Ted thanked him and promised to go out to look at the stock, but as for the invitation for the whole party to stop at the ranch, he would have to consult the wishes of the party. He rather liked the colonel, who was, apparently, bluff and sincere.
As Ted was on his way to the bank which had issued the bill which he had found in the haunted house, he stopped suddenly. He had just seen a young woman enter a store hurriedly, and look at him over her shoulder as she did so. She it was who had slipped the note of warning into his pocket in the Union Station, in St. Louis.
Evidently she was trying to avoid him. But why? He wanted to thank her for that kindly service, and, quite naturally, he had some curiosity to know who she was.
Without apparently hurrying he followed her into the store, and looked around for her. She was not in sight, and he walked up and down the aisles between the counters, but could not find her.
Then he observed that there was a back door to the store, which opened onto an arcade. She had escaped him through that, and Ted looked up and down the arcade. At the far end, where it opened out into the public square, a carriage stood, and a young lady was getting into it.
It was the young lady of the subtle perfume and the note.
In a moment she was gone.
He was not far from the bank, and giving the young woman no more thought, for he was sure he would see her again, for she seemed to be mixed up in his fortunes in some manner, he made his way to the financial institution and asked for the president.
"You will find Mr. Norcross in his private office at the end of the corridor," said the clerk.
At the door of the office Ted found a colored messenger, who stopped him and asked his business.
"Is Mr. Norcross in his office?" asked Ted.
"Yes, sah, but he is busy," answered the messenger.
"Well, take my card in to him, and tell him I would like to see him when he is at leisure."
The negro went away, and in a few moments returned to say that Mr. Norcross would be glad to see Mr. Strong presently.
While Ted waited he stood looking out of the window into the street. The door behind him opened, and he turned.
Walking rapidly down the corridor was the man with the pointed beard, whom he had seen in the Union Station in St. Louis give the signal to the girl who had slipped the note into his pocket.
Ted stared after him. The mystery of the note was getting thicker. But he would try to think it out later.
He found Mr. Norcross an elderly, but active man.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Strong," said the banker, referring to Ted's card.
"I come to you for information concerning a recent robbery and the murder of an express messenger in an express car in St. Louis," said Ted.
"In what capacity do you come?"
"As an officer of the government."
"Oh, ah, rather young for such work, aren't you?"
"Pardon, but that has nothing at all to do with it. I am a deputy United States marshal, and have received instructions to examine into certain matters regarding the recent robberies from express trains in this part of the country."
"I suppose you have your credentials as an officer."
"I think I can convince those who have the right to know that I am what I profess to be."
"Very well. I meant no offense, but there have been so many violent things done out here, that naturally a banker desires to at least know something of his callers. What can I do for you?"
"Did your bank make a shipment of currency to the East, last week?"
"Yes, sir, that is a well-known fact."
"What was the amount?"
"Forty thousand dollars. It was to meet some paper which was due in St. Louis."
"And it was stolen from the express car?"
"Yes. The express company has reimbursed us for it."
"What sort of currency was it?"
"Mostly of our own issue."
"Do you recognize this bill?"
Ted took from his pocket the counterfeit bill of the bank, and handed it to the president, who looked at it a moment and handed it back.
"Yes, that is one of the bills. The money sent was all in that series of numbers."
Ted picked the bill up, and put it in his pocket.
"Here, you mustn't take that," said the president. "That is the property of the bank. Give it to me. The express company will need it for evidence."
"Then I will keep it. It will be safer with me."
A suspicion had entered Ted's mind, which was strengthened by the conduct of the president, who was white-faced and trembling.
"From your examination of the bill, you are positive that it was one of those shipped to St. Louis?"
"I am not certain, of course, but as I said, it is within the series of numbers which we sent. Why do you ask?"
"Because it is a counterfeit."
The president sank down in his chair. He had suddenly become pale, and was trembling like a leaf.
"What will you take for that bill, young man? Name your own price," said Mr. Norcross.
"It is not for sale, and you have not money enough to buy it," replied Ted Strong.
CHAPTER XXI.
A CRIME WITHIN A CRIME.
"Well, friend, have you decided to come out to my ranch, and look my stock over?"
It was Colonel Billings, the genial ranchman, who addressed Ted, meeting him in the lobby of the hotel.
"Yes, I think I will," answered Ted. "When will it be convenient for you to be there?"
"I am going out to-morrow, and will be glad to see you and your friends."
"There are a good many of us," said Ted, laughing.
"The more the merrier. The house is large, and I could drop you all down into it, and the house would hardly know it."
"How do we get out there?"
"I see you have a couple of ladies with you, and I shall telephone over to my manager to send a carriage in for them, and horses for the use of you boys. How many horses and saddles will you need? There are plenty at the ranch."
"We will need eight horses. One of the ladies prefers to ride, and we'll need a gentle pony for the small boy, whose experience is limited."
"Sidesaddle for the lady?"
"No," said Ted, with a grin, "this young lady will not use one. She is a cowgirl, and rides a man's saddle."
