“A regular rascal; eh?” observed the professor. “If he’s as bad as that, won’t he bother and harry us?”
“He won’t be permitted to do that,” replied Frank, decidedly, “for I shall not allow it. There is no doubt to my way of thinking but that he is bound to find out how and where you are going to locate and try and get ahead of you. I think, too, he dislikes me, so he would be glad to injure me. Being fully advised of his probable intentions, I am forewarned. First and foremost, we must guard against those fellows discovering where we hope to locate.”
“They’ll spy on us and follow us,” said the professor.
“Then leave it to me to throw them off the trail,” returned Frank. “The great point in this plan of yours is the chance of finding a suitable stand on Boston Common. Can it be done? If it can, then I feel sure that my partners will think as I do that your educational film project is a first-class proposition and that we will be glad to go in with you.”
“That is good news,” declared the professor, his frank face betraying the pleasure and satisfaction he felt. “As to the location, I’m sorry you do not look with favor on the ones I had selected.”
“I don’t say that,” Frank hastened to explain. “I am only thinking that there may be a better one. I always look for the best, and it may pay us well to search more closely before we decide on something that only half satisfies us.”
“You forget, Durham,” responded the professor, earnestly, “that I have spent nearly a month seeking a location. I have visited nearly every building facing the Common, and have interviewed owners and agents. I would almost guarantee that there is not another lease existing or prospective that could be secured. It took a deal of inquiry and probing to find out about the two we have in view.”
“Well,” said Frank, “I would like to go over those two in a thorough way, and I suggest that I investigate them in detail later in the day.”
“That’s all right,” was the reply, “in fact the very thing,” and then the speaker went on to explain the condition of the two leases and the terms, with which Frank familiarized himself.
“When my satchel arrives,” the professor added, “I want you to see what a splendid programme I have laid out. Nobody will get ahead of us as to that, Durham, for it has taken months to arrange my connections and get up the material to start with films that are simply wonderful.”