CHAPTER XXXVII.
DENTON'S LITTLE ADVENTURE IN THE CARS.
W HEN Denton, to his infinite disgust, saw his scheme foiled by the return of Oliver and Bundy to the inn at Kelso, he was strongly tempted to go back also. But prudence withheld him. It was by no means certain that he had been recognized. Very probably Bundy really went back on account of some slight matter which he had forgotten.
Denton was of opinion that his visit to Kelso was not connected with the interest of his employer. Therefore he decided to return to Chicago and await the reappearance of Oliver and Bundy. Undoubtedly they would return to the same hotel where they had been stopping.
By the time he took his seat in the car he was in quite a philosophical frame of mind, and reconciled to the turn that events had taken.
It would have been well for Mr. Denton if he had become involved in no new adventures, but his lucky star was not in the ascendant.
He took a seat beside a stout, red-haired, coarse-featured man, with a mottled complexion, who might have been a butcher or a returned miner, but would hardly be taken for a "gentleman and a scholar." Yet there was something about this man that charmed and fascinated Denton. Not to keep the reader in suspense, it was an enormous diamond breastpin which he wore conspicuously in his shirt-front. Denton knew something about diamonds, and to his practised eyes it seemed that the pin was worth at least five thousand dollars. He only ventured to glance furtively at it, lest he should excite suspicion.
The stout man proved to be sociable.
"Fine mornin'," he remarked.
"It is, indeed," said Denton, who had no objection to cultivating the acquaintance of the possessor of such a gem. "Pleasant for travelling."
"Yes, so 'tis. Speakin' of travelling I've travelled some in my time."