“Sure! And he will, sooner and more satisfactorily than if he put some of those bum detectives on the job; you know that. They’d kick around for about a week, but you and I can get busy right now; to-night. They won’t get here before—”
“But Father can have those men arrested and then—”
“Oh, hang it, yes, and give us the go-by! Let’s be the ones to spring the surprise. Come on; I’m ready to tackle it, when I get a gun somewhere.”
The idea appealed to Clement Stapley, for he did not want to be outdone in daring by his old-time rival. It would never do for Don to say: “Clem fell down on the job; wasn’t equal to it; hadn’t the backbone.” He turned to Don:
“I’m with you! Hold on, I can fix the shooting-iron matter. Wait half a minute.” Into the debris of the office wreck the lad climbed and wriggled, and after a moment’s looking about, in the light from the yard lamp-poles, which had been re-established by some quick-witted employee, the boy located a shattered desk, pried open a drawer and drew forth two long-barreled revolvers of the finest make.
Don, waiting and watching, heard Mr. Stapley say to several men:
“I have a notion that those fellows will come back. They’ll believe we think they’ve left for distant parts and that will make them bold. You see they’ve got reason: the stock mill wasn’t hurt. Riley found two bombs that hadn’t gone off in there; the fuses had become damp, I suppose. And that was probably the big game they were after. Probably they’ll take another chance at it. Well, we’ll put detectives on the job as soon as possible. Have any of you noticed anyone about; any strangers whom you could have suspected?”
There was a general negative to this; then one hand spoke up:
“How about that fellow Shultz, out beyond the station? He’s a red-hot German and before we went into the war he was shouting pro-Prussian stuff till his throat was sore. He’s about the only Hun around here except old man Havemeyer, and he’s a decent, good citizen and wants to see the kaiser punched full of holes.”
“Yes, Havemeyer is all right,” assented Mr. Stapley, “but we will have to look into the doings of this Shultz.”