This is a fine hotel," observed Colonel Allen, beginning to mellow
under the mystic spell of a five-course dinner and a quart of Cliquot.
"Devilish fine hotel, Mr. Parks. All the divers moneys which I in my
official capacity have collected in taxes from the fertile county of
Gullmore, would scarcely pay for the rich embellishment of the barber
shop of this magnificent edifice."
"Well, Colonel," said the bald Parks, with a sad smile, "that would
depend upon the amount of the revenues of your county. I presume that
they are large, and consequently the office of sheriff a good one."
"Yes, sir," answered the Virginian, "it is generally considered
desirable from the standpoint of prominence. The climate of Gullmore is
salubrious. Its pasture lands are fertile, and its citizens cultured
and refined to a degree unusual even in the ancient and aristocratic
counties of the Old Dominion. And, sir,"--here the Colonel drew himself
up proudly, and thrust his hand into the breast of his coat,--"I am
proud, sir,--proud to declare that from time to time the good citizens
of Gullmore, by means of their suffrage, and with large and comfortable
majorities, have proclaimed me their favorite son and competent
official. Six years ago I was in the legislature at Charleston as the
trusted representative of this grand old county of Gullmore; and four
years ago, after the fiercest and most bitterly contested political
conflict of all the history of the South, I was elected to that most
important and honorable office of sheriff,--to the lasting glory of my
public fame, and the great gratification of the commonwealth."
"That gratification is now four years old?" mused Parks.
Colonel Moseby Allen darted a swift, suspicious glance at his
companion, but in a moment it was gone, and he had dropped back into his
grandiloquent discourse. "Yes, sir, the banner county of West Virginia,
deserting her ancient and sacred traditions, and forgetting for the time
the imperishable precepts of her patriotic fathers, has gone over to
affiliate with the ungodly. We were beaten, sir,--beaten in this
last engagement,--horse, foot, and dragoons,--beaten by a set of
carpet-baggers,--a set of unregenerate political tricksters of such
diabolical cunning that nothing but the gates of hell could have
prevailed against them. Now, sir, now,--and I say it mournfully, there
is nothing left to us in the county of Gullmore, save only honor."
"Honor," sneered Parks, "an imaginary rope to hold fools with! It wont
fill a hungry stomach, or satisfy a delinquent account." The little
clerk spoke the latter part of his sentence slowly and deliberately.
Again the suspicious expression passed over the face of Colonel Allen,
leaving traces of fear and anxiety in its wake. His eyes, naturally
a little crossed, drew in toward his nose, and the muscles around his
mouth grew hard. For a moment he was silent, looking down into his
glass; then, with an effort, he went on: "Yes, the whole shooting-match
is in the hands of the Philistines. From the members of the County Court
up to the important and responsible position which I have filled for the
last four years, and when my accounts are finally wound up, I----"
"Your accounts," murmured Parks, "when they are finally wound up, what
then?"
Every trace of color vanished from the Virginian's face, his heavy jaws
trembled, and he caught hold of the arms of the chair to steady himself.
Parks did not look up. He seemed deeply absorbed in studying the bottom
of his glass. For a moment Colonel Moseby Allen had been caught off his
guard, but it was only for a moment. He straightened up and underwent
a complete transformation. Then, bending forward, he said, speaking low
and distinctly: "Look here, my friend, you are the best guesser this
side of hell. Now, if you can pick a winning horse we will divide the
pool."
The two men were at a table in a corner of the Hoffman café, and, as it
chanced, alone in the room. Parks glanced around quickly, then he leaned
over and said: "That depends on just one thing, Colonel."
"Turn up the cards," growled the Virginian, shutting his teeth down
tight on his lip.
"Well," said Parks, "you must promise to stick to your rôle to the end,
if you commence with the play."
The southerner leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin
thoughtfully. Finally he dropped his hand and looked up. "All right," he
muttered; "I'll stand by the deal; throw out the cards."
Parks moved his chair nearer to the table and leaned over on his elbow.
"Colonel," he said, "there is only one living man who can set up a
successful counter-plot against fate, that is dead certain to win, and
that man is here in New York to-day. He is a great lawyer, and besides
being that, he is the greatest plotter since the days of Napoleon. Not
one of his clients ever saw the inside of a prison. He can show men how
to commit crimes in such a way that the law cannot touch them. No matter
how desperate the position may be, he can always show the man who is in
it a way by which he can get out. There is no case so hopeless that he
cannot manage it. If money is needed, he can show you how to get it--a
plain, practical way, by which you can get what you need and as much as
you need. He has a great mind, but he is strangely queer and erratic,
and must be approached with extreme care, and only in a certain way.
This man," continued the little clerk, lowering his voice, "is named
Randolph Mason. You must go to him and explain the whole matter, and you
must do it just in the way I tell you."
Again the Virginian whistled softly. "My friend," he said, "there is
a little too much mystery about this matter. I am not afraid of you,
because you are a rascal; no one ever had a face like you that was not
a rascal. You will stick to me because you are out for the stuff, and
there is no possible way to make a dollar by throwing the game. I am
not afraid of any living man, if I have an opportunity to see his face
before the bluff is made. You are all right; your game is to use me in
making some haul that is a little too high for yourself. That is what
you have been working up to, and you are a smooth operator, my friend. A
greenhorn would have concluded long ago that you were a detective, but
I knew a blamed sight better than that the moment you made your first
lead. In the first place, you are too sharp to waste your time with any
such bosh, and in the second place, it takes cash to buy detectives,
and there is nobody following me with cash. Gullmore county has no kick
coming to it until my final settlements are made, and there is no man
treading shoe leather that knows anything about the condition of my
official business except myself, and perhaps also that shrewd and
mysterious guesser--yourself. So, you see, I am not standing on
ceremonies with you. But here, young man, comes in a dark horse, and you
want me to bet on him blindfolded. Those are not the methods of Moseby
Allen. I must be let in a little deeper on this thing."
"All I want you to do," said Parks, putting his hand confidentially
on the Virginian's arm, "is simply to go and see Randolph Mason, and
ap-proach him in the way I tell you, and when you have done that, I will
wager that you stay and explain everything to him."
Colonel Allen leaned back in his chair and thrust his hands into his
pockets. "Why should I do that?" he said curtly.
"Well," murmured the little man mournfully, "one's bondsmen are entitled
to some consideration; and then, there is the penitentiary. Courts have
a way of sending men there for embezzlement."
"You are correct," said Allen, quietly, "and I have not time to go."
"At any rate," continued Parks, "there can be no possible danger to you.
You are taking no chances. Mr. Mason is a member of the New York bar,
and anything you may tell him he dare not reveal. The law would not
permit him to do so if he desired. The whole matter would be kept as
thoroughly inviolate as though it were made in the confessional. Your
objections are all idle. You are a man in a desperate position. You are
up to your waist in the quicksand, now, and, at the end of the year, it
is bound to close over your head. It is folly to look up at the sky and
attempt to ignore this fact. I offer to help you--not from any goodness
of heart, understand, but because we can both make a stake in this
thing. I need money, and you must have money,--that is the whole thing
in a nutshell. Now," said Parks, rising from his chair, "what are you
going to do?"
"Well," said the Virginian, drawing up his long legs and spreading out
his fat hands on the table, "_Colonel Moseby Allen, of the county of
Gullmore, will take five cards, if you please_."