Mr. Merriwether, six inches shorter than the speaker, and a hundred pounds lighter, drew back his fist, but the four men seized him and began to take his clothes off. Mr. Merriwether, recognizing the uselessness of resistance and the folly of having garments torn so far from home, helped by unbuttoning here and there. Presently he stood _in puris naturctlibus_.
They tied him to the library table, face down.
"Music!" cried the man; whereupon the cometist began to play the Meditation from "Thaïs" softly, but obviously ready to play fortissimo at a signal from the chief.
"I am going to lick you with a whip; and, for every lash I give you, you will have to pay me one hundred thousand dollars in addition to the original million. Theatrical, is it?" And his voice was hoarse with anger. "Yes? Well, look at this melodramatic whip. Your tragedy will be my comedy, you--------jackass!"
He showed to Mr. E. H. Merriwether a quirt--a veritable miniature blacksnake of plaited leather.
"You can stand twenty; that will make three million in all. I'll draw blood after the fifth. I'll stop when you've got enough. Remember the price!"
He snapped the whip viciously and walked round the table until he stood behind Mr. Merriwether. He lifted his arm and then the great Merriwether, autocrat of fifteen thousand miles of railroad, iron-nerved, fearless, imaginative, and intelligent, yelled: "Wait!"
"Help him!" said the man; and the intelligent-looking footmen respectfully served as valets.
"I don't believe you would kill me--but I never liked spankings." Mr. Merriwether spoke jocularly--almost!
The man confronted Mr. Merriwether and said, very seriously:
"Mr. Merriwether, we should certainly have killed you if you had persisted in your stubbornness to the end. We knew we had to convince you."
The man looked inquiringly at the financier to see whether any doubt remained; but Mr. Merriwether asked, quizzically:
"We would!" interrupted the man, looking straight into Mr. Merriwether's eyes. And what Mr. Merriwether saw there made him ask:
"In cash. I'm glad you will make the payment. But really, sir, I wish to impress on you that Tom is ripe to be taken for better--or for worse."
Mr. E. H. Merriwether looked long and earnestly into the eyes of the mysterious man who was despoiling him of a million dollars. It began to seep into his understanding that if Tom could be married to a nice girl the resulting peace of mind would indeed be cheap at a million.
