From beyond the door came the sound of voices. He heard a man speaking, and then, suddenly, another man who appeared to be both excited and distressed. Then he saw Jones spring like a panther toward that door and hurl it open. Astonished, Lefty quickly followed Jones into the office.
They burst in upon four persons. Two of them, who looked like plain-clothes officers, seemed to have a third in charge. This man was desperately and wildly appealing to Charles Collier. It was Bailey Weegman.
“It’s an outrage, I tell you!” Weegman was crying. “It’s a lie! I haven’t used the mails to defraud. I learned an hour ago that officers were after me on that charge, and I hurried to you, Mr. Collier. They followed me here. You must help me! I served you–”
“You served me a crooked turn,” interrupted Collier coldly. “You have your nerve to come to me!”
Locke’s eyes were on Jones. The man’s face was aflame with triumph and joy and fathomless satisfaction. He flung out his hand, his finger pointing like a pistol at Weegman.
“Hanson Gilmore!” he cried in a terrible voice.
The mute had spoken! Frozen with amazement, Lefty saw Weegman twist round, saw a light of terror come into his eyes, saw him cower and cringe, pale as death and shaking like an aspen.
“You swore away my liberty, you dog!” the voice of Jones rang through the room. “You were the scoundrel who conceived the Central Yucatan Rubber Company, and profited by it! When the prison doors closed upon me I swore I’d never speak again until every dollar you had taken from the victims of that concern was paid back–until you were brought to book for your crime. I’ve kept that vow. I’ve searched for you, determined to bring you to justice somehow. Now you have brought justice upon yourself.”
Crouching like a creature stung by the pitiless lashing of a whip, the accused wretch appealed chokingly to the officers who had arrested him: “Don’t let him touch me! Look at his eyes! He’s mad! Keep him off! Take me away!”
“Yes, take him away,” said Jones. “And if he doesn’t get a prison sentence for this last piece of work, I’ll keep after him until he’s punished for his other crimes.”