"I don't know. The instant he saw me he skipped."
"I'll wager he wasn't in the crowd for any good purpose," went on Dick, as he remembered how he had suffered the loss of his timepiece at Buddy Girk's hands. Dick had had a good deal of trouble in recovering the article.
"He ought to be pointed out to the police," put in Frank. "It's not safe to have such men at large."
"I wish I could collar him and make him talk about father's affairs," grumbled Tom.
"Why, did he know anything of your father's affairs?" exclaimed
Frank Harrington, in astonishment.
"I think so. You see, Arnold Baxter tried to defraud my father out of some western mining property, and this Buddy Girk was mixed up in the affair—how, I don't exactly know."
"I see. By the way, Tom, have you heard anything of your father yet?"
"Not a word," and Tom's face grew sober. "It does beat all what has become of him, doesn't it?" he added.
"I should think you would want to go and hunt him up."
"We've talked about that already, but Uncle Randolph, who is our guardian, thinks it would prove a wild-goose chase. He says the interior of Africa is a big place to hunt any man in."