The Governors Part 16

Weiss' offices were crowded when Littleson returned. There was excitement upon 'Change, clerks were rus.h.i.+ng about, telephones were ringing. Weiss himself, with his coat off, stood in the midst of it all, giving orders, answering the telephone, exchanging a few hurried words with numberless callers. He had a big unlit cigar in his mouth, which he was constantly chewing. He pushed Littleson into his private office, but he did not follow him for some time. When at last he came in, the uproar outside was declining. It was five o'clock, and business was over for the day. Weiss went to a small cupboard and took out a whisky bottle and some gla.s.ses. Before he spoke a word he had tossed off a drink.

"Big day?" Littleson asked, mechanically.

"The devil's own day!" Weiss groaned. "We are in it now thick, all of us, you and I, Higgins and Bardsley. Do you know that every minute of the time Phineas Duge was supposed to be lying on his back, he was buying on the Chicago market?"

"I am not surprised," Littleson answered. "It seems to me we ought to be able to hold our own, though."

"We may," Weiss answered, "but it's a big thing. Even if we come out safe, we shall come out losers. Well, did you see the girl?"

Littleson nodded.

"I saw her," he answered drily. "I fancy things are not moving our way particularly just now, Weiss."

"She has not the paper after all?" Weiss exclaimed.

"She has had it and parted with it," Littleson answered.

Weiss removed his unlit cigar from his mouth, and drew a little breath.

"You d----d fool!" he said. "You bungled things, then?"

"I scarcely see where the bungling comes in," Littleson answered. "I offered her a hundred thousand dollars for that paper. She took the tip and got it somehow. How could I tell that she had another scheme in her mind?"

"One hundred thousand dollars!" Weiss muttered. "Better have offered her a million and made sure of it. We shall have to pay that now, I expect.

Who's got it?"

"She would not tell me," Littleson answered.

Weiss felt his forehead. It was wringing wet. He went to the cupboard, poured out another drink, and lit his cigar.

"Did she give you any idea?" he asked.

"None at all!" Littleson answered. "Some one seems to have outbid us. I only know that it was not Phineas."

Weiss leaned back in his chair.

"It just shows," he said under his breath, "what fools the shrewdest of us can be sometimes. There were you and I, and Higgins and Bardsley, four men who have held our own, and more than held our own, in the innermost circle of this thieves' kitchen. And yet, when Phineas Duge sprung that thing upon us, and we saw the thunderbolt coming, we were like frightened sheep, glad to do anything he suggested, glad to sign our names even to that d----d paper. Do you realize, Littleson, that we may have to leave the country?"

"If we do," he answered, "we are done for--I am at least. I am in Canadian Pacifics too deep. If I cannot keep the ball rolling here, I can never pull through."

"It all depends," Weiss said, "into whose hands that paper has gone. A week's grace is all I want, time enough to fight this thing out with Duge."

"Has he been near you?" Littleson asked. "Has he offered any explanation?"

Weiss shrugged his shoulders.

"None," he answered. "That little fool of a Leslie, the outside broker, must have given us away. I was afraid of him from the first. He was always Duge's man."

A clerk knocked at the door. He entered, bearing a card.

"Mr. Norris Vine wishes to see you, sir!" he announced.

Weiss and Littleson exchanged swift glances. The same thought flashed into both their minds. Neither spoke for fully a minute. Then Weiss, with the card crumpled up in his hand, turned to the clerk, and his voice sounded as though it came from a great distance.

"Show him in," he said.

Littleson sank into a chair. His eyes were still fixed upon his companion's.

"G.o.d in heaven!" he muttered.

CHAPTER XV

THE WARNING

Norris Vine shook hands with neither of the two men he greeted upon entering the room. Weiss, now that he felt that a crisis of some sort was at hand, recovered altogether from the nervous excitement of the last few minutes. He bowed courteously, if a little coldly, to Vine, and motioning him to a chair, took his own place in the seat before his desk. His manner was composed, his face was set and stern. Behind his spectacles his eyes steadfastly watched the countenance of the man whose coming might mean so much. Littleson, taking his cue, did his best also to feign indifference. He leaned against a writing-table, close to where Vine was sitting, and taking out his case, carefully selected and lit a cigarette.

"Well, Mr. Vine," Weiss said, "what can we do for you? Are you too going to join in the hustle for wealth? Have you any commissions for us? You will forgive me if I ask you to come to the point quickly. Things are moving about here just now, and we have little time to ourselves. By the by, you know Littleson, I suppose? Your business with me is not so private that you object to his remaining?"

"Certainly not," Vine answered calmly. "As a matter of fact, my business concerns also Mr. Littleson. In fact, there are two other of your friends whom I should have been equally glad to have seen here."

"Indeed!" Weiss answered. "You mean?"

"Mr. Bardsley and Mr. Seth Higgins," Vine replied.

"No doubt," Weiss said, "Littleson and I will be able to convey to them anything you may have to say. Come to the point! What is it? Are you going to write another of your sledge-hammer articles, d.a.m.ning us all to h.e.l.l? Perhaps you have come here for a little information as to our methods. We will do our best to help you. There are times when we fear enemies less than friends."

"I, certainly," Vine remarked, "do not come here as a friend, and yet,"

he added, "I am not sure that mine might not be called to some extent a visit of friends.h.i.+p. I have come here to warn you."

Weiss reached out his hand for a box of cigars, and biting the end off one, put it unlit into his mouth. He half offered the box to Vine, who, however, shook his head.

"Come," he said, "you are a little enigmatic. There is only one sort of business we understand here. People come to buy or to sell. Have you anything to sell?"

Norris Vine smiled quietly, as though at some thought which was pa.s.sing through his brain. He raised his eyes to Weiss', and looked him steadily in the face.

"I am in possession," he said, "of something which I think, Mr. Weiss, you would give half your fortune to buy, but I have not come here to sell. I have come here to warn you of the instant use to which I propose to put a certain doc.u.ment, signed by you and Littleson, Bardsley and Seth Higgins. It seems that you have entered into a conspiracy to remove from their places in the Government of this country the men who are pledged to the fight against the Trusts which you control. By chance that doc.u.ment has come into my hands. I propose to let the people of America know what sort of men you are, who have become the virtual governors of the country."

Stephen Weiss' surprise was exceedingly well simulated.

"I presume, Mr. Vine," he said, "that you are not here to poke fun at us. Tell me, if you please, what doc.u.ment it is to which you refer."

"I think," Vine answered, "that I need not enter into too close details.

It is a doc.u.ment which you and your friends signed at Phineas Duge's house, not many nights ago."

Weiss rose to his feet, crossed the office, and turned the key in the lock of the door. He was a big man, and his face was a little flushed.