The Erie Train Boy Part 18

"He has just come in."

"Won't you ask him to step up here a minute?"

"All right, sir."

The door was relocked, but two minutes later it was opened and the detective walked in.

"Ha!" he said. "So we have two burglars instead of one."

"I am just as much a burglar as Fred is," said Frank.

"Then," said the detective with a smile, "I may feel it my duty to search you. You do have rather a hardened expression."

"Do you think I have?" asked Fred smiling.

"Well, no. I wouldn't pick you out for a professional criminal, and to be honest with you, I doubt whether you know anything of the burglary."

"Thank you! I am glad you have a better opinion of me than that."

"But what is it you want of me, Frank?"

"I want Fred to have a chance to see the Falls. He has never been here before, and it will be a great disappointment to him if he has to go away without seeing them."

"To be sure, to be sure!" said the detective thoughtfully.

"I thought you might let him go out under my escort."

Mr. Ferguson smiled.

"What could you do if he took it into his head to escape?"

"You couldn't lend me a club, could you?"

"I don't carry any. That is for policemen, and I have never acted in that capacity."

"But he won't run away, will you, Fred?"

"No, I prefer to stay here till I am cleared of suspicion."

"You see, Mr. Ferguson," said Frank, eagerly, "there will be no risk about it. He can give you his _parole_--that's the word, isn't it?"

"Yes; but this privilege is never accorded to those who are arrested for burglary."

"It is certainly inconvenient to be a burglar," said Fred, smiling in spite of his secret anxiety.

"Then you can't let him go?" questioned Frank, regretfully.

"Well, there is one way. I should not consider it safe to let him go with you, but I might accompany you."

"That will be capital! You will, won't you?"

"Yes, I will," said Ferguson, after a momentary pause. "I have a boy of my own about the age of--the young burglar--and that perhaps inclines me to be more indulgent. But you must wait till after dinner."

"Will dinner be sent up here?" asked Frank.

"Yes, for him; but you are not staying at the house."

"I forgot; and I haven't got money enough to pay for a hotel dinner."

"That's all right, Frank," said Fred. "I invite you to dine with me, and it shall be charged on my bill. I shall enjoy dinner better if I have company."

"Thank you. I accept the invitation, but I don't like to be an expense to you."

"Never mind."

Dinner was sent up in the course of half an hour, and the two boys enjoyed it.

"Are you still attending school, Frank?" asked Fred.

"Yes."

"I should like to, but poor boys like me have to work for a living."

"If you won't tell I will let you into a secret."

"What is it?"

"I am writing a long story. I want to be an author some time. I've written twenty chapters already."

"You must be smart," said Fred in surprise. "Why, I couldn't write as much in a whole year."

"Of course I can't tell whether it is good for anything, but some time I mean to write well."

"Well, Frank, I wish you success, I am sure. Some day I may be proud to know you."

"Now I might write a story about you, and call it 'The Boy Burglar.'"

"Don't! I have no wish to figure in that character."

Half an hour later the door opened, and the detective entered, dressed for a walk.

"Now, if you two burglars are ready," he said, "we will take a stroll."

CHAPTER XIII.