“I’ll tell my story, and you will see,” replied the lawyer. “I went down to the plant and cornered Saxton in his private office. He looked quite bored at our prompt action. I belong to his set, and, as he realizes, I know some of his business secrets. He began to explain, as he called it. Thousands of dollars worth of stuff had been stolen from the works he claimed. Some had been found at your house. He said he didn’t believe your intention was to steal them, that you probably took them to select what you wanted, and would square up later.”
“The hypocrite!” commented Ben hotly.
“I faced him right down,” went on Mr. Pearsons. “I informed him that it was a pretty dangerous thing to destroy a good man’s character off-hand. He is a man of no real backbone, and I scared him nearly to death. He kept mumbling over that he hoped no harm had been done, that he didn’t intend to prosecute. I defied him to do so. I told him if he didn’t, we would force the issue and fight him to the last ditch, till we found out which one of his accomplices planted those fittings in your work shed.”
“Good—good!” cried Ben.
“Then I demanded the return of your airship parts,” continued the lawyer. “He flushed, hemmed and hawed, and looked flustered. Certainly he would return them. Sure he had made a mistake. The clumsy officers had no right to take them. All right, I said, where were they? Saxton said they were in the possession of the constables. If I would send around about four o’clock they would be ready for me. Then I opened up on him, I think I gave him a tongue lashing he will never forget. I told him he was a thoroughly bad man, and I would be obliged if he didn’t speak to me when I passed him on the street.”
“Mr. Pearsons, you are indeed a true friend,” said Mr. Hardy with emotion.
“I know that I am that man’s enemy from this time forth,” declared the lawyer. “He is a disgrace to the community. As I left his place, I met a fellow named Bogart. I got him out of jail last year, and he has always felt very grateful to me. He has been doing odd jobs helping the regular constables, and he took me aside and let the cat out of the bag.”
“How do you mean?” inquired Mr. Hardy.
“Why, he told me that just as soon as the constable reported to Saxton, he sent two of the airship parts by special messenger to his lawyer. You know who that is—that shrewd, tricky Mason, a man who ought to be disbarred from his unscrupulous methods. My informant said that Mason at once put his office force at work to make drawings of the new parts and get out specifications. They expect to get the papers by special mail to Washington on the two o’clock train.”
“It is too bad,” said Mr. Hardy gloomily.