Easy Money (Chisholm)

by A. M. Chisholm

Easy Money

 

By A. M. Chisholm
Author of “Quite Contrairy,” “Where Friendship Ceases,” Etc.

 

Mr. Chisholm's humorous stories are always full of "point,” and in this one there is a moral you can’t miss. He tells how a gilt-edged proposition aroused the cupidity of a seaman who, though retired, was yet not immune from the get-rich-quick fever

 

CAPTAIN TREGASKIS sat at a table in the refreshment-room of the Dog and Duck Hotel in Southport. The table was a point of vantage, commanding a view of Southport’s main street. At the moment, save for an unobtrusive individual in far corner, Captain Tregaskis was the sole occupant of the room. A glass of whisky and water stood before him, and he pulled contentedly at a brier pipe of heroic proportions.

His afternoon glass of grog and a pipe was a habit of long standing, and his seat at that particular table a part of it. He derived a certain calm satisfaction from watching, unobserved, the doings of his fellow townsmen. Later some old cronies would perhaps drop in, and there would be a four-handed game, after which supper and a quiet evening. The captain’s life was methodical and well ordered.

Smoking contemplatively, he did not observe the approach of the other occupant of the room until the unobtrusive individual addressed him. .

“Excuse me,” said the quiet gentleman, “but do you object to my taking a seat at your table and enjoying the view from the window?”

“Not at all; certainly not,” said Captain Tregaskis, rather inclined, nevertheless, to resent the intrusion of a stranger. “I don’t own this table, you know.”

“Maybe not,” said the other diffidently, “but I never like to intrude on a gentleman when he appears to be thinking over important matters. Still, if you say you don’t object, I may admit that I prefer a seat here, where I can see people, to the one I just left, where nothing can be seen; and, having broken in on your privacy in this way, may I ask you to have something with me to show I appreciate your kindness?”

“Why, you are very polite,” said Captain Tregaskis, “and I don’t mind if I do. Not that you disturbed me any—not at all. I was just thinking things over, but they will keep.”

“Nice town you have here,” said the stranger, after the refreshments had been brought; “a very nice town, indeed. Plenty of business, I should judge.”

“Considerable,” said the captain. “Living is tolerable cheap, and the place is healthy. Stranger here, I presume?”

“Yes, I got in this morning,” said the other.

“Thinking of staying here?” asked the captain.

“Well, that depends—I imagine I may not,” was the reply.

“Traveling man?” asked the captain.

“Well, I travel a good deal—most of the time, in fact.”

“What line?”

“Business, financial and confidential business,” replied the stranger.

“Ah,” said the captain, “I see.” As a matter of fact he did not see at all, but he nodded his head wisely.

“I would take it,” said the stranger, “that you are pretty well acquainted here—know all the people who are worth knowing.”

“I’ve lived here ever since I retired, a matter of five years,” replied the captain, “and I think I know most of the folks.”

“Not much goes on that escapes you. You’re an observer; I can see that.”

“Well,” responded the gratified captain, “I guess I know most of what takes place, though I don’t see how you know I’m an observer.”

“Your seat at this table for one thing,” said the other; “and your alert manner and your eye. They all stamp you unmistakably as a keen, practical observer. I knew it the minute I saw you sitting here.”

“You must be something of an observer yourself,” said Captain Tregaskis. “Yes, I try to take notice of things. It comes natural to me to do it.”

“Certainly it does,” said the stranger; “and you improve the faculty by practise. You are the possessor of a very valuable quality, that of rapid, highly trained, accurate observation. Also, if you will excuse me for mentioning it, you carry with you the air of one accustomed to command men.”

“Hem—ha—yes, perhaps,” said Captain Tregaskis, much pleased. “I guess I know how to turn a crew to as well as any man. And for observation—well, a man doesn’t sail for forty years without learning to put two and two together.”

“Oh, a sea-captain!” said the stranger. “In the navy, I presume?”

“No, sir!” snorted the captain. “No such thing! None of your gilt-braided, thick-skulled, swivel-eyed quarter-deckers about me! Just plain, ordinary retired master of a clipper, that, give her a wind three points aft, could show her heels to anything that ever carried white paint and a contractor’s curse.”

