LASH o/' I I. CIRCUMSTANCE &Y HARRY IRVING GREENE _ Author <7/~*Yosonde of the. Wilderness" Illuslrictions Ijy Magnus Q. lt«)ttner corrmotfT wojy w.q.cwapmaw " t SYNOPSIS. Abner Halliday. a mlaerljr millionaire, la found gagged, bouml and Insensible In tils room, his safe rifled and $40,000 miss ing. The thread of the story Is taken up by Ilia nephew Tom. LJving In tho same house are other relatives; reckless Bruce Halliday and pretty Clare Wtntun. CHAPTER ll.—(Continued.) I happened to meet Bruce one day •t our noon luncheon. It was Satur day afternoon and my work was fin ished for the week. He camo into the place where I sat and dropped heavily Into a seat beside me. His appearance caused me to whirl upon him. His lace was drawn tense as the skin of a drum, his eyes were heavy as Though with a great weariness, and his hands aspen In th?lr shakiness. He had the haunted look of a man who has been crushed, soul and body, by some appalling disaster. Marvel ing at the evil transformation which had come over him, I let my hand fall upon his shaking fingers. "What is it. Bruce?" I cried sharp ly. He blotted the perspiration from his lace and answered me hoarse as a crow. "It is all up. They have wiped me out clean as a whistle. Had every thing I could rake and scrape on 'System' stock, and she has gone straight to the bottommost pit of in ferno. And I was forty thousand to The good and was going to quit for <sver at fifty thousand and marry Clare." He burst into tears. 'And now I can't marry her, for I am ruined, busted, blown up, shot to pieces. If any one should give me an automobile I couldn't raise the wind to fill its tires." His head dropped forward, and wiping his eyes •dry he sat with chest heaving. I stared at him. "How much did it sink?" I asked slowly after a moment. He waved his hand 3 helplessly. "It didn't sink; it didn't take time To do that. It Just plunged, dived, sounded —dropped like a ton of lead in a vacuum. 1 was wiped out before I could yell 'keno' and crook a finger. Oh, the miserable shame of it! Ass unspeakable! Fool unmentionable! Idiot unutterable! Ass! Idiot! Fool!" Shocked but helpless I surveyed him in silence. Presently his voice arose again, this time angrily. "But that stock is only temporarily knocked down, and Is bound to come up smiling long before the count. It was that damnable published lie I bat started the panic, and the ssare will he over in 24 hours when the truth is known. If I only had SIO,OOO more 1 could get back in good shape in no time. But I can't beg, borrow or steal one-tenth of that sum. I'm an alley infesting, free-lunch pauper who can't even sell his soul because Old Nick figures he'll get it anyway free gratis. And there's our dear Uncle Abner sit ting up there in his den this very min- j ute plowing his fingers and nose through $40,000 that he has just col lected in currency. 1 was up to see him in a dying effort to get him to | stake me. but he only grinned at me like a totem pole and kept on count ing the bales of yellow backs until I wanted to yell and had to run away to get shut of it." He got upon his feet and in his anger banged the table with a metal object which he had tightly clenched in his fist. "But I've simply got to get ten thou sand for a month or two, I tell you, and I'm going to do it." Then sud denly subsiding he turned to me in helpless importunity. "You couldn't spare me anything in the shape of an advance, could you, old man?" The pathos of the appeal touched me, but I shook my head. "No, Bruce. I can give you nothing to speculate with," I replied quietly. He got up with a despairing shrug of his shoul ders. nodded a hurried goodby and was off on what was doubtless some I last despairing quest. 1 saw no good I in attempting to detain him and there- | fore made no effort to call him back. 4 Thoughts of what he had told me | filled my mind to the exclusion of all i else. It was bad news, very bad news, I Indeed, and 1 knew that Clare would knew she did, she would take his troubles deep into her own heart. And It was a miserable shame, too. Forty thousand dollars was a magnificent start along the road to fortune for a man only twenty-eight years old. and it would probably be many years be fore he could climb that high iagain. The suddenness of the catastrophe was a distinct shock to me. For an < hour I pondered over it deeply, then, arising, took my own departure home ward. Unci© Abner was still nosing around among his stacks of currency as I entered. He glanced up at me quick ly as I opened the door, then, ignoring me. nicked up a thousand dollar bill and began talking to it. "Liook at me, you beauty. Of course you don't know how I got you, but I'm going to tell you. I schemed for you days and laid awake for you nights. I sweat for you and I set traps for you and denied myself for you, and finally I got you. You led me a pretty chase, but in the end 1 captured you