that stock to some other person, either.
You just tear it up. It's worthless, and you know it. I want Miss
Morton's money back for her."

"I haven't it!" whined the clerk.

"Then you know where to get it. I fancy if I tell Mr. Pike, of your
law firm, what you've been up to----"

"Oh, don't tell him! Don't tell him!" whined the clerk. "He doesn't
know anything about it. I--I just did this as a side line. If you
tell him I'll lose my position and----"

"Well, I'll tell him all right, if you don't give back Miss Morton's
money!" said Joe grimly.

"I tell you I haven't the cash."

"Then you must get it. You've been doing business here before, the
hotel clerk tells me. Come now--hand over the cash--get it--and I'll
let you go, though perhaps I shouldn't. If you don't pay up--well, the
officer ought to be downstairs waiting for you now. Come!" cried Joe
sharply. "Which is it to be--the money or jail?"

Sanford looked around like a cornered rat seeking a means of escape.
There was none. Joe, big and powerful, stood between him and the door.

"Well?" asked Joe significantly.

"I--I'll pay her back the money," faltered Sanford. "But I'll have to
go out to get it."

"Oh, no, you won't," said Joe cheerfully. "If you went out you might
forget to come back. Here's a telephone--just use that."

Sanford sighed. His last chance was gone.

Just what or to whom he telephoned does not concern us. But in the
course of an hour or so a messenger called with money enough to make
good all Helen had risked in oil stock. The cash was handed to her.

"Here, you keep it for me, Joe," she said. "I don't seem to know how
to manage my fortune."

"What about those stock certificates?" asked Sanford. "I want them
back."

"They are worthless, by your own confession," replied Joe, "and you're
not going to fool some one else on them. "We'll just keep them for
souvenirs, eh, Helen?"

"Just as you say, Joe," she answered with a blush.

Sanford blustered, but to no purpose. He was beaten at his own game,
and the fear of exposure and arrest brought him to terms.

"But you shouldn't have gone to him alone, Helen," remonstrated Joe,
when they were on their way back to the circus with the recovered cash.

"Well, I'd been so foolish as to lose my money, that I wanted to see if
I couldn't get it back again," she said. "I didn't want any of you to
help me, as I'd already given trouble enough."

"Trouble!" cried Joe.