"All right, my boy. The outfit will be here in the morning. By the way, I am going to have some other guests. I suppose you will not object."
"Certainly not."
"One of them is a young New Yorker, who has come West to invest in ranch property, and who has brought his sister with him. Charming people. The other is a rather uncouth person, but you will forgive his eccentricities, I am sure. To tell you the truth, he often grates on me, but I overlook it because he has lacked advantages. He made his money in the liquor business, in which he has been all his life. But he is a good fellow at heart, and is my partner in a way, having invested a large sum of money with me in cattle."
"I shall be very glad to meet them, although, I'm afraid I shall not be able to see much of them, as I shall be very busy."
"When you are under my roof, sir, you are as free as if you had been born there. I am glad you and your friends are coming. It does my old heart good to have young people around me. I will see you in the morning, and shall feel honored to escort you to my home."
With this they parted.
"Jolly old chap," said Ted to himself. "I know just how he feels about having a lot of people come to visit him. I like it myself."
Stella had been out for a ride with little Dick. She had secured a couple of ponies from the stable connected with the hotel, and had given Dick his first riding lesson.
Ted met them as they were dismounting in front of the hotel.
"Ted, that boy is going to be a second edition of you in the saddle," cried Stella enthusiastically. "I never saw such a seat for a kid. Why he takes to a horse like a young duck to water."
; "That's good," said Ted. "Do you like to ride, Scrub, I mean Dick?"
The boy flushed at the name Scrub, but he recovered himself immediately.
"Yes, it's fine," he answered. "I like horses, and they seem to take to me. I'd like to ride a horse all the time."
"Well, you'll have all you want of it when you get out to Moon Valley," said Ted. "Would you like to go out again? If you do, go ahead. I guess we can trust you not to break your neck."
The boy smiled and nodded, and climbed into his saddle again, and was off.
"Ted, that boy is going to be a credit to us all," said Stella. "But he must have an education. Although he speaks well and doesn't use much slang, that is, for a boy, he knows absolutely nothing that he hasn't picked up. He must go to school some day, but not now, for he hardly knows his alphabet, and as for other branches of knowledge, why, he doesn't know they exist, and he is as full of superstition as a Cocopo squaw. Wherever he got his beliefs, I can't imagine."
"All right, Stella, he shall go to school. It doesn't really matter much, that he has never been to school before. He'll learn so fast that he'll make up for lost time, don't fear. That boy has a good head."
"I'm going to teach him myself until he is able to take his place in school with boys of his own age. He's just crazy to learn."
"His early education is up to you. I'm not afraid he will learn anything he shouldn't from you. Go at him slowly and sensibly. Don't try to stuff it all into him at once. Meanwhile, I'll teach him to ride, shoot, herd, rope, and all that, occasionally impressing upon him the cardinal principles of the broncho boys—truth, honesty, sincerity, courage, and kindness."
"He'll be a fine fellow some of these days, Ted, and a good-looking and good-tempered one."
"I think he will. Suppose we take a little walk, if you have nothing better to do. I want to get your opinion on some matters."
"The very thing. I saw a pretty little park on the bank of a river. We'll walk there."
"I have promised to go out to Colonel Billings' ranch to-morrow, and I took the liberty of accepting the invitation for you all, as there is nothing to do around here, and I have a hunch that something good will come of it."
"I'll be glad to go. You know how much I like the town. I wouldn't care if I never saw one again."
"It's all right, then. We'll start in the morning. I am more than anxious to go now, especially as Billings tells me he has invited several other people to be his guests."
"Who are they?"
"You remember the girl who slipped the note into my pocket in the St. Louis station, and the young fellow with the pointed beard. Well, I saw them both in town this morning. The girl ran away from me on the street, jumped into a carriage, and drove away."
"There's nothing about you to cause a girl to run." Stella looked up at Ted in a teasing way.
"That'll be all right," said he. "But a few minutes after I saw the fellow with the pointed beard coming out of the private office of Norcross, the president of the bank that was robbed of the forty thousand dollars. He went by me like a rocket, as if he were afraid of me."
"Sure it was he?"
"Positive. But the strange part of it was my interview with the banker. He acknowledged that the bank had been robbed of the money, and identified the bill dropped by Checkers in his flight, as one of the shipment, but when I announced that it was a counterfeit, he went all to pieces, and, after trying to bluff me into giving him the note, wanted to buy it, asking me to name my own price."
"What does that mean, I wonder?"
"It means, that this case of the robbery and the murder of the express messenger is not the simple thing I thought. There is a crime within a crime."
"What in the world do you mean?"
"Just this, Norcross, the banker, is mixed in the crime, and Heaven only knows how many more men quite as prominent as he. The express-robbing syndicate is a strong one, and hard to beat."
"But you'll beat it yet. I know you."
"Thank you for your faith and encouragement, Stella. But it's going to be a hard pull, and it will take all of us to do it."
"What do you think of it now?"
