WHERE THE BOX WAS.
This startling piece of information seemed to strike Jack Sheldon
motionless and speechless with astonishment. His under jaw dropped
down, and he even clutched the back of a chair, as if seeking
something with which to support himself. The two boys stood at
opposite sides of the room looking at each other, and then Jack
recovered himself.
"Gone!" he repeated. "You are mistaken; you have overlooked it. I saw
it night before last myself."
"I don't care," said Julian, emphatically; "I have taken the clothes
all out, and the box is gone. Look and see for yourself."
Julian stepped down from the chair and Jack took his place. He peered
into every nook and corner of the dark shelf, passed his hands over
it, and then, with something like a sigh, got down and began to hang
the clothes up in their proper places. Then he closed the door of the
closet, took a chair, and gazed earnestly at the floor.
"Well, sir, what do you think of that?" said Julian.
"Didn't I tell you that if anybody came in here to look for that box
while we were not here it would be Casper Nevins, and nobody else?"
said Jack.
"You surely don't suspect him!" exclaimed Julian.
"I _do_ suspect him; if you could get inside his room to-night you
would find the box."
"Why, then he is a thief!" said Julian, jumping up from his chair and
walking the floor. "Shall we go down to No. 8 Station and ask the
police to send a man up there and search him?"
"I don't know whether that would be the best way or not," said Jack,
reflectively. "Has Casper got many friends among the boys of your
office?"
"I don't believe he's got one friend there who treats him any better
than I do. The boys are all shy of him."
"And well they may be. That boy got a key somewhere that will fit our
door, and came in here and took that box. You say he has not any
friends on whom he can depend in the office?"
"Not one. If he has any friends, none of us know who they are."
"Then he must be alone in stealing the box from us. He has it there in
his room, for he has no other place to hide it. Do you know what sort
of a key he has to fit his door?"
"Of course I do. I was with him when he got it. It is a combination
key; one that he folds up when he puts it into his pocket."
"Do you believe you can buy another like it?"
"By George! That's an idea. Let us go down and find out. Then
to-morrow, if I can get away, I will come up here and go through his
room."
That was Jack's notion entirely. He wanted to see "the biter bit"--to
know that he would feel, when he awoke some fine morning and found his
fortune gone, just how they were feeling now. They put on their coats
and locked the door,--it seemed a mockery to them now to lock the
door when their fortune was gone,--and, after walking briskly for a
few minutes, turned into the store where Casper had purchased his key.
When Julian told the clerk that he wanted to see some combination
keys, he threw out upon the counter a box which was filled to
overflowing.
"Do you remember a telegraph boy who was in here several months ago
and bought a combination lock to fit his door?" asked Julian. "I was
in here at the time, and I know he bought the lock of you."
"Seems to me that I _do_ remember something about that," said the
clerk, turning around to the shelves behind him and taking down
another box, "and we have got just one lock of that sort left."
"Are you sure this key will open his door?" asked Julian.
"I am sure of it. If it don't open his door, you can bring it back and
exchange it for another."
Julian told him that he would take the lock, and while the clerk was
gone to another part of the store to do it up he whispered to Jack,
"I have just thought of something. He has not any closet in his room
that I know of, and who knows but that he may have put that box in his
trunk? I had better get some keys to his trunk while I am about it."
"Do you remember how the key looked?" asked Jack.
"I guess I can come pretty close to it," answered Julian.
The work of selecting a key to the trunk was not so easy; but Julian
managed to satisfy himself at last, and the boys left the store.
Julian did not say anything, but he was certain that the box would be
in his own possession before that time to-morrow. That would be better
than calling the police to search his room. In the latter case, Casper
would be held for trial, and Julian did not want to disgrace him
before all the boys in the office.
"I will give Mr. Wiggins the box as soon as I get my hands on it, but
I shan't say anything to him about Casper's stealing it," said he.
"Would you?"
"You are mighty right I _would_," exclaimed Jack, who looked at his
friend in utter surprise. "He stole it, didn't he? He was going to
cheat Haberstro out of it if he showed up, and, failing that, he would
leave us here to work all our lives while he lived on the fat of the
land. No, sir; if you get the box you must tell Mr Wiggins about it."
For the first time in a long while the boys did not sleep much that
night. Jack was thinking about Casper's atrocity,--for he considered
that was about the term to apply to him for stealing their box,--and
Julian was wondering if he was going to get into Casper's room and
recover the fortune which he was attempting to deprive them of.
"I tell you, that boy is coming to some bad end," said Jack. "I would
not be in his boots for all the money he will ever be worth."
"I don't care what end he comes to," said Julian, "but I was just
thinking what would happen to us if this key did not open his door. We
would then have to get the police, sure enough."
Morning came at length, and at the usual hour Julian was on hand in
the telegraph office, waiting to see what his duties were going to be.
As usual, he found Casper Nevins there. He looked closely at Julian
when he came in, but could not see anything in the expression of his
face that led him to believe there was anything wrong.
"Good-morning, Julian," said he.
"Good-morning," said Julian. "How do you feel this morning?"
"Right as a trivet. I feel much better than you will when you find
that that box is gone," added Casper to himself. "He hasn't found it
out yet, and I hope he will not until I get my pay. I have waited and
watched for this a long time, and, thank heaven! I have found it at
last. I wish I knew somebody who would take that box and hide it for
me; but I can't think of a living soul."