because 1 had my soul eet upon you. And why did I want you? Because you are the concentra tion of stored energy. All I have to do is turn you loose in the world and JU back lfl mj chair and watch. In a minute a hundred men will jump forth and hammer and saw and toil from morning until night. And the results of all their labor will be mine because while they work for you, you belong to me. I could buy men, wom en or souls with you—but I won't. I am Just going to breed you. I am go ing to breed you until you get me an other like yourself, and then I am go ing to do It all over again. And you will never get away from me on this earth, either." He turned to me with that disgusting leer of his. "Tom, how many of these beauties have you saved up?" "Not any. And it doesn't look as though 1 ever would at the price 1 pay you for second-class board and lodg ings." He leaped to his feet in a quivering rage, for the moment made speechless by niv unprecedented in solence in daring to resent his insults. But his voice came to him soon enough. Grimacing like a chimpan zee he fairly squealed in his anger. "Second-class lodgings! You never had enough money in your life to buy a quarter of it. And you never will have, either, you spendthrift. If 1 didn't charge you for your living you would have just that much more togo to the dogs with. You ought to thank me for it. Second-class board! You will lie glad to get a bone to guaw yet, you puppy." Suddenly he subsided to a sneer and began smoothing my coat over like a prospective buyer of old clothes. "This suit, how much did it cost you, huh?" "Fifty dollars." "And the rest of that trousseau that you wear around In the mud, includ ing the overcoat?" "1 don't know. I never figured It up. Probably seventy-five more." Me sat down with a thump and sat glaring at me as his voice gradually rose again. "A hundred and twenty five dol lars' worth of dry goods on your back as you strut around the streets: And on your salary!" He popped up like a jack-in-the-box and stood before me, scarecrow-like, with arms outstretched and his clothes hanging in shapeless pouches from his slat-like frame. "Look at me! This suit cost me j nine dollars and I have worn it for a year. My shirt cost 40 cents, my collar six and my necktie eight. Mean to say I am not as well dressed as you ?" "That is a matter of personal opin ion. Anyway, it is none of your busi ness so long as I pay you for my liv ing. At any rate 1 have never had to ask you for money." He reached for ward with his long arm and began thumping me on the chest with his bony knuckles. "Hey! Wouldn't you though If you thought you could get it? Wouldn't you though, Mr. Peacock, with your line clothes, if you thought you could wheedle a dollar out of me? But you know your Uncle Abner ain't fool enough to let you have it. I'd rather trust it to Bruce, for wilh all his fool ishness be has got twice the sense that you have. He takes chances and some day may win a fortune, while you only spend, spend, spend. Get a cent from me! I'd like to see you." With a quick run he gathered up the money, shoved it into the safe, spun the combination until it rattled like a roulette wheel and faced me again with his nose wrinkled, i faced him in a boiling rage. For while 1 had always cherished the natural and le gitimate hope that I, as his next of kin. might some day profit by reason : of his accumulative instincts, he could have left his money strewn broadcast throughout the house from the time I 1 had first come to live wilh him and | I would not have touched a dollar of | it, even had I known I never would be i even suspected. Furthermore, noue 1 had a better reputation for honesty | than myself, and his everlasting treat- j ment of me as a potential thief had always nauseated me. Not caring how j he might regard the act. 1 drew the | key to the front door from my pocket j and flung it on the table before him. i It was the only key to the house 1 had ever possessed and its surrender I left me wiihout means of entrance, but without another word I stalked out into Ihe open, banging the door J behind nie. Never had I been in a more villainous mood than now as I strode through the trees on my way downtown. I desired to see Bruce again. I was concerned to know just what turn his despondency might take, and I thought that I might cheer him up a bit. Know ing his usual place of habitat in his hours of recreation it was not long be fore I had located him. He was humped up buzzard-like in a semi-pri vate room of a cafe, his hands sound ing the deptns of his pockets and his chin resting upon his breast. A cock tail, apparently untasted, stood on the table before him. I sat down on the other side of the board, noticing that his eyes were closed. He had the general appearance of a man who had been drinking. Ordi narily immaculate of person, he was now seinl-disreputable. He had not shaved that day, his necktie