"Yes'm. And it was Mann's friend's machine that was wrecked; and they had hard work to get the remains of it dragged off and hidden before morning; but Mann is a slick one. As soon as we got in we reported to him and he had his men out there with plenty to help. But it's more about Mann I want to tell you. It ain't Vickery, you want to haul into court. It's Mann. He's made more'n a hundred thousand off'n the city. He's pulled off already over thirty thousand on that Boulevard Railway scheme. Vickery's only a tool. If you'd bitten his bait and taken what they offered you, they had it planned that Mann was to be general manager. That railway would have swallowed up all the others; and then he was to be president. He means to be a millionaire yet. He will be, if you don't get him--and quick." "Wait; let's call Bailey." She rang up on the telephone. "But you knew nothing about the trap they caught Miss Snow and me in?" "No." He waited until she called up Bailey Armstrong, and requested him to come to the house at once. "No," he went on. "I swear it. They knew I hadn't much sympathy for their plots against you and got shy of letting me in on them. But there's a barkeep in my saloon--or was--who kept them posted. When you telephoned me that day, he put 'em wise right off, quick. Mann was the one who planned your imprisonment. He thought out all the details--I've only just found this out--and since his talk with you this afternoon, he thought you were getting wise, too. So he went right out, got his bag (which has been packed for some time) and took the night train East. He owes me a big bill--and more promises than he can ever pay. I've been getting sick of this kind of thing for weeks; now that he's proved the biggest kind of a coward, I've come straight to you. And I'm glad I did." "Would you be willing to go into court and swear to all this?" asked Gertrude. "For that is what it will come to, Newton." "All this and more," he answered. "If you can catch the dirty whelp before he sails for foreign parts, I'll do my part to put him where he belongs. I'm sick of living the life of a dirty dog. I want to be a clean man. I want to be a respectable citizen for the sake of my boy and girl, Miss Van Deusen; and their mother thinks the world of you--and so do I, when you come to that." "I am sure of that," answered Gertrude, smiling again at the thought that it was his loyalty which made of him her chauffeur on that memorable ride. "I shall depend on you now." Thus it happened that Bailey Armstrong, who would trust no man to go alone, took the midnight train for the East, accompanied by the sheriff of Roma; and that, in due course of time, they returned to Roma, "bringing their sheaves with them" in the form of Otis H. Mann, Esq. CHAPTER XXV The Old, Old Story