The next day, Mr. Drummond was one of the passengers by the early train which left Stapleton for New York.
CHAPTER XIX
IN SEARCH OF A THIEF.
It was with no pleasant feelings that Jacob Drummond landed in New York. His paternal affection for Joshua had never been very great, and, now that his son had robbed him, his anger was strongly stirred against him.
“If I get hold of him, I’ll flog him within an inch of his life,” he muttered, between his closed teeth. “The ungrateful villain! to make me such a return for supporting him in idleness all his life!”
But it is not so easy to find a particular person in a city of a million inhabitants, and Mr. Drummond was very much puzzled to know what to do, or where to go first. He might have sought the aid of the police, but, though deeply incensed against Joshua, he wished, rather, to inflict private punishment upon him.
“I won’t give him any allowance at all,” he said to himself. “I’ll let him get along without a penny, and see how he likes that! I wonder if he’s spent much of the money he stole from me?”
His face contracted with anguish, as he thought that Joshua might squander the greater part of the money before he found him; or, worse still, lose it. His father had a contemptuous opinion of Joshua’s shrewdness, and thought it not at all unlikely that he would be robbed.
Not knowing where else to go, he walked toward the Astor House. Whenever he came to the city--which was not often--he was in the habit of stopping at Lovejoy’s Hotel, near by, and the force of habit led him thither now. At every step, he looked inquisitively about him; but no Joshua met his gaze. In fact, Joshua was walking about on Eighth avenue at this time, and about an hour later went to Central Park, where he made the surprising bargain of which we already know, so that there was very little chance of his father’s coming upon him for some hours, since it was not probable that it would occur to him to go to Central Park.
After walking about in a desultory way, during the forenoon, Mr. Drummond all at once had a bright thought. He remembered that Sam Crawford was in a shoe store in the city, and naturally concluded that Joshua, whom he had seen in Sam’s company during the latter’s vacation at Stapleton, would, in his inexperience, seek him out. He remembered, also, that, on a previous visit to New York, Sam’s direction had been given him. He felt in his pocket, and, to his great satisfaction, found that he still had it.