THE BLACK BOX
Roger was awakened the next morning by the sound of Dick uncrating the
new pump. He rose at once feeling quite himself. He had his belated
breakfast alone, with Charley hovering in attendance.
"Ernest and Gustav are down at the old camp as usual," she reported.
"What are you going to do to-day, Roger?"
"I want to go through Von Minden's papers. If I'd done a thorough job on
that in the beginning, all the trouble might have been obviated."
"I don't know about that," said Charley. "It couldn't have been foreseen
that Ernest would get in touch with Werner."
"Will you help me?" asked Roger. "I want to get through before Werner
comes."
"Are you feeling fairly calm for the interview, dear?" Charley smoothed
Roger's hair back, caressingly.
"Calm!" Roger suddenly caught the girl to him in a passionate embrace.
"Calm! I don't want to be calm when I think of you and all you are to
me. Oh, my darling, my darling!"
With Dick and Elsa's help, the Von Minden papers had been thoroughly
gone over by mid-afternoon.
It was well on toward four o'clock before Ernest appeared with his
unwelcome guest. Dick had descried a dust-cloud on the Archer's Springs
trail about three o'clock and they all had seen a buckboard with two
figures in it drive into the Sun Camp.
"Werner must have come," said Roger, only half succeeding in keeping his
voice casual.
Dick nodded. "Hackett was telling me that he'd finally made up his mind
to get a tin Lizzy. These old-time cowboys do certainly hate to give up
their horses, don't they? But when the Chinaman said that he was going
to buy a jitney for the miners, poor Hackett had to give in. Of course,
he'll still have to use his horses and the pack-train for mountain
work."
Roger grunted absentmindedly and stored Von Minden's box in the kitchen,
as Hackett drove Werner and Ernest up to the corral.
Herr Werner, badly sunburned and dusty, seemed unfeignedly glad to have
reached the ranch. He greeted Elsa and Charley effusively, shook hands
with Dick and showed Roger a mixture of cordiality and deference in
manner that was irreproachable.
Left alone in the living room with Roger and Ernest, he came to the
point at once:
"Wolf tells me, Mr. Moore, that you have been much angered at his
selling the solar device to me."
"I certainly have been and I haven't the least idea of letting the thing
go through," replied Roger. "A considerable part of the money you
advanced has been spent but I shall spend no more of it and my friend
Preble can arrange a loan that will cover what has been spent."
"You know, of course," Werner took an audible sip of lemonade, "that a
bargain is a bargain and that the contract Wolf signed is binding."
"Ordinarily, yes," said Roger, "but I have an idea that before I'm
through with you, you'll be glad to let go."
"For heaven's sake, Roger!" cried Ernest irritably, throwing his
cigarette in the fireplace, and taking a quick turn up and down the
room, "don't start a row."
"If you mean not to lose my temper, I can promise that," returned Roger,
"but Germany can never have my solar apparatus."
"How're you going to help yourself?" asked Ernest, with an ugly edge to
his voice.
"There are ways! Mr. Werner, Von Minden was a part of Germany's great
system, was he not, for exploiting America? He was one of your agents
and his job was to outline the desert empire Germany plans to take over.
But being German, like Ernest's father who never will take the human
element into consideration, you didn't count on the desert's sending
your poor tool crazy, so he blabbed. Gustav is your watch-dog and spy,
keeping you in touch at present with all my doings. Your own activities,
outside of these minor ones, I imagine, center round the banking and
educational interests of America. You've seen to it that our high
schools and universities produce students that admire Germany. I must
say that you have been highly successful up to now. But the superman
stuff is a bit thick, Mr. Werner. It makes our American gorge rise in
our throats."
Roger fingered his cold pipe, swallowed several times, looked out the
open door where he could see Charley at the bars, rubbing Peter's head,
then went on:
"What you've done to Ernest is obvious. He's the sweetest tempered, most
easily influenced chap in the world. You caught him in New York after
he'd failed with the Smithsonian--probably after some spy in the
Smithsonian had put you wise, and fed him up with the superman idea and
he, poor mut, fell for it."
