“You’re both under arrest,” Taylor said, addressing his captives. “Boys,” he commanded his satellites cordially, “take her into one of those side rooms and keep her there till I call. They can talk without speaking, these two. I’ll question ’em separately.” For the second time within an hour he searched Denby. From the right-hand pocket of his dinner jacket he took an automatic pistol. From the left he drew out the string of pearls. “It’s a pippin, all right,” Taylor muttered, his eyes gloating over the treasure. “How much did you pay the girl?” “Not a cent,” his prisoner asserted. “Nothing. You’re all wrong there.” “Then why did she tip you off just now?” “She didn’t tip me off,” Denby told him. “She didn’t say a word, as you yourself must have heard.” “Can it! can it!” Taylor retorted impatiently. “I saw the result all right, but I couldn’t get on to the cause. What did she do it for?” Denby shrugged his shoulders and smiled a little. It was the first time he had come off his high horse. “Maybe,” he hinted, “she didn’t want to see me go to prison.” “Oh, you pulled the soft stuff, eh?” Taylor said. “Well, she tried to double-cross me and that don’t pay, Denby. She’ll find that out, all right.” Denby assumed a certain confidential air. “Look here, Taylor,” he said, “so long as she did the decent thing by me, I’d like to see her out of this. You’ve got me, and you’ve got the pearls--Why not let her go?” Taylor shook his head. He did not signalize his triumphs by the freeing of captives or the giving of rewards. “I guess not,” he returned with his sourest look. “You’ve both given me a lot of unnecessary trouble, and I think a little trip down south ought to fix you two comfortably. What do you say to five years in Atlanta? Fine winter climate they say.” “Then I guess we are up against it;” Denby sighed. “You are, son,” Taylor assured him; “right up against it.” “Take it out on me,” the other implored; “ease up on her. It isn’t as if she were a grafter, either. Why, I offered her twenty thousand dollars to square it.” “Tried to bribe a Government official, eh?” Taylor observed. “That don’t make it any better for you.” “Oh, you can’t prove it against me,” Denby returned easily. “Twenty thousand dollars,” Taylor muttered; “twenty thousand dollars! So you _were_ trying to smuggle it in for the Harringtons, then?” “I hate bringing names in,” said Denby, looking at him shrewdly. “Well, they’ll have to come out in court anyway,” the other reminded him, and then reverted to the money. “Twenty thousand dollars!” he repeated. “It seems to mean a whole lot to you--or somebody--to get this through, eh?” “It does,” Denby returned, “and it’s a big lot of money; but I’d rather pay that than sample your winter climate down south--see?” He looked at him still with that air of confidence as though he expected Taylor to comprehend his motives. “Say, what are you trying to do?” Taylor said sharply; “bribe me?”