“Ah,” said the other, “I might have known it, Captain—Captain—er——”

“Tregaskis,” said the captain.

“Glad to know you, Captain Tregaskis. My name is West—George West, at your service. Sorry I have to leave you now. Perhaps I may see you again before I leave town.”

“Hold on; have one with me before you go,” said Captain Tregaskis, his notions of propriety outraged by a proposed withdrawal before he had returned a stranger’s hospitality.

“I really can’t,” said the stranger. “I have been so interested in your conversation that I am now late for an important appointment, but if you will be at home I can make it a point to drop in on you to-night. Perhaps I may be in a position to make you a business proposition.”

“Do,” said Captain Tregaskis. “Go up Elm Street till you see a little house with port and starboard lights at the door. That’s mine.”

“I will,” said Mr. West. “And now I’ll leave you. I see a gentleman heading this way who seems to be a seafaring man also. Perhaps a friend of yours.”

Captain Tregaskis glanced out of the window at the approaching individual, and scowled ferociously.

“Him! He’s no friend of mine. Old Bill Smithers. Had a rat-haunted, worm-eaten, man-killing dough-dish, and piled her up for the insurance. Knows as much about navigation as the devil knows about shower-baths. He’s——”

But Mr. West had departed; and Captain Tregaskis, after a vain attempt to appear unconscious and at his ease when Captain Smithers entered the room and took a seat, followed West’s example, the two mariners exchanging surly growls and belligerent glances by way of deference to the conventionalities which would not allow either to entirely ignore the other.

At eight o’clock that evening Captain Tregaskis sat awaiting the arrival of Mr. West. He had filled two decanters, one with rum and the other with whisky; lemons, sugar, nutmeg, and hot water were in close proximity, flanked by a box of cigars that bore no revenue-stamp. The offering to the gods of Hospitality appeared to be complete.

To while away the time, and to test the efficiency of his preparations. Captain Tregaskis mixed himself a glass of hot toddy and lit a cigar, testing both with the critical taste of an expert. Finding them to his liking, he stretched himself out in his chair and meditated in great comfort.

His thoughts ran on his interview with Mr. West and the probable nature of the business proposition he had mentioned. Though comfortably off, the captain had no objections to adding to his income; and the flattering words of Mr. West seemed to hold a promise of some method of earning money by the exercise of the special qualities he had mentioned as being possessed by the captain. Therefore he waited the coming of his guest with some impatience.

At 8:30 the captain’s bell jingled. As he opened the door, Mr. West stepped quickly in and closed it after him, with what sounded very like a sigh of relief. Holding up his hand for silence, he applied his ear to the crack of the door, and listened intently for several moments, Captain Tregaskis regarding this peculiar conduct in blank amazement. At last Mr. West seemed to be satisfied.

“You must excuse this peculiar behavior on my part,” he said, “but I could have sworn that I was followed.”

“Followed! What for? Who by?” demanded Captain Tregaskis.

“By the people who are dogging my steps,” replied Mr. West mysteriously.

“What should they dog your steps for?” asked the captain, in astonishment.

Mr. West shook his head with the air of one who conceals much, and followed his host into the sitting-room, where he took a seat well away from the window.

Captain Tregaskis mixed a fresh toddy, and shoved the cigar-box across the table, sensible, as he did so, of the marked change in Mr. West’s manner. At the hotel he had been diffident, hesitating; here he was keen, alert, his every movement suggesting energy.

Silently he smoked his cigar, his eyes boring into those of the captain, who grew ill at ease under his gaze.

“Captain Tregaskis,” said he at length, “I have been studying you, and you in turn have been studying me. Do not deny it. I assure you I am not offended. I recognize that it is a part of your habit of keenly observing men and things, and it is because I have faith in your ability to do so that I am here to-night.”

“Can’t say I understand your drift at all,” said Captain Tregaskis. "Suppose I can size up a man pretty well, what then?”

