“If it belongs to him, and it’s unsealed, I don’t see any objection to my looking inside. Possibly I can learn where to send it to him.”
Nash drew out the inclosure. The same address that the envelope bore was at the top of the single sheet of paper. Below this ran the following:
“Dear Wilson: Bearer is O.K. You can trust him. Give him a job at anything. Sincerely,
J. Sigsbee.”
CHAPTER II.
LAYING HOLD OF OPPORTUNITY.
Nash folded the letter, returned it to the envelope, and thoughtfully continued over to Broadway, walking up this busy street to Seventh, where he went into the big lobby of his hotel, the Lankershim.
After lighting a cigar, he sank into the nearest chair, and read the letter again. Several remarks passed by the stranger during their scene in the park now came back to him.
“He said he had had a line on a job,” Nash reflected. “This letter must have been the answer. Some one in authority has given it to him. And that Los Angeles Aqueduct is some big undertaking, too,” he added. “I’d like mighty well to land a job on it. Now, if it had only been my luck to get a letter——”
He stared out through the big hotel windows upon the hurrying crowds of shoppers and tourists.
“By Jove!” he said to himself. “Why not? There’s no name mentioned in this letter. I wouldn’t be sailing under false colors. Besides, the fellow said he refused to go after the job because he’d probably have to work as a laborer.”