“I will,” replied the senior Reade. “I have a matter of great importance to give you, Frank, my boy. If your invention is as good as my steam man even, and does not improve upon it, it will yet perform the work which I want it to do.” A light broke across Frank, Jr.’s face. “Ah!” he cried. “I see what you are driving at. You have an undertaking for me and my new machine.” Frank, Sr., looked steadily at Frank, Jr., and replied: “You have hit the nail upon the head.” “What is it?” “First, I must tell you a story.” “Well?” “It would take me some time to go into the details, so I will not attempt to do that but give you a simple statement of facts; in short, the outline of the story.” “All right. Let us have it.” The senior Reade cleared his throat and continued: “Many years ago when I was traveling in Australia I was set upon by bushmen and would have been killed but for the sudden arrival upon the scene of a countryman of mine, a man of about my own age and as plucky as a lion. “His name was Jim Travers, and I had known him in New York as the son of a wealthy family. He was of a roving temperament, however, and this is what had brought him to Australia. “Well, Travers saved my life. He beat off my assailants, and nursing my wounds brought me back to life. “I have felt ever since that I owed him a debt which could not be fully repaid. At that time I could make no return for the service. “Jim and I drifted through the gold fields together. Then I lost track of him, and until the other day I have not seen or heard from him. “But I now find that it is in my power to give him assistance, in fact to partly pay the debt I owe him. This brings us to the matter in hand. “Six months ago it seems that Jim who is now a man of great wealth, still a bachelor and for a few years past living at a fashionable hotel in New York went to his club. When he returned in the evening he found a note worded like this:” Mr. Reade laid a note upon the table, Frank read it: “DEAR TRAVERS:—I would like to see you to-night upon a very important matter. Will you meet me in twenty minutes at the cafe on your corner. I must see you, so be sure and come. “A FRIEND.” “Of course Jim wondered at the note, but he did not know of an enemy in the world, so he felt perfectly safe in keeping the appointment. He started for the cafe. “The night was dark and misty, Jim walked along and had got near the cafe when somebody stepped out of a dark hallway and grasped his arm. “‘Come in here,’ a sharp voice said, ‘we can talk better here than in the cafe.’ “Before Jim could make any resistance he was pulled into a dark hallway. Two men had hold of him and something wet was dashed across his face and over his hands, then he felt some liquid poured over his clothes and some object thrust into his pocket.