Julian went out and sat down, and in a few minutes Mr. Wiggins came from the back room and spoke to the operator, who immediately sent off a dispatch. Nobody was called to carry this, for the message went straight to the office for which it was intended. Five minutes passed, and then a stout man, who was a stranger to all of them, strolled into the office. One of the boys got up to wait upon him, pushing some blanks toward him, but the stout man did not want to send any telegraphic dispatches.
"I just want to look around and see how you do things here," said he.
"Then take this chair, sir," said Mr. Wiggins. "I guess you will find that we do things about right."
The minutes passed, and all the boys who had congregated in the office had been sent off with messages—all except Casper. There did not seem to be any dispatches for him. The chief operator was busy at his desk, when suddenly the door opened, and the same German who had called at Julian's room the night before, came in. Mr. Wiggins glanced toward him and then he looked toward Casper. The latter never could control himself when he was in difficulty, and his face grew white.
"Is this the Western Union Telegraph office?" said the German, wiping his forehead with his handkerchief. "Do I speak to Mr. Wiggins? Well, sir, I would like to see you about a box that one of your boys bought at a sale of 'old horse' in the express office. That box contains something that is off immense value to me—S. W. Haberstro." And he handed out his card with his name engraved on it.
"There is a box here addressed to a man of that name," said Mr. Wiggins, "but it is in the bank now. I suppose you have plenty of friends here to whom you can refer?"
"I am sorry to say that I have not," replied the German. "My home is in Chicago. I can refer you to all the Germans there."
"Then, would it not be worth while for you to write to some of your friends there and get some letters of recommendation? You see, we don't want to give the box to anybody unless we know who it is."
"That is all right, sir. I have some business on hand in Chicago, and I will go up there and get them."
"That will be sufficient. Good-day, sir."