CLAUS CALLS AGAIN.
When the stout man reached the sidewalk he saw the German a short
distance in advance of him, still hurrying along as though he had no
time to waste. He turned several corners, and at last disappeared up
the stairs that led to the pool-room. The detective, for that was what
he was, did not seem to notice what had become of the German, but he
marked the place where he had gone up and kept on to the
station-house. There he changed his coat and hat, and picked up a huge
walking-stick which stood in one corner. When he came out on the
streets again, everybody noticed that he walked with difficulty, and
there was an expression on his face which only those who were intimate
with the detective would have thought belonged to him. It was very
different from his ordinary appearance. Instead of the frank, open
look with which he regarded everybody, it was drawn up as though he
was suffering intense pain, from which he could not get a moment's
relief.
The detective speedily found the place where the German had
disappeared, walked wearily up the stairs, opened the door, and sank
into the nearest chair. Then he pulled a pair of eye-glasses from his
pocket and became interested in a paper. But he used his eyes to some
advantage, and quickly discovered the man he wanted seated off by
himself, with his legs outstretched before him and his chin resting on
his breast.
"I guess he found some difficulty in getting that box," said the
detective, who knew what Mr. Wiggins wanted of him before he came to
the office. "You want to go easy, my friend, or I'll have you up for
vagrancy again."
There were not so many in the pool-room as there were the night
before, and nobody seemed to bother the German; but presently, while
he was thinking about it, another party came in. He took off his coat,
seized a cue, and looked all around the room for an antagonist, until
he discovered the German sitting there doing nothing.
"Halloo, Claus!" he shouted, "come on, and let us have a game of
billiards."
"No, you must excuse me," was the reply; "I don't feel in the humor
for billiards or anything else."
"Have you anybody on a string that you are trying to make some money
out of?" asked his friend. "Come on, and perhaps a game will brighten
you up."
"'Claus,'" muttered the detective. "I know you now. I was told to find
out what his name was, so I will go back. So this is where you hang
out. I will remember you."
The detective hobbled out the door and down the stairs; but by the
time he got down to the street his lameness had all disappeared, and
he walked as briskly as anybody. He went to the Western Union
Telegraph office, told Mr. Wiggins he had discovered that the man's
name was Claus, and not Haberstro, and then went back to the station.
Casper Nevins was called into the back room a moment afterward, but
he was not there more than long enough to receive his discharge.
"I have never done anything like this before," said Casper, trying to
beg off. "If you will overlook this----"
"I can't do it," said Mr. Wiggins. "You are a boy that I can't trust.
Why, Casper, do you know what will become of you if you do not mend
your ways? You will get into the State's prison before you are five
years older. I paid you up yesterday, and you have not done anything
to-day, and so you can go."
"It would not be of any use for me to ask for a letter of
recommendation, would it?" asked Casper. He always had a good deal of
audacity about him, but this made Mr. Wiggins open his eyes in
surprise.
"Not from me, you can't," he answered. "You will have to go somewhere
else to get it."
Casper put on his cap and left the office, and on the way to the
pool-room, where he expected to find Claus, he blamed everybody but
himself for the disgrace he had got into. He blamed Claus, although
it is hard to see what that man had done, for he worked as hard as
anybody could to get that box; but he reproached Julian Gray more than
all for his interference in the matter.
"Come to think of it, I don't know but I am to blame a little myself,"
said he, after he had thought the affair all over. "Why did I not dig
out the moment I got that box? I would have been in Denver by this
time, and enjoying my wealth. It beats the world what luck some people
do have."
But Claus was not in the pool-room. He wanted to be alone, so that he
could think over the matter, and he had gone out where he would be by
himself. The barkeeper did not know where he had gone, and Casper went
home to change his clothes. As he pulled his uniform off he told
himself that it would be a long time before he ever wore it again.
Then he threw himself into a chair and tried to determine what he
should do next.
"I have just ten dollars," he mused, taking the bill from his pocket,
"and what I shall do when that is gone is another and a deeper
question. I'll bet that Claus don't get any cigars out of me
to-night."
Meanwhile Julian Gray came in from delivering his message. His face
was flushed, and he acted as though he had been running. He made his
report, and then went into the back room in obedience to a sign from
Mr. Wiggins.
"Well, Julian, your box is still safe," said the latter.
"Has that Dutchman been around here?" asked Julian.
Mr. Wiggins said he had, and then went on to give the boy a complete
history of what Claus had done to secure the box.
"I got rid of him very easily," said Mr. Wiggins. "I told him that it
would be well for him to write to some German friends in Chicago,
where he said he lived, and he said he was going up there on business
and would bring the letters back with him. I found out that his name
is Claus, and that he hangs out in a pool-room. You don't know him, do
you?"
No, Julian could not say that he had ever heard of him before.
"Well, don't you let the box go without seeing me about it."
"Nobody shall have it. Mr. Wiggins, I don't know how to thank you for
what you have done."
"You are a good boy, Julian, and the only thing I have against you is
that you will hang around that express office so much. Some day I am
going to give you a good scolding for that."
"You will never hear of my being there again. I am done going there
forever."
"I don't think you will have to do it any more. You have your fortune,
easy enough."
"Oh, Mr. Wiggins! Do you think it is ours sure enough?"
"Well, perhaps I ought not to speak so positively; it is hard to tell
at this stage of the game. I _hope_ you have."
