“Within half an hour Dan Pettigrew came roarin’ up in front o’ my office in the big red automobile of his father’s.  In a minute he came in to see me.  He out with his business soon as he lit in a chair.

“‘I’ve learned that this man Rolanoff is a scoundrel,’ says he.

“‘A scoundrel!’ says I.

“‘Of purest ray serene,’ says he.

“I put a few questions, but he’d nothing in the way o’ proof to otter—­it was only the statement of a newspaper.

“‘Is that all you know against him?’ I asked.

“‘He won’t fight,’ says Dan.  ’I’ve tried him—­I’ve begged him to fight.’

“‘Well, I’ve got better evidence than you have,’ I says.  ’It came a few minutes before you did.’

“I showed him a cablegram from a London barrister that said: 

“‘Inquiry complete.  The man is a pure adventurer, character nil.’

“‘We must act immediately,’ says Dan.

“‘I have telephoned all over the village for Sam,’ I says.  ’They say he’s out in his car with Aleck an’ Lizzie.  I asked them to send him here as soon as he returns.’

“’They’re down on the Post Road I met ’em on my way here,’ says Dan.  ‘We can overtake that car easy.’

“Well, the wedding-day was approaching an’ Aleck had the money, an’ the thought occurred to me that he might give ’em the slip somewhere on the road an’ get away with it.  I left word in the store that if Sam got back before I saw him he was to wait with Aleck in my office until I returned, an’ off we started like a baseball on its way from the box to the catcher.

“An officer on his motor-cycle overhauled us on the Post Road.  He knew me.

“‘It’s a case o’ sickness,’ I says, ‘an’ we’re after Sam Henshaw.’

“‘He’s gone down the road an’ hasn’t come back yet,’ says the officer.

“I passed him a ten-dollar bill.

“‘Keep within sight of us,’ I says.  ‘We may need you any minute.’

“He nodded and smiled, an’ away we went.

“‘I’m wonderin’ how we’re agoin’ to get the money,’ I says, havin’ told Dan about it.

“‘I’ll take it away from him,’ says Dan.

“‘That wouldn’t do,’ says I.

“‘Why not?’

“‘Why not!’ says I.  ’You wouldn’t want to be arrested for highway robbery.  Then, too, we must think o’ Lizzie.  Poor girl!  It’s agoin’ to be hard on her, anyhow.  I’ll try a bluff.  It’s probable that he’s worked this game before.  If so, we can rob him without violence an’ let him go.’

“Dan grew joyful as we sped along.

“‘Lizzie is mine,’ he says.  ‘She wouldn’t marry him now.’

“He told me how fond they had been of each other until they got accomplishments an’ began to put up the price o’ themselves.  He said that in their own estimation they had riz in value like beef an’ ham, an’ he confessed how foolish he had been.  We were excited an’ movin’ fast.