Charley, you're foolish!
What could be Ernest's object in deceiving me? He's as honest as
daylight. He knew I was desperate and wouldn't care where he got the
money as long as there were no strings to it."

Charley flushed painfully. "I don't blame you for feeling that way.
That's why I wanted to see the papers in the matter."

"And why should Werner," asked Roger, "put money into a thing he never
saw, when--Oh rot, Charley! I thought you had a mind like a nice
fellow--above such hen rubbish."

"My mind is feminine through and through," returned Charley. "I knew
you'd scold me. But promise me one thing--that you'll ask Ernest to let
you see the contracts."

"I'll do that, of course. I should have done it before. That's being
only businesslike."

The opportunity for the request came at the breakfast table but in a
manner different from what Roger had planned.

"Somebody ought to take Mrs. von Minden's tent down," said Charley. "It
looks stark lonely now at the dismantled plant."

"By the way," exclaimed Ernest, "Roger, we never sent that poor fellow's
papers to a German Consul. But it's just as well. When I saw Werner in
New York it turned out that he knew Von Minden. He said he'd forward his
papers to the proper persons."

"How on earth did he know Crazy Dutch?" asked Roger.

"Just what I asked him. He says that a part of his work in this country
is to keep an eye on all the resources of America, particularly of the
Southwest. They like to keep in touch with the Germans coming to this
country and help them to a profitable living. Seems that Von Minden
really was quite an engineering pioneer before he went bug."

"You never did say, Ern," Roger's voice was casual, "how you happened to
run on Werner."

"Didn't run on him at all," replied Ernest irritably. "I went up to see
him on my way home. He told us to call on him if we ever were in New
York. And I wasn't coming back to this God forsaken hole without seeing
Broadway. Where is the mysterious black box, Rog?"

"I'd rather send the papers to a German Consul, Ern. Now that they're in
a state of war, over there, it might be more regular."

"I promised Werner he should have them. Don't be a stick in the mud,
Rog, and try to put anything regular over on me after all your
high-handed predatory methods down here."

Roger flushed. "I haven't taken a thing that won't be paid for to the
last dollar."

"Well, I'm not going to quarrel with you about Von Minden's