that?" Farland asked. "If I could have some sort of an +explanation——"</p> + +<p>He awaited the other's reply. If he could get some inkling as to why +Prale had powerful enemies, it might help a lot.</p> + +<p>"I can tell you this much: Sidney Prale did something that wrecked and +ruined several lives. Certain prominent persons have decided to punish +him. He is to have his life made miserable, he is to have his fortune +taken away from him, he is to be subjected to petty annoyances and hard +blows alike, driven from this, his home town, forced to realize that a +man cannot do what he did and escape retribution."</p> + +<p>"Sounds like he murdered a nation!" Jim Farland commented. "Did he wreck +the national treasury or turn traitor to the flag?"</p> + +<p>"I am not jesting, Mr. Farland."</p> + +<p>"Neither am I. My eyes have got to be opened, sir. You've got to come +clean with me. Prale's enemies may strike at him from the dark, but Jim +Farland never works in the dark! I want to see where I'm stepping. I +never like to trip over anything."</p> + +<p>"I have told you all that I can at present."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because I do not care to give you information if you are still to work +for Prale."</p> + +<p>"You say that Prale knows his enemies and why they are fighting him. If +he does, he never has told me. Tell me that much—since you say Sid +Prale knows it already. It couldn't hurt your side at all."</p> + +<p>"We might tell you later."</p> + +<p>"You've got some very good reason for not telling me!" Farland accused. +"It is the truth, isn't it, that Prale does not know a single thing +about it. You are afraid to tell me because I may inform him of what you +say, and we may straighten out the tangle? I can see through you, sir, +as easily as through a newly cleaned window."</p> + +<p>"I see that you have faith in Sidney Prale," the masked man said. "But I +assure you that your faith is misplaced. Is there any way in which I can +get you to stop your work for him?"</p> + +<p>"Meaning against his influential enemies, or on the Rufus Shepley murder +case?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"We simply want you to stop working for him. If he stands alone, we can +punish him the sooner."</p> + +<p>"I understand about that, of course. But how about the murder case? Do +you think Sid Prale is guilty of that crime?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"I do not know, I am sure. I understand that the evidence against him is +damaging. But we are not awaiting the outcome of that. He may manage to +have the charge against him dismissed, and we are going ahead with our +plans for punishment."</p> + +<p>"Then you want me to quit Prale so I won't be helping him work against +his enemies, and not because you are afraid that, in clearing him of the +murder charge, I may find something detrimental to other persons?"</p> + +<p>"That is the idea," the masked man replied. "The murder case can take +care of itself, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Suppose I refuse to make this deal with you?"</p> + +<p>"In that event, we may feel called upon to detain you—and perhaps to +use further violence."</p> + +<p>"Then you might as well start!" Jim Farland cried. "For you are lying to +me like blazes! It's the murder case that's worrying you, and you know +it! And I know <i>you</i>! I've been trying to place those hands of yours and +I have succeeded. Besides, you have said one or two things that have +convinced me——"</p> + +<p>The masked man gave a shriek and started toward the couch, his hands +reaching out, clutching. Two of the thugs ran in from the hall.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR</h3> + + +<p>Waiting in anticipation of hearing good news, Sidney Prale paced the +floor of the living room of his hotel suite until noon the following +day, expecting Jim Farland to put in an appearance at any time and make +his report.</p> + +<p>Murk, having done all the work that there was to do, spent the most of +his time looking from the window at the busy, fashionable avenue, and +glancing now and then at Prale as if wishing to anticipate his wishes +and save him the trouble of voicing them.</p> + +<p>Prale had luncheon served in the suite, and then he stepped to the +telephone and called Jim Farland's office. Farland's stenographer +informed him that the detective had not been there during the morning, +though there was some business that needed his attention.</p> + +<p>Then Prale got Farland's residence on the telephone, and the detective's +wife answered the call. Prale gave his name, and asked where Jim could +be found.</p> + +<p>"That is more than I can tell, Mr. Prale," Mrs. Farland said. "He got a +telephone call last evening, and from what I overheard I think he went +some place to meet a man. He left soon after he received the call, and I +have not heard from him since. That is peculiar, too. When he is obliged +to remain away, he generally finds time to telephone and let me know."</p> + +<p>This conversation bothered Sidney Prale, but he tried to tell himself +that Farland was following a hot trail, and that perhaps it had led him +some distance away, or that he was in a locality where he did not care +to telephone.</p> + +<p>He did not want to miss Farland if he did call, and so he remained at +the hotel during the afternoon and kept Murk there also.</p> + +<p>"I have a hunch that something is going to happen soon," Prale said to +his valet.</p> + +<p>"A little action wouldn't make me mad any!" Murk declared. "I'm spoilin' +to mix with the enemy, Mr. Prale. Most of all, I'd like to meet up with +them two thugs that got gay with us. You're sure about that Jim Farland, +boss?"</p> + +<p>"I've told you a hundred times, Murk, that Jim Farland is my friend and +as square a man as you can find anywhere. He has not deserted us, if +that is the thought in your head."</p> + +<p>"I'm beginnin' to like him a bit myself," said Murk. "Ain't you got any +idea, boss, who's engineerin' this deal against you?"</p> + +<p>"Once more, Murk, old boy, allow me to state that I haven't the faintest +idea who my enemies are, or why they are trying so hard to make life +miserable for me. If I knew where to start to round them up, I wouldn't +be standing in this room talking to you—I'd be out rounding them up!"</p> + +<p>"Well, if you ask me, I think it's about time that Farland settled that +murder case," Murk said. "If he don't get busy pretty quick, I'll tackle +it myself. I've got an idea——"</p> + +<p>The ringing of the telephone bell cut his sentence off. Sidney Prale was +near the instrument, and he answered the call.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prale?" asked a man's voice.</p> + +<p>"Talking."</p> + +<p>"I just wanted to inform you that you needn't depend on Detective Jim +Farland any more. We've got him—and we'll get anybody else you engage. +And we'll get you, too, Mr. Prale, before very long. Don't think we'll +not!"</p> + +<p>The man at the other end of the wire hung up his receiver. Prale paced +the floor and told Murk of the conversation.</p> + +<p>"They've got Farland!" Prale exclaimed. "They probably got him last +night, decoyed him in some way. Well, Murk, if that is the truth, and I +imagine that it is, we'll have to do our sleuthing ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Suits me!" Murk said. "I'm ready to start out right now and sleuth +until it's settled. Let's get in action, boss!"</p> + +<p>"We are in the same old quandary, Murk. We don't know where to start," +Sidney Prale said. "If our foes would come out in the open, instead of +fighting from the dark, we might have a chance. This is some city, Murk, +and there are several million persons in it and around it. Starting +right in such a maze isn't the easiest thing in the world, you know."</p> + +<p>For the second time that afternoon, Murk was interrupted by the ringing +of the telephone bell, and once more Sidney Prale happened to be near +and answered the call.</p> + +<p>"Send them up at once!" Murk heard him say.</p> + +<p>And then Sidney Prale hung up the receiver and whirled around with a +puzzled expression on his face.</p> + +<p>"Murk," he said, "Miss Kate Gilbert is coming up here with that big maid +of hers—coming to see me. What she wants is more than I can guess, +remembering what happened the last time I talked with her. It may be +good news, Murk!"</p> + +<p>They waited impatiently for the ring at the door. Murk opened it and +ushered them in.