Ben’s first impulse was to go home and change his clothes, which showed the contact of dust and soot; but it was past three o’clock and he was afraid if he did not make haste he would not see the proper authorities.
He stopped at Hodges’ shop to wash his face and hands.
Mr. Hodges was fitting a key to a metal box.
“Hello!” he remarked as Ben hurried past him to the rear of the shop. “You look as if you’d found your fortune already.”
“Maybe I have,” Ben replied. “I’ll let you know when I’ve verified the find.”
Mr. Hodge stared. He had a lurking suspicion that he was being made game of.
“A young feller always knows it all,” he commented. “He’s always so cocksure.”
“Wonder if I am that way,” thought Ben, as he pursued his way down the street. “Anyway, I’d rather fail than never have been through it. There’s something doing, and I’m in it!”
He was so preoccupied as he hurried along that once he narrowly escaped being run down by a whizzing electric car.