."

"Got it with you?"

"The biggest part of it," Farland replied.

He told the truth, too, for he always carried plenty of money while
working on a case.

"Suppose I simply take it away from you," the guard said.

"In the first place, I don't think you are that kind of a man. And you
want to get square with the man who called you a dog, don't you?"

"What's your scheme?"

"Simply let me go, right now. It is dusk outside already. Tell me how to
get to town the quickest way. I'll give you almost all I have on me;
I'll need a little to use to get back to the city. To-morrow I'll meet
you some place and give you the rest. In addition I'll give you a chance
to get out without being arrested for your part in abducting me and
holding me here."

The man spent a few minutes in thought.

"I'll fix you so you can slip your bonds," he said, "and I'll hand your
automatic back to you. It is there in the cupboard. But I don't want you
to make a get-away while I'm guarding you--see? I don't exactly love the
man who'll guard you next. I'll fix it so you can handle him. Wait for
five minutes after he comes and I have gone. I will be away for an hour
or so, and the escape can happen while I'm not here."

"That suits me," Farland said.

"What about the money?"

"You'll get it just as soon as I get my hands loose."

The guard walked to the hall door and opened it, peered out into the
hall and listened. Then he hurried back to the couch and cut Jim
Farland's bonds. Farland took the money from one of his inside pockets
and handed it over. The guard got the weapon from the cupboard and gave
it to Farland.

The detective stretched himself down on the couch again, and the guard
adjusted the ropes on his ankles and wrists so that they would appear to
be all right. Farland slipped the automatic beneath the small of his
back, where he could reach it quickly.

It was half an hour later before the guard was changed and Farland's
friend hurried away, warning him with a glance that he should not make a
move too soon. He had declined to meet the detective the following day
and get the few dollars still due him; he would rather use what he
already had in getting out of town, he had said.

Farland made no attempt to talk with the new guard. He pretended to be
tired, almost exhausted and sleepy. The guard sat beside the table,
smoking and glancing at a newspaper now and then, apparently of the
opinion that Farland was safely a prisone