THE CHALLENGE
"What do you think about this?" Harrington Chase growled as his partner
entered the private office the next morning. "Somebody's getting after
us good and plenty!"
"Let them come!" Starr Wiley shrugged. "We're on the right side of the
fence now, nobody can touch us. Anything from Cranmore?"
"Yes. Whoever it is that is trying to get a line on us isn't
overlooking any bets. Our men have been keeping me posted on the
inquiries up here, and they've got the dope so straight that it's my
opinion they have reached one of the inside staff." His tones lowered
and he glanced significantly toward the ground-glass partition which
separated them from the small army of clerks in the outer office. "It
doesn't matter, of course, but it would be just as well for the future
to know if we have an enemy in camp.--Now, Cranmore wires me in code
from Limasito that someone down there is mightily interested in our
titles and leases and particularly in what new fields we're opening up.
I tell you, if you don't get in touch with that old woman soon,
somebody will beat us to it as sure as you're alive."
"I have got a line on her." Wiley paused to light a cigar. "I told
you I suspected she'd been brought up here, and I've verified it. I
know where she and that hunchbacked kid were living two days ago.
They've cleared out, but I've put a couple of men on the party that
will lead us straight to her. I'd like to know, though, who is so
devilishly interested in our affairs."
"It is Larkin's outfit, of course. That young engineer they've got
down there has spudded in the Consuegra, that you passed up, and it's
producing seven hundred and fifty barrels a day as a starter."
Wiley thrust out his jaw.
"That's all right. I know Larkin's man; Kearn Thode, his name is. I
met him before out in Oklahoma, and I've no use for him. He's had
little use for me, either, and between you and me, he's got less now
than ever before, only he doesn't know it!" He laughed shortly. "You
might be surprised to know that Larkin himself was after the Lost
Souls."
"What?" Chase swirled about in his chair to face his partner.
"Fact. I don't know how he got wind of it, but as soon as Thode showed
up and began nosing about I knew what his game was."
"No wonder they're butting in on our affairs! We'll have to do some
quick work----"
Wiley laughed again.
"No fear of trouble from Thode. I beat him to it and spiked his guns
at the same time. He's given it up as a bad job; that's why he tackled
the Consuegra. Wait till we pull off the big noise and he'll be
welcome to all the jitney gushers below the border."
"When we do," Harrington Chase observed with emphasis. "We'll have to
get hold of the old dame first."
"We'll land her." Wiley smote his desk. "There isn't a woman living,
young or old, who can cut the ground out from under my feet!"
But a distinct shock awaited him when he entered the club that evening,
in the attitude of his erstwhile ally, Vernon Halstead. He had
difficulty in locating the young man at first; a survey of his usual
haunts, the bar and card-rooms, failed to disclose him, but Wiley ran
him to earth finally in the library, deep in a bulky and
serious-looking volume.
"Improving your mind?" he sneered.
Vernon raised his eyes serenely.
"Never too late to learn, is it?" he observed. "I've found out a lot
in the last day or two."
"You mean--?" Wiley dropped into a chair beside him. "Any new
developments? Did she go out alone to-day?"
"My cousin?" Vernon closed his book, and rose. "I haven't the least
idea, I assure you. I ran out to Mineola myself, with an aviator chap
I know."
He had paused, looking down at his interrogator, and at the expression
in his eyes the latter half rose also, then sank back.
"And just what am I to infer?" Wiley spoke through set teeth.
"Anything you like, my dear fellow. Help yourself."
"Ah! You're going to renege, are you? You're prepared to take the
consequences?"
"You've guessed it." Vernon nodded. "I'm off the dirty work, Starr.
You'll have to do your own sleuthing in future."
"You realize what it means? I've never bluffed in my life, Vernon, and
I'll push this thing to the limit!"
"Go as far as you like." Vernon waved his hand airily. Then his
expression hardened. "But whatever happens, leave my cousin out of
your future plans. Do you understand? Play your game with men if you
like, but leave the women of my family alone."
