n the next train. But I
can't wait forever."

"What's the gimmick, James?"

"First, I am sick and tired of running and hiding, and I think I've got
enough to prove my point and establish my rights. Second, there is a bit
of cupidity here; the reward money is being offered out of my own
inheritance so I feel that I should have some say in where it should go.
Third, the fact that I steer it into the hands of someone I'd prefer to
get it tickles my sense of humor. The trapper trapped; the bopper bopped;
the sapper hoist by his own petard."

"And--?"

"It isn't fair to Martha, either. So the sooner we get this whole affair
settled, the sooner we can start to move towards a reasonable way of
life."

"Okay, but how are we going to work it? I can't very well turn up by
myself, you know."

"Why not?"

"People would think I'm a heel."

"Let them think so. They'll change their opinion once the whole truth is
known." James smiled. "It'll also let you know who your true friends
are."

"Okay. Twenty-five hundred bucks and a chance at the last laugh sounds
good. I'll talk it over with Janet."

That night they buried Charles Maxwell, the Hermit of Martin's Hill.

BOOK THREE:

THE REBEL

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

In his years of searching, Paul Brennan had followed eleven fruitless
leads. It had cost him over thirteen hundred dollars and he was prepared
to go on and on until he located James Holden, no matter how much it
took. He fretted under two fears, one that James had indeed suffered a
mishap, and the other that James might reveal his secret in a dramatic
announcement, or be discovered by some force or agency that would place
the whole process in hands that Paul Brennan could not reach.

The registered letter from Tim Fisher culminated this six years of
frantic search. Unlike the previous leads, this spoke with authority,
named names, gave dates, and outlined sketchily but adequately the
operations of the young man in very plausible prose. Then the letter went
on in the manner of a man with his foot in a cleft stick; the writer did
not approve of James Holden's operations since they involved his wife and
newly-adopted daughter, but since wife and daughter were fond of James
Holden, the writer could not make any overt move to rid his household of
the interfering young man. Paul Brennan was asked to move with caution
and in utter secrecy, even to sending the reward in cash to a special
post-office box.