</p> + +<p>He grinned at the gigantic Marie, but she did not return the compliment. +There was a serious expression in her face, and Murk looked past her at +Kate Gilbert, who was being greeted by Sidney Prale.</p> + +<p>Something important had happened, Murk told himself immediately. Kate +Gilbert did not look frightened exactly or sorrowful or triumphant. +There was a peculiar expression about her mouth, and her face seemed +pale.</p> + +<p>"I felt that I had to come, Mr. Prale, and have this talk with you," +Kate Gilbert said, when she was seated near the window. "I wanted to +speak to you here instead of in some public place, and so I brought +Marie and came to your suite."</p> + +<p>"You are welcome, Miss Gilbert, I am sure," Prale said. "If you wish to +speak in private, Marie and Murk can step into the adjoining room."</p> + +<p>"Please," she said softly.</p> + +<p>Murk opened the door, and the maid stepped in. Then he followed and +closed the door again. Prale sat down near Kate Gilbert and turned +toward her.</p> + +<p>"Now, Miss Gilbert," he prompted.</p> + +<p>She met his eyes squarely as she spoke, but her lips trembled at times +as if she were undergoing an ordeal.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prale," she said, "as you know, I have been associated with others +in an attempt to bring retribution home to you. When I became associated +with them, it was understood between us that there was to be no +violence, nothing outside the law. We were simply to attack you from +every angle, cause you trouble and annoyance, take away your money if we +could, break you in every way."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, but——"</p> + +<p>"Please say nothing until I am finished, Mr. Prale. We began at once to +gather all the information we could about you and your affairs. We began +to plan for your downfall. We found that we could do nothing that +amounted to anything while you were in Honduras, where you were a +powerful man. But we were about to try, even there, when we learned that +you were selling out your properties and preparing to return to New +York.</p> + +<p>"You may know how that struck us. You had gone away and made your +fortune, and you were coming home, possibly with the hope that the past +had been forgotten. We intended showing you that it had not been +forgotten, that you could not return and enjoy the fortune whose +foundation was——But enough of that!</p> + +<p>"I had been in Honduras spying upon you. I was sent because you did not +know me, and would not be on guard, as you might have been, had some man +gone down there. We did not care to send an ordinary detective, of +course. I kept the people here informed of all your movements. I began +the punishment by leaving that note in your stateroom and pasting the +other on your suit case, began it by reminding you that the past lived +in the minds of some persons.</p> + +<p>"You know the rest. We began our work. We caused you annoyance from the +first, with the banker, the hotel manager, and all that. Before we could +do any more, you were accused of murder. That pleased us, of course. We +did not believe you guilty, but we were glad to see that you were being +caused some trouble, that your name was being stained. Some of us even +began to think that the law of retribution was at work itself, without +our poor help.</p> + +<p>"We went ahead with our plans, however. You engaged a prominent +attorney, and finally we induced him to leave you. But some who were +handling the affair went too far. You were assaulted in Central Park. +Your valet was knocked on the head and kidnaped, and an attempt made to +get him to take payment and spy upon you. At that time I told a certain +man who had the handling of the affair that there could be no more +violence.</p> + +<p>"We should not break a law to undo you, I declared. If we did that, we +were as bad as you. I said that, if there was any more violence, I +should cease having anything to do with the affair, and would come to +you and tell you so. An hour ago, I found out that Detective Farland, a +man in your employ, had been seized and treated with violence and was +being held prisoner because he insisted upon remaining loyal to you. So +I am here!"</p> + +<p>"This is amazing, Miss Gilbert!" Sidney Prale told her. "The whole thing +has been amazing. Somebody has tried to connect me with that murder. +Somebody tried to smash my alibi. The little annoyances were bad enough, +and the knowledge that I had unknown foes who fought in the dark; but +the murder charge was the worst of all, for it placed me in a position +where I had to clear myself absolutely or remain forever suspected by +many persons."</p> + +<p>"I understand that," Kate Gilbert said.</p> + +<p>"And now you have come to me to say that you are no longer associated +with my enemies?"</p> + +<p>"For what you did, there can be no forgiveness, Mr. Prale. I want to see +you punished. But I will not be a party to violence. It seems to me that +the man who has been managing this affair has gone beyond proper bounds. +For some reason, he is particularly vindictive, though he did not suffer +at all, as did some of the others. I cannot forgive you for what you +did, Sidney Prale. But I can wash my hands of the entire affair and try +to forget you entirely and hope that there is a law of retribution that +will take vengeance for me. That is all, Mr. Prale. Only please remember +that, from this hour, I am not concerned with the others in this +affair."</p> + +<p>She started to rise, but Prale motioned for her to retain her seat. He +bent forward and looked at her searchingly.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad that you have come here and spoken to me in this way, +Miss Gilbert," he said. "I scarcely know how to express what I feel that +I must tell you. I have listened to you patiently, without interruption. +Will you be kind enough to listen to me for a moment now?"</p> + +<p>"I'll listen, though it will be useless," she said.</p> + +<p>"When I left Honduras, Miss Gilbert, I was a happy man. I had made my +pile and was coming home. I had left ten years before because a selfish +woman, whom I imagined I loved, jilted me for a wealthier man. That +wound had healed, and when I left Honduras, I did not think that I had +an enemy in the world, unless it was some poor devil of a disgruntled +native workman I had been forced to discharge, or somebody like that.</p> + +<p>"I believed those notes on the ship to be in the nature of a jest, or +else that somebody was making a mistake. Then troubles began, and I was +at a loss to understand them. Next came the murder charge! We will put +that aside for the moment, for it seems to be the result of +circumstantial evidence and probably has nothing to do with the other +affair—merely a coincidence.</p> + +<p>"Miss Gilbert, look at me! I want you to believe what I am going to say. +You must believe it! In the name of everything I hold sacred, I swear to +you that I do not know these foes of mine, or the reason for their +enmity!"</p> + +<p>"How can I believe that?" she cried. "Why should you ask me to believe +such a statement?"</p> + +<p>"Because I want some light on this subject, Miss Gilbert, and I am +determined to get it. There is some terrible mistake. I am being +punished for the fault of some other person."</p> + +<p>"Can you not remember back ten years?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Easily. I can live over again the last day I spent in New York ten +years ago."</p> + +<p>"And the few days before that time?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Miss Gilbert."</p> + +<p>"And yet you ask why others should seek to punish you? Perhaps you are +one of those men whose natures are so dishonorable that you think you +did nothing wrong at that time."</p> + +<p>"So it was then that I was supposed to have done this terrible +thing—whatever it was?"</p> + +<p>"As you know, Mr. Prale."</p> + +<p>"But I do not know, Miss Gilbert. To the best of my recollection I left +New York without having done anything in the least dishonorable; and +certainly I did nothing to merit a band of enemies working against me."</p> + +<p>"What is it that you wish me to do?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Be fair with me, Miss Gilbert. I tell you that there is some terrible +mistake! If I am supposed to know all about this, what harm can there be +in your repeating the details to me? Tell me what crime I am supposed to +have committed to merit this attack. Give me a chance to prove my +innocence! The common thug gets that chance in a court of law, you +know."