HOW CASPER WAS SERVED.
"Come on, now, and remember what I told you," said Claus, getting on
his feet. "There they go! All we have to do, now, is to go in there
and get the valises. You know where they sat, don't you?"
Casper glanced toward the front end of the car, and saw Julian and
Jack step down and hurry toward the dining-room. Claus waited until
most of the passengers got off, and then, with a motion to Casper to
follow him, he went boldly forward and climbed the steps. He opened
the door, and, when Casper went in, he said,
"Now tell me exactly where they sat, so that I can pick up the valises
without exciting anybody's suspicions."
"Do you see that red-faced man sitting on the right-hand side?"
whispered Casper. "And do you see those valises in the rack directly
in front him? Well, they are the ones you want."
"All right! We will have them out of there in a jiffy."
"I don't like the way that man looks at us," Casper ventured to
remark; "perhaps he knows them."
"It don't make any difference to me whether he does or not. If he says
anything to us, we will tell him the valises belong to us, and that we
have come after them."
Calling a smile to his face, Claus went down the passage-way, looking
at the various valises stowed away in the racks. When he arrived
opposite the seat where Julian had sat before he left the train, a
look of surprise spread over his countenance, and he stepped in and
took them down, one after the other.
"These are ours, ain't they?" he asked, turning to Casper.
"Yes--they are the ones."
"I don't see what those boys put them in here for. Now we will take
charge of them ourselves."
He passed one valise to Casper, who took it and made his way out of
the car, while Claus kept close at his heels.
"Now we want to go somewhere and get out of sight as soon as we can,"
said Casper, looking around guiltily, and almost expecting a policeman
to take him by the collar. "I shall not feel easy until this train
goes."
"Well, we don't want to get out of sight just yet," said Claus. "That
red-faced man kept his eyes on us, didn't he? Let us see what he will
make of it now."
"Why, Claus, you are not going in there?" queried Casper, when his
companion led the way toward the waiting-room. "Julian and Jack went
in there, and they will be certain to discover us."
"No, they won't. You follow me, and do just as I do."
Casper turned his eyes and looked back at the train. There was the
red-faced man, sitting by the car window, closely watching all their
movements, and when he saw them enter the waiting-room into which
Julian and Jack had gone a few moments before, his suspicions, if he
had any, were set at rest, and he settled back in his seat and picked
up a newspaper which he had just purchased. Claus kept on to the
waiting-room, but he did not stop when he got there. He kept right on
through and went out at the other door, and after walking briskly for
a few minutes, and turning several corners until he was sure that the
depot had been left out of sight, he seated himself on the steps of a
deserted house, took off his hat, and wiped his forehead.
"It was not such an awful thing to get those valises, after all," said
he. "When that train goes, we will go and get our breakfast."
"But I would like to know what is in those valises first," said
Casper. "I tell you, you are fooled. I have felt this valise all over
on the outside, and there is nothing in it that feels like a box."
"I don't suppose you could feel anything of that kind in it, because I
don't believe the box was put in there," said Claus. "My only hope is
that they took the papers out of the box and put them in here;
consequently they left the box at home."
"Good enough!" exclaimed Casper, catching up his valise and feeling
the outside of it, to see if he could feel anything that seemed like
papers that were stowed away on the inside of it; "I never thought of
that. Now, how shall we go to work to get the valises open? I haven't
a key in my pocket that will fit them."
"I haven't, either; but as soon as we get our breakfast we will go up
the road a little distance and cut them open. These gripsacks will
never be worth anything to anybody after we get done with them."
Even while they were talking in this way they heard the shriek of the
whistle twice, followed by the ringing of the bell, and knew that
their train was getting ready to start on again; whereupon Claus got
up and said he was as hungry as a wolf, and that he must procure a
breakfast somewhere.
"I shall not eat much till I find out what those valises are hiding
from us," said Casper. "It would be just dreadful if we should fail,
after all the trouble we have been to."
By the time they got back to the depot the train was well under way;
but Claus went out and looked after it, to satisfy himself that the
coast was clear. Then they placed their valises in charge of the clerk
at the desk, enjoyed a good wash, and went in and took their seats at
the table. Their meal was a better one than they had had served up to
them at St. Louis, especially when they were hard up for money; and,
after taking their time in eating it, Claus settled the bill, took his
valise, and started up the railroad track.
"Have you a cigar?" he asked, before they had gone a great ways. "That
is all right. We will go on until we get into that sagebrush, and then
we will stop and look into these things. I will take just a hundred
thousand dollars for my find."
"I'll bet you will take less than that," said Casper; for, somehow, he
could not get over the idea that the box had been sent by express.
"There is nothing in them that you want."
It did not take them more than a quarter of an hour to get into the
sagebrush; and, after looking all around to make sure that there was
no one in sight, they stepped down from the track and seated
themselves on the bank beside it. Claus did not waste any time in
trying his keys upon the valise, but stretched out his legs and put
his hand into his pocket, and when he pulled it out again he held a
knife in it.
"The shortest way is the best," said he, thrusting the blade into the
valise he held in his hand. "Come out here, now, and let us see what
you have."
His knife made short work of the valise, but nothing in the way of
papers could be found. It was Jack's valise that he had destroyed, and
all he found in it was a brush and comb, and half a dozen
handkerchiefs.
"I just knew how it would be," said Casper, despairingly. "You will
find the same things in here."
