Just as he left the gang-plank a belated passenger came rushing on the ship. It was the man who purchased Frederic Vernon's ticket at the cut-rate office.
It must be confessed that Robert was much downcast as he walked slowly away from the dock. Here he was in Liverpool without a shilling in his pocket, and the mission he had undertaken for Mrs. Vernon had proved a miserable failure.
"I was a chump not to watch Vernon more closely," he muttered to himself. "I might have known that he was just waiting to get the best of me."
Presently the idea struck him that Frederic Vernon might be watching the steamer to learn whether or not his victim would come ashore or set sail in the ship.
"I'll see if he is anywhere around," he thought, and set out on the hunt without delay.
The docks were piled high with merchandise of all sorts, and thus afforded numerous hiding places.
Robert made his way from one corner to another, until he reached a tall pile of lumber. On the top of this were seated half a dozen boys and a young man.
The latter individual was Frederic Vernon, who had returned to the dock to do just as our hero had suspected.
Vernon saw Robert at the same instant that the boy spotted him, and before our hero could reach the place he leaped from the lumber pile and started on a dead run for the street beyond the dock.
"Hi, stop!" cried Robert, giving chase. "Stop the thief!"