“Why so?”
“You might slay me here, but the net would be played out or drawn in all the same. You don’t suppose I would place myself in your power the sole custodian of this secret which, if let out, will send your son to the electric chair? I’m no fool.”
The tightly clutched weapon seemed about to fall from Lamont’s hand.
“The secret is unloosed the moment I die at your hands,” continued the cool stranger. “Come, treat me white, and I’ll treat you the same. I want ten thousand for what I know. It saves your boy and rescues your house from disgrace.”
A singular cry welled from the millionaire’s throat, the revolver slipped to the floor and he sank back in the chair in a dead faint.
The stranger leaned forward and opened the drawer, and seeing something there he transferred it to an inner pocket.
CHAPTER XVII.
BACK TO THE RED SPOT.
When Carter and Mulberry Billy reached the street at the foot of Carter’s stairs the boy pointed toward a cab just driving away.
“He must be in that,” said Billy. “I saw him talking to a man from the cab window just now——”
“The man whose face you saw at the window of Mother Flintstone’s den, Billy?”