“The girl must have told them of my flight,” he said to himself. “Oh, why didn’t I think to give her a quarter to keep her lips closed? Why doesn’t the train start?”
The buggy was only about ten rods away. It looked as if Philip and his companion would be able to intercept the fugitive.
Just then the scream of the locomotive was heard. The train began to move. Professor Riccabocca gave a sigh of relief.
“I shall escape them after all,” he said triumphantly, to himself.
He opened the window, and, with laughing face, nodded to his pursuers.
“We’ve lost him!” said Philip, in a tone of disappointment. “What can we do?”
“Find out where he is going, and telegraph to have him stopped,” said Mr. Gates. “That will put a spoke in his wheel.”
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE LOST WALLET.
Mr. Gates was acquainted with the depot-master, and lost no time in seeking him.
“Too late for the train?” asked the latter, who observed in the landlord evidences of haste.