re, he
went through to the smoking compartment at its end. It had only one
occupant, who looked up as he came in, and he calmly met Daly's gaze.
The fellow had his hand in his pocket and his face was rather hard, but
he did not show surprise or alarm.

"Well," he said, "we have been looking for one another for a long time
and at last have met."

Foster sat down opposite. "That's so. When we began, you were looking
for me, but since then things have, so to speak, been reversed. I've
followed you across England and much of Canada."

"I've wondered what accounted for your boldness."

"It looked as if you knew, but if you don't, I'm going to tell you,"
Foster replied. "But I'd sooner you took your hand out of your pocket.
It would be dangerous to use a pistol, because my man's in the car.
Then I left a plain statement of all I know and surmise about you, with
instructions for it to be handed to the police if I don't come back."

Daly removed his hand and took out a cigarette. "You're not such a
fool as some of my friends thought, I suspected this for some time."

"We'll get to business," Foster rejoined. "I want to get it finished,
although I don't think we'll be disturbed."

Daly gave him a keen glance, which Foster did not understand then, and
the latter resumed: "How did you find out enough about Featherstone to
enable you to blackmail him?"

"I was secretary to the man he robbed; as a matter of fact, I stole one
or two of his private papers. I don't know that I meant to use them
then, but was afterwards in need of money and saw how it could be got.
The documents prove your partner's offense."

"You began by extorting money, but your last object was to suppress the
evidence my partner could give about the cause of Fred Hulton's death."

"Ah!" said Daly. "I wonder how much you or Featherstone know about
that. As there are no listeners, we can be frank."

"Very well. You claim to have documents that give you some power over
Featherstone; I have others that give me power over you. Have you got
yours here?"

Daly smiled. "I have not. They're kept where nobody but myself could
find them."

"I see," said Foster. "Any money you could extort from Featherstone
was to be your private perquisite and not shared with the gang! Well,
I've brought my documents for you to examine. This is a traveler's
circular check for yourself, and this is an ordinary bank check for
another man. Taken alone, they don'