Then he turned to Mrs. Hanlon.
“I think I’ll be getting on,” he said quickly. “I can’t do anything here, and the longer I delay the less chance there’ll be of catching this fellow. I’ll call you up to-night and find out how the little girl is doing.”
“God bless you for what you’ve done,” the woman said brokenly.
“I wish it might have been more,” Dick answered as he walked quickly toward the door. “Good-by.”
As he hurried out he almost ran into a slim young fellow, who was running up the walk. He was bare-headed, and his long black hair straggled down over a pair of fierce black eyes that had a touch of wildness in them.
Catching sight of Dick he glared at the Yale man, and hesitated for an instant as if he meant to stop him. Then, with a curious motion of his hands, he brushed past Merriwell and disappeared into the house.
“I’ve found a clue, pard,” Buckhart announced triumphantly, as Dick reached the car.
“What is it?”
The Texan held up a cloth cap.
“Picked it up by the side of the road,” he explained. “Find the owner of that and you’ll sure have the onery varmit who did this trick. You hear me gently warble!”