THE LION’S SHARE [Illustration: “Yes,” he said quietly, “you are right, it is blood.” Page 99] THE LION’S SHARE _By_ OCTAVE THANET Author of The Man of the Hour, Stories of a Western Town The Missionary Sheriff A Book of True Lovers, etc. With Illustrations by E. M. ASHE INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1907 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY OCTOBER ROBERT DRUMMOND COMPANY, PRINTERS, NEW YORK CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE MAN WITH THE MOLES 1 II AUNT REBECCA 25 III THE TRAIN ROBBERS 46 IV THE VANISHING OF ARCHIE 70 V BLIND CLUES 83 VI THE VOICE IN THE TELEPHONE 100 VII THE HAUNTED HOUSE 118 VIII FACE TO FACE 138 IX THE AGENT OF THE FIRELESS STOVE 152 X THE SMOLDERING EMBERS 171 XI THE CHARM OF JADE 195 XII A BLOW 212 XIII WHOSE FEET WERE SHOD WITH SILENCE 245 XIV FROM MRS. MELVILLE’S POINT OF VIEW 254 XV “THE LIGHT THAT NEVER WAS” 265 XVI THE REAL EDWIN KEATCHAM 290 XVII IN WHICH THE PUZZLE FALLS INTO PLACE 321 XVIII CASA FUERTE 343 XIX EXTRACT FROM A LETTER 371 _Serene, indifferent to fate, Thou sittest by the Western gate, Thou seest the white seas fold their tents, Oh, warder of two continents. Thou drawest all things small and great To thee beside the Western gate._ THE LION’S SHARE CHAPTER I THE MAN WITH THE MOLES The first time that Colonel Rupert Winter saw Cary Mercer was under circumstances calculated to fix the incident firmly in his memory. In the year 1903, home from the Philippines on furlough, and preparing to return to a task big enough to attract him in spite of its exile and hardships, he had visited the son of a friend at Harvard. They were walking through the corridors of one of the private dormitories where the boy roomed. Rather grimly the soldier’s eyes were noting marble wainscoting and tiled floors, and contrasting this academic environment with his own at West Point. A caustic comment rose to his lips, but it was not uttered, for he heard the sharp bark of a pistol, followed by a thud, and a crackle as of breaking glass. “Do you fellows amuse yourselves shooting up the dormitory?” said he. The boy halted; he had gone white.