Page:Ned Wilding's Disappearance.djvu/163

Rh mine. You can search me now if you want to. That is all the money I have except a little change in my overcoat pocket," and he showed the man.

"That don't go with me. I'm sure you robbed me. I'll not search you or you'd say I was up to some game, and nobody ever said but what Jim Cassidy was honest, though he does keep a cheap lodging house. No, sir, the cop'll search you."

Ned knew the officer would find nothing—except the stock certificate. There was the trouble. Ned thought every officer in New York had a description of it and was looking for the boy who carried it. No, he couldn't allow himself to be searched.

"It's cold!" exclaimed Cassidy suddenly, as he shivered in his long nightrobe. "I'm goin' to get dressed. Better not try to run or I'll nab you. I'll be in the next room."

He went into his own apartment and Ned could hear him putting on his clothes. By the grunts and puffs that ensued he judged Cassidy was having hard work, as he w r as a large man, and putting on a shirt was no easy matter.

Then a daring plan came into Ned's mind. In spite of the excitement caused by the proprietor's entrance into his room and the loud talking that followed the accusation, none of the other lodgers