was dis arranged and his hair rumpled. How ever, as 1 had never known him to be the worse for liquor, 1 was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt in this case and ascribe his unkempt nesa to brooding over his misfortune. "Bruce," I said after a moment. He opened his eyes and looked at me vacantly, but made no reply. In a general way I attempted to console him, but he only shook his head In si lence, and finding my efforts unre* warded 1 Anally abandoned them. Or dering: a mild decoction for myself, 1 touched his glass and drank to the hope that better times might soon be on the wing. He emptied his glass without reply, and sank back into his dejected posture. Five minutes later he seemed to be half asleep, and 1 determined to take him bodily in hand. Not wishing to have him seen in that condition by any friends who might chance to enter, 1 shook hlin into a semblance of life. Then ma king him take my arm. I assisted hint into the open air. Darkness had al ready fallen and the lights of the skyscrapers were beginning to sparkle. He lurched heavily against me, and seeing that his condition was rapidly becoming hopeless. I signaled a cab, opened the door and thrust him in side. He fell upon the seat, mutter ing some address to which he wished to be taken and I turned to the jehu who was propping him up. "He will be all right In a couple of hours. At present he is not feeling particularly well and should lie taken care of," I said significantly. The oth er nodded his understanding. Then with brief instructions for him to handle his charge right side up with care, 1 turned away as he picked up the reins. I formulated my own plans for the evening. In my then state of mind. 1 did not rare to exert myself, prefer ing togo where I could sit quietly and be entertained by others, i de cided upon the theater. A block fur ther on I happened across a banking acquaintance, who. upon my invita tion, joined me. At the end of the performance we emerged. It was now in the neighborhood of 11 o'clock, and. shaking hands, we parted for the night. Having thrown down my key to the house, I decided to stay downtown un til morning. Crossing the street, I en tered the Pacific hotel. I knew the clerk at the desk, and saluting him by name, I ssked him to assign me to a rooir. a few floors up and fronting on th» alley, Buch a location being quiet er in the early morning hours than a tfoni facing the street. He gave me the key and a bell boy immediately showed me to my number. Not being accustomed to retiring be fore 12. 1 was not in the least sleepy. Leaving the light burning. I threw myself upon the bed as scene by scene Iran the film of the events of the day before my mental eyes. And so deep ly did I become engrossed in this that when I aroused myself and looked at my watch it was after midnight. I arose and stood before the mirror, searching my own face keenly, ray mind still reverting to my quarrel with my uncle and its probable future consequences. While i did not imag ine thht in his present state of mind he would be particularly concerned as to where I was, I resolved to call him up and advise him of my whereabouts. It did not seem that it could do any harm, and undoubtedly it was good policy to try and conciliate him now that we had given full vent to our spleen. Going to the wall telephone, I asked for his number, and a moment later heard his querulous voice over the wire as he demanded to know who it was that called him at that hour. 1 answered h'm with the quiet ness I always strove to employ ex cept upon rare occasions when I for the moment lost command of myself. I wished him well and told him where I was and that I had decided to re main downtown for the night. ills answering sentences exploded in my ear like distant firecrackers. "That's righi. Just like you. Spend ing your money for hotel bills when you have a better bed at home. Anil I suppose you will pay those pirates a dollar for your breakfast. All right. ' l !jL "Tom, How Many of Theao Beauties Have You Saved Up?" go ahead, young millionaire. But I will charge yon for your breakfast here, anyway. Don't you forget that." "I will be home at nine o'clock, the usual Sunday breakfast hour," 1 re turned In an unruffled tone. He snorted and rang off without deigning to reply further, and I hung up the receiver with the feeling that I had done my part towards a reconcilia tion. For the present at least, the matter must rest where it was. Then calling up the hotel office and leaving r an order for them to awaken me at seven o'clock. I locked the door and turned out the light. At the ringing of the call bell the next morning at the hour I had des ignated, I arose and began my toilet. I had slept but" little, and that little was more like the semi-consciousness which comes from exhaustion rather than the slumber of repose. I felt un refreshed, despondent, self-angry. Nor was my appearance