The Young Railroaders Part 10

What next could he do? If only he could find the box! What would Smith probably have done with it? For it seemed unlikely he would have taken it away with him. Might he not, after removing the money, have hidden it in the cellar? Jack determined to search there; and accordingly, at noon, hastening through his lunch, he descended and began a systematic hunt amid the odds and ends filling the bas.e.m.e.nt.

The first noon-hour's search brought no result. The second day, returning to the task somewhat dispiritedly, Jack began overhauling a pile of old cross-pieces. There was a squeak, and a rat shot out.

In a moment Jack was in hot pursuit with a stick. The rat ran toward the old furnace, and disappeared. At the spot an instant after, Jack found a hole in the brick foundation, and thrust the stick into it. The stick caught, he pulled, and several bricks fell out.

Dropping to his knees, Jack peered into the opening. A cry broke from him, and thrusting in a hand he grasped something, and drew it forth.

It was the lost cash-box!

Uttering a shout of triumph, Jack leaped to his feet and started on a run for the stair. But suddenly he halted. After all, was he absolutely sure it was Smith who had placed it there? Would the producing of the box prove it?

The question, which had not before occurred to Jack, startled him.

As he stood thinking, half consciously he tried the cover of the box. To his surprise it gave. He opened it. And the box almost fell from his hands.

It still contained the money! And apparently untouched!

But in a moment Jack thought he understood. Smith, or whoever it was, had left it as a clever means of saving themselves from the worst in the event of being found out, intending to return for it if the excitement blew safely over.

Then why not wait and catch them at it?

Good. But how?

Jack's inventive genius soon furnished the answer. "That's it! Great!" he said to himself delightedly. "I'll get down and do it early in the morning. And now I'll stick this back in the hole and fix the bricks up again."

Seven o'clock the following morning found Jack carrying out his plan.

First conveying to the cellar from the battery room two gravity-jars, he placed them in a dark corner behind the furnace. Next, finding an old lightning-arrester, he opened up the hiding-place, and arranged the arrester beneath the cash-box in such a way that on the box being moved the arrester arm would be released, fly back, and make a contact. Then, having carefully closed the opening, he procured some fine insulated wire, and proceeded to make up his circuit: From the arrester, out beneath the bricks, around the furnace, to the battery; up the wall, and through the floor by the steam-pipes into the business office; and, running up-stairs and procuring a step-ladder, on up the office wall, through the next floor, into the operating room. And there a few minutes later he had connected the wires to a call-bell on a ledge immediately behind the table at which he worked. And the alarm was complete.

Although Jack knew that the clerk next door returned from his dinner a half hour earlier than the others in the express office, he had little expectation of Smith visiting the cash-box at that time. Nevertheless, as the noon-hour drew near he found himself watching the alarm-bell with growing excitement.

"There might be just a chance of Smith visiting the box," he told himself, "just to learn whether I had--"

From behind him came a sharp "zip, zip," then a whirr. With a bound Jack was on his feet and rus.h.i.+ng for the door. Down the stairs he went, three steps at a time, and into the manager's private office.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "THERE!" SAID JACK, POINTING IN TRIUMPH.]

"Mr. Black," he cried, "I've got the man who took the box! Down the cellar! Quick!

"I found the box, with the money still in it, and fixed up an alarm-bell circuit to go off when he came for it," he explained hurriedly, as the manager stared. In a moment Mr. Black was on his feet and hastening after Jack toward the cellar stairway.

Quietly they tiptoed down. They reached the bottom.

"There!" Jack said, pointing in triumph. And looking, the manager beheld Smith, the express clerk, on his knees beside the furnace, before him on the floor the missing cash-box.

Ten minutes later the manager of the express company, who had been called in, pa.s.sed out of Mr. Black's office with his clerk in charge, and the telegraph manager, turning to Jack, warmly shook his hand.

"I am more sorry than I can say to have placed the blame upon you, my boy," he said sincerely. "And I am very thankful for the clever way you cleared the mystery up.

"You are quite a detective--sort of 'electrical detective'--aren't you?"

he added, smiling.

And for some time, about the office, and even over the wires, Jack went by that name--the "Electrical Detective."

VI

JACK HAS HIS ADVENTURE

One afternoon a few days following the affair of the missing cash-box Manager Black appeared in the Hammerton operating room, and after a consultation with the chief operator, called Jack Orr from his wire.

"Jack," said the manager, "there have been some important developments in the big will case on trial out at Oakton, and the 'Daily Star' has asked for a fast operator to send in their story to-night. The chief tells me you have developed into a rapid sender. Would you care to go?"

"I'd be glad of the opportunity, sir," said Jack, delightedly.

"All right. The chief will let you off now, so you will have plenty of time to catch the seven o'clock train. And now, Jack, do your best, for the 'Morning Bulletin' is sending its news matter in by the other telegraph company, and we don't want them to get ahead of us in any way."

When Jack reached the station, several of the newspaper men, including West of the "Star," already were there. Among them he saw Raub, a reporter of the "Bulletin," and with him Simpson, an operator of the opposition telegraph company.

"Why, h.e.l.lo, kid!" said the latter on seeing Jack. "They are not sending you out to Oakton, are they?"

"They are," responded Jack, with pride. Simpson laughed, and, somewhat indignant, Jack pa.s.sed on down the platform. On turning back, he noticed Simpson and Raub apart, talking earnestly. As he again neared them, both glanced toward him, and abruptly the conversation ceased. At once Jack's suspicions were aroused, for he knew Raub had the name of being very unscrupulous in news-getting matters, and that Simpson was not much better. He determined to watch them.

But nothing further attracted his attention, and finally, the train arriving, they boarded it, and made a quick run of the ten miles to the little village. There Jack headed for the local telegraph office.

He found it a tiny affair, in a small coal office on the southern outskirts of the village. Introducing himself to the elderly lady operator, who was just leaving, he went to the key and announced his arrival to the chief at Hammerton.

It was an hour later when West, the "Star" reporter, appeared. "Here you are, youngster," said he; "a thousand words for a starter. It's going to be a great story. I'll be back in half an hour with another batch."

Promptly Jack called "H," and soon was clicking away in full swing. But suddenly the instruments ceased to respond. The wire had "opened." Jack tested with his earth connection, and finding the opening was to the south, waited, thinking the receiving operator at Hammerton had opened his key. But minute after minute pa.s.sed, and finally becoming anxious, he cut off the southern end and began calling "B," the terminal office to the north.

"I, I," said B.

"Get H on another wire and ask him what is wrong here," Jack sent quickly. "We are being held up on some very important stuff."

"H says it is open north of him," announced B, returning. "We are putting in a set of repeaters here, so you can reach him this way."

A moment later Jack heard Hammerton calling him from the north, and in another moment he was again sending rapidly.

But scarcely had Jack sent a hundred words when this wire also suddenly failed. When several minutes again pa.s.sed and no further sound came, Jack leaned back in despair. Suddenly he sat upright. Raub and Simpson! Was it possible this was their work? Was it possible they had cut the wires?

Quickly he made a test which would show whether the breaks were near him.

Adjusting the relay-magnets near the armature, he clicked the key. There was not the faintest response. Switching the instruments to the southern end of the wire, he repeated the test, with the same result.

On both ends the break was within a short distance of him. Undoubtedly the wires had been cut!

Jack sprang to his feet and seized his hat. "I'll find that southern break if I have to walk half-way to Hammerton," he said determinedly, and leaving the office, set off down the moonlit road, his eyes fixed on the wire overhead.