The Cave Man.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 253, 23 October 1907, Page 10

The Cave Man.

B"S" cossiisr.

XXXIV. •' T"or two years Andrews had been living in ease and in enjoyment of the varie.ga.ted activities of his unstrung emotional nature. But. as the quotations of American Motor fell and tumbled, the dead-line of his margin was increasingly in danger. Xative shrewdness, eked out by his partial knowledge of the inner workings of the company, was not long in putting him in touch with the situation. Hi» first impulse was to curse Penrhyn for his greed and stupidity in pushing Wistar too far, and he yielded to it eloquently. But before long he turned the torrents of invective upon himself. He was possessor of information fatal to the fortunes and good name of two men of wealth and position, and he had used it to no better purpose than to gain a monthly stipend and a few thousand dollars, both of which, if the worst cams to the worst, were now in danger. Clearly he nad lacked decision and initiative. Now, if ever, was the time to redeem himself. Waylaying Penrhyn at his office door he dosjged him to his train at the Grand Central. Before he could engage him in conversation, however, the young financier had ensconced himself in one of the colonial arm-chairs in the baggagecar, supplied to card-playing commuters by an indulgent baggage-master, and was beginning a game of bridge. Penrhyn got off at the station of his country club; but Wistar also, Andrews found," was in the knot of men that alighted from the train. There was something in the man that always brought Andrews as much of shame as he was 'capable of feeling, and in his brief moment of irresolution Penrhyn chartered the one land-faring hack at the station and drove away up the slope past the club. Andrews started after it on foot, and, ■when he reached the highway that skirts the club grounds, saw the vehicle in the distance turning up a road that led to the heights commanding a view of the majestic Hudson. He followed to the turning, and sat down by the roadside. It i≤ the adage of children of the nursery and of Wall Street that what goes up must come down, and when the land-1 iaring hack came down Andrews gave I the driver a quarter with an easy air and in return learned whither he had driven Penrhyn. Half an hour later he laboured up a flight of stone steps that led from the road to the grounds of a little summer cottase, which from its lordly altitude commanded the full sweep of the river, shimmering in the late afternoon sunlight beneath its high green palisades thirty miles and more to the statue of Liberty attempting to .enlighten New York. Mounting the ivied "verandah,- he pressed the button at the door, and, as he waited, turned and encompassed the view with an eloquent sweep of his hand. In the ancient serving-woman who answered his ring he recognised Mrs. Boyser. "Tell Mr. Penrhyn," he said with admirable poise, "that a gentleman here wants to see him on business." "Begging your pardon," __ the old woman answered with a no less admirable circumspection, "is the gentleman you?" Andrews clouded. "I won't stand for none of your guff," he said. "Xo offence intended. May I ask what is your business ?" "Say it's his ice bill." The" old woman hesitated, and then went in. Andrews turned, and, his eye lighting on a rustic seat that encircled an old, elm on the lawn, he sat down with a determined air. '"Blast your impudence!" said Penrhvn. coming down the steps with resolute strides. He was in dinner-dress, and the sight of his broad shirt-front awed Andrews for a moment. But it was only for a moment. "Same to you," he vouchsafed without rising. "What I want to know is what's all this monkey tricks on the Street?" Penrhyn paused the fraction of a second, and then, "Only a little flurry," he ventured. •"Flurry? Less than a week ago my shares was worth big dollars. Three days more o* the same and they won't be worth doughnuts." "Well, suppose you do get it in the neck ?" Andrews surveyed him coolly. ,r So daiitrer to my neck! Two years ago Wistar asked mc who bribed mc to crack his safe. Suppose I go and tell him, heigh?" Penrhyn smiled carelessly. "I would not take the trouble." ""Cause why?" "He knows." Andrews gave a start of surprise, more convincing perhaps than if it had been genuine. "Wistar was on it, was you?" Penrhyn's smile broadened, though not jvrth geniality. "Your blackmailing graft is played" out." Then he took on a threatening tone. "If you don't get out of here, and stay out, I give you fair warning, it's off the ice-waggon for you, and on to the water-waggon. Are you on?" Andrews relapsed against the tree with tfcoughtlul satisfaction. "Just what I wanted to make sure of —what Taised such a row." Then he leaned forward, held out his open palm, and with a few telling strokes outlined the course of xeeent events. Penrhyn looked ugly. ; It was not.a pleasant way to be reminded of his past blunder and" his present plight. "Who did you say got it in the neck ?" Andrews triumphed. "Clever stock juggler, Wistar. spite of all his chesty nonsense about trusts." It took but a moment for Penrhyn to regain control of himself. "You're off," he said nonchantly, "way, way off!" "Am I ? Then," why is it worth your while to interrupt your supper and pass the time o' day with a poor working man ? Why is Wistar selling but ? 'Cause he's bolting to join Minot and the rest of the independents to smash the trust." As he spoke he watched Penrhyn's face narrowly. "Between Mr. Wistar and this here Eu-ro-pean combine, they'll sock it to youse, both goin' and eomin'!" He took from his pocket the certificate of his stock. "In six weeks this here won't be worth the paper it's printed on to. I'm on—way, way on! I've got the reason why!" penrhyn answered with jocular indulgence. "Then you know what you could get cold thousands for on the Street. All you've got is cold feet. If you're afraid the slump is going any further, I'll advance you a few hundred on your ice bill to tide you over." "So, after all, my; graft isn't quite, played oat, heigh?" Andrews laugheVL. "You want mc to wait till you've busted Wiitar. And where'll I.be if he busts you ? Work all the week, and preaching in Madison Square to drown the hot

