We persisted.  Mr. Hale was grit clear through.  He disbursed at the rate of one hundred thousand per week for secret service.  The aid of the Pinkertons and of countless private detective agencies was called in, and in addition to this thousands were upon our payroll.  Our agents swarmed everywhere, in all guises, penetrating all classes of society.  They grasped at a myriad clues; hundreds of suspects were jailed, and at various times thousands of suspicious persons were under surveillance, but nothing tangible came to light.  With its communications the M. of M. continually changed its method of delivery.  And every messenger they sent us was arrested forthwith.  But these inevitably proved to be innocent individuals, while their descriptions of the persons who had employed them for the errand never tallied.  On the last day of December we received this notification: 

Office of the M. Of M., December 31, 1899.

Mr. Eben Hale, Money Baron: 

Dear Sir,—­Pursuant of our policy, with which we flatter ourselves you are already well versed, we beg to state that we shall give a passport from this Vale of Tears to Inspector Bying, with whom, because of our attentions, you have become so well acquainted.  It is his custom to be in his private office at this hour.  Even as you read this he breathes his last.

Cordially yours,

The minions of Midas.

I dropped the letter and sprang to the telephone.  Great was my relief when I heard the Inspector’s hearty voice.  But, even as he spoke, his voice died away in the receiver to a gurgling sob, and I heard faintly the crash of a falling body.  Then a strange voice hello’d me, sent me the regards of the M. of M., and broke the switch.  Like a flash I called up the public office of the Central Police, telling them to go at once to the Inspector’s aid in his private office.  I then held the line, and a few minutes later received the intelligence that he had been found bathed in his own blood and breathing his last.  There were no eyewitnesses, and no trace was discoverable of the murderer.

Whereupon Mr. Hale immediately increased his secret service till a quarter of a million flowed weekly from his coffers.  He was determined to win out.  His graduated rewards aggregated over ten millions.  You have a fair idea of his resources and you can see in what manner he drew upon them.  It was the principle, he affirmed, that he was fighting for, not the gold.  And it must be admitted that his course proved the nobility of his motive.  The police departments of all the great cities cooperated, and even the United States Government stepped in, and the affair became one of the highest questions of state.  Certain contingent funds of the nation were devoted to the unearthing of the M. of M., and every government agent was on the alert.  But all in vain.  The Minions of Midas carried on their damnable work unhampered.  They had their way and struck unerringly.