A sudden hot wave of suspicion and anger swept over him as he spoke. Was it an accident? Would any one who had come so close to jeopardizing a human life dash off like a detected criminal? Would he not stand his ground and explain matters?
Sorely perplexed, Rob stood a while listening to the further sounds of the retreating individual who had imperiled him. As he paused, rooted to the spot, something flashed across his path and vanished the same way as had the mysterious shooter. It was the same liver-and-white pointer he had noticed before.
“You belong to him,” exclaimed Rob, as the dog vanished. “I never saw you before, but I’ll know you if we meet again.”
CHAPTER XIV.
MR. HUNT DELIVERS A TELEGRAM.
The morning after Rob’s narrow escape, Stonington Hunt entered the Western Union office in Hampton in some excitement and filed a telegram. It was addressed to a former business friend of his, and related to what progress he had made in acquiring the right to manufacture Paul Perkins’s queer machine. Had it told the truth, it would have said, “Little hope.” But that was not the elder Hunt’s way. His dispatch read:
“Progress favorable. Think I can land it.”
As Hunt handed the message over to Blinky Dibbs, the operator, messenger boy and manager of the office, he smile grimly.
“Afraid there’s more poetry than truth in that message,” he said to himself, “but I’m not going to give up hope. The more I think of it, the more I’m convinced there is money in that motor ice sleigh. Why, one could sell them like hot cakes at winter resorts, and there’s that government contract for the Polar expedition. Stonington, my boy, you’ve got to get your hands on that machine.”
At this point of his meditations, his eyes fell on an undelivered message lying on the key table before the operator. The former financier’s sharp eyes scanned it greedily. As he comprehended what the dispatch was, his brow clouded angrily. The message was for Paul Perkins, and read as follows:
“Things here satisfactory, but Washington moves slowly. On no account consider other offer. Confident I can put deal with government through. Merrill.”