Meanwhile the two boys were not having much success in their pursuit of the strange characters. They had a glimpse of the twain as Ruth had called out about them, and then lost it as they dashed for the street.
“There they go!” Neale had cried, after he and Luke had turned a corner.
For a time they had the two mysterious strangers in view and then the men darted into some side alley, or perhaps into some building, going out a rear entrance and over the back fence. For when Luke and his friend reached the place where they thought they could dart in and find their quarry, there was no trace of the men.
“Guess they’ve given us the slip,” remarked Neale, after they had searched about for some time.
“Looks like it,” agreed Luke.
“Anything wrong?” asked a man, who had been watching the two youths.
“Oh, no, not much,” answered Luke, in an indifferent manner. “Just a couple of fellows we wanted to speak to.”
“Oh, I thought maybe they had stolen something.”
“No,” answered Luke, and this was true enough, for nothing had been missed from the Corner House cellar.
“It was just as well not to tell that fellow too much,” Luke went on, as he and Neale started back to join the girls.