CHAPTER XXXI. BULSON GROWS DESPERATE.

 Sam Pepper was taking it easy at the rear of his resort on the evening of the day when Gertrude went to Lakewood, when the door opened and a messenger boy came in.

 

"Is Sam Pepper here?" asked the boy, approaching Bolton.

 

"That's my handle, sonny. What do you want?"

 

"Here's a message. I was to wait for an answer."

 

Pepper took the message and read it with interest.

 

"Friend Pepper: Meet me to-night between eleven and twelve o'clock at my apartments. Something important. Bring those old papers with you. I have the cash.

 

"H. B."

 

"Humph! so Bulson wants to close that deal to-night," muttered Sam Pepper, as he tore the message to shreds¹. "He's in a tremendous[Pg 241] hurry, all at once. I wonder what's new in the wind? Well, I'm low on cash, and I might as well take him up now as later on."

 

"Where's the answer?" asked the messenger boy.

 

"Here you are," returned Pepper, and scribbled² a reply on a slip of paper. Then the messenger received his pay and made off.

 

Promptly³ on time that night Sam Pepper went up Fifth Avenue. Just as he reached Homer Bulson's home the young man came down the steps.

 

"Come with me—the house is full of company," he said. "I want to talk to you where we will be free from interruption."

 

"I'm agreeable," answered Pepper.

 

The pair walked rapidly down a side street. Homer Bulson seemed ill at ease, and Pepper noticed it.

 

"You are not yourself to-night," he said.

 

"I've got lots to think about," growled⁴ Bulson.

 

"Still mad because the girl won't have you, I suppose."

 

"No, I've given her up. I don't want a wife that won't love me."

 

"That's where you are sensible."

 

"Gertrude can go her way and I'll go mine."

 

[Pg 242]

 

"Well, you'll have the softest snap of it," laughed Pepper. "She'll get nothing but hard knocks."

 

"That's her own fault."

 

"She don't make more than half a living, teaching the piano."

 

"Oh, if she gets too hard up, I'll send her some money," responded Bulson, trying to affect a careless manner.

 

"By your talk you must be pretty well fixed⁵."

 

"I struck a little money yesterday, Pepper—that's why I sent to you. I want to go away to-morrow, and I wanted to clear up that—er—that little affair of the past before I left."

 

"What do you want?"

 

"I want all those papers you once showed me, and if you have that will I want that, too."

 

"You don't want much." And Sam Pepper laughed suggestively.

 

"Those papers will never do you any good."

 

"They might."

 

"I don't see how?"

 

"The boy might pay more for them than you'll pay."

 

"He? If he knew the truth, he'd have you arrested on the spot."

 

"Don't be so sure of that, Bulson. I know[Pg 243] the lad better than you do. He has a tender heart—far more tender than you have."

 

"Well, if it's a question of price, how much do you want?" demanded Homer Bulson sourly.

 

"I want five thousand dollars cash."

 

"Five thousand! Pepper, have you gone crazy?"

 

"No; I'm as sane⁶ as you are."

 

"You ask a fortune."

 

"If that's a fortune, what's the amount you expect to gain? Old Horton is worth over a hundred thousand, if he's worth a cent."

 

"But I'm not sure of this fortune yet. He's a queer old fellow. He might cut me off at the last minute."

 

"Not if you had that will. You could date that to suit yourself, and you'd push your game through somehow."

 

"I can give you two thousand dollars—not a dollar more."

 

"It's five thousand or nothing," responded Sam Pepper doggedly⁷.

 

"Will you accept my check?"

 

"No; I want the cash."

 

"That means you won't trust me!" cried Bulson, in a rage.

 

"Business is business."

 

[Pg 244]

 

Homer Bulson breathed hard. The pair were on a side street, close to where a new building was being put up. The young man paused.

 

"You're a hard-hearted fellow, Pepper," he said. "You take the wind out of my sails. I've got to have a drink on that. Come, though. I don't bear a grudge⁸. Drink with me."

 

As he spoke⁹ he pulled a flask¹⁰ from his pocket and passed it over.

 

"I'll drink with you on one condition," answered Pepper. "And that is that I get my price."

 

"All right; it's high, but you shall have it."

 

Without further ado Sam Pepper opened the flask and took a deep draught¹¹ of the liquor inside.

 

"Phew! but that's pretty hot!" he murmured, as he smacked¹² his lips. "Where did you get it?"