“Why, then,” said Mr. West, leaning forward eagerly, “you are just the man I have been looking for—just the man. Let me ask if you have ever turned these powers of yours to practical account—have you ever, to put it plainly, made money out of them?”

“Not very much,” replied Captain Tregaskis diplomatically.

“And if you had the opportunity, would you take it?” asked the other.

“Course I would,” replied the captain. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, then,” said Mr. West, “I can give you the opportunity. See here!” Throwing back the lapel of his coat he exposed a nickel shield, and pointed to it with one finger, his eyes fixed on his host. “This,” he said impressively, “is what I mean. Read it!”

He detached the badge and handed it to the captain, who read:

Superintendent, Detective Agencies, U. S.

Captain Tregaskis’ mind flashed back to certain incidents in his career which he had long considered as closed, and for a moment he regarded Mr. West apprehensively. Partially reassured by the expression of his face, he cleared his throat nervously, and remarked:

“You’re a government detective, then.”

“Partly that,” said Mr. West; “but the agency is not confined to government work, though authorized by the government, and often employed by it. That is to say, when they have a piece of work so complex or important that they cannot trust it to their regular detectives they call us in. Of course they have to pay high for our skilled services, but we give them results.”

“And where,” asked the captain, after a few moments of bewildered reflection, “do I come in on this play? You ain’t after me, I suppose.”

“Yes, I am,” said Mr. West. “Not,” he went on, noting the consternation visible in the captain’s face, “in the ordinary sense, of course, but in the interests of our firm and of the public. Now let me explain. We are continually looking for agents who are shrewd, keen observers of men and happenings. Spread over the entire country as our business is, we need such agents in almost every town and district, and we are prepared to pay liberally for their services. To such agents we make an offer of what we consider liberal terms, to represent us and gather the information we need. Now I find you are peculiarly qualified, and if you are open to join us I can go into the details.”

“Do you mean you want me to be a detective?” asked Captain Tregaskis, in pleased astonishment.

“Ah, there is where your penetrating mind acts at once,” said Mr. West. “That is exactly what I do want. Will you?”

“If there is any money in it—rewards and so on,” said Captain Tregaskis cautiously, “you can count me in. I always had a taste for finding out things, and a way of getting at anything I wanted to know. Aboard the old Flying Cloud I remember some one heaved a marline-spike at me from aloft one night, and the whole crew went on quarter rations and no grog till I found out who it was. And what I did to that measly, black-avised, skulking, misbegotten son of a South Sea pirate fair put the fear of God into the hearts of the crew of scum I had that passage, so that they run, every man Jack of them, at Singapore, without their pay; and I shipped a new lot of hands.”

“You are just the man we want!” cried Mr. West enthusiastically. “A man who can’t be bluffed when he sets out to discover anything. Now, here are the terms we have to offer. From every special agent we appoint we obtain a deposit of from one hundred to one thousand dollars, according to the locality he is in and the importance of the work we intend to place in his hands. In return for this he receives a deposit receipt from our agency for a like amount, guaranteeing interest at six per cent. He also receives a special contract giving him a percentage of the profits arising from work done in his district, the percentage depending on the amount of his deposit. Now, you naturally ask why we require a deposit. That is the first question that occurs to you. Well, we require it as a guarantee of good faith. Our agents become possessed of a fund of the most important information, often involving the character of those occupying positions of trust; and in case of the recovery of valuables they are often custodians of small fortunes in money, jewels, papers, and so on. Then, too, they are sometimes approached by those who wish to. buy their silence; and you know how loudly money talks. Now, in the face of this, is it not reasonable that we should require a substantial guarantee from any one we have to trust so fully?”

“I s’pose so,” said Captain Tregaskis doubtfully, “but——”

“I know what you are going to say. You would ask why we don’t get a fidelity bond from a guarantee company instead. For one reason, a guarantee company will only guarantee against pecuniary loss, and that is the smallest part of the loss we may suffer through the infidelity of an agent. Information given by an agent to a suspected person would injure us more than any valuables he might possibly get away with, and no company would guarantee against that risk. Then, too, if it did, the loss would be the company’s and not the individual’s, whereas when he puts up a substantial cash forfeit he has a direct interest in keeping his mouth shut. You see that, don’t you? It is the only method we have found at all satisfactory after years of experience, and I hope you will see it in that light.”