"Roger!" shouted Ernest. "You can't talk about me as if I were
feeble-minded."
"But hang it, Ern, you have been!" exclaimed Roger. Then, with a little
break in his voice, "I tell you, you've been thinking and speaking
treason and I won't have it! I won't have it!"
"Come! Come! Mr. Moore!" said Werner; "supposing what you've surmised
should turn out to be true. Might is right in this world."
"You can't draw me into a discussion of ethics, Mr. Werner. Ernest and
I'll have that out afterward. I'm just telling you this, that Germany
can't have my solar device and it can't have Ernest. There's enough
evidence in that tin dispatch box of Von Minden's, Mr. Werner, almost to
persuade Congress to declare war on your super-fatherland. There's
enough evidence in that box to make headlines in every American paper
for a month. What it would do to pro-German sentiment in this country is
a caution."
Werner's sunburned face went purple. "Gott im Himmel!" he roared. "Did
the fool keep my letters?"
"No, but he copied them into his journal, with all sorts of other data
of vital interest to the American public. We had a very pleasant morning
reading his journal. My great regret is that I've so neglected that
document box."
With surprising quickness for a stout man, Werner pulled a revolver from
his hip pocket, and pointed it at Roger.
"I want that box, Moore!" he roared.
Quick as a cat, Ernest crossed the room, and with a twist of Werner's
wrist disarmed him.
"None of that!" he said.
"Keep your shirt on, Mr. Werner!" said Roger. "You're going to need it,
take my word for that!"
Werner bit his nails for a moment. "Very well, sir. Give me back the box
and I'll turn back the contract."
"Not on your life! You turn back the contract and I'll give you a week
to get out of the country before I turn the box over to the Department
of Justice. Just one week, mind you, no more!"
"Look here, Rog, you can't do that! It would be a dirty trick! Why, it's
blackmail!" Ernest dropped the revolver on the table with a thud.
"Good God, Ernest! Blackmail! Toward a man who is a spy--a man who plots
against the physical and moral fiber of your country! Blackmail! Come
out of your trance. There are some things that can't be done, Ern!
Life's full of forbidden trails. My temper was one of them and poor old
Dick's drinking was another. And the one most impossible of all for a
real man to take is the one you're headed toward--a real man can't be
renegade to his country."
Werner, chewing nervously at his thumb knuckle, eyed Roger blackly. Then
he turned abruptly to Ernest.
"And you!" he roared. "A fine German you are, you milk sop! A beautiful
muddle you've made of this. Von Minden's letters here for months and
what use have they come to? There'd have been an Iron Cross in this for
you, had you shown sense."
Ernest gave a sudden short laugh. "An Iron Cross would have been a
wonderful reward for breaking up a man's life friendship. An Iron Cross!
My word! Where's your sense of humor, Werner?"
"Come, Werner, the contract!" urged Roger.
"Damn you!" shrieked the German, jerking a heavy envelope from his inner
pocket and throwing it in Roger's face. Roger caught it and after
examining the contents, put it into his own pocket with a nod.
"Now, Mr. Werner," he said, "if you'll just annex Gustav, and plan to
leave at sun down, Hackett will drive you in with Preble's team. I hate
to lose Gustav. He was born to be a white man, poor devil."
Werner cleared his throat and spoke sneeringly: "And how do I know
you'll live up to your bargain, Moore?"
"Oh, I'm an American! I promise to hold the papers a week and a promise
isn't a scrap of paper in America. After the week's up, you won't enjoy
the climate, I can assure you of that. I'll send you a check for the
amount I've spent, next week, with the amount still untouched."
"Roger!" shouted Ernest, "Don't be a fool! It's the chance of your life
you're throwing down!"
"Come with me, Wolf," cried Werner, "Come with me! I'll give you
opportunities that you never dreamed of. You don't belong to this nation
of thick-headed numb-skulls. You're a German. You know all that Moore
knows about using solar heat. Come and help the Vaterland. Let this man
rot. Bah! He belongs to a nation of swine!"