</p> + +<p>"But this is ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "There can be no question of +it! The whole thing came out at the time."</p> + +<p>"Then you do not wish to be fair?" Prale asked.</p> + +<p>"I cannot allow you to say that. I will tell the story to you, Mr. +Prale, tell exactly what you did—as you know very well—if that will be +any satisfaction to you. But it will do you no good to deny it!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me!" Sidney Prale said.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>A STARTLING STORY</h3> + + +<p>"This is a painful subject for me, as you must be aware," Kate Gilbert +said. "I shall tell the story in as few words as possible, and if you +are a gentleman, you will not interrupt or cause me more suffering by +protesting your innocence."</p> + +<p>"I promise not to interrupt," Sidney Prale replied. "I want justice and +nothing more, Miss Gilbert."</p> + +<p>"Ten years ago you were a clerk in the office of Griffin, the big +broker, were you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Griffin took a fancy to you, after your father died and left you +alone in the world without any money. He gave you odd jobs to do around +his residence, fed and clothed you and arranged it so that you could go +to school. Your uncle, the father of George Lerton, your cousin, would +do nothing for you because there had been a family quarrel several years +before.</p> + +<p>"Had it not been for Mr. Griffin you might have been an ordinary street +Arab. He sent you to a business college after you had finished the +public schools, and then he took you into his office and started you on +a business career.</p> + +<p>"You showed great promise, and Mr. Griffin was delighted and advanced +you rapidly. You seemed to know the meaning of gratitude and worked +hard. You were ambitious, too—always said that some day you would be +worth a million dollars.</p> + +<p>"Step by step, you went up the ladder. Then it happened that your +cousin, George Lerton, obtained a position in the same office after his +father's death. He had had the advantage of a college education and knew +how to handle himself in the presence of other men, and yet you, after +your early struggle and with an inferior education and inferior +opportunities, easily outdistanced him.</p> + +<p>"Other men began talking about you as a coming man—bankers and brokers, +business men and financiers. Mr. Griffin finally gave you the post of +chief clerk and adviser. You worked hard and seemed to be loyal and +faithful. You got profits for your employer where other men would have +caused losses. So he let you more and more into his confidence.</p> + +<p>"You got to know the secrets of big deals, the inside facts of the +country's finance. You spoke in millions, but got only a nice salary. +Your ambition to be worth a million dollars seemed to be not susceptible +of gratification. Yet you saved money, and took advantage of small, +solid investments now and then.</p> + +<p>"After a while you met a girl and fell in love with her. She was the +sort who wished wealth above all, and you soon found that out. You +became engaged to her, however. Then a rival appeared in the field, a +wealthier man. You realized that the girl was shallow in that she +favored the man with more money, but you were so infatuated that you +overlooked that. You wanted the girl and, to get her, you had to have +more money.</p> + +<p>"Then you began to feel dissatisfied. You didn't want to grow gradually, +as other men did. You wanted the foundation for a fortune—enough to use +in a plunge in the market. You wanted to be rich as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>"You began to think, perhaps, that you were not getting ahead. You +worked in an atmosphere of wealth, you heard men speak in terms of +millions, while you had less than ten thousand dollars in the bank. You +began to think that Mr. Griffin should do more for you, that he had not +done enough. You forgot that he had picked you up and made you what you +were, that you had so much more than other men who had not been equally +fortunate in finding a sponsor."</p> + +<p>She ceased speaking for a moment, but Sidney Prale never took his eyes +from her face. Be ungrateful to Griffin? He never had dreamed of that! +He always had worshiped Griffin for what the broker had done for him; he +realized what he might have been only for Griffin. But he had promised +not to interrupt, and so he said nothing, merely waited for Kate Gilbert +to continue her recital.</p> + +<p>"You made certain plans," she went on. "Certain big business deals were +in the wind, and, as Mr. Griffin's confidential and chief clerk, you +knew all about them. There were millions of dollars involved, the +control of several large companies, and more than that; for Mr. Griffin +and his associates were fighting a group of financial thieves who were +trying to wreck excellent properties for the sake of making a gain. It +was a fight for more than money—it was a fight to keep big business +honest, to drive off the wolves and make finance solid. It was a +tremendous thing!</p> + +<p>"And you, a boy picked up and educated by a broker, who had risen +through his kindness, knew as much of the big deal contemplated as some +of the wealthiest and most influential men of the country. There were +men in the other group who would have given a million gladly to know +what you, a clerk, knew.</p> + +<p>"You were approached by one of that band of financial wolves. You were +willing to listen. You wanted money because the girl with whom you were +infatuated demanded it before she would marry you. You believed that +Griffin had not done enough for you and you agreed to sell him out—him +and his associates."</p> + +<p>Sidney Prale gasped, sat up straight in his chair, opened his mouth as +if to speak, but did not when he saw the expression in her face. He +decided to keep his word.</p> + +<p>"The agreement was made," she went on. "And you, who could have demanded +half a million easily for the information you had, sold out your +benefactor and his friends and the decent element on the Street for a +paltry hundred thousand! You sold your honor and your manhood for that.</p> + +<p>"At this juncture, the woman in the case informed you that she wished to +break the engagement, because a man of money—your rival—had asked her +to marry him, and she wanted his wealth. Instead of seeing what sort of +woman she was—instead of coming to your senses then and stopping your +deal with the other side—you took the opposite course. You would take +the money, betray your benefactor and his friends, and leave the +country! With that money as a foundation, you would build up a fortune. +And that is what you did, Sidney Prale!</p> + +<p>"You arranged everything nicely. You gave those men the information and +received your hundred thousand and then you quit your job and sailed +away to Honduras.</p> + +<p>"The battle began on the Street, and because of the information you had +sold them, the financial wolves got the better of the honest element. It +was a battle that lasted for two weeks. The wolves met every move, +because they knew everything that had been planned. Fortunes were lost +overnight. A score of big, decent men were ruined in their attempt to +defeat the wolves and keep finance clean.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Griffin, the man who had done everything for you, went down in the +crash—because you had sold him out! It was only five years ago that he +got new backing and fought his way up again. Others went down with him, +and some never regained their footing—because of what you had done, +because you had played traitor! They knew there had been a leak, and +there was an investigation. You had sailed away the day before the fight +began, and that looked suspicious, for you had made up your mind +suddenly. Finally it was discovered that you were the traitor in the +camp!</p> + +<p>"My father was one of Mr. Griffin's associates, Mr. Prale. He lost his +fortune, of course. We could have endured that, but the blow cost him +his health. He was a giant of a man at that time, the best father in the +world. You should see him now, Mr. Prale—see what your treason made of +him. He is an invalid who sits all day in his wheel chair. At times his +mind wanders and he fights that battle over again and calls curses down +upon the head of the man who played traitor! My big, handsome, rich +father is a broken, thin-faced man whose voice is a whisper and whose +hands tremble—because of what you did. You beast!"