Disturbed at the occurrence, Matt leaped up upon the bridge again, without having touched the water. He had hardly come up into the starlight when two men came rushing toward him from the road.
“Who’s that?” cried one of the men.
“That must be the man!” cried the other, and Matt recognized Isaac Marvelling’s voice. “Catch hold of him, Jackson.”
In another moment the two men stood beside Matt. As he recognized the young auctioneer, Isaac Marvelling set up a cry of surprise and triumph.
“I told you so!” he declared. “I said them auction fellows weren’t no better than thieves! This is the chap that broke in my store, Jackson, I feel sure of it! I want him arrested, and you had better handcuff him so that he can’t get away from you! No wonder they can sell cheap, when they steal their goods!”
CHAPTER XXI.
THE TELL-TALE CAP.
For the moment Matt could do little more than stare at the two men that confronted him. In a dim way he realized that Isaac Marvelling’s store had been entered and robbed, and that the mean-minded store-keeper fully believed that he was the guilty party.