, coppers in my gullet! I guess nit! I ~ ! Sarow both o , yon, and the man gives mc 11-®i!LiestJs.Kistar, Ifs ng_ja..jpu to

eive mc the cold thousands for thest here shares." He paused a moment, anc then concluded with resolution: 'TJnless you fork over, here and now, I tell "svhat I know to my broker. See ?**_ "Believe you—a gaol-bird!'" Penrhyn's tone was still jocular and indulgent; but the striped suit is not a jest to those who have bean inside it. 'Tfone o' your insults!" Andrews cried. "Suppose I agree to sell that" story , to the newspapers ? You and the old: man traitors and thieves'. My broker could go short and make thousands! " Your game and the old man's reputation knocked higher than a kite, heigh?" His resentment spent, he paused, and watched Penrhyn's face with jintense cunning. "The mere price o'the shares is a song. Give mc five thousand dollars for "em, or I peach to-morrow!" Penrhyn did not speak. Andrews saw his opportunity. Thrusting the certificate into his pocket, he strode toward the gate. "Good-bye," he said, over his shoulder. "I hate to do you dirt, Penrhyn, but you've had your chanct." •TVait a minute!" Penrhyn called after him. alarm overcoming his inward rage. "I haven't the money here. What do you want mc to give you ? A cheque ?" "Why not ? You're in the mud as deep as mc. Only, not to be promiscuous with my signature, you'll have to cash it for mc in the morning, and let mc. tear it up." Glancing about to make sure they were alone, Penrhyn took out a pen and a cheque-book and wrote. 'That's the ticket for soup!" Andrews applauded. ''Wait a mJTnit.pt" penrhvn said. "I'm getting tired of that little "matter of the ice bill. He held out the -cheque to the other's view. "I've made it for sis thousand. I'll give it to you and cash it in the morning if you'll sign some little papers that will close the books between us/ Andrews thought a moment. At the outset he had been amazed at Penrhyn's amateurish neglect in failing to protect 1 mmself again blackmail. Now that Wistar had learned the truth his secrefwas clearly of value only in a crisis like the present. "Sure, Mike!" he concluded. As he pocketed the cheque he smiled complacently. "The trouble with you, Penrhyn," he said, "is that you haven't quite got your hand in at this sort of thing. What's that the poet says ? 'Oh, 'tis a tangled ■web we weave when first we practice to deceive.' But when we've ' done it onct or twice, we learn the trick that cuts the ice." : As Andrews was turning to go, Boyser I came out and announced that coffee was served in the library. Seeing her, Andrews dug his heel in the turf and swung about. "I ain't had my supper yet," he said ! in a low voice to Penrhyn. "Her nibs here wanted to know just now if I was a gentleman. When this sort of thing passes between gentlemen, they gen'lly wet it, don't they?" In another minute the entire party would be sitting behind the open win- \ dows on the porch, if they were not al- j ready there. It was not the time to stand between a dog and his bone, and Penrhyn could not hustle the man away without attracting notice. "Oh, Boyser," he said, "here's a man [ who has brought mc a message from town. Give him a bite in the kitchen, and let him out the back gate." He offered her a bill, but she turned her eyes , from it, and, coming out on the lawn,"led Andrews about the house to the back door. As he disappeared in the shrubbery, Judith came out on the verandah, with a dubious glance at Penrhyn. "Andrews!" she said. "Here—with you?" It was a matter of months since he promised her an account of the situation that had led Wistar to rise up from his sick bed in protest; and, though he had since been wiui her constantly, he had not offered it. Nor had she* asked it. At first he had assured himself that her silence was a piece of good fortune, but he was too astute to continue long in self-deception. Hers was a nature of rare dignity; and, their relations being what they were, she disdained an act that implied a lack of faith