“Oh, that is my father’s notebook! I am glad to see it,” exclaimed Josie. “I never intended to pack it with the other books but in the confusion of getting off I forgot it. I wouldn’t lose it for all the wealth of the Indies.” She clasped it to her bosom.
“That is the one you told me about?” asked Mary Louise, joining the group in the corner, “with all the notes he made about criminals and suspected criminals? Perhaps you don’t know it, Hortense, but Josie’s father knew more about the criminals in the United States, and the world perhaps, than almost anybody.”
“Ah, indeed! The book must be interesting reading for a student of criminology. I abhor the subject myself.”
“What’s that you abhor?” asked Bob Dulaney, who had no occupation for the time being, having helped lift everything that could be lifted and so had leisure to join the girls.
“Criminology!”
“Why, it is the most interesting subject in the world,” said Bob.
“Well, you would like this book then,” said Mary Louise, explaining it to the newcomer. Josie stood by with her fishy-eyed expression.
“You don’t mean Detective O’Gorman’s book! Why, I didn’t know you were the daughter of Detective O’Gorman. Know about him! I should say I did. Why, there isn’t a newspaper chap in the United States that doesn’t know about him. Gee, I’d like to get my hooks on his book.”
“Well, his book is all pot hooks, so it wouldn’t do you much good if you did,” laughed Josie, opening it so he could glance down a page. “I wouldn’t let it out of my possession for a mint of money.”
“If it’s something old Lifter wants you had better nail it down,” said Tim Turner. “Remember what I told you about the ding dong.”