It was but the work of a moment to hustle himself and his prize into the train—not into the car that Mr. Hastings had taken—and once more they were off.
When they were fairly under way he presented himself before the astonished eyes of Mr. Hastings with this brief sentence:
"Here he is, sir, safe and sound."
"Here who is?"
"Wolfie, sir. You left him lying on a seat in Syracuse, and I got him and jumped on."
"Why, is it possible I left my cloak? Why, bless me! I never did such a careless thing before in my life; and so you jumped on, and have got carried off by the means. Well, sir, you're an honest boy; and now what shall I give you to make it all right?"
"I want to get to Buffalo like sixty," answered Tode, meekly. "And I haven't a cent to my name."
"You do, eh? And you would like to have me pay your fare? Well, that's not an unreasonable demand, seeing this is a very valuable cloak."
And Mr. Hastings counted out the fare to Buffalo and a few pennies over; and Tode thankfully received it, and went out and sat down in a corner and whistled.
Imagine Mr. Hastings' astonishment when, soon after he had made his last change of cars and was speeding homeward on the Lake Shore Road, Tode appeared to him.