The Adair County news., 1922-06-13


Joe's box. Clark, the manager. took
them below, opened the vault and
put in the master-key. Wilton COM
pleted the opening. To his astonish-
ment there were only fifteen hundred
shares.
Five hundred shares are missing"
he said to the manager.
Clark looked at him In some surprise.
'You are not forgetting that Mr..
: Rsstock hypothecated FIVE hundred
shares with us as security for the
loani" he asked.
Wilton looked at Kitty. did you
know that Joe borrowed on the Sc
curity of those sharesr he asked.
Kitty shook her head. Joe had not
told her many of the details Of his
business. And the papers had shown
no record of the transaction.
"Mr. Phayre has just come in" said
the manager.
They went up to the presidents
office. Phayre asked them to sit down,
and listened to Wilton's statement.
"Mr Clark, will you get Mr..
Bostock's blank transfer Of the
sharesT he asked.
The paper was brought. The sigma
ture appeared perfectly genuine. Joe
Bostock had made out a transfer in
blank Of five hundred shares, in return
for a loan Of three hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, due the 18th Of De-
cember.
Unless the loan were repaid by that
date, the control of the Missatibi
would swing to the Bowyer interests.
Wilton was almost stunned by the
discovery. Joe had spoken as If his
| control were irOn-clad.
He went home with Kitty and tele-
phoned to Belts to come. They went
through all JOe's papers again.
Even Jim Belts was forced to admit
| that the transaction appeared regular.
"Jest watch them snakes, boy; that's
ALL" he counseled. II don't say Phayre
forged JOe's signature and broke into
his box, because it's a bigger risk
than he's got the nerve to take, but
1 guess Bowyer wants the Missatibi
mighty bad"
"Once get the line across Big Mus
keg, Jim, it'll be easy to raise enough
money to pay off the loan," said VIII
ton.
He arranged with Kitty to have all
JOe's papers placed in the safe which
held the engineering records, and sent
up in it to Big Muskeg. Only Kitty
and he knew the combination.
Two days later Wilton, now com,
pletely recovered, started for the
bush.
The sub-cOntractor had practically
completed the camp at Big Muskeg
and there was quite gang OF mer
there, principally engaged in hauling
the cut timber. Wilton had taker
Anderson from the cache and made
him the foreman. The Swede was
one of the best fOremen in the line:
employ, but had fallen from his estate
owing to repeated lapses into drunken
ness.
Wilton planned to reach Big Mus
keg on Saturday night, in order t.
meet his men on the Sunday, wheI
they would all be in camp. He tool
new engineer with him, a youni
fellow named Digby, who had COM
with excellent recommendations iron
an English institute. He was particu
larly anxious to reach his destination
for he had had no letter from MOll.
since his recovery.
To his surprise, Wilton found tn
camp absolutely empty, though ther
were plenty of signs of an abundan
population. But snores from one o
the benches in the dining room be
trayed the presence of solitary oc
cupant. A man was lying full lengtl
behind the table, his hat tilted owe
his face.
Wilton shook him to his feet, an
disclosed Andersen, dead drunk.
The foreman, rudely awakened
stood reeling and blinking at him.
''What have you got to say?" de
manded Wilton, furious at this laps