"Are, eh?" grinned the man. "So was I--in the wrong way. Just now it doesn't matter one way or the other. The crowd Dorsett was working with has set me adrift, and I've got nothing to expect from them. What is it you want to know, guv'nor?"
"Just this," answered Ralph--"any tricks they are up to that aren't square."
"Lots of those, guv'nor. Dorsett is bound to break up Glidden, if he can."
"I know that; I understand he has bought up a big claim against Mr. Glidden and will put it into execution tomorrow if it isn't paid."
"And it will put Mr. Glidden to a lot of costs to redeem his plant."
"Say, guv'nor," here interrupted the man--"there'll be no redeeming in the case."
"Because the money isn't what Dorsett is after. He's got lots of that. He simply wants to squeeze Glidden so close that he'll holler and quit. He's bent on rooting out the plant entire. Then when he's got Glidden down in the mud, he expects he'll sell him his secret chemical process for a mere song."
"I knew that long ago," coolly chuckled the fellow. "If you're interested, let me give you a tip."
"Get the lawyer to have some one stay all night at the plant."
"There's the foreman, Bartlett, I understand."
"That might do. You are interested, aren't you, mightily? Then so am I. Say, inasmuch as I've blabbed a part of it, out with the whole, say I. There's going to be a raid on the factory, as I hinted to you, just after midnight."
"Exactly. To-morrow the time for Glidden to put up a bond or pay the four thousand dollars expires."
"Yes," replied Ralph, "and by ten o'clock, court time, it will be paid."
"Hours too late--nigh on to half a day too late."
The man screwed his eyes up shrewdly as if he enjoyed making a clever disclosure. Then he said:
"Dorsett has made an arrangement with a drunken justice of the peace in the next township to open office at one minute after twelve, midnight. The justice will issue an execution. Inside of an hour Dorsett and his men will be at the factory. They don't have to wait for court time. They intend to levy on the machinery only. They won't put a custodian in charge nor wait for redemption nor anything else. They'll simply rip out all those valuable tank machines and piping that cost a fortune, bid the plunder in at old junk prices and gobble up everything else before Glidden or his lawyer are awake and out of bed."