“It’s the man I told you about—the knife-thrower, Wertz,” was Bruce Beresford’s reply.
CHAPTER XV
A TERRIBLE DISCOVERY
“Are you sure, Bruce?” challenged Hiram. “You are not mistaken?”
“In that man?” cried his companion, and his face was pale, and his voice was trembling. “Oh, no! it makes me shudder to even look at his picture. Where did you get it?”
“Well, Bruce,” explained Hiram, “that is the man you heard Dave and myself talking about.”
“You mean the one who tried to blow up your machine?”
“That’s him; yes,” answered Hiram. “But, say, I thought he was hanging around with that old fellow, your guardian?”
“He was,” replied Bruce. “You see, he came and went. About two weeks ago I was in dread when Wertz showed up. I imagined he’d be putting me into some new circus training or other. I was afraid he might get it into his head to take Lois away, and train her to ride a horse bareback, or jump through a blazing hoop, or some other trick. I never was so relieved as when he went away again. He’d been waiting for some one to come, I heard. An old crony of his showed up finally, a man who used to come every few months to borrow money, ‘to get staked,’ as he called it; by Mr. Dawson. He was always planning schemes. Why, say,” added Bruce with animation, “I never thought of it till this moment, but I remember now he was in the same line as you and Dave Dashaway.”