“Nonsense!” Carroll protested. “Don’t talk like an idiot, Frank. It’s quite out of the question.”

It was at this point that Melba suddenly recollected something. “Oh, that reminds me, Fred, of the other piece of news I have to tell you!” she exclaimed. “You know, I said I had two pieces of news to communicate. My uncle announced at the supper table last night that he expects to be the next mayor of Oldham.”

“Your uncle!” cried Hawley and Carroll in a chorus of astonishment.[Pg 54]

“Yes; he said that Mayor Henkle promised to make him his successor. Mr. Henkle has decided not to be a candidate for reëlection, and he thinks that Uncle Delancey’s faithful services to the party entitle him to the place. My uncle is tickled pink. He has already made plans of what he is going to do when he gets into the city hall.”

The Camera Chap looked at Carroll, and chuckled. There was a flash in the latter’s eyes, and his lower jaw was thrust forward aggressively.

“Frank,” he cried, “you’re a true prophet! I am going to announce my candidacy in the next issue of the Bulletin, in the largest type we’ve got in the shop.”

CHAPTER XXX.
A MYSTERY SOLVED.

When the seven o’clock train for New York steamed out of Oldham, Chief of Police Hodgins stood on the station platform. He was there by order of the mayor. He saw Hawley get on the train, and, after waiting until the train was under way, to make sure that the Camera Chap did not get off again, he went to the city hall to report to his honor.

Mayor Henkle was bitterly disappointed. Until the last minute he had been hopeful that the Camera Chap would fall for the lure of that hundred-dollar bill. In fact, he had stayed at the city hall long after his usual hour in expectation that Hawley would return to make that much-desired affidavit.

The mayor was greatly disappointed, too, because Carroll did not come over to the city hall to shake hands with him and accept his terms of peace. Had the proprietor of the Bulletin responded to his overtures, the Honorable Martin Henkle had in mind a nifty little plan, which, when put in operation, would have come as a great shock to that editor. In fact, his honor had intended to hand Carroll a nice juicy lemon. He had no more intention of making friends with the Bulletin than he had of making friends with his neighbor’s cat—and the mayor hated cats.