Weegman watched the southpaw's face, noting the look of consternation
upon it. Suddenly snapping his fingers, he began speaking again:
"That's why I came to you, Locke. What's done must be done quickly.
After eleven o'clock to-morrow it will be too late. You know what
that means for you. Garrity hates you like poison, and you won't last
any time after he gets control. You can raise that money."
"A hundred and fifty thousand dollars! You're crazy!"
"You can do it, and save yourself. If you'll do the right thing by me,
I'll tell you how to raise the needful. Together we'll hand Garrity
his bumps. What do you say? Is it a go?" He sprang up and approached,
his hand extended.
Locke rose and faced him. The scorn and contempt upon his face would have
withered a man less calloused. Weegman recoiled a little, and his hand
dropped to his side.
"Weegman," Lefty said, "you're the most treacherous scoundrel I
ever had the bad fortune to meet. You're just about as trustworthy as
a rattlesnake. Heaven knows I need money, and I certainly want to hold
my job, but not even to save my own father and mother from being turned
out of the home that has sheltered them so long would I enter into any
sort of partnership with you."
A look of astonished wrath contorted Weegman's features, and a snarling
laugh broke from his lips. "You poor fool!" he cried. "You've
thrown away your last chance! I did think you would know enough to save
yourself, but I see you haven't an atom of sense in your head."
There was something almost pitying in the smile Lefty gave him.
Something, also, that caused the man a sudden throb of apprehension.
"You're the fool, Weegman," returned the southpaw. "You have
confessed the whole rotten scheme. You have betrayed yourself and your
fellow conspirator, Garrity."
"Bah!" the rascal flung back, snapping his fingers again. "What good
will it do you? I'll deny everything. You can't prove a thing. I was
careful that there should be no witnesses, no one to hear a word that
passed between us."
Locke grabbed him by the wrist, and snapped him round with a jerk, facing
one wall of the room. "And I," he cried, "took care that every word
we uttered should be heard by two reliable persons. I set the trap for
Garrity, but I have been unable to decoy him into it. You walked into
it unbidden. Look!"
With two strides he reached a dresser that stood against the wall. He
seized it and moved it aside. With one finger he pointed to a small,
square, black object that clung to the wall two feet from the floor.
"Look!" he commanded again.
Weegman stared uncomprehendingly, yet with the perspiration of dread
beginning to bead his forehead.
"What is it?" he asked huskily.