Part 26 (1/2)
”But if Sam's here with money in his pocket, how shall we stop him from workin' up the case?” Dan asked helplessly.
”First off we must tell Jip,” Seth replied promptly. ”To-morrow mornin'
you an' Bill will have to see what can be done with Sam. It won't do to let him keep on the way he was goin' before we sent him off.”
”I reckon you can't stop him if he's set on doin' it, an' he likely will be now he finds you're in the Department, 'cause he said he was goin' to be an out-an'-out detective long before you ever dreamed of gettin' a fireman's job.”
”If he only knew how little of a fireman I am he wouldn't feel very bad 'bout it,” Seth said with a sigh, and then added more cheerily, ”Come on, fellers, we must find Jip, an' not stay out too late either, else Miss Hanson will raise a row.”
The three went down the stairs softly, crept out on the sidewalk as if their own lives might be in jeopardy if the slightest noise was made, and there met Teddy Bowser.
”Oh yes, I saw him,” Teddy said in reply to Seth's question. ”He's been swingin' himself 'round Grand Street big as life for more'n an hour; says he had a great time in Philadelphy, an' ain't certain but he'll go over there to live after he gets Jip in jail. Sam must have struck some mighty soft snap, 'cause when he left this town he had only sixteen cents to his name.”
”Do you s'pose he could find any one chump enough to lend him money?”
Dan asked musingly, and Seth said almost sharply:
”It won't pay for us to stand here tryin' to figger how he's fixed things, 'cause we must be back mighty soon, and it may take quite a spell to find Jip.”
”I reckon it will,” Teddy added emphatically. ”I hunted all 'round the ferry for him.”
”Why, how did you know where he was?”
”The fellers told me. I didn't think it was a secret.”
”It ought to have been,” and Seth looked more distressed than before.
”If all hands know, it won't take Sam Barney a great while to find out.”
”He was talkin' 'bout it when I left; said there was no need of goin' to the ferry till mornin', 'cause he could put his hands on him when he wanted to. Some of Jip's chums must have gone back on him, an' I wouldn't wonder if I knew who. You see, Denny Macey was tellin' 'round that if Jip didn't ante up the dime he borrowed two weeks ago, he'd make trouble for him.”
”Don't let's stand here any longer,” and Seth led the way at a rapid pace toward the ferry.
Beyond speculating as to how the would-be detective had been enabled to return from Philadelphia, those who were seeking to do Jip Collins an additional favor indulged in little conversation during the hurried journey across the city.
As they neared the ferry each kept a sharp watch in the hope of meeting the boy whom he sought, but when they stood at the very entrance of the slip no sign of Jip had been seen, and then the difficulty of the search began to be apparent.
Master Collins was a stranger in this section of the city, and they might question a dozen boys without finding one who had so much as heard of him, therefore the quest was likely to be a long if not a vain one.
”It'll soon be too late to do anything if we don't hustle,” Seth said when he realized all the possibilities against success. ”Let each feller start out alone, and there'll be jest so many more chances of runnin'
across him. We'll meet here by the ferry slip in half an hour.”
This plan was acted upon without delay, and each member of the searching party did his best to bring the labor to a speedy and final conclusion; but when at the expiration of the time set the four met once more, nothing had been discovered.
”He's turned in,” Bill Dean said in a tone of conviction.
”If it's with that chum of yourn it ought'er be easy to find him.”
”He wasn't a chum of mine, an' I don't so much as know his name. It's a feller I've run across two or three times down-town, that's all.”
”Then I can't see but what we must call it a bad job, for there's no kind of use in foolin' 'round here any longer.”