Captain Tregaskis scratched his head hesitatingly. He was willing enough to be a detective and share in the profits of problematical captures and rewards, but the idea of paying out one thousand dollars, or even one hundred dollars, cash for the privilege was repugnant to his instincts of caution.

“Before I go into this,” he said, “I’ll have to know more about it. Suppose I did put up a thousand—and I ain’t saying I’ve got that much money to put up—I’ll have to know what I’m liable to make in, say, a year at the business. S’pose I put up one hundred dollars now—how much do I stand to get out of it?”

“Well, of course that would depend altogether on circumstances,” said Mr. West. “You would get five per cent. of what we made in your district. It might be nothing. You can never tell where a crime may be committed, a criminal caught, or our services required. Our terms run this way: Five per cent. of rewards for every hundred deposited up to fifty per cent., where we are forced to stop. We cannot afford to take less than fifty per cent. ourselves. If you deposited one thousand dollars, you would get fifty per cent, of the profits. If nine hundred, you get forty-five per cent., and so on down to a deposit of one hundred dollars, when, as I have said, you get five per cent. It is absolutely impossible to give you a line on your profits further than to. say that we are now working in this district, and appearances indicate that we will have considerable business here during the next year. On a five per cent. basis you would be nearly certain to make a couple of hundred dollars. On the fifty per cent. basis you would, of course, make ten times as much, and likely more, for, as I think I said before, we cannot afford to give our most important and remunerative work to the smaller depositors. They get the remnants, as it were. And of course you must remember that we pay six per cent. on the amount of your deposit with us, which is as much as you can get on the ordinary investment; and it is withdrawable at any time.”

Captain Tregaskis hesitated. It was all very well to be asked to be a detective, to share in exciting man-hunts, and in a division of rewards, but—a thousand dollars! His native caution was in the ascendent.

“I don’t reckon I can pay a thousand dollars,” he said at length; “it’s more than I want to put into a new thing. I might go up to a hundred to start with, though.”

“Just as you say,” replied Mr. West, somewhat disappointed. “Don’t let me appear to urge you to take any shares at all. None the less, I think it would pay you to take more. Well, take this hundred dollars to start with. We’ll let it go at that. Meanwhile I need your help to-night. I am on the track of one of the boldest and most successful robberies of the government ever perpetrated. The criminals know that I am pressing them closely, and I am shadowed day and night.” He paused, casting an apprehensive glance at the window, and resumed:

“Some little time ago over a quarter of a million dollars in securities and cash was stolen from the treasury department. So skilfully was it done that no clue whatever to the thieves could be found. All that is known is that the securities were locked up at night, and in the morning they were not to be found. The government kept the robbery a secret, of course, and called us in. For months I have been working on the case, and I believe I am now in a fair way to recover the plunder, if not to arrest the thieves; but, as I say, I am shadowed. My identity is known. I cannot move without feeling that I am watched; and since I came here I feel it more than ever. Then why this redoubling of vigilance? Why this constant espionage? Why, having the booty in their possession, do not the thieves divide it and scatter? Now, your logical mind will at once see the solution. They have lost the stolen articles, and they fear that I will find them. Why do I reason in that way? I will tell you.

“A week ago a man was brought into the hospital in a dying condition. He had been assaulted and apparently robbed. His pockets were turned inside out; and the lining of his clothes was ripped away. Even the soles of his boots had been ripped open. This man was a noted crook, and it was evident to my mind that he had been assaulted and then searched for something he was thought to possess. What was it?

“I had a watch set by his bed, and from the words he spoke while delirious I gathered that he was one of those concerned in this robbery; that in some manner he had given his confederates the double-cross, secured all the plunder himself, and concealed it somewhere. The whereabouts we could not exactly make out, except that it was near here, and the exact spot might be known by a line drawn due south for thirty paces from a stone with a hole in the top. Not a very definite clue, is it? There are many stones with little holes on the surface, and I have paced south from several dozen to-day, and found no sign of anything.

