stealing a million, smiled at the policeman who had tapped his shoulder
and asked him for a light for his cigarette. Addicks had not turned a
hair as he hung up the telephone receiver, and here he was cowering in a
mortal funk, abjectly hopeless.

"Lawson, the game's up," he said in a trembling voice. "That was Fred.
He says Dwight Braman has had himself appointed receiver of Bay State;
that he raided the Wilmington office immediately after he was appointed,
broke open desks, and took all the papers he could find, and that in an
hour or so he will be in Philadelphia and in possession of all my books
and papers. He has a court order for the bank accounts and the right to
take charge of our funds."

"This is a startler," I said; "what are we going to do?"

"The trap is perfect, and I'm in it. They've caught me with every bar
down. Before, when they attempted to get a receivership, things were
ready for them--books and papers packed for Europe and cash in charge of
an unserved officer prepared at the first word to start for Canada. But
now, a few days before election, when if I don't throw a lot of money
into Delaware for my followers, they'll turn on me like wolves--they've
caught me napping. It's a plot, sure--a receiver in possession,
particularly Braman, and appointed in a way that shows deliberate
calculation, proves it was done by some one who knows our situation to a
'T.' It means ruin for me and the company. You know I won't have a
friend left on earth, and enemies now will rise up like snakes before a
prairie fire."

It was indeed a stiff, tough turn, yet I was watching the man rather out
of curiosity to note how he could take a reverse than out of sympathy. I
don't believe there was another man on earth who, similarly placed,
would not have aroused my pity; but Addicks--no man or woman has pity
for Addicks.

"Well," I repeated, "what are we going to do?"

He did not reply for a moment. I continued to look at him. The eyes
haunted me. I noted that the lines round the lids had deepened into
furrows. He half raised himself from the lounge.

"I've said they would never get me, and they won't." Instinctively his
hand sought the pocket into which he had dropped what he had taken from
the dresser's drawer. Then I knew. The yellow streak showed plain at
last. I had guessed from the start it was there.

The stock manipulator in common with the successful general must have
the capacity to deal with the unexpected.