“Oh, that’s nothing. Probably some messenger boy was in a hurry to go to a moving-picture show, and he just slid the message under, and ran downstairs. Where’s the letter?”
His mother handed it to him. It was in a plain envelope, and bore no address. Larry was rather surprised. He quickly tore it open, and took out a single slip of white paper. On it was some typewriting. Larry read:
“Unless you cease hounding Parloti you may meet the same fate as did the stolen boy.”
That was all there was to it.
CHAPTER IX
A SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE
“What is it, Larry?” asked his mother, seeing a sudden change come over his face as he read the brief note. “What is it? Bad news? Has anything happened?”
The young reporter came to a quick decision. On no account must his mother know of the threat that had been made against him. She worried enough, as it was, over the dangers to which he was exposed on his various assignments. Dangers there were, sometimes imagined, but, often enough, sufficiently real to make even Larry himself wonder, at times, whether “the game was worth the candle.”
“Larry, what is it?” she asked again, as he paused before replying.
“Oh, nothing,” he answered as carelessly as he could.