“The other man!” cried Rob, suddenly recalling the bearded man’s companion, and perceiving, likewise, for the first time since Merritt’s adventure, that the fellow had vanished.
“He’s gone!” cried half a dozen voices.
In the same instant, they became aware that the bearded man had also vanished in the excitement. Almost simultaneously, Major Dangerfield put in an unexpected appearance. He was out of breath, as if from running.
“Is this the police station?” he demanded of Si, and, receiving a nod from that stupefied official, he hastened on:
“I wish to report the loss of a pocketbook. I must have dropped it on Main Street. Has it been found?”
“It wuz found all right,” grunted Si, “but—it’s bin lost agin.”
“Corporal Crawford here, found it, sir,” struck in Rob, seeing the major’s evident agitation at Si’s not over-lucid explanation, “but while he still had it in his hand, a man—a rough-looking customer—demanded to see it. As soon as Merritt told him of the initials on it, he——”
“Tried to seize it,” exclaimed the major excitedly.
“Why, yes,” rejoined Rob, wondering inwardly how the major guessed so accurately what had occurred, “there was a scuffle, and in it the man who had attacked Merritt must, in some way, have found a chance to pass the pocketbook to his companion.”
“Was the man who first inquired about the book a big, bearded man, with sun-burned face and rather shabby clothes?” inquired the major.