"So," remarked Slavin, "you just get back to your work. Don't spoil our plans by interfering or trying to see Sherwin. Until I get that railroad job I'm promised I have nothing special to do. I'll put in the time in your service, see?"
"But," said Ralph, "Ike Slump knows Van."
"Does he? Very slightly, Sherwin says. And by the way, you didn't see Sherwin--close at hand?"
Ralph shook his head negatively.
"Only a special friend like you would be likely to recognize him, Sherwin says. He's fairly well disguised himself. Besides, he simply wants to get where he can watch and overhear Slump & Co. He won't try to chum with them."
Ralph went back to the switch tower more easy in his mind. He felt pretty tender towards his two loyal boy friends. Knowing Ike Slump's crude, blurting ways, he believed that if Farrington got balky, Ike would make some break that would be of advantage to Van.
He decided to tell his mother of this new phase in the case. Something startling, however, interrupted.
He had got ready for supper, and was entering the cozy little dining room, when Mrs. Fairbanks, at the window, called out suddenly:
"Come here, quick, Ralph."
"What is it, mother?" he asked.