"Indeed?" This time Wiley rose, and the two looked levelly into each
other's eyes. "When you go up for forgery you won't be in a position
to interfere with any game I choose to play. I've told you this was a
straight business proposition, Vernon, there is no use getting
melodramatic about it. I've taken a lot of insolence from you, and I'm
prepared to teach you a lesson."
"And I am always willing to learn, my dear Starr. It's up to you." He
bowed formally, and, turning on his heel, left the room.
For a time Wiley communed with himself. The worm had turned, with a
vengeance, and the maneuver was beyond his comprehension. In spite of
his declaration anent a bluff, he was not prepared to push the matter
of the check to the end he had threatened. A scandal was farthest from
his desire and other considerations were involved; his matrimonial
ambitions not the least of them, if he antagonized the Halstead family.
Then, too, what could have been back of Vernon's sudden independence?
Was it an idle bluff, or had the young scamp managed in some way to
protect himself?
The conclusion of his cogitations led him to the telephone and a half
hour later found him confronting Mason North in the latter's home, much
as Willa had done on the previous night.
"Sorry to have disturbed you, Mr. North, but this is a strictly
confidential matter, and rather urgent. I have your assurance that it
will go no farther?"
"Certainly!" Mason North was suspiciously affable. "Take a seat and
try one of these cigars. They're made especially for me in Porto Rico
and I know you to be a connoisseur. You were saying----?"
"I have a check in my possession signed presumably by you." Wiley
chose his words with evident care. "It was made payable to bearer and
of course I do not know whether it changed hands or not before reaching
me. I wish to insinuate nothing, but I should like your assurance that
the signature is genuine before depositing it."
"You have it with you?" the attorney asked crisply.
Wiley nodded, and, taking an oblong slip of paper from his bill-case,
he presented it for the older man's inspection.
"Um! Four thousand dollars, eh? The signature looks all right to me,
but I don't quite recall making it out. I have my old stubs here in
the desk, and if you will wait I'll look it up."
Secure in the outcome, Wiley was more than willing to wait. He sat
with a half smile on his face, puffing at his fragrant cigar and
formulating his next move, when the storm should break.
But the other's voice cut short his pleasant reflections and the words
themselves brought him up standing.
"Yes. Here we are! I gave that check to young Halstead. It is quite
correct; 'four thousand'. Little matter of an inheritance. I--I trust
he hasn't been speculating, but I suppose I must not ask, eh? Sad
young dog, Vernon!"
"It was a business transaction of rather a private nature, but I can
assure you that Vernon was not a loser by it." Wiley's tone was quiet,
but he had gone white to the lips "I would not have doubted the
signature, except for the fact that I thought it an unusually large sum
to be payable to bearer, and, as I said, I did not know to whom it had
been issued originally. I am sorry to have troubled you."
He took his leave amid the other's cordial protestations, with outward
composure, but his expression changed savagely as he descended the
steps of the house and started up the Avenue.
The attorney's attitude had not deceived him for a moment. Someone had
checkmated him, that was plain; had disclosed the truth and persuaded
North to shield Vernon. Could that young man have confessed
voluntarily and thrown himself on the attorney's mercy rather than play
the game? But such a step would have involved courage of a sort, and
he was sure Vernon did not possess enough of that commodity to carry
him so far. Someone must have interceded for him--but who?
Then an inspiration came and under its goad Wiley almost cursed aloud.
That girl, again! He recalled Vernon's swift, unaccountable
championship of his cousin at the club an hour before. That was the
answer, of course! The young cub had double-crossed him and placed
himself in Willa's hands--and incidentally landed his erstwhile tyrant
in the same position.
So be it. He would carry the game into the enemy's camp and then, if
necessary, arbitrate. Wiley had fought many duels with the fair sex,
but never a financial one before, and the prospect was not without an
element of sport. She had outwitted him at the start and borne off the
spoils, but he would wrest them from her, and tame her into the bargain.
