“It’s a little early,” said Patsy, “to take up that hunt.”
“Yes,” said Chick, “but that will give us a chance to get something to eat, and I’ve had nothing since breakfast.”
“I’m with you,” said Patsy.
Accordingly, they turned into a rather well-known eating saloon in Broadway, not far from Thirtieth Street.
They had not been seated at their table long, before they saw a man enter who was a prominent member of the police detective force.
His name was Merton, and the two, Chick and Patsy, were on good terms with him. Attracting his attention, they called him to their table, asking him to dine with them.
When he was seated, they asked him if he was on any special business.
“A very easy lay,” replied Morton. “A young fellow, from an Eastern city, who has got more money than brains, is down here on a high-pressure spree. His folks, who can’t switch him, have appealed to the department to put him under watch so that nothing bad will happen to him. That’s my lay. The chief says it’s a kind of a vacation for me.”
“Merton, did you folks have an eye to the Sanborn wedding this morning?”
“In a way,” said Merton. “When the papers put up the story about there being so much value in the presents that were given to the bride, the chief had a look over the crooks working in that line to see if they were going to do anything about it.”