CASPER THINKS OF SOMETHING.
Julian stood with his hands in his pockets looking at Casper, and
something that was very like a smile came into his face.
"I know what you went in there with Mr. Wiggins for," said Casper; and
having found his cap by that time, he jammed it spitefully on his
head, "and I just waited until you came out so that I could ask you. I
don't need to ask you. I tell you once for all----"
"Well, why don't you go on?" asked Julian. "You will tell me once for
all--what?"
Casper had by this time turned and looked sternly at Julian, but there
was something about him which told him that he had gone far enough.
"Go and get the police," said Julian. "Right here is where I do
business. Look here, Casper: you came into our room and stole that
box out of our closet."
"I never!" said Casper, evidently very much surprised. "So help
me----"
"Don't swear, because you will only make a bad matter worse. I found
the box in your trunk, just where you had left it. The way I have the
matter arranged now, there's nobody knows that you took it; but you go
to work and raise the police, and I will tell all I know. If you keep
still, I won't say one word."
Casper backed toward the nearest chair and sat down. This conversation
had been carried on in whispers, and there was nobody, among the dozen
persons who were standing around, that had the least idea what they
were talking about. If Casper supposed that he was going to scare
Julian into giving up the box, he failed utterly.
"I won't give up that fortune," said he, to himself, when Julian
turned away to go to his seat. "A hundred thousand dollars! I'll have
it, or I'll never sleep easy again."
During the rest of the day Julian was as happy as he wanted to be. The
box was now safe in the hands of Mr. Wiggins, and he would like to
see anybody get hold of it. Furthermore, Mr. Wiggins had told him to
put two more advertisements in the papers, and, if Mr. Haberstro did
not show himself in answer to them, the money was his own.
"I do hope he won't come," said Julian. "I don't believe in giving up
that fortune."
The boy was glad when the day was done, and the moment he was safe on
the street he struck a trot which he never slackened until he ran up
the stairs to his room. Jack was there, as he expected him to be, and
he was going about his work of getting supper. He looked up as Julian
came in, and he saw at a glance that he had been successful.
"I've got it!" shouted Julian; and, catching Jack by the arm, he
whirled him around two or three times. "It was in the trunk, just as I
told you it was. Mr. Wiggins has it now, and he will take care of it,
too."
"That's the best news I have heard in a long time," said Jack,
throwing his leg over the table. "Did you tell Mr. Wiggins about the
way Casper acted?"
"No, I did not. Somehow, I couldn't bear to see the boy discharged. I
simply told Mr. Wiggins that it wasn't safe in our room."
"Well, I don't know but that was the best way, after all," said Jack,
looking reflectively at the floor. "But I tell you, if I had been in
your place I would have let it all out. Now tell me the whole thing."
Julian pulled off his coat, and, while he assisted Jack in getting
supper, told him all that passed between Mr. Wiggins and himself, not
forgetting how the latter had promised to scold him at some future
time for going to the express office and investing in "old horse."
"I hope he will tell you some words that will set," said Jack. "All I
can say to you has no effect upon you."
"I will never go near that express office again--never!" said Julian,
earnestly.
"I hope you will always bear that in mind."
"I've had my luck, and if I live until my head is as white as our
president's I never shall have such good fortune again. I will get
bricks the next time I buy."
"You had better sit down and write out that advertisement for two more
insertions, and after supper we'll take it down and put it in. If
Haberstro does not appear in answer to them the money is ours. That's
a little better fortune than I dared to hope for."
Anybody could see that Jack was greatly excited over this news, but he
tried not to show it. If he had gone wild over it, he would have got
Julian so stimulated that he would not have known which end he stood
on. He had to control himself and Julian, too. He ate his supper
apparently as cool as he ever was, and after the room had been swept
up and the dishes washed he put on his coat and was ready to accompany
his friend to the newspaper offices.
"Remember now, Julian, we don't want any soda water to-night," said
Jack. "If you want anything to drink, get it before you start."
Julian promised that he would bear it in mind, and during the three
hours that they were gone never asked for soda water or anything
else.
"Just wait until I get that fortune in my hands, and then I will have
all the soda water I want," said Julian to himself. "But, after all,
Jack's way is the best. I don't know what I should do without him."
In due time the boys were at home and in bed; and leaving them there
to enjoy a good night's rest, we will go back to Casper Nevins and see
what he thought and what he did when he found that he had lost the box
he had risked so much to gain. He was about as mad as a boy could hold
when he ran down the stairs after his interview with them in their
room, and he straightway began to rack his brain to see if he could
not get that box for himself.
"Of all the dunces I ever saw, those two fellows are the beat!" said
he, as he took his way toward his room. "They have got the fortune in
their own hands; no one will say a word if they use it as though it
was their own; and yet they are going to advertise for the man to whom
it was addressed. Did anybody ever hear of a fool notion like that? I
was in hopes that I could get them to go partners with me, but under
the circumstances I did not like to propose it. Why didn't I happen
into that express office and bid on that box? Gee! What a fortune that
would be!"
Casper was almost beside himself with the thought, and he reached his
room and cooked and ate his supper, still revolving some plan for
obtaining possession of that box. He had suddenly taken it into his
head that he ought to go into partnership with the two boys in order
to assist them in spending their money, although there was not the
first thing that he could think of that induced the belief. Julian had
always been friendly with him,--much more so than any of the other
boys in the office,--although he confessed that he had not always been
friendly with Julian.