in him. But the code that restrained her to silence commanded him to speak. From day to day he had intended to make what explanation he could. He had it on the tip of his tongue. But no one was more conscious of its inadequacy than he, and there was something in the clear rectitude of her mind that had kept the woras unspoken. Now a thing had happened which put him almost hopelessly on the defensive. "The bad penny," he said. "You know the proverb." " 'The proverb is somewhat musty,'" she quoted, looking him gently in the eyes. "Tou have asked mc to give up for ever the hope of love," she added, laying her two hands on his shoulders. "Be sure what you offer is true comradeship." As for Andrews," he's been speculating in our stock in a small way, and his margin is in danger. He followed mc up here to get a tip." She was silent. "Of course, I couldn't advise him; but he's a poor devil, and I gave, him enough money to buy him a maal and a bed till ha can get work again." Still she was silent, and he felt impelled to go on: "As for-Wistar, what he wants is you It was to please you he came in with us, giving up his principles, about which he talked so loudly. And now that has failed, he has made this grandstand play to save iiinot, in the hope of impressing you and discrediting mc." "That is not like him. Are you quite fair? How can it be right to ruin Mr. Minot in cold blood?" "Ah, that's the question I've feared! The question that I've hesitated, all these weeks, to take up with you! You know sometning of evolution in biology. The same laws operate in society and business. Minot is one of the unfit." As they were talking she had passed to a bed of roses that lay along an old stone wall by the roadside, and was now plucking a cluster to carry into the house. "When these first began to bud," he said, "I saw you cutting off the small early buds—to make these larger and more beautiful." "It's a very pretty simile for a very ugly thing. And Mr. Wistar—is he also one of ine unfit?" She smiled at at once subtly and frankly. "When he takes sides with Minot he becomes so! It lies in our power to develop this industry like the American ■Beauty rose—to meet our foreign rivals, even "to beat them. Progress-by the death of .the unfit—if any man had inVented it, it would" be called murder and greed! ■ Bnt it was ordained by a power as much greater than our own as it is unknowable. All we can be sure of is that it is the only means by which, the wise and strong survive. These are ideas, and it gn

honour to be associated with him in realising them." She glanced at him ruefully and shrugged her shoulders. "But there's always the question —just who are the unfit? I aon't think you feel as fit as you did a month ago. The old look has come back into father's eyes. For myself, I feel as if I had hung up for weeks, like a suit of clothes in a Bowery misfit-shop. What does it all mean?" Pehrhyn's face became hard and set, but when he spoke it was with courage and .conviction. "It looks now as if Wistar intended to join Minot in his fight against us. It will be a hard fight and a long one. But we are right, and we are stronger. In the end we shall win!" "For father's sake, I hope so. But I am sorry, very sorry that you waited to tell mc "all tnis until matters had come to such a pass." She started toward the house with the flowers, and was met at the door by Boyser. "That man, in the kitchen," the old woman said, "he's drinking up the whole bottle and insultin' of Mary." By this time Penrhyn was not in a pleasant mood. "I'll settle him!" he said, between his teeth, striding toward the back door. "Wait, Stanley!" Judith cried after him. Penrhyn stopped short. "Is it quite the place for you?" "I .am the mistress of the house," she said. "In this matter you might at least consult mc." Then, as if to soften the rebuke, she added, "Don't you think it win be easier for mc to shame him into behaving? If not, then you can use stronger measures." (To be continued next Saturday.) MEDICAL.

2s. 6d.