The Secret Toll

"All right," replied Forrester, "I will be watching for you."

Hanging up the receiver, Forrester went to one of the front windows and took up his promised watch. The car arrived promptly and Forrester opened the door. Prentice hung up his hat and raincoat in the hall and Forrester led the way to the library.

"The house looks dark and dismal," commented Prentice, as he seated himself and drew out a cigar. "Why don't you turn on more lights?"

"It did seem a bit lonesome before you came," admitted Forrester. "I don't believe more light would help. To me it would simply emphasize how large and deserted the house is at this moment. How do you happen to be in town on a night like this?"

"We expected friends from Rockford," explained Prentice, "to stay with us over the week end. You know we are giving a dinner tomorrow evening."

Forrester nodded.

"I stayed in town to meet them," continued Prentice. "When they did not arrive and I found it was to be such a bad night, I decided to stay at the club, instead of going home. The time was dragging, for it seemed that practically everyone I knew had left town. Then I thought of you and concluded I would run up and pay you a little visit."

"I am very glad you did," approved Forrester, "for I am willing to admit that I miss the family now that they have gone."

At that moment the telephone bell rang sharply.

"Looks like you were not going to be so lonely after all," observed Prentice.

Forrester picked up the receiver.

"Hello!" said a man's voice. "Is that you, Mr. Forrester?"

"Yes," replied Forrester.

"I want to get a little information," informed the voice. "I believe you expect to put some money into a certain tree tomorrow night."

"Who are you?" demanded Forrester.

"That is of no immediate importance," returned the voice. "What I wanted was to find out the exact time at which you intended to place the money in that tree."

"I am not giving any information to strangers," snapped Forrester.

"I am sorry," returned the voice in a conciliatory tone, "but I can't give you any particulars at this time. It is important, however, that I know at what hour you intend to visit the tree."

"Better call up the detective bureau," retorted Forrester. "Good-by," and he hung up the receiver.

Prentice was leaning toward Forrester with a puzzled expression on his face. "That was a peculiar conversation," he said. "May I ask what it was about?"

"A man whose voice I did not recognize," explained Forrester, "was trying to find out at what hour I intended to place that extortion money in the tree tomorrow night. He wanted his information without giving me any."

"Strange," murmured Prentice. "Perhaps it was a newspaper man – or a detective."

"No need for them to disguise their identity," asserted Forrester. "I certainly have talked freely to all of them."

Prentice sat in thoughtful silence for a few minutes, and Forrester was equally absorbed in trying to fathom the object of the person who had called him up. Their thoughts were interrupted by another clamorous ring on the telephone. Again a man's voice came over the wire when Forrester took up the receiver. This was a very different voice, however; coarse, with a slightly foreign accent, and rough in its address.

"That you, Forrester?" asked the voice.

"Yes," answered Forrester, gruffly. "What do you want?"

"This is the 'Friends of the Poor'," came back over the wire.

"'Friends of the Poor'!" repeated Forrester, astonished and Prentice sat up suddenly in his chair.

"Yes," affirmed the voice. "We're tired of fooling around with you and we want to know something definite."

"What do you wish to know?" inquired Forrester, less harshly.

"We want to know the exact hour at which you will put the money in the tree tomorrow night."

Forrester hesitated. He glanced at Prentice, who was leaning toward him, an interested listener, and reflected whether or not to ask his advice. Forrester's own impulse was to treat the man as he had the first caller. It occurred to him, however, that if this man really did represent the "Friends of the Poor," as he claimed, it would simplify matters for the detectives if a definite hour were arranged. He remembered Cahill's instructions to approach the tree at ten-thirty.

"I had planned to go to the tree about ten-thirty," finally announced Forrester.

"That's all right," said the voice. "Be sure you make it ten-thirty sharp – and no dicks, remember!" The wire suddenly became dead as the man at the other end hung up the receiver. Forrester hung up his own receiver and turned to Prentice.

"What's this about the 'Friends of the Poor'?" exclaimed Prentice.

"That man said he represented the 'Friends of the Poor'," replied Forrester. "He wanted me to give him the exact hour at which I would place the money in the tree."

"That's a strange proceeding," muttered Prentice.

"Strange?" queried Forrester.

"That they should take the risk of calling you up on the phone," explained Prentice.

"Things are getting rather hot for them," declared Forrester. "They realize it, and probably do not want to take a chance by staying near the tree for too long a period. The man warned me not to have any detectives at hand."

"He did!" ejaculated Prentice.

There followed a moment's silence while Prentice relit his cigar.

"Tell me, Bob," he requested, at length, "have you made any definite plans about tomorrow night?"

"Yes, I'm coming to your house for dinner for one thing," smiled Forrester.

"You know what I mean," said Prentice, seriously. "You have trifled with this 'Friends of the Poor' matter long enough. What have you decided to do – are you going to pay the money or fight?"

"Both," answered Forrester, laughing. He then explained to Prentice the major details of his own and the detectives' plans for Saturday night.

"And you mean to say, Bob," gasped Prentice, "that these detectives have actually located the 'Friends of the Poor'?"

"Not located them, exactly," returned Forrester, "but they have a very strong suspicion."

"Against whom?" asked Prentice.

"A band of Italians on the West Side," divulged Forrester. "They have secured what they claim to be certain evidence and expect to capture the men at the tree tomorrow night."