</p> + +<p>She began sobbing softly as she glanced through the window, and Sidney +Prale started to get out of his chair. But she faced him again quickly +and motioned for him to remain silent.</p> + +<p>"You wanted to hear it, and so I shall tell it all!" she declared. "You +had been clever; you had done this thing in such a manner than the law +could not touch you. Yet you must have been afraid of it, for you fled +the country. It was some time before things were adjusted, and then +those men you had betrayed got together and determined to make you pay!</p> + +<p>"They told the story to others, and they began gathering information +about you. You were making your million, all right, on the foundation +that had wrecked a score of fortunes and lives—on treason instead of +superior financial ability—and they swore that you should pay.</p> + +<p>"They knew my father's story, of course, and knew that we had very +little money. So they provided for him, and gave me funds and sent me to +Honduras to spy upon you. Marie, my maid since girlhood, who worshiped +my father and knew all the circumstances, went with me. Soon after I +reached Honduras, I found that you were selling out with the intention +of returning to New York and enjoying your million.</p> + +<p>"I communicated with the others and told them all I knew of your plans, +whereupon they made some plans of their own. They won the sympathy of +the most influential men in the city. They determined to make you pay!</p> + +<p>"That is why the big trust company would not accept your account. A +whisper in the ear of the hotel manager by the president of the company +that owned the hotel, and you were as good as ordered out. Can you +understand now, Sidney Prale? Coadley, the lawyer, was told that he will +be made a nobody by the influential men of the town unless he ceased to +work for you, and he dropped your case.</p> + +<p>"But there was to be no violence, and because they have descended to +that, I have ceased to be interested in the affair. I know nothing about +the Shepley murder case or any trouble it may have caused you. That is +quite another matter. Now that I have told my story, I hope that you are +satisfied. It has shown you, I trust, that I know all, and that any +falsehood you may utter will have no effect on me."</p> + +<p>"I do not intend uttering a falsehood, Miss Gilbert," Sidney Prale +assured her. "What you have said has amazed and shocked me. So that is +why I was treated so badly upon returning to my home?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly," she said.</p> + +<p>"Now listen to me one moment, I beg of you. There is some mystery here, +and though it is ten years old, I shall solve it. Miss Gilbert—whether +you believe me or not—I am not guilty of such treachery. I had no +dealings with the financial wolves. When I left the United States I took +with me the ten thousand dollars I had saved—nothing more. And I left +nothing behind."</p> + +<p>"You made a million in ten years with a capital of ten thousand?" she +asked, with a slight sneer.</p> + +<p>"I did, Miss Gilbert! I can prove every transaction, show you or anybody +else exactly how I did it. Disbelieve me or not, it is the truth that I +am innocent. If my people were sold out at that time, somebody else got +the selling price. I was chagrined because my love affair had gone +wrong. I shook the dust of New York from my feet. I did not even look at +a New York newspaper for more than a year. Somebody else got the money, +and I got a nasty name. And Mr. Griffin, who was as a father to me, +thinks that I was an ungrateful cur!</p> + +<p>"This thing is hard to believe, Miss Gilbert. But I never can thank you +enough for telling me. I am going to clear myself before I am done."</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe you, Mr. Prale! The proof was there!"</p> + +<p>"And who furnished it?" he demanded. "Who is handling this campaign of +vengeance against me now?"</p> + +<p>"You scarcely can expect me to tell you that," she said. "I am +done—have nothing more to do with the affair—but I am not going to be +a traitor, as you were!"</p> + +<p>"If you ever are convinced, Miss Gilbert, that I am entirely innocent, +that somebody has put this stain upon me for their own reasons, can I +count upon your friendship?"</p> + +<p>"Convince me that injustice has been done you, Mr. Prale, and I'll do +everything in my power to make amends—and so will all the others!"</p> + +<p>"Thanks for that assurance," Prale said. "I am going to clear myself in +your eyes, and in the eyes of the others. I remember the details of that +big deal perfectly and I shall know how to start to work."</p> + +<p>"I cannot understand this," she said. "You speak as if you were indeed +innocent, but I cannot believe it!"</p> + +<p>"I am innocent!"</p> + +<p>"If so, who is guilty?"</p> + +<p>"That is what I intend finding out."</p> + +<p>"But you were in their confidence—you knew all the details of their +financial plans," Kate Gilbert said. "You were the only one who could +have betrayed them. You scarcely expect me to believe that they betrayed +themselves."</p> + +<p>"Any spying clerk in the Griffin offices could have told the enemy +enough to betray the plans," Prale replied. "By the way, who is this man +who goes too far and insists upon using violence? Who is the man who +seems to be so extraordinary vindictive toward me in this affair?"</p> + +<p>"I can tell you nothing more," she declared. "It would not be fair to +them."</p> + +<p>"But they have Jim Farland, and Heaven knows what they are doing to him, +simply because he will not turn against me. Is it fair to Jim Farland's +wife and child?"</p> + +<p>"I—I am being kept informed," she assured him. "If they treat Mr. +Farland badly, or detain him much longer, I shall speak. But until then, +I have nothing to say. You see, Mr. Prale, I cannot believe that you are +innocent and have been misjudged. The evidence against you is so +conclusive, and I have learned to hate you as the man who betrayed his +benefactor and friends and wrecked my father's health. But, if you are +innocent, I hope that you will forgive me."</p> + +<p>"I'll forgive you gladly," said Sidney Prale. "I realize what you must +have suffered, and what your father must have suffered, too. I am going +to prove my innocence; and then I hope to claim you as one of my +friends."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry that I cannot believe you," she said again, "although I +would like to. I would prefer to think that no man could be so +ungrateful as to do such a thing. I'd like to have my faith in human +nature restored. If you prove your innocence, I shall be very glad +indeed!"</p> + +<p>Then she called for Marie, and when the maid came from the adjoining +room, Sidney Prale ushered the two women to the door and watched as they +went down the hall toward the elevator. But Kate Gilbert did not glance +back.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>HIGH-HANDED METHODS</h3> + + +<p>Sidney Prale closed the door and turned around to face a grinning Murk.</p> + +<p>"Some pair of chickens!" Murk said. "That Marie girl may be a bear for +size and strength, but she's got a lot of good common sense. I'm strong +for her!"</p> + +<p>"Sit down!" Prale commanded.</p> + +<p>And then, walking up and down across the room, he told Murk what Kate +Gilbert had revealed to him, simply because he felt that he had to tell +it to somebody.</p> + +<p>"How is that for a dirty deal, Murk?" he asked when he had finished. +"Doesn't that make ordinary dirty work look rather pale?"</p> + +<p>"Who did it, boss? Name the gent, and I'll get his address out of the +city directory and pay him a visit!" Murk said. "I'll have some things +to say to him—and some things to do, maybe."</p> + +<p>"I'm a sort of husky individual myself, Murk, and, if I knew him, I +think I'd beat you to it," Prale replied. "Now we must get busy!"</p> + +<p>"Just say the word, Mr. Prale. What is it to be?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't quite decided yet, Murk. How far will you go?"</p> + +<p>"I'll croak him, if it's necessary!"