Part 37 (2/2)
”But be careful, d.i.c.k!” pleaded the younger brother.
”I will be.”
”And don't stay too long,” added Sam, who did not relish being left alone in such a forlorn looking spot, and in the intense darkness which had now settled down over them.
”I won't be any longer than necessary, you can depend on that,”
replied the big brother.
As silently as a cat after a mouse, d.i.c.k entered the gloomy building and felt his way over the half-rotted floor to where the stairs were located.
Ascending these, he found himself in something of a hallway, the upper floor of the building being divided into several apartments by wooden part.i.tions nine or ten feet in height.
From one of the apartments shone a faint light. To this he made his way, and, looking through a good-sized knot-hole in the part.i.tion, he saw Arnold Baxter, Girk, and the two newcomers, seated on several boxes and boards. On one box stood a candle thrust in the neck of a bottle, some liquor and gla.s.ses, and a pasteboard box containing a cold lunch.
”So you're glad I've come, eh?” Dan Baxter was saying to his father.
”Yes, I am glad,” was the slow reply, ”that is--I want to get away from here as soon as possible.”
”Why don't you go?”
”I'm afraid to go up into the town. I would prefer to go away by boat.”
”To where?”
”To Searock, on the Jersey coast.”
”Do you want us to take you there?”
”If you can do it, Dan. I'll give Mumps and your sailor friend a nice little sum for your trouble.”
”And don't I get anything?” cried the son sharply.
”To be sure, Dan.”
”How much?”
”I'll give you a hundred dollars.”
”Pooh! What's that? I want more.”
”We'll arrange that later.”
”You and Girk are making a fortune out of this deal.”
”Not as much as you think.”
<script>