"That was surely a nice proposition," said Joe, with a smile.

"I agreed to go into the scheme if it was all plain sailing and then
this Caven gave me some of the details. He said there was a demand for a
certain kind of mining shares. He knew an old miner who was sick and
who was willing to sell the shares he possessed for a reasonable sum
of money. The plan was to buy the shares and then sell them to another
party--a broker--at a big advance in price."

"That was simple enough," put in Andrew Mallison.

"Caven took me to see a man who called himself a broker. He had an
elegant office and looked prosperous. He told us he would be glad to buy
certain mining shares at a certain figure if he could get them in the
near future. He said a client was red-hot after the shares. I questioned
him closely and he appeared to be a truthful man. He said some folks
wanted to buy out the mine and consolidate it with another mine close
by."

"And then you came here and bought the stock of Malone?" queried Joe.

"Yes. Caven made me promise to give him half the profits and I agreed.
I came here, and as you know, Malone, or Ball, or whatever his name is,
pretended to be very sick and in need of money. He set his price, and I
came back with the cash and took the mining stock. I was to meet Caven,
alias Anderson, the next day and go to the broker with him, but Caven
did not appear. Then I grew suspicious and went to see the broker alone.
The man was gone and the office locked up. After that I asked some other
brokers about the stock, and they told me it was not worth five cents on
the dollar."