The Brand of Silence

by Harrington Strong

  CHAPTER IV

  A FOE AND A FRIEND

  After settling himself in the other hotel, Prale ate a belated luncheon.For the first time that day, he looked at the newspapers. He hadremembered that a New Yorker reads the papers religiously to keep up tothe minute; whereas, in Honduras, it was the custom for busy men to letthe papers accumulate and then read a week's supply at a sitting.

  Aside from his name in the list of arrivals, Prale found no wordconcerning himself, though there was mention of other men who had comeon the _Manatee_, and who had no special claim to prominence.

  "I don't amount to much, I guess," said Prale to himself. "Don't carefor publicity, anyway, but they might let the world know a fellow hascome home."

  He went for another walk that afternoon, returned to the hotel fordinner, and decided that, instead of going to a show that evening, hewould prowl around the town.

  He walked up to the Park, went over to Broadway, and started down it,looking at the bright lights again, making his way through the happy,theater-going throngs toward Times Square. In the enjoyment of thecrowds he forgot, in part, the discourtesies of the day, but he couldnot forget them entirely.

  Why had the banker acted in such a peculiar fashion? It was not like afinancial institution to refuse a deposit of a round million. Why hadGriffin refused to see him? Why had he as good as been ordered out ofthe hotel?

  "Coincidence," he told himself. "No reason on earth why such thingsshould happen unless I am being taken for somebody else--and thatwouldn't be true in the case of Griffin."

  He came to a prominent hotel and went into the lobby, looking in vainfor some friend of the old days with whom he could spend an hour or so.Down in Honduras he had had his million and friends, too; and here, inhis old home, he had nothing but his money. At this hour, down inHonduras, the band would be playing in the plaza, and society would beout in force. There would be a soft breeze sweeping down from the hills,bringing a thousand odors that could not be detected in New York. Hereand there guitars would be tinkling, and men and maidens would bemeeting in the moonlight.

  There would be a happy crowd at a certain club he knew, at which healways had been made welcome. A man could sit out on the veranda andlook over the tumbling sea, and hear the ship's bells strike. SidneyPrale found himself just a bit homesick for Honduras.

  "Got to get over it," he told himself. "No sense in feeling this way.I'll have a hundred friends before I've been in town a month!"

  He went out upon the street, made his way down it, and dropped in atanother hotel. There he saw Rufus Shepley sitting in an easy-chair,smoking and looking at an evening paper.

  Well, he knew Shepley, at least. Shepley was only a steamshipacquaintance, but he was a human being and could talk. Prale was just abit tired of confining his conversation to waiters and cigar-storeclerks.

  He stopped before Shepley and cleared his throat.

  "Well, we meet again, Mr. Shepley!" he said.

  Rufus Shepley looked up, and then sprang to his feet, but his face didnot light and he did not extend a hand in greeting. Instead, hiscountenance grew crimson, and he seemed to be shaking with anger.

  "You presume too much on a chance acquaintance, sir!" Rufus Shepleythundered. "I do not wish you to address me again--do you understand,sir? Never again--either in public or private!"

  "Why----" Prale stammered.

  "I don't want anything to do with a man of your stamp!" Rufus Shepleywent on. "Ten years in Honduras, were you? We all know why men go toHonduras and spend years there."

  Shepley had raised his voice, and all in the lobby could hear. Men beganmoving toward them, and women began walking away, fearing a scene and aquarrel.

  Sidney Prale's face had flushed, too, and he felt his anger risingagain.

  "I am sure I do not wish to continue the acquaintance if you do not,sir," he said. "I can be courteous, at least."

  "Some men are not entitled to courtesy," Shepley roared.

  "What do you mean by that?" Prale demanded.

  "I mean that I don't want anything to do with you, that's all! I don'twant you to speak to me again! I don't want anybody to know that youeven know me by sight!"

  "See here!" Prale cried. "You can't talk to me like that without givingme some explanation! You can't defame me before other men----"

  "Defame you?" Shepley cried. "You can't make a tar brush black, sir?"

  Rage was seething in Prale now. There was quite a crowd around them, andothers were making their way forward.

  "I don't pretend to know what is the matter with you, and I don't muchcare!" he told Shepley. "If your hair wasn't gray, I'd take you out onthe sidewalk and smash your face in! Please understand that!"

  "Threaten me, will you?"

  "I'm not threatening you. I don't fight a man with one foot in thegrave."

  "Why you----"

  "And I don't care to have you address me in public again, either,"Sidney Prale went on. "It probably would be an insult."

  "Confound you, sir!" Shepley cried.

  He reached forward and grasped Prale by the arm. Sidney Prale put up ahand, tore the grasp loose, and tossed Rufus Shepley to one side.

  "Keep your paws off me!" he exclaimed. "I think that you're insane, ifyou ask me!"

  The hotel detective came hurrying up.

  "You'll have to cut that out!" he said. "What's the row here, anyway?"

  "The place is harboring a maniac!" Prale said.

  "It's harboring a crook!" Shepley cried.

  Prale lurched forward and grasped him by both arms, and shook him untilRufus Shepley's teeth chattered.

  "Another word out of you, and I'll forget that your hair is gray!" Praleexclaimed, and then he tossed Shepley to one side again.

