They both stared at Brent, who had approached through the woods unperceived. It was characteristic of him that he had not hurried (at least he had not run), and he carried his customary whimsical and lazy air of self-possession. He had a paper in his hand, and what with this and his spectacles and altogether non-combatant manner, he looked as if he might be a lawyer bent on settling the dispute out of court. In his other hand he held his flashlight of adventurous memory.
“By the way, Doctor Somers,” said he, “I’m curious to know if you ever really were in the forestry service; you seem to know so much about it; you had me puzzled. I kind of suspected you weren’t a tree dentist, but I never knew you were a doctor. That’s a good front name you’ve got—Slicksby. Mother’s maiden name? I’ll always think of you as Slick—Slick Somers. Here you go, Tommy, glance at this, that I picked up under Conner’s elm.”
In the funniest way he handed the paper and flashlight to Tom (for it was now dusk) as if they were two parts of something to be used. And all the while he kept his eye on the discomfited Somers.
“Just a minute, alias Lawton,” said Brent. “This is turning out to be a real adventure after all. You found the money for us. Shall I take it? I can tell you all about it; that box has three thousand dollars in it belonging to your old friend out there in Missouri and we knew about it before you did, only we didn’t know where it was.”
Meantime, Tom was reading the paper. I have that paper now; it is my souvenir of the big adventure. It consists of about half a sheet of business letter paper, the lower half, so it contains no printed heading. I think, however, that it may be the letter paper of some lawyer. It contains the last part of a typewritten letter and a signature which I have never taken the trouble to investigate, and which I shall omit here. This was the letter, or as much of it as the sheet contained:
not to mention the note on which you forged the signature of endorser. The other matter about the automobile would certainly be considered as obtaining money under false pretenses. I set these two instances before you not as a threat but simply that you may know that the proceedings, if the matter is carried to the point of litigation, would inevitably take the form of a criminal action.
I am as anxious to avoid this as I am sure you must be, and it was for that reason that I suggested the possibility of your getting some accommodation in the matter of your salary at the sanitarium, so as to avert such a sequel.
I assume that this has not been possible. I doubt very much whether under the circumstances the professional money-lender would do business with you, as you have intimated. I have been able, as I say, to secure the promise which holds the matter in suspense until September 1st, and I very sincerely hope that you will be able to hit on some plan of securing the two thousand dollars by that date.
Yours very truly,
(Signature of sender)
To Doctor Slicksby Somers,
State Hospital, Mo.
On the back of this letter are roughly scrawled in lead pencil certain brief memorandums. These do not appear in sequence, but are written every which way on the sheet, and their general appearance suggests, I think, that they were jotted down as they were secured, perhaps with difficulty, from the person who gave them. Perhaps each memorandum was the result of patient and discouraging catechizing. Who shall say? I copy them here in order:
Rattlesnake Gulch near Sandyfield township, Haverstraw, N. Y. East of Sloatsburg, N. Y. Big pond near—maybe half mile. Sloatsburg—maybe a little north. Swamp two miles west of place—about. Cabin—old ruin near well. Well—lots of brush. Either tree near cabin or near well—over well—elm. Hole in crotch—second branch. Try trees near cabin first. Must reach down. Conner’s Hollow other name—could ask. Seth Borden—or Borsen—if alive could direct to Gulch—Ramapo. In tin box.
Tom glanced hurriedly over the letter and the not too intelligible notes on the back of it.
“So you’re the doctor—his doctor—that’s supposed to be in Europe, huh?” he sneered. “Oh, yes, we know old Mink—and now we know you. Give me that box, Somers; come, hand it over before I knock you flat, you low-down sneak!”