country, you know, has only been here a few years, so his adventures
would probably cover two continents. The fellow always manages to keep
just within our laws, although sometimes he gets dangerously near the
edge. The world is full of men like Joselyn. They don't interest me."

"Then he belongs to the band of Champions?" asked Josie.

"Yes. In going over Cragg's books and papers in his private office the
other night, I found sufficient references to Ned Joselyn to figure out
his story with a fair degree of accuracy," said O'Gorman. "He was born
in Ireland, got into trouble over there with the authorities, and fled
to America, where he met Annabel Kenton and married her. Getting in
touch with Old Swallowtail, he joined the Champions and attended to the
outside business for Mr. Cragg, purchasing supplies and forwarding
them, with money, to the patriots in Ireland. I suppose he made a fair
rake-off in all these dealings, but that did not satisfy him. He
induced Cragg to invest in some wild-cat schemes, promising him
tremendous earnings which could be applied to the Cause. Whether he
really invested the money turned over to him, or kept it for himself,
is a subject for doubt, but it seems that the old man soon suspected
him of double-dealing and they had so many quarrels that Cragg finally
threatened to turn him over to the authorities for extradition. That
was when our precious Ned thought it wise to disappear, but afterward
another peace was patched up, owing largely to the fact that Joselyn
knew so much of the workings of the secret order that it was safer to
have him for a friend than an enemy."

"I'm thinking of his poor wife," said Josie. "Does she know now where
her husband is?"

"I think not. At first, in order to win the confidence of old Cragg,
Ned applied considerable of his wife's money to the Cause, and while
she would probably forgive his defalcations he thinks it wiser to keep
aloof from her. She foolishly trusted him to 'settle' her mother's
estate, and I'm sure he managed to settle most of it on himself. His
value to Cragg lay in his ability to visit the different branches of
the Champions, which are pretty well scattered throughout the United
States, and keep them in touch one with the other. Also he purchased
arms and ammunition to be forwarded secretly to Ireland. So you see it
was quite impossible for the old man to break with him wholly, rascal
though he knows him to be."

"I see," said Josie.