“I don’t forget easily,” he chuckled, “and when I saw you in Camwell, everything came back to me. I’m telling you all this so that any time you feel inclined to get into trouble with me again you’ll think twice.”
“Well?” demanded Jack, face downward in the dusty patch of cleared ground among the rank growth of weeds.
“You don’t recall seeing me at the bank, I guess?”
“I certainly do not. I should otherwise have been on guard against you,” was the indignant reply.
“As if a lad like you could match me in craftiness! Well, I was in the bank to deposit some funds of the Camwell Steel Company. It may interest you to know that I am now their trusted employee and chemical expert. I saw you and recognized you, though you did not, of course, recall me, for since our encounter, you see, I wear a beard.”
From Jack’s position he could not see this, but he fully recognized the fact that to escape the vigilance of the authorities Duke must have disguised himself, for full descriptions of him had been sent out, following the outrage committed on Mr. Dancer. He said nothing, however, and Duke resumed.
“I’m telling you this to flaunt you. To show you what a fool a lad who thinks himself smart can prove to be. I heard you draw your money at the bank, and slipped into another machine, a small car belonging to the company.
“I saw you talking in low voices and then, as you rounded a corner beyond which was a factory blank wall, I saw you place the money in your shoes. Of course I was out of the machine then, but I guessed what you were going to do and hid behind a big pile of steel rails. Maybe you recall seeing them? Or were you too busy transferring your bills?”
Jack did indeed recall now the pile of steel rails, rusted and neglected, lying piled against the factory wall. The place had appeared deserted, for he had given it careful scrutiny for signs of life before he and Tom produced their money and transferred it to its new abiding place. How he wished now that he had looked behind that pile of rails!
“So now that you see there is no use of trying evasion with me, I’ll have Blinky and Duggan take off your shoes and relieve you of your wealth. It’s too much coin for a young chap like you to have, anyhow.”