"Of course I have little spats with him, but Julian isn't a fellow to
remember that," said Casper to himself. "I've had spats with every
boy, and some of them I don't want anything more to do with. But
Julian ought to take me into partnership with him, and I believe I'll
ask him. But first, can't I get that box for my own? That is an idea
worth thinking of."
It was an idea that had suddenly come into Casper's head, and he did
not think any more about the partnership business just then. Of course
their advertising for Haberstro knocked all that in the head; but then
if he had the box he could do as he pleased with it. The next day, at
the office, he did say something about partnership, but Julian laughed
at him. He said that he and Jack could easily spend all that money,
and more too, if they had it. It was made in a joking way, and Julian
had not thought to speak to Jack about it.
"It is no use trying you on," said Casper to himself, getting mad in a
minute. "You can spend all that money yourselves, can you? I'll bet
you don't. There must be some keys in the city that will fit your
door, and I am going to have one."
From that time forward Casper had but just one object in view, and
that was to get the box. He spent three days in trying the different
keys which he had purchased to fit the lock, and one time he came
near getting himself into difficulty. He was out a great deal longer
than he ought to have been with a message, and when he got to the
office Mr. Wiggins took him to task for it.
"How is this, Casper?" said he. "You have been gone three-quarters of
an hour longer than you ought to have been."
"I went just as soon as I could," replied Casper, who was not above
telling a lie. "The man wasn't at his place of business, and so I went
to his home."
"Then you are excusable. It seems strange that he should be at home at
this hour."
Casper did not say anything, but he was satisfied that he was well out
of that scrape. He had not been to the man's home at all. He was
trying the lock on Julian's door.
Although he made two attempts without getting in, he succeeded on the
third. The door came open for him, and after searching around the room
in vain for the box, he looked into the closet.
"Aha! I've got you at last!" said he, as he drew the clothing aside
and laid hold of the object of his search. "Now I wish I had my money
that is due me from the telegraph office. To-morrow would see me on my
way toward Denver."
Hurriedly locking the door, Casper made the best of his way down the
stairs and to his room, and put the box into his trunk. Then he broke
into another run and went to the office, where he arrived in time to
avoid a second reprimand.
"Oh, you feel mighty well now," said Casper, watching Julian, who was
talking and laughing with some of the boys, "but I bet you you will
feel different in a little while. Now who am I going to get to hide
that box for me? None of the boys in here will do it, so I must go
elsewhere."
During the rest of the week Casper was as deeply interested in
watching the persons who came there as Julian was. He did not
advertise for Haberstro, because he did not want to give up the box.
He was more than half inclined to go to Mr. Wiggins and tell him he
was going to leave when his month was out, but some way or other he
did not. Something compelled him to wait, and in three days more he
found out what it was. He was in the office waiting for a message to
deliver, when Julian came in with a bundle wrapped up in a newspaper
under his arm. Casper was thunderstruck, for something told him that
Julian had played the same game that he had. He had been to his room
and got the box. His face grew as pale as death when he saw Mr.
Wiggins follow Julian into the back room, and his first thought was to
leave the office before he came out.
"It is all up with me now," said he, rising to his feet and looking
around for his cap, which, boy fashion, he had tossed somewhere, on
entering the room. "He will tell Mr. Wiggins that I stole the box, and
I will be discharged the first thing. I'll deny it," he added, growing
desperate. "I haven't seen his box. He did not find it in my room, but
got it somewhere else. I will make a fight on it as long as I can."
So saying, Casper sat down to await Julian's return; but the boy came
out alone, and the antics he went through drove Casper frantic.
"I've got the box," said Julian, when Casper asked him what he meant
by that pantomime.
The guilty boy was given plenty of opportunity to "deny it all," but
he gave it up in despair when he found that Julian was not to be
frightened into giving up the box. The latter was perfectly willing
that the police should come there, but if they did, he would tell all
Casper had done. He might get Julian in a scrape, but he would get
into a worse one himself. He was glad when Julian moved off to his
chair and left him alone.
"I guess it is the best way as it is," said Casper, getting upon his
feet and looking out into the street. "If he sets the police onto
me--good gracious, what should I do? So that plan has failed, and now
the next thing is something else. I'll have that box, or die trying to
get it."
All that day, while he was in the office or carrying his telegraphic
dispatches around the street, Casper thought of but one thing, and
that was, how was he going to get that box again? He did not have much
to say to anybody, and when six o'clock came he lost no time in
getting home. He had evidently determined upon something, for he ate a
very scanty supper, changed his clothes, and hurried out again. His
changing his uniform for a citizen's suit was something that would
have brought him his instant discharge if his company officers had
found him in that fix. He could mingle with loafers about the
pool-rooms, and no one could have told that he was any different from
anybody else. He could drink his beer, too, and no one would suspect
that he was going back on the pledge he made to the company. But,
then, Casper was used to such things, and he thought nothing of it.
More than that, he had an object to gain, and he had already picked
out the person whom he hoped to induce to enter into a scheme to
possess that box.
"Claus is the fellow I am going to try," said he, as he hurried along
toward a pool-room which he often frequented. "He is a German, he is
well along in years, and I know he isn't above making a dime or two
whenever he gets the chance. Now for it. It is make or break."