The Missing Tin Box Part 50

"No. Next year we are going to have an entirely new set. If you do these right, Mr. Schwartz says he may give you the new work."

"I'll do them in the best style. How soon do you want them?"

"As soon as possible. We are in a great hurry for them."

"In two days do?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Very well. They will cost thirty-six dollars."

"As much as that?"

"Yes. I will have to take my workmen from another job, and we always charge a little more for a rush."

"How much of a deposit shall I leave?"

"Five dollars will do."

"Then here you are."

d.i.c.k Ferris pulled a five-dollar bill from his pocket, and, after receiving his receipt, walked out of the office.

He glanced at Hal as he pa.s.sed, but our hero's back was turned to him, and Hal seemed to be interested in some prints which hung upon the wall.

"Now, sir, what can I do for you?" questioned the proprietor, turning to Hal.

He left the slips Ferris had brought lying upon the counter.

"I would like to know how much you charge for printing wedding invitations," replied Hal, approaching the counter where the slips lay.

"Wedding invitations, eh?" The proprietor smiled. "Here is a young man about to get married," he thought. "By his looks, I think, he wants something rather nice."

"Yes, sir," said Hal.

"With an engraved plate, I suppose?"

"Of course."

"I'll show you our book of specimens."

The man turned away to where a number of books were lying upon a side desk. As he did so, Hal carelessly picked up the slips Ferris had left and examined them.

He could make nothing of them, excepting that one had the words: "Bonds of the Second Cla.s.s, receivable," printed across its face, and another, "Sumner, Allen & Co. Transfer Slip of Limited Calls, December."

"Here you are," said the man, coming up with one of the books, and he gathered up the slips and put them away with a memorandum.

Hal looked over the book, and noted down the prices of several styles of invitations.

"I do not want to order," he said. "I merely wanted the prices."

"Very well. Glad to see you at any time," returned the man.

Once down in the street again, Hal looked up and down, but could see nothing of Ferris.

But when the youth reached Grand Street he beheld Ferris making for downtown as rapidly as his long legs would carry him.

"I suppose he is going to stand outside and meet Mr. Allen when he comes out," thought Hal. "I will follow him, and see what turns up next."

d.i.c.k Ferris walked up Grand Street until he came to Broadway. Here he stood upon the corner, and presently waved his hand toward a pa.s.sing horse-car.

Immediately a man descended from the car, and came toward the tall youth. It was Hardwick.

"Hullo! This can't be a chance meeting," said Hal to himself. "No wonder Ferris hurried to the corner. He almost missed his man."

As Hardwick stepped from the street to the sidewalk, he glanced toward where Hal was standing, gazing into a shop window. Then he turned to Ferris, and the two began an earnest conversation.

Hal pa.s.sed the pair, but did not catch a word of what was said. Nor did the young watcher notice d.i.c.k Ferris' quick, nervous look in his direction.

A few minutes later, Hardwick and Ferris walked back down Grand Street.

Reaching Chrystie, they turned into it, and walked along several blocks until they came to a narrow alley leading to a lumber-yard.

Both pa.s.sed into the lumber-yard and out of Hal's sight. Wondering what had become of them, the boy pa.s.sed the place.

No one was in sight.

"That's queer. I wonder if they entered that building in the rear?"

For fully ten minutes Hal hung around, but neither Hardwick nor Ferris put in an appearance.

A wagon was leading up on one side of the yard, but presently this drove off, and then all became quiet.

Watching his chance, when he thought no one was observing him, Hal entered the gate of the lumber-yard and hurried down to the building in the rear.

There was a window beside the door to the place, and Hal gazed inside.

An elderly man was present. He was seated beside a hot stove, toasting his s.h.i.+ns and reading a morning paper.

"They didn't enter the office, that's certain," said Hal to himself.

"Now, where did they go?"

Suddenly he stopped short. Was it possible that Hardwick and Ferris had discovered that they were being followed, and had slipped through the lumber-yard merely to throw him off the scent?

"It certainly looks like it," thought Hal. "I'll sneak around the back way, and see what I can discover."

Back of the office were great piles of lumber, all thickly covered with snow. Among them could plainly be seen the footsteps of two people. The marks were fresh, and led along the back fence and then to the right.

Hal followed the marks among the piles of lumber until he came to a spot where all became mixed, as if some one had retraced his steps.