AT THE OFFICES
After that the three Rovers and Dick's wife talked the matter over for
fully an hour. Dick gave Sam and Tom all the particulars he could
think of, and answered innumerable questions. But try their best, not
one of the party could venture a solution of the mystery.
"I think you had better go to bed," said Dora, at last. "You can go
down to the offices the first thing in the morning, and make up your
minds what to do next;" and this advice was followed.
"No use of talking, this is a fierce loss!" was Tom's comment, when he
and Sam were retiring.
"Yes, and Dick feels pretty bad over it," returned the youngest Rover.
"I am afraid he imagines that we think he is to blame."
"Maybe, but I don't blame him, Sam. That might have happened to you or
me just as well as to him."
It must be admitted that the boys did not sleep very soundly that
night. For a long time each lay awake, speculating over the mystery,
and wondering what had become of the bonds.
"Perhaps Pelter and Japson had nothing at all to do with it," thought
Tom, as he reviewed the situation. "It may have been some outsider,
who watched Dick alter the combination of the safe."
All of the boys were up early in the morning, and accompanied by Dora,
obtained breakfast in the hotel dining-room.
"If you want me to go along, I shall be glad to do so," said Dora,
during the course of the meal. It cut her to the heart to have Dick so
troubled.
"No, Dora, you had better stay here, or else spend your time
shopping," answered Dick. "We'll have to take care of this matter
ourselves."
"I'll tell you what you can do," broke in Tom. "You can write a nice
letter to Aunt Martha, telling her that we have arrived safely, and
that we are going into some business matters with Dick. Of course, you
needn't say a word about the robbery. It will be time enough to tell
her and Uncle Randolph after we have tried all we can to get the bonds
back--and failed."
As my old readers will probably remember, the offices formerly
occupied by Pelter, Japson & Company were located at the lower end of
Wall Street. The building was an old one, five stories in height,
which had recently been put in repair. The offices were on the fourth
floor in the extreme rear, and had a fairly good outlook.
The Rovers found the office boy, Bob Marsh, already on hand, and doing
some work which Dick had given him. He was a bright, sharp-eyed lad,
his only failing being that he was a bit forward.
"Any one here to see me, Bob?" asked Dick, as they entered.
"Nobody, sir, but an agent that wanted to sell you some kind of a new
calendar. I told him we had bushels of calendars already," and the boy
grinned slightly.
Passing through two small offices, the Rovers came to one in the
rear--that which had formerly been used by Jesse Pelter.
"Looks a little bit familiar," observed Tom. "Looks like when I
visited it as Roy A. Putnam, from Denver, Colorado, and thought about
taking stock in the Irrigation Company," and he laughed shortly as he
recalled that incident, the particulars of which have been related in
"The Rover Boys in New York."
"You've got pretty big offices for only you and the office boy,"
remarked Sam.
"I took them just as the old concern had them," returned Dick. "But if
business increases, I guess we'll have to have quite some office help.
Anyway, a bookkeeper and a stenographer."
"Hadn't you better send that office boy out for a little while?"
suggested Sam.
"A good idea," returned his oldest brother, and sent the lad on an
errand up to the post-office.
Left to themselves, the Rovers once more went over the details of the
robbery so far as they knew them. Dick opened the safe, showing his
brothers how the combination lock was worked; then the boys looked
inside the strong-box, and into the private compartment which, so Dick
told them, had contained the missing box of bonds.
"I don't see how they got into this safe," was Sam's comment, after
the door had been closed and the combination turned on. "I can't make
head or tail of how to get it open."
"Let me have a try at it," returned Tom, and he worked for several
minutes over the combination.
"Here are the figures for the combination," said Dick, and he turned
them over to his brothers. But even with the figures before them, they
found it no easy task to open the heavy door of the strong-box. This
door was provided with several bolts, so that to get it open without
either working the combination or else blowing the door open, was out
of the question.
