Argosy, Vol. 111, No. 1 — page 68: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

o8 He was confronted instead by a man of much higher type, a man with the appear- ance of a gentleman, but a very determined and aggressive gentleman. Bradwell tried in vain to remember ever having seen him around the office of Guthrie, Sandford and Pierson. The stranger studied his face intently for a full minute before he spoke. Then, sharply: “You are George Bradwell?” é< Yes.”’ “Fve come to take you back to Buf- falo.” Bradwell had expected it. He had steeled himself to meet the inevitable. Yet, coming when it did, just as supreme happi- ness had seemed momentarily within his grasp, it filled him with blind, uncontrol- lable rage at the mjustice of it. Judge Thurston came into the room at that mo- - ment, but Bradley scarcely noticed him. He burst out m a torrent of protest: ‘So your people are ready to push that fake-check case at last! Have they for- gotten that I promised them that if they sent me to prison they’d go, too? Did they think that by now they had covered their tracks so well that I couldn’t prove any- thing against them? 3 “If so, why are they after me? Why can’t they call it quits? But they’ve done some good covering if they think they can stand bringing my story into court. [ve got better evidence against them than I had when I made that promise to Guthrie two years ago. “It must be the gang they sent me out with on that schooner from Buffalo. Didn’t they tell them I got onto their whole plot; that I learned the schooner belonged to one of Guthrie’s clients, and which one it was; that I discovered the cargo was a fake cargo; that the old tub was scuttled in Lake Michigan to get the insurance money; and that they locked me in my cabin, so I’d go down with it and tell no tales, and that in doing so they acted under orders from my friend Guthrie?”’ Bradwell paused. He had noted that his listener became acutely interested when he mentioned his mysterious trip on the lake schooner and showed distinct signs of as- THE ARGOSY. tonishment as he proceeded. Evidently that fact had told. ‘This is amazingly interesting, Bradwell!” the stranger exclaimed. ‘‘ We didn’t know of this. In fact, we didn’t know whether you were dead or alive till Judge Thurston sent for us the other day.” Judge Thurston had betrayed him! It was a blow that left him fairly faint for a moment. It seemed unbelievable that the father of Agnes could have used such a method of separating her from him. He turned to the judge, his hateful question in his eyes. : A took of pain swept over the old man’s face, and he made no denial. But the stranger was speaking again. At first Bradwell scarcely heard him. Thena phrase caught and held his attention once more. ‘““So you see, Mr. Bradwell, you had me on the wrong side of the fence. I am not representing Guthrie, Sandford and Pier- son. I am Mr. Yates, one of the vice- presidents of the Great Lakes Marine In- surance Company. You happened into our office looking for a job, you remember, about two years ago, when we were first getting suspicious of Guthrie and his crowd. “Our chief at once saw in you a possible witness, but when he sent out for you, you had vanished. We made up our minds you had some guilty knowledge, and had over- heard something that made you suspicious. We’ve been wanting you ever since. Three months ago we began to get definite clues against Guthrie and the rest. Then a letter from the judge here disclosed your where- abouts and gave us some information about you that made you so important to us that I was sent out here myself to see you. “The judge thought he was helping you reinstate yourself by making inquiries of us. It remains to be seen whether it will have that effect on you. But what you have told me about your voyage on the ill-fated schooner doubles your value to us ten- fold.” Bradwell underwent a swift convulsion of feeling. The judge had been true after all. But the changed status of his calter left him in no less peril. Mr. COMmiic|ooo 6S (CO