The Washington times., 1915-12-20


munity of human rabbits, men
who needed money and needed it so
badly that they were ready to pay any
price to get it. Grant did not grow fat
on their needs, but his bank account
did
When a man must have money, he
is willing to pay high to get 1t. And
hundreds Of men had for years been
paying George Grant an unbelievably
big rate of interest on the cash they
borrowed from him.
lie was the city's most prosperous
loan broker, which meant he was also
the citys most heartleSs loan shark.
His offices were forever crowded with
needy clients. His big desk was full
of tabulated pigeonholes. And every
pigeonhole was stacked with piteous
array of promissory notes. of mortgages,
Of sight drafts, and similar sorry docu-
mentS.
in that desk lay the material to ruin
a01enS sn OF unlqcky L men; men VINO IN H.,
George Grants clutches. Here were
debt records that spelled financial ship
wreck. More than one pious debtor
used to pray that Grants office and
Grants desk might some night be de-
stroyed by fire; to wipe out these rec
ords and set the loan sharks victims
free. And at last. in odd fashion, the
prayers were answered.
One day-it was the same that Max
lamar caught his fieeting glance Of
the red circle on woman's white hand,
as a closed automobile whizzed past
him George Grant got up from this IA
nous desk in his private office,
stretched his lean arms lazily, and went
into the adjoining room where stood
mis- capacious steel vault, He wanted
a record that was filed in this vault.
And. instead of sending a clerk for it
it was a decidedly private paper-he
went himself.
the electric light, he began to search
through the tiers of compartments
9long the rear wall. The paper he
wanted was nots easy to md; and his
search continued for several minutes.
At last he discovered what he sought.
Consulting the document, he made one
or two notes from it on the back or an
enVelope then switched off the light
and turned to leave the vault
But, instead of the sunshine from the
Office beyond, he faced black darknes.
The vault door had been shut. SO ST.
lently had it closed that. engrossed IN
his search, he had not observed It was
no longer open.
Grant pushed against the steel door.
1t did not yield to the pressure 1t had
been shut tight. The lock had been
sprung. And it could not be opened
again. except from the outside.
Grant swOre, long and luridly. Then.
his browS contracting, he paused for q
moment in .perplexity.. The door was
heavy. 1t always required more or less
effort to open or close 1t. Therefore, It
had not now been blown shut by the
wind or swung shut from i'll balanced
hinges. A human hand had closed and
locked it. Why? v,
Grant did not believe anyone in his
employ wSIld his dare PSy, ics triek on
held him in crlnging feat Perhaps
some clerk. passing by and seeing the
door open, had supposed the vault was
empty and had pushed the steel portal
Grant drew in a deep breath and
shouted at the, top Of his lungs. The
low. But the thick walls absorbed the
sound. With his fists he beat upon
the, door until his knuckles bled. Nc
Within a few yards of him. his em.
ployes were at work. Yet he, theil
Overlord, seemed in danger of smoth.
eTing. because he could not make his
cries or his blows reach their ears. A
cold sweat of terror broke out all over
this man who so long had made better
men sweat at his orders.
Turning back into the vault anC
switching on the light once more. ht
pulled out a steel cashbox from it'
compartment and, using 1t as a blud
geon, began to hammer with desperate
force on the unyielding door, punctu
aunR his blows with shouts for help.
After an interminable time, a clerk
John Saals by name-who chanced tt
pass through the adjoining room, close
to the vault, heard muffied tapping
and paused to investigate. The tapping
seemed to come from the far side oi
the steel door. Saals was curious; and
decided to investigate. He called the
cashier, who alone of the employees
whole office force gathered inquisitivelS
around the cashier as he unlocked anC
threw open the door. Out reeled Grant
more dead than alive; his lank fac
streaked with perspiration, his eyeI
bulging with terror.
Who did that?' he sputtered, hoarse
ly, What fool shut that door on me
less bunch. Who did it?'
There was a confused mumbling from
the scared employees. Grants ratlik'
eyes searched every face, He read ther
nothing but blank bewilderment.
someone was acting, then someone wa
acting too cleverly 10 be detected. Witt
a snort, Grant stamped back to his owl
private office.
SIN shaky in the knees from his scare
he slumped into his desk chair. But
suddenly, as II the chair were uphol
stored with hornet-stings, he leaped T.
his feet again; with a yen that orough
ing wonderingly to the door.
Neatness was one George Grant
hobbies. His desk was always KEEP
in apple-Die order. But his yer!
in a condition that would have shame,
his incompetent clerk
Papers were scattered i'm every di
rection: and drawers and pigeonhole
were open-and empty! Feverishly
Grant looked. from pigeonhole TO pig
eonhole.
Every last one OF them had beel
ransacked and every document hat
been stolen from them
Cleaned OUT" croaked Grant, daz
edly. "Robbedi TVe-I've been robbed!
Then the numbed brain reawoke
These stolen documents were tn
promissorv notes. the drafts. etc, tina
gave him his .limtless power over al
army OF debtors. without such evl
dence he had no legal hold over tn
seAar nrnlchcs WIN had 40 long haaI