n. "We won't trouble you any
more than is necessary, Mr. Ball."

"I am sorry to disturb you," said Maurice Vane. He was a kindly looking
gentleman. "Perhaps we had better defer this business until some other
time."

"Oh, no, one time is as bad as another," came with another groan from
the bed. "Besides, I admit I need money badly. If it wasn't for that--".
The man in bed began to cough. "Say, shut the door," he went on, to the
first man who had come in.

The door was closed, and for the time being Joe heard no more of the
conversation.

It must be admitted that our hero was perplexed, and with good reason.
He felt certain that the man in bed was shamming, that he was hardly
sick at all. If so, what was his game?

"Something is surely wrong somewhere," he reasoned. "I wish I could get
to the bottom of it."

The room next to the one occupied by David Ball was empty and he slipped
into this. The room contained a closet, and on the other side was
another closet, opening into the room the men were in. The partition
between was of boards, and as the other door stood wide open, Joe, by
placing his head to the boards, could hear fairly well.

"You have the stock?" he heard Maurice Vane ask.

"Yes, in my valise. Hand me the bag and I'll show you," answered the man
in bed. "Oh, how weak I feel!" he sighed.

There was a silence and then the rustling of papers.

"And what is your bottom price for these?" went on Maurice Vane.

"Thirty thousand dollars."

"I told Mr. Vane you might possibly take twenty-five thousand," came
from the man called Anderson.

"They ought to be worth face value--fifty thousand dollars," said the
man in bed.

A talk in a lower tone followed, and then more rustling of papers.

"I will call to-morrow with the cash," said Maurice Vane, as he prepared
to leave. "In the meantime, you promise to keep these shares for me?"

"I'll keep them until noon. I've got another offer," said the man in
bed.

"We'll be back," put in the man called Anderson. "So don't you sell to
anybody else."

Then the two visitors left and went downstairs. Five minutes later they
were driving away in the direction of the railroad station.

"This certainly beats anything I ever met before," said Joe, to himself
as he watched them go. "I'll wager all I am worth that I've met that
Anderson before, and that he is a bad man. I do wish I could get at the
bottom of what is going on."

In the evening he had occasion to go