“To add to the difficulty I am followed, and have to proceed with the utmost caution. I can’t afford to let any one see me pacing thirty steps due south twice. These are no common criminals we have to do with, captain. They already know almost as much as I do of the location of the treasure, and if we do not find it first we won’t find it later. Therefore you see that I must have help. Now you, living here, can walk about without exciting suspicion while I cannot. That is, I hope you can. If not, you may be in some danger.”

“I ain’t afraid,” said Captain Tregaskis sturdily. “Just let me get a fair swipe at one of them crooks, and he’ll think he was one of my hands aboard the old Goodwill. I ain’t,” pursued the captain regretfully, “hit a man what you might call hard in five years, and my knuckles is getting that tender and soft they might belong to a lady.” He sighed, and regarded a calloused, knotty fist disparagingly.

“Well,” said Mr. West, “don’t hit them too——” He broke off as the door-bell sounded. “Who is that? It won’t do for any one to find me here unless it is one of our men. Go to the door, captain, but be careful how you open it. I’ve known some desperate attempts to be made by this crowd. If there is trouble, I’ll be right at your back.” The gleam of a wicked-looking revolver emphasized the assurance.

Captain Tregaskis went to the door, opened it slightly, and placed one ponderous foot against it as a stop.

“Who’s there?” he asked.

“Is Mr. West here?” was the question.

“It’s all right, captain,” said Mr. West. “Let him in. He’s one of our friends.”

The captain withdrew his foot, and the newcomer, a bronzed, keen-eyed man, entered.

“Here, West, I want to see you at once and alone, if this gentleman will excuse us.”

“It’s all right, Mr. Griffin,” said Mr. West. “This is Captain Tregaskis, our agent at this point. You can speak quite freely before him. Captain, this is Mr. Griffin, of the treasury department.”

“Glad to know you, sir,” said Mr. Griffin. “Now, Mr, West, I have information that leads me to believe we are working in the wrong locality. The money isn’t secreted here at all, but farther down the coast, near Williamsburg. I traced you here, and I think we had better pull out at once.”

“But how do you know?” said Mr. West. “Everything points to this place—everything. What have you discovered?”

“Not a great deal, but enough to give a clue. They have found a railway-ticket to Williamsburg in Edwards’ clothes. That seems to point to that locality.”

“It may,” said Mr. West, “but I don’t believe it. If Williamsburg, why should I be followed here? Edwards mentioned this place in his delirium. I know that a man corresponding to his description has. been seen here. His confederates, if we only knew them, are -here. I tell you this is the place, and I won’t leave it without a further trial.”

“You’ll please yourself about that, of course,” said Mr. Griffin tartly, “but I am going to Williamsburg. We have covered this ground with no result. If you want to handle that ten thousand dollars reward. West, you had better come with me.”

“I’ll take my chance of earning the reward here,” said Mr. West. “That railway-ticket doesn’t convince me. He might just as easily have had one to Chicago. It may not bear on the case at all.”

“Now I ask you, Captain Tregaskis, what you think,” said Mr. Griffin. “Here is a week spent in looking over this territory and nothing found. Now we come on a new clue. Should we not follow it up at once?”

“Well,” said the captain judicially, feeling that at last he had a place in the councils of the mighty, “there’s a lot to be said on both sides. If we find the valuables here we won’t find them at Williamsburg; and, again, if they are there we won’t find them here. You’ll admit that’s so.”

“True,” said Mr. West, nodding his head.

“And so,” concluded Captain Tregaskis sagely, “my advice is to search where we’re most apt to find them.”

“And that’s Williamsburg,” said Mr. Griffin.

“It’s here,” said Mr. West.

“Time will show which of us is right,” said Mr. Griffin. “I’m off for Williamsburg at once. Sure you won’t come, West? Well, then, good-by, and I’m sorry you won’t touch that ten thousand dollars reward.”

He moved to the door and vanished into the night.

