CHAPTER XII.
THE PARTICULARS OF A SWINDLE.
"This hotel haunted?" gasped the proprietor. "Sir, you are mistaken.Such a thing is impossible."
"It is true," insisted Mr. Wilberforce Chaster. "I shall not stay hereanother night."
"What makes you think it is haunted?"
"There is a ghost in my room."
"Oh!" shrieked a maid who had come on the scene. "A ghost! I shall notstay either!"
"What kind of a ghost?" demanded Andrew Mallison.
"A--er--a skeleton--and some skulls! I saw them with my own eyes," wenton the victim. "Come and see them for yourself."
"This is nonsense," said the hotel proprietor. "I will go and convinceyou that you are mistaken."
He led the way and half a dozen followed, including Wilberforce Chaster,who kept well to the rear. Just as the party reached the door of theapartment Joe and the bell boy came up.
Without hesitation Andrew Mallison threw open the door of the room andlooked inside. Of course he saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"Where is your ghost?" he demanded. "I see nothing of it."
"Don't--don't you see--er--a skeleton?" demanded the man who had beenvictimized.
"I do not."
Trembling in every limb Wilberforce Chaster came forward and peered intothe room.
"Well?" demanded the hotel proprietor, after a pause.
"I--I certainly saw them."
"Then where are they now?"
"I--I don't know."
By this time others were crowding into the apartment. All gazed around,and into the clothes closet, but found nothing unusual.
"You must be the victim of some hallucination, sir," said the hotelproprietor, severely.
He hated to have anything occur which might give his establishment a badreputation.
"No, sir, I saw the things with my own eyes."
The matter was talked over for several minutes longer and then the hiredhelp was ordered away.
"I shall not stay in this room," insisted Wilberforce Chaster.
"You need not remain in the hotel," answered Andrew Mallison, quickly."You can leave at once. You have alarmed the whole establishmentneedlessly."
Some warm words followed, and the upshot of the matter was that thefussy old boarder had to pack his things and seek another hotel thatvery night.
"I am glad to get rid of him," said the hotel proprietor, afterWilberforce Chaster had departed. "He was making trouble all the time."
"We fixed him, didn't we?" said the bell boy to Joe.
"I hope it teaches him a lesson to be more considerate in the future,"answered our hero.
Several days passed and Joe had quite a few parties to take out onthe lake. The season was now drawing to a close, and our hero began towonder what he had best do when boating was over.
"I wonder if I couldn't strike something pretty good in Philadelphia?"he asked himself. The idea of going to one of the big cities appealed tohim strongly.
One afternoon, on coming in from a trip across the lake, Joe foundAndrew Mallison in conversation with Mr. Maurice Vane, who had arrivedat the hotel scarcely an hour before. The city man was evidently bothexcited and disappointed.
"Here is the boy now," said the hotel proprietor, and called Joe up.
"Well, young man, I guess you have hit the truth," were Maurice Vane'sfirst words.
"About those other fellows?" asked our hero, quickly.
"That's it."
"Did they swindle you?"
"They did."
"By selling you some worthless mining stocks?"
"Yes. If you will, I'd like you to tell me all you can about those twomen."
"I will," answered Joe, and told of the strange meeting at the old lodgeand of what had followed. Maurice Vane drew a long breath and shook hishead sadly.
"I was certainly a green one, to be taken in so slyly," said he.
"How did they happen to hear of you?" questioned Joe, curiously.
"I answered an advertisement in the daily paper," said Maurice Vane."Then this man, Caven, or whatever his right name may be, came to me andsaid he had a certain plan for making a good deal of money. All I had todo was to invest a certain amount and inside of a few days I could clearfifteen or twenty thousand dollars."
"That was surely a nice proposition," said Joe, with a smile.
"I agreed to go into the scheme if it was all plain sailing and thenthis Caven gave me some of the details. He said there was a demand for acertain kind of mining shares. He knew an old miner who was sick andwho was willing to sell the shares he possessed for a reasonable sumof money. The plan was to buy the shares and then sell them to anotherparty--a broker--at a big advance in price."
"That was simple enough," put in Andrew Mallison.
"Caven took me to see a man who called himself a broker. He had anelegant office and looked prosperous. He told us he would be glad to buycertain mining shares at a certain figure if he could get them in thenear future. He said a client was red-hot after the shares. I questionedhim closely and he appeared to be a truthful man. He said some folkswanted to buy out the mine and consolidate it with another mine closeby."
"And then you came here and bought the stock of Malone?" queried Joe.
"Yes. Caven made me promise to give him half the profits and I agreed.I came here, and as you know, Malone, or Ball, or whatever his name is,pretended to be very sick and in need of money. He set his price, and Icame back with the cash and took the mining stock. I was to meet Caven,alias Anderson, the next day and go to the broker with him, but Cavendid not appear. Then I grew suspicious and went to see the broker alone.The man was gone and the office locked up. After that I asked some otherbrokers about the stock, and they told me it was not worth five cents onthe dollar."
"Isn't there any such mine at all?" asked Joe.
"Oh, yes, there is such a mine, but it was abandoned two years ago,after ten thousand dollars had been sunk in it. They said it paid solittle that it was not worth considering."
"That is certainly too bad for you," said Joe. "And you can't find anytrace of Caven or Malone?"
"No, both of the rascals have disappeared completely. I tried to traceCaven and his broker friend in Philadelphia but it was of no use. Morethan likely they have gone to some place thousands of miles away."
"Yes, and probably this Ball, or Malone, has joined them," put in AndrewMallison. "Mr. Vane, I am exceedingly sorry for you."
"I am sorry for myself, but I deserve my loss, for being such a fool,"went on the victim.
"Have you notified the police?" asked Joe.
"Oh, yes, and I have hired a private detective to do what he can, too.But I am afraid my money is gone for good."
"You might go and reopen the mine, Mr. Vane."
"Thank you, but I have lost enough already, without throwing good moneyafter bad, as the saying is."
"It may be that that detective will find the swindlers, sooner orlater."
"Such a thing is, of course, possible, but I am not over sanguine."
"I am afraid your money is gone for good," broke in Andrew Mallison. "Iwish I could help you, but I don't see how I can."
The matter was talked over for a good hour, and all three visited theroom Malone had occupied, which had been vacant ever since. But a huntaround revealed nothing of value, and they returned to the office.
"I can do nothing more for you, Mr. Vane," said Andrew Mallison.
"I wish I could do something," said Joe. Something about Maurice Vanewas very attractive to him.
"If you ever hear of these rascals let me know," continued the hotelproprietor.
"I will do so," was the reply.
With that the conversation on the subject closed. Maurice Vane remainedat the hotel overnight and left by the early train on the followingmorning.