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 CHAPTER XXIX

THE FRAME-UP

At nine o'clock on Saturday evening, two men sat talking in confidential tones in the Bancroft office of Lawyer Rufus Kilgore. The lawyer himself was not present; he had not even seen Bob Hutchinson follow Mike Riley into that office. But he had loaned Riley the key, with the full knowledge that some sort of a secret conclave was to be held there.

Riley was paid to manage a winning team, and he was at liberty to negotiate what conspiracies he chose for Bancroft's advantage; but, for the ease of his conscience, Kilgore wished to know as little as possible about such plots.

On this occasion, Hutchinson had made the appointment with Riley, specifically stating that no third party was to be present during the interview. In his heart bitter rancor toward Tom Locke gnawed like canker; his hatred for the man who had indiscreetly told him the fearless truth concerning his own treacherous character was like a wound that would not heal. Alone with Riley