There was silence in the adobe living room. Roger's face turned a slow
purple and sweat stood on his forehead. But by a supreme effort he kept
his clenched fists in his pockets and his eyes riveted on Ernest's.
"Choose, Ernest," he said, suddenly.
Ernest seemed scarcely to hear him. The sullenness that his face had
worn constantly for many days changed slowly to a look of anger that
distorted his features until his expression was demoniacal.
He clutched the revolver and leaned across the table with a hoarse
whisper:
"By God, if you insult America again, I'll shoot you! It's one thing to
admire Germany. It's another to sling mud at America."
"What, you too, you hybrid!" shrieked Werner. "You play Germany into the
hands of this swine; this monkey-headed inventor; this letter thief,
this----"
With an inarticulate roar, Ernest pulled the trigger just as Roger
knocked the revolver upward. The bullet lodged in the ceiling. But
Werner had had enough. While Roger clung to the roaring Ernest, he
rushed down the trail to the corral, where Hackett began at once to
hitch Dick's team to the buckboard.
"Let go of me, Roger! Let me get at him!" howled Ernest.
Dick came running up the trail. "It's all right, Dick, don't bother!"
called Roger. "Leave us alone a little while longer. What's the matter,
Ernest? Be quiet, man! Let's talk like men and not row like a couple of
dogs."
Roger eased Ernest into a chair and Ernest ceased to struggle, but
stared at Roger gloomily.
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" he asked sullenly.
"I'm going to make you see the error of your ways." Roger smiled grimly.
"Use your common sense, Ernest. What could Germany give you, except
money? All your life ties are here."
"Wonderful ties!" sneered Ernest. "Charley has turned me down, my father
has turned me out and you've beaten me up."
Roger concealed a grin. "Poor old chap!" he murmured. "So a woman's at
the bottom of it all, eh?"
"I don't know why her refusing me affected me so," said Ernest, as if to
himself. "But I felt as if nothing mattered. And then to have the Sun
Plant a failure and my father's attitude! O pshaw, what's the use? Let
me alone, Roger. I'm going to pack up and get out of here."
"Ernest," said Roger, "if you don't stay by while we straighten this
out, I'll never get over it and no more will you. We've loved each other
too long, Ern. Our lives have become interwoven. If we break now we'll
go lame all our days. You know that, don't you, old man? You folks have
all done so much for me. I've got to keep your friendship in order to
pay up some of my indebtedness, eh, Ernie?"
Ernest drew a long breath and suddenly dropped his head into his hands
and burst into tears.
"And now I'm crying!" he said. "Now I'm crying! There's no limit to my
weakness."
Roger, still with a little twisted grin, lighted a cigarette. "A peach
of a superman you are, eh, Ern?"
Ernest did not answer and Roger walked up and down the room, waiting.
Finally Ernest lifted his flushed face and took the cigarette which
Roger offered him, and began to speak, rapidly:
"I was desperate, after the Smithsonian turned me down. Seems that they
didn't like the look of things Austin did and that's why they dropped
you. Werner looked me up. I found out later that Gustav had kept him
informed, and that Werner had got Austin just as they got me. I honestly
thought I was doing a great thing for you and the world, Rog. Werner
showed me a list of names of people in this country that're helping
Germany that would make your eyes start. And he was always praising
America."
"Ernest, has Werner any drawings of the plant?" asked Roger.
"No, he hasn't."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, because that's the first thing he asked me for, this afternoon.
All our stuff that Austin had, his widow burned with his other papers.
She said he told her to if anything happened to him. And you know I
brought yours back, as I promised. What Gustav may have sent him I don't
know, but evidently not satisfactory drawings or he wouldn't have been
so keen to get more!"
"I wonder about the new engine," mused Roger. "Well, I have little fear
of that. Gustav isn't enough of an engineer to guess what he doesn't
see. He couldn't make a drawing of the idea of that engine to save his
neck. And Dean Erskine's got the only plan I ever finished of it."
"I'm sure you're safe on that," insisted Ernest.
