Blindfolded

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Blindfolded

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blindfolded, by Earle Ashley Walcott
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Title: Blindfolded
Author: Earle Ashley Walcott
Release Date: March, 2005 [EBook #7788] [This file was first posted

on May 17, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK,
BLINDFOLDED ***

Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Joshua Hutchinson, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team

BLINDFOLDED
By
EARLE ASHLEY WALCOTT

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I
A DANGEROUS ERRAND II A CRY FOR HELP III A QUESTION
IN THE NIGHT IV A CHANGE OF NAME V DODDRIDGE KNAPP
VI A NIGHT AT BORTON'S VII MOTHER BORTON VIII IN
WHICH I MEET A FEW SURPRISES IX A DAY IN THE MARKET
X A TANGLE OF SCHEMES XI THE DEN OF THE WOLF XII
LUELLA KNAPP XIII A DAY OF GRACE XIV MOTHER
BORTON'S ADVICE XV I AM IN THE TOILS XVI AN ECHO OF
WARNING XVII IN A FOREIGN LAND XVIII THE BATTLE IN

THE MAZE XIX A DEAL IN STOCKS XX MAKING PROGRESS
XXI AT THE BIDDING OF THE UNKNOWN XXII TRAILED
XXIII A PIECE OF STRATEGY XXIV ON THE ROAD XXV A
FLUTTER IN THE MARKET XXVI A VISION OF THE NIGHT
XXVII A LINK IN THE CHAIN XXVIII THE CHASE IN THE
STORM XXIX THE HEART OF THE MYSTERY XXX THE END
OF THE JOURNEY XXXI THE REWARD

BLINDFOLDED
CHAPTER I
A DANGEROUS ERRAND
A city of hills with a fringe of houses crowning the lower heights;
half-mountains rising bare in the background and becoming real
mountains as they stretched away in the distance to right and left; a
confused mass of buildings coming to the water's edge on the flat; a
forest of masts, ships swinging in the stream, and the streaked, yellow,
gray-green water of the bay taking a cold light from the setting sun as it
struggled through the wisps of fog that fluttered above the serrated
sky-line of the city--these were my first impressions of San Francisco.
The wind blew fresh and chill from the west with the damp and salt of
the Pacific heavy upon it, as I breasted it from the forward deck of the
ferry steamer, El Capitan. As I drank in the air and was silent with
admiration of the beautiful panorama that was spread before me, my
companion touched me on the arm.
"Come into the cabin," he said. "You'll be one of those fellows who
can't come to San Francisco without catching his death of cold, and
then lays it on to the climate instead of his own lack of common sense.
Come, I can't spare you, now I've got you here at last. I wouldn't lose
you for a million dollars."
"I'll come for half the money," I returned, as he took me by the arm and

led me into the close cabin.
My companion, I should explain, was Henry Wilton, the son of my
father's cousin, who had the advantages of a few years of residence in
California, and sported all the airs of a pioneer. We had been close
friends through boyhood and youth, and it was on his offer of
employment that I had come to the city by the Golden Gate.
"What a resemblance!" I heard a woman exclaim, as we entered the
cabin. "They must be twins."
"There, Henry," I whispered, with a laugh; "you see we are
discovered." Though our relationship was not close we had been cast in
the mold of some common ancestor. We were so nearly alike in form
and feature as to perplex all but our intimate acquaintances, and we had
made the resemblance the occasion of many tricks in our boyhood
days.
Henry had heard the exclamation as well as I. To my surprise, it
appeared to bring him annoyance or apprehension rather than
amusement.
"I had forgotten that it would make us conspicuous,"