DEAR SIR:--I am called away on business. I enclose the amount due you.
If it is not right I will communicate with you as soon as I have reached New York. Remember me to Mr. Bowman.
FRED FENTON.
"Called away on business!" repeated Bowman suspiciously. "That is queer. What did the boy say?" he asked of Jack. "When did he first speak of going away?"
"I think he made up his mind sudden, sir."
"Did he say where he was going?"
"He said he was goin" back to New York."
"Received a summons from his employer, I suppose."
"Very likely, sir."
"Do you know if he went to see Mr. Sinclair?"
"Yes, sir. He went fust part of the evenin"."
"Then Sinclair can tell me about it."
"Very likely, sir."
Not daring to take Jack too deeply into his confidence, Fred had told him that he was going to New York, which was true, or would be very shortly.
"If he had waited till to-morrow we might have gone together," thought Bowman, "at least a part of the way. It will be some time before I shall dare to set foot in New York."
Bowman went to bed with a vague feeling of uneasiness for which he could not account. He felt that it would be impossible for him to remain in the dull little village any longer. Should he, or should he not, go to see Sinclair before he went away? On the whole he resolved to secure the bonds first, and then decide.
The next day after breakfast he strolled down to the lake, got out the boat, and rowed rapidly toward the farther sh.o.r.e. There was no time to waste now. He tied the boat to a sapling growing close to the bank, and struck into the woods.
He made his way at once to the tree which he had used as a safe deposit vault, and with perfect confidence thrust in his hand. But the package which his fingers sought for seemed to have slipped out of reach. He continued his search anxiously, with increasing alarm, but in vain.
A terrible fear a.s.sailed him. He peered in through the cavity, but neither sight nor touch availed. Gradually the terrible thought was confirmed--the parcel had been stolen! Thirteen thousand five hundred dollars, nearly the entire proceeds of his crime, had vanished--but where?
He staggered to a stump close by, and sitting down, buried his face in his hands. What was he to do? He had but twenty-five dollars left.
"Who can have taken it?" he asked himself with feverish agitation.
He rose and made his way mechanically back to the boat.
An hour later he staggered into the little cottage occupied by his sick partner. His hair was disheveled, his manner wild.
"What is the matter, Bowman?" asked Sinclair.
"We are ruined!" said Bowman in a hollow voice. "The bonds are gone!"
"When did you miss them?" asked Sinclair quickly.
"To-day. They were safe yesterday. Do you think it was the boy?"
"What could he know of the bonds? Did you ever speak to him about them?"
"Of course not. What shall I do?"
"Inquire whether any one has been seen near the place where you hid them. Do your best to recover them."
This advice struck Bowman favorably. He devoted the remainder of the day to the inquiry, but learned nothing. There was no further occasion to remain in St. Victor. He left the inn in the evening, forgetting to pay his reckoning.
CHAPTER x.x.xV.
FRED"S REWARD.
John Wainwright, the wealthy banker, sat in his office looking over the letters that had come by the morning mail. Some of them he turned over to his confidential clerk to answer. Others, more important, he reserved to reply to with his own hand.
"Busy, Wainwright?" asked a gentleman, Arthur Henderson, entering without ceremony.
"I always have something in hand, but I have time enough for an old friend."
"By the way, have you heard anything of the bonds you lost some time since?"
"I know where they are."
"You do?"
"Yes, they are in Canada."
Henderson laughed.
"That means that you will never get them back."
"I don"t know. I have sent a messenger to recover them."
"Who is it?"
"My office boy."
Henderson stared.
"I suppose that is a joke."
"By no means."
"What is the age of your office boy?"