Your
advertised rewards have been read and laughed at. The men who
have him in charge are no common criminals. They mean to
secure a fortune in return for young Trent. They know that
his father is a millionaire, and his sweetheart an heiress in
her own right.

'It is in my power, as one of the party in possession, to
release your son. I waste no time in platitudes, but state
frankly here my object in thus addressing you. I wish to
leave the clique for reasons of my own, and to do this I must
have money. This is why I propose to help you for a
consideration. The "clique" will take no less than a modest
fortune, hundreds of thousands of dollars. I will accept ten
thousand. For this sum I will find a way to set your son at
liberty.

'This is my plan: You no doubt have in Chicago some friend
who can and will oblige you. Request this friend to insert in
three of the city papers here an advertisement as follows: If
you accept you will say, "Number three, we decline," which I
will read by contraries. You will then send by express, to be
called for, a package containing ten thousand dollars in
bank-notes--none larger than one hundred nor smaller than
ten--and a letter in which you shall bind yourself not to
take advantage in any way of my application for this packet
at the express office; not to set a watch upon me, or in any
way attempt to entrap me. This done, I will agree on my part
to send you, twenty-four hours after receipt of your package,
a letter telling you in detail where your son is and how to
reach him. I will not agree to betray his captors; I would
not be safe anywhere if I did; and it is liberty without a
master, and an easier and a safer life, that I seek. I will
also let your son know that he may expect a rescue.

'In proposing this I am running a risk, and in accepting it,
while you will risk your money, I, if you betray me, risk my
life. If you accept this proposal you will see your son
alive, and soon. If you refuse--he is in the hands of
desperate men, who will never give him up except on their own
terms; they will wait until, driven to despair, you will
offer them, through the press, a fortune, and--even then you
may receive, after long waiting, only a corpse. As to the
search you are making, we know your men and their methods,
and they