“Slip you nothing! If you must make a silly ass of yourself I’ll stick around with you. Where do you want to go first?”
“Where’s the nearest big store like this?”
“I don’t know, but we can go and look for it. Do you think he’ll be there?”
“He might be. You see, if he did so well here he might think he ought to stick to department stores, and he’d probably take the next one. Wouldn’t you argue about like that, Arn?”
“Maybe I would, if I were a pickpocket,” chuckled Arnold. “All right, old man. Come on. Only I warn you right now that you’re only starting on a wild goose chase, so don’t be disappointed, Toby.”
“I shan’t be,” answered Toby soberly. On the sidewalk he left Arnold and addressed the carriage-man on the curb. “He says,” he announced when he rejoined his chum, “that there’s another big store just a little way along here. It’s the nearest, so I guess we’d better go there first.”
“First? You don’t mean that you intend to make the round of all the department stores, do you?”
“I guess there wouldn’t be time for that,” answered Toby, shaking his head. “You see, my train leaves at three-forty. Besides, I guess that fellow with the red mustache would get tired, or maybe he’d make so much money by dinner time he’d just naturally quit. If he got eight dollars from every one he tackled he’d be mighty well off by noon, wouldn’t he?”
“Toby, you’re an awful idiot,” laughed Arnold affectionately as he took him by the arm and steered him along the street. “I’ll let you play detective till a quarter to one. Then you’ve got to give up and come home to luncheon.”