CHAPTER VI. A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION.

“Well, by gad!” exclaimed the colonel, realizing suddenly what sort of a lad he had to deal with in Matt King.

“What’s that for, pard?” inquired McGlory.

“It don’t belong to you, or to McGlory, or to any one but me!” said Levitt. “If you try to keep that document, King, you’re nothing more nor less than a thief.”

The red ran into Matt’s face.

“Softly, softly,” breathed the colonel. “This talk of thieves, Levitt, is a little premature. Matt King is a friend of McGlory’s, and he could not be that if there was any yellow streak in his nature. No, by gad! We are all gentlemen here. King, sir, if that manila envelope contains papers belonging to our mutual friend, Levitt, you will return them to him, will you not?”

“After a while,” said Matt; “not immediately.”

The colonel seemed thunderstruck.

“You hear?” muttered Levitt, between his teeth. “He’s trying to play double with us, Billings! Those papers mean a whole lot to me, and I’m going to have them!”

The colonel’s mood underwent a change. Attempts at conciliation having failed, there now remained nothing but vigorous action. His first move was to pass rapidly to the door, turn a key in the lock, and drop the key into his pocket. Then he once more approached Matt.

“May I inquire, young man,” he bristled, “what you mean by this most remarkable conduct?”

“I’m trying to protect Joe and myself,” Matt answered.

“Protect? Protect yourself and Joe against what, in Heaven’s name?”

“Against being drawn into a criminal act by you and Levitt, and being compelled to take the consequences.”

“He talks like a fool!” snapped the mining engineer.

“He is misinformed, that’s all,” said the colonel.

“I’m not misinformed,” went on Matt sturdily. “These New York capitalists hired Levitt to go to Arizona and investigate the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ He made two reports, one private and the other for the members of the Syndicate. One says the mine is no good, and the other, of course, gives it a glittering recommendation.”

“How do you know,” asked Levitt, his voice shaking with anger, “that the Syndicate’s report is different from the other?”

“Because Colonel Billings is paying you for making it,” replied Matt. “Would the colonel give you good money for handing that private report over to the Syndicate? Hardly. Colonel Billings is here to sell the mine.”

“How do you know Billings is paying me anything?”

“He has already paid you a little, and you came out here this morning to receive the rest of it. If that crazy runabout of yours hadn’t interfered, you’d have been able to turn the private report over to the colonel, and no one would ever have been the wiser.”

“How do you know all this?” Levitt’s voice was husky.

“There was a letter from the colonel in the envelope along with the report.”

“By gad!” Billings whirled on the mining engineer. “You don’t mean to say, Levitt,” he asked, “that you had so little sense as to keep that letter of mine?”

“Why shouldn’t I keep it? It was the only thing in the way of an agreement that I had with you.”

“Then”--and the colonel tossed his hands--“that lets in the search light on the two of us.”

“And we’ve caught a tartar in this meddling young whelp,” ground out Levitt, waving his hand toward Matt.

“He’s an intelligent youth, Levitt,” declared the colonel, “and amenable to reason. Let me talk with him. My dear young man,” said the colonel to Matt, “assuming that what you say about the report is true, in what way are you legally liable through association with Levitt and myself?”

“You’re trying to swindle a company of New York capitalists,” answered Matt, “and Joe and I, not knowing the deal was crooked, have already been dragged into it. If we allowed the plot to go on we would be equally guilty with you and Levitt, and we could be arrested and sent to prison.”

A tolerant smile crossed the colonel’s face.

“Suppose I assure you that there is not the remotest possibility of any of us going to prison,” said he; “will you give up that report and letter?”

Matt hesitated, not because his determination was wavering, but because he wanted to put his thoughts in the right words.

“It means a fortune to McGlory,” urged the colonel; “and what kind of a fellow are you to euchre a friend out of a fortune?”

“It’s not an honest fortune,” declared Matt, “and Joe can’t afford to accept it. Besides, what good would it do him if he found himself in the penitentiary for obtaining money under false pretenses?”

The colonel was beginning to lose patience.

“You’ve got less sense than any cub of your years I ever met up with!” he cried irritably. “How much money do you want for that report and letter? That’s your play, I reckon; and I’d rather shell out a hundred or two than have any trouble with you. How much do I bleed?”

The colonel measured Matt with wrathful and inquiring eyes.

