It took a concentrated effort to open the door a tiny crack and peer through.  Swiftly opening the door, Wentworth stepped onto the sidewalk, closed the door behind him, and clutching his package tightly, hurried down the street.  He had entirely gained his composure by the time he reached his hotel, and hastening to his room, placed the package in his trunk and turned the key.  He glanced at his watch.  It lacked three minutes of one, and remembering his appointment with Orcutt, he hastened to the Wolverine Bank.

VI

Orcutt greeted his caller without enthusiasm.  For despite the assurance over the telephone that Wentworth wanted no money, he felt that he was in for a touch.

The younger man was quick to note the attitude, and hastened to dispel it.  “In the first place, Mr. Orcutt, I am going to ask you to cash a check for three thousand dollars, but——­”

“Three thousand!” exclaimed Orcutt, his eyes narrowing.  “Whose check is it?”

“John McNabb’s.”

“John McNabb’s!” A look of suspicion flashed into his eyes.

“Yes—­isn’t it good?”

“Good!  Hell—­yes, of course it’s good!  But what are you doing with McNabb’s check for three thousand?”

Reaching into his pocket, Wentworth drew out the packet of papers and held it in his hand.  “Eight or ten years ago McNabb bought options on a half million acres of pulp-wood lying between two certain rivers.  He sent for me—­said he heard I was out of a job, and that as he was the one that was responsible for my losing out, it was only fair that he should offer me another.  Then he went on to outline the whole proposition, told me the options expired on August first; then he was called out of the office for a minute and asked me to look over the maps and papers and let him know if I wanted to tackle it or not.

“In going over the contract, I found that the options expire on July first, instead of August first, as he said.  It was then I called you up, for the whole scheme hit me like a flash.  Don’t you see it?  If I worked for him, I’d draw a salary, and a good one—­and nothing more.  But if I should interest sufficient capital to step in on the first day of July when those options expire, and buy up the whole tract, where would McNabb be?”

Orcutt tapped thoughtfully upon his desk pad with the tip of his pencil.  “I wonder,” he muttered aloud, more to himself than to Wentworth, “I wonder if John has made a slip at last?”

“That is just what he has done!  And he is so cocksure of his ground that he didn’t even glance at the papers to refresh his memory—­I doubt if he has looked at them since he made the deal.”

The banker eyed the younger man shrewdly.  “And in case I should interest myself in the proposition to the extent of organizing the capital to swing the deal, what would you expect out of it?”