"It's a Chinese puzzle to me. I give it up," declared Tom, at last.
"The only way I imagine, Dick, is that, somehow or other, somebody got
hold of that combination."
"It would seem so, Tom. But I can't see how it could be done, or who
did it," was the answer.
"Do you suppose that boy suspects anything?" questioned Sam.
"He may, because, after I discovered that the box was gone, I
questioned him pretty closely as to who had been in the offices. I
guess he knows something is wrong."
"Let us ask him about Pelter and Japson when he comes back," said Tom.
"It certainly won't do any harm to get all the information possible.
Then, if we can't get any clew by noon, I think the best thing you can
do, Dick, is to notify the authorities."
It was not long before Bob Marsh came back from his errand to the
post-office, and then Dick called him into the inner office.
"Now, Bob, I'm going to tell you something," said the oldest Rover,
coming to the point without delay. "There has been a robbery here."
"Robbery!" exclaimed the boy. "I didn't do it. I wouldn't take
nothin'," he went on, quickly.
"I didn't say you did, Bob. But what I want you to do is to tell me
everything that you know. Was there anybody in this office during my
absence?"
"Nobody went into this office while I was here," declared the office
boy. "I wouldn't let 'em in. But then you must remember, the janitors
come in during the night to clean up."
"Oh, yes, I know that."
"Dick, do you think the janitor of the building could be in this?"
exclaimed Sam.
"As I have said several times, I don't know what to think," answered
Dick. "As a matter of fact, I don't know who the janitor is."
"Say!" broke in the office boy, suddenly. "There was one feller here
that I didn't tell you about. I forgot about him. He was here three or
four days ago--I don't exactly remember what day it was."
"Who was that?"
"Why, it was a young feller named Barton Pelter. He's a relation to
Mr. Pelter. I think Mr. Pelter is his uncle."
"Barton Pelter!" exclaimed Dick. He looked at his brothers. "That must
be the same fellow that you wrote about--the fellow you pulled out of
the river."
"What did this Barton Pelter want?" asked Sam.
"He wanted to see his uncle. He knew that the firm had sold out to you
folks, but he was not certain if they had moved away yet. When I told
him that his uncle was gone, he looked kind of disappointed."
"Was he in this office, Bob?" questioned Dick.
"No, sir, he was only in the outside office."
"Did he say anything about bonds or money?"
"No, sir."
"Say, tell me something!" broke in Tom. "Were this Barton Pelter and
his uncle on good terms?"
"They used to be," replied the office boy, "but once or twice they had
some pretty warm talks. This young feller didn't like it at all the
way his uncle treated your father. I heard him tell his uncle once,
that what he was doing was close to swindling. Then Mr. Pelter got
awful mad, and told him he had better get out."
"Good for Barton!" murmured Sam. "He can't be such a bad sort."
"Oh, I guess he was all right," put in the office boy, with the
freedom that seemed natural to him. "Only I guess he was dependent on
his uncle for money. Maybe if it wasn't for that, he would have
pitched into his uncle more than he did. But say! You said something
was stolen. What was it?"
"Sixty-four thousand dollars in bonds," answered Dick.
"What! Say, boss, ain't you kiddin'?" and the boy looked incredulous.
"No, it is the truth, Bob. Somebody took a box out of that safe that
contained sixty-four thousand dollars' worth of bonds."
"Great smoke! I didn't think there was that many bonds in the hull
building!" cried the boy, with emphasis.
"I only expected to keep them here a few days," went on Dick. "Later
on, of course, I would have placed them in a safe deposit vault."
"Say, boss! you sure don't think that I took them bonds?" cried the
office boy.
"No, I don't, Bob. But somebody took them, and we've got to find
them."
"Sure, we've got to find them!" cried Bob. "Say, do you want me to
call the janitor? Maybe he knows something about it."
"Yes, you may call him, but don't tell him what we want him for,"
answered Dick.