“I remember that,” Ned answered. “Go on!”
“That person,” Norman continued, “is my sister, a pretty girl of eighteen—though you wouldn’t believe she could be pretty, being my sister—who became employed in Toombs’ Wall street office a year ago. We lived together upon East Tenth street, and both had to work. When she secured the place in Toombs’ office we thought our fortunes were made, and for a time everything went well.”
“Aw, cut it short!” Jimmie hinted. “We don’t believe a word of it, you know, so you may as well ring off right now.”
“Don’t interrupt the boy,” Ned suggested. “Let him tell his story in his own way. We have plenty of time.”
“One day,” Norman continued, “a large sum of money—something like five thousand dollars—very mysteriously disappeared from Toombs’ safe. At least Toombs declared the money had been taken. Some of us never believed the story he told.
“The only person having a knowledge of the combination of the safe except Toombs himself was my sister. She was accused of taking the money, and Toombs threatened prosecution. At last he promised not to turn the matter over to the police if we would both promise to return the money.”
“Gee!” declared Jimmie in a friendlier tone. “That was a life sentence all right, wasn’t it? I don’t believe he ever lost any money.”
“We have been paying that old thief a portion of our wages ever since,” Norman went on. “Then, a few weeks ago, when he promised to square the whole account if I would do certain work for him in connection with the Wolf Patrol, I was forced to consent. He threatened that if I did not consent he would set the law in motion and send my sister to prison.”
“What did he want you to do in connection with the Wolf Patrol?” demanded Ned. “I don’t understand how you could help him through the Patrol. Wall street knows little of Boy Scouts.”
“When you boys reached San Francisco, after your bout with the train robbers,” Norman answered, “the newspaper owned by Frank’s father printed a long story about the Boy Electricians. At the end of the article was a statement to the effect that the boys were going into camp near Twin Peaks. Now, this is the point toward which Toombs’ activities had been directed for a long time.”