  "Either of you guests here?" the house detective demanded. "No? Thenmaybe you'd both better get out until you can cool off. If you want tostage a scrap, go down and rent Madison Square Garden and advertise inthe newspapers. I wouldn't mind seeing a good fight myself. But thislobby isn't any prize ring. Get me?"

  Sidney Prale, his face still flaming, whirled around and started for theentrance, the crowd parting to let him through. Rufus Shepley, fumingand fussing, followed him slowly. The house detective accompanied him tothe door.

  Prale was waiting at the curb, a Prale whose face was white now becauseof the temper he was fighting to control. He stepped close to Shepley'sside.

  "I don't know why you insulted me, but don't do it again!" Prale said."I ought to settle with you for what you've said already."

  The house detective, who had heard, stepped forward again, but SidneyPrale swung across the street and went on his way.

  He walked rapidly for a dozen blocks or more, paying no attention towhere he was going, until his anger began to subside.

  "Why, the raving maniac!" he gasped, once or twice.

  He didn't pretend to guess what it meant. Shepley had seemed to befriendly enough when they had separated aboard ship. What could havehappened to make the man change his mind and attitude?

  "Must be some mistake!" Prale told himself. "If there is any more ofthis, I'll have to get to the bottom of it!"

  He reached Madison Square, and sat down on a bench to smoke and regainhis composure. He knew that he had a terrible temper, and that it had tobe controlled. A temper that flashed was all right at times in thejungles of Honduras, but it was not the proper thing to exhibit in theheart of New York City. It might get him into serious trouble withsomebody.

  He finished his cigar, listened to the striking chimes, and lightedanother smoke. A pedestrian stopped beside him.

  "Old Sid Prale, or I'm a liar!" he cried.

  Prale looked up, and then sprang to his feet.

  "Jim Farland, the sleuth!" he cried in answer. "Old Jim, the holy terrorto evildoers. Now I am glad that I'm home!"

  "When did you get in?"

  "Yesterday. Sit down. Have a cigar. You're the first old friend I'vemet!"

  Detective Jim Farland sat down and light
ed the cigar. "You've been gonesome time," he said.

  "Ten years, Jim."

  "Went away rather sudden, didn't you?"

  "I did. I made my decision one night and sailed the night following,"said Prale.

  "I always wondered why you went, and what became of you. Had a good jobwith old Griffin, didn't you?"

  "The job was all right, Jim. But there was a girl----"

  "Ah, ha!"

  "And she threw me over for a fellow who had some money. That made mehuffy, of course. I swore I'd shake the dust of New York from my shoes,go to some foreign country, take with me the ten thousand dollars I hadsaved, and turn it into a million."

  "And came back broke!" Farland said.

  "Nothing of the sort, Jim. I came back with a million."

  "Great Scott! I suppose I'd better be on my way then. I ain't in thehabit of having millionaires let me associate with 'em."

  "You sit where you are, or I'll use violence!" Prale told him. "Isuppose you are still on the force? Still fussing around down in thefinancial district watching for swindlers?"

  "I left the force three years ago," Jim Farland replied. "Couldn't seemto get ahead. Too honest, maybe--or too ignorant. I'm in a sort ofprivate detective business now--got an office up the street. Doingfairly well, too--lots of old friends give me work. If you have anythingin my line----"

  "If I have, you'll get a job," said Prale.

  "Let me slip you a card," said Farland. "You never know when you mayneed a detective. So you came back with a million, eh?"

  "And ran into a mess," Prale added.

  "I can't imagine a man with a million running into much of a mess,"Farland said.

  "That's all you know about it. I may need your services sooner than youthink. There is a sort of jinx working on me, it appears."

  "Spill it!" Jim Farland said.

  Sidney Prale did. He related what had happened at the bank, at thehotel, in Griffin's office, and told of the scene with Rufus Shepley.

  "Funny!" Farland said, when he had finished. "I know old Rufus Shepley,and as a general thing he ain't a maniac. Something behind all this,Sid."

  "Yes; but what on earth could it be?"

  "That's the question. If anything else happens, and you need help, justlet me know."

  "I'll do that, surely," said Prale. "And I'm glad that I've got onefriend left in town."

  "Always have one as long as I'm here," Jim Farland assured him. "And itain't because of your million, either. It's true about the million?"

  "Absolutely!"

  "Gee! That's more than old Griffin himself has in cash, anyway," Farlanddeclared. "Maybe it's a good thing that girl turned you down. You'dprobably be a clerk at a few thousand a year, if she hadn't. How'd youmake the coin?"

  "Mines and fruit and water power and logs," said Prale.

  "Sounds simple enough. When the detective business goes on the blink, Imay take a turn at it myself."

  "If you ever need money, Jim, call on me. If you want to engage biggeroffices, hire operatives, branch out----"

  "Stop it!" Farland cried. "I want nothing of the kind. I'm a peculiarsort of duck--don't care about being rich at all. I just want to be sureI'll have a good living for myself and the wife and kids, and have a fewfriends, and be able to look every man in town straight in the eye. I'drather work for a friend for nothing than do work I don't like for tenthousand an hour."

  "I believe you!" Prale said.