He had never seen Claus look so angry and disappointed as he was at
that moment. With a spiteful kick of one foot he sent the valise out
of sight in the sagebrush, and was about to send the other things to
keep it company, when he happened to think of something.
"I guess I'll keep the handkerchiefs and brush and comb for the good
they may do me," said he. "Where's your valise?"
Casper handed it over, and in a moment more that valise was a wreck,
also. They found things in it similar to those found in Jack's
gripsack, with the exception of a book which Julian had purchased to
read on his journey, the leaves of which were uncut. Casper took
possession of the handkerchiefs and the brush and comb, while Claus
slowly rolled up the book and sat with his eyes fastened on the
ground. He was mad--Casper could easily see that, and he dared not
interrupt his train of thought. Claus sat for some moments communing
with his own thoughts, then broke into a whistle and got upon his
feet.
"To say that I am disappointed, and angry, too, would not half express
my feelings," said he, pulling off his hat with one hand and digging
his fingers into his head with the other. "I did not suppose they
would send those papers by express, for I know it is something that I
would not have done. I would have kept them by me all the while, so
that I could see that they were safe. Now, the next thing is to
determine upon something else."
"Do you intend to make another effort to get the money?" asked Casper,
very much surprised. "Your 'three times and out' did not amount to
anything--did it?"
"No, I don't suppose it did," said Claus, who was evidently thinking
about something else. "I guess you have done about all you can do, and
so you had better go back to St. Louis."
This was nothing more than Casper expected. He had his ten dollars
stowed away somewhere about his clothes, together with small sums
which he had saved from the amount that Claus had paid him, and so he
could pay his way back to St. Louis easily enough; but what should he
do when he got there? He shuddered when he thought of it. Here was
winter coming on, and unless he should obtain work very soon he would
have to go out to where his mother lived, which was all of two hundred
and fifty miles from there. And what should he say when he got home?
He had gone to St. Louis with big boasts of what he intended to do
when he got there, and for him to turn up penniless and friendless at
his mother's house was rather more than he had bargained for.
"And what will _you_ do?" asked Casper.
"I haven't had time to think the matter over," said Claus, who was
rather surprised that his companion took his discharge, or whatever
you might call it, so easily, "but I think I shall go on to Denver."
"And I can't be of any use to you there?"
"No, I don't think you can. I may not be back to the city before next
spring."
"I wish you would tell me what you are going to do when you get there.
You can't get the box; that will be safe in the bank."
"But perhaps I can pass myself off for Mr. Haberstro. I have some of
his cards in my pocket."
"But you will only get yourself into trouble if you try that game.
There are people out there who know Haberstro."
"Well, that is so," said Claus, looking reflectively at the ground. "I
shall have to think up some way to get around that. At any rate, you
cannot be of any further use to me, and so you had better start by the
next train."
"Well, you had better give me some money before you turn me off in
this way," said Casper. "How am I going to get back to the city
without money?"
"Where is that ten dollars you got out of the telegraph office when
your time was up?" asked Claus, who did not like it whenever the
subject of giving some of his hard earnings was brought up before him.
"You have not spent all of that, I know."
"Yes, I have. I have just a quarter, and there it is," said Casper,
pulling out of his pocket the coin in question.
"I wish to goodness I had never seen you!" said Claus, shoving his
hand into the pocket in which he kept his money. Casper heard the
jingling of some silver pieces, and thought that perhaps his companion
might be tempted to give him a few dollars. That would be better than
nothing, and he would have some money left when he reached St. Louis.
"If I had never seen you, I would have more dollars left in my pocket
than I have now," said Claus, bringing out a handful of small change.
Casper said nothing in reply. He wanted to see how much Claus was
going to give him; and, once he had the money in his hand, he could
talk to him as he pleased.
"There are five dollars that I will give you, and you need not ask me
for any more," said Claus, counting out the money; "for, if you do,
you won't get it."
"I don't know whether five dollars will pay my fare to St. Louis or
not," said Casper. "Give me six."
"No, sir; that's all I have to spare. It will take you so close to the
city that you can easily walk in," said Claus, turning on his heel and
starting toward the town they had just left. "You can walk twenty-five
miles very easily."
It was right on the point of Casper's tongue to "open out" on Claus,
and give him as good as he sent. Wouldn't he have had more dollars in
_his_ pocket if he had never met the man who was anxious at all times
to play a game of billiards or pool with him, especially on pay-day,
when Casper was known to have money in his pocket? But, on thinking
the matter over, he decided that he would say nothing about it. Claus
was a pretty big man, and there was no knowing what he would do if the
boy made him angrier than he was now.
"He is going to be fooled again," said Casper, as he fell in behind
Claus, who walked toward the town as if he were in an awful hurry to
get there. "What good will it do him to go on to Denver? He can't get
the box there, neither can he cheat Julian out of his money. Julian
will find any amount of friends there--I never heard of a boy with a
hundred thousand dollars in his pocket who could not find somebody to
stand by him--and they will tell him what to do. Oh! why did I make so
great a mistake! I ought to have started for Denver the moment I got
my hands on that box. Well, I got five dollars out of Claus, anyhow."
Casper sauntered along behind Claus, who was walking rapidly, and
when he reached the depot he looked all around for his companion, but
failed to see him. Claus had gone off somewhere, and Casper was there
alone.