</p> + +<p>"That'd be a bit too far, Murk, and might lead to the electric chair and +a far country. Let's take a walk and think it over. We will confine +ourselves to the Avenue, and you may trail me as before. I scarcely +think they'll assault us on the Avenue."</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later, Sidney Prale was walking down the street, and the +faithful Murk was trailing in his wake, watching carefully. That walk +lasted for an hour. Then they returned to the hotel and Prale ordered an +early dinner. He did not say what he had decided to do, despite Murk's +hints that he should state his plans.</p> + +<p>But Murk had noticed that Prale had stopped in at a printing office +during the walk, and shortly after they finished dinner, a bell boy +brought a small package to the suite. Prale unwrapped it, and some cards +spilled out.</p> + +<p>"Nice cards, Murk," he said. "I had them printed this afternoon. They +bear the name of Horace Greenman, whoever he may be, and state that he +is connected with the General Utilities Company—whatever that is."</p> + +<p>"What's the big idea, Mr. Prale?" Murk asked wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"I wish to get into a certain place, Murk, and I'd never do it if I send +in my own card. What time is it?"</p> + +<p>"A few minutes of eight, sir."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll be going. Let us hope that we find our man at home. If this +happens to be his opera or theater evening, we are going to be delayed."</p> + +<p>Murk followed him down in the elevator and to the street, where Prale +engaged a taxicab. The machine took them up past the Park and to an +exclusive residence section, where it stopped on a corner. Prale and +Murk got out, and Prale instructed the chauffeur to wait. Then he led +the way to the middle of the block.</p> + +<p>"Murk, you remain just outside this gate," he instructed. "If I have +good luck, I'll come out with a man, and I may want to take him with us. +Be ready to help in case I get in wrong."</p> + +<p>"Sure thing, sir," Murk said.</p> + +<p>Prale passed through the gate, went up the walk, and lifted the knocker +on the front door. A moment, and a servant appeared and looked at him +searchingly.</p> + +<p>"I wish to see Mr. Griffin at once on important business," Prale said. +"Kindly take my card to him."</p> + +<p>Then Prale waited with his heart in his mouth. Was Griffin at home? The +servant instantly assured him of that, and carried the card away. Prale +had written "Important Business" on it.</p> + +<p>The servant returned soon and announced that Mr. Griffin would see the +visitor. Prale followed him down the hall to the library. He was glad +that Griffin had chosen to receive him there, for there was less +likelihood of an interruption. The servant opened the door, and Sidney +Prale stepped inside.</p> + +<p>Griffin was sitting beside the long table, and he arose immediately and +turned.</p> + +<p>"You!" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"Pardon the deception——"</p> + +<p>"James! James!" Griffin thundered.</p> + +<p>The servant was in the room instantly.</p> + +<p>"Show this fellow the door!" Griffin commanded. "Look at him well, and +never admit him again!"</p> + +<p>James took a step forward and indicated the door. But Sidney Prale +reached into the pocket of his coat, drew out an automatic pistol, and +held it menacingly.</p> + +<p>"Close the door, James—softly!" he commanded in a stern voice. "Now +advance to the table and stand where I can watch you. Don't you make a +move, Mr. Griffin! I used to handle men down in Honduras, and I feel +confident that I can take care of this situation."</p> + +<p>"You thug!" Griffin cried. "I'll have you sent up for this, Prale, if +it's the last thing I do!"</p> + +<p>"I know that it is against the law to be carrying a gun without a +permit, but this situation demands a show of force," Prale said. "I +merely want you to listen to me for a moment, Mr. Griffin."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to hear anything you may have to say to me, Sidney Prale!" +the financier said.</p> + +<p>"You are going to hear it, nevertheless! Mr. Griffin, I did not know +until this afternoon why I had secret enemies and why they were trying +to cause me endless trouble. Miss Kate Gilbert was kind enough to +enlighten me."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir?"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry that you believe me guilty of such base ingratitude to you +and of such dishonorable conduct, for I am not guilty, Mr. Griffin! You +were like a father to me—which was enough to compel my loyalty—and, +aside from that, you had taught me several things regarding honor in +business deals. I went away on the spur of the moment because a woman +had jilted me. But before I went, I did not betray you and your +associates."</p> + +<p>"A likely story!"</p> + +<p>"But a true one, Mr. Griffin! I did not sell you out for a hundred +thousand dollars or any other sum. My conscience is clear, and I came +back to New York expecting to greet old friends and have a pleasant +time. You know what I found instead of that happy state of affairs. I am +not here to talk at length. I demand a chance to prove my innocence!"</p> + +<p>"How can you do the impossible, sir?"</p> + +<p>"It is not the impossible, Mr. Griffin! I intend to prove to you that I +was not disloyal, and then I shall prove that I had nothing to do with +the murder of Rufus Shepley. I have an idea, sir, what is behind all +this."</p> + +<p>"We are wasting time——"</p> + +<p>"I think not, sir! Time is not wasted in which a man shows that he is +not a scoundrel! I think you owe it to me to give me a chance. You have +condemned me unheard."</p> + +<p>"I would give almost anything to have you prove your innocence," Griffin +said. "You don't know how it hurt me. But the case against you was so +strong—and is so strong——"</p> + +<p>"Let us waste no more time," Prale said. "I remember the details of the +big deal that was under way when I left New York ten years ago. If you +recall, sir, I helped plan the campaign. If I can look at papers in your +office, I think I can show that I am not guilty."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to believe you, but this is preposterous!" Griffin cried. "I +tell you the evidence——"</p> + +<p>"It probably was strong, because the guilty man wanted to make it so. +Mr. Griffin, were I guilty I should not be here. Please give me a few +minutes, and let us talk this over. Then, if you wish, we can go to your +office and continue the investigation."</p> + +<p>Griffin sat down and motioned for Sidney Prale to do the same. Prale +returned the automatic to his pocket, much to the relief of the servant.</p> + +<p>Murk, standing outside by the gate, paced back and forth and wondered +whether he should attempt to take the house by storm and rescue his +employer. The chauffeur, waiting at the corner, wondered whether his +fare had slipped down the next street without paying the bill. Murk +relieved him on that point and threatened to beat him up because he +intimated that Prale might do such a thing.</p> + +<p>It was more than two hours later when Prale left the house and went out +to the street. He paid the chauffeur and dismissed him, and told Murk to +return to the hotel. Then he went back into the house and joined Mr. +Griffin again, and after Griffin had telephoned several persons, he +ordered his car, got into it with Prale, and started downtown.</p> + +<p>An astonished watchman took them up in an elevator in an office building +in the financial district, and a little later he took up several other +gentlemen.</p> + +<p>"Them financiers make me sick!" the watchman told himself. "Why can't +they lay their schemes in the daytime?"</p> + +<p>It was almost dawn when they left the building and scattered. They had +spent hours investigating books and papers. Sidney Prale had even sent a +messenger to the hotel with an order to Murk for certain books and +papers of his own, and these had been investigated, too.</p> + +<p>"And there we are, gentlemen," Prale had said, at the last. "I have +shown you, I think, that I did not do this thing. I do not want you to +believe me fully until I have proved my innocence by revealing the man +who is guilty. I merely ask you to give me a fair chance to prove my +case. I have told you my suspicions. Now it is up to me to demonstrate +whether they are just or worthless."