in the glass sat isfactory as Iran my eyes over my reflection. I had little desire for breakfast, but inasmuch as I had told Uncle Abner that I would be present at that occasion, I paid my bill and took a car homeward. The morning was a midsummerday dream. The foliage had been bathed by a night shower and (he air was perfumed with the Incense of growing green things. As I passed up the walk among the oaks I could not but realize how beau tiful ihe grounds were despite their unkempiness, and that it would cost me a pang after all to leave this place permanently should my quar rel with its owner develop to that acute stage. For it was under these trees I hat. I had passed so many pleas ant hours with Clare, or wandering through the marble halls of my air castles. Mrs. Tebbets admitted me upon my summons; but no sooner had I entered the sleepy halls than my fondne3 for the place vanished in the old depression which always came upon me as I viewed their loneliness. It was like passing into a vault, cheerless, gloomy, the echoes mocking my footsteps. I went straight to my own room. The door was closed between where I was and my uncle's apartment, and I stood listening. Usu ally he was up and could be heard puttering around before this, but now all was silence beyond. I opened the door that separated our quarters and stepped forward. But on the threshold I stopped with my eyes sweeping tlie scene that lay before me. The room was in a stale of disorder. Everywhere was to be seen the hand of violence. Bureau drawers had been ransacked and left yawning; the bed was a twisted tangle of sheets and crumpled pillows; clothing was scat tered about the floor. But what was more startling than anything else was the condition of the iron safe. Its combination had been shattered by some powerful explosive and Its door, standing wide, gave a full view into its looted interior. With the sweat starting from my forehead I rushed forward. I inspected It with a glance. No money remained in it, but the papers looked as though they had not been disturbed beyond a general overhaul ing. - I swept my eyes about the room and tinder the bed. No glimpse of my uncle rewarded me and Iran from the room with loud calls for Mrs. Teb bets. It was her custom not to dis turb us of Sunday mornings until she announced breakfast, and that she knew nothing of the condition of af fairs In the upper part of the house had been evidenced by her ordinary demeanor as she admitted me. From room to room of the upper story I went in rapid search of the missing one, and at last, in one of the dark closets I found him and dragged him forth. He was bound hand and foot, and I bent over him and shook him. He seemed to be rather more uncon scious than otherwise, but he certain ly was alive. Pulling up the stairs In response to At Last in One of the Dark Closets I Found Him. I my cries, Mrs. Tebbets reached me | .just, as I had finished my hasty diag nosis. I immediately removed a hand kerchief which had been tied around his mouth, slashed the cords which bound him, and together we carried him to my room and placed him upon the bed. I tore open his night gar ment and examined him superficially, but could discover no marks of physi cal violence save about the throat. There it was red and puffy. Mrs. Teb bets, in a hysteria of excitement, was useless as an assistant, and hastening to the telephone I called up first Doc tor Courtney, our family physician, and then the nearest police station. After that I went back to the vic tim. He was breathing more freely now that the handkerchief had been re moved, and presently his eyes opened and he stared at me. When I spoke to him, however, he did not answer. Having done everything for him that 1 could think of for the moment, I sat down upon the edge of the bed to await the arrival of those whom I had summoned. CHAPTER 111. Doctor Courtney arrived first. Up the drive he came whirring in his light electric runabout, and darting through the door which the house keeper held wide for him, was by the patient's side in a few seconds. To gether we made a thorough examina tion of the reviving man. The physi cian tested his temperature, his heart and reflexes, afterward addressing me concisely. "it is nothing serious. There is no permanent injury and he will be all right as soon as he recovers from the shock. He seems to have been se verely choked, but there was no chloro form or other drug administered." He gave the patient a stimulant, and I was much relieved to see my uncle respond to it favorably as the patrol wagon arrived. A moment later a group of officers piloted by Mrs. Teb bets swarmed into the room. In a few words I explained to them the condi tion of affairs as I had found them, and in twos and threes they went trooping over the house from top to bottom in a survey of the safe, the doors and shutters and other things of interest to them. Then they came back to us. Uncle Abner by this time was able to speak in a low voice, and the captain, seating himself, de manded that he be told all that the pilfered one knew of the affair. Still speaking with more or less difficulty. Uncle Abner addressed us. "I was sound asleep. The room was very dark and I knew of nothing un usual until I awoke and found myself pinioned to the bed by a heavy man. lie was choking me and pressing my arms to helplessness beneath his knees. 