“Good riddance,” said Mr. West. “Griffin is in the confidence of the treasury, and thinks he knows it all, which he doesn’t. I’ll find the stuff here while he hunts for stones in Williamsburg.”

“Is there,” asked Captain Tregaskis, “a reward of ten thousand dollars for the recovery of the money?”

“Ten thousand for the money and five thousand more for the arrest of the robbers,” said Mr. West. “Uncle Sam is mighty generous when some one gets to his pocket. And now I’m going back to my hotel to get some sleep. Tomorrow at seven o’clock I’ll be here, and we’ll begin a systematic search for the stolen goods. Good night, captain. No, I don’t want your check for that hundred dollars to-night. Any time before I leave here will do.” And buttoning up his coat and shaking hands he took his departure.

Captain Tregaskis sat long by the fire that night figuring with a stubby pencil on the back of an envelope. Five per cent. of ten thousand dollars was five hundred dollars, and five per cent. of five thousand dollars was two hundred and fifty dollars, making a total of seven hundred and fifty dollars he stood to make in case the money was found and the criminals arrested. That was on the five per cent. basis.

But suppose he paid one thousand dollars, his share would be on a fifty per cent. footing, and would be—he gasped at the thought—seven thousand hundred dollars!

And seven thousand five hundred dollars would buy a great deal. The captain’s mind already formed plans for spending it. His tastes were very catholic, and included a week in the city on the “wide-open plan,” a stock of liquors, cigars, and tobacco, all of the best, sufficient to last for a year; a new shotgun, a motor-boat, and a selection of literature of the “Sappho” variety.

And, after all, this one reward was only a beginning. People were constantly being robbed, murdered, and abducted. His services would be in demand. They would come to him to clear up the greatest mysteries and offer proportionate fees. He would write a book. And, finally, with the lowering of the liquid line in the decanter, the great play, “Tregaskis the Trailer,” with the original in the title rôle, turned away crowds nightly. At this point, feeling that ambition could aim at nothing higher, the captain arose, knocked out his pipe, and went to bed.

Promptly at seven o’clock the next morning Mr. West was on hand.

“Now, captain,” said he, “we will try a section of ground I haven’t covered yet, and see what luck will bring us. Do you know that I was followed to my hotel last night?”

“Who by?” demanded Captain Tregaskis, filling his pipe with care, so that it should last in the wind.

“By two men. One was short, dark, and slight, and looked like a foreigner—Mexican or Spaniard, I should say—and the other was a man of about your own height and build; a seafaring man, I should judge by his general appearance; not unlike the man Smithers you pointed out to me at the hotel.”

“You don’t say so!” exclaimed Captain Tregaskis. “Bill Smithers! I always said he was a scoundrel, and would wind up behind the bars. Bill Smithers, eh? Can’t we arrest him at once?”

“What could we prove against him? We have no evidence.”

“How about putting him through what you call the third degree?” said Captain Tregaskis vaguely. “Or may be we could sort of coax the truth out of him with a horsewhip or a hot iron. Not but he is a natural-born liar.”

“Not to be thought of,” said Mr. West. “But if I was followed then I may be followed now. Therefore I am going to disguise myself, and I have brought along a make-up for you, too. Now, my plan is to leave the house openly, without any disguise whatever. We will then go out along the coast for a mile, in which distance we can make sure if we are followed. It not, well and good. If we are, we will assume our disguises and throw the pursuers off the track. Do you catch my meaning?”

“Certainly, and it’s a first-rate plan,” said Captain Tregaskis, reaching for a slouch-hat that might have shadowed the brow of a typical conspirator. “My own scheme would be to arrest any one following us without waiting, but you know best.”

For a mile or more the two strolled along the shore, Captain Tregaskis continually glancing back over his shoulder. As they approached a small patch of woods he caught sight of a figure in their rear dodging along, bent low, apparently endeavoring to escape observation. In a mysterious whisper he called Mr. West’s attention. Mr. West did not look back until they were hidden from view by a screen of bushes. Then he produced a pair of binoculars, and scanned the distant figure intently.

“That is one of the men who followed me. Now to give him the slip.”

