Part 31 (1/2)
”Harry Gilbert.”
”Then, Mr. Harry Gilbert, I owe you a debt which, sooner or later, I shall manage to pay.”
”Take him away,” said the lawyer to the detectives, ”and then come back to me for instructions.”
CHAPTER XXIII
FINDING THE BOX
”My boy,” said the lawyer, turning to Harry, ”you have done yourself credit. A grown man could not have shown more judgment.”
”Thank you, sir,” said Harry, pleased at the compliment.
”But your work is not yet done. As soon as the detectives have returned, you must go back at once to Waybridge with them, and lead them to the place where the box is concealed.”
”I am ready, sir,” replied Harry. ”But,” he added, with a sudden thought of one of his errands, ”will there be time for me to go to Wall Street first?”
”Why do you want to go to Wall Street?”
”I have some coupons which I am to sell for Mr. Wilkins.”
”To what amount?”
”Ninety dollars gold.”
”I will myself give you the money for them, as that will save time.
Should the search for the box be successful, I will take upon me to pay you the reward as soon as you desire it.”
”Thank you, sir.”
Harry might have declined the reward, but he felt, justly, that he had rendered a valuable service to the unknown owner of the bonds, and was ent.i.tled to it.
Presently the detectives came back.
”Well,” said the lawyer.
”He is safe under lock and key,” promptly answered one of them.
”How did he appear?”
”Sullen and despondent. He vows vengeance against this boy.”
”Probably he will not be in a position for some years to harm him. And now I have some instructions to give you.”
Half an hour later Harry and the two detectives were pa.s.sengers on a train bound for a town not far from Waybridge. It was a different railroad, however, from the one on which Harry had come. The choice was made from a desire to avoid suspicion.
From a point four miles distant they took a carriage, hired from a stable, which left them on the opposite side of the wood from the one by which Harry had previously entered.
Of course, they could not penetrate the wood with a vehicle, and the question came up: