They probably have an expert, too, and they
might be wUling to send him along. I want the
scales tested by a goverimient official and bal-
anced by a man who hasn't the slightest inter-
est in the fight either way. I'm not going to
monkey with 'em myself, and I want Badger to
keep his hands off. There ain't much that fel-
low wouldn't do for five thousand bucks 1 Is
that a fair proposition?"

"As fair as a June day!" replied Goldstein;
"I'll write a letter to Messmore & Jones imme-
diately."

Avery smoked a cigar while the letter was
written, and after that he chatted about the com-
ing fight, the advance sale, the probable "cut,"
and kindred topics. When he rose to go, he
picked up the envelope containing the letter;

"I'll drop this in the mail chute when I go
out," he said.
The next day the office boy brought Mr. Grold-
stein a neatly engraved business card, bearing
the name of a firm of national reputation as
manufacturers of scales. In the lower left-hand
comer appeared these words :

"Presented by Mr. Henry C. Darling, "West-
em Eepresentative."

Goldstein tossed the card over to Mike Bad-
ger, who happened to be present.
"Let's see what he wants," said Goldstein.
"Mr. Heniy C. Darling" proved to be a dap-
per little person, with a close-cropped beard and
nose glasses. He spoke with the crisp, incisive

[79]



TAKING THE COUNT



tones of a business man, and Mike Badger, sur-
reptitiously running his thumb nail over the
pasteboard which he held, was impressed. An
engraved card, to ninety-nine men out of one
hundred, is a convincing argument ; an embossed
trade-mark in three colors in the upper corner
clinches matters.
