THE ENDS OF JUSTICE,

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13484, 26 July 1907, Page 6

THE ENDS OF JUSTICE,

BY FRED. M. WHITE. [eOPYBISfiT.I CHAPTER XVIII. MOSTYN ALARMED. Seth Powell looked likely to collapse just for the moment. Renton crossed over and shook him vigorously. "Now, listen to me," he said, between his teeth. " You have matters in your own hands. If you play me hilse you are a lost man. Do what I tell jou and you are free. Take Mostyn's side, and we shall drag you into the daylight. Act fairly by me, and the suicide Seth Powell shall remain decently buried in the grave where he is su}>posed to rest." The seedy little man looked up with a vacant, watery eye. Evidently he was terribly afraid of Mostyn. 1 here was another impatient ring at the bell. Powell moistened his dry lips and muttered something that sounded like " Brandy." Renton hustled him out of the double doors and closed them carefully. A door opened somewhere, the voice of Mostyn was distinctly heard. He strode into the presence of the quivering Powell. "Anybody in the next room?" he demanded. "Doctor," Powell gasped, as if swallowing something- hard. " Out all day. Never home except at night. You can speak freely." " I'm going to," Mostyn said grimly. "Now, you little rascal, wliat do. you mean by treating me in this fashion r" The big man towered over the little one. His face was coarse and red with anger. Had Powell been legs alarmed he would not have failed to note the uneasy gleam in the eyes of his antagonist. " I've done , nothing," he whined. " You promised me a certain sum of money every week, and I've not had a penny for a fortnight." " Because I'm very short of ready cash. Why did you leave here yesterday, saying you were not coming back for some days?" " Because I had a warning that there was danger about." Mostyn started slightly. He had not expected a reply like that. "Indeed!" he exclaimed. "And where did your warning come from?" " It came from a gentleman who shall bo nameless." "You fool!" Mostyn cried passionately. "Do you mean to say that you have actually taken anybody into your confidence?" '* "That's as it may be," Powell said doggedly. " I'm not quite the blind tool you think I am." " If I only had you out in the open with a hunting-whip," Mostyn muttered. " I didn't want any of your friends to know you were still alive." ' • Matter of indifference to me what you wanted," said Powell, taking a desperate pull at his courage. If the worst came to the worst he had friends close at hand. " I had to live. When I came into your company I had saved £1,000. I had slaved and sweated fpr the money — I was going to put it into some sound business. I was going to grow rich. And what happened ? I was fool enough to believe in you ; I let you have my bard savings, gulled by your pretty promises. And it's all gone. I could strangle you when I think oi it." He started up in a burst of hysterical passion, the headlong rage of the weak man that becomes so dangerous at times. There was a heavy ruler on the table, and Powell waved it over his head in an alarming manner. The big bully turned slightly pale, and Powell saw it. " You ruined me,," he went on. " You made a tool of me; and when I was under your thumb you made me write that letter. I was going to save you, and I was going to get everything back again. And when you got me doad to the world you let me starve for all you cared." > "Steady!" Mostyn said quite softly. "Steady! steady!" "Oh, of- course," Powell sneered. " You're all right. And you can defy me because lam legally dead. But you don't do it, Mr. Mostyn. If I go to Mr. Renton and tell him all I know, a pretty figure you'll cut. And I'll do it unless you come to my terms." Mostyn crushed down the rage that filled him. He was beginning unpleasantly to recognise that his tool was* likely to cut him? " Let us talk this matter over quietly," he said. "That you were an honest man who was ruined by contact with me is all nonsenso. You have alwajys been "ready to do anything for money. I chose you because I know that. And you shall , be rich yet. I have a great scheme on hand that will set us all on our feet again. Never mind what it is." " I know," Powell went on. "I know all about the ' Lone Star.' " ' ' You — you know — you know all about the 'Lone Star!' " Mostyn fairly gasped. His face was pale, his lips were trembling and uneasy. The little man on the other side of the table followed up his advantage. " I know everything," he said with a grand air. " I kept my eyes open. When I found that you were a vulgar swindler, and that I had lost my money, I kept my eyes open wider still. It seemed to me that I could afford to wait my time. And when the great coup comes off I take a third of the plunder." " Oh, you take a third," Mostyn said blankly. " And who " "Takes the other two? Wiry, James Stevens and yourself. If I don't share I go straight to Mr. Renton." Mostyn shaded his eyes as if thinking deeply. As a matter of fact, the expression of his face was so murderous that he was fearful lest the other should see it. When he looked, up again he was smiling quietly. • " I'm afraid you've got me," he said. " But as to a third, why, that is all nonsense. " Still, if you are to benefit you are not going to shirk your share of the work. You are going to Hull for me, where you are going to keep your eyes open, and keep an eye upon James Stevens. If he robs me, he robs you, you understand. Give me some paper and ink and a pen."

IVloslyn lifoewded to >.-\!:».' ;< lettr;, 0 work ul composition tine Mtiipied him somo coru ide^ ; j J>!e time. I'inall.v i< scaled and Wwukd o\<r io i ; oweU. " You '.'/:• I «.-o to ilril t')-.tiu;!n/' lv s:ih!. " lii'iv ;.:" i',\(; ii .-o-iJt-mid liai'" lor ym, un-1 wl't'U you u.uit jnort* \ i v . ui'G tv !;•! ii'.t' K,:r>u. T;<k»' ilie hticr to the address imi ih<' (Mciii).", asi'l 1 here you v.'-ii he U>id vAuii t.i <!'•. And now I taney thai ycu n;id 1 uh'i'.Tstai'd one another." " We are be^uimny io,"' l*owell said drily. Mostyn ros9 and prol'e'Ted lii.s hand. For clioiee he would iar rather ha nstrangled Hie little nuui with the queer smile on liis \un\ A moment later and i lie was out oi' the licnse and striding alonj? the .sireet. "Well, that'h all rijjht," Poweli muttered as lie wij)ed his iaee. " He's a coward and a bully, that's what he is. Ik I'd only known that before. Well, gentlemen?" The easy smile was for I»en1on. w Im> came into the room, iol lowed by Catlicart. It was evident iii.it Powell w;-s ieelinji; on p>od terms with him.seli. '• You carried that olf welt," t-aid Renton. " 1 fhitter myseli I did." Powell s-n'd with proper hrnniiity. " It was tlu> touch aboul Hie ' f<oiu> Star' that did it. And I know i'o more about tin • Lone Star ' than I <!o about Arabic, except that she's at the bottom ot the sea." (To b© continued.)