Adventure Magazine Cover, April 1916 — page 163: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Letter of the Promise Bareheaded he hurried to the office and opened his safe. The money was in small canvas sacks, ten of them, with the amount which each contained marked on a tag fixed to the cord with which the sack was tied. He counted them; there were now only nine. And when he had emptied each and checked its contents, he found that the missing sack had contained a thousand pesos. A sudden blackness engulfed his mind, blotting out the sight of the piles of bills and silver. But after a moment it passed, giving way to a furious anger. Cutter was a thief! He had always in- tended to steal the money; this had been the mysterious threat which he had felt, but could not understand. Now that he knew what it was, he no longer felt afraid. If necessary he would take Cutter by the throat and force him to disgorge. He found the major with two other officers on his morning’s inspection of the barracks. ““May I speak to you a moment in pri- vate?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. There was no trace of embarrassment in Cutter’s manner, “Certainly,” he said easily, detaching himself from the group. ‘‘What is it?” Without replying, Pendelton led the way to the beach where the night before Cutter had unfolded his plan. Then he whirled on the older man. “T want that thousand pesos!” he said. Cutter faced him coolly. “Did you bring me out here to talk non- sense?” he asked. For a moment Pendelton glared at the other’s insolent face. Then, choking with rage, he hurled himself upon him, Cutter seized him by the arms. “You fool! Do you want me to have you locked up?” he asked in a voice sharp enough to cut through the boy’s anger. Pendelton struggled in vain to free him- self; and suddenly, as if realizing the futility of his efforts, he caught himself and stood still. Then the Major dropped his hold. ‘And now,” he said, ‘“‘tell me what it is all about.” “T don’t think that is necessary,” an- swered Pendelton. ‘“‘You know that a thousand pesos were stolen from my safe last night, and—” his anger blazing out again—‘by ! They are going to be put back this morning!” 11 16I “Yes?” inquired Cutter. “By whom?” “By you!” Pendelton’s tone was men- acing. Cutter laughed. “Very likely! I see myself giving you a thousand pesos to replace money which you yourself must have taken. For if, as you say, they are gone, you must have gotten them! No one else could have. You have the key and you have a guard over the money. What did the guard say, by the way? Did he report any attempt to get at the safe?”’ Pendelton did not answer. He had not examined the guard, but from Cutter’s man- ner he knew it would be useless. In some way he must have passed the sentry unob- served; perhaps he had found him asleep, or entered through one of the rear windows which he had left open for the purpose. And for the first time he realized that Cutter intended to charge him with the theft. He paced the sands nervously for a mo- ment. Then he halted in front of the older man. “Tf you don’t return it I’ll kill you, so sure as there’s a God in heaven!”’ Cutter smiled imperturbably. ‘All right, if you want to swing instead of spending about ten years in Bilibid, kill me. And to be frank, I shouldn’t care very ~ much. I’m sick of things. Pot me if you like. That would certainly cover your name with a blaze of glory—a murderer as well as a thief.” Pendelton stared at his tormentor in- credulously. Then he cleared his throat huskily. “Well, what are you proposing to do?” he asked. The major’s manner changed; he dropped his role of indifference for one of friendliness. ‘‘Ah, that’s more like it! Now we are down to brass tacks, and can talk sensibly. You say you are a thousand pesos short— never mind how. I think I could dig up that amount somewhere, and I might be willing to—on conditions—as a contribu- tion toward that expedition we were dis- cussing last night, for example. I confess I should hate to see you in Bilibid. ‘“‘And by the way, I hope you won’t feel called upon to report your shortage to me officially. If you do I shall have to investi- gate it, and, from what you have told me, I suspect it would result in your arrest on a charge of theft. No—”he raised his hand CoOMmicboooks nn (©