d organization. Things have come to such a pass that
it is largely a matter of machinery. The side with the biggest machine
and the most oil--and gas--is pretty sure of passing the grandstand in
the lead. The oil is most important, and long before the race it is
gathered into a large tank called the 'Party Campaign Fund,' by
henchmen who call upon various friendly corporate institutions. You
follow me?"

"Right at your heels," smiled Kendrick.

"Well then, one of these substantial little contributions not long
since while on its devious way to the Place of Burnt Offerings was
ambushed by somebody with a hankering for the fleshpots of Egypt--fifty
thousand dollars cold, stolen as slick as a whistle. I happen to be
one of the very few, outside of the principals in the transaction, who
know anything about it; for campaign fund contributions are among those
things which men of discretion do not discuss from the housetops. I'm
not going to say just now how this information reached me; but it is
necessary for you to know that the Interprovincial Loan & Savings
Company is vitally interested in the recovery of this money, or at
least in the identity of the thief. And when we speak of the
Interprovincial in these halcyon days we speak of J. Cuthbert Nickleby,
its astute president. A thing like this could never have happened if
Nat Lawson had been in the saddle.

"Mention of Nickleby brings me to Podmore, who is nothing more than a
tool of Nickleby's. I knew when I hired Podmore as my secretary that I
was hiring a spy. I knew his record. You see, they were aware of the
fact that I was interesting myself on behalf of my friend, Lawson.
Podmore hadn't been with me two days before the beggar had the
combination of the safe aboard this car. He's a smooth one. But I
figured to learn as much from him as he got from me. Before we get to
Toronto I'll give you the inside history of that Lawson situation; for
it's mixed up with the rest of it.

"But let me get back to this stolen money. It was done up in an
envelope just like this one which Podmore stole from the car the other
night; fact is, they're duplicates. It was a little experiment which
Cranston and I decided to try out to get Podmore where we wanted him.
We're going to have an interesting session with him after a bit on the
off chance of securing some information. I haven't a great deal of
confidence in third-degree methods; but I'm letting Cranston have a
fl