CHAPTER IX
A TRUSTING DISPOSITION
Reggie flushed and gave a little uneasy laugh. For one who usually had avery good opinion of himself, he seemed singularly embarrassed.
"The truth is, old top," he said, "I scarcely know where to begin. I'mafraid I've been a fool, don't you know."
"Nonsense," said Joe encouragingly. "We all make mistakes. The fool isnot the man who makes a mistake but the one who makes the same mistaketwice. The perfectly wise man has never yet been born. At least, if hehas I've never met him."
"It's awfully good of you to talk that way," replied Reggie, "and itmakes it easier for me to tell you what I've got to say. But before I goany further, let me ask you one question: Have you seen anything of thatTalham Tabbs I mentioned in my telegram?"
"Yes," answered Joe nonchalantly. "I saw him for the first timeyesterday. Rather unexpected meeting it was, too, for a fact."
"Where did you see him?" asked Reggie eagerly.
"On top of a lumber pile," was the answer.
"On top of a lumber pile?" repeated his friend, with a puzzled air."What on earth was he doing there?"
"Swinging a baby above his head and threatening to throw it down on therailroad track," replied Joe.
Reggie stared blankly at Joe, as though he thought he was suddenlybereft of reason.
"I never was good at riddles, old chap," he said. "Tell me just what youare driving at."
And then Joe told him all the happenings of the day before, while Reggielooked at him with open-eyed wonder.
"And you brought him down with the first shot," he marveled. "That aimof yours is certainly a pippin. McRae made no mistake when he got you onhis staff."
"It was a case of touch and go," remarked Joe. "I simply _had_ to gethim on that first try. If I'd missed him then, I'd never have had achance for a second shot."
"I'm glad the poor beggar wasn't badly hurt," said Reggie. "Are you surethat he's perfectly safe down in the jail?" he added as an afterthought.
"I don't see where he could be much safer," answered Joe. "Old HankBailey hasn't any more brains than the law allows, but I guess he'llkeep him right and tight. Besides, he was strapped to the bed when I sawhim this morning. I gave Hank a special tip to be on the watch, and Iguess we don't have to worry about laying our hands on him when we wanthim."
"That's good!" ejaculated Reggie, with a sigh of relief. "I'm beginningto see daylight now."
"Well, now," said Joe, "that I've told you all I know, suppose youloosen up and tell me just why you're so interested in the doings ofTalham Tabbs."
"I will," answered Reggie, "and you'll be the first living soul to knowanything about it outside of Tabbs and myself. I haven't even told Mabelabout it, though she and I have been close pals ever since we werechildren. And as for breathing a word of it to the governor----" HereReggie spread out his hands in a gesture that was more eloquent thanwords.
Joe thought to himself that he could very readily understand why Reggiemight shrink from revealing anything to the stern, gruff father, of whomhe had caught an occasional glimpse; but when it came to the womanlysympathy of Mabel it was different.
"You see," went on Reggie, "I've been thinking for some time that Iought to settle down--make something of myself--go into business ofsome kind or other--what?"
Joe had privately long had a similar feeling about Reggie. What he hadseen of his friend had shown him a young man who was seeking the frothof life rather than the substance, chasing the phantom of pleasurerather than facing the sober realities of things as they are. Had hebeen any one else than the brother of Mabel, Joe would simply haveclassed him as a social butterfly and let it go at that. As it was,he had excused a lot of things because of his youth, and now he wassincerely glad to learn that Reggie was taking a more sensible view oflife.
"That's the way to look at it, old man," he said approvingly. "There'snothing in this society stuff."
"So I went to the governor," continued Reggie, "and told him what I hadin mind. The trouble is, dad has been too good to me. Had a pretty roughtime of it when he was young--poverty, hard work, and all that--andhe had promised himself that his son, if he ever had one, shouldn'thave so hard a time of it as he had had. So he gave me everything Iwanted--plenty of money, a tour of Europe, motor boat, automobile, andall that sort of thing, don't you know. I suppose later on he expects totake me into business with him, but he hasn't been in any hurry aboutit. Funny, isn't it, how hard-headed men look at those things sometimeswhen their children are concerned?"
Joe nodded. He had known of more than one instance where, through somestrange blindness, men who had risen to wealth by their own endeavorshad been unwilling that their boys should have the same hard butwholesome experience.
"He laughed at me at first," Reggie went on, "and tried to joke thematter off. But when he saw that I was in earnest it set him thinking.Then he looked at me in that quizzical way of his and said:
"'I tell you what I'll do, Son: I'm willing to take a chance just tosee what stuff there is in you. Just as one throws a puppy into deepwater so that the pup will either have to swim or drown, I'm going tothrow you into financial waters and give you a chance to make good or gounder.'
"He went to his safe, twirled the combination, and came back to me witha package. He ripped off a rubber band, and I saw that the package was abig bunch of securities.
"'Now, Reggie, my boy,' he said, 'here's where you show me what there isin that noddle of yours. These securities have a value of ten thousanddollars. They're bonds of the A. K. T. Railroad. It's one of thesafest and best managed roads in the country, and these are as good asgovernment bonds. I'm going to put these absolutely in your hands to dowith precisely as you like. Turn them into cash, pledge them, sell them,invest them--do anything you want to with them. At the end of a yearcome to me and tell me just what you've done and just what profit you'vemade, if any, from the use of them. In the meantime, I'll give you afree hand and won't ask you a word about them.
"'Of course,' he went on, 'they're a five-per cent. bond, and you couldmake five hundred dollars by merely clipping the interest coupons andpresenting them when they come due. But that isn't my idea. Any foolcould use a pair of scissors. What I want you to do is to use the money,put it to work, mix it with brains, and at the end of a year come to meand show me the results.'
"You can bet that I was well stumped. You could have knocked me downwith a feather."
"I should say so!" ejaculated Joe, with a low whistle. "Ten thousanddollars! That's an awful lot of money to have plumped down before youand to be told that it's all yours to do with exactly as you like."
"That's what I told the governor as soon as I could get my breath,"said Reggie. "But he only laughed and said that he had earned it andthat what he did with it was no one's business but his own. The onlycondition was that I shouldn't use it for anything except to make more.Said my allowance would go on as usual, so that I wouldn't have to useany of the ten thousand for my living expenses."
"Great Scott, Reggie, that was a wonderful chance for a young fellow!"cried Joe, who had grown hugely interested in the story of this favoriteof fortune. "What have you done with the ten thousand?"
"What have I done with it?" echoed Reggie ruefully. "I gave it to TalhamTabbs."
"What!" shouted Joe, jumping to his feet so violently that he overturnedhis chair. "What's that you say?"
"I gave it to Talham Tabbs," repeated Reggie, averting his eyes fromthose of his friend as he made the startling confession.
"But why--what----" stammered Joe blankly.
"Just to prove that an old proverb is true," was the answer.
"What proverb?"
"'A fool and his money are soon parted,'" replied Reggie bitterly.