“You haven’t money enough to buy me!” declared Matt.

“Aw, cut it short!” broke in Levitt savagely. “What’s the use of fooling with him any longer?

“Wait!” cautioned the colonel. “McGlory,” he went on, to the cowboy, “what do you mean by lugging such a two-faced longhorn into a private and important council like this?”

“You’re wide of your trail, colonel,” said McGlory, with spirit. “There’s nothing two-faced about Matt King, and you can spread your blankets and go to sleep on that. He’s the clear quill from spurs to sombrero, and the best pard that ever rode sign with me. Don’t you make any mistake in taking his sizing.”

“Well, what is he trying to rope down and tie your bright prospects for?”

“He’s got more sense in a minute than I have in a year, and you can bet your boot straps he knows what he’s doing--even if I don’t.”

“You’re far wide of your trail, Joseph. Matt King is committing an illegal act this minute. He has property belonging to Levitt and refuses to give it up. He could be jailed for a thief. But we’re not going to jail him. We’ll just take that report and letter from him.”

“Then you’ll have to walk over me to do it, colonel!” asserted McGlory.

“By gad!” muttered the colonel. “You’ve got as little sense as he has.”

“Brainwork never was my long suit, but I’ve seen enough of Pard Matt to feel safe in banking on any notion that he bats up to me.”

“Bah!” gibed the colonel. “I’ll talk with you later, McGlory, and take pains to show you the error of your way. As for Matt King, he’s a false friend. He’s jealous because you’re about to come into a fortune, and he’s doing all he can to shift the cut and leave you stranded.”

“That’s not true!” said Matt. “Joe knows me better than that.”

“Sure I do, pard. Come on, and let’s get out of here.”

The actions of the two men were threatening. McGlory started toward the door; but happened to remember that it was locked, and that the colonel had the key in his pocket.

“Cough up the key, colonel,” said the cowboy. “Don’t force me to yell and have up that fellow with the knee pants and the lilocks.”

“It will be better for you youngsters,” growled the colonel, “if you don’t raise a commotion. The surest way to see the inside of a lockup is by calling for help. Are you going to hand over those papers?” And he turned to Matt. “Last call.”

“I’ll return them,” said Matt, “but not till after that meeting to-night.”

He slipped the manila envelope into the breast of his coat. Having planned what he considered was the best move, the young motorist was never more resolute in seeking to carry it out. Even though he was retaining Levitt’s property, yet right and justice upheld him in doing so.

“By Jupiter,” murmured Levitt, his eyes flaming, “he’s intending to take that private report to the Syndicate meeting to-night! If he does----” He gulped on his words, finishing with a significant glance at Billings.

Matt was wondering how he and McGlory could get out of the room without making too much of a scene. He understood very well that the colonel could inaugurate a pursuit, in case he and his chum succeeded in getting away with the envelope and its contents, and that, for a time at least, any story the colonel and Levitt chose to tell would be accepted. Temporary advantage was all on the side of the colonel and the mining engineer.

“He won’t show that paper at the meeting, Levitt,” gritted the colonel, now thoroughly aroused. “We’re done fooling with him.”

He stepped toward Matt from one side, while Levitt advanced from the other. The cowboy tried to push closer to his chum, but the colonel held him back. One of the colonel’s hands went groping in the direction of a hip pocket. Matt guessed what the hand was after.

“The window, Joe!” he called.

Simultaneously with the words, the king of the motor boys whirled, pushed through the window, lowered himself swiftly from the sill, and dropped.

The colonel grabbed at the hands on the sill, but they pulled out from under his gripping fingers; then, looking downward, he saw the lithe, agile form of Matt King lift itself from a flower bed and fade from sight around a corner of the building.

Two young fellows with golf sticks were crossing the lawn and had witnessed Matt’s drop from the window. Naturally they were surprised at the peculiar proceeding and stood looking up at the colonel.

“Catch him!” bawled the colonel; “he’s a thief!”

That was enough. The two members of the Country Club darted away after Matt.

McGlory was making preparations to drop from the other window, but the colonel grabbed him at the critical moment and forced him into a chair.

“Off with you, Levitt!” the colonel called. “You can catch that young cub! And when you do overhaul him get the report and the letter at any cost.”

As he finished the colonel flung the door key toward the engineer. The latter let himself out of the room and bounded excitedly down the stairs.