Page:Ralph on the Railroad.djvu/898

74 "The vest of that mysterious new acquaintance of mine, Clark—Porter," said Ralph—"he said he left it in the locomotive."

Ralph did not find the article in question in his own bunker. He threw back the cover of Fogg's box, to discover the vest neatly folded up at the botttom of that receptacle. With some curiosity he looked over its pockets.

"Whew!" whistled Ralph, as he removed and opened the only article it contained—a check book. The checks were upon a bank at Newton. About half of what the book had originally contained had been removed. Examining the stubs, Ralph calculated that over $1,000 had been deposited at the bank in the name of Marvin Clark, and that fully half that amount had been checked out.

"This is pretty serious," commented the young engineer. "It looks as if the impostor has not only stolen Clark's name, but his passes and his check book as well. I don't like the looks of this. There's something here I can't figure out."

Ralph placed the check book in his own pocket and returned the vest to the box. As he did this, he disturbed a piece of cloth used by Fogg to wipe grease from the cab valves. Something unfamiliar to the touch was outlined wrapped up in the rag, and Ralph explored.

Two objects came into view as he opened the