“Of course you may go,” said the city editor. “Call on the Leader for any help you want, financial or otherwise. If you can get at this gang and break it up, or if you can get at the bottom of this land deal and make a story out of it, so much the better. Have your own way, your time is your own. Come back to work, Larry, when you find your brother and clear up the mystery.”
With this roving commission, Larry and Mr. Newton started away.
“Well, Larry,” remarked the older reporter, “we seem to be sort of up against it.”
“What are we going to do?” asked Larry, helplessly. “Mother is almost sick from worry, and if we don’t find Jimmy soon I don’t know what will happen.”
“Larry,” spoke Mr. Newton, solemnly, “we’re going to find the little fellow. I don’t pose as a prophet, and my predictions don’t always come true, but I’m going to succeed in this, and we’re not going to give in to those scoundrels, either. There’s something big in this for you and your mother, or I’m greatly mistaken. Otherwise the gang would not be so anxious to get that land. But we’re going to let that go for a while, and work only on clews that will lead to finding your brother. We’ll begin at the beginning, which is at the Garden, where he disappeared.”
The two reporters went to where the circus was holding forth. It was about ten o’clock in the morning, and the big arena had a very different appearance from the night before, when thousands of lights lent a glamour to the scene, and when gayly-dressed men and women added to the brilliance.
Now everything was dark and dreary. A few men, seemingly too tired to move, were fixing up some of the apparatus, and others were sweeping and dusting. It was a glance behind the scenes with everything at its worst.
Mr. Newton knew several of the managers of the departments, and soon was in conversation with them. He wanted to find out who of the circus men were on duty at the gate Larry and Jimmy left by.
From the man who kept the list of employees Mr. Newton learned exactly what he wanted to know.
“It was Bill Lynch,” the bookkeeper said. “Maybe he can help you, but he’ll not be here until near noon. He’s on guard at No. 16 entrance.”