Hal and the others listened with keen interest to Hardwick's words. The ex-book-keeper had the missing railroad bonds with him, and he intended to transfer them to Samuels, to be disposed of to the best advantage.
"Now is the time to capture the gang," thought Hal. "I wish my hands were free."
"Let us see what has become of Carson first," said Allen, nervously. "Somehow I don't feel safe as long as that boy is within possible hearing."
"Don't get afraid," replied Parsons. "Tommy Macklin has probably done him up, or you would hear something from him."
"Macklin tried to remove him once before," returned Allen, with a shake of his head. "That boy beats all for shrewdness."
"I would like to settle him myself," growled Hardwick. "We would never have had the least bit of trouble if it hadn't been for him. Like as not I would still have been Sumner's head and confidential clerk," he added, with a sarcastic laugh.
"Yes, and I could have made life bitterness itself for Horace Sumner," cried Allen. "I wanted to do more than ruin him."
"What makes you so bitter against Sumner?" asked Parsons.
"That's my affair," replied Allen, shortly.
"It's because Sumner married the girl Allen wanted," put in Samuels. "Allen was clean gone on her, and when she married Sumner it broke him all up."