beady eyes narrowed in a frown of thought. Then
he slapped the table with his open palm.

"By----!" he ejaculated.

"I'm inclined to fancy the whole thing is a cleverly arranged scare
which those fellows have chosen to throw into us in order to protect
themselves," went on Mr. Podmore, nodding with satisfaction at his own
logic. "You can understand that, surely. If I am guessing correctly,
they have succeeded in providing a fine denial of the fact that there
ever was such a thing as our contribution to the Campaign Fund."

"I told you!" cried Alderson excitedly. "The Hon. Milt said he
wouldn't have anything to do with it. He said we'd contribute at our
own risk, didn't he?"

Nickleby rounded on him.

"Shut up, you jackass!" he ordered angrily.

Podmore's eyebrows arched a trifle at this admission. Already he had
surmised something of the kind. The Honorable Milt was nobody's fool,
he knew. For the matter of that, neither was Hughey Podmore.

"They'll be expecting us to keep our mouths shut and let things take
their course," he continued, choosing to ignore the interruption. "The
money's not lost, Alderson. They'll keep on swearing up and down that
they haven't got it, of course; but that's just the coy way in which
these things are handled. It's my opinion that the sacrifice of that
million bags of peanuts up the elephant's trunk will ensure a good
performance when the circus starts."

"I believe you've struck it, Pod," nodded Nickleby slowly.

"I'm sure of it," agreed Mr. Podmore, allowing himself a little laugh
of satisfaction. "Hadn't Frank better write Brady a cheque and get rid
of him? He's probably waiting outside, and we don't want him nosing
into anything."

This seemed to meet with the approval of the others, and when the check
was ready the head of the Brady Detective Agency was called in and
handed a cigar, the cheque and some plausible explanations which
enabled him to return to his office with no hard feelings. Detective
Brady never found it an inconvenience to receive money.

The air had cleared wonderfully by the time Detective McCorquodale
arrived with Robert Clayton in tow--so much so that both anxious
gentlemen were somewhat surprised at the smiles which greeted them. If
anything further were needed to convince Nickleby that he had been too
hasty in his conclusions, this frank, clean-cut young American supplied
it, and as the brief interview progressed the President of the