Page:The purple pennant (IA purplepennant00barb).pdf/237

Rh money from the express car at Cartwright? Didn't you have to break the safe open?"

"Oh, that? Why, you see—but, look here, what made you first suspect me?"

"I guess it was the disguise. Besides, we knew you were playing the piano at the theater just for a—for a bluff."

"So you knew that, eh?" muttered Mr. Addicks. He viewed Fudge with admiration. "It's a good thing you're not on the police force, Shaw, or I'd have been nabbed long ago. You're a regular Burns!"

Fudge strove to disguise his delight in the praise, and Perry broke into the conversation anxiously. "Don't you think you'd ought to be going, sir?" he asked. "They may come back any moment."

"You're right." Mr. Addicks referred to a tin alarm clock on the table. "Ten after six," he muttered. "It's a desperate chance, but I'll take it." He disappeared into the closet and returned with a much-worn valise which he placed, open, on a chair. "Now then, let's see." He glanced frowningly about the room. "I can't take much with me. I guess I'd better foot it to the next town and jump the train there. Maybe they won't be looking for me. Boys, I don't want to drive you away, but if they should come and find you here they might