Sitting on a log, he drew out two wigs and beards.

“Lucky we’re both clean-shaven, captain. Put these on, and we’ll see if our prying friend will recognize us.”

With difficulty and some aid from Mr. West, Captain Tregaskis adjusted the disguise, feeling that he was being initiated into the inner mysteries of his new calling. As the stranger approached they both stepped out into the open.

The stranger, a slight, dark man, gave a quick start and stopped, but after regarding them a minute advanced.

“How you do?” he said. “You see two men go dis-away? One thin man like a mouse quiet, and big man like sailor. Friends of mine. You see men?”

“Yes, about five minutes ago,” said Mr. West, in a voice Captain Tregaskis would not have recognized. “They went that way”—pointing directly inland following the trend of the woods.

“Much oblige,” said the stranger, setting off at a brisk walk in the direction indicated.

Captain Tregaskis breathed hard. His disguise was evidently impenetrable. Mr. West was now all impatience, and seemed to take the success of his expedient as a matter of course. Rapidly he led the way, and the captain followed.

The ground they approached now changed its character, becoming a flat covered with scrubby bushes. Here and there the gray backs of large boulders appeared. Mounting one of these, Mr. West took a comprehensive survey. Nobody was in sight. Descending from his elevation, Mr. West rubbed his hands and chuckled.

“We’ve given that fellow the slip, all right The next time we’ll be looking for him, or I miss a guess. Couldn’t arrest him now for lack of evidence. This is the place I had in mind, captain. Looks lonely enough to tempt any crook to believe that nothing he concealed would be disturbed. Now to work. I’ll go to the right and you to the left. Keep a lookout for a rock with a hole on top, and if you see one, shout.”

He moved off as he spoke, and Captain Tregaskis followed suit, peering about him intently. In this search some time passed. Many rocks with slight depressions presented themselves to the captain’s anxious eyes, but nothing could be called a hole. At last, however, he found one, and on the top a hole newly drilled. Not only that, but in the bottom lay the blackened stump of a match, and beside it several twigs were broken short off. The captain, much excited, shouted and waved his hat to Mr. West, who was slowly approaching, quartering the ground carefully.

“This certainly looks promising,” said the latter. “A new-drilled hole. Let’s try thirty paces south, captain. Here’s a compass. So. Now I’ll pace it. One, two, three——”

He led off, pacing carefully.

“Thirty.” He paused. Before him lay a small clump of low bushes. Peering into them, the captain saw that the surface of the earth had been recently disturbed. With a roar of triumph the seaman leaped through the bushes, followed by Mr. West. The latter produced a broad-bladed knife, and the earth fairly flew as he burrowed down like a gigantic mole.

Finally the knife-blade struck something hard.

Inserting his fingers in the loose earth, Mr. West heaved out a japanned box, much like those used in safety-deposit vaults. A padlock secured it. With a quick wrench Mr. West ripped away the soldered staple and shook out the contents. There were the government bonds and several packages of bills of large denominations.

Captain Tregaskis gazed with widening eyes. Mr. West methodically counted the notes and verified the securities from a note-book, replaced the whole in the box, and turned to Captain Tregaskis.

“There we are, captain, the whole thing. Now I wonder what Griffin will find at Williamsburg. Good joke on him. And you found it, too! You who are practically new at the business! All the better joke. Now let’s go back. Our work is only half-done. We have yet to catch our men. Come on!”

He started swiftly the way they had come, the captain striding beside him, immensely pleased with himself. As they walked, however, his self-congratulatory mood vanished. Here was a ten-thousand-dollar reward earned, but what part of it was his? Only five percent.! A measly five hundred dollars—when, if he had taken fifty shares in the detective agency, he would have been four thousand dollars in pocket clear. It was too bad. The more he thought of it the more galling the thought became. Finally he could stand it no longer.

“About this reward, now,” he ventured. “I took five shares, you remember, and was thinking of taking more. How would it be if I took fifty?”

“On this reward, you mean?” replied Mr. West. “Well, of course you took five shares, and you get five hundred dollars. That was the agreement, you know.”

