“You think just because you’ve been over here a year or so and they have made you a sergeant that you know everything. I haven’t forgotten how you tried to run things at Oak Hall. Of course, some of the fellows toadied to you, but if you’ll remember, I wasn’t in that crowd.”
“Now, Nat, don’t get so hot under the collar. It won’t get you anywhere. We’re both over here to do our duty, so what is the use of quarreling? I was going to ask you about some of the folks at home and how Crumville looked and all that; and I thought maybe you would like to know something about Ben Basswood and the other fellows you know who are over here.”
“I don’t want to know anything about Ben Basswood or any of the others of the bunch who are under your thumb. I’m with a crowd that suits me a great deal better than that Oak Hall bunch ever did. But I’ll tell you one thing, Dave Porter,” went on Nat suddenly. “There is one fellow in our command that you had better keep your eyes open for.”
“And who is that?”
“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough—that is, if you ever get any real news from Crumville,” answered the money lender’s son insinuatingly.
“Then you don’t want to tell me?”
“Well, if you want to know so bad, it’s Lieutenant Max Gebauer, the son of that millionaire jewelry manufacturer of Philadelphia,” went on Nat triumphantly. “You know their firm and the Wadsworth concern have a whole lot of business dealings.”
“Well, what has Lieutenant Gebauer and those business dealings to do with me?” questioned our hero, although he knew about what was coming.
“I guess you thought you had it all settled with Jessie Wadsworth and had it all fixed just how you were going to tie fast to the Wadsworth fortune,” continued Nat. “Well, maybe you’ll have another guess coming. I don’t imagine Jessie Wadsworth thinks as much of you as you think she does.”
“Don’t you think you had better let Jessie drop, Nat? Our feelings for each other are our own, not yours.” And Dave’s voice grew a trifle cold.