"I think I am," agreed Roger, "and now, Ernest, I want to know how I can
square up with you for my attack on you the other night."
Ernest looked up at Roger and the sullen look which even his tears had
not washed out lifted a little.
"You mean--?" he asked.
"I mean that I had no business attacking you as I did. It was a rotten
trick and I'm ashamed and sorry. My temper has been a brutal thing and
you've always put up with it. If we can clear this thing up, I'm going
to do better by you, Ern."
There was a curious look in Ernest's beautiful eyes. "Do you know, I
hoped for twenty years you'd get to see yourself in that light," he
spoke thoughtfully. "What you've just said does away with any resentment
I may have had about your temper, Roger. As for the other thing--" He
paused.
"Ern, how could you do it?" asked Roger huskily.
"Before heaven, Roger, I did it solely for love of you. And you know I
was brought up on admiration of Germany. I honestly thought that we
could make you see it as I do. I've been seeing for days what a skunk
trick it must have looked to you, but this obstinate streak in me
wouldn't let me give up until Werner slanged America. Rog, I'll make it
up to you somehow so you'll trust me again! See if I don't!"
"I'll trust you fast enough, old man, if you'll assure me that you're
through with this superman stuff. Are you an American or a German,
Ern?"
With a smile of extraordinary sweetness, Ernest put a hand on Roger's
shoulder and said in a voice of utter sincerity, "I'm whatever you are,
Roger. Thy country shall be my country and thy God, my God. After all,
what is a man's country but the place of his loves and his friendships?
And America has all of mine, Roger, all of mine."
The two men stood in silence after this until Roger said, brokenly,
"Thank you, Ernest, you've made a new man of me."
"And now," said Ernest, briskly, "being considerably worse in debt than
ever, the question before the house is whom do we do next?"
"I don't know! I swear I don't," Roger sighed, as he took one of
Ernest's cigarettes.
Ernest gave a scornful laugh. "He doesn't know! the poor little woolly
lamb! He doesn't know! with a plant such as is now established in the
Prebles' backyard! Why, man, I could sell that to an Egyptian mummy."
Roger laughed and at the sound Dick called in through the open door,
"For the love of heaven, put us out of our misery! What's happened?
We've been sweating blood!"
Both men hurried out to the porch. Seated in a solemn row on the steps
were Charley, Dick and Elsa.
Ernest looked at Roger pleadingly. "You tell them, Rog. I want to attend
to something in the tent."
Roger sat down beside Charley and told the story. When it was finished,
Dick said, "Are you sure he's not German, Roger?"
"Certainly he's not any longer!" exclaimed Elsa. "The strongest thing in
Ernest's life is his love for Roger. He'll never give any woman what
he's given Roger. That love has saved Ernest and will keep him safe. Oh,
I'm so thankful! So thankful!"
"Don't cry, Elsa! I've had all the emotion I can stand in one day,"
cried Roger.
"I wouldn't waste a tear on either of you," returned Elsa, stoutly as
she wiped her eyes. "Come along, Dicky belovedest. You're the only one
who treats me with respect. I'm going to cook you the most perfect
biscuits ever invented for supper."
Ernest came into supper that night and after the first moment of
embarrassment, the meal resolved itself into a frank discussion of ways
and means, quite as if nothing had happened. Roger flatly refused to
take Dick's possible loan.
"You keep that for a rainy day fall back," he said. "You and Elsa aren't
going to have smooth sledding for a long time yet."
"How about you and Charley?" returned Dick. "Don't forget you've got a
woman to provide for now!"
"Thanks for reminding me," smiled Roger. "She's an extravagant minx too
and accustomed to luxury."
"Well, something will turn up, see if it doesn't," said Ernest. "In the
meantime, there's considerable work to be done before Roger can claim
that he's irrigating twenty-five acres of alfalfa. I'll guarantee that
something will turn up before he's able to do that."
"Looks to me as if I were going to cash in pretty heavily on this
business," said Dick. "Well, I'll supply you alfalfa for the rest of
your lives."
"Thank you for nothing," returned Charley, sweetly.