“But I was thinking of taking more,” said Captain Tregaskis. “We left it open, you remember. I hadn’t quite made up my mind.”

“Now look here, captain, that wouldn’t be fair. You paid, or were to pay, one hundred dollars, and get a five per cent. division. How can I change that, now that we have earned the reward? It wouldn’t be fair to my associates. Besides, I think I mentioned our arrangement to Griffin.”

“You didn’t say a word about it,” said Captain Tregaskis eagerly. “I thought it all over last night, and had my mind made up to pay one thousand dollars and get a fifty per cent. share. I intended to tell you that before, but it slipped my mind. Can’t we arrange it now?”

“Don’t see how,” said Mr. West. “Why, man alive, it’s like making you a present of five thousand dollars, and a lot of that would come out of my pocket.”

“How much?” asked Captain Tregaskis.

“Five hundred dollars, at least. Apart from that, it wouldn’t be fair to others.”

“I’ll give you,” said Captain Tregaskis, stopping short, “six hundred dollars for yourself to let me in on a fifty per cent. basis.”

“Can’t do it,” said Mr. West.

“Seven hundred, then.”

“Seven hundred is quite a bunch of money,” said Mr. West hesitatingly.

“It is,” said Captain Tregaskis. “Come, now, will you or won’t you?”

“After all, you made the find,” said Mr. West. “You ought to have more than five per cent., and because of that, and because I like you personally, I’ll let you in. I’ll just consider that seven hundred of yours a contribution to charity, and let the charity begin at home.”

Arrived at his home, Captain Tregaskis lost no time in clinching the bargain. He produced his check-book. “Now I’ll just write you a check for that thousand dollars.”

“Date it yesterday, for appearance sake,” said Mr. West. “Here, I’ll give you my check on our bank for your share of the reward, but I’ll have to date it a week ahead, for it will be that time before the reward is paid. There you are, five thousand dollars. Not every day a man makes as much in a morning. Oh, yes, and that check for seven hundred dollars—you might as well make that out, too. You can date it to-day. Thanks. Hello! what’s this?”

Knocking at the door, but without waiting for it to be opened, Mr. Griffin plunged into the room. His eyes fell on the japanned box on the table, and widened in surprise.

“You got it, then!” he exclaimed. “I just learned there was Nothing in that Williamsburg story. Is it all there? Yes? Well, the devil’s to pay! It’s the Horner gang that did it. They’ve got wind somewhere that we know, and pulled out of here this morning. They were all here. They’re heading for Chicago. And the deuce of it is,” he went on ruefully, “that some one went through me an hour ago and took every blessed cent I had. Slickest piece of work I ever saw. And on me, too. Left me stranded with not a cent and no one in town to cash a check for me.”

“That doesn’t matter,” said Mr. West. “I’ve plenty of money. We must be after them and not lose a minute. I must get those checks of yours cashed at once, captain. When does the next train start?”

“In half an hour. You’ve got just time to make the bank. Oh, what in thunder are we going to do with these bonds and cash? We can’t go lugging them around the country.”

“Leave them with Captain Tregaskis. He’s one of our men. Here, captain, roll a newspaper around that box and take it with you. Mustn’t leave it about in the house. You’ll have to identify me at the bank, or there’ll be a delay in getting the money, and then we’ll miss the train. Come on!”

{[dhr]} Three men sat in a stateroom of the west-bound train oblivious to the passing landscape.

“You cashed two of the old sucker’s checks,” said Mr. Griffin, “and you got a holy wad for each. Throw it out on the table and let’s see what real money looks like.”

Mr. West laughed, and threw down two rolls of bills.

“This is a thousand to pay the usual initiation fee of our noble association, and this is seven hundred I got as a bonus for letting him in on a fifty per cent. basis after he had found the plant under an agreement for five per cent. I ought to get that by rights. As for Dago Frank here, he wasn’t needed, and shouldn’t get anything.”

The third person blew a thin stream of smoke from his lungs.

“I getta my rake-off alla right,” he said; “else for why I mak-a de goods in de box and punch-a de hole in de rock?”