"I couldn't," pleaded Mr. Bas...o...b.. "Prenter stood with Reade and was against me."

"You're the president of the company, aren't you?" Evarts demanded sullenly.

"Yes; but Prenter is a bigger man in the company, and he has more influence with the board of directors. If Prenter came out against me, and persuaded the other directors that I was a bad a.s.set for the company, they'd act on Prenter's suggestion and remove me from the presidency."

"Humph!" jeered Evarts. "Then what would your directors do if they knew that---."

"Stop!" begged Mr. Bas...o...b..hoa.r.s.ely, "Don't say a word further, man!

Sometimes even the leaves on the trees have ears. Don't breathe a word of what you were going to say just now."

Even in the dark the two concealed watchers could see that Bas...o...b..was glancing about him nervously.

"Now, what is up?" gasped Tom inwardly. "What part has Mr. Bas...o...b..been playing in this mystery that he's so afraid of having become public?"

CHAPTER XXI

EVARTS HEARS A NOISE

"I won't shut up," proclaimed Evarts.

"I don't care who hears me."

"But I care," protested the president, in a trembling voice.

"Then you'll have to reward me for whatever silence you want," snarled the wretch.

"Is this blackmail never to cease?" groaned Mr. Bas...o...b..

"Yes, when you've used me right," declared Evarts harshly.

"Didn't I come forward promptly on your bail?" demanded Mr. Bas...o...b..

"Sure, for you didn't dare do otherwise. But that only gave me liberty.

It didn't put any money in my pocket."

"Are you going to jump your bail, and leave me to pay the bond?" asked Bas...o...b..

"Perhaps," said Evarts lightly. "You can stand losing the money."

"I suppose so."

"But when I jump," continued Evarts, "I'll have to stay out of the country after that. It'll take money---and you'll have to furnish me with it."

"How much?"

"Well," continued the foreman, craftily, "I wouldn't leave the country with less than enough to set me up elsewhere. I'd need---well, let me see. I couldn't start in a new country on less than ten thousand dollars."

"That would make fifteen thousand dollars, in all." Mr. Bas...o...b..finished his remark with a groan.

"Well, what are you howling about?" demanded Evarts unfeelingly. "You've got the money."

"It will lower my holdings in the Melliston Company," complained Mr.

Bas...o...b..bitterly "I'm not a rich man, and I haven't any too much stock in the company at the present moment."

"You'd have to sell it all out, if I gave the directors a chance to find out that you're a jailbird---that you did time as a younger man," sneered Evarts.

"For goodness' sake hold your tongue, man!" gasped Mr. Bas...o...b..in accents of terror.

"Just think," grinned Evarts heartlessly, "how delighted your directors would be to know that you had done time in prison."

"Silence, man!" implored Bas...o...b.. "It wasn't altogether my fault, as you know. And the governor of the state discovered that I wasn't as bad as the jury thought me. It all came through trying to help a worthless friend. Why, man, the governor pardoned me, when I had yet two years to serve and restored me to liberty."

"But you're a jailbird, just the same," jeered the discharged foreman.

"Let the directors find _that_ out, and how quickly they'd drop you from your office!"

Mr. Bas...o...b..buried his face in his hands and sobbed aloud.

"So," continued Evarts, "I'll give you forty-eight hours to raise the ten thousand dollars---in good cash, mind you---no checks! Then I'll call on you to hand the money over to me. If you don't, I'll write a note to the directors, telling them to look up your name in the court records at Logville, Minnesota. Now, do you understand?"

"Yes," nodded Mr. Bas...o...b..brokenly.

"And you'll have the money?"

"I---I'll try."

"You'll have the money---by day after tomorrow!"

"Yes."

"Now clear out---fast!"

"Eh?" inquired Mr. Bas...o...b.. looking wildly at the wretch.

"Get out! Go back to the hotel in Blixton, and don't try to slip away from me at any point in the game. Start---now!"

"Good night!" said President Bas...o...b..in a choking voice.

"Oh, cut out the civilities!" grunted Evarts turning on his heel.

Mr. Bas...o...b..then silently left the spot. His footfalls made so little noise that their sound was soon lost to d.i.c.k and Tom.

Evarts appeared in no hurry to leave. On the contrary he drew out a pipe, filled it and lighted it. Then he threw himself down on the ground, puffing slowly.

"From the fact that he sent Mr. Bas...o...b..away, and is himself remaining,"