All the fore part of that day Julian was kept busy running to the
lower part of the city with messages, and not a chance did he get to
go up past Casper's room. Two or three times he was on the point of
asking Mr. Wiggins to excuse him for a few minutes, but he always
shrunk from it for fear of the questions that gentleman would ask him.
"Where did he want to go?" "What did he want to go after?" "What was
he going to do when he got there?" and Julian was quite certain that
he could not answer these questions without telling a lie. While he
was thinking it over he heard his name called, and found that he must
go right by Casper's room in order to take the message where it was to
go. He seemed to be treading on air when he walked up to take the
telegraphic dispatch.
"Do you know where that man lives?" asked the operator.
"I know pretty nearly where he lives," answered Julian.
"Well, take it there, and be back as soon as you can, for I shall want
to send you somewhere else. What's the matter with you, Julian? You
seem to be gay about something."
"I don't know that I feel any different from what I always do,"
replied Julian. "I will go there as soon as I can."
When Julian got into the street, his first care was to find his keys.
They were all there; and, to gain the time that he would occupy in
looking about the room, Julian broke into a trot, knowing that the
police would not trouble him while he had that uniform on. At the end
of an hour he began to draw close to Casper's room, and there he
slackened his pace to a walk.
"Ten minutes more and the matter will be decided," said Julian, his
heart beating with a sound that frightened him. "That boy has the box,
and I am going to have it."
A few steps more brought him to the stairs that led up to Casper's
room. It was over a grocery store, and the steps ran up beside it. He
turned in there without anybody seeing him, and stopped in front of
the door. The combination key was produced, and to Julian's immense
delight the door came open the very first try.
"I guess I won't lock it," muttered Julian. "I might lock myself in.
He does not keep his room as neat as we do ours."
Julian took one glance about the apartment, taking in the tumbled
bedclothes, and the dishes from which Casper had eaten his breakfast
still unwashed on the table, and then turned his attention to what had
brought him there. There was no closet in the room, and the box was
not under the bed; it must therefore be in his trunk. One after
another of the keys was tried without avail, and Julian was about to
give it up in despair, when the last key--the one on Jack's
bunch--opened the trunk, which he found in the greatest confusion. He
lifted off the tray, and there was the box, sure enough. Julian took
it, and hugged it as though it was a friend from whom he had long been
separated.
"Now the next question is, are the papers all here?" thought he.
"There were seven of them besides the letter, and who knows but that
he has taken a block of buildings away from us."
But the papers were all there. However much Casper might have been
tempted to realize on some of the numerous "blocks of buildings" which
the box called for, he dared not attempt the sale of any of them. It
was as much as he could do to steal the papers. Julian placed the tray
back and carefully locked the trunk, and then looking around, found a
paper with which to do up his box. Then he locked the door, came down,
and went on to deliver his message.
"That boy called us foolish because we advertised for Mr. Haberstro,"
said Julian, as he carefully adjusted the box under his arm. "I would
like to know if we were bigger fools than he was. We could have found
the police last night as easy as not, and it would have been no
trouble for them to find the box. He ought not to have left it there
in his trunk. He didn't think that we could play the same game on him
that he played upon us."
Julian conveyed his message and returned to his office in less time
than he usually did, and, after reporting, told Mr. Wiggins in a
whisper that he would like to see him in the back room.
"I know what you want," said Mr. Wiggins, as he went in. "You have
been up to the express office, buying some more of that 'old horse.'
Some day I am going to give you fits for that. It is the only thing I
have stored up against you."
"Can you tell when I did it?" asked Julian, slowly unfolding the box
which he carried under his arm. "Haven't I carried my telegraphic
dispatches in as little time as anybody? Now, I have something here
that is worth having. Read that letter, and see if it isn't."
Mr. Wiggins seated himself on the table and slowly read the letter
which Julian placed in his hands, and it was not long before he became
deeply interested in it. When he had got through he looked at the boy
with astonishment.
"I declare, Julian, you're lucky," said he. "Now, the next thing for
you to do is to advertise for Haberstro."
"We have already advertised for him. We have put four insertions in
the papers."
"And he doesn't come forward to claim his money? Put two other
advertisements in, and if he don't show up the money is yours."
"That is what I wanted to get at," said Julian, with a sigh of relief.
"Now, Mr. Wiggins, I wish you would take this and lock it up
somewhere. I don't think it safe in our house."
"Certainly I'll do it. By George! Who would think you were worth a
hundred thousand dollars!"
"It isn't ours yet," said Julian, with a smile. "About the time we get
ready to use it, here will come Mr. Haberstro, and we will have to
give it up to him."
"Well, you are honest, at any rate, or you would not have advertised
for him. This beats me, I declare. I won't scold you this time, but
don't let it happen again."
"I'll never go into that express office again while I live," said
Julian, earnestly. "I have had my luck once, and I don't believe it
will come again."
When Julian went out into the office he saw Casper there, and he was
as white as a sheet. Julian could not resist the temptation to pat an
imaginary box under his arm and wink at Casper.
"What do you mean by that pantomime?" said he.
"It means that you can't get the start of two fellows who have their
eyes open," said Julian. "I've got the box."
"You have?" gasped Casper. "You've been into my room when I was not
there? I'll have the police after you before I am five minutes older!"
Casper jumped to his feet and began to look around for his hat.