"I"ve been expecting you to," acknowledged Collaton. "That"s one of the reasons I came to you."
"I admire you," observed Johnny dryly. "You bled me for two years, and yet you have the ingrowing gall to come and tell me you"re broke."
"Well, it"s the truth," defended Collaton. "Look here, Johnny; I"ve heard that you made a lot of money in the last few weeks, but you haven"t had any more attachments against you, have you?"
"You bet I haven"t," returned Johnny savagely. "I"ve been waiting for just one more attempt, and then I intended--"
"I know," interrupted Collaton. "You intended to beat Gresham and Jacobs and me to a pulp; and then have us pinched for disorderly conduct, and try to dig up the evidence at the trial."
"Well, something like that," admitted Johnny with a grin.
"I knew it," corroborated Collaton. "I told them when to stop."
"I guess you"ll be a good witness," surmised Johnny. "How deep were you in on this Birchard deal? How much did you get?"
"Did Gresham and Birchard pull something?" inquired Collaton with such acute interest that Johnny felt sure he had taken no part in that swindle.
"Well, yes," agreed Johnny with a wince, as he thought of his lost million. "They did pull a little trick. Did you know Birchard very well?"
"I wouldn"t say what I know about Birchard except on a witness-stand,"
chuckled Collaton, "but I can tell you this much: if he got anything, throw it a good-by kiss; for he can rub himself out better than any man I ever saw. He"s practised hiding till he doesn"t know himself where he is half of the time."
"I"ve pa.s.sed him up," stated Johnny. "The only people I"m after are Gresham and Jacobs and you."
"I wonder if you wouldn"t pin a medal on one of us if he"d give you the other two," conjectured Collaton, smoothing his freckled cheek and studying Johnny with his head on one side.
"We"re not coining medals this year," declared Johnny, "but if it"s you you"re talking about, and you"ll give me Gresham and Jacobs, I"ll promise you a chance to stand outside the bars and look in at them."
"It"s a bet," decided Collaton promptly. "I split up with Gresham two or three weeks ago at Coney Island, when he wanted me to go in on a big scheme against you, and I suppose it was this Birchard stunt. I told him I"d had enough. Your money began to look troublesome to me. That was the day you were down there with the girl."
"There"s no girl in this," warned Johnny. "Now tell me just what you can do."
"Will you wipe me off the slate?"
"Clean as a whistle," promised Johnny. "If my lawyer lets you be convicted I"ll go to jail in your place."
"It"s like getting over-change by mistake," gratefully returned Collaton. "I"m tired of the game, Johnny, and if I can get out of this I"ll stay straight the balance of my life."
"You"ll die in the top tier, with the pent.i.tentiary chaplain writing your farewell letters," prophesied Johnny. "What did you say you could do?"
"Well, I can incriminate not only Jacobs but Gresham in those phoney attachments, and I can hand you the Gamble-Collaton books," set forth Collaton. "Gresham got them away from me to take care of and then held them over me as a threat; but I got them back yesterday by offering to pound his head off. He"s a bigger coward than I am."
"How much money did you say you wanted?" inquired Johnny.
"Five thousand," returned Collaton cheerfully.
"You said two."
"I have to have two and I need the rest. I thought maybe I could sell you my interest in The Gamble-Collaton Irrigation Company. There"s several thousand acres of land out there, you know."
"I haven"t laid a finger on you yet," Johnny reminded him, "but if you make another offer to sell me that land I don"t know how I"ll stand the strain."
"Well, say you give me the money for fun then," amended Collaton. "I didn"t know anything about this Birchard deal, but since you"ve mentioned it I can piece together a lot of things that mean something now. I"ll help you chase that down, and you can afford to spare me five thousand. Why, Johnny, I"m a poor sucker that has made the unfortunate financial mistake of being crooked; and you"re the luckiest cuss in the world. To begin with, you"re square; and that"s the biggest stroke of luck that can happen. Everybody likes you, you"re a swift money-maker, and you"ve got a girl--now don"t get chesty--that would make any man go out and chew bulldogs."
Johnny reflected over that statement and turned a trifle bitter. He had no million dollars; he had no friends; he had no girl! He contemplated calling the police.
The telephone bell rang.
"h.e.l.lo, Polly," he said vigorously into the interrupting instrument, and then Collaton, watching him anxiously, saw his face light up like a Mardi Gras illumination. "Bring my Baltimore straw hat!" jubilated Johnny. "Polly, I"ll bring one if I have to go to Baltimore to get it."
He paused, and the transmitter in front of his face almost glistened with reflected high-lights. "Engagements! For to-day?" exulted Johnny.
"I"m at liberty right now. How soon may I come over?" He listened again with a wide-spread grin. Collaton rolled a cigarette with black tobacco and brown paper, lighted it and smiled comfortably. "Can"t I talk to Constance a minute?" implored Johnny, trying to push in the troublous tremolo stop. "Oh, is she? All right; I"ll be over in about twenty minutes. No, I won"t make it an hour, I said twenty minutes;" and still smiling with imbecile delight he hung up the receiver and turned to Collaton with a frown.
"I think I can raise that two thousand for you," he decided. "Now tell me just what you know about Gresham and Birchard."
CHAPTER XXII
IN WHICH PAUL GRESHAM PROPOSES A VERY PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENT
"Mr. Gresham is calling," announced Aunt Pattie Boyden with some trepidation; for Constance, besides being ill, had not been in the best of humor during the last two weeks.
"Paul?" commented Constance with a pleased smile, which both delighted and surprised Aunt Pattie. "I didn"t expect him for half an hour," and she completed her toilet by adorning herself with a choice collection of Johnny Gamble"s roses.
"You are looking your best, I must say," admired Aunt Pattie after a critical survey, for she was particularly anxious about this visit of Paul Gresham"s.
"She ought to," interjected Polly, busy at the telephone; "that"s the third gown she"s tried on. She"s expecting particular company."
"Any one besides Paul?" inquired Aunt Pattie, elevating her eyebrows.
"Lots of people," returned Constance with a gaiety she had not exhibited for many days. "Mr. Gamble for one."
Aunt Pattie"s countenance underwent an instant change, and it was not a change for the better.
"Mr. Gamble!" she exclaimed, quite properly shocked. "I shouldn"t think he"d feel in the humor for social calls just now. He"s lost all his money."
"You wouldn"t believe it if you had heard him laugh over the "phone just now when I told him to bring his straw hat," declared Polly.
"Who told you the news?" asked Constance, feeling sure of the answer.
"Mr. Gresham," hesitated Aunt Pattie.
"I bet he couldn"t keep his face straight," Polly vindictively charged.
"You do Mr. Gresham an injustice, Polly," protested Aunt Pattie severely.
"It isn"t possible," insisted Polly. "If it were not giving him too much credit for brains I"d swear he"d helped break Johnny."