duced his letter inquiringly, and clinched the case against the kidnappers.
“Now,” Archibald said formally—after Tip Meyers had lied and struggled and sunk himself deeper and deeper into the quicksand—“the only thing for you to do is to come across with the evidence that will bring the real criminals to justice, not only in the present case, but in the Merriman disappearance. We want Mrs. Dart and her husband. We don’t care so much about you. I may say that when we heard where Mr. Cook was living, we expected something of this sort to happen, and we prepared for it. We are now in a position to provide that the Cook case need not be prosecuted, if you decide to give us the benefit of your assistance in the other matter. Otherwise, of course, you know what the penalty is for kidnapping. Corcoran, you might take this boy back to his father. And send a stenographer in here as you go out.”
Meyers, with no suspicion of the trick that
