ynn was overseeing the removal. When Clancy entered the garage,
Lafe turned abruptly on his heel and walked into the office. Clancy
followed him.

"What's the matter with you, Lafe?" inquired Clancy. "Why do you take
pains to avoid me, all the time? We can't get along like that--and
remain partners."

A look of suffering filled Wynn's face.

"Owen," said he, with an effort, "every time I look at you I think of
what I am--a thief and a forger, only saved from the penitentiary by
your generosity. It isn't a pleasant thought for a man who wants to be
independent. If I could undo the wrong I did you--if I could---"

"You can--some time," said Clancy. "After you are able, you can pay me
back my just proportion of that fifteen thousand."

"After I am able!" murmured Lafe sarcastically. "That will be a matter
of years, Owen. I can't feel like this for years without going crazy. If
I could find my rascally brother, Gerald, I--I might induce him to give
back the money."

"Never," returned the motor wizard shortly. "Your brother Gerald has
probably got rid of the money by this time. There were two to help him
spend it, remember--Bob Katz and Hank Burton. Those three would make it
fly."

There were extenuating circumstances about what Lafe Wynn had done. The
extenuating circumstances were wrapped up in his unscrupulous brother.
Gerald had told Lafe a pretty fiction about needing money to save him
from dishonor--and Lafe had covered himself with dishonor in order to
help Gerald. No sooner had Lafe secured the money than he and his two
cronies had taken it and made good their escape. This was when Clancy
had been wounded. At the time, he was seeking to help Lafe save the
fifteen thousand dollars.

"I have got to make that loss up to you somehow," muttered Lafe, "and
I've got to do it soon. My conscience will send me to a madhouse, if I
don't."

Clancy studied his partner curiously for a few moments.

"Lafe," he went on presently, "you and I have got to get away from each
other for a while. We are simply millstones around each other's neck.
You can't look at me without thinking you owe me the biggest part of
fifteen thousand dollars, and I can't look at you without thinking how
you betrayed my confidence."

"You can get rid of me, Owen, in about two shakes," said Wynn. "Kick me
out. I haven't any right to be one of the firm, anyhow."

The motor wizard shook his head.

"You've got to hang on and make good in the place