Page:Bound to be an Electrician.djvu/205

Rh cant in the factory, and was told no. He walked away, considerably worried, thinking that his actions had been noticed, and that Montague Smith suspected him, and his mission.

"Maybe they have been watching me, just as I have been watching them," thought Franklin. "In that case, I had better be careful how I proceed."

The young electrician at once wrote to Belden Brice of what had occurred, and asked what he should do next. Then, on the following Monday morning, he walked down to the dock, to see if the freight-boat had returned.

The Sunflower was tied up in the same spot she had before occupied. No one was visible either, on deck or around the cabin. Evidently, the captain and most of the crew were ashore.

Sitting down on the dock, behind a pile of boxes and barrels, Franklin gave himself over to many reflections.

"I suppose I could go aboard, and become a stowaway," he thought, as his eyes roamed over the freight-boat. "If I did that I wonder how Captain Cosgrove would treat me when I exposed myself? I wouldn't dare to offer pay for my passage, as that would make him suspicious, and, like as not, he'd be suspicious, anyway, if he remembered me as one of the truck-drivers on his last trip. I wonder if I could stow myself away, and keep hidden until we reached our destination?"