Chapter XIII. In Which Cherry Malotte Becomes Suspicious

At the hotel Emerson found Clyde and Fraser in Balt's room awaiting him. They were noisy and excited at the success of the enterprise and at the prospect of immediate action.

Quoth "Fingerless" Fraser: "It has certainly lifted a load off my mind to put this deal through."

Emerson was forced to smile. "Now that you have succeeded," said he, "what next?"

"Back to the Coast. This town is a bum."

"Are you going west with us?"

"Sure! Why not? This game ain't opened yet."

"How long are we to be favored with your assistance?"

"Hard telling. I want to see you get off on the right foot; I'd feel bad if you fell down."

"Well, of all--"

"Let him rave," advised George. "He can't sell us nothing."

"I did my share, anyhow," Alton Clyde declared, curling up comfortably in his chair, with a smile of such beatitude that Fraser cried:

"Now purr! Nice kitty! Seems like I can see a canary feather sticking to your mustache."

"It is my debut in business," Clyde explained. "It's my commercial coming- out party. I never did anything useful before in my whole life, so, naturally, I'm all swelled up."

"It ain't necessary for me to itemize my statement," Fraser observed. "A moment's consecutive thought will show anybody who's capable of bearing the strain of that much brain effort where I came in." Gazing upon them with prophetic eye, he announced: "And mark what I say, gents: I'll be even a bigger help to you before you get through. You do the rough work; I'll be there with the bottle of oil and the hand-polish. Yes, sir! When the time comes I'll go down in the little bag of tricks and dig up anything you need, from a jig dance to a jimmy and a bottle of soup."

"I know what you call 'soup'!" exclaimed Alton, with lively interest. "Did you ever crack a safe? By Jove, that's immense!"

"I've worked in banks, considerable," "Fingerless" Fraser admitted, with admirable caution. "What I mean to say is, I'm a general handy man, and I may be useful, so you better let me stick around."

Boyd told them little of the news that had startled him earlier in the evening, beyond the bare fact that Marsh had floated a packers' trust, and that secrecy, for the present, was now doubly necessary to the success of their undertaking. The full significance of the merger, therefore, did not strike his associates, even when, on the train, the next day, they read the announcement of its formation in the newspapers. Balt alone took notice of it, and fell into a furious rage at his enemy's success.

Alton Clyde, on the other hand, was more than ever elated over his share in a