The morning dawned clear and crisply cold, and Willa started upon her
early gallop in the Park with every nerve a-tingle and the blood racing
in her veins. Her perplexities were forgotten, her slow, waiting game
put aside and she gave herself up joyously to the influences of the
hour. After all, it was good to be alive!
Her mount was fresh, but she rode him hard until she had taken the edge
off his spirits and he was willing enough to drop into the easy, loping
canter for which she had originally chosen him from her cousins' stable.
Her clear, pale cheeks bore an unwonted flush and her eyes were dancing
when she came face to face with Starr Wiley around a bend in the bridle
path. Willa would have passed him with a gay little nod, but he reined
in his horse and, wheeling, fell into pace beside her.
"May I take the trail for a little way with you?" he asked. "Glorious
morning, isn't it?"
"Yes." She smiled, but the brightness had fled from her face and her
eyes narrowed as she gave him a side-long glance. "I didn't know you
were given to an appreciation of them, though. What brings you out so
early?"
"Do you want a confession? It was with the hope of meeting you that I
came. One can see you alone so seldom in these crowded days, and I
want to grasp every opportunity. Can you blame me?"
"Your judgment, perhaps. My cousin is a far more attractive spectacle
than I, Mr. Wiley."
"Still unkind!" he exclaimed ruefully. "I have told you, I have
explained and you will not believe me? Willa, you cannot have
forgotten the other evening, you know what I feel toward you. You
permitted me to tell you and you said that at least I might hope.
Don't taunt me, dear! It's scarcely fair, is it?"
"I gave you no assurance, Mr. Wiley." Her eyes opened very wide upon
him. "You were well supplied with that. I was careful not to commit
myself in any way, if you remember. You were in my cousin's house and
I listened to learn just how far your effrontery would carry you. It
was scarcely an open game, I admit, but it was your deal and you
weren't playing exactly fair yourself, were you?"
"I was sincere." His voice shook, but not with tenderness. "You led
me on; you played with me from the first!"
"On the contrary, I refused to play with you at all, but you would not
be convinced. Let us understand each other, Mr. Wiley. Your
protestations are distasteful to me, and there is no longer need of
pretense between us. I will be civil when occasion requires, but
friendship between us would be an impossibility, and I beg that you
will not force me to be more rude to you than you have made necessary
now."
"So," he remarked quietly. "We have done with pretense, have we? I
will meet your frankness, then. I have offered you all that a man can
offer a woman in devotion, but you have thrust it from you. Now I have
another kind of a proposition to discuss with you, and I am prepared to
offer terms. I want to know where you have secreted Tia Juana; I want
an interview with her. If she, of her own volition, refers me to you
as I anticipate and gives you power of attorney to act for her, we can
perhaps come to an agreement which will be to our mutual advantage."
"That sounds interesting," Willa remarked. "What makes you think I
know where Tia Juana is?"
"I thought we had done with pretense?" he reminded her. "I know of the
little house on the Parkway, and the beautiful rich young lady who
hired it and installed the fierce old Spanish woman and the hunchback
there. I know, too, of their hasty departure, and all that happened
before in Mexico. You played a very shrewd game, my dear Miss
Murdaugh, but your disinterested charity toward Tia Juana is open to
question; a legal question, perhaps, if it comes to that, involving
undue influence and a dummy title."
"Assuming that I know what you are talking about, don't you think you
are taking a great deal for granted?" asked Willa. "I do not admit
that I know where Tia Juana is, but in the event that you discover her,
what assurance have you that she will receive you? There is a strain
of Indian in her blood as well as Spanish. She does not forget, and do
you think your treatment of José would inspire her with any confidence
in your good faith or with any desire to deal with you except in
retribution?"
"Nevertheless, she is the principal I intend to interview. You give me
no credentials as her authorized agent, and whether she cares to deal
with me or not is a matter I mean to put to the test. It lies between
her and me, and I fancy I shall have no difficulty in opening her eyes
to much that will be to her advantage, to which she has been kept
heretofore in the dark."
