ich Colonel Dodd had paid for!

The nephew saw Mullaney shake his head and throw up his hands in appeal
and protest.

That spectacle made Richard Dodd a fugitive who thought only of saving
himself. He fought his way through the crowd and ran out of the hall.
The thought of facing Symonds Dodd in that crisis or of waiting to be
dragged before the furious tyrant--that thought lashed the traitor into
mad flight.

He glanced up at the clock in the First National tower. He had three
minutes before the bank's closing time. He controlled his emotions as
best he could and presented the check at the paying-teller's grill.
The money was counted out to him without question, and when he held the
thick packet in his hand he realized still more acutely in what position
he stood in his affairs with Symonds Dodd.

He rushed to a garage, secured his car, and fled.

"I tell you I gave my nephew a check for five thousand dollars,"
insisted the colonel. "And the Dodds don't lie to each other!"

"Then they have begun to do it," declared Mullaney. "He has
double-crossed the two of us. There was never any talk between us of
more than five hundred for the job."

Colonel Dodd hurried into the anteroom and called the bank on the
telephone. "Almighty Herod!" he yelped, when he was informed that the
check had been cashed. He banged the receiver upon its hook. "Even my
own nephew has joined the pack of those damnation wolves!"

Then with the air of a man recovering from a blow and wondering dizzily
what had struck him, he left the convention hall by a rear door and went
to his office.

Those whom he passed on his way out made no attempt to stop him, did not
urge him to remain. That convention seemed to be doing very well without
calling upon Colonel Symonds Dodd for help or suggestions.

XXX

A GIRL'S IMPULSE

Herald unofficial, _avant courier_, Mr. Daniel Breed squeezed himself
through the pack of people while they were still cheering the name of
the Honorable Archer Converse.

"Giving candy to youngsters and good news to grown folks never
made anybody specially unpopular," Mr. Breed assured himself with
politician's sagacity.

Therefore, he jog-trotted down to the Converse law-offices and shot
himself into the presence of the estimable gentleman who had remained
aloof from the distracting business of a convention.

"He's done it," proclaimed Mr. Breed, making his sentences short and his
message to the point because he wa