1 attempted to struggle, but could do little more than squirm be neath his strength. He used a good deal of force, and in a few moments my senses left me. I knew nothing more until I awoke and found myself in some dark hole. I rolled about a little, and from the closeness of the walls to each other knew it was a closet. There was a handkerchief in my mouth and I could not call for help. Anyway it would have been useless, for there was nobody else on the premises but Mrs. Tebbets, and I knew If she should awake and attempt to come to my assistance or give the alarm my assailants would do some thing to render her helpless if they had not already done so. Therefore I desisted attempting to make a noise. After awhile I must have lost my senses again, for all is blank to me from them up to the time I awoke here a few moments ago. I do not believe that more than one man had hold of me, as 1 heard nothing to in dicate that he had companions. He may have had. however, for I could see nothing in the darkness. Ido not believe that lam hurt very much, but I am considerably exhausted and I feel pretty well battered up. He used |me pretty rough, and 1 thought ho | was going to kill rne. I am rather I old and not very strong, you know, j and cannot stand as much as I could j once upon a time. I could not identify j the man if 1 saw him by daylight, but j I heard him cough in a peculiar way | as he was choking me." He stopped speaking and the ghost ; of his old foxlike smile came creeping out of the corners of his mouth. "But I will bet he did not get much, the in j fernal villain. Everything of value | was locked up in the old strong box. You maye be sure I took good care to ! that." We at the bedside shot significant glances from one to another in the ! silence. I disliked 'to break the news j of his loss to him, not knowing what kind of a scene he would make, but decided I might as well do so now aa at any other time. "They got what j ever money was in the safe, uncle." I i said. "They blew the combination j into old junk and cleaned out the cur ! rency to the last cent." He uttered I a gasp and tried to sit up, but the physician pushed him back upon the j pillow. | "Burglarized the safe! Got ail the money!" he yelled, hoarsely, his eyes ! rolling upward so that the whites i were to be seen. The expression upon his face was a ghastly reflection of | the shock to his soul, and despite his j miserliness I felt sorry for him as I j grasped one twitching hand. His I cheeks turned to the yellowish white of a fish's belly as s he straightened out to his full length with a groan that was horrifying in Its death mimicry. (TO BE CONTINUED.) A Real One. "I was once retained in a case in a down state village where I had known most of the anhabitants ever since I was a child," says Attorney George B. Harris. "In examining some of the witnesses I forgot myself and used their given names. The judge interrupted me. " 'Mr. Harris, he said, 'I believe It would be more dignified to address these witnesses by their surnames.' "1 apologized to the court and re formed—temporarily. A little later, an awkward, slovenly farmer was called to the stand. I was well acquainted with the chap—so was everybody else in the room. " 'Now, Rube,' I began. " 'Wait a moment,' called the Judge. He leaned over and took a good look at the witness. Then he turned to me and added: "'You may proceed, sir; I see no reason why the witness should not be called Rube.' " —Cleveland Plaia Dealer. Why the Stamps Don't Stick. Postmaster-General Hitchcock is re ceiving complaints from all sections of the country that the glue on stamps is worthless and that they will not stick. According to officials of the depart ment, the glue is damaged by water bugs that nibble it off the stamps. The Washington postofllce is infested with these insects, and, as many stamQS are kept ready for sale on desks and In drawers, the bugs have easy access to them. The department has no Bcheme for combating the bugs. In secticides, if placed in the glue, must poison people who moisten stamp* with their tongues. He Knew It. "Is there any money in this business that you are trying to promote?" "There certainly Is." "How do you know?" "Why, I myself put In a lot." His Age. "You don't mean to sny she is Kotng to marry that man! Why, he t» old enough to be her father." "Yes —but still young enough to b« hw strand boy."
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