"Yes, sir. What sort of a character?"
"A young business man."
"Please step this way."
Hal stepped to the rear of the establishment. Here fully half an hour was spent in selecting this thing and that, and trying the effect before the mirror.
At last the business was finished, and Hal came forth looking for all the world like a spruce clerk of twenty or twenty-two. He wore a silken mustache and small mutton-chop whiskers, and the color of his skin was several shades paler than was natural.
The cheap suit and overcoat he had worn were cast aside, and a nobby check outfit took their place.
"Gracious! I hardly know myself!" he murmured. "This ought to deceive almost anybody."
Hal had only rented the things. He was to pay two dollars a day for them, besides leaving a deposit of forty dollars for their safe return.
When this transaction was finished the youth visited a hardware store, and there bought a pistol and some cartridges.
"Now, I imagine I am ready for them," he said to himself. "Although I sincerely hope I will not have occasion to draw the pistol."