"I"d hurry to the bank with the money."
"And---then?" Dan still insisted.
"Then," supplied practical Tom Reade, "he"d end our suspense by paying d.i.c.k ninety dollars for our war canoe!"
"I would," Greg agreed.
CHAPTER II
d.i.c.k AND SOME HIGH FINANCE
"I feel like a fellow without any manners," complained Dave Darrin.
"What have you done now?" asked Greg, coming out of his million-dollar trance.
"It"s what I haven"t done," Darry answered. "It"s also what none of us have done. We haven"t thanked our very pleasant, even if slightly erratic, host for his entertainment."
"We can"t very well b.u.t.t in," declared Reade, glancing down the street. "Hibbert and his kee---I mean, his friend---are still talking earnestly. I wonder if they lock poor Hibbert up part of the time?"
Colquitt and young Mr. Hibbert had now turned in at the Eagle Hotel. Dave glanced at his watch, remarking:
"Fellows, it"s ten minutes after six. Those of you who want any supper will do well to hurry home."
"I"m certain that I can"t eat a bit of supper," declared Hazelton, looking almost alarmed. "I"ve eaten so much of that cream and cantaloupe that I haven"t a cubic inch of s.p.a.ce left for anything else."
Nevertheless the high school boys parted, going their various directions, after having agreed to meet by seven o"clock. All wanted to be on hand when Prescott got back to town.
After supper Greg had not been out of the house five minutes when Mr. Hibbert appeared at the gate of the Holmes cottage, and pa.s.sed inside. The caller inquired for Greg"s father, met that gentleman, and the two remained in private conversation for some five minutes.
Ere the first minute was over, however, Greg"s father might have been heard, from the sidewalk, laughing uproariously. Finally Mrs. Holmes was called into the conference. She came forth again, looking somewhat amused.
From that meeting Hibbert went back to Main Street, where he fell in with Tom Colquitt.
"Are you satisfied, now?" demanded the latter.
"I"m puzzled," replied Hibbert, with the air and tone of a man who hates to give up a delusion.
Colquitt and Hibbert had not gone a block and a half ere they encountered Dave, Tom and the others, only d.i.c.k being absent from the gathering of the chums. Curiously, too, the meeting took place before the same ice cream shop.
"Just in time to have some more cream, boys," suggested young Mr. Hibbert.
"And we"d enjoy it, too, thank you," responded Tom courteously, "but there is a point, sir, past which it would be imposition to go. So we are going to content ourselves with enjoying a very pleasant recollection of the good time we had with you this afternoon."
"Better come inside with us," urged Mr. Colquitt. "I notice a table, away over in the corner, where we can be by ourselves.
You see, boys, after what Hibbert said to one of your number this afternoon, we feel that an explanation is due to you. We can explain inside much better than we could on a street corner."
That crowbar of curiosity wedged the boys away from their fear that they were accepting too much from strangers. So they followed their mysterious conductors inside. Young Mr. Hibbert ordered ices similar to those that had been enjoyed that afternoon. Then Mr. Colquitt, with a brisk air, began:
"Concerning that suspicion that young Holmes might be the missing heir to a large sum of money, I"ll tell you how Mr. Hibbert got his idea."
Then, as though fearing that he had made too great a promise, Mr. Colquitt paused.
"It"s this way," he went on, at last. "Many years ago there was a railway wreck in this part of the state. A good many pa.s.sengers were killed. Among them was the wife of a wealthy man. The husband escaped with his life, but he was so badly hurt that, for a year or so, his mind suffered. He had to be taken abroad. There were a few babies among those killed in the wreck, and the infant son of the couple was supposed to be one of them. The father is now well and healthy, but a very lonely man. Within the last few weeks this father has had some reason to believe that his son didn"t perish in the wreck, but that other people, believing both parents had been killed, took charge of the infant.
"That is all," continued Mr. Colquitt, "except that the missing infant had a small v-shaped nick on the outer edge of his right ear. Probably with the boy"s growth, if he is still alive, the nick has become so small as to be barely noticeable, like the nick in Holmes" right ear. Mr. Hibbert came to Gridley only yesterday, and it happened that one of the first young men he saw, close to the hotel, was young Holmes. Rather by chance Hibbert saw that very small nick, that usually would escape notice. In great excitement Hibbert telegraphed the anxious father, and the father wired Blinders" detective agency, which sent me down to Gridley."
"It isn"t possible that Greg can be the missing son," breathed Tom Reade incredulously.
"He isn"t," declared Tom Colquitt promptly. "I made sure of that very soon after I reached town to-day. First of all, I found out the name of the family physician, Dr. Bentley. I saw that gentleman, and he a.s.sured me he knew that young Holmes was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, for Dr. Bentley told me that he signed young Greg"s birth certificate. That was proof enough, but I also saw Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, a few minutes ago. The missing son of the wealthy man in question had two other marks on his body that would identify him."
"What are those marks?" asked Dave Darrin deeply interested.
Tom Colquitt hesitated, glancing at young Mr. Hibbert.
"Tell "em," nodded the young man of the four-quart hat.
"The young man we are seeking," replied the detective, "will have a brownish mole over his right shoulder blade and a reddish mark to the left of his breast bone. The boy was born with those marks.
The nick in his ear resulted from an accident when the nurse was handling the child."
"We"ll find the youngster for you," promised Danny Grin lightly.
"And is Mr. Hibbert a detective, too?" asked Tom Reade.
"No," replied Colquitt, with great promptness, while Mr. Hibbert, grinning sheepishly, added:
"I haven"t brains enough for that, I guess. But, Master Holmes, please tell me, to satisfy my last doubt. Have you any such marks as Mr. Colquitt has described?"
"I never noticed such marks on myself," Greg replied.
"He hasn"t them," Dave interjected, "or the rest of us would have noticed the marks when we"ve been in swimming."
"Then your last idea that Gregory Holmes is the missing young man must vanish now, my dear Mr. Hibbert," smiled Mr. Colquitt.
"I"m vanquished," confessed Alonzo Hibbert, with a sigh. "I"m no good at anything. I wouldn"t even make a detective."
"I must leave you now," suggested Mr. Colquitt, rising. "I must wire to---er---to my client. Poor man, he will be greatly disappointed."
As the detective rose and pa.s.sed outside Hazelton leaned over to murmur to young Holmes:
"Don"t you wish it had turned out that you were the million-dollar kid?"
"Not if I had to give up my father and mother," Greg replied, with great promptness.
"I seem to be a fool at everything," sighed Alonzo Hibbert in disgust.