They lost little time in getting started, and Grantley’s cab remained in plain sight, headed still farther downtown. At Fourteenth Street the chase turned westward, and it was soon clear that Grantley’s goal was the water front along the Hudson River.
Before the river front was reached, Jack thought it best to exchange vehicles. He consulted the meter, learned the amount of his fare, added the driver’s tip to it, and then looked through the little pane of glass at the rear. When a crosstown Fourteenth Street car was seen at about the right distance behind him, he ordered the chauffeur to stop. He thrust the money into the man’s hand as he alighted, waited a few moments, and then swung lightly on board the car as it passed him.
He was sure that his maneuver had not been witnessed by his quarry, on account of the amount of traffic which intervened.
After entering the trolley, he kept his eye on the taxi ahead, which had slowed down. When it turned southward through the maze of streets close to the water, Wise jumped off and followed on foot.
There was still a possibility that the fugitives might give him the slip, but he did not believe it likely. As for their recognizing him, he had made that difficult, if not out of the question, by another clever change of appearance, made during the run of the second cab.
Heavy drays and lighter delivery wagons abounded in this section, and the streets were narrow. As a result, the taxi which Jack was following was making slow progress, and its athletic pursuer found it easy to keep within less than a block of it.
He was thus in a position to see that it stopped in front of the entrance to a small dock, above which appeared the sign: “New York & Buffalo Transport Co.”
“That’s certainly a new one on me!” thought Wise. “Not a very well-patronized line, I take it. Is it possible they’re going to skip on a canal boat—or try to? That’s the only way of getting from here to Buffalo by water. Bright little chaps, those! Nobody else would have thought of that in a hundred years—and when they got to Buffalo, a hop, skip, and a jump across the Niagara River would have carried them into Canada. After that a transatlantic steamer at Montreal or Quebec, I suppose, and then—ta, ta! I saw them first, though, and if the chief doesn’t decorate me with the Order of the Eagle Eye for this, he’s a hungrateful master.”
CHAPTER XX.
SOME GOOD NEWS.
Jack Wise made himself scarce, and yet took up a position which enabled him to keep track of the fugitives’ movements.