Yamuro appeared in the door, bearing a telegram, and swiftly Hamilton Burton tore the envelope.
"I am bringing in the pelt," were the highly informative words. "Hendricks accompanies me, Ruferton."
The financier crumpled the slip in his hand and smiled.
"It's fortunate," he murmured half-aloud, "very fortunate—for Ruferton—that he didn't fail."
CHAPTER XVI
WHEN Mr. Ruferton and Mr. Hendricks presented themselves at the door of Hamilton Burton's house the clock was striking nine. After divesting himself of his overcoat the politician stood waiting before the open fire with the manner of one who faces a doubtful half-hour and who faces it with grave anxiety.
Ruferton meanwhile made opportunity to slip his portfolio to the butler with the request that Mr. Burton should run through its contents before he came down-stairs and that was a request with which his employer fully complied.
Yet within a few minutes the financier entered the library, his face lit with a sunny smile of cordiality. Hendricks took a hasty step forward. "Mr. Burton," he questioned tensely, "in heaven's name, what is this menace of which you sent me warning?"