 

"At the club—the highest-priced stuff we have," answered Bulson. Then he placed the flask to his own lips and pretended to swallow a like portion to that taken by his companion, but touched scarcely a drop.

 

"It's vile—I sell better than that for ten cents," continued Pepper.

 

"Let us sit down and get to business," went on Bulson, leading the way into the unfinished[Pg 245] building. "I want to make sure that you have everything I want. I am not going to pay five thousand dollars for a blind horse."

 

"I'm square," muttered Sam Pepper. "When I make a deal I carry it out to the letter."

 

"You have everything that proves the boy's identity?"

 

"Everything."

 

"Then sit down, and I'll count out the money."

 

"It's—rather—dark—in—here," mumbled¹³ Sam Pepper, as he began to stagger.

 

"Oh, no! it must be your eyesight."

 

"Hang—me—if I—can—see—at—all," went on Pepper, speaking in a lower and lower tone. "I—that is—Bulson, you—you have drugged me, you—you villain¹⁴!" And then he pitched forward and lay in a heap where he had fallen.

 

Homer Bulson surveyed his victim with gloating eyes. "He never sold better knock-out drops to any crook¹⁵ he served," he muttered. "Now I shall see what he has got in his pockets."

 

Bending over his victim, he began to search Sam Pepper's pockets. Soon he came across a thick envelope filled with letters and papers. He glanced over several of the sheets.

 

[Pg 246]

 

"All here," he murmured. "This is a lucky strike. Now Sam Pepper can whistle for his money."

 

He placed the things he had taken in his own pocket and hurried to the street.

 

Nobody had noticed what was going on, and he breathed a long sigh of relief.

 

"He won't dare to give me away," he said to himself. "If he does he'll go to prison for stealing the boy in the first place. And he'll never be able to prove that I drugged him because nobody saw the act. Yes, I am safe."

 

It did not take Homer Bulson long to reach his bachelor apartments, and once in his rooms he locked the door carefully.

 

Then, turning up a gas lamp, he sat down near it, to look over the papers he had taken from the insensible Pepper.

 

"I'll destroy the letters," he said. He smiled as he read one. "So Uncle Mark offered five thousand for the return of little David, eh? Well, it's lucky for me that Sam Pepper, alias¹⁶ Pepperill Sampson, didn't take him up. I reckon Pepper was too cut up over his discharge, for it kept him from getting another fat job." He took up the will. "Just what I want. Now, if Uncle Mark makes another will, I can[Pg 247] always crop up with this one, and make a little trouble for somebody."

 

He lit the letters one by one, and watched them turn slowly to ashes. Then he placed the other papers in the bottom of his trunk, among his books on poisons, and went to bed.

 

1 shreds   

v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件）

参考例句：

• Peel the carrots and cut them into shreds. 将胡罗卜削皮，切成丝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want to take this diary and rip it into shreds. 我真想一赌气扯了这日记。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

2 scribbled   

v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• She scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper. 她把他的电话号码匆匆写在一张小纸片上。
• He scribbled a note to his sister before leaving. 临行前，他给妹妹草草写了一封短信。

3 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

4 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

6 sane   

adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的

参考例句：

• He was sane at the time of the murder.在凶杀案发生时他的神志是清醒的。
• He is a very sane person.他是一个很有头脑的人。

7 doggedly   

adv.顽强地，固执地

参考例句：

• He was still doggedly pursuing his studies.他仍然顽强地进行着自己的研究。
• He trudged doggedly on until he reached the flat.他顽强地、步履艰难地走着，一直走回了公寓。

8 grudge   

n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做

参考例句：

• I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
• I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 flask   

n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱

参考例句：

• There is some deposit in the bottom of the flask.这只烧杯的底部有些沉淀物。
• He took out a metal flask from a canvas bag.他从帆布包里拿出一个金属瓶子。

11 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

12 smacked   

拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He smacked his lips but did not utter a word. 他吧嗒两下嘴，一声也不言语。
• She smacked a child's bottom. 她打孩子的屁股。

13 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

14 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

15 crook   

v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处)

参考例句：

• He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子，他要我向他认错。
• She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。

16 alias   

n.化名；别名；adv.又名

参考例句：

• His real name was Johnson,but he often went by the alias of Smith.他的真名是约翰逊，但是他常常用化名史密斯。
• You can replace this automatically generated alias with a more meaningful one.可用更有意义的名称替换这一自动生成的别名。