close
to me, and you can bet that I'm going to stick close to you till the
whack-up has been made. No shenanigan! Now, seeing how far I have
gone in doing my part, don't you think it's about time for you to come
across?"

Vaniman spread his hands. "How can I? Wait till we get to Egypt." Right
then he had no notion of what he was going to do when he arrived in
Egypt. He had not dared to look the proposition squarely in the face.
He did not even analyze his feelings. He was dimly conscious that he
was pitying Wagg. That ambitious person was in for a grievous
disappointment. To be sure, Wagg had insisted on following a current
belief and persisted in building his hopes on a fallacy and had forced
human nature until weak human nature had snapped under the strain. Wagg
had refused to believe the truth; he had preferred to indulge his
own delusion in regard to the treasure of the Egypt Trust company.
Nevertheless, Vaniman was ashamed--and he was afraid.

Britt was the crux of the situation--that was evident enough! Britt
knew where the coin was. Vaniman was sure on that point. Britt had so
maneuvered that wild-goose errand to Levant that he had made the affair
furnish opportunity to himself and fix the odium on Vaniman. In spite of
what the young man knew of Britt's lust for money, he believed that the
usurer had worked a scheme to ruin a rival instead of merely operating
to add to his riches. But Vaniman knew Britt well enough to reach the
conclusion that, once having the hard cash in his possession, and the
blame fastened on another man, Britt was allowing avarice to stand pat
on the play.

But if, now being on the job in person, he could rig a scheme to make
Britt disclose, what could be done for coadjutor Wagg? There was a
reward posted for information leading to the recovery of the money.
Britt had offered that reward. He had made quite a show of the thing
in the public prints. He pledged himself to pay the sum of two thousand
five hundred dollars from his own pocket, and Vaniman bitterly realized
just why Britt had adopted that pose. Would Wagg be content with the sop
of the reward?

The man who had been declared dead knew that he must play for time. He
ran over various plans in his head. He did not feel like blurting out
the truth to Mr. Wagg and asking what that effectually compromised
gentleman was going to do about it. He needed Mr. Wagg. He thought of
pleading that the summer landscape was so much different f