</p> + +<p>Griffin had little to say as they rode back uptown. But when he dropped +Prale at the hotel just before daylight, he gripped him by the hand.</p> + +<p>"I want to believe you, Sidney!" he said. "I hope that you have told me +the truth. If you have, I hope you'll be able to clear yourself. If you +only can show me that the boy I was glad to help was not ungrateful, +after all——"</p> + +<p>"I'll do it, sir!"</p> + +<p>"And then I'll never forgive myself, Sidney!"</p> + +<p>"You'll show your forgiveness by handling my affairs for me, sir, in +that event, and by treating me as your son again!" Prale said.</p> + +<p>He hurried up to the suite. Murk had been sleeping in a chair in the +living room, as if expecting a call at any moment. He was somewhat +startled to hear Sidney Prale whistling merrily at four o'clock in the +morning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>AN ACCUSATION</h3> + + +<p>Springing toward him, the masked man stopped two feet from the bound Jim +Farland.</p> + +<p>"So you think you know me, do you?" he snarled.</p> + +<p>"I have a pretty good idea," Farland said. "There are only a few men in +the city, to my knowledge, who could be hired to do work like this, and +it occurs to me that I have seen those hands of yours before. I think +your face is in the rogues' gallery, too, if you want to know!"</p> + +<p>The masked man retreated for a few feet, evidently relieved.</p> + +<p>"So you'll not make terms with me," he said. "You'd rather work for +Sidney Prale, would you? Perhaps we can change your mind."</p> + +<p>"I doubt that like blazes!"</p> + +<p>"You are going to be kept here as a prisoner until I decide what is to +be done with you."</p> + +<p>He crossed over to the door, opened it, and called to his men, two of +whom responded.</p> + +<p>"I want this man guarded well," he said. "I want you to understand that +I am holding you responsible for him. I'll be back to-morrow evening and +have another talk with him. Give him something to eat now and then, and +fix him so he can sleep, but watch him all the time!"</p> + +<p>"I was figurin' on goin' to the city this mornin', boss," one of the men +spoke up.</p> + +<p>"You'll do as I say!" the masked man cried.</p> + +<p>"But——"</p> + +<p>"Don't argue with me, you dog!"</p> + +<p>Farland saw the man's eyes flash fire for a moment. And then the masked +man faced toward him again, his eyes glittering through his mask.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes it isn't healthy to know whose picture is in the rogues' +gallery!" he said.</p> + +<p>He went from the room. After a short argument one of the men remained to +guard Farland, and the other went away. Farland spent a night of agony. +His guards fixed the bonds so that he could be a bit more comfortable, +and yet he got little sleep.</p> + +<p>Jim Farland was considering a big idea now. He had thrown the masked man +off guard by intimating that he might be a crook with a record, when, as +a matter of fact, the detective did not believe him to be anything of +the sort. Now Farland knew where to begin working, but he had to win his +freedom first.</p> + +<p>Night passed, morning came, and the long day of agony began. Farland had +his hands untied and was given some food. Then his wrists were lashed +again and his ankles loosened, and he was allowed to walk around the +room for an hour or so, two of the men watching him closely. The one to +whom the masked man had applied the epithet, "dog," appeared surly.</p> + +<p>After they had bound him again and stretched him upon the couch, they +guarded him one at a time, evidently secure in the belief that he could +not escape. Jim Farland thought a day never had seemed so long. All the +time he was busy with his thoughts. He had a plan of campaign outlined +now; he wanted to be at work.</p> + +<p>Once more the evening came. Farland, who had been sleeping for a few +minutes, awoke and turned over to find that his guard had been changed +again. The man who had been called a dog was on duty.</p> + +<p>"How long are you going to keep me tied up like this?" Jim Farland +asked.</p> + +<p>"Don't ask me. Ask the high and mighty boss," was the sneering reply.</p> + +<p>"You don't seem to stand very high with him."</p> + +<p>"Aw, he makes me sick sometimes."</p> + +<p>"It'd make me sick, too, if anybody called me a dog," Farland declared.</p> + +<p>The man before him did not reply to that, but Farland could see the +anger burning in his face.</p> + +<p>"Come closer," Farland whispered.</p> + +<p>The man obeyed instantly.</p> + +<p>"Can anybody overhear what I say to you?"</p> + +<p>"No. Everybody's gone—but they'll be back soon."</p> + +<p>"Why are you working for these people?"</p> + +<p>"Coin, of course—and precious little of it I've seen so far," was the +reply.</p> + +<p>"Then you haven't any other interest in this business? Maybe we can make +a deal."</p> + +<p>"What sort of a deal?"</p> + +<p>"The man I work for is worth a million," Farland said. "Help me escape, +and I'll give you five hundred dollars."</p> + +<p>"Got it with you?"</p> + +<p>"The biggest part of it," Farland replied.</p> + +<p>He told the truth, too, for he always carried plenty of money while +working on a case.</p> + +<p>"Suppose I simply take it away from you," the guard said.</p> + +<p>"In the first place, I don't think you are that kind of a man. And you +want to get square with the man who called you a dog, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"What's your scheme?"</p> + +<p>"Simply let me go, right now. It is dusk outside already. Tell me how to +get to town the quickest way. I'll give you almost all I have on me; +I'll need a little to use to get back to the city. To-morrow I'll meet +you some place and give you the rest. In addition I'll give you a chance +to get out without being arrested for your part in abducting me and +holding me here."</p> + +<p>The man spent a few minutes in thought.</p> + +<p>"I'll fix you so you can slip your bonds," he said, "and I'll hand your +automatic back to you. It is there in the cupboard. But I don't want you +to make a get-away while I'm guarding you—see? I don't exactly love the +man who'll guard you next. I'll fix it so you can handle him. Wait for +five minutes after he comes and I have gone. I will be away for an hour +or so, and the escape can happen while I'm not here."</p> + +<p>"That suits me," Farland said.</p> + +<p>"What about the money?"</p> + +<p>"You'll get it just as soon as I get my hands loose."</p> + +<p>The guard walked to the hall door and opened it, peered out into the +hall and listened. Then he hurried back to the couch and cut Jim +Farland's bonds. Farland took the money from one of his inside pockets +and handed it over. The guard got the weapon from the cupboard and gave +it to Farland.</p> + +<p>The detective stretched himself down on the couch again, and the guard +adjusted the ropes on his ankles and wrists so that they would appear to +be all right. Farland slipped the automatic beneath the small of his +back, where he could reach it quickly.</p> + +<p>It was half an hour later before the guard was changed and Farland's +friend hurried away, warning him with a glance that he should not make a +move too soon. He had declined to meet the detective the following day +and get the few dollars still due him; he would rather use what he +already had in getting out of town, he had said.</p> + +<p>Farland made no attempt to talk with the new guard. He pretended to be +tired, almost exhausted and sleepy. The guard sat beside the table, +smoking and glancing at a newspaper now and then, apparently of the +opinion that Farland was safely a prisoner.</p> + +<p>After waiting for about half an hour, the detective began moving his +ankles and wrists gently. Gradually the ropes fell away. He reached one +hand beneath his back and grasped the automatic. Then he sat up quickly +on the couch and covered the guard.</p> + +<p>"Put 'em up!" he commanded.</p> + +<p>The guard whirled from the table and sprang to his feet, surprise +written on his countenance. Farland had arisen now, and advancing toward +him.</p> + +<p>"Walk past me to the couch!" the detective commanded.</p> + +<p>The guard started to obey. He was holding his hands above his head and +seemed to be afraid that his captor would shoot. But as he came opposite +Farland, he lurched to one side and made an attempt to grapple with him.