asked Walter.
"Oh, I don"t know what I"ll do with it!" snapped Sid. "May as well leave it here as anywhere else."
Smith"s place was a second-rate blacksmith shop, while at Chelton Center, a little farther on, there was a fine garage--Newton"s--the one at which Cora and the twins had met the handsome machinist.
"Why don"t you take it to Newton"s?" asked Cora. "We"ll go there with you. I--er--, I know the machinist there."
"I prefer to leave it here," said Sid shortly. "Stop, please, and I"ll loosen the rope."
"Oh!" exclaimed Cora shortly. She could not understand Sid. Walter stopped her car, and before it had come to a full halt Sid was detaching the tow rope. Mary took this chance to alight from the Whirlwind, as they were not far from the post-office, and Ida followed her. Sid cranked up for the short run into the blacksmith shop. Ida and Mary were walking down the street together.
"Go ahead!" Sid called to Walter.
"Oh, you"re welcome," replied Walter sarcastically. "Not the least trouble, thank you. Glad at any time--"
Sid shot at him an angry glance over his shoulder.
"I"d like to know who had a better right to haul me out of the ditch?" he said sneeringly.
Jack, with the twins, had run on. As Walter started Cora"s machine off again, they saw a man coming out of the smithy. He helped Sid push the car in, and then stood talking with him in a friendly sort of fashion. The man"s clothing was unkempt, and his general appearance anything but prepossessing.
"Who"s that?" asked Cora.
"Him, you mean?" inquired Walter. "Oh, that"s Lem Gildy. Or just plain Lem, if you like that better."
"What does he do?"
"Nothing. Easily said. Yet I"ve heard it remarked that he"d do anything for money."
"Curious that Sid should be on such friendly terms with such a character."
"Rather," remarked Walter, and he turned to see Sid pointing at the big car, while Lem Gildy was nodding his head as if a.s.senting to something.
CHAPTER VII
TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS LOST
Edward Foster, as he ran his machine along the country road toward New City, where he was to transact his business at the bank, was thinking of many things. And not all of them were connected with the large sum of money and the bonds which he was to exchange for stock.
A certain bright-eyed girl figured largely in his reveries.
"Guess I"d better put on a little more speed," he said to himself.
"It"s going to take some time to get this all straightened out, and I don"t like to have such a large sum with me on the road."
He speeded up his car, and was soon on the outskirts of the city, where he had to go slower, threading his way in and out among many vehicles.
He reached the bank shortly before noon, was greeted by the president and the secretary, who were expecting him, and was shown into a private office.
"Well, we have the stock all ready for you," said the president genially. It was not every day that his bank disposed of such a large block. "I trust you will find it a good investment."
"I believe I will," replied Ed as he reached his hand in his inner pocket to take out the wallet that contained the money and bonds. "I looked into--"
He stopped suddenly. A blank look came over his face. Hurriedly he felt in another pocket. Then he began a rapid search through his clothes.
"What"s the matter?" asked the secretary. "Did you mislay your valuables?"
"Yes--no--I don"t see--" murmured Ed. All the while he was making a frantic search. His face paled. The bank officials looked anxiously on.
"Can"t you find it?" inquired the president.
"I"ve either lost my wallet,--or it"s been stolen!" burst out Ed desperately.
"How could it have been stolen?" asked the secretary.
"I don"t know," was the answer. "I don"t see how it could have been, as, from the time it was in my pocket until now, I did not leave my auto--"
He stopped quickly. The memory of the scene alongside the road, where the machines had collided, came back to him with vivid distinctness. He had alighted there, and--
He pursued his reflections no further, but hurriedly got up from the chair.
"I must go back at once," he said. "I will make a search. I think I know where the loss may have taken place."
"Or the theft," suggested the president.
"No," said Ed slowly, "I don"t believe it was a theft."
"Shall we send for a detective? Will you take one of our porters or a watchman with you?" asked the secretary.
"No; I think I"ll make a search myself, first, thank you. And please don"t tell the police--yet. I may have dropped it. I"ll let you know as soon--as soon as I go to a certain place and look. There is time enough to notify the authorities afterward. I"ll telephone you if I don"t find it, and then I"ll tell the police in Chelton.
But I must hurry."
"Yes; you had better lose no time," advised the president.
"The thief--if there, was one--could easily dispose of those securities. As for the money--?"
"He would have no trouble in spending that," finished Ed. "Yes, I"ll go back at once."
He hurried out to his auto, and was soon speeding back over the road on which he had come. He reached the spot where the auto collision had occurred, and where he had helped fix Cora"s machine. Jumping from the car he looked carefully over the ground, but could find no trace of the missing wallet, containing the equivalent of twenty thousand dollars.
"I must hurry to tell the police," he murmured as he urged his machine forward at top speed. A little later Cora and Walter, who had returned to Chelton, saw Ed standing on the steps of the police station.
"Why!" Cora exclaimed to Walter in some surprise, "I thought Ed was in New City, attending to that bank business."
"He ought to be," commented Walter. Then, noting Ed"s white face, he added: "Something"s happened!"
A moment later Jack, who had left the Robinson twins at their home, drove up in his runabout, and stopped it beside his sister"s larger car. He, too, saw Ed Foster"s white face.