“He sent one of his tools to me with a contract for me to sign. I tore it up. As I say, my blood had been aroused, and I warned him then that neither cajolery nor money could silence me. I warned him that I would expose and disgrace him, so that every honest man in the country would regard him with scorn and aversion. Had it been mere blackmail, Sukes could have silenced me with money. He sought to do so, but found he was barking up the wrong tree. He threatened libel suits and all that; but I kept on at my work. As a last desperate resort he paid an employee of mine to fire my office in Denver, and the result of that affair was that the treacherous fellow who betrayed me fancied I had perished in the fire. It drove him insane. He pursued Sukes relentlessly, and it is certain that Sukes was finally killed by that man’s hand.”
“So you say, Merriwell; but I hold quite a different opinion—quite a different opinion.”
“Whatever your opinion may be, Morgan, it is a matter of absolute indifference to me.”
Macklyn Morgan showed his teeth.
“You may think so just now, young man, but you will change your mind. I have been investigating this matter thoroughly. I have followed it up faithfully. I know how and where Sukes was shot. I have taken pains to secure all the evidence possible. You were present at the time. You were there in disguise. Why did you pursue and hunt him in disguise? It looks black for you, Mr. Merriwell—it looks black. These things will count against you at the day of reckoning, which is surely coming. How will you explain your behavior to the satisfaction of the law?”
“That’s no matter to worry you, Macklyn Morgan,” calmly returned Merriwell. “If there is anything of explanation, I shall have the explaining to do. Don’t trouble yourself over it.”
“You have a great deal of nerve just now, young man; but it will weaken—it will weaken. Wait until you are arrested on the charge of murder. Had you killed an ordinary man it might have been different; but Milton Sukes was a man of money, a man of power, a man of influence. All his money, if necessary, will be used to convict you. You cannot escape. Just as true as this case is put into the hands of the law you will eventually be hanged.”
In his cold, calm, accusing way, Morgan was doing everything in his power to unsettle Frank’s nerves. As he spoke, he watched the youth as a hawk watches its prey.
“I fail to see your object in coming to me with this,” said Merry. “It seems most remarkable. If you intend to push such a charge against me, why don’t you go ahead and do it? Why do you tell me what you contemplate doing? The proper method is to secure every scrap of evidence and then have me arrested without warning and thrown into jail.”
“I have all the evidence I need,” asserted the money king. “Merriwell, I have men who will swear that you fired that shot.”