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Page 68
The remark was warranted. The occupants of the vehicle were Colonel
Jeptha Harrington and Lem Wacker.
CHAPTER XXVII
LATE VISITORS
The little express office was dark and lonely-looking when Bart again
reached it.
Bart unlocked the office door, shot the inside bolt carefully after him,
lighted the lantern, placed it on the desk, and opened the safe.
As he selected the big brown envelope marked "Martin & Company," and
bearing the express company's shining green seals, his fingers tingled.
The immensity of the sum intrusted to his charge perturbed him a trifle.
Bart relocked the safe, stowed the envelope in an inner pocket, and
opened the drawer of a little stand leaning against the safe.
He took out a revolver. Mr. Leslie himself had advised him to always
have one handy in the express office. Bart had never touched the weapon
before. It had been loaned him by Mr. Haven, and Darry had brought it
to the office. Bart slipped it now into a side pocket.
He noticed in detail the entry on the messenger's slip. The prepaid
charges on the Martin & Company consignment were seven dollars and
seventy-five cents, or five cents for every hundred dollars or fraction
of it over the first fifty dollars, which was charged for at regular
tariff rates, twenty-five cents.
"It is fifteen thousand dollars, right enough!" mused Bart. "Now, to
make sure of the form of receipt."
He filled out a special receipt that acknowledged besides the usual
delivery, a verification of the amount of the inclosure, its acceptance
as correct, and left a blank for the names of two witnesses.
Bart was now ready to sally forth on his peculiar errand, and had fully
decided in his mind the persons he would get to act as his witnesses.
"What is that!" he questioned, suddenly and sharply.
He could hear a springy vehicle bound over the near tracks, and then its
wheels cut the loose cindered road leading up to the express office.
It halted. He could catch the quick, labored breathing of two horses, a
carriage door creaked! some low voices made a brief hum of
conversation, and the vehicle seemed to depart.
Bart stood stock-still, wondering and guessing. Footsteps sounded on the
platform. There came a thundering thump as of a heavy cane on the office
door.
"Who is there?" demanded Bart.
"Colonel Harrington. I've got to see you."
"Come in," Bart said, unbolting the door.
Colonel Harrington was red of face and fussy of manner. He threw the
door shut with his foot, and sank to a bench, breathing heavily.
"Was there something you wanted to say to me, Colonel Harrington?"
inquired Bart.
"Yes there was!" snapped out the rich man of Pleasantville. "Anxious to
see you! Just drove up to your house. They told me you were here. I once
offered you a hundred dollars."
Bart nodded, with a faint smile.
"It wasn't enough," stumbled on the colonel. "I am now going to make it
a thousand."
"Why, what for, Colonel Harrington?" demanded Bart in surprise.
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