</p> + +<p>The detective did not fire. He sprang aside himself, swung the +automatic, and crashed it against the other man's temple. The guard +groaned once and dropped to the floor.</p> + +<p>"Thought you might try something like that!" Jim Farland growled. +"Couldn't have pleased me better—won't have to waste time tying you up +now. You'll be dead to the world for a few minutes at least!"</p> + +<p>Farland darted to the door, opened it, went into the hall and closed the +door again. He passed through the house noiselessly. He could hear two +men in conversation in a rear room, and he knew that he would have to be +cautious until he was at some distance from the old dwelling, unless he +wanted a battle on his hands.</p> + +<p>He got out of the place without being discovered, and reached the edge +of a grove not far away. There he found the lane, and near the end of it +was a powerful roadster, its engine dead and its lights extinguished.</p> + +<p>Farland listened a moment, then went forward and examined the machine. +He knew the model, and he was an excellent driver. Once more he stopped +to listen. Then he sprang behind the wheel and operated the starter.</p> + +<p>He drove slowly down the lane, the engine almost silent, the car +traveling slowly. He proceeded in that manner until he had reached the +highway. There he switched on the lights, put on speed, and sent the +powerful car roaring along the winding road toward the river.</p> + +<p>Jim Farland, being a modest man, never did tell the entire story of that +night. He drove like a fiend, narrowly escaping collision a score of +times. He made his way along the roads running alongside the broad +river, and finally came opposite the city. He crossed over a bridge, +drove through the streets with what speed he dared, left the car at a +public garage with certain instructions, and hurried to a telephone.</p> + +<p>He was unable to get either Sidney Prale or Murk, for at that hour they +were on their way to the Griffin residence. Farland telephoned to his +wife to say that he was all right, but would not be home until some time +during the day. Then he engaged a taxicab and began his work.</p> + +<p>He knew where to start now. An idea had come to him in that old house +far up the river, a suspicion, a feeling of certainty that he was on the +right track. Jim Farland was no respecter of persons that night.</p> + +<p>When morning came he stopped only for a cup of coffee, and then worked +on. He dashed from one place to another, running up a taxicab bill that +made the chauffeur smile. He interviewed important gentlemen, +threatening some and cajoling others, but always getting the information +that he desired.</p> + +<p>At two o'clock the following afternoon he stood on a certain corner near +Madison Square, his suspicion almost proved, his investigation at an +end.</p> + +<p>"Now for the big bluff!" Jim Farland said to himself.</p> + +<p>He fortified himself with another cup of coffee, got into the taxicab +again, and started downtown. He was smoking one of his big, black +cigars, puffing at it as if in deep contentment, not looking at all like +a man who had been kept a prisoner a night and a day, and had been busy +since that experience.</p> + +<p>The taxicab stopped before an office building, as Jim Farland had +ordered. The detective pulled out his last money and paid the chauffeur.</p> + +<p>"You're got more coming, son, but this is all I have with me," Farland +said. "Drop in at my office any time after ten to-morrow morning and get +it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Farland—and thanks!"</p> + +<p>"You're a good boy, but keep your mouth shut!" Farland told him.</p> + +<p>Then he hurried into the office building, went to the elevator nearest +the entrance, and ascended to the floor where George Lerton had his +suite of offices.</p> + +<p>The office boy stepped to the railing.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lerton busy?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"He is alone in his private office, sir," said the boy, who regarded the +detective with admiration and awe. After Farland's other visit, the +youth had decided to be a detective when he grew up.</p> + +<p>"I am to go right in—important business," Farland said. "Never mind +announcing me."</p> + +<p>The willing boy opened the gate, and Farland hurried across to the door +of the private office. He paused there a moment and seemed to pull +himself together, as if making sure before entering the room of +questions he wanted to ask and information he wanted to gather. Then he +threw the door open, stepped quickly inside, closed the door, and turned +the key.</p> + +<p>Lerton was sitting at his desk with his back to the door. He made no +move until he heard the key turned. Then he whirled around in his desk +chair.</p> + +<p>"I—Great Scott, Farland, how you startled me!" he exclaimed. "I thought +it was my secretary."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me for butting in this way, but I am in a deuce of a hurry and +told the boy it was all right," Farland said.</p> + +<p>"You'll smash my office discipline doing things like this. But, sit +down, man! What is it now? Has that cousin of mine been acting up again, +or are you going to pester me with a lot of fool questions about things +I don't know anything about?"</p> + +<p>Farland had seated himself in the chair at the end of the desk, within +four feet of George Lerton. He had tossed his hat to a table and twisted +the cigar into one corner of his mouth. Now he stared Lerton straight in +the eyes.</p> + +<p>"You look like a madman!" Lerton said. "Why on earth are you looking at +me like that? You look as if you were ill——"</p> + +<p>The expression in Farland's face made him stop, and he appeared to be a +bit disconcerted.</p> + +<p>"Why did you kill Rufus Shepley?" Jim Farland demanded suddenly in a +voice that seemed to sting.</p> + +<p>Lerton's face went white for an instant. His jaw dropped and his eyes +bulged.</p> + +<p>"Are—are you insane?" he gasped. "What on earth do you mean by this? +I'll call a clerk and——"</p> + +<p>"The door is locked," Farland said, taking the automatic from his +pocket. "You raise your voice, touch a button or make any move that I do +not like, and I'll plug you and say afterward that I had placed you +under arrest and had to shoot when you tried to escape. Answer my +question, Lerton! You are at the end of your rope! Why did you kill +Rufus Shepley and then try to hang the crime on your cousin, Sidney +Prale?"</p> + +<p>"This is preposterous!" Lerton exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've got the goods on you, Lerton! I wouldn't be here talking like +this if I didn't! You're going to the electric chair!"</p> + +<p>Lerton laughed rather nervously. "I always thought that you were a good +detective, Jim, but I am beginning to have doubts now," he said. "What +has put such an idea into your head?"</p> + +<p>"Facts gathered and welded together," Farland told him. "Don't try to +carry out the bluff any longer, Lerton. And don't call me Jim. I never +allow murderers to get familiar with me!"</p> + +<p>"This has gone far enough!" the broker exclaimed. "I'll have to ask you +to leave my office, sir!"</p> + +<p>"I expect to do that little thing before long, and you are going with +me," Farland said.</p> + +<p>There was a knock at the door.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>THE TRUTH COMES OUT</h3> + + +<p>Farland did not take his eyes off George Lerton.</p> + +<p>"If you have touched a button and called some fool clerk, I'll manhandle +you!" he promised. "Kindly consider yourself a prisoner!"</p> + +<p>The knock was repeated, and Farland, still keeping his eyes on the man +at the desk, backed to the door and turned the key. Then he took up a +position where he could continue watching George Lerton and keep an eye +on the door at the same time.</p> + +<p>"Come in!" he called.</p> + +<p>The door was hurled open. At the same instant, the office boy who had +opened it was thrust aside. Sidney Prale sprang into the private office +and stood glaring at his cousin. Behind him was Murk, and behind Murk +were Kate Gilbert and her maid.</p> + +<p>"Quite a gathering!" Farland said, grinning. "I'm glad that you are +here. Kindly close and lock the door, Murk, with that young office +gentleman on the outside!"</p> + +<p>Murk obeyed. George Lerton sprang to his feet.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" he demanded. "Has my office +been turned into a rendezvous for maniacs?"