The result was that as soon as the "Richmond" reached its destination on Lake Erie, Steve and the stoker, both dressed in their best, slipped ashore and took a train for Chicago. Early the next forenoon they presented themselves at the police station in the town where the robbery had occurred, Steve acting as spokesman and stating that Collins had heard he was wanted and had come to give himself up, prepared to prove his innocence.
Of course the stoker was locked up. The man was sullen once more, and when the iron doors clanged behind him he gave up all hope.
"They've got me! I was a fool!" he muttered.
Shortly after that Steve visited him, and when the boy left the man Collins was in a better frame of mind. Rush got to work at once. He must find some one who would remember to have seen Gus leaving town. Suddenly an idea occurred to the boy. He visited the railroad station. From one official to another he traveled, asking questions and getting scant courtesy. Everyone's hand appeared to be against him when the owner learned the object of Rush's mission.
It was not until the next day that he found the man for whom he was looking. That was the conductor of the train on which Collins had taken passage when he left the town the evening of the robbery, and several hours before it occurred. He had obtained from Collins a description of the clothes the latter wore on that night, and where he sat in the train, establishing the fact that the man's soft hat, tipped up behind, was pulled well down over his face, and that he wore a red necktie.
Armed with this description, Steve visited the conductor at the latter's home. At first the conductor did not seem to remember, but when Steve mentioned the felt hat, the red necktie and the stoop of the man's shoulders in connection with the furtive glancing up from beneath the eyelids, the railroad man, slapped his thigh violently.
"Of course I remember him. I'd know him if I saw him. He had a scar on his right cheek——"
"That's the man," cut in Rush triumphantly. "Come over to the station with me and identify him. You will prevent a grave injustice being done if you will assist me in this matter."
The conductor readily picked out Gus Collins as the man whom he had seen on his train proceeding the robbery. A few days later the conductor was summoned before the Grand Jury, at Steve's instigation, where he repeated his story in detail. Steve gave evidence also as to what he knew about the man, repeating the interview he had had with the stoker on board the ship.