“I’ve got an idea, Mr. Hands,” said Hawley. “I think if I were to go out and take a snapshot of young Gale it might help us a lot.”
“How?” the lawyer queried, with a bewildered frown. “A snapshot of young Gale? I must confess that I can’t perceive what good that’ll do.”
But when Hawley had explained what he intended to do with the picture when he got it, Mr. Hands smiled upon him approvingly.
“An excellent plan!” he cried enthusiastically. “Go ahead and carry it out. I congratulate you upon your bright[Pg 45] idea. If it succeeds, it will surely get your friend Carroll out of his predicament; and I have strong hopes that it will succeed.”
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
A CLEVER SCHEME.
The younger Gale was greatly astonished when, as he was walking along Main Street, Hawley suddenly appeared a few yards in front of him with a camera in his hand, and coolly proceeded to take his picture.
Gale’s first impulse was to summon a policeman and have the Camera Chap placed under arrest; but he suddenly recollected that, as the city council had not yet passed an amended anticamera law, Hawley had a perfect right under the existing ordinance, with its typographical error, to take snapshots on the streets of Oldham without a license, provided he did not take pictures of the streets. Therefore, Gale gave up the idea of having Hawley arrested.
His next impulse was to rush forward, grab the camera out of Hawley’s hands, and crunch it beneath his foot. But he did not carry out this impulse, either. The Camera Chap was muscular, and, as Gale well knew, not wanting in physical courage. Gale thought that an encounter with him might prove painful.
“Oh, well, what do I care if he takes my picture?” he muttered philosophically. “Let him go ahead and enjoy himself. I’d give ten dollars, though, to know what his game is. I suppose he intends to publish my phiz in the Bulletin, but I’ll be hanged if I can imagine what for.”
The next morning Gale eagerly searched the pages of the Bulletin in the expectation of finding his picture there; but there was no sign of it.