</p> + +<p>"Sit down!" Sidney Prale cried. He had not taken his eyes off Lerton, +had not even turned to speak to Jim Farland, had not even wondered how +Farland had escaped and come here.</p> + +<p>Lerton dropped back into his chair, wetting his thin lips, his eyes +furtive now.</p> + +<p>"You miserable cur!" Sidney Prale went on, advancing toward his cousin. +"I should handle this affair myself. I should have you in Honduras, and +fasten you to a tree and beat you until you are senseless."</p> + +<p>"These insults——"</p> + +<p>"Are deserved, you beast!" Prale cried. "So, when I went away ten years +ago, you sold out Mr. Griffin and put the blame for it on me, did you? +You wrecked that good man's faith in me, turned influential men against +me, had me persecuted when I returned."</p> + +<p>Jim Farland gave a shout of delight. "That right, Sid?" he cried, "Then +I have the connecting link! So George Lerton has been causing you all +this trouble, has he? I understand a lot more now. Lerton killed Rufus +Shepley, also!"</p> + +<p>"It's a lie! You are trying to save Prale by accusing me!" Lerton cried.</p> + +<p>"Why, we've got you, you weak fool!" said Farland. "I knew you in that +old farmhouse despite your mask. Your hands gave you away—I recognized +them."</p> + +<p>"And he's the man who tried to bribe me!" Murk cried. "I can tell it by +his hands, too!"</p> + +<p>"You tried to smash Prale's alibi," Jim Farland continued. "You had him +followed that night and you sent those notes to the barber and the +clothing merchant, with money in them."</p> + +<p>"And you betrayed yourself when you began using violence," Prale put in. +"You were too vindictive. You showed that you had some good reason of +your own for wanting to drive me away from New York quickly!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we've got you!" Farland repeated. "You are as good as in the +electric chair now!"</p> + +<p>George Lerton looked as if he might have been in it. He was breathing in +gasps, and his face was white. His eyes held an expression of terror.</p> + +<p>"I guess—you've got me!" he said. "But I'll never—go to the chair!"</p> + +<p>Farland stepped across to him. "Get it off your chest!" he suggested.</p> + +<p>"I—I'll talk about it—yes!" George Lerton said. "I—I sold out +Griffin. I wanted money, and I hated Griffin because he had put Sidney +Prale over me. Then Sid had his trouble with the girl and ran away. I +fixed things so it looked as if he had been the guilty one.</p> + +<p>"I pretended to hate Sid for what he was supposed to have done. I +suggested the scheme of vengeance, and worked to get the influential men +together. Then he came back—with his million. I hated him all the more +because of that. I was afraid that, if he remained in New York, he would +find out the truth and I'd be exposed. I knew what that would mean, and +I was beginning to get rich.</p> + +<p>"So I had him followed and watched. I trailed him myself and met him on +Fifth Avenue, and tried to get him to go away, and afterward denied that +I had seen him at all, for he was accused of the murder of Rufus +Shepley."</p> + +<p>"Which was your deed!" Farland put in. "Go ahead—tell it all. Let us +see whether you were clever or merely an amateur at crime."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I was clever enough!" Lerton boasted. "I—I killed Shepley because +he was about to have me arrested for embezzlement. I had been handling a +vast sum for him, aside from his regular business. While he was +traveling, I speculated with the money—and lost. He knew it. I could +not repay.</p> + +<p>"I had an engagement with him that night at the hotel. The detective I +had working for me had reported that Sid had had a quarrel with Shepley, +and where he had gone afterward and what he had done. There I saw my +chance.</p> + +<p>"I did not have myself announced at Shepley's hotel. I knew where his +suite was, so I slipped up to it without anybody seeing me, and knocked +at the door. He admitted me. I begged him to give me a little time to +repay the money, but he would not. He called me a thief, and said that I +must go to prison, that he would not have a hand in letting me remain at +liberty to rob other men.</p> + +<p>"There was a steel letter opener on the table. I—I stabbed him with it, +and then I got away by the fire escape. Nobody saw me. I left him there +dead. I was almost frantic when I reached home. Then I saw how I could +have Sidney Prale accused and remove the menace of his presence also. I +would be safe if Prale were convicted of the murder. I would not have to +repay the Shepley money, and Prale never could reveal that I had +betrayed Mr. Griffin and the others instead of him.</p> + +<p>"So I sent the notes and money to the barber and clothing merchant, and +they denied that Prale had visited them, thus smashing his alibi. I +denied that I had met him on the Avenue. I thought that I was safe. But +the barber and merchant told Farland the truth, and the police began to +think that Sid was not guilty.</p> + +<p>"I grew almost frantic then. My one hope was in running Sid out of town +as quickly as possible, and so I did everything I could think of to +bring about that end."</p> + +<p>"How about that fountain pen found beside the body?" Farland asked.</p> + +<p>"When I was talking to Sid that night on the Avenue, his coat was open +and I saw the pen. Something seemed to tell me to take it, that it might +be used against him some time. As I clutched his lapel, begging him to +leave town, I took the pen from his pocket."</p> + +<p>"Nothing but a plain dip, after all!" Farland sneered.</p> + +<p>"I dropped it beside the body after I had killed Shepley. It was a part +of my plan. And—and I guess that is all!"</p> + +<p>"I guess it is!" Sidney Prale said. "Mr. Griffin and I, and some other +men, made a little investigation last night and continued it this +morning. We found that you were the traitor who caused that financial +smash ten years ago. It may please you to know that Mr. Griffin is my +friend again, and that others are being informed of my innocence. Even +Coadley has come to me and asked to take my case again. But I was +clearing myself of the charge of business treason, and nothing more. I +did not connect you with the murder of Shepley."</p> + +<p>"Well, I did connect him with it," Farland put in. "But when I sprung it +on him here this afternoon, I was running a bluff. I had some evidence, +but not enough to convict. You might have got away with it, Lerton, if +you had had any nerve. But you happen to be a rank coward—and a guilty +man!"</p> + +<p>"You—you——" George Lerton gasped.</p> + +<p>He had been holding two fingers in a pocket of his waistcoat. Now he +withdrew them and, before Farland could reach him, he had swallowed +something.</p> + +<p>"You'll never——" he began, and then his head fell forward to the desk. +"Get the ladies outside, Murk!" Farland commanded suddenly. "And tell +that secretary out there to send in a call for a physician and the +police. Lerton was right—he'll never go to the electric chair!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Ten minutes later, Sidney Prale and Murk were waiting for the elevator +with Kate Gilbert and Marie, but each couple was standing at some +distance from the other.</p> + +<p>"I have proved my innocence, and now I ask you to remember your promise +and grant me your friendship," Prale was telling Kate Gilbert.</p> + +<p>"I shall remember," she said. "You have my address, haven't you? If you +haven't, ask Murk. He knows it. You sent him to spy on me, remember."</p> + +<p>"Jim Farland did that," Prale protested.</p> + +<p>Murk was talking to the gigantic Marie at that moment.</p> + +<p>"You're mighty nice!" he was saying. "Say, I'd like to see you some +more. I've got an idea my boss will be calling on your mistress, and +when he does I might come up to the corner, and you might slip out and +meet me, and we might take a walk in the Park. You wouldn't want to stay +in the apartment and bother them, would you?"</p> + +<p>"It would be a shame!" said Marie. "Which corner, Murk?"</p> + + +<p>THE END</p> + +<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRAND OF SILENCE ***</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 21891-h.htm or 21891-h.zip</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/8/9/21891/</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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