“He’s here, all right,” he muttered, as he turned away with a singular smile, “and is not in his room. He reached here early this morning, as his name is right under the date. He ought to be an easy proposition for Sadie to work. I must have those corn options and whatever warehouse receipts he has secured. Old Whitemore was pretty slick to send this young chap instead of Vyce, whom we depended on. But the old fox is up against a crowd as slick as himself this time, and he’s going to be squeezed good and hard.”
Thus speaking to himself, the dapper young man pulled a cigar from his pocket, bit off the end, and lit it.
Then he walked over and seated himself in a chair that commanded a view of the office.
CHAPTER IV.
MR. GUY DUDLEY.
The dapper young man had almost finished his cigar when Vance came into the rotunda from the dining-room.
The stranger recognized the boy at once, which was not at all surprising, since he had met Vance probably fifty times in Chicago in the course of business.
“Why, hello, Thornton!” he exclaimed, walking briskly up to the lad and extending his hand in a cordial manner; “this is a surprise. What brings you out west, eh?”
“Mr. Dudley!” ejaculated Vance, somewhat taken back by the encounter.
The circumstance annoyed him greatly.