The Argosy, March 1907 — page 35: what you’re looking at

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

THE PLACE, THE TIME, AND THE MAN. upon Nebo, there was spread out to his vision a glimpse of his promised land. ‘He had been led by Spear directly through the mountain, and yonder lay the objective point toward which all his engineering efforts had been directed— Melton and the spur of the South- eastern! CHAPTER XII. UNDER COVER. ALTON STEARNS Sat in his office, a care- worn and troubled look upon his face. On the desk before him lay that morn- ing’s newspaper, containing a head-lined account of the mysterious disappearance of the young engineer, and beside it lay a telegram from President Judson giving fuller details of the affair; but in neither was to be found any reasonable solution of the mystery. *“ Tt is inexplicable,” muttered Stearns. “If there was a conspiracy on foot to get rid of Davis, as Judson intimates, his body would have been found, or else the men who set out to look for him that night would have discovered some traces of a struggle. Gardiner was not the kind of fellow to submit with- out a fight, no matter how much he might have been overmatched by the number of his assailants. “ Yet,” perplexedly, “all that we can learn is that the man was left upon the bridge by the workmen and seen no more. For all evidence to the contrary, he might have been snatched up in a balloon and carried off by his enemies through the air.”’ Stearns, it will be seen, had not been informed that the hand-car left for Davis was also missing; and strangely enough none of the people on the ground had noted that salient fact, either. Yet, it was not so strange, after all, when one comes to know that the crew of that particular car were members of the ‘“ Mollies,” and that it had been aban- doned by them with the reasonable expectation that Davis would see fit to use it. They had, of course, to report its loss, but all of them swore to the section- boss that they had duly returned upon it, and that it must have been stolen out of the tool-house at Berkely during the %? 607 night. was not connected in any way with the fate of Davis. “Well,” muttered the banker, at last, concluding his consideration of the mat- ter with a sigh, ‘this practically set- tles the destiny of the Spring Creek company, at any rate. I did not know how much I had been banking on Gardi- ner’s success until now that my hopes are all knocked in the head. I suppose there is nothing left for us to do ze He was interrupted by the appearance of a messenger-boy, who produced a note from the recesses of his cap, and hand- ing it over, stood waiting for the an-’ swer. Stearns tore open the envelope and unfolded the sheet in perfunctory fash- ion; but with the first glance at the con- tents he gave a quick start of amazement and hurriedly reached into a pigeonhole of his desk for his secret code-book. The note was written in cipher, and was in the handwriting of Gardiner Davis. “No reply,” Stearns curtly informed the boy when he “had completed his -translation. Stuffing the note into his pocket, he grabbed up his hat and coat, and left the office at such speed that he was down the elevator before the more leisurely. messenger had reached the corridor. The note had merely requested Stearns to call as soon as convenient at a cer- tain obscure hotel over near one of the West Side ferries, asking on his arrival for Gerald Dalton; but under ‘the cir- cumstances it was only natural that the banker should waste no time in respond- ing to the summons. When he finally entered the tawdry little room in the hotel, however, he found still other surprises in store for him. Not only was Davis there to greet him, but stretched out upon the bed lay a tall mountaineer, his head a mass of bandages, and his wrists securely locked in a pair of steel handcuffs. Gardiner, also showing traces of a desperate struggle, pale and unshaven, arose and extended his left hand in wel- come to the visitor. “You are wondering at my ‘choice of a roommate?” he smiled, following Stearns’s curious glance toward the bed. Gomichboo Consequently, its disappearance — S.€O