"My idea is, that the alleged forty thousand dollars was not real money at all, and that Norcross was trying to double-cross the very men he was standing in with."
"Still, I hardly understand."
"Well, Norcross agreed with the members of the syndicate to ship forty thousand dollars to St. Louis, which was to be stolen en route by the syndicate's own men. They would then have their forty thousand back, and the forty thousand which they could make the express company pay them. The original forty thousand would come back to Norcross, and he would get his share of the money which the express company would pay."
"That was easy."
"It would have been, but for the fact that Norcross insisted upon being insured for the use of his forty thousand in case anything else happened to it. In this way he got another large sum."
"I see. But from what you have found out so far, I don't quite understand how you figure it out."
"All I have to go by is my own way of deducing things. The forty thousand dollars which was to be stolen was supposed by the other members of the syndicate to be real money. It was for this that the syndicate insured Norcross. But, instead, he substituted counterfeits, if, indeed, most of the supposed money was not just blank paper."
"He is a real financier, eh?"
"Yes, but he didn't take into consideration that he had scoundrels just as shrewd as himself to deal with. For instance, I believe when the truth is known, it will be found out that the syndicate was going to beat Norcross. But that is mere supposition. The tug of war is coming soon. It will take place at the ranch of Colonel Billings."
"I thought you believed in him."
"I do. I have made a few inquiries about him. I wanted to find out what sort of a chap he was before taking you and your aunt out to his place. Every one speaks of him as one of the leading men in the county and State."
"Then why should he be drawn into this mess?"
"I think he has done it unconsciously. He has a partner who has invested money in Billings' cattle. Do you remember the fellow in the train whom Kit knocked down? The chap who insulted that pretty girl."
"Yes."
"From the description given me of one of his coming guests by the colonel, I believe the man with the red necktie is he."
"What? That horrid thing."
"I didn't tell you, but Kit and I saw him talking to a man at the station where we stopped for dinner, whom I am convinced was no other than Checkers himself."
"Whew! That looks suspicious."
"In addition to that, the colonel has invited a man and his sister to visit him while we are there. This man is a New Yorker; I don't know his name, but the colonel says he is out here to buy a ranch. Who do you suppose it is?"
"Haven't an idea."
"The girl who dropped the warning note into my pocket, and the young man with the pointed beard."
"Whew! again."
"Looks pretty complicated, doesn't it?"
"Worse than that. Ted, are you sure about this Colonel Billings?"
"One is sure of nothing in this world, but I have taken a fancy to Billings, and when I like a man he generally turns out all right, making allowances for minor faults and habits. Yes, I think I can trust Billings."
"But not his friends. Ted, do you want to know what I think?"
"Certainly."
"I feel that the invitation out there is a trap to catch you, and possibly keep you away from the town."
"Nonsense! Why should they want to keep me away from the town? There doesn't seem to be anything wrong in town that I could bother them in, except the Norcross incident, and if, as I suspect, he has duped his partners, he will say nothing to them about me."
"Suppose they want to get out there to do away with you."
"They wouldn't ask all of you out there with me in that case."
"That is w
here you are mistaken. They are too shrewd to excite your suspicions by inviting you alone. It will not be hard for them to get you away from the ranch to look at some cattle and then kill you. Ted, you are too dangerous to them to be let alone."
"Well, it can't be helped now, and being right in among them is a hope I did not expect to see realized so easily. But they will have no advantage over me, for none of the syndicate, I take it, know of the counterfeits as yet, except Norcross and the inevitable Checkers. But at that, I don't think they will resort to violence. We are too strong for them, at the ranch, at least I believe they will use diplomacy."
"Well, we can play at the game ourselves. There, perhaps, I can help you."
"You bet you can. But let us go down to the station and see if the red motor car, 118, has arrived yet."
When they reached the station, Ted went to the express agent and asked for the car.
"Yes," said the agent, "the car arrived this morning, Mr. Strong, and I delivered it according to your instructions. The charges are not paid yet. Your messenger said you would call later and settle for them, and, knowing you by reputation, I let it go."
Ted was staring at the agent.
"You delivered it according to my instructions?"
"Yes, sir."
"I didn't give any one an order for the car."
"Why, you must have forgotten it. Here it is. I happened to see one of your boys down here, and called him to one side and asked him if it was your signature, and he very promptly identified it."
"Let me see that order."
The agent produced an order written on the note paper of the hotel.
Ted stared at it incredulously.
"It looks like my writing, but I didn't write it. I'll swear to that. Look at this, Stella. Is that my hand?"
Stella looked at the paper studiously for a minute or two, then handed it back.
"A casual look at it would deceive me, but you did not write it. It lacks several of your individualisms, and has others that are not yours."
"That is right. This order is a forgery. I did not write it. The express-robber syndicate is getting bolder every minute. They'll come in and steal you some day," Ted said to the agent. "Notify your company that my car has been stolen, and that I want it restored to me."
Ted Strongs Motor Car Page 16