"Would you, if you could? I doubt it. However, by all means make your
proposition to her when you have found her, Mr. Wiley. That's the
first thing, isn't it? You can't hazard your bet until you have picked
your number, can you?" Whimsically, she imitated the croupier's
sing-song whine "Make your play, gentlemen! The wheel is about to
spin!"
"You vixen!" he muttered wrathfully. Then he controlled himself with
an almost visible effort and half turned in his saddle. "Will you
permit me to give you a bit of purely disinterested advice? Don't go
in for the financial game on your own; you are bound to lose. In your
proper sphere you are invincible, but it is a social one. When you pit
yourself against men in a contest for financial supremacy your chief
weapon, that of sex, is turned against you. Make no mistake! I shall
find Tia Juana, I shall obtain her order to treat with you, and you
will come to an agreement with me on my own terms. You cannot afford
to reject them if you would. You have not the slightest inkling of
their nature now, that is a card I am holding in reserve, but when you
learn what an indemnity you will be called upon to pay in the event of
a refusal, you will jump at the bargain, my dear Billie."
He uttered the old name deliberately, and she flushed.
"I am Willa Murdaugh, if you don't mind."
"Are you?" he asked significantly. "The clock struck twelve for
another Cinderella, you may remember, and all the jewels and gorgeous
apparel disappeared, as well as the pumpkin coach. I doubt if there
would be a fallen slipper or a fairy prince to put it on again if the
old story came to be rewritten to-day."
"What do you mean?" Willa turned to him, startled in spite of herself.
He shrugged.
"I will tell you when the time comes to drive our bargain, and I have
an idea that it will not be deferred long. You cannot conceal Tia
Juana indefinitely, and I shall have more able tools to aid me in my
search than the one you so cleverly removed a day or two ago."
"I?" Willa's tone was mechanical, her thoughts centered on his implied
threat and what it might portend. "What tool?"
"Vernon," he responded tersely. "He is to be congratulated on his
fortunate choice of a confidante. When he told you of our visit to the
empty house, close on your heels----"
"You weren't; you were just over my head!" she retorted. "Vernon told
me nothing. It was unnecessary, because I heard it all. I scarcely
listened, though, for it reminded me so forcibly of another secret
interview of yours that my mind wandered. It was a much more
significant occasion, Mr. Wiley, with results so far-reaching that they
have not yet culminated."
"Indeed?" He frowned. "I must confess I don't recall----"
"It was an interview at night, out in the open, beneath the stars!"
Her voice trembled with sudden passion. "It took place near a garage,
and you did not know a listener crouched in the shrubbery. The man you
met and bargained with there was Juan de Soria, agent of El Negrito,
and the next night El Negrito himself came down from the hills! What
price did you pay for that raid, Mr. Wiley; that raid which was to
force United States intervention and protection of the leases of its
citizens, yours in particular?"
"You are mad!" he cried hoarsely, but she would not be silenced.
"What did you pay in pesos for that slaughter? What will you yet be
called upon to pay in vengeance by those who were spared? Don't be too
confident of success in your bargaining, Mr. Wiley, until the final
reckoning!"
For a moment there was silence, then with an obvious effort he laughed
harshly.
"You are disposed to be highly melodramatic, my dear Billie, but
unfortunately your attitude is without justification. No such
interview as you describe took place. I suppose it is useless for me
to assure you of this, but it must have existed solely in the
imagination of your informant--if you had such an informant! I will
leave you now, but I beg that you will reflect upon the bargain I have
offered you. Wild accusations will not serve to turn the point at
issue, and for your own sake I advise you to think well. Au revoir!"
He bent to the saddle in a mocking obeisance and his horse leaped
forward beneath the touch of the spurs.
Willa watched until he had disappeared between the leafless trees, then
slowly moved off down a side-path.
She had warned him now. Her cards were on the table and he knew the
strength of the hand she held against him. But what of his own? To
what length would he, could he go in the contest which from that moment
would be to the death between them? What did his vague threat mean?