“It wouldn’t, eh? You don’t know that boy.”
“Besides, Gordon couldn’t look and act so clumsy if he tried,” continued Lester, who had striven in vain to imitate Don’s soldierly carriage. “Why, he is making a laughing-stock of himself.”
“I know it, and so does he; and he enjoys it. I don’t know where he procured his disguise, but if he didn’t borrow it, he bought it. He’s got more money than he can spend, and he will stick at nothing that will help him gain his point. Now, can you see Mack anywhere?”
Lester looked up and down the street and replied that he could not.
“Well, he’s somewhere around, and you may be sure of it,” Jones went on. “He is keeping Don in sight, and Don has disguised himself so that he can keep you in sight. They have been following you around the streets for two hours, and this is the first chance I have had to tell you of it. Have you let anything slip?”
“No,” replied Lester, indignantly.
“You’re spotted, any way; and I can’t, for the life of me, see why you should be if you have kept a still tongue in your head,” said Jones, in deep perplexity. “Now, our first hard work must be to shake those fellows, and then we’ll draw a bee-line for Cony’s. When I say the word, come into the hall and go up those stairs as if all the wolves in Mississippi were close at your heels; but don’t make any noise.”
Lester braced himself for a jump and a run, and Jones took up a position in the hall from which he could observe Don’s movements without being seen himself. The amateur detective—it really was Don Gordon—having disposed of his lunch and growing tired of waiting for Lester to make a move in some direction, shuffled rather than walked over to the other window, not neglecting, as he made this change, to take a good look at the boy he had “spotted.” As soon as he was fairly settled before the other window, Jones whispered “Now!” whereupon Lester darted through the door and went up the stairs three at a jump. Jones lingered a minute or two and then followed him.
“It’s just as I expected,” said he, hurriedly, when he joined Lester at the top of the stairs. “Captain Mack was concealed somewhere down the street. He saw you when you ran through the door and signaled to Don, who is now coming across the street. Follow me and run on your toes. Stick to me, and ask no questions.”