Frank Merriwell's Pursuit Part 40

"I am sorry, senor," said Felipe; "but it is not my fortune to possess a needle and thread."

The old man lifted one trembling, curved hand to the back of his ear, which he turned toward the speaker.

"I didn't quite get your answer," he said. "I am a trifle deaf--only a trifle."

Felipe raised his voice.

"I have not a needle and thread. I would willingly a.s.sist you if I had.

I am sorry."

"I am sorry, too," sighed the old man, looking regretfully at the rent in his sleeve. "I should be greatly mortified if my lawyer came and found me in this condition."

The boy felt that this wretched old man would be better company than none at all.

"Won't you come in and sit down?" he asked.

"Eh?"

"I would be pleased to have you come in, senor."

"Oh, I don't know. I'm not dressed for calling. But then, as we room near each other, I presume you'll see me often in my working clothes."

He entered the room and lowered himself upon the chair that Felipe placed. The boy sat on the bed.

"Did I understand you to say, senor, that you have the next room?"

"Eh? A little louder, please."

Jalisco repeated the question.

"Yes, yes," answered the old man. "I have just taken it. Had to pay a week in advance, and it happens that it took all my money, therefore I'm unable to purchase a needle and thread. But," he quickly added, "in a very few days, when the law gives me my rights, I shall have money enough to purchase all the needles and all the thread in this city without realizing that I have spent anything at all."

"Then you expect to come into an inheritance, senor?" questioned the boy loudly.

"Not just that," was the answer. "I shall obtain my rights. I shall be given a just reward for the invention that was stolen from me and has made other men rich."

Between the old man and the boy there seemed to be a bond of sympathy which the latter felt.

"So you, too, have been robbed?" he cried.

"Basely robbed!" declared the visitor nodding his trembling head. "My name is Roscoe Spooner. I invented what is known as the Guilford Air Brake. The product of my brain was stolen from me by Henry Guilford, who has made so much money from it that he is now a very rich man. But everything he possesses, his splendid home, his carriages, horses, and his yacht, are rightfully mine. He has enjoyed his stolen wealth a long time, but it will not be his much longer. My suit against him must be decided in my favor, and then I shall come into my own."

Felipe was interested.

"How long ago did you perfect this invention?"

"How long? It seems almost a hundred years; but it really was not fifteen."

"How was it stolen by this Guilford, senor?"

"I trusted him. He told me he would furnish the capital and would place my invention on the market. I believed him an honest man. I permitted him to have my model. He patented it, calling it the Guilford Air Brake.

When I demanded my just share of the profits, he laughed in my face and called me a crazy old fool. He even had me arrested for annoying him.

And my invention has filled his pockets with hundreds of thousands of dollars."

"That was in truth a most dishonest thing, old gentleman. What then did you do?"

"I found a lawyer to take the case and brought suit against him."

"I would have killed him!"

"I have thought of that. Once I did borrow a pistol and go in search of him; but when we met I could not bear to think of the terrible thing I had contemplated, and he never knew how near to death he was."

"It is not my way. At least, had you tried, you might have frightened him into giving you something."

"Had I tried that, it would have cost me my liberty. I am sure he would have lodged me in prison."

"Perhaps so," muttered Felipe. "You're a simple old fool, and you wouldn't know how to work it."

"What did you say?" asked the old man, who had seen the boy's lips move, but apparently had not understood his words.

"This Guilford must be a very wicked man. Your suit against him was useless?"

"The verdict favored him, but I appealed. In the end I shall win. My lawyer has told me so. He may appear to-day, or to-morrow, or the next day, and inform me that I have won. I am looking for him any time."

"And he'll never come," muttered the boy.

"I shall not stay here long," a.s.serted the old inventor. "My room is very poor, but when I think that it is only for a short time that I must occupy it, then I am contented. I had a room in another place, where it cost a great deal more: but I decided to move and economize while waiting for my rights."

Felipe wondered how the old man existed, deciding at once that he must pick up a meagre living by begging.

"I, too, am waiting here until I come into my rights," said the boy.

"Like you, I have been robbed. Unlike you, I'll not wait so long. Either I'll have what is mine, or I'll kill the man who has robbed me."

"'Thou shalt not kill.' To have the stain of blood on one's hands must be terrible."

"The Jaliscos belong to a family that kills."

At this juncture there came another knock at the door, but this time Felipe knew who it was.

He had the door open in a moment, and Bantry Hagan walked in.

"Oh, it's company you have, me boy!" exclaimed the Irishman, looking wonderingly at old Spooner.

"A gentleman who has the next room. He dropped in to borrow a needle and thread."

"It's careful you'd better be, Felipe."

"Never fear; it is all right."