“Well, I’ll find him,” stormed the old man. “I traced him here and I’ll trace him farther. One of the boys from our town saw him a few weeks ago, and Joe sent a message to me, saying he didn’t take the money. But I know he did. I made up my mind I’d get him, and I heard your show was coming here. So I came here to wait for Joe. He may have run away again, but I’ll get him. I’ll have him locked up for robbing me!”
“Well, you’ll have to settle that with him,” observed the professor, coolly. “I know nothing about it, except that I believe Joe is innocent.”
“Well, I don’t!” exclaimed the deacon. “And I’ll get him yet! You tell him that for me!” and he shook his fist as he went out of the now dark theatre.
“I think he means trouble,” mused the professor, as he prepared to take the train.
As arranged, Joe and the professor met later that night in the town where they were next to show. Professor Rosello told of his interview with the deacon.
“He surely is after you, Joe,” he added.
“Well, I’ll have to be on the lookout; that’s all,” decided the boy wizard. “I’m not going to be punished for something I didn’t do.”
Three days after this, having arrived at a large town where they were to remain two nights, Professor Rosello came to the theatre in the afternoon to see if Joe had everything in readiness for the evening’s show.
“Joe,” remarked the magician, as he noted that his young helper had left nothing undone, “Joe, did your foster-father ever have any business dealings with two men whose first names were Burke and Jake?”
“Burke and Jake,” repeated Joe, thoughtfully. “I don’t know that he did. You see he was in the feed business, and lots of men came to sell to him, or buy. I wouldn’t know half of them, though I often helped about the store. Why do you ask that, Professor?”