The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-03-27


81 imagine, Wayne" said John C
''Not particularly" John Colt
drawled. "You have lost case.
Wayne"
''I'm going to kill your case"
Dick said tonelessly. ''No, I'm 60
ing to do worse to you than that
I'm going to give my brothers the
means with which to kill your case.
To do that will cost me great deal,
in some very obscure ways. It will,
in fact, cost me more than my
share Of Alakoa is worth. That is
why l offered to settle with you.
For Miss Waterson's sake, but prin-
cipally for my own, I'm sorry that
you refused. But you're finished,
Colt-through-washed up-done."
81 get what you mean," John Colt
smiled.
eff you think little further"
Tonga Dick said, you'll see even
more clearly what mean. Your
case has one hole in it. Ask your
self what that hole is"
Karen Waterson, watching John
Colts face, saw curious thing hap
pen then. The faint, tired smile on
Colts face fingered there still, but
after a moment Karen saw that it
was only the form Of it that re-
manned. Colts eyes were fixed hard
on Tonga Dick, and Karen thought
she had never seen anything like the
intensity of that unwinking stare. II
ever a man tried to look into an
other mans mind and take it apart,
Colt was trying it now.
Dick Wayne was filing his pipe.
The very fact that he was smoking
pipe at all at tea dansant made
him look more at ease thereby, as
If he alone, of all the people on that
broad lanai, was completely at
home.
you're thinking of exactly the
same thing / am, john" Dick as
sured him softly.
Once more the eyes Of the two
men met and held.
81 imagine, Wayne" said John
Colt smoothly, "that you are lying"
Steadily, unhurried, controlled
there was nothing in John Colts
voice to indicate that he knew what
it was to doubt. Yet, somehow,
Karen knew with utter certainty that
Colt was shaken-more deeply shak-
en- perhaps than he would have adj
mitted even to himself; and when
Karen saw that, she was oppressed
by gray conviction that John Colt,
gambling for Alakoa, in her behalf,
had irrevocably lost.
It was late in the evening when
Dick dropped anchor in Alakoa's
little bay, and Immediately was
driven up to the old house high in
the gorges.
His brothers, as he might have
expected, had already retired. It
was surprising in how many super
fetal ways they initiated the virtues
Of James Wayne-without ever
seeming to accomplish anything
thereby. Dick did not cause them to
be reused, at once. Instead he sent
for Charles Wong, and with the as
i sistance of the efficient Chinese set
about brief survey Of the condition
Of Alakoa's books.
A careful audit would have been
necessary in order to check through,
with any accuracy, that great array
Of his uncle,s books which recorded
the financial transactions of Alakoa.
Dick knew what he was looking for,
however; he steamed rapidly
through such Of the summaries as
interested him.
The story that those books told
should have pleased anybody, but ii
did not please Dick Wayne. He was
hunting for something else. the ex-
istence Of which he only suspected,
and to which he was perfectly GER
tain his brothers had no clue at all.
When he had hunted q long time
without result it became apparent
to him that Charles Wong, under
guise Of assistance, was in subtle
ways managing to confuse his
search, and bring it to nothing. As
this became definitely evident, Dick
Wayne went back and searched
again, and this time found what he
sought. It was an inconspicuous
item for the year 1880, easily
brushed over, and obscure In mean
ing when found. It consisted of moth
ing more than an entry, under mis-
cellaneous operating expense: "Old
debts, SIS, 0O0."
The entry was posted where it did
not belong--a practice untypical Of
either James Wayne or Charles
Wong, and Dick turned sharply upon
the Chinese.
"Whst debt was this7''