“You say,” said Matt, “that the document is headed ‘Private Report.’ Why should it be a private report if it is for the syndicate?”
“Private for the syndicate, I reckon.”
“Hardly that, Joe. Unless there’s some skullduggery that report ought to be public property—public enough so that it could go into a prospectus. What’s the other paper?”
McGlory opened the other document, and found it to be a letter from Colonel Billings, dated nearly a month previous.
“It’s a letter from the colonel, Matt,” the cowboy announced, “and is addressed to Levitt. The colonel says he will not pay Levitt the balance due until Levitt sends him the private report on the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ proposition.”
“Great spark plugs!” exclaimed Matt.
“What’s strange about that?” demanded McGlory. “If Levitt made an examination of the property he certainly expects pay for it.”
“But not from the colonel, Joe! Levitt was examining the mine for the syndicate, and he’s not entitled to any money from the colonel unless he’s doing shady work of some kind.”
“Speak to me about that!” muttered McGlory. “It looks as though we’d grabbed a live wire when we got hold of this yellow envelope.”
“I don’t like the way the business stacks up,” said Matt earnestly. “The owner of this troublesome runabout happens to be Hannibal J. Levitt, and he’s playing an unscrupulous double game. Glance through that report and give me the gist of it.”