er. At the present moment I am
registered in a big Fifth Avenue hotel, a swell joint which they
wouldn't suspect in twenty years."

"How can that be? Rachel said you were in desperate need."

"So I was until I went through that idiot's pockets. He had two hundred
dollars in bills and chicken-feed. I knew I'd get another wad from you
to-night."

"Why did you want to murder me, Ralph?"

"Murder! Oh, shucks! I didn't want to kill anybody. But I don't trust
you, William. I'm always expecting you to double-cross me. Last night it
was a lasso. To-night it is this." And he suddenly whipped out a
revolver.

CHAPTER VII

STILL MERE MYSTERY

Meiklejohn pushed his chair back so quickly that it caught the fender
and brought down some fire-irons with a crash.

"More nerves!" croaked his grim-visaged relative, but the revolver
disappeared.

"Tell me," said the tortured Meiklejohn; "why have you returned to New
York? Above all, why did you straightway commit a crime that cannot fail
to stir the whole country?"

"That's better. You are showing some sort of brotherly interest. I came
back because I was sick of mining camps and boundless sierras. I had a
hankering after the old life--the theaters, dinners, race-meetings, wine
and women. As to 'the crime,' I thought that fool was you. He called for
the cops."

"For the police! Why?"

"Because my line of talk was a trifle too rough, I suppose."

"Did he know you were there to meet me?"

"Can't say. The whole thing was over like a flash. I am quick on the
trigger."

"But if you had killed me what other goose would lay golden eggs?"

"You forget that the goose was unwilling to lay any more eggs. I only
meant scaring you. To haul you neck and crop into the river was a good
scheme. You see, we haven't met for some years."

"Then why--why murder Ronald Tower?"

"There you go again. Murder! How you chew on the word. I never touched
the man, only to haul him into the boat and go through his pockets. I
guess he had a weak heart, due to over-eating, and the cold water upset
him."

"But you left him in the river?"

"Wrong every time. I chucked him into a barge and covered him tenderly
with a tarpaulin."

Meiklejohn sprang upright. "Good God," he cried, "he may be alive!"

"Sit down, William, sit down," was the cool response. "If he's alive,
he'll turn up. In any case, he'll be found sooner or later. Shout the
glad news now and you go straight to the Tombs."