The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1918-06-14
CHAPTER xiV-continued.

CHAPTER xIV-continued.
'Yes. Precisely. And there were
many just as valueless. But we have
been gradually getting those out Of
the way and listing and appraising the
remainder. 1t was a tangle. Youl
brothers business methods, especially
of late years, were decidedly unsys
tematic and slipshod. 1t may have
been the condition of his health which
prevented his attending to them as he
should. Or" he hesitated slightly, ''it
may have been that he was secretly in
great trouble and mental distress. Al
all events, the task has been a hard
one for us. But, largely owing to
Graves and his patient work, our re.
port was practically ready a month
ago."
He paused. Captain Elisha, who had
been listening attentively, nodded.
YES he said; you told me twas.
What does the whole thing tot up to?
What's the final figger, Mr.. Graves"
Never mind them now, Graves" in
terrupted Kuhn. "The amount, rough
ly speaking, is close to over our orig
inal estimate, half million"
The captain drew a breath Of relief.
"Well," he exclaimed, that's all right
then, amt it? That's no poorhouse
pension"
Sylvester answered. "Yes," he said,
that's all right as far as it goes.".
"Humph! Well, 1 carlate I could
make it go to the end of the route
and then have enough left for a re-
turn ticket. Say" with another look
at the solemn faces of the three, "what
is the row? If the estate is wuth hat
a million what's the matter with it?"
THAT is what we are here this morn
ing to discuss, captain. A month ago,
as / said, we considered our report
practically ready. Then we suddenly
happened on the trail of something
which upon investigation upset all our
calculations. If true it threatened,
not to mention its effect upon the es-
tate, to prove so distressing and pain
full to us, Rodgers Warren's friends
and legal advisers, that we decided not
to alarm you, his brother by disclosing
our suspicious until we were sure there
was no mistake. l did drop you hint,
you will remember
81 remember Now we're comm to
the rock!'
Sylvester was evidently disturbed.
Captain Elisha, regarding him intent
ly, nodded.
81 judge it's sort Of hard for you to
go on, Mr.. Sylvester" he said. 'I'll
help you all l can. You and Mr.. Kuhn
and Mr.. Graves here have found out
somethin' that amt exactly straight
in Bije's doin's-somethin's he's done
that's-well, to speak plain, that's
crooked?'
I'm afraid there's no doubt Of it."
"Humphv' The captain frowned
His cigar had gone out, and he idly
twisted the stump between his fin.
gers. "Well," he said, with a sigh,
''our family, centrally speakin', has al
ways held its head pretty high. Dad
was poor, but he prided himself on
bein' straight as plumb line. And, as
for mother. she"- . Then, look.
ing up quickly. he asked, Does any.
body outside know about this?"
mo one but ourselves-yet."
yet? Is it goin' to be necessary
for anybody else to know it?''
1--WE hope not. But there is a posi-
bility."
81 was thinkin' about the children"
'Of course. So are we ALL"
"Um-hm. Poor Caroline! She put
her father on a sort of altar and bow
ed down afore him, as you might say
ANY sort of disgrace to his name would
about kill her. AS for me-" with an.
other sigh, II amt so much surprised
as you might think. l know that
sounds tough to say about your OWL
brother, but I've been afraid all along
You see, Bile always steered pretty
close to the edge of the channel. He
had ideas about honesty and fair deal
in in business that didn't jibe with
mine We split on just that, as 1 told
YOU, Mr.. Graves, when you and fusi
met. He got some South Denboro folks
to invest money along with him-sort
of savin's account, they fggered it
but 1 found out he was usin' it tt
speculate with. So that's why we hat
our row. 1 took pains to see that the
money was paid back, but he and
never spoke afterward. Fur as my
own money was concerned, 1 hadn't
any kick, but However, I'm
talkin' too much. Go on, Sylvester
I'm ready to hear whatever you've got
to say"
Srhank you, captain. You make /,
easier for me. 1t seems that you
brothers first step toward wealth ant
success was taken about nineteer
years ago. Then somehow or other
probably through a combination o.
luck and shrewdness, he obtained 6
grant a concession from the Brazilian
government, the long term lease of 6
good sized tract of land on the upper
Amazon. 1t was very valuable be
cause of its rubber trees.
"HeyT" Captain Elisha leaned for
ward. "Say that again!' he com
manded sharply.
sylvester Tepedleu Ills otoIeIheht
HE got the concession by paying $50,
600 to the government of Brazil" h
continued. ITO raise the $4,000 h
formed stock company of $50 shares
at $100 each. One hundred of thes'
shares were In his own name. Fift.
were in the name of one Thomas A
Cragen,' a clerk at that time in hi
office. Craven was only a dummy
however. Do you understand what
mean by q dIMmy?"
u can sgsss. Sort Of wooden i'm