erwards. Fur as my
own money was concerned, I hadn't any kick, but.... However, I'm talkin'
too much. Go on, Mr. Sylvester, I'm ready to hear whatever you've got to
say."

"Thank you, Captain. You make it easier for me. It seems that your
brother's first step toward wealth and success was taken about nineteen
years ago. Then, somehow or other, probably through a combination
of luck and shrewdness, he obtained a grant, a concession from the
Brazilian Government, the long term lease of a good-sized tract of land
on the upper Amazon. It was very valuable because of its rubber trees."

"Hey?" Captain Elisha leaned forward. "Say that again!" he commanded
sharply.

Sylvester repeated his statement. "He got the concession by paying
twenty thousand dollars to the government of Brazil," he continued. "To
raise the twenty thousand he formed a stock company of two hundred and
fifty shares at one hundred dollars each. One hundred of these shares
were in his own name. Fifty were in the name of one 'Thomas A. Craven,'
a clerk at that time in his office. Craven was only a dummy, however. Do
you understand what I mean by a dummy?"

"I can guess. Sort of a wooden image that moved when 'Bije pulled the
strings. Like one of these straw directors that clutter up the insurance
companies, 'cordin' to the papers. Yes, yes; I understand well enough.
Go ahead! go ahead!"

"That's it. The fifty shares were in Craven's name, but they were
transferred in blank and in Mr. Warren's safe. Together with his own
hundred, they gave him control and a voting majority. That much we know
by the records."

"I see. But this rubber con--contraption wa'n't really wuth anything,
was it?"

"Worth anything! Captain Warren, I give you my word that it was worth
more than all the rest of the investments that your brother made during
his lifetime."

"_No!_" The exclamation was almost a shout.

"Why, yes, decidedly more. Does that surprise you, Captain?"

Captain Elisha did not answer. He was regarding the lawyer with a dazed
expression. He breathed heavily.

"What's the matter?" demanded the watchful Kuhn, his gaze fixed upon his
client's face. "Do you know anything--"

The captain interrupted him. "Go on!" he commanded. "But tell me this
fust: What was the name of this rubber concern of 'Bije's?"

"The Akrae Rubber Company."

"I see.... Yes, yes.... Akry, hey!... Well, what about it? Tell me the
rest."

"For the first year or two this company did