Julian was delighted to hear Mr. Wiggins talk in this way, but before
he could ask him any more questions that gentleman had gone back into
the office. He then went out and looked around for Casper. One of the
boys told him he believed Casper had got the "sack," for he put on his
cap and left the office.
"I don't know what he has been doing," said the boy; "do you?"
"Mr. Wiggins knows, and he will not tell," replied Julian. "I wonder
what the poor fellow will do now?"
Julian was impatient for night to come, so that he could go home and
see Jack about it. It came at last, and Julian never broke a trot
until he ran up the stairs and burst into his room.
"Well?" said Jack. "You look happy. Tell us all about that Dutchman."
"There is not much to tell. His name is Claus, and he lives in a
pool-room."
"I knew I was not mistaken in him," said Jack, taking his usual seat
by throwing his leg over the table. "That man had better go somewhere
else."
But that he did not feel inclined to go somewhere else just then was
evident, for just as Jack pronounced his name the boys heard his step
coming up the stairs. He had a peculiar step, which, once heard, could
not be forgotten.
"Well, he is coming again," said Julian. "Now, what are you going to
say to him?"
"That depends upon what he has to say to me," said Jack. "Go to the
door, let him in, and put out a chair for him."
He rapped on the door the minute he got there, and Julian opened it
for him. He looked closely from one to the other of the boys, but did
not see anything in their faces to make him hide what he had on his
mind. He had a new plan, but it did not promise as well as the one
which had been defeated by Mr. Wiggins. He wanted to induce one of
them to get the box for him and let him read the papers that were in
it. If he could prevail upon them to bring the box out of the bank, he
was certain that in some way he could get an opportunity to steal it.
He did not intend to go about it slyly; he intended to take it, open
and above-board, and let Jack and Julian help themselves if they
could. He was certain that a revolver, presented at their heads and
cocked, would surely keep them quiet until he had locked the door and
got into the street. Where he would go after that he neither knew nor
cared. What he wanted was to get possession of the box.
"Ah! Good-evening," said Claus, bowing very politely. "I came back to
see you about that box."
"Take a chair," said Jack. "What about the box?"
"Mr. Wiggins said it was in the bank," said Claus, "and I want to know
if you could get it out of there and let me read the letter and the
papers. You see, the thing may not be for me, and I don't want to go
home and bother my friends about it until I know what the box
contains."
"Oh! your friends won't care anything about that," said Jack. "You
tell them that the box is for you, and they will give you all the
letters you want. Besides, I don't think Mr. Wiggins would agree to
what you ask."
The German did not like the way Julian was acting. He had kept his
eyes roaming from one to the other; but, although the boy occupied
his favorite position, with his hands buried in his pockets and his
feet spread out, his expression was different from what it had been
the night before. There was a smile on his face, and it would not have
taken very much to set him to laughing outright. Claus began to think
there was something up.
"Why, the box is your own, ain't it?" asked Claus. "You can do what
you please with it."
"Not now, we can't. We have told Mr. Wiggins that we wanted him to
watch over it for us, and he will have to be present when you read the
papers."
"Then you can't get it for me?"
"No, I don't believe I could, Mr. Claus. You don't need anybody to
give you a recommend. Go to some of your friends here----"
"Claus! Claus! That is not my name. My name is Haberstro."
Julian grinned broadly, and even Jack did not appear to be above
merriment.
"What do you mean by applying that name to me?" exclaimed Claus.
"There is my card."
"I don't want to see it. I have one already. Your name is Claus, you
live in a billiard saloon, and you got a full history of this box from
Casper Nevins."
"Young man, I will have you arrested before you are an hour older!"
said Claus, getting upon his feet. "I come here and ask a civil
question of you, and you insult me!"
"Do so, and we will have Casper arrested for burglary and you for
trying to obtain money under false pretenses. The sooner you get about
it the better it will suit us."
"Very well--I will have a policeman here in less than ten minutes!"
Mr. Claus went out, and this time he did not bow himself through the
door as he had done the night before. The boys heard him going
downstairs, and then turned and looked at each other.
"Somebody has been posting those fellows," said Claus, as he hurried
away toward Casper's room. "I wonder if there was a detective in there
while I was at the office? Two attempts have failed, but the third is
always successful."
Claus was almost beside himself with fury, but he retained his wits
sufficiently to guide him on the road to Casper's room. He found the
boy in, seated in a chair, with his elbows on his knees, trying his
best to make up his mind what he was going to do, now that he had been
discharged from the telegraph office. He had sat that way ever since
eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and had not been able to determine
upon anything. The first intimation he had that anybody was coming was
when the door was thrown open and Claus came in, muttering something
under his breath that sounded a good deal like oaths.
"There is no need that you should say anything," said Casper. "You
have failed."
"Yes, sir, I have; failed utterly and plump," said Claus.
"And I have been discharged."
"Whew!" whistled Claus. "You are in a fix, aren't you?"
"Yes, and I don't know what I shall do now. Tell me your story, and I
will tell you mine."
"Have you a cigar handy?"
"No; and I have no money."
"How long before you will be paid?"
"Oh, it will be two weeks yet."
"Then I will have to go down and get some cigars myself. I can think
more clearly while my jaws are puffing than I can without."
"You got your last cigar out of me, old fellow," said Casper to
himself, when Claus had left the room. "I have but little money, and I
am going to keep it."