Of course, there was no reply.
"Must have gone off to get his breakfast," said Allen. "Wonder what he did with the boy?"
"Boy!" cried Hardwick. "Better say man. Carson is altogether too smart to be called a boy."
"We must get him out of the way, and then finish this bond matter," went on Allen.
"Yes, and hurry up," put in Samuels. "I want to catch, the twelve o'clock train to Chicago, and you might as well give me the bonds to take along. The sooner they are worked off the better."
"That's an easy matter to settle," said Hardwick. "I have the tin box right here with me. I didn't dare leave it behind, for fear old Sumner might get a search warrant and go through my house."
As the ex-book-keeper spoke, he unbuttoned his great coat, and brought forth the missing tin box for which Hal and the others had been so long searching.