“Quick now, boy. Don’t lose a minute. There will be some heart-broken mothers in town tomorrow night. There’s but one choice: the plains of the West, or a prison pen.”
“I’ll go at once,” Billy cried, seizing his hat and hastily leaving.
Pale and haggard, John slowly returned to his office. He looked at his watch. It was five minutes to three. Stella was waiting to receive him. He could hear the low sweet tones of her voice greeting him, and see her great brown eyes smiling their welcome.
But his mind was made up. Safety lay in flight. He wrote a brief reply to her letter.
My dear Miss Butler:
I thank you for the honour you do me in the request you make. I regret that I cannot see my way clear at present to accept your offer. I have many reasons, and I beg you to believe that they are very serious ones—otherwise I would hasten to answer in person your call.
With sincere regrets,
John Graham
Stella received the note with mingled surprise and rage, and immediately wired the Attorney General in the cipher code he had given her asking for the assistance for two months of the best detective the Secret Service could command.
General Champion replied within two hours. “Mr. Ackerman leaves here to-night. He will report to you in Independence to-morrow.”