When he reached the depot he described La Croix and asked where he had gone.
"That's none of your business," growled the surly ticket agent.
"Oh, isn't it?" queried the detective, blandly.
"No!" shouted the man, "and I'll not tell you."
"It wouldn't hurt you to be polite and accommodating, would it?"
"I ain't here to keep inquisitive people posted about our passengers."
"That's a fact," assented Old King Brady, "but I have an urgent reason for wishing to know where that man went."
"I don't care anything about your private reasons. If you don't want to buy a ticket, get away from that window and don't annoy me."
"Very well," meekly answered the detective.
He thereupon stepped through the door into the agent's office, and the man scowled, and glared at him and roared: