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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Larry Dexter's Great Search, by Howard R.
+Garis
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Larry Dexter's Great Search
+       or, The Hunt for the Missing Millionaire
+
+
+Author: Howard R. Garis
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 30, 2005  [eBook #16397]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LARRY DEXTER'S GREAT SEARCH***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Charles Aldarondo, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+LARRY DEXTER'S GREAT SEARCH
+
+Or, The Hunt for the Missing Millionaire
+
+by
+
+HOWARD R. GARIS
+
+Author of "From Office Boy to Reporter," "Larry Dexter, Reporter,"
+"Dick Hamilton's Fortune," etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+New York
+Grosset & Dunlap
+Publishers
+
+1909
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "HERE IT IS!" CRIED LARRY. (Frontispiece)]
+
+
+
+     *     *     *     *     *     *
+
+
+Books For Boys
+By Howard R. Garis
+
+
+THE DICK HAMILTON SERIES
+
+
+   DICK HAMILTON'S FORTUNE
+   Or The Stirring Doings of a Millionaire's Son
+
+   DICK HAMILTON'S CADET DAYS
+   Or The Handicap of a Millionaire's Son
+
+   DICK HAMILTON'S STEAM YACHT
+   Or A Young Millionaire and the Kidnappers
+
+   DICK HAMILTON'S FOOTBALL TEAM
+   Or A Young Millionaire on the Gridiron
+
+   (Other volumes in preparation)
+
+   12 mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
+   Price, per volume, 60 cents, postpaid
+
+
+
+
+THE YOUNG REPORTER SERIES
+
+
+   FROM OFFICE BOY TO REPORTER
+   Or The First Step in Journalism
+
+   LARRY DEXTER, THE YOUNG REPORTER
+   Or Strange Adventures in a Great City
+
+   LARRY DEXTER'S GREAT SEARCH
+   Or The Hunt for a Missing Millionaire
+
+   LARRY DEXTER AND THE BANK MYSTERY
+   Or A Young Reporter in Wall Street
+
+   LARRY DEXTER AND THE STOLEN BOY
+   Or A Young Reporter on the Lakes
+
+   12 mo. Cloth. Illustrated
+   Price, per volume, 40 cents, postpaid
+
+
+Grosset & Dunlap
+Publishers New York
+
+
+
+     *     *     *     *     *     *
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Dear Boys:
+
+I hope you will be glad to read of the further adventures of Larry
+Dexter. He has made some progress since you first made his
+acquaintance in the book "From Office Boy to Reporter." He has also
+advanced in his chosen profession from the days when he did his
+first news-gathering for the _Leader_. In this volume he is sent on
+a "special assignment," as it is called. He has to find a New York
+millionaire who has mysteriously disappeared.
+
+How Larry solved the strange secret, I have woven into a story that
+I trust will be liked by all the boys who read it. I have taken many
+incidents from real life for this story, using some of my own
+experiences while a newspaper reporter as a basis for facts.
+
+The things that happened to Larry are not at all out of the
+ordinary among reporters. The life has many strange surprises in it.
+If I have been able to set them down in a way that will please you
+boys, and if you enjoy following the further fortunes of Larry
+Dexter, I shall feel amply repaid for my efforts on this volume.
+
+Yours sincerely,
+
+HOWARD R. GARIS.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER                              PAGE
+
+I. THE WRECK                            1
+
+II. ASHORE ON A RAFT                   10
+
+III. THE MAN AT THE HUT                17
+
+IV. RESCUED FROM THE SEA               26
+
+V. LARRY'S SCOOP                       33
+
+VI. A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE            42
+
+VII. LARRY OVERHEARS SOMETHING         49
+
+VIII. AN INTERVIEW WITH SULLIVAN       57
+
+IX. EVERYTHING BUT THE FACTS           64
+
+X. THREATS AGAINST LARRY               73
+
+XI. A MISSING MILLIONAIRE              81
+
+XII. A BRAVE GIRL                      88
+
+XIII. WHERE IS HE?                     94
+
+XIV. IN THE TENEMENT HOUSE            100
+
+XV. LARRY'S SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT        109
+
+XVI. SULLIVAN'S QUEER ACCUSATION      118
+
+XVII. GRACE GETS A LETTER             125
+
+XVIII. LARRY IS BAFFLED               138
+
+XIX. GRACE ON THE TRAIL               148
+
+XX. LARRY GETS A SCARE                156
+
+XXI. TRACING RETTO                    167
+
+XXII. GRACE IS SUSPICIOUS             174
+
+XXIII. CAPTAIN TANTRELLA ARRIVES      180
+
+XXIV. RETTO IS CAUGHT                 186
+
+XXV. IN THE HOSPITAL                  192
+
+XXVI. A NEW CLUE                      200
+
+XXVII. THE DETECTIVE'S THEORY         208
+
+XXVIII. A TERRIBLE MISTAKE            214
+
+XXIX. IN HIS ENEMIES' POWER           222
+
+XXX. MR. POTTER IS FOUND--CONCLUSION  229
+
+
+
+
+LARRY DEXTER'S GREAT SEARCH
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE WRECK
+
+
+Into the city room of the New York _Leader_ hurried Mr. Whiggen, the
+telegraph editor. In his hand was a slip of paper, containing a few
+typewritten words. Mr. Whiggen laid it on the desk of Bruce Emberg,
+the city editor.
+
+"Just came in over our special wire," said Mr. Whiggen. "Looks as if
+it might be a bad wreck. That's a dangerous coast. I thought you
+might like to send one of your men down to cover it."
+
+"Thanks," replied the city editor. "I will. Let's see," and, while
+he read the message, a score of reporters in the room looked up to
+see what had caused the telegraph editor to come in with such a
+rush.
+
+This is what Mr. Emberg read from the slip Mr. Whiggen handed him:
+
+"BULLETIN.--S.S. _Olivia_ ashore off Seven Mile Beach, on sand bar.
+Big steerage list, some cabin passengers--fruit cargo. Ship badly
+listed, but may get off at high tide. If not, liable to break up in
+storm. Passengers safe yet.--ASSOCIATED PRESS."
+
+There followed a brief description of the vessel, compiled from the
+maritime register, giving her tonnage, size, and when built.
+
+"Um," remarked Mr. Emberg when he had read the short message, which
+was what newspaper men call a "flash" or bulletin, intended to
+notify the journals of the barest facts of the story. "This looks as
+if it would amount to something. I'll send a man down. Have we any
+one there?"
+
+"We've got a man in Ocean City," replied the telegraph editor, "but
+I'm afraid I can't reach him. Have to depend on the Associated Press
+until we can get some one down."
+
+"All right, I'll send right away."
+
+The telegraph editor went back to his sanctum on the run, for it was
+near first-edition time and he wanted to get a display head written
+for the wreck story. Mr. Emberg looked over the room, in which many
+reporters were at work, most of them typewriting stories as fast as
+their fingers could fly over the keys. Several of the news-gatherers
+who had heard the conversation between the two editors hoped they
+might be sent on that assignment, for though it meant hard work it
+was a chance to get out of the city for a while.
+
+"Are you up, Newton?" asked Mr. Emberg of a reporter in the far
+corner of the room.
+
+"No, I've got that political story to write yet."
+
+"That's so. I can't spare you. How about you, Larry?"
+
+"I'm up," was the answer, which is the newspaper man's way of saying
+his particular task is finished.
+
+"Here, then, jump out on this," and the city editor handed the
+telegram to a tall, good-looking youth, who arose from his desk near
+a window.
+
+Larry Dexter, who had risen from the rank of office boy to reporter,
+took in the message at a glance.
+
+"Shall I start now?" he asked.
+
+"As soon as you can get a train. Seven Mile Beach is down on the
+Jersey coast, near Anglesea. You can't get there in time to wire us
+anything for to-day, but rush a good story for to-morrow. If a storm
+comes up, and they have to rescue the passengers, it will make a
+corker. Don't be afraid of slinging your words if it turns out worth
+while. Here's an order on the cashier for some money. Hustle now,"
+and Mr. Emberg scribbled down something on a slip of paper which he
+handed to the young reporter.
+
+"Leave the message in the telegraph room as you go out," went on
+the city editor. "Mr. Whiggen may want it. Hustle now, Larry, and do
+your best."
+
+Many envious eyes followed Larry Dexter as he hurried out of the
+city room, putting on his coat and hat as he went, for he had been
+working in his shirt sleeves.
+
+Larry went down the long corridor, stopping in the telegraph room to
+leave the message which was destined to be responsible for his part
+in a series of strange events. He had little idea, as he left the
+_Leader_ office that morning, that his assignment to get the story
+of the wreck was the beginning of a singular mystery.
+
+Larry cashed the order Mr. Emberg had given him, and hurried to the
+railroad station. He found there was no train for an hour, and,
+telephoning to the city editor to that effect, received permission
+to go home and get some extra clothing, as he might have to stay
+away several days.
+
+The young reporter rather startled his mother as he hurried in to
+tell her he was going out of town, but Mrs. Dexter had, in a
+measure, become used to her son doing all sorts of queer things
+since he had started in newspaper life.
+
+"Will you be gone long, Larry?" she asked, as he kissed her
+good-bye, having packed a small valise.
+
+"Can't say, mother. Probably not more than two days."
+
+"Bring me some sea shells," begged Larry's brother, Jimmie, a
+bright little chap.
+
+"And I want a lobster and a crab and a starfish," spoke Mary, a
+sunny-haired toddler.
+
+"All right, and I'll bring Lucy some shells to make beads of,"
+answered Larry, mentioning his older sister, who was not at home.
+
+Larry found he had not much time left to catch his train, and he was
+obliged to hurry to the ferry which took him to Jersey City. There
+he boarded a Pennsylvania Railroad train, and was soon being whirled
+toward the coast.
+
+Seven Mile Beach was a rather dangerous stretch of the Jersey shore,
+not far from Cape May. There were several lighthouses along it, but
+they did not always prevent vessels from running on a long sand bar,
+some distance out. More than one gallant ship had struck far up on
+it, and, being unable to get off, had been pounded to pieces by the
+waves.
+
+By inquiring Larry found that the wreck of the _Olivia_ was just off
+a lonely part of the coast, and that there were no railroad stations
+near it.
+
+"Where had I better get off?" he asked, of the conductor.
+
+"Well, you can get off at Sea Isle City, or Sackett's Harbor. Both
+stations are about five miles from where the ship lies, according to
+all accounts. Then you can walk."
+
+"He can do better than that," interposed a brakeman.
+
+"How?" asked Larry.
+
+"There's a station, or rather what remains of it, half way between
+those places," the brakeman said. "It used to be called Miller's
+Beach. Started to be a summer resort, but it failed. There's nothing
+there now but a few fishermen's huts. But I guess that's nearer the
+wreck than Sea Isle City or Sackett's Harbor."
+
+"Is there a place I could stay all night?" asked the young reporter.
+
+"You might find a place. It's pretty lonesome. Sometimes, in the
+summer, there are campers there, but it's too late in the fall now
+to expect any of 'em. We'll stop there for water, and you can get
+off if you like."
+
+Larry hardly knew what to do. Still he decided he was sent to get a
+story of the wreck, and he felt it would be well to get as near to
+it as possible. But there was another thing to think of, and that
+was how to get his news back into the _Leader_ office. He must be
+near a telegraph station. Inquiry of the trainmen disclosed the fact
+that the nearest one was three miles from Miller's Beach.
+
+"Guess I'll chance it," concluded Larry.
+
+"We'll be there in an hour," went on the brakeman. "It's the
+jumping-off place, so to speak, and it's not going to be very
+pleasant there when the storm breaks."
+
+That a heavy storm was gathering was all too evident from the mass
+of dark, rolling clouds in the east. They hung low, and there was a
+rising wind.
+
+"I wouldn't want to be on that vessel," remarked the brakeman as the
+train, having stopped at a small station, started off again. "It's
+beginning to rain now, and it will blow great guns before morning."
+
+Several men, their faces bronzed from exposure to the weather, had
+boarded the train. They talked quietly in one corner of the car.
+
+"Who are they?" asked Larry, of the brakeman.
+
+"Life savers, from the Anglesea station. Going to Tatums, I guess."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Tatums is the life-saving station nearest where the vessel is
+ashore. Maybe they are going to help in case she breaks up in the
+storm. Tatums is about three miles below where you are going."
+
+Larry began to see that he would have no easy task in getting news
+of the wreck, or in transmitting it after he had it. But he was not
+going to worry so early in the undertaking. So, when the brakeman
+warned him that the train was nearing the water tank, which was all
+that remained of interest to the railroad people at Miller's Beach,
+the young reporter prepared to alight.
+
+As he went out on the platform the wind increased in violence, and
+then, with a rush and a roar, the rain began to fall in torrents.
+
+Larry wished he could stay in the train, as he had no umbrella, but
+there was no help for it. He leaped off the platform of the car
+almost before it had stopped, and looked for a place of shelter. He
+was surprised to see several large buildings in front of him, but
+even through the mist of rain he noted that they were dilapidated
+and forsaken. He was in the midst of a deserted seaside resort.
+
+He hurried on, being wet through before he had gone a dozen steps.
+Then he heard the train puffing away. It seemed as though he was
+left all alone in a very lonesome place.
+
+"Hi! Where you going?" a voice hailed him.
+
+Larry looked up, to see a man clad in yellow oilskins and rubber
+boots standing in front of him.
+
+"I came down about the wreck," was the young reporter's reply.
+
+"Got any folks aboard? If you have I'm sorry. She's broken her
+back!"
+
+"No; I'm a reporter from New York. What do you mean about breaking
+her back?"
+
+"Why, she ran away up on the bar at high tide. When it got low tide
+a while ago the bows and stern just sagged down, and she broke in
+two. They've got to work hard to save the passengers."
+
+"That's a good story," was Larry's ejaculation, but it was not as
+heartless as it sounds, for he was only speaking professionally. "I
+must get down after it."
+
+"What? With night coming on, the wreck almost half a mile out, and
+it coming on to blow like all possessed?" asked the man in oilskins.
+"Guess you don't know much about the sea, young man."
+
+"Very little," answered Larry.
+
+A sudden gust of wind, which dashed the rain with great force into
+his face, nearly carried the reporter off his feet. He looked about
+for a place of shelter.
+
+"Better come with me," suggested the man. "There are no hotel
+accommodations here, though there once were. I have a shack down on
+the beach, and you're welcome to what I've got. I fish for a living.
+Bailey's my name. Bert Bailey."
+
+"Go ahead. I'll follow," returned Larry. "I'd like to get out of
+this rain."
+
+"Have to tog you out like me," said the old fisherman, as he led the
+youth toward his hut. "These are the only things for this weather."
+
+As they hastened on there came over the water the boom of a signal
+gun from the wrecked steamer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ASHORE ON A RAFT
+
+
+"What's that?" asked the young reporter, pausing.
+
+"She's firing for help," replied the fisherman. "Can't last much
+longer now."
+
+"Can't the life savers do anything?"
+
+"They'll try, as soon as they can. Hard to get a boat off in this
+surf. It comes up mighty fast and heavy. Have to use the breeches
+buoy, I reckon. But come on, and I'll lend you some dry things to
+put on."
+
+Five minutes later Larry was inside the hut. It was small,
+consisting of only two rooms, but it was kept as neatly as though it
+was part of a ship.
+
+In a small stove there was a blazing fire of driftwood, and Larry
+drew near to the grateful heat, for, though it was only late in
+September, it was much colder at the beach than in the city, and he
+was chilly from the drenching.
+
+"Lucky I happened to see you," Bailey went on. "I went down to the
+train to get my paper. One of the brakemen throws me one off each
+trip. It's all the news I get. I didn't expect any one down. This
+used to be quite a place years ago, but it's petered out. But come
+on, get your wet things off, and I'll see what I can do for you."
+
+Larry was glad enough to do so. Fortunately he had brought some
+extra underwear in his valise, and, after a good rub-down before the
+stove, he donned the garments, and then put on a pair of the
+fisherman's trousers and an old coat, until his own clothes could
+dry.
+
+As he sat before the stove, warm and comfortable after the
+drenching, and safe from the storm, which was now raging with
+increased fury outside, Larry heard the deep booming of the signal
+guns coming to him from across the angry sea.
+
+"Are they in any danger?" he asked of Bailey, as the fisherman
+prepared to get a meal.
+
+"Danger? There's always danger on the sea, my boy. I wouldn't want
+to be on that vessel, and I've been in some pretty tight places and
+gotten out again. She went ashore in a fog early this morning, but
+it will be a good while before she gets off. Seven Mile Beach hates
+to let go of a thing once it gets a hold."
+
+It was getting dusk, and what little light of the fading day was
+left was obscured by the masses of storm clouds. The fisherman's hut
+was on the beach, not far from the high-water mark, and the booming
+of the surf on the shore came as a sort of melancholy accompaniment
+to the firing of the signal gun.
+
+"Where is the wreck?" asked Larry, going to a window that looked
+out on the sea.
+
+"Notice that black speck, right in line with my boat on the beach?"
+asked Bailey, pointing with a stubby forefinger over the young
+reporter's shoulder.
+
+"That thing that looks like a seagull?"
+
+"That's her. You can't see it very well on account of the rain, but
+there she lies, going to pieces fast, I'm afraid."
+
+"Why didn't they get the people off before this?"
+
+"Captain wouldn't accept help. Thought the vessel would float off
+and he'd save his reputation. The life savers went out when it was
+fairly calm, but didn't take anyone ashore. Now it's too late, I
+reckon."
+
+As the fisherman spoke a rocket cleaved the fast-gathering blackness
+and shot up into the air.
+
+"What's that?" asked Larry.
+
+"She's firing signal lights. Wait and you'll see the coast-guard
+send up one in reply."
+
+Presently a blue glare, up the beach not far from the cottage, shone
+amid the storm and darkness.
+
+"That's George Tucker, burning a Coston light," explained Bailey.
+"He patrols this part of the beach to-night. They may try the boat
+again, but it's a risk."
+
+There was an exchange of colored lights between the beach patrol and
+those on the steamer. Larry watched them curiously. He tried to
+picture the distress of those aboard the ship, waiting for help from
+shore; help that was to save them from the hungry waves all about.
+
+"I wonder how I'm going to get news of this to the paper," Larry
+asked himself. He was beginning to feel quite worried, for he
+realized a great tragedy might happen at any moment, and he knew the
+_Leader_ must have an account of it early the next morning, for it
+was an afternoon paper. The managing editor would probably order an
+extra.
+
+"Couldn't I go down to the life-saving station?" asked Larry. "Maybe
+I could go out in a boat and get some news."
+
+"They wouldn't let you, and, if they would, you couldn't send any
+news up to your paper from here to-night," replied the fisherman.
+"The nearest telegraph office is closed. Better stay here until
+morning. Then you can do something. I'll fix you up with oilskins
+after supper, if you like, and we'll go out on the beach. But I
+don't believe they'll launch the life-boat to-night."
+
+The storm had now settled down into a fierce, steady wind and
+dashing rain. It fairly shook the little hut, and the stove roared
+with the draught created. Bailey soon had a hot meal ready, and
+Larry did full justice to it.
+
+"Now we'll go out on the beach," the fisherman said, as he donned
+his oilskins, and got out a suit for Larry. The youth looked like
+anything but a reporter when he put on the boots and tied the
+yellow hat under his chin, for otherwise the wind would have whipped
+it off in an instant.
+
+They closed up the hut, leaving a lantern burning in it, and started
+down toward the ocean. Through the darkness Larry could see a line
+of foam where the breakers struck the beach. They ran hissing over
+the pebbles and broken shells, and then surged back again. As the
+two walked along, a figure, carrying a lantern and clad as they
+were, in yellow oilskins, loomed up in the darkness.
+
+"Hello, George!" cried Bailey, above the roar of the wind. "Going to
+get the boat out?"
+
+"Not to-night. I signalled down to the station, but they flashed
+back that the surf was too high. We'll try the buoy in the morning,
+if the ship lasts that long, which I'm afraid she won't, for she's
+being pounded hard."
+
+"The station where they keep the life-boat is about two miles below
+where we are now," Bailey explained to Larry. "We'll go down in the
+morning."
+
+Suddenly a series of lights shot into the air from out at sea.
+
+"What's that?" cried Larry.
+
+"It's a signal that she's going to pieces fast!" cried the
+coast-guard. "Maybe we'll have to try the breeches buoy to-night. I
+must go to the station. They may need my help."
+
+As the beach patrol hurried up the sandy stretch, Larry had half a
+notion to follow him. He wanted to see the operation of setting up
+the breeches buoy in order to make a good story, with plenty of
+details. He was about to propose to the fisherman that they go, when
+Bailey, who had gone down to the water's edge, uttered a cry.
+
+"What is it?" called the reporter, hastening to the side of the old
+man.
+
+"Looks like a life-raft from the steamer!" exclaimed Bailey. "She
+must have broken up. Maybe there's some one on this. Give me a hand.
+We'll try to haul it ashore when the next high wave sends it up on
+the beach."
+
+Larry strained his eyes for a sight of the object. He could just
+discern something white, rising and falling on the tumultuous
+billows.
+
+"Come on!" cried Bailey, rushing down into the first line of surf,
+as a big roller lifted the object and flung it onward. "Grab it and
+pull!"
+
+Larry sprang down the sand. He waded out into the water, surprised
+to find how strong it was even in the shallow place. He made a grab
+for the dim white object. His hands grasped a rope. At the same time
+the fisherman got hold of another rope.
+
+"Pull!" cried Bailey, and Larry bent his back in an effort to snatch
+the raft from the grip of the sea.
+
+At first the waves shoved the raft toward them, then, as the waters
+receded, the current sucked it out again. But the fisherman was
+strong and Larry was no weakling. They hauled until they had the
+raft out of reach of the rollers. Then, while there came a wilder
+burst of the storm, and a dash of spray from the waves, Bailey
+leaned over the raft.
+
+"There's a man lashed to it!" the fisherman cried. "We must get him
+to my shack and try to save him! Hurry now!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE MAN AT THE HUT
+
+
+With a few quick strokes of his knife Bailey severed the ropes that
+bound the unconscious man to the raft. Then, taking him by the
+shoulders, and directing Larry to grasp the stranger's legs, they
+started for the hut.
+
+"Queer there weren't more to come ashore on that raft," the
+fisherman remarked as they trudged over the sand. "It would hold a
+dozen with safety. Maybe they were all swept off but this one. Poor
+souls! there'll be many a one in Davy Jones's locker to-night I'm
+afraid."
+
+"Is he--is he dead?" asked Larry, hesitatingly, for he had never
+handled a lifeless person before.
+
+"I'm afraid so, but you never can tell. I've seen 'em stay under
+water a good while and brought back to life. You'd best help me
+carry him in, and then run for some of the life guards. I'll be
+working over him, and maybe I can bring him around."
+
+Through the storm the two staggered with their burden. They reached
+the hut, and the man was tenderly placed on the floor near the fire.
+
+"You hurry down the coast, and if you can see any of the guards
+tell 'em to come here," Bailey said to Larry. "They can't do
+anything for the wreck to-night."
+
+Larry glanced at the man he had helped save from the sea. The
+stranger was of large size, and seemed well-dressed, though his
+clothes were anything but presentable now. His face was partly
+concealed by the collar of his coat, which was turned up, and Larry
+noted that the man had a heavy beard and moustache.
+
+These details he took in quickly while he was buttoning his oilskin
+jacket tighter around his neck for another dash into the storm.
+Then, as he opened the door of the hut to go in search of a
+coast-guard, Bailey began to strip the wet garments from the
+unconscious man.
+
+Larry was met by a heavy gust of wind and a dash of rain as he went
+outside again. He bent his head to the blast and made his way down
+the beach, the lantern he carried making fantastic shadows on the
+white sand.
+
+He had not gone far before he saw a figure coming toward him. He
+waited, and in a few minutes was joined by George Tucker.
+
+"Mr. Bailey wants you to come to his place and help him save a man
+who just came in on a raft," said Larry.
+
+"Can't do it, my boy. I was just coming for him to help us launch
+the life-boat. We need all the men we can get, though we've got help
+from the station below us. Captain Needam sent me after Bailey."
+
+"I don't believe he'll come," said Larry. "He'll not want to leave
+the man he pulled from the ocean."
+
+"No, I don't s'pose he will," said George. "He may save a life. But
+we've got to try for the steamer. She's going to pieces, and there
+are many aboard of her, though I'm afraid there'll be fewer by
+morning."
+
+"I'll come and help you," said the reporter. "I don't know much
+about life-boats, but I'm strong."
+
+"Come along, then," said the coast guard.
+
+They made their way down the beach, Larry accepting, in the manner
+newspaper reporters soon become accustomed to, the new role he was
+suddenly called on to play.
+
+While he is thus journeying through the storm to aid in saving life,
+there will be an opportunity to tell you something about his past,
+and how he came to be a reporter on a leading New York newspaper.
+
+Larry's introduction to a newspaper life was told of in the first
+volume of this series, entitled "From Office Boy to Reporter." At
+the start the youth lived with his mother, who was a widow, and his
+two sisters and a brother, on a farm in New York State.
+
+The farm was sold for an unpaid mortgage after the death of Larry's
+father, and the little family came to New York to visit a sister of
+Mrs. Dexter, as Larry thought he could find work in the big city.
+
+On their arrival they found that Mrs. Dexter's sister had
+unexpectedly gone out West to visit relatives, because of the sudden
+death of her husband. The Dexter family was befriended by a Mr.
+Jackson and his wife, and made the best of the situation. After many
+unsuccessful trials elsewhere, Larry got a position as office boy on
+the New York _Leader_.
+
+His devotion to duty had attracted the attention of Harvey Newton,
+one of the "star" reporters on the sheet, and Mr. Emberg, the city
+editor, took a liking to Larry. In spite of the enmity of Peter
+Manton, another office boy on the same paper, Larry prospered. He
+was sent with Mr. Newton to report a big flood, and were there when
+a large dam broke, endangering many lives. Larry, who was sent to
+the telegraph office with an account of the accident, written by Mr.
+Newton on the spot, had an exciting race with Peter, who was then
+working for a rival newspaper. Larry won, and for his good work was
+advanced to be a regular reporter.
+
+In the second volume of the series, entitled "Larry Dexter,
+Reporter," I told of his experiences as a gatherer of news in a
+great city.
+
+In that book was related how Larry, with the aid of Mr. Newton,
+waged war against a gang of swindlers who were trying to rob the
+city, and, incidentally, Larry himself, for, as it developed, his
+mother had a deed to certain valuable property in the Bronx Park
+section of New York, and the swindlers desired to get possession of
+the land. They wanted to hold it and sell it to the city at a high
+price, but Larry got ahead of them.
+
+To further their ends the bad men took away Jimmie, Larry's little
+brother, but the young reporter, and his friend Mr. Newton, traced
+the boy and found him. Peter Manton had a hand in the kidnapping
+scheme.
+
+By the sale of the Bronx land Mrs. Dexter became possessed of enough
+money to put her beyond the fear of immediate want; Larry decided to
+continue on in the newspaper field, and when this story opens he was
+regarded as one of the best workers on the staff of the _Leader_.
+His assignment to get the story of the wreck was his first big one
+since the incidents told of in the second volume.
+
+At Larry and the coast-guard trudged down the beach the guns from
+the doomed steamer were fired more frequently, and the rockets
+lighted up the darkness with a weird glare.
+
+"Not much farther now," remarked George, as he peered ahead through
+the blackness, whitened here and there with masses of flying spray.
+
+A little later they were at the life-saving station. The place was
+in seeming confusion, yet every man was at his post. Most of them
+were hauling out the long wagon frame, on which the life-boat
+rested. They were bringing the craft down to the beach to try to
+launch it.
+
+"Lend a hand!" cried Captain Needam, as Larry and the coast-guard
+came in. "We need every man we can get."
+
+Larry grasped a rope. No one paid any attention to him, and they
+seemed to think it was natural that he should be there. Perhaps they
+took him for Bailey.
+
+The boat was taken down to the edge of the surf. An effort was made
+to launch it, but, struggle as the men did, they could not get it
+beyond the line of breakers.
+
+"It's no use!" exclaimed the captain. "We'll have to haul her to
+Johnson's Cove. Maybe it isn't so rough there."
+
+The wagon, with the boat on it, was pulled back, and then began a
+journey about two miles farther down the coast, to a small inlet,
+protected by a curving point of land. There the breakers were likely
+to be less high, and the boat might be launched.
+
+Larry pulled with the rest. He did not see how he was going to get
+his story telegraphed to the paper, but he was consoled by the
+reflection that there were no other reporters on hand, and that
+there was no immediate likelihood of being "beaten." When morning
+came he could decide what to do.
+
+So, for the time being, he became a life saver, and pulled on the
+long rope attached to the wagon until his arms ached. It was heavy
+hauling through the sand, and his feet seemed like lead.
+
+It was nearly midnight when the cove was reached, and after a
+desperate struggle the life-boat was launched.
+
+"Some of you go back and get ready to operate the breeches buoy as
+soon as it's light enough!" called Captain Needam, as the boat was
+pulled away over the heaving billows toward the wreck, which could
+be seen in the occasional glare of a rocket or signal light.
+
+"Might as well come back," said George Tucker to Larry. "Can't do
+any more here."
+
+Back through the wind and rain they walked, with half a score of
+others. They reached the life-saving station, tired and spent from
+their struggle through the storm.
+
+"You can go back to Bailey," said George, as Larry sat down inside
+the warm and cozy living-room of the station to rest. "He may need
+you."
+
+"I thought I could help here," replied Larry. "Besides, I'd like to
+see you work the breeches buoy."
+
+"You'll see all you want of that in the morning," replied the coast
+patrol. "We can't do much until daylight. Are you afraid to go back
+alone?"
+
+"No," replied Larry.
+
+Back he trudged to Bailey's cabin. It was about three o'clock when
+he reached there, and he found the fisherman sitting beside the
+table, drinking some hot tea.
+
+"I thought you'd got lost," spoke the fisherman.
+
+"I went to help 'em launch the boat. They needed me. George Tucker
+was coming for you, but I told him of the man we saved. How is he?"
+
+"Doing well. He's asleep in the next room. He had been struck on the
+head by something, and that was what made him senseless. It wasn't
+the water. I soon brought him around. How about the wreck?"
+
+Larry told all he knew. Bailey insisted on the young reporter
+drinking two cups of steaming hot tea, and Larry felt much better
+after it. Then he and the fisherman stretched out on the floor to
+wait until morning, which would soon break.
+
+Bailey was up early, and his movements in the hut as he shook down
+the fire and made coffee, aroused Larry.
+
+"We'll get a bit of breakfast and then we'll go down to the
+station," said the fisherman. "I guess our man will be all right."
+
+He went outside to bring in some wood. A moment later the door of
+the inner room, where the rescued man was, opened, and a head was
+thrust out.
+
+"If my clothes are dry I'll take them," the man said, and Larry,
+glancing at him, saw that the stranger was smooth-shaven. The
+reporter was sure that when he was pulled from the water on the
+raft the man had had a heavy beard.
+
+"Why--why--" began the youth--"your whiskers. Did you----?"
+
+"Whiskers?" replied the man with a laugh. "Oh, you thought that
+bunch of seaweed on my face was a beard. I see. No, this is the way
+I looked. But are my clothes dry?"
+
+Larry took them from a chair near the fire, where Bailey had hung
+them. He gave them to the stranger. Larry was much puzzled. It
+seemed as if he had stumbled upon a secret. The man shut the door of
+his room, A moment later the fisherman called from without the hut:
+
+"Come on! Never mind breakfast! They're going to fire the gun!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+RESCUED FROM THE SEA
+
+
+Larry paused only long enough to don his oilskins, as it was still
+raining hard. The coffee was made, but he did not wait for any,
+though he wanted it very much. But he knew he ought to be on the
+spot to see all the details of the rescue from the sea, and it was
+not the first time he, like many other reporters, had gone on duty,
+and remained so for long stretches, without a meal.
+
+Bailey was some distance down the beach. He had on his yellow suit,
+which he had donned to go out to the woodshed, some distance from
+his hut. Larry caught up to him. He was about to speak of the man at
+the hut when the fisherman cried:
+
+"Something's wrong! They're coming up this way with the apparatus!
+Must be they couldn't find a good place down there to rig the
+breeches buoy."
+
+Larry looked down the beach. He saw through the rain and mist a
+crowd of yellow-suited figures approaching, dragging something
+along the sand. He looked out to sea and beheld the blotch that
+represented the doomed vessel. All thought of the man at the hut
+was, for the time, driven out of his mind.
+
+On came the life savers. They halted about a mile from the hut, and
+Larry and Bailey ran to join them.
+
+"Did you save any?" called the fisherman to Captain Needam, who was
+busy directing the rescue.
+
+"Got some in the life-boat early this morning," was the answer.
+"They took 'em to the lower station. We couldn't get back with the
+boat. All ready now, men. Dig a hole for the anchor, Nate. Sam, you
+help plant the mortar. Have to allow a good bit for the wind. My!
+but she's blowin' great guns and little pistols!"
+
+Larry had his first sight of a rescue by means of the breeches buoy.
+The apparatus, including a small cannon or mortar, had been brought
+from the life-saving station on a wagon, pulled by the men along the
+beach. The first act was to dig a deep hole in the sand, some
+distance back from the surf. This was to hold the anchor, to which
+was attached the shore end of the heavy rope, on which, presently,
+persons from the wreck might be hauled ashore.
+
+Once the anchor was in the hole, and covered with sand, firmly
+packed down, arrangements were made to get a line to the vessel.
+
+"Put in a heavy charge!" cried Captain Needam. "We'll need lots of
+powder to get the shot aboard in the teeth of this wind!"
+
+Several men grouped about the brass cannon and rapidly loaded the
+weapon. Then, instead of a cannon ball, they put in a long, solid
+piece of iron, shaped like the modern shell, with a pointed nose. To
+this projectile was attached a long, thin, but very strong line.
+
+"Are they going to fire that at the ship?" asked Larry, who was not
+very familiar with nautical matters.
+
+"They hope to have it land right on deck, or carry the line over,"
+said Bailey, who paused in his work of helping the men to lay out
+from the wagon parts of the apparatus.
+
+Larry watched intently. Now and then he gazed out to the ship, a
+speck of black amid white foam, for the seas were breaking over her.
+
+At the side of the cannon was a box, containing the line, one end of
+which was fastened to the projectile. The rope was coiled in a
+peculiar cris-cross manner, to prevent it being tangled as it paid
+rapidly out when the shot was fired.
+
+"All ready?" called Captain Needam, as he looked at his men.
+
+"Ready, sir," answered George Tucker.
+
+"Put in the primer!" ordered the chief of the life savers. One of
+the men inserted a percussion fuse in the touchhole of the mortar.
+The captain grasped a lanyard. The men all stood at attention,
+waiting to see the effect of the shot.
+
+Captain Needam sighted over the muzzle of the cannon. It was
+pointed so as to clear the stern of the ship, but this was
+necessary, as the high wind would carry the projectile to one side.
+
+The arm of the captain stiffened. The lanyard tauted. There was a
+spark at the breach of the mortar, a sharp crackle as the primer
+ignited, and then a dull boom as the charge was fired. Through the
+mist of rain Larry saw a black object shooting out toward the ship.
+After it trailed the long thin line, like a tail to a kite.
+
+It was scarcely a moment later that there sounded a gun from the
+ship.
+
+"Good!" cried Captain Needam. "The shot went true!"
+
+"That was the ship signalling that they had the line," explained
+Bailey, shouting the words in Larry's ear.
+
+From the shore to the ship there now stretched out a long thin rope.
+Larry had no time to wonder what would happen next.
+
+"Bend on the cable!" cried the captain, and the men quickly attached
+a thick rope to the line which the cannon-shot had carried aboard
+the _Olivia_. This soon began to pay out, as it was hauled in by
+those on the wrecked vessel. In a short time the heavy cable was all
+out, and securely fastened to the ship, high enough up so as to
+clear the rail. Directions how to do this were printed on a board
+which was hauled in with the rope, and, lest those on a doomed ship
+might not understand English, the instructions were given in
+several languages.
+
+"They have it fast! Rig up the shears!" cried the captain.
+
+Once more his men were busy. They set up on the sand two stout
+wooden pieces, exactly like, a pair of enormous shears. The longer
+parts, corresponding to the blades, were nearest the ground, while
+what answered for the handles were several feet in the air, opened
+in "V" shape.
+
+Through this "V" the heavy cable was passed, the one end being fast
+to the anchor buried in the sand, and the other being attached to
+the ship. By moving the shears nearer to the anchor the cable was
+tightened until it hung taut from shore to ship, a slender bridge on
+which to save life.
+
+The breeches buoy, a canvas arrangement, shaped like a short pair of
+trousers, and attached to a frame which ran back and forth on the
+cable by means of pulleys, had been adjusted. To it were fastened
+ropes, one being retained by the life savers and one by those on the
+ship. All was in readiness.
+
+The breeches buoy was now pulled toward the ship, by those aboard
+hauling on the proper line. It moved along, sliding on the heavy
+cable, the angry waves below seeming to try to leap up and engulf
+it, in revenge for being cheated of their prey.
+
+"Look sharp now, men!" cried the captain. "Get ready to take care
+of the poor souls as they come ashore."
+
+The storm still kept up, and the waves were so high that a second
+attempt to save some by means of the life-boat, even launching it in
+the protected cove, had to be given up. But the breeches buoy could
+be depended on.
+
+A signal from the ship told those on shore that the buoy was loaded
+with a passenger, and ready to be hauled back. Willing hands pulled
+on the rope. On it came through the driving rain; on it came above
+the waves, though not so high but what the spray from the crests wet
+the rescued one.
+
+"It's a woman!" cried the captain, as he caught sight of the person
+in the buoy.
+
+"And a baby! Bless my soul!" added Bailey. "She's got a baby in her
+arms!"
+
+And so it proved; for, wrapped in a shawl, which was tied over her
+shoulders, so as to keep the water from the tiny form, was an infant
+clasped tightly to its mother's breast.
+
+"Take her to the station!" cried the captain, as he helped the woman
+to get out of the canvas holder in which she had ridden safely to
+shore. "My wife will look after her. Now for the rest, men. There's
+lots of 'em, and the ship can't last much longer! Lively, men. Every
+minute means a life!"
+
+"I'll take her to the station!" volunteered Larry, for there was
+nothing he could do to help now, and he thought he could get a good
+story of the wreck from the first person rescued.
+
+"Go ahead!" exclaimed the life savers' captain.
+
+The woman, in spite of her terrible experience, had not fainted.
+Still clasping her baby, she moved through the crowd of men, who
+cheered her as they set to work again.
+
+"Come with me," said Larry. "We will take care of you!"
+
+"Oh, it is so good to be on land again!" the woman cried. "I am not
+a coward--but oh, the cruel waves!" and she shuddered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+LARRY'S SCOOP
+
+
+"Are there many women aboard?" asked Larry, as he moved off through
+the rain toward the life-saving station with the rescued passenger.
+
+"I was the only one," was the answer the woman made, in a pronounced
+Italian accent. "I am the purser's wife. They made me come first. Me
+and the baby," and she put her lips down and kissed the little face
+nestled in the folds of the shawl.
+
+"The purser's wife!" exclaimed Larry. "Perhaps your husband will
+bring the passenger list with him. I would like to get it. I am a
+newspaper reporter," he added.
+
+The woman, with a rapid movement, held out a bundle of papers to
+him.
+
+"What are they?" Larry asked.
+
+"The list of passengers! You reporters! I have heard of you in my
+country, but they do not such things as this! Go to wrecks to meet
+the passengers when they come ashore! You are very brave!"
+
+"I think you were brave to come first across the waves," replied
+Larry. "The rope might break."
+
+"I had my baby," was the answer, as if that explained it all.
+
+"Do you think your husband would let me telegraph these names to my
+paper?" asked Larry.
+
+"He gave them to me to bring ashore, in case--in case the ship did
+not last," the purser's wife said, with a catch in her voice. "You
+may use them, I say so. I will make it right."
+
+This was just what Larry wanted. The hardest things to get in an
+accident or a wreck are the names of the saved, or the dead and
+injured. Chance had placed in Larry's hands just what he wanted.
+
+He hurried on with the woman, who told him her name was Mrs.
+Angelino. He did not question her further, as he felt she must be
+suffering from the strain she had undergone. In a short time they
+were safe at the station, and there Mrs. Needam provided warm and
+dry garments for mother and child, and gave Mrs. Angelino hot
+drinks.
+
+"Ah, there is my reporter!" exclaimed the purser's wife, when she
+was warm and comfortable, as she saw Larry busy scanning the list of
+passengers. "He came quick to the wreck!"
+
+"Can you lend me some paper?" Larry asked Mrs. Needam.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"I want to write an account of the rescue and copy these names. I
+must hurry to the telegraph office. I left my paper in the
+fisherman's hut."
+
+"I'll get you some," said Captain Needam's wife, and soon Larry was
+writing a short but vivid story of what had taken place, including a
+description of the storm, and the saving of the only woman on board,
+with her baby, by means of the breeches buoy. Then he copied the
+list of names.
+
+"There's something I almost forgot," said Larry when he had about
+finished. "There's that passenger who came ashore on the life-raft.
+I wonder who he was? I'll ask Mrs. Angelino."
+
+But she did not know. She was not aware that any one had come ashore
+on a raft, for, in the confusion of the breaking up of the ship in
+the storm, she thought only of her husband, her baby and herself.
+
+"I can find out later," Larry thought.
+
+He gave the list back to Mrs. Angelino, and then, with a good
+preliminary story of the wreck, having obtained many facts from the
+purser's wife, Larry set out through the storm for the nearest
+telegraph station.
+
+"Don't you want some hot coffee before you go?" asked Mrs. Needam.
+"I've got lots--ready for the poor souls that'll soon be here."
+
+Larry did want some. He was conscious of a woeful lack of something
+in his stomach, and the coffee braced him up in a way he very much
+needed.
+
+It was quite a distance from the life-saving station to the nearest
+telegraph office, but Larry knew he must make it if he wanted an
+account of the wreck to get to his paper in time for the edition
+that day. So he set off for a tiresome trudge over the wet sand. As
+he was leaving, several men, who had been brought ashore from the
+ship, came to the station. From them Larry learned that part of the
+ship was likely to last until all the passengers and crew could be
+saved. He then resolved to telegraph the story of the saving of all,
+knowing he could make corrections by an additional message later in
+case, by some accident, any lives were lost.
+
+To get to the telegraph office Larry had to go back to a point
+nearly opposite where the life savers were working, and then strike
+inland. As he was hurrying along he came to a little hummock of
+sand, from which elevation he could look down on the beach and see
+the crowd gathered about the breeches buoy. Out on the bar he could
+make out the wrecked vessel. As he stood there a moment he saw some
+one detach himself from the crowd and hurry across the intervening
+beach.
+
+"That figure looks familiar," thought Larry. "I wonder if that's
+Bailey the fisherman?"
+
+He waited a few minutes, and the figure became more distinct.
+
+"It's Peter Manton!" cried Larry. "He's been sent down here to
+report the wreck! I wonder what paper he's on? But I guess I haven't
+any time to stand here wondering. I've got to beat him to the
+telegraph office if I want to get a scoop, though he can't have been
+on hand long enough to get much of an account."
+
+Still Larry knew that even a brief and poor account of anything, if
+it got in first, was enough to discount or "take the edge off" a
+better story told later, and he made up his mind he would "scoop"
+Peter, his old enemy.
+
+The representative of the _Leader_ hurried on. Peter caught sight of
+Larry, and recognized him in spite of his oilskins. Peter wore a
+rain-coat, which was wet through.
+
+"Hold on, Larry!" he cried. "I'm on the _Scorcher_ again. What have
+you got?"
+
+It was the newspaper man's way of asking his brother-of-the-pencil
+for such information as he possessed. But though, as a general
+thing, when several reporters are on a general story, they
+interchange common news, Larry was in no mind to share what he had
+with Peter. His paper had gone to the trouble to send him down in
+good season, a piece of forethought which the other journals'
+editors had neglected. Therefor Larry felt that he was not violating
+the common practice (though it is against the strict office rules)
+if he ignored Peter.
+
+"Haven't time!" he called back.
+
+"Wait a minute!" cried the rival reporter. "I just came down on the
+first train, and I walked about five miles to find the wreck. I'm
+going to the telegraph office to send my account in for an extra.
+We'll whack up on it."
+
+"We'll do nothing of the sort!" exclaimed Larry. "I don't want
+anything to do with you." He had never forgiven Peter for his part
+in the kidnapping of Jimmie.
+
+"Needn't get huffy about it," remarked Peter. "I want to be
+friendly."
+
+Larry thought it was hardly Peter's place to offer to be "friendly"
+after the mean part he had played.
+
+"I haven't time to stop now," said Larry. "I'm in a hurry. You'll
+have to get along the best you can."
+
+"So that's how you feel, eh?" asked the rival reporter. "Not very
+white of you, Larry Dexter. I've only just got back my job on the
+_Scorcher_ after they laid me off for getting beaten, and I've got
+to make good. But never mind. The beach is free, and I've got as
+good a right to the telegraph office as you have. I'd like to see
+you beat me."
+
+Larry himself did not just see how he would, but he made up his mind
+to attempt it. Peter was now keeping pace with him. There was
+nothing for it but to hurry on. Whoever reached the office first and
+"filed his copy" would have the right to the wire. Larry resolved
+that he would win in the race, even as he had won in the other, at
+the big flood, but he knew there was time enough yet. If he started
+to run Peter would run also, and the way was too long for a fast
+sprint.
+
+The two kept on, side by side, neither speaking. The only sound was
+the patter of the rain, and the rustle and rattle of Larry's oilskin
+suit.
+
+They passed through the deserted summer resort. It was about a mile
+now to the telegraph office. Larry recalled that Bailey had told him
+there was a short cut by keeping to the railroad track, and he
+turned into that highway, followed by Peter, who, it seemed, had
+resolved not to lose sight of his rival.
+
+It was now about nine o'clock, though his activity since early
+morning made it seem much later to Larry. He knew he had a good
+story safe in his pocket, and he was pretty sure Peter had only a
+garbled account, for he could not have gotten the facts so quickly.
+Nor did he, Larry was sure, have the passenger list, which was the
+best part of the story.
+
+On and on the two rivals trudged silently. They must be near the
+office now, Larry thought, and he looked ahead through the rain.
+They were in the midst of a little settlement of fishermen's
+houses--a small village--but it was nearly deserted, as most of the
+inhabitants had gone to the wreck. Larry saw a building on which was
+a sign informing those who cared to know that it contained a store,
+the post-office and a place whence telegrams might be sent and
+received. Peter saw it at the same instant.
+
+"Here's where I beat you!" he cried as he sprang forward on the
+run.
+
+Larry tried to follow, but his legs became entangled in the oilskin
+coat and he fell. He was up again in an instant, only to see Peter
+entering the office. Larry's heart seemed like lead. Had he worked
+so hard only to be beaten at the last?
+
+Something spurred him on. He stumbled into the office in time to
+hear Peter saying:
+
+"I want to hold a wire for a long despatch to the New York
+_Scorcher_. I've got a big account of the wreck."
+
+"Where's your copy?" asked the young man in charge of the clicking
+instruments.
+
+"I'll have it ready for you in a minute," replied Peter, sitting
+down to a table, and beginning to dash off words and sentences as
+fast as his pencil could fly.
+
+"I can't hold any wire for you," said the operator. "If you have any
+press stuff to file let me have it. That's the only way you can keep
+a wire."
+
+"I'll have it for you in a second," Peter replied as he looked
+anxiously at the door.
+
+"That will not answer. I must have copy in order to keep the wire
+busy."
+
+"Here it is!" cried Larry, as he entered at that moment and pulled
+from his pocket his hastily written account of the wreck, including
+the list of passengers. "I'll be obliged to you if you can get this
+off to the New York _Leader_ as soon as possible."
+
+"I was here first!" angrily cried Peter.
+
+"But I have his copy first," the operator said. "It is the filing of
+the despatch first that counts, not who gets here first. I'll get
+this off right away for you," he added, turning to Larry.
+
+And thus it was that Larry got his scoop, for his account took so
+long to telegraph that, when the operator began on Peter's, the
+_Leader_ had the story in the office, and was preparing to get out
+an extra.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
+
+
+Remaining only long enough to see that the operator got off the
+first part of his story, and finding, on inquiry, that the
+telegrapher had no difficulty in reading his writing, Larry started
+back to the scene of the wreck. He wanted to learn if all the
+passengers and crew were saved, and get an interview with the
+captain, if he could.
+
+So he left his old enemy, Peter, there grinding out his story in no
+pleasant frame of mind. But it was part of the game, and Larry's
+"beat" was a cleanly-scored one, especially as Peter had tried to
+win by a trick.
+
+The young reporter found the work of rescue almost completed. The
+life savers had labored to good advantage and had brought nearly all
+the passengers ashore in the breeches buoy. They were cared for
+temporarily at the beach station, though the small quarters were
+hardly adequate.
+
+With the bringing ashore of the crew and officers, the captain
+coming last, the life savers found their work finished. And it was
+only just in time, for, not more than an hour after the commander
+had staggered up the beach, worn and exhausted by the strain and
+exposure, the after part of the vessel slid from the bar and sank in
+deep water.
+
+Larry, who had been introduced to Captain Needam by Bailey, told the
+former of his desire for an interview with the commander of the
+_Olivia_, and the matter was soon arranged, though Captain Tantrella
+was in dire distress over the loss of his ship.
+
+However, he told Larry what the reporter wished to know, describing
+how, in the fog, the vessel had run on the sand bar. He related some
+of the scenes during their wait to be rescued, told of the high seas
+and terrible winds, and painted a vivid picture of the dangers.
+Larry wrote it in his best style and hurried back to the telegraph
+office.
+
+There was only one passenger missing, and the name of this one,
+according to the purser's list, was Mah Retto. The name, though
+peculiar, Larry thought, was not dissimilar to scores of others, for
+the steamer had on board a cosmopolitan lot of passengers. No one
+knew how Retto had been lost.
+
+As Larry was on his way to the telegraph office a sudden thought
+came to him.
+
+"That's it!" he exclaimed. "The man who came ashore on the life-raft
+is this missing Mah Retto. I'll just stop on my way to the telegraph
+office and see him. That will clear it all up, and make every
+passenger accounted for."
+
+He hurried on, intending to get a hasty interview with the man at
+Bailey's hut, and then go telegraph the rest of his story. The
+fisherman was still down on the beach, aiding the life savers to
+pack their apparatus for transportation back to the station. As
+Larry came in sight of the cabin he saw the raft, on which the
+stranger had come ashore, lying just beyond high-water mark.
+
+He entered the hut, expecting to see Retto, as he had come to call
+the foreigner, sitting comfortably by the fire. But the rescued man
+was not there. Nor was he in the room where he had been put to bed.
+
+"Maybe he's in the woodshed," thought Larry. "I'll take a look."
+
+But he was not there.
+
+"That's strange," Larry mused. "He's disappeared. There is something
+queer in this, and I'm going to find it out. But first I must send
+the rest of my story."
+
+Larry found Peter Manton still at the telegraph office grinding
+away. Larry's first batch of copy had been sent off, as had most of
+Peter's stuff. As the representative of the _Scorcher_ handed in the
+last of his copy he turned to Larry and said, sneeringly:
+
+"I'll bet I've got a better story than you have."
+
+"Perhaps," was all Larry replied. Then, as Peter went back to the
+wreck for more information, Larry wrote, as an addition to his
+story, the interview with the captain, finishing with an account of
+the missing Mah Retto. He told also of the man who came ashore on
+the raft, and who was believed to be the passenger who was
+unaccounted for.
+
+"That's a good day's work done," remarked the young reporter, as he
+signed his name to the last sheet of copy. "I wonder if they want me
+to stay here?"
+
+He wrote a brief message asking Mr. Emberg for instructions. Telling
+the operator he would call in about two hours for an answer, Larry
+decided he would get some breakfast.
+
+As there was no restaurant in the little hamlet, he thought the best
+plan would be to go back to the fisherman's cabin. He wanted to talk
+with Bailey about the disappearance of the man they had rescued from
+the raft.
+
+The fisherman was at the hut when Larry arrived, and was busy
+preparing a meal.
+
+"Guess you feel like eating something, don't ye?" he asked.
+
+"You guessed it right the first time," replied the young reporter,
+with a grin.
+
+"And my other company," went on Bailey. "I expect he's hungry."
+
+"He's gone."
+
+"Gone?"
+
+"Yes; I came back here a while ago and there wasn't a sign of him."
+
+"Why, that's queer," returned the fisherman. "I've been so busy
+frying this bacon and making fresh coffee I didn't notice it. But
+that reminds me, I haven't seen or heard anything of him since I
+came in. His clothes are gone, too."
+
+Larry and Bailey made a hasty search through the cabin. There were
+few places where a person could conceal himself, and they very soon
+found that their late guest was nowhere on the premises.
+
+"Here's something," remarked Larry, as he looked on a small table in
+the room where the rescued man had slept. "It looks like a note."
+
+It was a note, written on the fly leaf torn from a book. It read:
+
+"Dear friends. Accept my thanks for saving my life. Please take this
+small remembrance for your trouble."
+
+There was no signature to the note, but folded in the paper was a
+hundred-dollar bill, somewhat damp from immersion in the sea.
+
+"Well, sink my cuttle-fish!" exclaimed Bailey. "That's odd. A
+hundred dollars! That's more than I make in a summer season. But
+half of it's yours. I'd like to rescue people steady at that rate."
+
+"It's all yours," said Larry. "I got the story I came down after,
+and that's all I want. But I would like to find this Mah Retto, if
+that's his name. He doesn't write much like a foreigner, though he
+looks like one. May I keep this note?"
+
+"As long as you don't want a share in the hundred-dollar one, I
+reckon you can," Bailey replied, with a laugh.
+
+Larry folded the scrap of paper to put in his pocket. As he did so
+something bright and shining on the floor attracted his attention.
+He stooped to pick it up, finding it was a small gold coin, of
+curious design, evidently used as a watch charm.
+
+"I guess our man dropped this," Larry said, holding it out to
+Bailey.
+
+"Well, you can keep that, with the note. Perhaps it will help you
+solve the mystery," the fisherman said. "I'm satisfied with what I
+got."
+
+Larry put the charm in his pocket, together with the note, and was
+about to leave the room, when the fisherman, who was lifting from
+the corner a box, in which to deposit his money, uttered an
+exclamation.
+
+"What is it?" asked Larry.
+
+"Why, it's a man's beard. Somebody's shaved his off and left it
+here. How in the name of a soft-shell clam----"
+
+"It's that man!" cried Larry. "I knew he had a beard on when we
+pulled him ashore!"
+
+"A beard on?" murmured Bailey, in questioning tones.
+
+"Yes," went on Larry. "When you were outside, getting some wood,
+just before you ran down the beach when the life savers came, I was
+in here. The man stuck his head from the bed-room and asked for his
+clothes, which I gave him. I noticed he was smooth shaven----"
+
+"Why, he had a beard on when we pulled him from the water,"
+interrupted the fisherman.
+
+"I was sure he did, but when I asked him why he had shaved it off he
+said I was mistaken--said it was only a bunch of seaweed I had
+thought was a beard. Then you called me to hurry out, and I forgot
+all about it until now. But he must have shaved his whiskers off in
+here, and then he disappeared. There's something strange about it
+all."
+
+"I rather guess there is," Bailey admitted. "Wonder where he got his
+razor? I never use one."
+
+"He must have had it in that small valise he wore, strapped by a
+belt, around his waist," Larry answered. "That's probably where he
+carried his money. I'd like to get at the bottom of this mystery."
+
+"Well, you newspaper fellows are looking for just such things as
+this," said the fisherman with a smile. "It's right in your line."
+
+"So it is," Larry replied. "I'll solve it, too."
+
+But it was some time later, and Larry had many strange adventures
+before he got at the bottom of the queer secret that started down
+there on the lonely sea coast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LARRY OVERHEARS SOMETHING
+
+
+Larry decided that the disappearance of the fisherman's guest was
+not a part of the story of the wreck, though the fact that the
+passenger was missing was an item of much interest, and he used it.
+He made up his mind to tell Mr. Emberg all about the strange
+happening when he got back.
+
+Arriving at the telegraph office for the third time, he found a
+message from the city editor, instructing him to come back to New
+York, as the best of the story was now in, and the Associated Press
+would attend to the remainder. Some of the representatives of that
+news-gathering organization were already at the scene of the
+disaster.
+
+"Your friend got a calling down," volunteered the operator to Larry,
+as the young reporter began looking up trains to see when he could
+get back.
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"He got a message from his city editor a while ago, wanting to know
+why he hadn't secured a list of passengers and the crew. The
+message said the _Leader_ had it, and had beaten all the other
+papers."
+
+"That's good," spoke Larry. "I worked hard enough for it."
+
+"The _Scorcher_ man wanted me to give him your list, but I wouldn't
+do it," the operator went on. "So he's gone out to get one of his
+own. But he's too late, I reckon. I'll have my hands full pretty
+soon, for there'll be a lot of reporters here. But you're the first
+to send off the complete story."
+
+Larry felt much elated. Of course he knew it was due, in part, to
+the forethought of his city editor in seeing a possible situation,
+and rushing a man to the scene ahead of the other papers. That
+counts for almost as much in journalism as does getting a good story
+or a "scoop."
+
+Larry received hearty congratulations from Mr. Emberg when he got
+back to the _Leader_ office the next day, for, not only had the
+young reporter secured a fine "scoop," but he had sent in an
+exceptionally good story of the wreck.
+
+"Larry, you did better than I thought you would. You've got the
+right stuff in you!" exclaimed the city editor, while the other
+reporters, crowding around the hero of the occasion, expressed,
+their pleasure at his success. Not one of them but would have given
+much to have been in Larry's place.
+
+"Have much trouble?" asked Mr. Newton.
+
+"Well, I had to hustle. Struck something rather queer down there,
+too."
+
+"What was it? Some of the men from other papers try to get the best
+of you?"
+
+"Only my old enemy, Peter Manton, but I put a crimp in him all
+right. No, this was something else." And Larry told of the
+disappearance of the man at the hut.
+
+"That is rather odd," agreed the older reporter. "If I were you I'd
+tell Mr. Emberg about it, and then you'll be in a position to act on
+what information you have, in case anything turns up."
+
+Larry followed this advice. The city editor puzzled over the matter
+a few minutes, and then decided nothing could be done at present.
+
+"We'll watch developments in regard to the _Olivia_ wreck," said Mr.
+Emberg, "and it may be this mystery will fit in somewhere. If it
+does we may get a good story."
+
+But neither Larry nor the city editor realized in what a strange
+manner the mystery was to develop.
+
+It was the beginning of the newspaper day in the _Leader_ office.
+Reporters were busy writing accounts of meetings they had covered
+the previous night, and others were going out on assignments to
+police courts, to look up robberies, murders, suicides, and the
+hundred and one things that go to make up the news of the day.
+
+"How would you like to try your hand at politics?" asked Mr. Emberg
+of Larry, when they had finished their talk about the man at the
+hut. "I haven't given you much chance at anything in that line, but
+if you're going to be an all-'round newspaper man you'll have a lot
+to do with politics."
+
+"I think I'd like it," replied Larry.
+
+Certainly this life was one of variety, one day at the wild scene of
+a rescue from a wreck, and the next peacefully sent to talk to some
+political leader.
+
+"I want you to go up and have a talk with Jack Sullivan, the leader
+of one of the Assembly districts," went on Mr. Emberg. "You've
+probably read of the trouble in that district. Thomas Kilburn is a
+new aspirant for the Assembly and he's fighting against the
+re-nomination of William Reilly. Now Jack Sullivan is the leader of
+that district, and whoever he decides to support will be elected.
+That's the way politics are run in New York.
+
+"It would be quite an item of news if we could find out whom
+Sullivan is going to support. So far he has played foxy and no one
+knows, not even the candidates themselves, I believe, though I have
+an idea that Sullivan will swing to Reilly."
+
+"How did Kilburn come to be in the race?" asked Larry.
+
+"That's what we newspaper editors would like to know, and it's what
+you reporters have to find out for us. There's something back of it
+all. Sullivan wants something he thinks either Kilburn or Reilly
+can give him, and that's why he's holding back. He'll give his
+support to the man who, after he's elected, can give him what he
+wants. Now if you could discover whom Sullivan is going to support,
+and why, it would make a corking story."
+
+"I'll try," said Larry, a little doubtful of his ability.
+
+"It isn't at all like going down to a wreck and seeing persons
+rescued," went on Mr. Emberg. "You've got to nose out your news this
+time. A number of reporters have tried to pump Sullivan, but he
+won't give up. Go and try your luck. You'll find him in the district
+headquarters," and he gave Larry the address.
+
+"Where you going?" asked Mr. Newton, as he passed Larry in the
+corridor.
+
+"To interview Sullivan."
+
+Mr. Newton whistled.
+
+"I don't envy you," he said. "I'm afraid you'll fall down this time,
+Larry" ("falling-down" being a newspaper man's term for failure).
+"We've all tried him, but he's as cute as an old fox. He'll be nice
+and polite, but he'll not give you a decided answer, one way or the
+other."
+
+"I've got to try," was Larry's reply.
+
+Larry had one advantage on his side. He was a new reporter in the
+political field. That was one reason why Mr. Emberg sent him. Nearly
+all the other available men on the _Leader_ were well known to the
+politicians, they were familiar with them, and, as soon as they saw
+these reporters, the politicians were on their guard.
+
+Larry, never before having talked with Sullivan and his friends,
+might take them off their guard, and they might let fall something
+that would make news, the city editor thought. It was a slim chance,
+but newspaper editors are accustomed to taking such.
+
+When Larry entered the headquarters of Sullivan, which were located
+in the rear of a large dance hall, he found the place well filled
+with men, though it was the middle of the forenoon, when most
+persons would have been at work. But the men were politicians of
+more or less power, and had plenty of spare time. Besides this was
+really their work, though it did not look like very strenuous labor,
+for most of them were standing in little groups, talking and
+smoking, or sitting in chairs tilted back against the wall.
+
+Here was where Larry's newness gave him an advantage. No one in the
+room knew him to be a reporter, or he would have been greeted by
+some of the men as soon as he entered, called by name, and thus all
+the others would have been put on their guard.
+
+Larry sauntered into the big room as though he belonged there. He
+hardly knew what to do, but he decided to look about for a few
+minutes and size up the situation. No one paid any attention to him,
+and he felt it would be a good plan to see if he could pick
+Sullivan out from among the throng.
+
+With this end in view Larry walked from one end of the room to the
+other. He did not know that the man he sought was in his private
+office, closeted with some of his henchmen. As Larry passed one
+group he heard one man in it say:
+
+"Well, Sullivan's made up his mind at last."
+
+"He has, eh?" asked another. "Who is it?"
+
+Larry was all attention at once. This seemed to be the very thing he
+had been sent to find out.
+
+"Don't let it get out," went on the man who had first spoken, "but I
+understand Tommy has got to wait a while yet."
+
+"Then Billy can probably deliver the goods," the second man added.
+"I thought he could. Well, it means a good thing for the district
+when they build the new line. If only Potter doesn't go back on his
+promise. He's so rich you can't touch him with money, and he's as
+foxy as they make 'em. If Billy can work him I don't blame Sullivan
+for swinging his way. Now----"
+
+But at that moment one of the men turned and saw Larry. He at once
+knew him for a stranger, and quickly inquired:
+
+"What do you want, young man?"
+
+"I want to see Mr. Sullivan."
+
+Larry didn't announce himself as a reporter, for that, he felt,
+would have brought him only a polite refusal, on Sullivan's part, to
+receive him.
+
+"What for?" went on the man.
+
+"I have a message for him," Larry said.
+
+"You can tell me, I'll see that he gets it."
+
+"It is for him personally," Larry said, for a bold plan had come
+into his mind and he determined to try it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+AN INTERVIEW WITH SULLIVAN
+
+
+For a moment the man who had questioned Larry stood gazing at him.
+Suspicion was in the look, but the reporter never quailed. He was
+playing a bold game and he was running a risk, but he was not going
+to give up so soon.
+
+"What's your name?" the man asked him.
+
+"Larry Dexter."
+
+That conveyed nothing to his questioner, for Larry had not been long
+enough on the _Leader_ to become known in the field of politics.
+There were some men in the newspaper business with whom the
+politicians were so familiar that they sent for them whenever they
+had any news they were desirous of making public. But Larry was not
+yet one of these.
+
+"Sam, tell Mr. Sullivan a young man wants to see him personally,"
+went on the man who had interrogated Larry. "You can take a seat
+over there," he added, pointing to some chairs farthest removed from
+the group of which he was a member.
+
+As Larry moved away he heard one of the men remark:
+
+"Wonder if he's a newspaper man?"
+
+"I don't believe so," replied another. "I've never seen him before
+and I know most of the reporters in New York. None of the editors
+would send a new man to interview Sullivan. He's too tough a bird
+for a greenhorn to tackle. I guess he's a messenger from some
+broker's office. Maybe Potter sent him."
+
+"I wonder who this Potter is, and what all that talk meant?" Larry
+thought to himself as he took a chair, and watched the messenger
+enter a small room at the end of the big apartment.
+
+In a little while Sam, who appeared to be a sort of janitor around
+the place, came back to inform Larry that Sullivan would see him.
+
+"Now for my game of bluff," said the young reporter to himself as he
+entered.
+
+The political leader was sitting behind a desk, littered with
+papers. He was a small man, wearing glasses, and looking like
+anything but the chief factor of an important Assembly district. Mr.
+Sullivan was bald-headed, and had rather a pleasant face, but there
+was a look about him that indicated force of character, of a certain
+kind, and a determination to succeed in what he undertook, which is
+what makes a good politician.
+
+"You wanted to see me?" and the question came in a low voice,
+totally unlike the loud tones Larry had, somehow, associated with an
+important politician.
+
+Larry felt the eyes of Sullivan gazing sharply at him, as though
+they were sizing him up, labeling him, and placing him on a certain
+shelf to be kept there until wanted. Sullivan was a good reader of
+character, as he showed by his next question.
+
+"What paper are you from?"
+
+Larry started. He wondered how the man knew he was from a paper, for
+Larry had said nothing about it. Seeing his confusion Sullivan
+laughed.
+
+"Wondering how I took your measure, aren't you?" he asked, and when
+Larry nodded he went on: "You have the air of a newspaper man, which
+you may consider flattering, as you have acquired it after having
+been in the game only a short time. I assume that because it's my
+business to know most of the reporters in this city, and I never saw
+you before. If you didn't look like a newspaper man I'd size you up
+for one, because only a reporter, or some of my political friends,
+would come here to see me. You're not the one, so you must be the
+other. Now what do you want?" and the politician's voice became
+rather sharp.
+
+"I came here to find out if it's true that you're going to support
+Reilly because he can deliver the goods from Mr. Potter," Larry
+explained, resolving to chance all at once.
+
+Sullivan started, and half arose from his chair. Then he seemed to
+recover himself.
+
+"Some one's been talking!" he murmured, and, glancing quickly at
+Larry, he asked:
+
+"Who is Mr. Potter? I'm afraid I don't understand you."
+
+"He's the financier interested in the new line," went on Larry,
+boldly. "It's going to be a good thing for the district, I
+understand. Come now, Mr. Sullivan," he went on, assuming a familiar
+air he did not feel, "you might as well own up and give me an
+interview about deciding to support Reilly."
+
+For several seconds the leader gazed at Larry, as if seeking to read
+his inmost thoughts. Then he spoke:
+
+"You either know too much or too little, Dexter. I guess you're an
+older hand at this business than I took you for. Tell me what you
+know."
+
+"You tell me what I want to know," Larry said with a smile. "You
+probably know all that I do and more, too. But I don't know half as
+much as you do about this, though I know enough to print something
+in the _Leader_. You might as well come out with it."
+
+Sullivan hesitated. He was wondering how this new young reporter had
+discovered information supposed to be a secret among the
+politician's closest advisers. Clearly there was a leak somewhere,
+and he must play the game warily until he discovered it. Meanwhile,
+since part of the truth was known he decided to tell more of it. He
+could manage matters to suit his ends if necessary, even after he
+gave out the interview for which all the papers in New York were
+anxiously waiting.
+
+"Did Mr. Emberg send you to see me?" asked Sullivan.
+
+"He did," Larry answered, wondering how intimate was the
+politician's acquaintance with the city editor of the _Leader_.
+
+"Emberg's foxy," went on Sullivan.
+
+"Do I get the interview?" asked Larry.
+
+"You do. I like your nerve, and I'd like to find out where you heard
+that about Potter."
+
+Larry did not think it well to say he had merely overheard, in the
+politician's own headquarters, a reference to the man, who was a
+well-known millionaire and promoter of New York. The truth of the
+matter was Larry only used the information that had so unexpectedly
+come to him, but he used it in such a way that Sullivan thought he
+knew a great deal more than he did.
+
+"I'm going to support Reilly," went on Sullivan. "I don't know that
+I have such great influence as the papers credit me with, but what I
+have is for my friend, William Reilly. You can say for me that I
+think he served well in the Legislature and is entitled to another
+term. As for Mr. Kilburn, who I hear would like the nomination, he
+is an excellent young man. I know little about him, but I believe he
+would do well. But I believe in rewarding good work, and so I am for
+Mr. Reilly."
+
+"Do you want to say anything about Potter and the new line?" asked
+Larry, though if Sullivan had said anything about them the reporter
+would have been decidedly in the dark as to what the politician was
+driving at.
+
+"I guess you've got enough out of me for one day," replied Sullivan
+with a smile. "It's more talking than I've done in a long while--to
+reporters," he added. "Lots of 'em would give a good bit to have
+what you've got, and I wouldn't have given it to you, only I think
+you're smarter than I gave you credit for. Now you tell me where you
+heard about Potter."
+
+"I can't," answered Larry, truthfully enough, for he did not feel
+that he could betray one of Sullivan's own men, because of the talk
+he had inadvertently overheard. "Sometime I may."
+
+"I'll have to cultivate your acquaintance," the district politician
+remarked as Larry went out.
+
+The young reporter hurried to the _Leader_ office, having hastily
+jotted down what Sullivan had said. He felt he had secured a piece
+of news that would prove a big item that day.
+
+"What luck?" asked Mr. Emberg, rather indifferently, as Larry came
+up to the city editor's desk to report.
+
+"I've got the interview."
+
+"I s'pose he gave you a lot of hot air that doesn't mean anything.
+See if you can dress it up a bit. We haven't many displays to-day."
+
+"Sullivan is going to support Reilly," announced Larry, quietly.
+
+"What?" almost shouted Mr. Emberg. "Did he tell you that?"
+
+"He did," answered Larry, wondering why Mr. Emberg was so excited.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+EVERYTHING BUT THE FACTS
+
+
+The city room, that had been buzzing and humming with the talk of
+several reporters, seemed strangely quiet as Larry gave his answer.
+His remarks had been heard by several. The clicking typewriters
+stopped, and those operating them looked up.
+
+"Say that again," spoke Mr. Emberg, as though a great deal depended
+on it.
+
+"Sullivan is going to support Reilly," repeated Larry. "There's what
+he says," and he handed out the brief interview which he had written
+on some sheets of paper as he came down in the elevated train. The
+city editor glanced quickly over it.
+
+"Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?" he asked.
+
+"I'm positive that's exactly what he said."
+
+"This is a big thing," went on Mr. Emberg. "We have news from Albany
+directly contrary to this, but if you're sure you are right I'll use
+this. It will make a big sensation. Have you got it all alone?"
+
+"There were no other reporters there that I knew," Larry said.
+
+"Good for you. How in the world did you do it? I never thought you
+would. Sit right down and make as much as you can of it. Describe
+how he received you, what you said and what he said and all about
+it. This is great."
+
+"I stumbled on it," said Larry, and he proceeded to relate what he
+had heard about Potter and the new line, though he did not in the
+least know what the "new line" was.
+
+"Better and better!" exclaimed Mr. Emberg. "This is what I
+suspected. It has to do with the new subway line. If it runs through
+the eighth district it will be the making of Sullivan. That's why
+he's supporting Reilly, because he thinks Reilly can influence
+Potter to run the new subway line in that direction. We must have an
+interview with Potter. I'll send some one else out on that. You
+write what you have. Here, Mr. Newton, jump out and see if you can
+find Potter. It's going to be quite a job, but maybe you can land
+him."
+
+"Hamden Potter's in Europe," said a reporter who "did" Wall Street,
+and who knew the movements of most of the financiers. "But he's
+expected back soon."
+
+"Maybe he's back by this time," Mr. Emberg went on. "Get out on the
+job, Newton. Hurry, Larry, it's close to edition-time."
+
+Larry sat down at his typewriter, which he had learned to operate
+with considerable speed, and was soon banging away at the keys.
+
+"Shall I put in that about Mr. Potter and the new line?" he called
+to Mr. Emberg.
+
+"No, I'll have Harvey attend to that part. You just tell of the
+interview in regard to supporting Reilly. Make it a good story."
+
+Larry did his best, and gave a graphic picture of the leader's
+headquarters, without touching on how he had come to get the
+information which so many other papers and reporters were anxiously
+waiting for.
+
+"Here, Tommy!" called the city editor to one of the copy boys, which
+position Larry used to fill, "bring me Mr. Dexter's stuff, page by
+page, as fast as he writes it. I'll get it upstairs and fix up a
+head for it."
+
+Larry smiled to hear Mr. Emberg call him "Mr. Dexter," but, no
+matter how familiar an editor may become with his reporters, he
+gives even the youngest the title of mister when speaking of him to
+the copy boys.
+
+Larry finished the first page of his story, pulled it from the
+typewriter and handed it to Tommy, who rushed with it to Mr.
+Emberg's desk. The editor glanced over it, made one or two
+corrections, changed the wording a bit, and handed it back to Tommy,
+who hurried with it to the pneumatic tube, in which it was shot
+upstairs to the composing room.
+
+There it was taken from the metal carrier that dropped from the
+tube on the desk of the man in charge of distributing the various
+pieces of copy to the compositors. This man put a mysterious-looking
+blue mark on the first page of Larry's story. This was to identify
+it later, and to make sure that all the succeeding pages would be
+kept together.
+
+Then the sheet was handed to the first of a long line of
+compositors, who were standing in front of the desk of the
+"copy-cutter," as he is called. It was close to the hour for the
+first edition to go to press, and every one was in a hurry.
+
+The compositor fairly ran to his type-setting machine and began to
+operate the keys, which were arranged like those on a very large
+typewriter. He did not strike them, as one does who operates a
+typewriter, but gently touched them. As he pressed each finger down
+the least bit there was a click, and from the rack above the machine
+there tumbled down a small piece of brass, called a "matrix." This
+contained on one edge a depression that corresponded to a letter.
+
+In a short while enough matrixes had fallen into place to make a
+complete line, just the width of one of the columns of the _Leader_.
+The compositor looked at the row of matrixes as they were, arranged
+before him, read it (no easy task to the uninitiated), took out a
+wrong letter and inserted a right one, and then pressed down a
+lever.
+
+This lever operated the lead-casting machine at the back. A plunger
+was shoved down into a pot of melted lead, kept molten by means of
+a gas flame. A small quantity of lead was forced up against the line
+of matrixes, which automatically moved in a position to receive it.
+
+The lead was held there an instant to harden, then another lever
+automatically removed the solid line of type from its place in front
+of the matrixes, a long arm swooped down, took the brass pieces and
+returned them to an endless screw arrangement which distributed
+them, each one to its proper place, in the series of chutes that
+held hundreds of others.
+
+Everything was done automatically after the compositor had touched
+the keys and then the lever, so that he was almost finished with the
+second line of the story by the time the matrixes of the first were
+being returned to their slots by the machine, which seemed almost
+human.
+
+Thus Larry's story was set up. In all, five men worked at putting it
+into type, and finally the five sections were collected together on
+a "galley" or long narrow brass pan. A proof was taken and rushed
+down to Mr. Emberg so that he might see it was all right, but by
+this time, some typographical errors in the story having been
+corrected, men were placing it in the "form" or steel frame which
+holds enough type to make a page of the paper. This was soon in
+readiness for the stereotyping department.
+
+Larry had not finished the third page of his story before the first
+two were in type. He hurried through it, and by the time he had
+handed in the last sheet there were men upstairs waiting for it, so
+quickly is the mechanical part of newspaper making accomplished.
+
+Finally the story was all in type, the lead lines were in the form,
+and, when the latter was filled it was "locked," or tightly
+fastened, and was ready for the men who were to take an impression
+of the page in damp papier-mache.
+
+This papier-mache, which is also called a matrix, was baked hard by
+steam, put in a curved cylinder, melted lead was poured on it and
+there was a solid metal page of the paper ready for the great press,
+which was soon thundering away, printing thousands of papers, each
+one containing, on the front page, Larry's account of the interview
+with Sullivan.
+
+Of course many things had been going on meanwhile. Mr. Emberg had
+written a "scare head," as they are called, that is a head to be
+printed in big letters, and this had been set up by men working by
+hand. This was put on the story after it was in the form.
+
+"Guess Newton is having trouble finding Potter," commented the city
+editor, when he had finished with Larry's copy. "If we don't hear
+from him in five minutes we'll miss the edition."
+
+The five minutes passed, and no word came from Harvey Newton. The
+building shook as the giant press started, and Mr. Emberg, shutting
+up his watch with a snap, remarked:
+
+"Too late! Well, maybe he'll catch him for the second."
+
+It is often the case that only part of a story gets in the first
+edition of a paper. So many circumstances govern the getting of
+news, and the sending of it into the office, that unless a story is
+obtained, complete, early in the morning it is necessary to make
+additions to it from edition to edition in the case of an afternoon
+paper.
+
+"Mack, maybe you'd better try to find Potter," went on Mr. Emberg
+after a pause, turning to another reporter. "You know him. Tell him
+we've got an interview with Sullivan, and ask him what the support
+of Reilly means."
+
+Mack, whose name in full was McConnigan, but who was never
+designated as anything but "Mack," glanced at the proofs of Larry's
+story.
+
+"I guess I'll find him in Donnegan's place," he said, naming a
+resort where men of wealth frequently gathered for lunch. "I'll try
+there."
+
+"Anywhere to find him," returned the city editor.
+
+"Are you looking for Hamden Potter?" asked an old man, coming into
+the city room at that juncture.
+
+"That's what we are," said the city editor. "Why, do you know where
+to find him, Mr. Hogan? Have you got a story for us to-day?"
+
+Hogan was an old newspaper man, never showing any great talents, and
+he had seen his best days. He was not to be relied on any more,
+though he frequently took "tips" around to the different papers,
+receiving for them, together with what money he could beg or borrow,
+enough to live on.
+
+"I've got a story, yes. I was down at the steamship dock of the Blue
+Star line a while ago, and I see Mr. Potter's family come off a
+vessel.
+
+"Was he with them? Have you got the story?" demanded Mr. Emberg,
+eagerly.
+
+"I've got everything, I guess. I've got all but the main facts,
+anyhow. I don't know whether Potter was with them or not. I didn't
+think it was of any importance."
+
+"Importance!" exclaimed the city editor. Then he bethought him of
+Hogan's character, and knew it was useless to speak. "Everything but
+the facts--the most important fact of all," Mr. Emberg murmured.
+
+"Isn't that tip worth something?" demanded Hogan.
+
+"Oh, I suppose so," and Mr. Emberg wrote out an order on the cashier
+for two dollars. Poor Hogan shuffled from the room. He was but a
+type of many who have outlived their usefulness.
+
+"Jump down to the Blue Star dock, Mack," the city editor said, when
+Hogan had gone. "Find out all you can about the Potters--where they
+have been and where Mr. Potter went. Hurry now!"
+
+As Mack was going out the telephone rang. It was a message from Mr.
+Newton to the effect that he could not find Mr. Potter, and that at
+his office it was said he was still in Europe.
+
+"Hurry to his house," said Mr. Emberg over the wire. "I have a tip
+that his family just got in on the _Messina_ of the Blue Star line.
+I've sent Mack to the dock! You go to the house!"
+
+Thus, like a general directing his forces, did the city editor send
+his men out after news.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THREATS AGAINST LARRY
+
+
+Second edition-time was close at hand, but no news regarding Mr.
+Hamden Potter had come in from either Newton or Mack. From a
+reporter sent to interview representatives of the company
+constructing the subway came a message to the effect that none of
+the officers would talk for publication.
+
+"What in the world is the matter with Harvey and Mack?" asked Mr.
+Emberg, restlessly pacing the floor. Every one in the city room felt
+the strain. Every time the telephone bell rang, the city editor
+jumped to answer it, without waiting for one of the boys or a
+reporter to get to the instrument.
+
+Finally, after several false alarms, the bell rang and the city
+editor, grabbing up the portable telephone, cried out:
+
+"Yes? Oh, it's you, Newton. Where in the world have you been? We
+only have time for the last edition. Talk fast! What's that? The
+Potter family home, and you can't see Mr. Potter? Why not? Tell them
+you've got to see him. Send in a message you have something of
+importance to tell him. You say you have? And you can't see him?
+But you must! Go back and try again. This is the biggest story we've
+had in a long while and we can't fall down on it this way!"
+
+He hung up the receiver on the hook with a bang, and once more began
+pacing the floor.
+
+"That's queer," he murmured. "There's something strange back of all
+this. Potter is up to some game, and so is Sullivan. Come here,
+Larry."
+
+Mr. Emberg closely questioned the young reporter as to every detail
+of his interview with Sullivan.
+
+"I'm going to write something myself," the city editor announced.
+"We've got to have more of this story. I can guess at part of it,
+and I'll make it general enough, and with sufficient 'understoods'
+in it to save us in case I'm wrong."
+
+He began to write, nervously and hurriedly, handing the sheets over
+to his assistant to edit as fast as he was done with them. They were
+rushed upstairs, one at a time, as Larry's copy had been.
+
+The last edition went to press without the much-desired interview
+with Mr. Potter. The city editor wrote a story, full of glittering
+generalities, telling how it was believed that certain forces were
+at work in the interest of getting a new line of the subway through
+the eighth district, and that Assemblyman Reilly was concerned in
+the matter, as was also a certain well-known financier, whose name
+was not mentioned, but whom the readers of the _Leader_ would have
+little difficulty in recognizing as Mr. Potter.
+
+To show that it was Mr. Potter to whom he was referring Mr. Emberg
+added at the bottom of the story, and under a separate single-line
+head, a note to the effect that all efforts were unavailing to get
+an interview with Hamden Potter, the financier, who that day had
+returned from Europe with his family, as Mr. Potter would see no
+reporters. It was added that Mr. Potter's connection with the subway
+interests might throw some light on the reason for the declaration
+of Sullivan for Reilly.
+
+In all this there was no direct statement made, but the inferences
+were almost as strong as though the paper had come out boldly and
+stated as facts what Mr. Emberg believed to be true, but which he
+dared not assert boldly. But as long as they were not made direct
+and positive there was no chance for a libel suit, which is
+something all newspapers dread.
+
+"There, I guess that will do if Harvey can't get at Potter," spoke
+Mr. Emberg when he had finished. "Queer, though, that Potter keeps
+himself away from our reporters. He used to be willing enough to
+talk."
+
+A little later another telephone message was received from Mr.
+Newton, announcing that it was useless to try to see the
+millionaire.
+
+"Come on in, then," the city editor directed.
+
+Nor was Mack any more successful. He had learned that the Potter
+family had hurried from the dock in a closed carriage and were
+driven to their handsome home on the fashionable thoroughfare known
+as Central Park, West. No one had seen Mr. Potter, as far as Mack
+could learn, and the reporter was not allowed to go aboard the ship,
+as the custom officers were engaged in looking over the baggage of
+the passengers.
+
+"Well, we've got a good story," said Mr. Emberg late that afternoon,
+when work for the day was over. "It's a beat, too."
+
+"Did any of 'em make lifts for it?" asked Mr. Hylard, the assistant
+city editor. A "lift," it may be explained, is the insertion of a
+piece of news in the last edition of a paper. It is made by taking
+one plate from the press, removing or "lifting" a comparatively
+unimportant item of news from the form, inserting the new item,
+which was received too late for the regular edition, making a new
+plate, and starting the press again. It is done rather than print an
+entire new edition, and is sometimes used when some other paper gets
+a beat or piece of news which your paper must have, or in case of an
+accident happening after the last edition has gone to press.
+
+"The _Star_ lifted our story almost word for word," said Mr. Emberg.
+"Guess they didn't take the trouble to confirm it. The morning
+sheets will probably try to discount it."
+
+Which was exactly what they did. Some had what purported to be
+interviews with Sullivan, denying that he had said he was going to
+support Reilly. Others showed, editorially and otherwise, how
+nonsensical it would be for Sullivan to throw his influence to any
+one but Kilburn.
+
+"I hope you haven't made any mistake, Larry," said Mr. Emberg the
+next day. "If you misquoted Sullivan it means a bad thing for our
+paper."
+
+"I quoted him correctly."
+
+At that moment the telephone on Mr. Emberg's desk rang and he
+answered it.
+
+"Dexter?" he repeated. "Yes, we have a reporter of that name here."
+Larry was all attention at once. "Who wants him? Oh, Mr. Sullivan?
+Is this Mr. Sullivan? Well, this is the city editor of the _Leader_.
+I see some of the papers are denying our story. Our account is about
+correct, eh? Well, I'm glad of it. Yes, I'll send Mr. Dexter to see
+you right away.
+
+"Sullivan wants to see you, Larry," went on Mr. Emberg, hanging up
+the telephone receiver. "This may be a big thing. Go slow and be
+careful of what he says. Don't let him bluff you."
+
+"You're getting right into politics," said Mr. Newton to Larry, as
+the young reporter prepared to go out.
+
+"Yes, and I'm afraid I'll get into water where I can't swim."
+
+"Don't let that worry you. You've got to learn, and in New York
+politics is the most important news of all."
+
+Larry found Sullivan in the same place where he had secured the
+momentous interview. The Assembly leader nodded to the boy, and then
+picked up a copy of the paper which contained an account of the talk
+with Sullivan.
+
+"You made quite a yarn of this," Sullivan remarked.
+
+"Yes, it was a good story."
+
+"A little too good," went on the politician. "You got me into hot
+water."
+
+"Did I misquote you?"
+
+"No, but you got the information before I was ready to give it out.
+I thought you knew more than you did. This last part," pointing to
+the generalities written by Mr. Emberg, "this last part shows that
+you folks are up a tree. Now I want to know where you heard that
+about Potter, and I'm going to have an answer," and Sullivan lost
+his calm air and looked angrily at Larry.
+
+"I can't tell you where I got my tip."
+
+"You mean you will not?"
+
+"Well, you can put it that way," replied Larry.
+
+"I'll make you!" and the politician arose from his chair and stood
+threateningly over the young reporter. For a moment Larry's heart
+beat rapidly in fear. Then he remembered what Mr. Emberg had said:
+"Don't let him bluff you." He was sure Sullivan was bluffing.
+
+"Are you going to tell?" asked Sullivan again.
+
+"I am not."
+
+Sullivan banged his fist down on his desk. He shoved his hat on the
+back of his head. Thrusting his face close to Larry's he exclaimed:
+
+"Then I'll put you out of business! I'll make the city too hot to
+hold you! I'll have you fired from the _Leader_, and no other paper
+in New York will hire you! I'll show you what it is to have Jack
+Sullivan down on you! I was going to play fair with you. But you
+sneaked in here and got information I wasn't ready to give out. Now
+you can take the consequences!"
+
+"I didn't sneak in here!" cried Larry. "I came openly. What's more,
+you can't scare me! I'm not afraid of you! I know what I did was all
+right! Perhaps the _Leader_ knows more than you think. I'm not going
+to tell where I got my information, and you can do as you please!"
+
+Sullivan had cooled down. He was a bit ashamed of having given way
+to his anger, for usually he kept his temper.
+
+"All right," he said. "It's war between us now. Tell your city
+editor he needn't send you to get any more news from me, and when
+the _Leader_ wants any favors from Jack Sullivan it can whistle for
+'em. I'm done with that sheet. I'll show 'em who Sullivan is!"
+
+Larry turned and went out. It was the first time he had been
+browbeaten like this, but he kept his nerve. If he had only known
+it, Sullivan was not the first politician to threaten to annihilate
+a paper, nor was it Sullivan's initial attempt to scare reporters
+into doing what he wanted.
+
+As Larry left the headquarters he met Peter Manton going in.
+
+"Making up another fake interview with Sullivan?" asked Peter, with
+a sneer. "You've made a nice mess of it!"
+
+"I didn't make any worse one than you did with that wreck story,"
+retorted Larry, who could not forego this thrust at his old enemy.
+
+"I'll get even with you yet," exclaimed the rival reporter, as he
+scowled at Larry, and entered Sullivan's private room.
+
+"I wonder what Sullivan will do about it?" thought Larry, as he went
+back to the office.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A MISSING MILLIONAIRE
+
+
+Contrary to Larry's expectations Mr. Emberg was not at all impressed
+by Sullivan's threats.
+
+"I've heard talk like that before," the city editor said. "The
+_Leader_ will try to worry along without the aid of Mr. Jack
+Sullivan. As for you, Larry, don't give it another thought. If he
+ever bothers you, or any of his ward-heelers try to make the least
+trouble for you, let me know. I guess we have some influence in this
+city. Well, I'll look for wholesale denials of your interview from
+now on. Sullivan showed his hand too quickly it seems. We must try
+for Potter now. Queer how he hangs back when we've got part of the
+story."
+
+"Haven't any of the boys been able to find him?" asked Larry.
+
+"Harvey can't get near him, and when he can't no one can. There's
+something queer about it. At the house they will give out no
+information, except to say that Mr. Potter can't be seen. At his
+office the clerks either say that he is engaged or has not come in
+yet. I'm beginning to think he's keeping out of the way on purpose."
+
+Mr. Emberg's surmise about the other papers publishing denials of
+the Sullivan interview was correct. Those journals which were on the
+same political platform as that of the man whose enmity Larry had
+incurred proved, to their own satisfaction at least, that Sullivan
+could not support Reilly. As for the _Leader_, which was independent
+in politics, that paper did not worry over the accusations of
+"faking" made against it. Mr. Emberg knew he was right, and he was
+planning for a big disclosure when some of his reporters could find
+Hamden Potter.
+
+For a time the Sullivan matter was dropped, and Larry found his time
+busily occupied in a varied lot of assignments.
+
+One day the young reporter was sent to one of the hotels to
+interview a youthful millionaire, who had come to the city from a
+distant town in a big touring car, accompanied by a number of
+friends.
+
+"Hump! Seems to me I'm assigned to all the millionaire cases," mused
+Larry.
+
+The young millionaire was named Dick Hamilton, and he was none other
+than the youth who has figured in another series of mine, called the
+"Dick Hamilton Series," starting with "Dick Hamilton's Fortune."
+Dick had come to New York for the purpose of making an investment
+and had had an encounter with a sharper, who had tried to sell him
+some worthless stocks.
+
+"Please give me the story," pleaded Larry, and he got the tale in
+detail, and what was more, he and Dick Hamilton became so friendly
+that the young millionaire promised to keep the story from all other
+reporters; so that Larry scored another beat, much to his own
+satisfaction and the satisfaction of his friends.
+
+"Keep on and you'll be at the top," said the city editor, and then
+he went on: "Here is something else you might look into, Larry. It
+might make a fine thing for the Sunday supplement. You can go up
+there, get the yarn, and you needn't come back to-day. Write it up
+the first thing in the morning."
+
+"What sort of story is it?" asked Larry.
+
+"Why, it's a postal, from an old German, I take it, who says he has
+invented a flying machine."
+
+"I guess he's about the only one in ten thousand who has been
+successful then," answered Larry, smiling.
+
+"Oh, I don't suppose it amounts to anything," went on Mr. Emberg.
+"But it may make a good story to let the old gentleman talk, and
+describe the machine. The public likes stories about flying machines
+and queer inventors, even if the machines don't work. Get a good
+yarn, for we need one for the first page of the supplement. I'll
+sent Sneed, the photographer, up later to get some pictures of it."
+
+The city editor handed Larry a postal card, poorly written and
+spelled, on which there was a request that a reporter be sent to a
+certain address on the East Side, to get a story of a wonderful
+invention, destined to revolutionize methods of travel.
+
+It was not the first time Larry had been sent on this sort of an
+assignment. Once he had gone to get a story of a new kind of gas
+lamp a man had invented, and the thing had exploded while he was
+watching the owner demonstrate it. Luckily neither of them were
+hurt.
+
+Larry found the address given on the postal was in a dilapidated
+tenement, seemingly deserted, and standing some distance away from
+other buildings.
+
+When he got there he ran into a reporter named Fritsch, who worked
+on a German newspaper.
+
+"Dot inventor vos mofed avay," said the German reporter. "Some
+beoples told me he vos krazy."
+
+"Is the house vacant?" asked Larry.
+
+"I dink so. Maype ve walk through him, yah?"
+
+Larry was willing, and together the pair went into the tenement and
+upstairs.
+
+As they passed through one of the halls Larry looked up and saw a
+man peering down at him over a balustrade. He gave a gasp.
+
+"Vot it is?" questioned the German reporter.
+
+"That man!" cried Larry. He ran up the stairs and tried to catch
+the individual, who was running away.
+
+The man was the person he had helped to rescue from the ocean--the
+one who had given his name as Mah Retto.
+
+The strange man entered a side room and locked the door. Larry
+knocked, but nobody answered his summons.
+
+"Dot vos not der inventor," said Fritsch.
+
+"I know it--but I'd like to see him, nevertheless," answered the
+young newspaper man.
+
+A little later the two reporters came down into the street and
+separated. Larry went home, but after supper that evening he walked
+again in the direction of the lonely tenement. He wanted to see the
+policeman, whose post took in that section of the city, and make
+some inquiries of him. The officer might be able to throw some light
+on the sudden appearance of the strange man.
+
+Larry found the policeman after some search. The officer, as soon as
+he learned Larry was from the _Leader_, was very willing to tell all
+he knew, for the _Leader_ was a paper that always spoke well of the
+police, and the force appreciated this.
+
+"It sure is a queer house," said Patrolman Higgins. "I remember the
+time it was filled with families, but they all moved away because
+the owner didn't make any repairs. The only person there was a crazy
+German who's daffy on airships. He got out to-day."
+
+"I've heard of him," replied Larry. "But is he the only one in
+there? I heard there was another man stopping there."
+
+"Now that you speak of it, I shouldn't wonder but what there was,"
+answered Higgins. "I saw two lights in there to-night, for the first
+time. I've got sort of used to seeing one in the window where the
+crazy German is puttering away at his airship, but awhile ago I
+noticed a gleam in another part of the house. I took it for a second
+lamp the German had lighted, but now that I think of it, seems to me
+it was on the other side of the house. I shouldn't wonder but what
+you're right."
+
+"Oh, it doesn't matter much," said Larry, who did not want to arouse
+too great interest in the matter. "I just thought you might happen
+to know him."
+
+"I'll make some inquiries in the neighborhood," the officer went on.
+"I don't want that shack to get to be a hanging-out place for
+tramps. It was bad enough to have the German there, but he paid his
+rent to the owner, who's about as crazy as the airship inventor.
+I'll look up this other fellow. Drop around to-morrow night and I
+may have some news for you."
+
+"I will," replied Larry, satisfied that he had put his plan into
+operation. "It's nothing special, but I had an idea I might get a
+story out of the chap." And he went home again.
+
+Larry reported to Mr. Emberg the next morning all the details of the
+visit to the strange house.
+
+"If some East Indian chooses to hide himself it can't make much
+difference to us," said the city editor. "I judge him to be a native
+from that name. I've got another story for you to go out on. It's
+about----"
+
+At that instant the telephone on Mr. Emberg's desk rang insistently.
+He broke off what he was saying to Larry to grab up the instrument.
+
+"Hello. Yes, this is Mr. Emberg. Oh, is that you, Harvey? What's
+that? Reported to the police as missing? Are you sure it's him?
+Great Scott! If that's true that's a corking good story! That
+explains some things! You take the police end and I'll send some one
+up to the house! Good-bye!"
+
+The city editor was excited.
+
+"Here, Larry!" he cried. "Jump right out on this. The police have
+just received a report that Hamden Potter, the millionaire
+financier, is missing. They tried to keep it quiet, but Harvey got
+on to it. Hustle up to Potter's house and get all the particulars
+you can. Get a picture of him. Hamden Potter missing!" he went on,
+as Larry hurried away on his assignment. "There's something queer in
+the wind, that's sure!"
+
+There was--something more strange than Mr. Emberg suspected, and
+Larry's assignment was one destined to last for some time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A BRAVE GIRL
+
+
+Hamden Potter lived in one of the finest houses in New York. Larry
+had often admired it as he walked in the neighborhood of Central
+Park, in which vicinity many other New York millionaires have their
+residences.
+
+"Now I've got a chance to see the inside," thought Larry, as he sat
+in the elevated train, and was whirled along toward his destination.
+"That is if they let me in. Guess I'll have my hands full getting
+information up there. Still, if I work it right, I may learn all I
+want to know."
+
+There are only two general classes of persons from whom reporters
+can get news. One class is that which is only too ready to impart
+it, for their own ends and interests, and this news is seldom the
+kind the papers want. The other class consists of persons who are
+determined that they will give no information to the representatives
+of the press. This class usually has the very news that the papers
+want, and the journals strive all the more eagerly to get it, from
+the very fact that there is a desire to hold it from them. Both
+classes must be approached in ways best suited to them; the one
+that they may not take up a reporter's valuable time with a lot of
+useless talk, and the other that they may be tricked into giving out
+that which they are determined to keep back. It was to the latter
+class that Larry was going that morning. On his way up he was
+turning over in his mind the best means of getting what he wanted.
+
+"Some butler or private secretary will come to the door," he
+reasoned. "I've got to get in to see a member of the family. There's
+only Mrs. Potter and her daughter Grace," for, in common with other
+rich men and those in the public eye, Mr. Potter's family affairs
+were, in a measure, public property to the New York newspaper world.
+
+As Larry had surmised, his ring at the door was answered by a
+stately butler.
+
+"I wish to see Mr. Potter," said the reporter, venturing on a bold
+stroke. He had learned several tricks of the trade.
+
+"Mr. Potter is not home," and the door was about to close.
+
+"Will you take a message to Mrs. Potter?" asked Larry quickly.
+
+The door was opened a little.
+
+"What name?" and the butler did not relax his severity.
+
+"It doesn't matter what name. Tell her I have called in reference to
+Mr. Potter's absence."
+
+"Come in!" the butler exclaimed quickly.
+
+Larry had gained his first skirmish, in a manner perfectly
+legitimate, regarded from a newspaper standpoint. He had called in
+reference to Mr. Potter's disappearance--not to give information (as
+the butler may have supposed), but to get it.
+
+"This way," said the man. "Mrs. Potter is in the library."
+
+Larry entered through the velvet portieres the butler held aside for
+him. He saw, reclining on a couch, a handsome woman, whose face
+showed traces of tears. Beside her stood the most beautiful girl
+Larry had ever seen. She had brown eyes, brown hair, and a face
+that, though it was sad, made Larry think of some wonderful
+painting.
+
+"Some one with news of Mr. Potter," the butler announced.
+
+"Oh! Have you come to tell me of my husband?" the lady exclaimed,
+sitting up suddenly.
+
+Larry's mind was working quickly. If he took the right means he was
+liable to get the information he wanted. On the other hand he was in
+a fair way to be shown the door indignantly, for he realized that he
+had entered under false pretenses, however honorable his motives
+might have been.
+
+"I beg your pardon for intruding," he said, speaking quickly. "I
+have come to ask news of Mr. Potter, not to bring it. One moment,"
+as he saw Mrs. Potter's face assume a look of anger. "His
+disappearance has been reported to the police. They tried to keep
+it quiet, but it was impossible in the case of a man of Mr. Potter's
+standing. Our paper--the _Leader_--knows of it. In a short time it
+will be known to every paper in New York. I think it would be wise
+for you to meet the situation, and give me whatever information you
+can. We will only be too glad to help you locate your husband, and I
+believe there is no better way than by newspaper publicity, even the
+police will tell you that. If you could give me a description of the
+missing man, when he was last seen, what sort of clothing he wore,
+and a picture of him we will publish it in the paper. Thousands of
+persons will see the account and will be on the lookout for him.
+Believe me, it is the best way!"
+
+Larry paused for breath. He had rattled all that off without giving
+Mrs. Potter a chance to stop him, for he wanted to present his case
+in the most advantageous light.
+
+"Mamma, I believe he is right!" exclaimed Grace Potter. "I never
+thought of it that way before. I thought the newspaper people were
+horrid when any one had trouble."
+
+"We are human," said Larry with a little laugh, and Grace smiled,
+though her eyes had traces of tears.
+
+"I could not think of discussing your father's affairs with a
+reporter," said Mrs. Potter stiffly.
+
+"I don't want to pry into his affairs," returned Larry. "I only want
+to help you find him."
+
+"But this publicity is so disgraceful!"
+
+"Not at all, madam. It is a misfortune, perhaps, but other families
+have the same trouble. Nothing is thought of it. The newspapers are
+the best means of tracing lost persons."
+
+"That's right, mother," interrupted Grace. "I often read
+descriptions of persons who have disappeared, and a few days later I
+see that they have been found, principally through an account in the
+paper. I am sure this young gentleman will help us."
+
+"I will do all I can," said Larry. "So will the other papers, I am
+sure. Now when did he disappear? Is this a picture of him?" and he
+took one from the library table. "Suppose you let me take this to
+have a cut made of it. I will return it," and before Mrs. Potter or
+Grace could object Larry had it in his pocket. That is the way
+reporters get along sometimes, by taking advantage of every
+opportunity. Once lost these golden chances seldom can be seized
+again.
+
+Before mother or daughter could answer Larry's question the door
+bell rang, and, a moment later, the butler announced:
+
+"Some newspaper reporters, madam!"
+
+"Oh, this is dreadful! I can't see them!" exclaimed Mrs. Potter.
+"Tell them to go away. Let them see Mr. Potter's lawyer!"
+
+"Mother, let me attend to this for you," said Grace. "I will see the
+reporters. I will tell them all that is necessary. I'm not afraid.
+I want to find poor, dear papa!"
+
+"You are a brave girl," murmured Mrs. Potter, as she wiped her eyes.
+"I would not dare face them all in our trouble."
+
+Larry agreed with Mrs. Potter's characterization of Grace. It was no
+easy task for a girl of eighteen to thus assume the responsibility,
+but she had the courage, and Larry admired her for it.
+
+"You had better go to your room, mother," Grace went on. "I will see
+the newspaper men in here," she added to the butler who was waiting.
+"You may stay," she said, looking at Larry, "and you will learn all
+we ourselves know."
+
+Larry realized there was no opportunity for a beat in this matter of
+the disappearance of the millionaire, as the news the police get
+they give out indiscriminately to all papers. So he was content to
+get what information he needed in common with the other reporters.
+But he had a picture, and he doubted if all the others would get
+one.
+
+The butler showed the reporters in. They were nearly all young men,
+about Larry's age, though one or two were gray-haired veterans of
+the pencil.
+
+"What is it you wish to inquire about first?" asked Grace, as she
+faced the newspaper men, more calmly than could her mother, who had
+gone to her room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WHERE IS HE?
+
+
+"When did Mr. Potter run away?" asked a voice from the group of
+press representatives, and Larry saw it was his old enemy, Peter
+Manton, of the _Scorcher_--a sensational sheet--who had made the
+inquiry.
+
+"My father didn't run away!" exclaimed Grace indignantly. "If you
+are going on that assumption I shall give you no information at
+all."
+
+"That was a mistake," interposed an elderly reporter. "We are only
+anxious to know when you last saw him," and someone whispered a
+well-deserved rebuke to Peter.
+
+"To begin at the beginning," Grace resumed, "father went abroad with
+mother and me several months ago. He was not in good health and his
+physician recommended a change of air. We traveled in England and on
+the continent, and then went to Italy. My father preceded us there,
+as he had some business affairs to look after in Rome.
+
+"When we got to that city we found he had left there, as his
+business called him away. He left word that he might have to sail
+for this country ahead of us, but would try to meet us in Naples. We
+proceeded there, only to find that he had sailed, and he told us to
+come over on the next steamer. He promised to meet us in New York.
+
+"We sailed on the _Messina_, expecting my father would meet us at
+the pier."
+
+"Did he meet you?" asked Larry, for he recalled that day when he had
+secured the memorable interview with Sullivan, in which Mr. Potter's
+name played an important part.
+
+"He did not," and there was a catch in the girl's voice. "One of his
+clerks did, and said he had received a letter from my father,
+stating that he was unavoidably detained, but that he would be with
+us soon."
+
+She paused, and pressed her handkerchief to her eyes.
+
+"Well?" asked one of the reporters softly.
+
+"That is all," said Grace. "I have not seen my father since parting
+with him at Munich, whence he proceeded to Rome. He has never
+communicated directly with us, and we don't know what to think. It
+is dreadful!" and she wept softly.
+
+There was a pause of a few seconds, while the girl recovered her
+composure. Then the reporters began to ask questions, sparing Grace
+as much as possible.
+
+In this way they learned that Mr. Potter's family could give no
+description as to was dressed when he disappeared, for quite an
+interval had elapsed between the time Grace and her mother had last
+seen him, and when they learned that he was gone.
+
+Nor had Mr. Potter communicated with his office or his business
+associates, except so far as to send a clerk to meet the steamer.
+Before going to Europe he had arranged matters so his affairs could
+be conducted in his absence, and his continued failure to come back
+worked no harm in that respect. Confidential clerks attended to
+everything, and the millionaire's large interests were well looked
+after.
+
+So there was really not much that Grace could tell. She said she and
+her mother had waited some time, after getting home, hoping Mr.
+Potter would come back or communicate with them, but when he had not
+done so they became alarmed. They feared he had met with some
+mishap, and, after talking the matter over with his lawyers, they
+had decided it would be best to report the matter to the police.
+
+"We are much obliged to you," said Larry, when it seemed that no
+more questions were necessary.
+
+"We'll do our best, through the papers, to help find your father,"
+added a gray-haired reporter.
+
+"Now give us his picture," put in Peter Manton, in a commanding
+tone.
+
+"We have none to give out at present," said Grace coldly. "We are
+having a number made, showing him as he looked when he went away,
+and they will be ready in a few days. The lawyers will attend to
+that, if my father is not found in the meanwhile."
+
+"We've got to have a picture now!" exclaimed Peter.
+
+"You shut up!"--thus in a whisper, from another reporter who stood
+near the representative of the _Scorcher_. "You don't know when
+you've been treated decent. Half the millionaire families in New
+York wouldn't even let us inside the door, let alone telling us all
+we wanted to know. Dry up!" And Peter desisted after that rebuke.
+
+Larry managed to be the last one of the reporters to leave the
+house. He lingered in the hall, and when he and Grace were there
+alone he said:
+
+"One thing I forgot to ask. When you got back to the house was there
+any evidence that your father had been here ahead of you? Was the
+house shut up while you were in Europe?"
+
+"I'm glad you spoke of that," the girl replied. "I had forgotten
+about it. Yes, the house was closed all the while we were away, and
+opened the day mother and I got back. But, now that you speak of it,
+I recollect something that seemed strange at the time. We were a
+little worried when father did not meet us at the pier, and I had an
+idea that he might have spent some nights in the house, pending our
+arrival, though he had said in his letters that if he came over
+ahead of us he was going to stop at a hotel. I went to his
+room----"
+
+She broke into tears again, and Larry waited, looking out of the big
+front doors, for he was embarrassed.
+
+"When I looked over his room," continued Grace, going on bravely, "I
+saw something was missing, that I knew was on his dresser when we
+left for Europe."
+
+"What was it?" asked Larry.
+
+"It was a little picture of mother and myself. My father was very
+fond of it. He must have come to the house and taken it--one of his
+last acts before he disappeared. It made me feel very sad when I
+thought of it afterward."
+
+"Perhaps he took the picture to Europe with him, and you did not
+know it," suggested Larry, who was beginning to develop the
+instincts of a detective, as all reporters do, more or less.
+
+"No," said Grace positively. "I remember, I was the last one in
+father's room before we sailed for Europe. The carriage was waiting
+to take us to the pier, and father went out just ahead of me. He
+spoke of the picture then, saying he would leave it to keep guard
+over his room until he came back," and once more Grace could not
+keep back her tears.
+
+"Could the picture have been stolen?" asked Larry.
+
+"The house was in perfect order when we came in," said the girl.
+"Nothing else was missing. It seems as if father took that picture
+to--to remind him of us--and--and that we would never see him
+again."
+
+"Oh, yes, you will!" exclaimed Larry heartily. "You will find him
+all right. Perhaps he has some business matters to attend to out
+West, and hasn't time to come home."
+
+"He could have written."
+
+"Maybe he is some place where the mails are infrequent."
+
+Thus Larry tried to comfort Grace, but it was hard work, for the
+disappearance of Hamden Potter certainly was strange and difficult
+to explain.
+
+"I will let you know if we hear any news," said Larry as he prepared
+to go.
+
+"Will you? That will be very kind of you. I thank you very much for
+your help. I would never have known what to do if it had not been
+for your suggestions. Come any time you have any news for us--and I
+hope you will come soon--and often," Grace added with a blush.
+
+Larry's heart beat a little faster than usual, for it was not every
+day he received such an invitation to a millionaire's house, nor
+from such a pretty girl as Grace.
+
+"Afraid I'll not have much chance, though," he thought to himself as
+he went down the steps. "I'll probably be taken off this case after
+to-day, and some other reporter will get it. If I had a little more
+experience they might let me work on it. Never mind, I'll get there
+some day," and with this Larry comforted himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+IN THE TENEMENT HOUSE
+
+
+The story of Hamden Potter's disappearance, as Larry wrote it, made
+interesting reading. He used that part about the picture which Grace
+had told him, but which the other reporters did not know about. The
+photograph of the missing millionaire, which showed a man in the
+prime of life, with a large moustache, came out well in the paper,
+and as Larry saw the article, on the front page, under a "big head,"
+he could not but feel he had done well.
+
+In this he was confirmed by the city editor, who, seeing copies of
+the other afternoon papers, as they were brought in to him,
+exclaimed:
+
+"Well, Larry, you did fine!"
+
+"How's that?" asked the youth.
+
+"Why you've got 'em all beat on the picture proposition, and none of
+'em have that part about his coming back to the house and taking the
+miniature of his wife and daughter. That's the best part of the
+whole yarn."
+
+"I got that by luck, almost at the last minute, when the others were
+gone," said Larry.
+
+"That's the kind of luck that makes big stories," commented Mr.
+Emberg. "You might take a run up to the house this evening and see
+if there's anything new, and then you can pay a visit in the
+morning. I'll have the police end looked after by Harvey, and I'll
+send a man to Mr. Potter's office. It's barely possible he may turn
+up there any minute. I have an idea that he is temporarily insane
+because of his heavy business responsibilities, and that he has
+wandered off somewhere. He'll come back in a few days. What do you
+think about it yourself, Larry?"
+
+"I hardly know what to think. I never was on a case like this
+before. When I first heard about his taking the picture away I
+thought maybe he had gone off somewhere to commit suicide, and
+wanted it with him."
+
+"No suicide for Hamden Potter," put in Harvey Newton, with a laugh,
+as he stood listening to Larry and Mr. Emberg talking. "He has too
+much to live for."
+
+"Well, I didn't want to think that," Larry went on. "He has a very
+fine wife and----"
+
+"And a beautiful daughter," broke in Harvey. "Look out, Larry, this
+is not a love story you're working on."
+
+Larry blushed like a girl, for several times that day he had caught
+himself thinking of Grace and how pretty she was.
+
+"Let Larry alone for getting all the facts in the case," said Mr.
+Emberg. "I suppose Miss Grace gave you some information?"
+
+"She talked to all the reporters," Larry said. "Mrs. Potter is a
+nervous wreck."
+
+"Well, run up any time this evening," went on the city editor. "You
+might stumble on some news. You wrote a very good story to-day. Try
+again to-morrow. We've beat the other papers on it as it is."
+
+Larry got Mr. Potter's picture back from the art department, where a
+cut for use in the paper had been made, and decided that he would
+have a good excuse for calling at the Potter residence in going back
+to return it as he had promised.
+
+"I wish I had some news to tell her," the young reporter thought as
+he went home to supper, "but it's too soon yet. I'd like to be a
+detective and see if I couldn't find her father for her. I wonder
+where he can be, or why he disappeared? Of course, if he's out of
+his mind, as Mr. Emberg believes, that would account for it, but I
+don't think he is."
+
+Telling his mother he did not expect to be out long, Larry left the
+house early that evening. He intended to go to Mr. Potter's
+residence, leave the picture, have a few minutes' talk with Grace,
+and then go home by way of the street on which the tenement was
+located, where he had undergone the queer experience with the crazy
+inventor.
+
+"Maybe the policeman has discovered something new about that
+strange man from the wreck," thought Larry.
+
+He found Grace more composed than when he had seen her in the
+afternoon.
+
+"Did you bring me any news?" she asked, as she took the picture.
+
+"I'm sorry, but I couldn't. I will, though, if there is any to
+bring. I'm sure your father will be found."
+
+"So am I!" exclaimed the girl. "Poor mother is in despair, but I am
+not going to give up. If the police can't find him I'm going to make
+a search myself. I know a great deal about his business. Father
+always said I ought to have been a boy."
+
+Larry thought it would have been a pity, but he did not say so.
+
+"I'll search all over until I find him," Grace went on.
+
+"And I'll help you!" cried Larry, fired to sudden enthusiasm.
+
+"Will you? Really? That will be fine!" and, before she was aware of
+what she was doing, Grace had held out her hand. Larry gave it a
+firm grip, and the girl blushed.
+
+"I suppose I shouldn't have done that!" she said. "I'm always doing
+things on impulse. I don't even know your name. I must call you Mr.
+Reporter," and she smiled.
+
+"I'm Larry Dexter," said our hero, blushing a bit himself. "I know
+your name, so now I suppose we may consider ourselves introduced."
+
+"I guess so, though it isn't strictly according to form. But never
+mind. This is no time for ceremonies. I hope you will have news for
+me--soon."
+
+"So do I," answered Larry as he took his leave.
+
+The young reporter was soon in that neighborhood of the city where
+was situated the deserted tenement in which he believed there was
+some mystery. As he approached the ramshackle old structure he
+noticed a figure pacing up and down in front of it.
+
+"If that's the lunatic inventor of the airship I think I'll pass on
+the other side," Larry said to himself. It was dark in that section
+of the city, the electric lights being few and far between. However,
+as the figure approached, and as Larry continued on, the youth saw
+he had nothing to fear, for it was that of his friend, Policeman
+Higgins.
+
+"Well," asked Larry, as he came up. "Anything new?"
+
+This is the reporter's form of greeting to almost everyone he meets,
+and means: "Have you any news for me?"
+
+"Good-evening," replied Officer Higgins. "I was just thinking about
+you."
+
+"Nothing bad, I hope."
+
+"No, I was wishing you'd happen along. You remember we were talking
+the other night about a strange man that you thought was in here?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, he's in here now, and I'm going to see what he's up to. The
+crazy old professor, with his airship, has moved out, and the house
+is deserted except for this new bird. I'm going to raid his nest,
+for I suspect he's up to no good. I've been watching his light for
+some time, and he's moving around in several rooms. Maybe he's going
+to set fire to the place."
+
+"Going to tackle him alone?" asked Larry.
+
+"No, I've telephoned to the sergeant to send me a man to help me go
+through the shack, for though I'm not a coward I've no hankering to
+go in that shell after dark, knowing a man may be waiting for me
+with a knife or a gun."
+
+"I'll stay here and see what happens," said Larry.
+
+"Come along in with us if you like," went on Higgins, for he had
+taken a liking to the young reporter. "You may get a story out of
+it. Here comes Storg now," he added, as the form of another bluecoat
+was seen approaching down the street.
+
+The two officers held a brief consultation. Higgins showed where a
+light was nickering back and forth between two rooms on one side of
+the building, about the third story up.
+
+"It's been going that way for the last hour," said Higgins. "I'm
+going in now. Get your gun ready, Storg. You may not need it, but,
+if you do, it's best to have it handy."
+
+Larry followed behind the policemen, his heart beating a little
+faster than usual. He was anxious to see the man who was in hiding,
+and who, he believed, was the same one he and the fisherman had
+rescued from the sea. He believed there was a mystery connected with
+the fugitive which would make a good story, even if he was an East
+Indian.
+
+"Easy now," cautioned Higgins, but Larry thought it was needless, as
+the heavy shoes of the officers made noise enough to awaken the
+soundest sleeper.
+
+The bluecoats entered the dark hallway of the tenement. The doors
+were void of locks and swung to and fro, creaking on rusty hinges,
+as the wind blew them. There was a damp and unpleasant smell in the
+house, and now and then came queer sounds, that echoed through the
+deserted rooms.
+
+"Nothing but shutters banging," explained Higgins, as his
+companion-in-arms started. "They're flapping like a bird's broken
+wing, all over the place. Now for our mysterious friend."
+
+But for the fact that both officers carried small pocket electric
+lamps, operated by dry batteries, they would have had difficulty in
+making their way through the halls and up the stairs, for there were
+many holes, caused by rotting boards. As it was they moved along
+with some speed, until they came to the third floor.
+
+"He'll be about here somewhere," whispered Higgins, a needless
+precaution, as their advance had been already heralded by their
+heavy foot-falls.
+
+"There's a light there," said Storg, pointing to the end of a long
+hall. Coming from under a door could be seen a faint gleam.
+
+"That's where he is!" exclaimed Higgins. "Come on!"
+
+Larry followed the officers. Their steps echoed through the silent
+building. Forward they went until they came to the door beneath
+which the light showed. Higgins tried the knob. The portal was
+locked.
+
+"Let us in! We're police officers!" he exclaimed.
+
+There was a rustling within the room, but no attempt was made to
+open the door.
+
+"Open or we'll break it in!" cried Higgins, and, as there was no
+answer, but only silence, he put his big shoulder to the frail door.
+There was a crackling sound, a splintering of wood and the hinges
+gave way. Higgins fairly jumped into the room as the portal fell in.
+Storg followed after him, with his hand on his revolver, ready to
+use it should occasion arise. But there was no need, for the room
+was deserted, though a candle burning on a mantel showed there had
+recently been an occupant in it.
+
+"He's gone!" cried Higgins, looking around.
+
+At that moment there was a sound in the corridor, and somewhere
+along its length a door opened.
+
+"He's getting away!" yelled Storg, as he jumped back into the
+hallway. Larry followed, and the policeman flashed his electric
+lamp.
+
+Then, in the little circle of light cast from the glass bullseye,
+Larry saw, running down the stairs, the smooth-shaven man he had
+helped pull from the angry sea on the life-raft.
+
+"There he goes! Catch him!" cried Storg, as he clattered down the
+stairs after the fugitive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+LARRY'S SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT
+
+
+"Hold on! Stop!" yelled Higgins, running from the room. "Halt, or
+I'll shoot!"
+
+It would have done little good had he done so, for by this time the
+mysterious man was in the second hallway, and out of reach of any
+possible bullets.
+
+"You stay here and look after things, I'll catch him!" called Storg,
+as he raced down the stairs, his light making erratic circles as he
+advanced.
+
+"I guess that's good advice," commented Higgins to Larry, who had
+remained in the upper corridor. "I'm too fat to run. Let's see what
+he left behind."
+
+Back into the room, where the candle was burning, went Larry and the
+policeman. A quick survey showed nothing unusual. There were some
+old chairs and a table, left probably by the departed tenants.
+
+"He must have had the run of several rooms," Higgins went on. "He
+came out of some apartment farther down the hall, and that's how he
+fooled us. He was on the watch, and that shows there must be
+something queer about him."
+
+"Let's take a look through the other rooms," suggested Larry.
+
+Showing his light Higgins led the way. They went through several
+other bare and deserted chambers, but saw no indications that the
+stranger had been in them. Presently they came to what had been a
+bathroom, though most of the plumbing had been torn out by thieves,
+for the value of the lead pipes and the faucets.
+
+"He's been here!" cried Larry, as he pointed to a faint spark in one
+corner of the room.
+
+The policeman flashed his electric on it. It proved to be a candle
+that had burned down into the socket, the remainder of a wick
+smouldering and glowing.
+
+"Yes, and he shaved himself here," the officer added, as he pointed
+to a razor, some soap, and pieces of paper on which were
+unmistakable evidences that the mysterious man had been acting as
+his own barber. "I'd like to catch him," the bluecoat went on. "I'm
+sure there's something crooked about him."
+
+"It looks so," agreed Larry. "Maybe Storg will get him."
+
+"I hope so," and Higgins began to make a more thorough search of the
+apartment.
+
+There was nothing, however, which shed any further light on the
+mysterious man. It was evident, though, that he had lived in the
+deserted house for several days, since there were remnants of food
+scattered here and there.
+
+"The mystery is getting deeper and deeper," thought Larry. He said
+nothing to the policeman about the man being a person who had come
+ashore from the _Olivia_. "I'm going to ask Mr. Emberg to let me
+work on this case," he resolved, while he followed Higgins from room
+to room. "I believe it will be a great story if I can get all the
+details."
+
+How much of a story it was destined to be Larry had no idea of at
+that moment, though his newspaper instinct, that led him to suspect
+there was a strange mystery connected with Mah Retto, was perfectly
+correct, as he learned later.
+
+"Well, I don't see that we can learn anything more here," remarked
+Higgins when he had been in a number of chambers on the third floor.
+"He evidently only used a few of these handsome apartments," and he
+laughed as he looked around on the dilapidated rooms, with the
+plaster peeling from the walls, the windows half broken, and the
+doors falling from their hinges.
+
+"Hark!" exclaimed Larry. "Some one is coming!"
+
+Footsteps sounded in the lower hall.
+
+"That's Storg, coming back!" cried Higgins. "I hope he got his man."
+
+He leaned over the balustrade and called down:
+
+"Any luck, Storg?"
+
+"No, he got away," was the reply. "He's a good runner. I couldn't
+keep up to him."
+
+"Never mind," consoled Higgins. "Maybe it's just as well. We'd have
+trouble proving anything illegal against him, though I could have
+had him held on a charge of vagrancy until I investigated a bit."
+
+The officers, followed by Larry, left the ramshackle structure, with
+the wind whistling mournfully through the broken windows, and the
+shutters banging, while the doors creaked on the rusty and broken
+hinges.
+
+"I wouldn't want to stay there all alone at night," thought the
+young reporter, as he started toward home. "A man must have a strong
+motive to cause him to hide in there. I'd like to find out what it
+is. Perhaps I shall, some time."
+
+Larry spoke of the matter to Mr. Emberg the next day. He said he
+thought it might be a good idea to devote some hours to working up
+the story, in an endeavor to learn who the queer man was.
+
+"Still puzzling over your East Indian, eh?" asked the city editor.
+"Well, there may be something in it, but just now I have something
+else for you to do."
+
+"Another flying-machine story?"
+
+"Not exactly. I'm going to give you a special assignment."
+
+Larry was all attention at once. The best part of the newspaper life
+is being given a special assignment--that is, put to work on a
+certain case, to the exclusion of everything else. Every reporter
+dreams of the time when he shall become a special correspondent or
+given a special assignment. It means that your time is your own, to
+a great extent; that you may go and come as you please; that your
+expense bills are seldom questioned, and that you may travel afar
+and see strange sights. The only requirement, and it is not an easy
+one, is that you get the news, and get it in time for the paper. Of
+course, it need not be said that you must let no other paper beat
+you, but this seldom occurs, as when a reporter is on a special
+assignment he works alone, and what he gets is his. There are no
+other newspaper men to worry him.
+
+So, when Mr. Emberg told Larry there was a special assignment for
+him, the young reporter's heart beat high with hope. He had often
+wished for one, but they had never come his way before, though to
+many on the _Leader_ they were an old story.
+
+"What is it?" asked Larry, wondering how far out of town it would
+take him.
+
+"I want you to find Mr. Potter, the missing millionaire, Larry,"
+said Mr. Emberg.
+
+"Find Mr. Potter?"
+
+"That's it. I want you to devote your whole time to that case. Never
+mind about anything else. Find Mr. Potter. There's a big story back
+of his going away; a bigger story than you have any idea of. I don't
+know what it is myself, but I want you to find out. Now I am going
+to give you free rein and full swing. Do whatever you think is
+necessary. Get us news. We'll have to have a story every day, for
+we're going to play this thing up and feature it. You're going to be
+on the firing-line, so to speak. Take care of yourself, but don't go
+to sleep. Get ahead of the other fellows and get us news. That's
+what we want. That's what makes the _Leader_ a success. It's because
+we get the news, and generally get it first.
+
+"I can't tell you where to start, or what to do. You'll have to find
+that out for yourself. Get all the information you can from the
+family. See some of Mr. Potter's business associates. Have another
+interview with Sullivan. Maybe he knows something about it, though I
+doubt it.
+
+"At any rate, whatever you do, find Mr. Potter," and at this closing
+instruction Mr. Emberg learned back in his chair and looked sharply
+at Larry.
+
+"Suppose I can't," and the young reporter smiled.
+
+"'Can't' isn't in the reporter's dictionary," the city editor
+replied. "You've got to find him. I don't want to see you fall down.
+You've done well, so far, Larry. Now's a chance to distinguish
+yourself."
+
+Larry knew that it was. He also realized that he was going to have
+his hardest work since he had become a reporter. It was a special
+assignment, such as any newspaper man might wish for, but it was not
+one that could be characterized as easy.
+
+"I've got my work cut out for me," thought the youth, as he turned
+away.
+
+"Here's an order for fifty dollars," went on Mr. Emberg, as he
+handed the young reporter a slip of paper. "Take it to the cashier,
+and when you want more for expenses let me know. Don't be afraid of
+using it if you see a chance to get news, but, of course, don't
+waste it. Now go, and find Mr. Potter, but don't forget we must have
+some sort of a story every day."
+
+Larry's first act, after receiving his special assignment, was to go
+to Mr. Potter's house. Grace received him, and, in answer to his
+inquiry, stated that the family had no more news than they had at
+first.
+
+"I thought you could tell us something," said the girl in
+disappointed tones.
+
+"Perhaps I can, soon," replied Larry. "I'm detailed specially on
+this case now," and he told her of his assignment.
+
+"Does that mean you have nothing to do but to search for my father?"
+
+"That's what it means."
+
+"Oh, please find him for me!" exclaimed the girl. "You don't know
+how much I have suffered since he has been missing, nor how much my
+mother has suffered. It has been terrible! Oh, if you only could
+find him for us!"
+
+"Miss Potter," began Larry, who was deeply touched by her distress,
+"a newspaper man could have no greater incentive to work than the
+duty to which his assignment calls him. More especially in this
+case to which my city editor has told me to devote my whole time.
+But aside from that I'm going to find your father for your sake and
+your mother's. I'll do all I can. I'll work on this case day and
+night. I'll find your father for you!"
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Grace, "you don't know how much good it does me to
+hear you talk so! It seemed as if no one cared. Of course my
+father's business associates want him to come back, and so do his
+friends, but--but they don't wish it as much as my mother does and
+as I do! I miss him so much!"
+
+If Larry had not had the injunction laid on him by Mr. Emberg to
+urge him on in the search, the appeal by Grace would have been more
+than sufficient. Hereafter, he resolved, he would feel somewhat as
+did the knights of old when they were commissioned by their ladies
+to execute some bold deed.
+
+"Don't worry," he told Grace, as he saw her distress was getting the
+better of her. "I'll find him."
+
+"Suppose you can't?"
+
+"There's no such work as 'can't' in my dictionary," replied Larry,
+repeating what Mr. Emberg had told him.
+
+Grace smiled at the young reporter's enthusiasm, but she knew she
+could have had no better friend, no one who would devote more time
+and energy to her cause, and no one who had so strong a motive for
+finding the missing millionaire as had this young newspaper
+reporter.
+
+While the two were discussing various details of the case there was
+a ring at the front door, and, presently, the butler entered the
+library.
+
+"Mr. Jack Sullivan to see you, miss," he announced.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+SULLIVAN'S QUEER ACCUSATION
+
+
+"Whom did you say it was?" asked Grace.
+
+"Mr. Jack Sullivan," repeated the butler. "I asked him for his card,
+miss, but he said he hadn't got none. Told me to mention his name,
+an' said you'd know him."
+
+"But I don't know him," protested Grace. "I never heard of him in my
+life. There must be some mistake. Are you sure he wants, me,
+Peterson?"
+
+"He said so, miss, but I'll ask again."
+
+Whereupon the butler, as stiff as a ramrod, went back to the door
+where he had left Mr. Sullivan standing.
+
+"He means you, miss," the functionary remarked, as he came back to
+the library.
+
+"I wonder what he can want," Grace said, half to herself. "I don't
+know any such person. I think there's a mistake. I will see him, and
+tell him so."
+
+"Wait a minute," exclaimed Larry. "Perhaps I can explain this. I
+think I know Mr. Sullivan."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"A political leader of the eighth assembly district."
+
+"What does that mean; I'm dreadfully ignorant of politics," Grace
+remarked with a smile. "Poor papa was much interested in them, but I
+never could make head or tail out of political matters."
+
+"I have an idea that Sullivan has called here in reference to the
+disappearance of your father."
+
+"Why do you think that?" and Grace turned pale. "Do you think he
+brings bad news?"
+
+"On the contrary, I think he has come in search of information."
+
+"But how can he be interested?"
+
+Thereupon Larry told of his interview with the politician, based on
+what he had overheard in reference to Mr. Potter and the extension
+of the subway.
+
+"Wasn't your father interested in building a new line of street
+railroad?" he asked of Grace.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know. I never kept track of papa's business
+matters."
+
+"I see."
+
+"What ought I to do about this Mr. Sullivan?" Grace asked.
+
+"I think you had better see him," replied Larry.
+
+"I'd be afraid to, alone, and mother has such a headache that she
+can't come downstairs. Will you stay in the room with me?" and she
+looked appealingly at Larry.
+
+"I'm afraid if I did Sullivan wouldn't talk. He knows me, and
+imagines I have done him a wrong, which I have not. I believe he
+considers me his enemy. He would probably go away without saying
+anything if you met him in my presence."
+
+"But you don't need to be actually present," said Grace, with sudden
+inspiration. "Look here, this is a little alcove," and she pulled
+aside a hanging curtain and showed a recess in the library wall.
+"You can stand in there, and hear whatever he has to say. I'd feel
+safer if you were near. Of course there's Peterson, but he's so
+queer, and I don't like the servants to hear too much about poor
+father's disappearance. Will you stay here and be at hand in case I
+want you?"
+
+"Of course I will," replied Larry after a moment's hesitation. "I
+have no idea that Sullivan will annoy you. He's too much of a
+politician for that. And I may be able to get a clue from what he
+says, though I don't imagine he knows where Mr. Potter is."
+
+"Then I'll see him," decided Grace. "Peterson," she called.
+
+"Yes, miss."
+
+"You may show Mr. Sullivan in here."
+
+"In here, miss?" and the butler looked at Larry.
+
+"I said in here."
+
+"Very well, miss."
+
+"Now hide," commanded the girl in a whisper, as soon as Peterson had
+gone to the front door, where Mr. Sullivan had been kept waiting, as
+the butler evidently thought the caller did not look like a person
+to be admitted to the hallway until he had showed his credentials,
+or until he had been authorized to come in by some member of the
+family.
+
+Larry got behind the curtain. No sooner had the folds ceased shaking
+than Mr. Sullivan entered the library. Larry could see him, though
+the young reporter himself was hidden from view. Grace remained
+standing.
+
+"You wished to see me?" she asked in formal tones.
+
+"Yes, Miss Potter," and Larry noted that Sullivan was ill at ease.
+"I called about your father."
+
+"Do you know where he is?"
+
+"No, Miss Potter. How should I?" and Sullivan looked quite
+surprised.
+
+"Then why did you come?"
+
+"I came for some information, miss."
+
+"We have none to give you. We have told the police and the reporters
+all we know."
+
+"Are you sure?" and at this question Sullivan's bearing became
+different. He seemed bolder.
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Grace.
+
+"I mean just this," went on the politician. "I've got a right to
+know where Mr. Potter is. A great deal depends on it. I've got to
+find him. Reilly wants to find him. He and Reilly had some deal on,
+and it's time it was put through. It's going to make trouble if it
+isn't. I want to know where Mr. Potter is?"
+
+"So do we," answered Grace. "If this is all that you came for you
+had better leave."
+
+"It isn't all I came for!" Sullivan's voice had an angry ring. "I
+don't believe you have told the police or the newspapers all you
+know about this thing. I believe----"
+
+"Leave this room!" commanded Grace. "Leave it at once, or I shall
+ring for the servants to show you the door! What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean just what I say!" and the politician's voice was angry now.
+"I mean that you know where your father is, and that you're only
+pretending you don't. It's some game to fool Reilly and me. We'll
+not stand for it. I want you to tell me where your father is!"
+
+He took a step toward Grace. She seemed dazed.
+
+"Tell me! Do you hear!" and, probably because he was so excited, the
+politician made a movement as if he meant to grasp the frightened
+girl by the arm.
+
+"Oh!" she screamed. "Don't touch me! Larry!"
+
+"Quit that!" cried the young reporter, stepping suddenly from behind
+the curtain. "That will do, Mr. Sullivan!"
+
+Larry spoke more calmly than he had any idea he could under the
+circumstances. He seemed master of the situation.
+
+The very suddenness of Larry's appearance caused Sullivan to recoil
+a step. He fairly glared at the young reporter and then looked at
+Grace, who was trembling from the words and actions of her rude
+visitor.
+
+"You here!" exclaimed the politician, in a whisper. "So that's the
+game, eh? I thought the _Leader_ was in on it."
+
+"There's no game at all!" cried Larry, indignantly. "I am here in
+the interests of the paper to learn all I can about Mr. Potter's
+disappearance."
+
+"Then ask her to tell you the truth!" cried Sullivan, pointing his
+finger at Grace. "She knows where he is!"
+
+"I don't! I wish I did!" and Grace faced her accuser with flashing
+eyes.
+
+"Don't repeat that remark," said Larry, calmly, though there was a
+determined air about him. "You know better than that, Mr. Sullivan,"
+and Larry stood fearlessly before the politician. In the unlikely
+event of a physical encounter Larry had no fears, for he was tall
+and strong for his age.
+
+"It's true!" Sullivan repeated, in a sort of a growl, for he was a
+little afraid of the tempest he had stirred up.
+
+"I say it isn't," Larry replied. "I have worked on this case from
+the start, and I know as much about it as any one. What's more, I
+think you know more than you are willing to admit. I haven't
+forgotten the interview you gave me, and which you denied later. I
+think there's something under all this that will make interesting
+reading when it comes out."
+
+"You--you don't suspect me, do you?" and Larry noted that Sullivan's
+hands were trembling.
+
+"I don't know what to suspect," the young reporter answered,
+determined to take all the advantage he could of the situation. "It
+looks very queer. It will read queerer still when it comes out in
+the _Leader_--how you came here to threaten Miss Potter."
+
+"You--you're not going to put that in, are you?" asked the
+politician.
+
+"I certainly am."
+
+"If you do I'll----"
+
+"Look here!" exclaimed Larry. "You've made threats enough for one
+day. It's time for you to go. There's the door! Peterson!" he
+called. "Show this man out!"
+
+Larry was rather surprised at his own assumption of authority, but
+Grace looked pleased.
+
+"Yes, sir, right away, sir," replied the butler with such promptness
+as to indicate that he had not been far away.
+
+He pulled back the portieres that separated the library from the
+hall, and stood waiting the exit of Mr. Sullivan.
+
+"This way," he said, and a look at his portly form in comparison
+with the rather diminutive one of the politician would at once have
+prejudiced an impartial observer in favor of Peterson. "This way, if
+you please."
+
+"You'll hear from me again," growled Sullivan, as he sneaked out.
+"I'm not done with you, Larry Dexter!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+GRACE GETS A LETTER
+
+
+The door closed after Sullivan. Larry, standing in the library
+entrance, watched him leave the house. Then he turned to look at
+Grace.
+
+"Oh, that was terrible!" the girl exclaimed, almost ready to cry,
+but bravely keeping back the tears. "What a horrid man! What did he
+mean?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know," replied Larry. "I doubt if he does himself.
+Mr. Potter's disappearance has evidently sent some of his plans
+askew, and he is hardly responsible for what he says or does. Don't
+let it worry you."
+
+"I wonder if he knows where my father is?"
+
+"I don't believe he does. If he did he would hardly come here,
+hoping to deceive you or your mother. No; Sullivan wants to find out
+where Mr. Potter is just as much as we do. Why, I can't tell yet,
+but he has a good reason, a strong reason, or he would not have
+acted as he did."
+
+"What had I better do?" asked the girl.
+
+"Do nothing. Leave it to me. I will write something for the
+_Leader_ that will make Sullivan wish he had stayed away from here."
+
+"Mother doesn't like this newspaper publicity."
+
+"I can imagine it is not very pleasant for her," admitted Larry.
+"But it has to be borne if we are going to find your father. The
+more the papers print of the affair the better chance there is of
+finding him. If he is staying away for some reason he will see what
+a stir his disappearance has caused, and will be anxious to arrange
+matters so he can come back. If he is being detained against his
+will, the publicity will cause his captors an alarm which may result
+in their releasing him. So, too, if any one sees him wandering about
+they will recognize him by his picture, or by the description, and
+inform the police."
+
+"Suppose--suppose he--should be--dead," and Grace whispered the
+words.
+
+"Don't think that for a moment!"
+
+"It is over two weeks now since he disappeared, and not one word
+have we heard from him."
+
+"Persons have been known to disappear for longer periods than that,
+and yet turn up all right," said the young reporter, endeavoring to
+find some consolation for the girl. He related several instances of
+similar cases that had come to his attention since he had been in
+newspaper work.
+
+"Now don't put too much in the paper about Mr. Sullivan--and me,"
+said the girl as Larry was going. "There has been sufficient
+printed all ready, and some of my friends think I must have a staff
+of reporters at my beck and call, to get my name mentioned so
+often," and she smiled at Larry.
+
+"I'll not mention you any more than necessary," he promised,
+thinking that Grace was much prettier when a smile brought out a
+dimple in each cheek.
+
+Larry's description of Sullivan's visit to the Potter house proved
+to be what Mr. Emberg described as "a corking good scoop." None of
+the other papers had a line about it, of course, for Larry was the
+only reporter in a position to get inside information, and Sullivan
+was not likely to give out any account of his strange call.
+
+"You seem to be keeping right after all the ends of this story,
+Larry," said Mr. Emberg the day after the account of Sullivan's
+visit was printed. "That's what we want. Now what sensation are you
+going to give us to-day?"
+
+"I don't know. Not a very good one, I'm afraid. I've been to Mr.
+Potter's office. There's nothing new there, and I guess I'll have to
+fix up a re-hash of yesterday's stuff unless I can strike another
+lead. To-morrow I'm going to work on a new plan."
+
+"What is it?" asked the city editor.
+
+"I'm going to the steamship docks and----"
+
+Before Larry could finish the telephone on Mr. Emberg's desk rang,
+and, as this instrument has precedence over everything else in a
+newspaper office, Larry broke off in the midst of his remark to wait
+until Mr. Emberg had answered the wire.
+
+"Yes, he's here, standing right close to the 'phone," he heard the
+city editor say in response to the unseen questioner. "Some young
+lady wants to talk to you," Mr. Emberg went on, handing the portable
+instrument to Larry.
+
+"Young lady to speak to me?" murmured Larry, as he took the
+telephone.
+
+"This is Grace Potter," he heard through the instrument.
+
+"Oh, how are you?" called Larry, for want of something better to
+say.
+
+"Come right up," Grace said. "I have some news for you."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I have a letter from my father!"
+
+"A letter from your father? Where is he? How did it come? Who
+brought it? Is he home?"
+
+Larry fired these questions out rapidly. But there was a click in
+the 'phone that told him the connection was cut off. Evidently Grace
+had no time to tell more.
+
+"Hurry up there!" exclaimed Mr. Emberg, as soon as he understood the
+import of the message Larry had received. "This will be a feature of
+to-day's story! Hurry, Larry!"
+
+Larry thought the transportation facilities in New York were never
+so slow as on that journey to the Potter house. He tried to
+imagine, on the way up, what sort of a letter Grace had received
+from her father. That it contained good news he judged from the
+cheerful note in her voice.
+
+"Things seem to be happening quite rapidly," the young reporter
+mused, as he got off at the elevated station nearest to his
+destination. "First thing I know I'll find him, and then I'll not
+have a chance to see Grace any more."
+
+He dwelt on this thought, half-laughing at himself.
+
+"I guess I'd better stop thinking of her and attend strictly to this
+disappearance business," he murmured as he went up the steps of the
+Potter mansion. "She's too rich for one thing, and another is I'm
+too poor, though I'm earning good wages, and we have some money in
+the bank," for the sale of the Bronx land, as related in "Larry
+Dexter, Reporter," had netted Mrs. Dexter and her children about ten
+thousand dollars.
+
+Larry's ring at the bell was answered by Grace, who, it would seem,
+had been on the watch for him.
+
+"I thought you would never come," she said. "I telephoned ever so
+long ago."
+
+"I came as fast as I could," Larry responded. "Where is the letter?"
+
+Grace held out to him a small piece of paper. On it was but a single
+line of writing. It read:
+
+"Am well. Have to stay away for a time. Don't worry. Will write
+again."
+
+It was signed with Mr. Potter's name.
+
+"Are you sure it's from your father?" asked Larry, thinking some
+cruel person might be trying to play a joke, or that some
+enterprising reporter had sent the message for the sake of making
+news. Such things are sometimes done by New York newspaper men,
+though their city editors may know nothing about it.
+
+"I couldn't mistake father's writing," replied Grace. "Mamma knows
+it is from him, and she is much happier. But we can't imagine why he
+has to stay away."
+
+"When did you get this, and how did it come?" asked the reporter.
+
+"The postman brought it a little while ago."
+
+"Where is the envelope?"
+
+Grace handed it to Larry. An inspection of the post-mark showed that
+it had been mailed in New York in the vicinity of sub-station Y,
+which was on the East Side. It might have been dropped in one of the
+many street boxes from which collections were made for that
+particular office, or it might have been mailed in the station
+itself.
+
+"Not much to trace him by," said Larry. He looked at the envelope
+again and saw that there was a small ink blot on the lower left-hand
+corner, and that the corner where the stamp was affixed was smeared
+as if with some sticky substance.
+
+"Any one would think you were a detective," said Grace, as she
+watched Larry examining the envelope. "What does it matter now? We
+are sure father is alive, for that note was posted yesterday. That
+has made mother and me happy. Of course we want to find him, but I
+don't see how you can by that letter. I thought you'd like to know
+about it to make a little item for the paper, and I wanted to repay
+you for your kindness to mother and me."
+
+"I haven't done anything," Larry replied. "I am only too glad to be
+of service to you. But I may be able to find out something by this
+envelope."
+
+"I don't see how."
+
+"Will you let me take it to the sub-station?"
+
+"Of course. But what good will that do?"
+
+"I want to ask the sorters and clerks in charge if they remember
+having handled it. I may find the carrier who brought it in from the
+box, and he can tell in what locality it was."
+
+"But how can they remember when they must handle thousands of
+letters every day?"
+
+"Perhaps they cannot, but it is worth trying. You see in that
+section of the city are mostly foreigners, who write a peculiar
+hand, and use stationery anything but clean or of this quality. This
+envelope and paper are of an expensive kind."
+
+"Yes, they are some father had made to order for his private
+correspondence. I did not know he took any to Europe with him, but
+he must have."
+
+"It may be that a letter carrier or mail sorter took enough notice
+of the envelope to remember it," Larry went on. "Besides there is a
+small blot on it, and the way in which the stamp is put on shows
+that some glue or paste was applied to the envelope. Probably he
+used an old stamp which had no mucilage on. To make it fast to the
+envelope your father, or whoever posted the letter, would have had
+to use some sticky substance, and, in doing so, he has put it on a
+little too thick. Some spread out from under the stamp and soiled
+the envelope.
+
+"Of course the sorters and carriers don't pay much attention to the
+pieces of mail, except to see that they are properly stamped and
+addressed, but it's worth trying. This envelope would attract
+attention if anything would."
+
+"And you are going to use that for a clue?"
+
+"I'm going to try. It may be useless. If we can find in what
+particular locality it was mailed we can have the police keep a
+watch for your father. He may mail other letters there."
+
+"But my father is not a criminal. Why should the police watch for
+him so particularly. They are keeping a general lookout now, but I
+wouldn't like to think they were lying in wait for him."
+
+"It's the only way to find him," said Larry. "Of course it's
+unpleasant, but there is evidently some mystery here, and that's the
+best way to clear it up."
+
+"But he says he has to stay away for a while," argued Grace. "Maybe
+he wouldn't like to be found."
+
+"Of course that point has to be considered," Larry admitted. "But I
+take it you and your mother want to find your father, or be in a
+position to communicate with him."
+
+"Oh, we do!" exclaimed Grace.
+
+"Then we'll have to ask the police to help us. There is no disgrace
+in it. Everyone knows your father is honorable, and if he wants to
+disappear that's his business. It is also perfectly right for you to
+try to find him, for----" and Larry stopped.
+
+"Well, for what?" asked Grace, seeing the reporter hesitate.
+
+"I don't want to alarm you," Larry went on, "but I was going to say
+that there is no way of telling but what some one may have imitated
+his writing and forged his name."
+
+"I am sure that is my father's writing," the girl said, earnestly.
+"Of course I may be mistaken. I hope not. I prefer to believe that
+note is from him. It makes me happier."
+
+"Of course there is only the barest possibility that this note is
+not from your father, but we can take no chances. That is why I want
+to make a systematic search, beginning at the sub-station."
+
+"And where will it end?" asked Grace.
+
+"I don't know. But after that I am going to the steamship piers of
+all the lines that ply between here and Italy."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"I want to see if the captain of any of the steamers recalls any
+man answering your father's description having come over with him.
+He must have sailed on some steamer, as he is in this country, if
+that note is from him."
+
+"That's a good idea," commented Grace. "How I wish I could help you.
+Couldn't I? Couldn't I go around with you--that is to the steamer
+piers? I've crossed the ocean several times, and I know some of the
+captains of the Italian lines."
+
+"Maybe that would be a good idea," said Larry, secretly delighted
+with it. "You can come with me to-morrow. I will go to the
+sub-station now, and will let you know what I learn. Then we will
+make a tour of the piers. You'll be of great assistance to me, for I
+know very little about steamers."
+
+"I'm so glad!" exclaimed Grace. "It has been terrible to sit here
+day after day and only wait! I wanted to do something to help find
+father. Now there is a way! I wish I was a boy--no, I'd rather be a
+reporter; they can do so many things," and Grace laughed more
+heartily than at any time since her father had disappeared.
+
+"I'm afraid you give us too much credit," replied Larry. "We do our
+best, but we don't always get results. Are you sure your mother will
+let you go?"
+
+"Of course," Grace replied, in a way that showed she was used to
+having her own way. "When will you come for me to-morrow?"
+
+"In the morning."
+
+"I can hardly wait. Now don't forget. I'll be your assistant. Maybe
+I could learn enough to be a woman reporter some day."
+
+"I have no doubt you could," Larry responded, as he went out on his
+way to the sub-station with the envelope, having telephoned to the
+police of the letter and securing a promise that no other reporters
+would be informed of it for a while.
+
+As he walked along, his thoughts were busy in many directions. The
+receipt of the letter, the clues the envelope offered, the plans for
+a search among the ship captains, and, above all, Grace's offer to
+accompany him, made Larry speculate on what the Potter mystery was
+coming to.
+
+"I wonder what the other fellows on the _Leader_ would say if they
+knew I was working this assignment in company with the millionaire's
+daughter," said Larry to himself. "I guess I'd better not say
+anything about it. They'd make fun of me. I know it's all right to
+take her, or I wouldn't do it. Besides, if she knows the captains
+she can be of considerable aid to me. Queer, though, for Larry
+Dexter, who used to rush copy, to be hunting for a missing
+millionaire in company with his pretty daughter."
+
+It was odd, but no other line of activity is so filled with strange
+surprises, or brings about such a variety of work, as being a
+newspaper reporter of the first class.
+
+Larry struck several snags when he attempted to get information at
+the sub-station. In the first place none of the officials in charge
+would give him any news about the envelope unless he got an order
+from the New York postmaster himself. The government has very strict
+regulations in regard to giving out information about mail matter.
+But Larry was not daunted. He telephoned to Mr. Emberg, and the
+forces of the newspaper were set to work. Certain political wires
+were "pulled," and, as there were on the _Leader_ men to whom the
+postmaster was under obligations, that official gave the clerks at
+the sub-station permission to tell Larry whatever he wanted to know.
+
+"Sorry we had to have so much red tape about it," the sub-station
+agent said, when Larry came back with the magical paper that opened
+the mouths of the subordinates.
+
+"Oh, that's all right," the reporter said. "I know how it is. Now,
+what I want to know is, in what box was that letter posted?" and he
+held out the envelope Grace had given him.
+
+"Rather hard to say," spoke the head clerk. "I'll show it to all the
+carriers who are in now, and later to those who come in during the
+afternoon. They may recognize it. It's a little out of the run of
+ordinary envelopes we get in this section of the city."
+
+One after another several carriers scanned the envelope. All shook
+their heads, until it came to an elderly man. As soon as he saw the
+envelope he exclaimed:
+
+"I brought that in. I remember it very well." "Where did you get
+it?" asked Larry, eagerly. "A man gave it to me last night, just as
+I was taking the mail from a box down near the river," was the
+unexpected reply.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+LARRY IS BAFFLED
+
+
+This was much better than Larry had expected. To have the envelope
+remembered so soon was good, but to have the carrier who brought it
+in say he recalled having received it from the person who mailed the
+letter, was better yet.
+
+"What sort of a man was he?" asked Larry, his heart beating high
+with hope.
+
+"Why do you ask?" inquired the carrier.
+
+"I'm a reporter from the _Leader_, and I'm trying to locate Mr.
+Potter, the missing millionaire," said Larry. "This letter was from
+him."
+
+"Then I can't be of much service to you," the postman went on. "This
+was given to me by a man who bore no resemblance to Mr. Potter,
+whose picture I have lately seen in the papers."
+
+"But what sort of a looking man gave you this envelope?" asked
+Larry.
+
+"He was a smooth-shaven man, rather poorly dressed. I'll tell you
+how it was. This box, at which I was when the man gave me the
+letter, is at the foot of a street leading to the river. It is the
+last one I collect from at night. I had taken out all the mail in
+the box, and was just locking it up again when some one came up the
+street in a hurry. I looked around, for the neighborhood is a lonely
+one, and, as I did so, I saw a man come to a halt, as if he was
+surprised to see me at the box. I could see he had a letter in his
+hand.
+
+"'Come on,' I said, for often people run up to me at the last minute
+to have me take letters. 'Come on,' I said, for I was in a hurry.
+'I'll take the letter.'
+
+"At that the man pulled his hat down over his eyes and advanced
+slowly. He held the letter out to me, and, as he did so, I caught a
+glimpse of his face, as the light from a street lamp flashed on it.
+I could see he was smooth shaven. I took the letter and put it in my
+bag. As I did so the man seemed to melt away in the shadows. I
+thought it rather queer at the time, for it seemed as if the fellow
+was afraid I'd recognize him. But I'd never seen him before, so far
+as I know, so he needn't have been alarmed. I brought the letter to
+the office, and as I sorted my mail, I noted that the stamp had been
+stuck on with plenty of mucilage. I also saw the blot, and, as the
+envelope was unlike any I had ever seen before, as far as size and
+quality of paper went, the thing was impressed on my mind.
+
+"That's all I know about it," the carrier finished, "but I'm sure
+the man who gave me the letter was not the missing millionaire. I've
+seen his picture too many times lately to be mistaken."
+
+"Then who could it have been?" asked Larry.
+
+"That's a hard question, young man," said the carrier. "It might
+have been any one else. I think it was a person who didn't care
+about being seen, and didn't want to attract any attention. I guess
+he would have been better satisfied to have dropped the letter in
+the box when no one was looking, but seeing me there he came up with
+it before he knew what he was doing."
+
+"If the letter was from Mr. Potter, and it wasn't the millionaire
+who mailed it, he must have got some one to do it," the chief clerk
+of the sub-station suggested, and Larry was forced to adopt this
+idea. He inquired as to the location of the box at which the carrier
+stood when he received the missive, and asked in what direction the
+man came from. Having learned these facts, and deciding he could
+gain nothing more by staying longer at the sub-station, Larry
+hurried to the _Leader_ office.
+
+"Well, I've gained something," he said to himself. "I've got a good
+story, and I have a slender clue to work on. I must write the story
+first, however. Then I'll go back and tell Grace what I learned."
+
+The account of the letter and the circumstances under which it was
+mailed created a new sensation in the Potter mystery, and, as on
+several other occasions, the _Leader_ scored a beat.
+
+As soon as he had finished the story Larry went to see Grace, whom
+he found anxiously waiting for him. She asked a score of questions
+as to what he had learned, and the reporter told her all about his
+trip to the sub-station.
+
+"What are you going to do next?" she inquired.
+
+"I think I'll go over on the East Side and make some inquiries. Your
+father may be staying there," answered Larry.
+
+Going downtown in an elevated train, and taking a stroll through
+that populous section, known as the "East Side," Larry soon found
+himself in the neighborhood of the box at which the carrier had
+received the letter written by Mr. Potter. He took a brief survey of
+the locality.
+
+"Not very promising," was his mental comment.
+
+All about were big tenement houses of a substantial kind. They were
+built of brick, and from nearly every window a woman's head
+protruded, while the street swarmed with children. It was a
+neighborhood teeming with life, for it was the abode of the poor,
+and they were quartered together almost like rabbits in a warren.
+
+For want of something better to do, Larry strolled down one side of
+the street, at the end of which was located the letter box which
+formed such a slender clue. Then he walked up the other side,
+looking about him idly, in vain hopes of stumbling on something that
+would put him on the track.
+
+It was late in the afternoon, and the streets were beginning to
+fill with workers hurrying home, for the day's labor was over. As
+Larry strolled along, rather careless of his steps, he collided with
+a man in front of a big tenement building.
+
+"Excuse me," murmured the reporter.
+
+"I beg your pardon," the man said, grabbing hold of Larry to prevent
+them both from falling, so forceful had been the impact. "I was
+looking to see if my wife was watching for me. She generally looks
+out of the window to see me coming down the street, and then she
+puts the potatoes on."
+
+"I guess I wasn't looking where I was going," said Larry, as he
+disengaged himself from the man's grip. "I was--why, hello, Mr.
+Jackson!" he exclaimed.
+
+"What! Why, bless my soul if it isn't Larry Dexter!" and the man
+held out his hand. "Why, I haven't seen you in a long time. How's
+your mother and the children?"
+
+"Fine. How's Mrs. Jackson?"
+
+"She's well. There she is looking out of the window, wondering why I
+don't come home to supper. You must come in and see her. Come, and
+stay to supper."
+
+The man Larry had thus unexpectedly met was the one in whose flat
+Mrs. Dexter and the children had stayed the first night they had
+come to New York, and found that the sister of Larry's mother, with
+whom they expected to remain, had suddenly moved away. The Dexter
+family, sad and discouraged at the loss of their farm, would have
+fared badly on their arrival in the big city had not Mrs. Jackson
+and her husband befriended them.
+
+While Larry was getting a start in the newspaper work the Dexter
+family had lived in the same tenement with the Jacksons, and they
+had become firm friends. Larry and his mother since then had moved
+to other quarters, and had, for some time back, lost trace of their
+acquaintances.
+
+"I didn't know you lived here," said Larry when he had recovered
+somewhat from his surprise at seeing Mr. Jackson.
+
+"We haven't lived here long. I got a better position in this part of
+the city, and as I like to be near my work I moved here. We like it
+quite well, but it's rather crowded. However, almost any place is in
+New York. But you must come in to supper. Mrs. Jackson will be
+anxious to hear all about your folks. I can see her making signs to
+me to hurry up. I suppose the potatoes are all cooked and the tea
+made."
+
+Larry did not require much urging to accept the kind invitation. He
+wanted to see his friends again, and he thought they might be able
+to give him some information concerning the people of the
+neighborhood.
+
+"Because it's the best place in the world to hide in. If I wanted to
+drop out of sight I'd go about two blocks away from here and keep
+quiet. No one would ever think of looking for me so near my home."
+
+"I hope you don't contemplate anything like that," said Larry with a
+laugh.
+
+"No, indeed. But New York is the best hiding place, and you can
+depend on it, Mr. Potter is here."
+
+"You haven't seen him in the neighborhood, have you?" asked the
+reporter, glad of the opportunity which gave him a chance for that
+question.
+
+"No, I can't say that I have. If they'd offer a reward I might take
+time to hunt for him," and Mr. Jackson laughed. "I can't afford to
+turn detective as it is now," he added. "It's too hard to get a
+living."
+
+Larry spent the evening with his friends, keeping the talk as much
+as possible, without exciting suspicion, on the Potter case. In this
+way he learned considerable about the persons living in the
+immediate vicinity of the Jacksons, for Mrs. Jackson was fond of
+making new acquaintances.
+
+But in all this there was no clue such as Larry sought. There were
+any number of men, concerning whom there seemed to be some mystery,
+but none answered the description of Mr. Potter.
+
+"There are a queer lot of people in this tenement," said Mr.
+Jackson, during the course of the talking. "All of 'em have some
+story hidden away, I guess. Especially one man."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Nobody knows," replied Mr. Jackson. "He came here one night, and
+seemed quite excited. Let's see, it was Thursday night, I remember
+now. He acted as though he was afraid some one was after him."
+
+"Thursday night," thought Larry. "That was the night the man got
+away from the deserted tenement."
+
+"My wife and I were sitting here," continued Mr. Jackson, "when all
+at once a knock sounded on the door. I opened it, and there was this
+man. He asked if I had any rooms to rent. I hadn't, but I told him I
+had a spare bed, for I saw he was respectable. He seemed glad to get
+it, and paid me well, though I didn't want to take the money. But he
+seemed to have plenty."
+
+"What was queer about him?" asked Larry, beginning to take an
+unusual interest in what his friend was saying.
+
+"Well, the excitement he seemed to be in, for one thing. And
+another, he had just been shaved. I could see the talcum powder on
+his cheeks. I thought it strange that a man who had time to shave or
+get shaved should be in such a hurry. But it wasn't any of my
+affair, so I said nothing."
+
+"What became of him?" Larry was quite eager now. He seemed to be on
+the verge of discovering something; if not of the Potter mystery
+then of the other, that cropped up every now and again--that of the
+man he had helped save from the wreck.
+
+"He went away the next morning," Mr. Jackson resumed. "I didn't see
+him again until the next night. Then he told me he had a room in
+this tenement."
+
+"Where?" inquired the young reporter.
+
+"On the floor below--a front room, at the end of the corridor. But
+are you going to call on him?" and Mr. Jackson looked somewhat
+surprised at Larry's eagerness.
+
+"Maybe I could get a story out of him," replied the reporter
+non-commitally. "Have to be always on the lookout, you know."
+
+"Well, I guess you'll not get much out of this man," said Mr.
+Jackson. "He hardly speaks to me, though he doesn't seem cross or
+ugly. Only there's some mystery about him. I'm sure of that."
+
+"If he's Mah Retto I'm positive there is," thought Larry. "And it
+looks as if it might be that fellow."
+
+Not wishing to seem too keen on the scent of the queer man, the
+newspaper youth changed the subject. In a little while he said he
+had better be going home, as he had not told his mother he would be
+out late. He promised to ask Mrs. Dexter to call on Mrs. Jackson,
+and, with many good wishes from his friends, he left.
+
+"Now for a try at the room on the next floor," said Larry in a
+whisper, as he found himself in the corridor. "It's only a slim
+chance, but a reporter has to take all that come his way."
+
+He found the room Mr. Jackson had described, and knocked on the
+door. There was a sound from within, as though some one had arisen
+from a chair. Then a voice asked:
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"Does Mah Retto live here?" asked Larry, determining on a bold plan.
+
+Hardly had he spoken the words when the door was quickly opened.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+GRACE ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+Larry saw, standing before him, framed in the doorway from which
+streamed the glare from a big reading lamp, the man of mystery--the
+fellow who had escaped from the tumble-down tenement--the man he and
+Bailey had pulled ashore on the life-raft.
+
+"Are you Mah Retto?" asked Larry again, rather at a loss for
+something to say, when he saw the strange man confronting him.
+
+The mysterious one looked at Larry for several seconds. He seemed
+much excited, and in doubt as to what to do. Then, seeming to arrive
+at a sudden decision, he quickly closed the door, and Larry heard
+the key turned in the lock.
+
+"Not much satisfaction in that," muttered the young reporter. "That
+was him, though. I wonder what I had better do?"
+
+Larry stood in the hallway, undecided. He wanted another opportunity
+to see and speak to the man he believed was Mah Retto, but he
+considered it would not be wise to knock again on the door. The
+occupant of the room either would not answer or would order him
+away.
+
+"I'll have to come again," Larry said to himself. "I've learned one
+thing, anyhow, and that is where he lives."
+
+The young reporter went to the office of the _Leader_ early the next
+morning. He found Mr. Emberg on hand, and told the city editor the
+plans for the day; that of making a tour of the steamship piers. Mr.
+Emberg thought this was a good idea, and complimented Larry on his
+work thus far.
+
+"I ran across my old friend, the East Indian, last night," Larry
+said, as he was leaving. "I'm going to work him up for a story when
+I get through with this Potter case."
+
+"Don't do it until then," advised Mr. Emberg. "I want you to devote
+all your attention to the missing millionaire. The East Indian story
+will not amount to much or I'd put another man on it. You may get a
+yarn for the Saturday supplement out of it, but even that's
+doubtful."
+
+Larry thought differently, but he did not say so. Nor did he mention
+that he was going to take Grace Potter with him on his tour of the
+docks. He had an idea that the city editor might object, or laugh at
+him, and Larry did not care to have that happen. He felt he was
+doing right, and he knew there could be no serious objection to the
+daughter of the missing man aiding in a search for her parent.
+
+Larry found Grace waiting for him. She was quietly dressed, and wore
+a heavy veil, so that no one in the street would recognize her,
+since her picture had been published in several papers, and there
+might be comments from the crowd if the daughter of Mr. Potter was
+seen out in company of a newspaper reporter.
+
+"Anything new?" asked the young lady, for she had taken to greeting
+Larry in that newspaper fashion.
+
+"Not much. I didn't learn anything of consequence by my trip to the
+East Side last night. I'm not done there, however. Now we'll try the
+piers, and see what sort of a 'pull' you have with the captains of
+the vessels."
+
+"We may not find many captains," Grace said, "unless their ships are
+about to sail. Still it is worth trying. Shall we start?"
+
+"I'm ready any time you are," Larry answered. "What did your mother
+say?"
+
+"She objected a bit at first, but I soon convinced her it was for
+the best."
+
+Larry thought it would not have been hard for Grace to have
+convinced him that almost anything was for the best. She looked
+quite trim in her dark dress, with her glossy hair held snugly in
+place by her veil.
+
+As they went down the steps of the mansion Larry saw a man, who was
+standing on the other side of the street, move rapidly away, as if
+he had been watching the house. The young reporter uttered an
+exclamation before he was aware of it, and Grace quickly asked:
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"I--I saw some one," Larry replied.
+
+"Any one would think it was a ghost from the way you act," the girl
+went on, with a little laugh. She was in much better spirits than
+any time since her father had disappeared, for the chance of helping
+to search for him, and the change, from sitting idly in the house
+waiting for news, was a welcome relief.
+
+"No, it wasn't a ghost. It was a man I'd like to have a chance to
+talk to," Larry went on.
+
+"Would he give you--er--a 'story'? Is that what you call it?"
+
+"That's right. Yes, I believe he could give me a story," and Larry
+looked in the direction the man had gone. He was no longer to be
+seen. "A very good story," he added, for the man was the same one he
+had surprised in the tenement the night before--the man of the
+life-raft.
+
+However, he could not leave Grace to go in search of the strange
+individual, and it was more important, as Mr. Emberg had said, to
+stick to the Potter case. The other could wait.
+
+"All the same I'd like to know what he was doing in this
+neighborhood," thought Larry. He puzzled over the matter for several
+seconds as he and Grace went along.
+
+On the way downtown the two discussed their plans. There were not
+many Italian steamship lines to visit, but it might take some time
+to see the captains of all the boats at present in port. Some of
+the commanders would be at their hotels pending the loading of their
+vessels.
+
+"Have you made up your mind what you want to ask them?" inquired
+Larry, as they were nearing the station where they intended to get
+off.
+
+"What I want principally to know is if a person answering my
+father's description came over with them lately. I want to find out,
+in case he did, how he acted, and if he gave any hint of being in
+trouble."
+
+"That may be a good clue to follow," Larry sad. "Now we'll make our
+first attempt."
+
+It ended in failure, for though they found the captain of the
+Italian steamer they boarded in the cabin of his vessel, he could
+not aid them. He was very polite about it, and seemed quite sorry
+that he could be of no service.
+
+It was the same in a number of other cases. Some of the captains
+remembered Grace, for she had crossed with them once or twice, but
+none of them recalled a man answering Mr. Potter's description
+making the voyage with them recently.
+
+The last place they visited was the dock of the line to which the
+wrecked _Olivia_ belonged. This line Grace had never traveled on,
+but she had a letter of introduction to the manager from the captain
+of the _Messina_, on which she had made her last trip. The
+commanders of two steamers of this company were in port. One of them
+was at the dock, for his vessel was about to sail.
+
+To him Grace made her inquiries, but fruitlessly. She turned away,
+rather disappointed. There was but one more chance left. The other
+captain was at his hotel, not far away, for seamen like to remain
+near the water front.
+
+"We'll go there," said Larry, "and then I must get back to the
+office, and write my story for to-day's paper."
+
+"I wish you had some better news," spoke Grace. "But I am afraid
+Captain Padduci, whom we are now going to see, will prove as
+disappointing as the rest."
+
+"We'll hope for the best," remarked Larry. "I wish----"
+
+But what he wished he never told, for at that instant his attention
+was attracted by a voice. It was that of a man who stood at the
+small window of the steamship office. The window was one which he
+and Grace had just stepped away from, after inquiring as to where
+Captain Padduci's hotel was.
+
+If the voice attracted Larry the sight of the man himself did more
+to rivet his attention. For the first glance showed him the inquirer
+was none other than the mysterious individual, Mah Retto.
+
+"I would like to inquire where I can find Captain Tantrella of the
+steamer _Olivia_," the man asked of the clerk.
+
+"The _Olivia_ is lost," replied the steamship clerk.
+
+"I know it, but I would like to see the captain. He was saved, I
+believe."
+
+"Yes, he was. He commands a freight ship now. She's due in port in
+a few days. The _Turtle_ is her name. You can come around when she
+gets in."
+
+The mysterious man turned away as though disappointed. As he did so
+he caught sight of Larry, and instantly he hurried out of the
+office.
+
+Larry was greatly excited. He was convinced, more than ever, that
+there was something in this man's actions that made him an object of
+suspicion. He felt that he must follow the fellow, but he could not
+leave Grace. He looked around for her, but she had gone to the
+ladies' dressing room to adjust her veil and hat, which had been
+blown about by the high wind. She came back presently, to find Larry
+much agitated.
+
+"What is the matter?" she asked.
+
+"Nothing much," replied Larry. "I just saw my queer stranger again
+and----"
+
+"You'd like to follow him, and you don't want to leave me," put in
+Grace with quick wit. "Now run right along. I can go to that hotel
+all by myself and see Captain Padduci. I'm not a bit afraid. I once
+traveled from London to Paris alone. You hurry after him, and I'll
+see the captain. I'll telephone you the result of my interview. You
+can come up and see me this evening, and we'll talk over some more
+plans."
+
+"That will be good," Larry said, "but are you sure you won't mind me
+leaving you?"
+
+"I can get along all right," replied Grace. "Of course I'd like to
+have you come along, for I believe you understand this matter better
+than I do, but I want you to find that other man and get your
+story."
+
+Larry was inclined both ways, but he knew it would be better to
+hurry after Mah Retto, as Grace could make all the necessary
+inquiries of Captain Padduci.
+
+"Until to-night, then," the young reporter said, as he hurried out
+of the steamship office, and Grace turned to go to the captain's
+hotel.
+
+Reaching the street Larry saw, some distance ahead of him, the form
+of the man whose actions so puzzled him, and who had led him such a
+baffling chase.
+
+"Here is where I get you," thought Larry, as he hurried on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+LARRY GETS A SCARE
+
+
+Through the crowded street the young reporter ran, bumping into
+several persons, and causing them to mutter more or less impolite
+exclamations about youths who trod on the toes of innocent
+pedestrians.
+
+Larry could catch occasional glimpses of his man, and he noted that
+Retto looked back every now and then to see if he was being
+followed.
+
+"Oh, I'm after you, my East Indian friend," Larry remarked to
+himself. "I'm going to have an accounting with you now. There's
+something queer about you."
+
+No sooner had Larry given expression to this last sentence, speaking
+somewhat aloud, as was his habit when thinking intently, than he
+slipped on a banana pealing and fell down with a force that jarred
+him all over.
+
+"I'll have to be more careful," thought Larry, as he got up and
+found that no bones were broken. He started off again after Retto.
+"I wasn't looking where I was going, thinking so much of Retto.
+Where is he now? He must have got quite a way ahead."
+
+He had; so far that Larry could no longer see him. The reporter
+tried to peer through the ever-shifting crowd, for a glimpse of
+Retto, but with no success.
+
+"He's gone," he murmured. "However, I know where he lives and I'll
+go there at once. No! I've got to get a story in for to-day's paper
+about Mr. Potter. I haven't much time before the first edition.
+Guess I'd better telephone it in, and let Mr. Emberg have one of the
+men fix it up."
+
+In his eagerness to catch Retto, Larry had rather lost sight of his
+more important duties, and, as he looked at his watch, he found he
+had no time to spare if the _Leader_ was to have a story that day.
+
+He looked for the blue sign, indicating a public telephone station,
+and saw one a few doors down the street. On his way there he ran
+over in his mind the points of the story. It would be based on the
+search and inquiry among the steamship captains.
+
+"I've got to say it resulted in nothing," Larry remarked to himself.
+"Hold on, though. Suppose Grace gets a clue from Captain Padduci?
+I'll be in a pretty mess if she does, and I telephone in that we
+found out nothing. Wish I hadn't chased after that East Indian. I
+should have stayed with Grace until we got through.
+
+"No help for it, though. So here goes. I wish I'd done as Mr. Emberg
+said and let the Retto matter drop. But it seemed too good to lose
+sight of."
+
+He soon had the _Leader_ office on the wire, and, a few seconds
+later, was talking to Mr. Emberg. He was rather surprised at what
+the city editor said.
+
+"What's the matter with you, Larry?" was the inquiry that came
+through the telephone. "We've been waiting for you. Have you seen
+the _Scorcher_?"
+
+"No. Why?" asked Larry, an uneasy feeling coming over him. There
+seemed an atmosphere of "beat" about him, and he was afraid of Mr.
+Emberg's next words.
+
+"Why, they've got a big story about Mr. Potter being home," went on
+the city editor. "They say he is concealed in the house, and has
+been ever since the scare."
+
+"That's not true!" replied Larry. "I was at the house this morning,
+and he wasn't home. I've been all around the steamer piers and got
+no trace of him. I just left his daughter, and she would know if he
+had been home all this while."
+
+"Well, they've got the story," repeated Mr. Emberg, with the
+insistence that city editors sometimes use when they fear their
+reporters have been beaten. "I sent Harvey up to the house in a
+hurry to make inquiries. The _Scorcher_ got out an extra. Where have
+you been?"
+
+"I just finished the tour of the docks."
+
+"Well, you'd better go up to the house and make sure. It looks
+queer."
+
+"I'll bet that story came from Sullivan," said Larry. "He's sore on
+us, and would do anything to get even. He wants to find Mr. Potter,
+you know."
+
+"I hope you're right," and Mr. Emberg's voice was not as cordial as
+it usually was. "Let me hear from you soon again. I'll have one of
+the men fix up something for the first edition. You tell him about
+the inquiries made of the ship captains."
+
+Larry's heart was like lead. To have worked so hard, and then to
+have another paper come out with a "scare" story about Mr. Potter's
+return, was discouraging.
+
+"That story's a fake," he decided, as he prepared to telephone in
+the result of his morning's work. "I'll prove it is, too, and make
+them take back-water."
+
+Larry's story of the trip to the steamship offices was not very
+interesting reading, for it was but a record of failure. He realized
+that, but there was nothing else to print and the paper had to have
+something. It was not Larry's fault, for even a reporter on a
+special assignment cannot provide fresh and startling news every
+day, though all newspaper men try hard enough for this desirable
+end.
+
+After Larry had telephoned in all the information he had, he hurried
+uptown to the Potter house. He found Grace had just come in, and, to
+Larry's relief, she had not been successful in getting any news from
+Captain Padduci. In a few words the reporter told what the
+_Scorcher_ had printed.
+
+"We must deny that at once!" exclaimed Grace. "I wonder why they
+print such untruths!"
+
+"For one reason, because the _Scorcher_ is trying to live up to its
+name and give the public 'hot' news," replied Larry, "and, for
+another, because Sullivan has some end to gain. He stands in with
+the _Scorcher_ men, and I think my old enemy, Peter Manton, is
+responsible for this."
+
+"What can you do to offset it?" asked Grace.
+
+"I can have a signed statement from you or your mother in our last
+edition."
+
+"A signed statement?"
+
+"Yes, a little interview with you, in the form of a communication,
+with your name at the foot, denying that your father is at home.
+This will take the wind out of the _Scorcher's_ sails."
+
+"Then I'll give you the interview at once. What shall I say?"
+
+Larry told her, and in a few minutes the message was being dictated
+over the Potter telephone to Mr. Emberg.
+
+"I'm glad to hear this, Larry," the city editor said. "We had quite
+a scare. I thought they had you beaten, even though Harvey came back
+and said Mrs. Potter sent down word there was no truth in the
+_Scorcher_ yarn. You certainly had us scared."
+
+"I was frightened myself," admitted Larry, with a laugh.
+
+"This will make story enough for to-day, unless you find Mr.
+Potter," Mr. Emberg went on. "Now lay pipes for something for
+to-morrow."
+
+"I will," Larry replied, though he did not in the least know what
+new features he could "play up."
+
+At that instant the bell rang, and a whistle indicated that the
+letter carrier was at the door. Grace answered it. She came back on
+the run, a missive in her hand.
+
+"It's from my father!" she exclaimed, as she tore open the envelope.
+
+Larry watched Grace while she read the letter. It was short, for she
+had quickly finished with it and turned to the reporter.
+
+"He's written about you!" she exclaimed.
+
+"About me?"
+
+"Yes. Listen," and Grace read:
+
+     "'I am well. Still have to remain away. Don't try to find me. Will
+     be home soon. Tell Larry Dexter to give up. He's chasing me too
+     close.'"
+
+"Chasing him too close!" exclaimed Larry in bewilderment. I only
+wish I was! I haven't the least clue to his whereabouts. I wonder
+what he means? Is that his writing?"
+
+"I can't be mistaken in that," Grace replied. "It is just the same
+as the other letter was."
+
+"Let me see," and the young reporter examined the envelope. It was
+similar to that containing the first note which had come from Mr.
+Potter, save there was no blot on it and the stamp showed no excess
+of mucilage.
+
+"I'll take this to the sub-station," Larry went on. "It was probably
+mailed in the same place as was the other. I'll see if the carrier
+had any such experience as he did with the former note."
+
+"I think it would be a good plan," Grace answered. "Oh, this is
+beginning to wear on my nerves! As for mother, she is almost ill
+over it. Her physician says if father is not found soon he cannot
+say what will happen to mother."
+
+"Still she must know your father is safe."
+
+"That is the worst of it. She will not believe these notes are from
+him, or, rather, she believes he is held captive somewhere and is
+forced to write them. Nothing I can say will make her think
+differently. She is wearing herself to a shadow over it."
+
+"We must do something!" exclaimed Larry.
+
+"Yes; but what?" asked the girl. "You are working hard and I am
+doing all I can, but our efforts seem to amount to nothing. What
+more can we do?"
+
+"I'm trying to think of a plan," Larry responded. "The search of the
+steamship piers gave us no clue; the police here have not been able
+to find a trace. We can try one thing more."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"You can hire private detectives. Sometimes, in cases of this kind,
+they are better than the police, as they assign one man, who devotes
+all his attention to the search, while the police, as a rule, don't
+bother much to find missing persons."
+
+"Then I'll hire the best private detectives to be had!" exclaimed
+Grace. "Where ought I to go?"
+
+Larry named an agency, that he had heard was first-class, and
+offered to take Grace to the office. The reporter knew one of the
+men on the staff, as he had once written a story in which he
+figured, and the officer had been grateful for the mention of his
+name. Detectives, even private ones, are prone to vanity in this
+respect, as a rule.
+
+"I don't like to take up so much of your time," objected the girl,
+as Larry prepared to go with her to the detective agency.
+
+"My time is yours in this case. I have nothing to do for the
+_Leader_ but to find your father. This is part of the work."
+
+"I wouldn't think it could pay a newspaper to put one man
+exclusively on a case like this."
+
+"The editors think it does. In the first place it makes some news
+every day, and the papers have to have news. Then if I should happen
+to find Mr. Potter, it would be a big advertisement for the
+_Leader_, and that is what all the New York papers are looking for.
+The better advertised they are the better prices they can charge for
+the advertisements printed in them, for it's from the advertisements
+that a newspaper makes its money. Besides, I've promised to find
+your father for you and I'm going to do it!" Larry looked very
+determined.
+
+"My! I never supposed newspaper work was so complicated," said
+Grace, with a little sigh. "Now let's go to the detectives. I'm
+almost afraid. It sounds so awful to say 'detective.'"
+
+Larry found the man he knew in the office of the agency, and the
+latter introduced him to the chief. The reporter explained the
+reason for the visit, and Grace added a plea that they do all in
+their power to locate Mr. Potter.
+
+"I thought you'd come here sooner or later," said the chief with a
+smile. "Most folks do when they find the regular police don't give
+enough attention to the cases. It's not the fault of the police,
+though. They have so much to do they can't give much time to a
+single case. But of course we can. Now then, tell me all about it."
+
+Which Grace, aided by Larry, proceeded to do. The chief listened
+intently, and asked several questions. He took the two letters which
+Grace had from her father and looked carefully at them.
+
+"Do you think you'll be able to do anything?" asked the girl
+anxiously. The strain was beginning to tell heavily on her.
+
+"Of course we will!" exclaimed the chief, heartily. "We'll find your
+father for you, you can depend on it!"
+
+Larry did not want to tell her that the chief was thus optimistic
+in regard to every case he undertook. It was a habit of his, not a
+bad one, perhaps, and it did little harm, for nearly all of his
+clients wanted cheering up.
+
+"What do you think about this, young man?" asked the chief, turning
+suddenly to Larry.
+
+"In regard to what, Mr. Grover?"
+
+"Where do you think Mr. Potter is? I understand you've been working
+on this case. In fact, I have all your stories clipped from the
+_Leader_."
+
+Larry had not forgotten about Retto, and he determined to pay the
+fellow another visit.
+
+With him, to think was to act. He soon found himself going up the
+stairs of the tenement house, and presently reached Retto's door.
+His knock brought no response, and he stood for a moment, undecided
+what to do. Then a bold idea came to him.
+
+"I'll try the door and see if he's home," he said. "If he isn't,
+there's no harm done. If he is, I can explain it somehow."
+
+Larry, after a moment's hesitation to listen for any possible
+movement on the other side of the portal, tried the door. It opened
+easily for him, though it needed but a glance to show that the
+apartment was empty and vacated. All the furniture was gone.
+
+"He's skipped!" exclaimed Larry, as he struck a match and looked
+around. "I guess he was afraid I'd find him. Well, I am more
+determined than ever that I'll land this man. I wonder if he left
+any clues behind?"
+
+He lighted a jet of a wall fixture, for the gas had not been shut
+off. In the glare he saw a scrap of paper lying on the floor. He
+picked it up. As he glanced at it he gave a cry of astonishment.
+
+"Who would have thought it!" exclaimed Larry to himself. "Of all the
+strange things! I wonder I didn't connect him with the case before!
+This explains why he was in front of the house."
+
+For, the paper he had picked up was part of an envelope like those
+which had contained the letters Grace received from her father. And
+on the scrap was her name, but the envelope had been spoiled by a
+blot of ink in writing the address. It had been torn up and thrown
+away, to remain a mute bit of evidence.
+
+"Mah Retto knows Mr. Potter!" exclaimed Larry. "Retto is the man who
+mailed the letters for the missing millionaire. If I find him I can
+make him tell me where Mr. Potter is! Now to trace my mysterious
+East Indian friend!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+TRACING RETTO
+
+
+Larry took another survey of the apartment to see if there were any
+more clues that might aid him. But the one that had so unexpectedly
+come to his hand was all he found. The place showed evidences of
+having been hastily vacated.
+
+"I'll see Mr. Jackson," he decided. "Perhaps he can tell me
+something. He was interested in this queer man."
+
+He lost no time in going to the rooms of his friends. They were glad
+to see him, and asked a number of questions about his mother,
+sisters and brother. But Larry, as soon as he could, turned the
+subject to Retto.
+
+"He's gone," he told Mr. Jackson.
+
+"I supposed he had. I saw the janitor taking his things from the
+room this morning."
+
+"Do you know where he went to?" asked the young reporter eagerly. "I
+want to find him."
+
+"I haven't the least idea."
+
+"I wonder if the janitor would know," Larry went on.
+
+"He might. Perhaps the man left his address with him, in order that
+letters might be forwarded. I'll go downstairs with you and
+introduce you to the janitor."
+
+That functionary was unable to throw any light on where Retto had
+gone. Evidently, for the time being, the chase had come to an end.
+
+Larry made his way to the nearest elevated station and rode in the
+direction of the Potter home. He had no definite plan in mind, and,
+more from a whim than anything else, he decided to walk past the
+house. He did not expect it, but he had an idea--a very faint
+one--that he might see Grace. Of course, if he saw her at the
+window, where she sometimes sat, it would be no more than polite to
+go in and tell her what the carrier had said about the second
+letter.
+
+When Larry got in front of the Potter house he was disappointed to
+see that it was in darkness. It was about ten o'clock, and he knew
+the family was in the habit of retiring early, especially since Mr.
+Potter's disappearance.
+
+As he strolled past on the other side of the street, looking in vain
+for a glimmer of light, or the sight of a girlish face against the
+window pane, he passed into the deep shadow cast by a big tree on
+which shone an electric arc light in front of the Potter house. The
+blackness was quite deep, in contrast to the illumination on both
+sides of the tree, for electric lamps have the property of casting
+dense shadows. If Larry had been looking straight in front of him
+perhaps it would not have happened, but he was staring at where
+Grace lived, and the first thing he knew he had walked full tilt
+into a man who was hiding in the darkness behind the big tree.
+
+"Oh--ugh!" grunted Larry, for the breath was knocked from his body
+by the sudden impact.
+
+"What's the matter? What are you doing?" inquired the man angrily.
+"Why don't you look where you're going?"
+
+The collision had swung him out of the shadow into the light, where
+he stood blinking. Larry recovered his breath, and then, at the
+sight of the man, gave a low-voiced cry of astonishment.
+
+"Mr. Sullivan!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Oh, it's you, is it, Dexter!" remarked the politician. "Are you
+following me? Are you spying on me? If you are I'll have you
+arrested!"
+
+"I'm not following you or spying on you!" retorted Larry. "But you
+seem to be hiding here. What do you want? What are you in front of
+Mr. Potter's house for?"
+
+He was determined to follow up his advantage, and to show Sullivan
+that he was not in the least intimidated by him. Clearly there was
+something in the wind when the district political leader was hiding
+behind trees watching the house of the missing millionaire.
+
+"Look here!" exclaimed Sullivan, and he had moved back until he was
+in the shadow. "You go along and mind your own business; do you
+hear? Move along now!"
+
+"I guess I have as good a right as you have to remain on the
+street. And this sidewalk is just as public as any in New York, even
+if it is in the millionaire section. What are you hiding for? Do you
+expect to see Mr. Potter come walking down the steps? If you do I'll
+wait, too. I'd like to see him."
+
+"You think you're very smart because you're a reporter," retorted
+Sullivan, becoming more and more angry as he saw he could not
+intimidate Larry. "Let me tell you you're making a big mistake. I
+have some power in New York, and I warn you that I'll use it if you
+don't stop interfering with me. You've made me trouble enough. Now
+you be off, or I'll call a policeman and have you arrested."
+
+"You can't," replied Larry. "I haven't done anything except to run
+into you, and that was an accident, caused by you being in the
+shadow."
+
+"I'll show you what I can do. The police of this district know me,
+and they'll do anything I say."
+
+"You might have 'pull' enough to have me arrested," Larry admitted,
+"but I wouldn't stay locked up long. A telephone message to the city
+editor of the _Leader_, and a word from him to some one higher up
+than a policeman, would bring about a change. And I don't think
+you'd like to read the story in the paper the next day, Mr.
+Sullivan."
+
+The politician was silent. He knew Larry had the best of the
+argument. For, though the Assembly leader had some power in New
+York, he was only a "small fry" when it came to an important matter,
+such as he knew would result if Larry was taken into custody. He
+contented himself, therefore, with growling out threats against
+Larry in particular and all newspaper men in general.
+
+"You'll interfere with me once too often," said Sullivan. "I warn
+you, young man. You're making a big mistake. There's more behind
+this matter than you have any idea of."
+
+"I know there is," replied Larry quickly. "That's why I'm working so
+hard to clear up the mystery. I want to find out what your part is
+in the disappearance of Mr. Potter."
+
+"My part? What do you mean?"
+
+"You know well enough what I mean. You are interested in Mr. Potter.
+You want him to come back. Now what for? Has it anything to do with
+the new line? Does it concern your friends, Kilburn and Reilly?
+That's what I want to know and what I'm going to find out. You're
+playing a deep game, Mr. Sullivan, but I'll beat you at it!"
+
+Larry was quite surprised at his own eloquence, and the manner in
+which he bid defiance to the leader of the assembly district.
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed the politician. "If you say another word I'll
+knock you down!" and he advanced toward Larry as though he intended
+to carry the threat into execution. "Keep quiet, I say!"
+
+"Are you afraid of having the truth told?" asked Larry speaking a
+little louder. It seemed that Sullivan was worried lest some one
+might overhear the talk. The streets, however, were deserted at this
+time.
+
+"Never you mind!" retorted Sullivan. "You've said enough, so that
+I'll not forget it in a hurry, and Jack Sullivan is a bad man to
+have for an enemy, let me tell you."
+
+"I don't doubt that, but I'm not afraid of you. I believe you know
+something of Mr. Potter's disappearance, and I'm going to find out
+what it is. You are waiting here with some object in view, and I'm
+going to discover it."
+
+"Get away from here!" ordered Sullivan, hardly able to speak because
+of his anger.
+
+"I'm going to stay as long as I like."
+
+"Move on!" exclaimed the politician. "Get away or----"
+
+He emerged from the shadow and approached Larry. The man's face
+showed how wrought up he was, and though he was not much taller or
+stronger than Larry he had a man's energy, and would prove more than
+a match for the lad if it came to a fight. And it looked now as
+though he was going to resort to desperate measures in order to
+accomplish his ends.
+
+"I'm going to stay until I see what you're up to!" said Larry
+firmly, bracing himself to meet the expected attack.
+
+Sullivan doubled up his fists and drew nearer to the youth. He
+raised his arm, as though to strike. The two were beyond the shadow
+of the tree now, and in plain view.
+
+Sullivan's fist shot out, but Larry was watching and cleverly dodged
+it. The politician overreached himself, lost his balance, and, his
+fist meeting nothing more solid than air, he pitched forward and
+fell on the sidewalk.
+
+Larry swung around, ready to meet his opponent when he should come
+back to the attack. At that instant a window, in a house across the
+street, opened, and a voice the young reporter knew was Grace's
+called:
+
+"Larry! Larry! Come here!"
+
+He started to run across the thoroughfare, but, as he did so, he saw
+another man emerge from behind a tree, next to the one where
+Sullivan had been concealed. And, as the light from an arc lamp
+gleamed on this man's face, Larry saw it was that of Mah Retto.
+
+The young reporter paused, undecided what to do. Across the street
+he could see Grace in the raised window, waiting for him--for what
+he did not know. But, even as he looked at her, he saw Retto running
+off down the street. In an instant Larry's mind was made up. He took
+after Retto as fast as he could run.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+GRACE IS SUSPICIOUS
+
+
+Retto headed for Central Park, and as Larry saw him pass the
+entrance he realized that it was going to be as hard to follow the
+man as though he had disappeared in the midst of a crowd, especially
+since the park was not well lighted.
+
+"But I've got to follow him," thought Larry. "It's my best chance. I
+must find out where he has moved to. I wonder what Grace wanted? And
+I wonder what Sullivan's game was? My, but the questions are coming
+too thick for me. I'll have to get an assistant."
+
+By this time he had entered the park. Ahead of him he could hear the
+running feet of the man he was pursuing. The big recreation ground
+was almost deserted.
+
+"I don't believe he dare run very fast," reasoned Larry, as he
+slackened his pace. "If he does a policeman will be sure to stop him
+and ask questions, and I guess Retto will not relish that. I have a
+better chance than I thought at first. After all, I don't see why he
+is so afraid of me. All I want to do is to ask him where he gets the
+letters from Mr. Potter. He must know where the millionaire is
+hiding, and it looks as if Mr. Potter had been in Retto's room at
+the Jackson tenement, or else how would the envelope get there?
+That's it! I'll bet the missing millionaire has been hiding with
+this East Indian chap! I never thought of that until now!"
+
+Having walked for fully a quarter of a mile Retto came to a sudden
+stop, and so did Larry, hiding in the shadow of a tree. Retto
+listened intently, and, of course, heard no pursuing footsteps. This
+apparently satisfied him, for he proceeded more slowly.
+
+"He thinks I've given up the chase," thought Larry. "I'll let him.
+Maybe he'll go home all the quicker, and, after I learn where he is
+stopping, I can go back and see what Grace wanted."
+
+Larry's surmise proved correct, and his wish soon came to pass. The
+man, evidently believing that he was safe, emerged from the park to
+the street, for the whole pursuit had gone on not far from the
+thoroughfare, and just within the boundary of the city's breathing
+spot. Larry, keeping in the shadows, watched him.
+
+He saw Retto give one more cautious look around and then, crossing
+the highway, enter a hotel nearby. It was a fashionable one, and
+Larry wondered how the man, who had, hitherto, only lived in
+tenements, could afford to engage rooms in such a place as this.
+
+"Maybe he's only doing it to throw me off the track," the reporter
+reasoned. "I'll just wait a while and see if he comes out."
+
+He waited nearly an hour, hiding in the shadows of the park and
+keeping close watch on the entrance to the hotel. He did not see
+Retto emerge, and then he decided on a new plan.
+
+"I'll inquire if he is stopping there," he said to himself. "If he
+is I'll wait until to-morrow before acting. I'll let him think
+everything's all right. It's the best way."
+
+Sauntering into the hotel lobby he found no one but the night clerk
+on duty, though there were a few sleepy bell-boys sprawled on a
+bench. As soon as the clerk saw Larry approaching the desk he swung
+the registry book around, and, dipping a pen in the ink, extended it
+to the reporter.
+
+"I didn't come to stay," said Larry, with a smile. "I want to
+inquire if there is a Mr. Mah Retto stopping here?"
+
+"There is," replied the clerk. "Would you like to see him? He just
+came in a little while ago."
+
+"No; not to-night," Larry replied, his heart beating high with hope.
+He had run down his man. "I wasn't sure of his address, and I
+thought I'd inquire. I'll call and see him to-morrow."
+
+The clerk, having lost all interest as soon as he found Larry was
+not to be a guest of the hotel, did not reply. The bell-boys, seeing
+their visions of a tip disappearing, resumed their dozes, and Larry
+walked out. He was impressed by the clerk's manner. Clearly Retto
+was a man of means and not as poor as Larry had supposed.
+
+"So far so good," he murmured. "Now to go back and see what Grace
+wanted--that is if it isn't too late."
+
+It was nearly eleven o'clock, but Larry had an idea that Grace would
+still be up. It was rather an unusual hour to make a call, still all
+the circumstances in this case were unusual, and Larry did not think
+Grace would mind.
+
+He saw a light in the Potter house as he approached it. Thinking
+perhaps Sullivan might be in the vicinity Larry walked up and down
+on the other side of the street, peering in the shadow of the tree
+where he had had his encounter with the politician, but Sullivan had
+evidently gone away.
+
+"Why didn't you come when I called you?" asked Grace, as she
+admitted Larry to the library.
+
+"I wanted to," the young reporter replied, "but I had to take after
+a person who I believe knows where your father is, and I couldn't
+stop without losing sight of him. I have some news for you."
+
+"And I have some for you," exclaimed Grace, "Let me tell mine
+first."
+
+"All right," agreed Larry, with a smile. "Go ahead."
+
+"Well, I was sitting in the window to-night, looking out on the
+street, and feeling particularly sad and lonely on account of
+father, when I saw a man sneaking along on the other side. I saw him
+hide behind a tree, and I resolved to keep watch. There have been
+some burglaries in this neighborhood recently, and I wasn't sure
+whether he was a thief or a detective sent here to watch for
+suspicious characters. Well, as I sat there watching I saw you come
+along and talk to the man behind the tree."
+
+"How long had he been there when I came along?"
+
+"Oh, for some time, but don't interrupt, please. You can ask
+questions afterward. When I saw you talking to the man I knew it
+must be all right, and I was beginning to think he was a detective.
+
+"Then I noticed another man sneaking along. He, too, hid behind a
+tree, next to the first man. I thought this was queer until I
+remembered you told me that detectives usually hunt in couples, and
+I thought he was another officer from headquarters. I thought so
+until mother, who, it seems had been looking out of her window in
+the front room upstairs, called to me.
+
+"She asked me if I had seen the two men come along, and, when I said
+I had, she wanted to know if I didn't think there was something
+queer about the second man. I said I didn't notice particularly, but
+just then the man stepped out into the light, and I had a good look
+at him."
+
+"Was there anything suspicious about him?"
+
+"There certainly was!" exclaimed Grace, earnestly. "As soon as I saw
+him I thought sure it was my father. He had his back toward me, and
+he looked exactly like papa. Mother saw it, too, and she cried out.
+Just then the man turned and I saw he was smooth-shaven, and his
+face didn't look a bit like my father's.
+
+"Then I saw you and that other man--Mr. Sullivan, I then knew him to
+be--step into the light. I saw he was going to hit you, and I raised
+the window and called. I wanted to ask you to see who the second man
+was--the one who looked so much like my father. I called, but you
+didn't seem to hear."
+
+"I heard you," replied Larry, "but I couldn't stop. I wanted to take
+after the man--the same man you were suspicious of. I traced him
+through the park."
+
+"Did you find him? Who is he? Where is he? Is he--is he? Oh, Larry,
+don't keep me in suspense----"
+
+"I'm sorry to have to tell you he isn't your father," Larry replied,
+gently, as he saw the girl's distress. "But I think he knows where
+your father is. He goes by the name of Mah Retto, and I helped save
+him from the wreck of a vessel on the Jersey coast. See, I found
+this in his room, a little while before he disappeared," and he held
+out to Grace the torn envelope with her name on it.
+
+"My father's writing!" she exclaimed.
+
+Larry heard some one descending the stairs and coming toward the
+library.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+CAPTAIN TANTRELLA ARRIVES
+
+
+"Grace! What is the matter?" exclaimed a woman's voice, and looking
+up Larry saw Mrs. Potter.
+
+"Nothing, mother," replied the girl. "This is Mr. Larry Dexter. He
+just brought me some news. Oh, mother, that wasn't papa we saw out
+in the street!"
+
+"I knew it, dear, as soon as I saw his face."
+
+Larry felt rather uncomfortable, for Mrs. Potter and Grace showed
+signs of emotion.
+
+"I was telling your daughter," he said to Mrs. Potter, "that I think
+I have located the man who knows where your husband is."
+
+"Oh, I hope you have," exclaimed Mrs. Potter. "This suspense is
+awful. Who is he? Where is he?"
+
+Larry related the circumstances of his chase after Retto, telling
+how he had located the man at the hotel.
+
+"I'll go and see him to-morrow," he said, "before he has a chance to
+get away. He does not suspect that I know where he is."
+
+"Why not go now?" asked Mrs. Potter.
+
+"I'm afraid he would see no one to-night. It is very late, and he
+would suspect something if any one sent up word they wanted to see
+him. He would at once connect it with the chase I had after him. But
+I think I fooled him. I am sure he can clear up this matter in a
+short time, once I get into conversation with him."
+
+"I'll go with you," said Grace, with sudden energy. "I will make him
+tell where my father is."
+
+Larry thought he could best deal with Retto alone, but he did not
+want to tell Grace so. However, her mother got him out of what might
+have been an embarrassing position.
+
+"I'd rather you wouldn't go, Grace," she said. "There is no telling
+what sort of a person this Retto is. His name sounds foreign."
+
+They talked for some time about the curious circumstances connected
+with the disappearance of the millionaire, and when a clock struck
+the hour of one, Larry arose with a start.
+
+"I had no idea it was so late!" he exclaimed. "I must hurry home, or
+mother will be worried. I will call to-morrow and let you know what
+success I have."
+
+"Do, please," said Mrs. Potter.
+
+"And come early," added Grace, as she accompanied Larry to the door.
+"Don't let that horrid man stab you with an East Indian poisoned
+dagger," she went on with a little laugh, as she got out of hearing
+of her mother.
+
+Larry promised, and then hurried off down the street to the nearest
+elevated railway station. He was up early the next morning, and
+wrote out the story of the day's events, including the encounter
+with Sullivan, and the chase after Retto. He touched as lightly as
+possible on his own and Grace's parts in the affair, but there was
+enough to make interesting reading, and he knew no other paper would
+have it.
+
+"This is good stuff, Larry," complimented Mr. Emberg, when the
+reporter had turned his story in at the desk. "What next?"
+
+"I'm going to see Retto," was the answer. "I'll make him tell where
+Mr. Potter is."
+
+"You were right about your East Indian friend," admitted the city
+editor. "I had no idea there was a story like this connected with
+him; least of all that it concerned the missing millionaire. Keep
+right after him. Let us hear from you in time for the first edition.
+Whatever you learn from Retto will make the leading part of to-day's
+account."
+
+"I'll telephone in," said Larry, as he hurried from the city room.
+
+Larry anticipated meeting with some difficulty in getting Retto to
+talk. He knew the man must have a strong motive for aiding Mr.
+Potter. Probably the millionaire was paying him well to serve him,
+to mail letters occasionally, and keep him informed as to how the
+search for him was progressing.
+
+"There are lots of ends to this that I don't understand," said Larry
+to himself as he was on his way to the hotel where the mysterious
+man was stopping. "This mystery seemed to start with the wrecking of
+the _Olivia_, yet I don't see how I can connect Mr. Potter with
+that. He must have met Retto in New York after the rescued men came
+here. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking Mr. Potter is in New York now. He
+may be some distance off, and depending on Retto to look after his
+interests. If that's so it would explain why the East Indian was
+hanging around the house. He wanted to see that Grace and her mother
+were well, so he could report to the millionaire.
+
+"Yet if that was so, I can't see how Mr. Potter could write in the
+letter, as he did, that I was getting too close to him? Yes, there's
+something very strange in all this, but maybe it will soon be
+cleared up."
+
+Thus Larry hoped, but he was doomed to disappointment. For, when he
+inquired at the hotel desk for Mr. Retto, and said he would like to
+see him, the clerk replied:
+
+"Mr. Retto left early this morning. He gave up his room. I don't
+know where he went."
+
+"I've got it all to do over again," the young reporter thought as he
+strolled out into the street. "I'll never have such luck again. If
+he watches the house after this he'll do it in a way that won't give
+me a chance to catch him. Well, I've got to go back and tell Grace I
+made a fizzle of it. Too bad, when they're hoping so much on the
+result of this visit!"
+
+Larry purchased a morning paper from a newsboy on the street, and
+glanced at it idly, as he strolled along. His eye lighted on the
+column devoted to shipping news, and, almost unconsciously, he saw
+among the "arrivals," the _Turtle_, of an Italian line. At once a
+train of thought was started in his mind.
+
+"The _Turtle_," he mused. "That's the freight ship that Captain
+Tantrella, formerly of the _Olivia_, commands. That's the captain
+Retto was inquiring about the day Grace and I made the tour of the
+steamer offices. He wanted to meet him. Well, Captain Tantrella is
+in now. I wonder if Retto could have left the hotel to go and see
+him?"
+
+Larry puzzled over it for a few minutes. Several ideas came to him,
+but they were confused, and he did not know which line to follow.
+
+"Why should Retto want to see Captain Tantrella?" he asked himself.
+"Is it possible that Retto is a criminal and had to escape from the
+sinking ship? It looks so. But if he has done something that would
+necessitate him keeping out of the way, how can he aid Mr. Potter?
+It's too deep for me. But I know what I'll do. I'll go and see
+Captain Tantrella. He'll remember me, for I interviewed him about
+the wreck.
+
+"I'll ask him who Retto is. He'll know him, for he was probably one
+of the first-cabin passengers. That's what I'll do. I think I'm on
+the right track now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+RETTO IS CAUGHT
+
+
+Larry's slow walk was suddenly changed to a quick one as a plan of
+action was unfolded in his mind. He hurried to the elevated station
+and was soon on his way downtown to the office of the steamship line
+to which the _Turtle_ belonged.
+
+"Guess I'd better stop and telephone to Mr. Emberg about Retto
+skipping out again," thought the young reporter. "He can add it to
+the story. Then I can tell him of my present plan."
+
+The city editor was soon informed of what Larry intended to do, and
+said he thought it was a good idea.
+
+"But keep in touch with us, Larry," cautioned Mr. Emberg. "We want
+all the news we can get on this thing. There's a rumor that the
+_Scorcher_ is going to spring something to-day on the Potter story."
+
+"Probably something Sullivan has given out to offset the story he
+knows I'll have about him," commented Larry. "But I'll be on the
+lookout and let you know what happens."
+
+Larry was soon at the steamship office, and inquired whether the
+_Turtle_ had docked yet.
+
+"She is making fast now," replied the clerk.
+
+"May I go aboard her?"
+
+The clerk hesitated. Then Larry announced who he was, and said he
+wanted to have a talk with Captain Tantrella.
+
+"Oh, you're the reporter who wrote up the wreck of the _Olivia_,"
+the clerk replied, with a smile. "I've heard about you. Yes, I guess
+you can go aboard. I'll write you out a pass."
+
+With the necessary paper as a passport, Larry walked down the long,
+covered dock, alongside of which the freight steamer was being
+warped into place. There was no bustling crowd of passengers, eager
+to get ashore to welcome and be welcomed by even more eager
+relatives and friends. But there was a small army of men ready to
+swarm aboard the _Turtle_ and hurry the freight out of her holds, in
+order that more might be placed in to be sent abroad. There was a
+confusion of wagons and trucks, and the puffing of donkey engines,
+seemingly anxious to begin lifting big boxes and bales from the dark
+interior of the ship.
+
+Larry was among the first to go up the gang plank when it was run
+ashore. A ship's officer stopped him, but allowed him to proceed
+when he saw the pass.
+
+Larry found Captain Tantrella in his cabin, arranging his papers,
+for there is considerable formality about a ship that comes from one
+country to another, and much red tape is used.
+
+"Ah, it is my newspaper friend!" exclaimed the commander when he
+saw Larry. "Have you interviewed any more captains who have been
+wrecked?"
+
+Though he spoke with an air of gayety Larry could see the captain
+was sad at heart, for, though it was not his fault that the _Olivia_
+had gone ashore, Captain Tantrella had been more or less blamed, and
+had been reduced in rank. Passengers do not, as a rule, care to sail
+in a ship under the command of one whose vessel has been lost. So
+poor Captain Tantrella was now only in charge of a freighter, and he
+felt his disgrace keenly.
+
+"Do you remember a passenger named Mah Retto, who sailed with you on
+the _Olivia_?" the reporter asked.
+
+"I remember him; yes. A queer sort of man. He said but little on the
+whole voyage. But was he not lost? I remember we could not find him
+when we had all been landed from the wreck."
+
+"He came ashore first of all," replied Larry. "A fisherman and I
+helped save him from a life-raft," and he told the circumstances.
+
+"Queer," murmured the captain. "I have often thought of that man. He
+seemed to have some mystery about him."
+
+Larry gave a brief account of the case he was working on.
+
+"What I want to discover," he added, "is whether you know of any
+reason why Retto should be anxious to see you?"
+
+"To see me?"
+
+"Yes. He was at the steamship office a few days ago inquiring when
+your ship would come in, and when he saw me he hurried away. Since
+then I have not been able to catch him."
+
+"Ah! I know!" exclaimed the captain suddenly. "I just thought of it.
+I have a package belonging to him."
+
+"A package?"
+
+"Yes. He came to me when we were a few days out and said he wanted
+me to keep a package for him until we got to New York. I took it and
+put it with my papers."
+
+"Then I suppose it was lost with the _Olivia_?"
+
+"No; I brought it ashore with me when I saved my documents and a few
+valuables from the wreck. I have it at my hotel. That is why he is
+anxious to see me. He wants to get his package back. I am glad I
+have it."
+
+"Do you know anything about the man?" asked Larry.
+
+"Hardly anything. I met him for the first time when he was a
+passenger on my ship. But now, if you have no objections, we will go
+ashore. I must file my reports. After that I will be glad to see you
+at my hotel, and answer any questions you care to ask."
+
+"Well, I guess you've told me all you can," said Larry, feeling a
+little disappointed at the result of his interview. "I'm much
+obliged to you."
+
+"If you want to get into communication with this man, I have a
+plan," suggested the captain.
+
+"What?" asked Larry, eagerly.
+
+"He will probably call at my hotel to claim his package. When he
+comes you could be on hand."
+
+"But there is no telling when he will come."
+
+"That is so, but you could take a room at the hotel and be there as
+much as possible. I think he will come as soon as he learns that my
+ship is in."
+
+"That's a good idea. I'll do it!" exclaimed Larry.
+
+"Then let's hurry ashore, and you can make your arrangements while I
+finish up the details of the indents, bills of lading, custom lists
+and so on," Captain Tantrella said.
+
+The two walked down the gang plank on to the covered dock. The
+tangle of wagons, horses and men was worse than ever. Part of the
+cargo was being taken out and carted away.
+
+"Watch out for yourself that a horse doesn't step on you," cautioned
+the captain.
+
+It was a needful warning, for the animals, drawing big, heavy
+trucks, seemed to be every-where. As the two proceeded to thread
+their way through the maze there came a hail from somewhere in the
+rear and a voice called:
+
+"Captain Tantrella!"
+
+The commander turned, and so did Larry. The young reporter saw a
+man hurrying along the dock toward where the commander of the
+_Turtle_ stood. Evidently he had not seen the captain come to a
+halt, for he called again:
+
+"Wait a minute, Captain Tantrella!"
+
+Then a curious thing happened. The man caught sight of Larry,
+standing beside the ship commander. He halted and turned to run. As
+he did so a truck drove up behind him and blocked his retreat.
+
+"It's Mah Retto!" exclaimed Larry, as he caught sight of the man's
+face.
+
+An instant later there came a warning shout from the driver of the
+truck. He reined his horses back sharply, but not in time. Retto had
+stepped directly under their heads. The off animal reared. The man
+stumbled and fell beneath its hoofs.
+
+Then, with a cry of terror, which was echoed by a score of men who
+saw the accident, Retto appeared to crumple up in a heap. The
+forefeet of the big steed seemed to crush him before the driver
+could back the animal off. Then came silence, Retto lying without
+moving on the planking of the dock.
+
+"Caught at last," murmured Larry, as he rushed forward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+IN THE HOSPITAL
+
+
+Instantly the confusion that had reigned on the dock became worse.
+Men ran to and fro shouting, no one seeming to know what to do.
+
+"We must help him!" cried Captain Tantrella, shoving his papers into
+his pocket. "Come!"
+
+He and Larry fought their way to the man's side. A crowd surrounded
+him, but no one offered to do anything. The truck driver had
+dismounted from his high seat and was quieting his frightened
+horses.
+
+"It wasn't my fault," he cried. "He ran right under their feet."
+
+"One side!" exclaimed a loud voice, and a burly policeman shouldered
+his way through. "What's the matter? Give the man some air."
+
+Retto did not look as though he would ever need air again. He seemed
+quite dead.
+
+"Let me get at him!" called Captain Tantrella. "I know something of
+medicine."
+
+"Shall I call an ambulance?" asked Larry of the police officer. "I
+know how to do it."
+
+The bluecoat nodded, glad to have help in the emergency. Then he
+proceeded to keep the crowd back while the captain knelt down beside
+the unfortunate man.
+
+"Bad cut on the head," the commander of the _Turtle_ murmured.
+"Fractured, I'm afraid. Leg broken, too. It's a wonder he wasn't
+killed."
+
+The captain accepted several coats which were hastily offered, and
+made a pillow for the man's head. He arranged the broken leg so that
+the bones would be in a better position for setting, and then, with
+a sponge and a basin of water which were brought, proceeded to wipe
+away the blood from the cut on Retto's skull.
+
+The crowd increased and pressed closer, but by this time more
+policemen had arrived, and they kept the throng back from the
+sufferer, so that he might have air.
+
+It seemed a long time before the ambulance, which Larry summoned,
+made its arrival, but it was only a few minutes ere it clanged up to
+the pier, the crowd parting to let it pass. In an instant the
+white-suited surgeon had leaped out of the back of the vehicle
+before it had stopped, and was kneeling beside Retto.
+
+With deft fingers he felt of the wound on the man's head.
+
+"Possible fracture," he said in a low voice. "Double one of the leg,
+I'm afraid," as he glanced at that member. "Lend a hand, boys, and
+we'll get him on the stretcher."
+
+There were willing enough helpers, and Retto was soon in the
+ambulance and on the way to the hospital, the doctor clinging to the
+back of the swaying vehicle as it dashed through the streets, with
+the right of way over everything on wheels.
+
+"Here's news in bunches," thought Larry, as he saw the ambulance
+disappearing around a corner. "I must telephone this in, and I guess
+it will be a beat. To think that after all that I have Retto where I
+want him. I'm sorry, of course, that he's hurt, but I guess he can't
+get out of the hospital very soon. I'll have a chance to question
+him. Then I'll make him tell me where Mr. Potter is, and that will
+end my special assignment. I'll not be sorry, either. It's been a
+hard one, though I'm glad I got it, for the experience is fine."
+
+Thus musing Larry looked for a telephone station and soon the story
+of Retto's accident was being sent over the wire to the city editor.
+
+"This will make a fine lead for our Potter story," said Larry, as he
+finished telling of the accident.
+
+"I've got another plan," said Mr. Emberg.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Do you think anyone else knows who Retto is? I mean anyone on the
+pier who saw him hurt?"
+
+"I think not. Captain Tantrella might, but other reporters are not
+likely to connect him with the case."
+
+"Then this is what I'm going to do. I'll use the story of the
+accident separate from the Potter story. We'll say an unidentified
+man was run down on the pier. If he has a fractured skull he'll not
+be able to tell who he is, and he has probably taken good care that
+there are no papers in his clothes by which his name can be learned.
+
+"If we state that the injured man is the mysterious Retto, who is
+mixed up in the Potter case, we'll have every reporter in New York
+camping out at that hospital waiting for a chance to get the
+information from him. If we keep quiet we may be able to get it
+ourselves without any of the others knowing it. We'll try that way,
+Larry. It's a risk, but you've got to take risks in this business."
+
+The young reporter admired the generalship of his city editor, who
+could thus plan a magnificent beat. Larry saw the feasibility of the
+plan. If he kept his information to himself no one would know but
+what the injured man was a stranger in New York, and that he was
+connected with the Potter case would be farthest from the thoughts
+of any reporters who were working on the missing millionaire story.
+
+"You must camp on his trail, Larry," Mr. Emberg went on. "As soon as
+you hear from the hospital people that he is in shape to talk, get
+in to see him. You can truthfully claim to be a friend and
+acquaintance, for you once helped to save his life. If you get a
+chance to talk to him, ask where Potter is, and let us know at once.
+We'll get out an extra, if need be. Now hurry over to the hospital
+and let us hear from you as soon as possible. Get a good story and a
+beat."
+
+"I only hope I can," murmured Larry, as he left the telephone booth
+and started for the hospital to which Retto had been taken.
+
+He had a slight acquaintance with the superintendent of the
+institution, and when he explained his errand the official agreed to
+let Larry in to see the man as soon as the nurses and surgeons had
+finished dressing his injuries.
+
+"How is he?" asked Larry.
+
+The superintendent called over a private telephone connected with
+the ward where Retto had been taken:
+
+"How is the patient just brought in from the pier? Comfortable, eh?
+That's good."
+
+Then he turned to Larry:
+
+"I guess you can go up soon," he added. "Can you give us his name,
+and some particulars? He was unconscious when he came in," and the
+superintendent prepared to jot down the information on his record
+book.
+
+This was a complication Larry had not foreseen. If he gave the
+superintendent the fugitive's name, any other reporters who came to
+the hospital to inquire about the injured man would at once connect
+Retto with the Potter mystery, and the _Leader's_ chance for a beat
+would be small indeed. What was he to do? He decided to take the
+superintendent partly into his confidence.
+
+"I know the name he goes by," he said, as the beginning of his
+account, "but I do not believe it is his right one. I think it is an
+alias he uses."
+
+"Never mind then," the superintendent interrupted, much to Larry's
+relief. "If it's a false name we don't want it."
+
+"I believe it is," Larry added, and he was honest in that statement,
+for he felt that Retto was playing some deep game, and, in that
+case, would not be likely to use his right name.
+
+"We don't want our records wrong," the head of the hospital resumed.
+"We'll wait until he can tell us about himself."
+
+The telephone bell rang at that juncture, and the superintendent
+answering it told Larry the patient was now in bed and could be
+seen.
+
+"Don't get him excited," cautioned the official. "I want to get some
+information from him about himself when you are through."
+
+It is sometimes the custom in New York, in accident cases, to allow
+reporters to interview the victims, when their physical condition
+admits of it. So it was no new thing for Larry to go into the
+hospital ward to speak to Retto. He passed through rows of white
+cots, on which reclined men in all stages of disease and accident.
+There was a sickish smell of iodoform in the atmosphere, and the
+sight of the pale faces on either side made Larry sad at heart.
+
+"There's your patient," said a nurse who was with him, as she led
+Larry to the bed where Retto reclined under the white coverings
+that matched the hue of his face. "Now don't excite him. You
+newspaper men don't care what you do as long as you get a story, and
+sometimes all the work we nurses do goes for nothing."
+
+"I'll be careful," promised Larry.
+
+The nurse, who had other duties to keep her busy, left Larry at the
+bedside of the mysterious man. He was lying with his eyes shut as
+Larry approached.
+
+"Mr. Retto," called the reporter.
+
+There was no response.
+
+"Mr. Retto," spoke Larry, a little louder.
+
+At that the man opened his eyes.
+
+"Were you calling me?" he asked. Then he caught sight of Larry, and
+a smile came on his face.
+
+"Well, you've found me, I see," was his greeting. "Only for that
+team I'd been far away."
+
+"I suppose so. But now you're here, for which I'm sorry; I hope you
+will answer me a few questions."
+
+"What are they?" asked the man, and a spasm of pain replaced his
+smile.
+
+"I believe you know the secret of Mr. Potter's disappearance," said
+Larry, speaking in a low tone so none of the other patients would
+hear him. "I want you to tell me where he is."
+
+At the mention of Mr. Potter's name Retto raised himself in bed. His
+face that had been pale became flushed.
+
+"He--he--is----" then he stopped. He seemed unable to speak.
+
+"Yes--yes!" exclaimed Larry, eagerly. "Where is he?"
+
+"He--is----"
+
+Then Retto fell back on the bed.
+
+"He has fainted!" cried the nurse, running to the cot. "The strain
+has been too much for him," and she pressed an electric button which
+summoned the doctor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+A NEW CLUE
+
+
+Larry moved to one side. The unexpected outcome of his interview had
+startled him. He did not quite know what to do.
+
+The doctor came up on the run and made a hasty examination of the
+patient. Then he sent for another surgeon. Larry heard them talking.
+
+"What is it?" he asked of his friend the nurse.
+
+"His skull is fractured," she said in a low voice. "They did not
+think so at first, but now the symptoms show it. They are going to
+operate at once. It is the only chance of saving his life."
+
+"There goes my story," thought Larry, regretfully.
+
+It was not that he was hard-hearted or indifferent to Retto's
+sufferings. Simply that his newspaper instinct got ahead of
+everything else, as it does in all true reporters, who, if they have
+a "nose for news," will make "copy" out of even their closest
+friend, though they may dislike the operation very much.
+
+"You had better go," the nurse advised Larry. "You will not be able
+to see him again for some time--no one will be allowed to talk to
+him until he is on the road to recovery--if we can save him. He has
+a bad fracture."
+
+Much disappointed, Larry left the hospital. It was hard to be almost
+on the verge of getting the story and then to see his chance slip
+away.
+
+"I'm sure he was just going to tell me where Mr. Potter is," thought
+the reporter. "Now it means a long wait, if I ever find out at all
+from him."
+
+He told Mr. Emberg what had happened. The city editor decided to
+follow out his first plan, of not connecting the accident at the
+pier with the Potter mystery.
+
+"If he has to be operated on for a fractured skull," Mr. Emberg
+remarked to Larry over the wire, "he will be in no condition to tell
+his name, or give any information for some time. The story is safe
+with him. Now you'd better get busy on some other line of the case.
+The _Scorcher_ is out, but they only have a scare yarn, without any
+foundation, to the effect that Mr. Potter is still in Italy, and
+that his family knows where he is."
+
+"That's all bosh!" exclaimed Larry.
+
+"That's what I think," the city editor said. "Now get on the job,
+Larry, and arrange to give us a good story for to-morrow. Keep watch
+of Retto, and as soon as the doctors will let you see him try again,
+though of course it may not be for several days."
+
+Larry was all at sea. He hung up the telephone receiver with a
+vague feeling that being a reporter on a special assignment was not
+all it was cracked up to be.
+
+"Easy enough to say get a good story for to-morrow," he remarked to
+himself, "but I'd like to know how I'm going to do it? The
+story--the only story there is--is safe with Retto, and he can't
+tell it."
+
+"What shall I do?" Larry asked himself. "Let me think. I guess I'd
+better go see Captain Tantrella and ask him to keep mum about Retto
+until I have another chance at the man. Then I'll--I'll go and tell
+Grace. She'll want to know all about it."
+
+He found Captain Tantrella at his hotel, having finished all the
+details connected with the docking of the _Turtle_. The commander
+readily agreed to keep quiet concerning Retto's identity, since the
+captain had no desire for further newspaper notoriety.
+
+"I will do more than this," he declared. "I will give you the
+package belonging to that queer man. I have to sail again soon, on a
+long voyage, and he might need it before I come back. You can give
+it to him if he recovers. If he does not--well, the authorities can
+open it. It may contain money or something that will tell about the
+poor fellow. I leave it with you."
+
+Larry was glad to get possession of the package that seemed of such
+importance to Retto. He wished he could open it, as he thought he
+might get a clue to the connection between the millionaire and the
+mysterious man, but he knew he would have no right to do that. Also
+it would give him a sort of claim on Retto, and, by returning the
+package, he could have a good excuse for going to see him.
+
+"Now to tell Grace," remarked Larry, as he left Captain Tantrella.
+"I'm sure she'll be anxious to hear the news."
+
+The millionaire's daughter was indeed glad to see Larry. She had
+read the first edition of the _Leader_, and wanted to know if there
+was anything further to tell.
+
+"I hoped to be able to give you some definite news," replied Larry,
+in answer to her questions. Then he related the scene in the
+hospital.
+
+"Poor man!" exclaimed Grace. "I wish I could go and see him."
+
+"I'm afraid they wouldn't let you," said the reporter. "I called up
+the place just before I came here and they said the man was still
+under the influence of ether, though the operation was over."
+
+"Was it a success?"
+
+"They think so, but it will be some time before he will be able to
+talk to anyone about your father. We shall have to be patient."
+
+"It is so hard," complained Grace, and Larry agreed with her. He did
+not yet see how he was going to get a story for the next day's
+paper--that is, a story which would have some fresh features in it.
+
+"I don't suppose you have anything new to tell me?" he asked of
+Grace.
+
+"Not much. I have had another letter from my father. It came a
+little while ago."
+
+"Is it the same as the others?"
+
+"The contents are, but the envelope is different. He says he will
+soon be home, and tells us not to worry."
+
+She gave the missive to Larry. He looked at the post-mark, and saw
+that it had come from a downtown sub-station.
+
+"This was mailed near the steamer pier!" he exclaimed. "Close to
+where Retto was hurt. He must have posted it just previous to the
+accident. I wish I had known this before."
+
+It was too late now, and Larry gazed regretfully at the envelope.
+Clearly, Retto had not been far from Mr. Potter at the time of the
+accident. Perhaps the missing millionaire was hiding downtown in New
+York.
+
+"I must make some inquiries in that neighborhood," thought Larry, as
+he arose to go.
+
+"Another thing," Grace said. "That man Sullivan was in front of the
+house again this morning."
+
+"I must see him!" exclaimed Larry. "I'll make him tell what his
+object is. This thing has got to end!"
+
+He was fiercely determined that he would force some information
+from the politician. Evidently Sullivan had a game on hand which the
+reporter had not yet succeeded in fathoming. "I'll hunt him up at
+once!" he added, as he bade Grace good-bye.
+
+"Be careful," she cautioned. "He is a dangerous man."
+
+"I will," Larry promised.
+
+But he could not find Sullivan. For once that wily politician denied
+himself to reporters, and kept out of their way. He was sought by a
+number of newspaper men, for the matter of a candidate for the
+eighth assembly district was again to the fore, and the henchmen of
+Kilburn and Reilly were making rival claims as to Sullivan's
+support.
+
+"Where is Sullivan?" was the cry that went up, and in the next two
+days that became almost as much of a mystery as the disappearance of
+Mr. Potter.
+
+"Get busy, Larry," advised Mr. Emberg, and Larry did his best to
+follow the advice.
+
+Three weeks passed, and Sullivan was not found. His family professed
+not to know where he was, and the best newspaper men in New York
+could not find him. Larry was working on the case with all the
+energy he had thrown into the Potter disappearance.
+
+Meanwhile the young reporter kept a close watch on the hospital
+where Retto was. The operation had been a success, but the patient
+was in a fever, during which he was out of his mind. He could not
+recognize anyone, much less talk intelligibly. Larry made several
+calls at the institution, but it was of no use.
+
+"You can't see him," said the nurse, when he had paid his usual
+visit one day, "but he is much better. I think by the day after
+to-morrow you can talk to him. His fever is going down and he has
+spells when he talks rationally. There was another man in to see him
+to-day."
+
+"I thought you said no one could visit him."
+
+"Well, we made an exception in this case. The man was a private
+detective, searching for a missing man, and he wanted to see all the
+patients. He looked at your friend last, and went off, seemingly
+quite excited."
+
+"What missing man was he looking for?" asked Larry.
+
+"A Mr. Potter. Seems to me I've read something about him in the
+papers. He's very rich."
+
+"Mr. Potter!" exclaimed Larry. "The detective must be from the
+private agency," he added to himself. Then aloud: "Did he recognize
+Mr. Ret--er I mean the man with the fractured skull?" and he waited
+anxiously for the nurse's answer.
+
+"He seemed to, but I was called away just then."
+
+"I know how Mr. Potter looks," Larry went on. "He has a moustache,
+and the man here is smooth-shaven."
+
+"No, the patient has a moustache and a beard now," the nurse
+replied with a smile. "They grew since he has been in the hospital."
+
+A sudden idea came to Larry. An idea so strange that it startled
+him. He dared not speak of it. He believed the detective held the
+same theory.
+
+"I'll call again," he said, thanking the nurse for the information
+she had given him. "I must see Grace at once," he murmured, as he
+left the hospital. "Strange I never thought of that. A beard and a
+moustache! The private detective! I wonder if he recognized Retto? I
+must hurry. Oh, if this should prove true!"
+
+He hurried to an elevated station and was soon on his way to Grace's
+house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE DETECTIVE'S THEORY
+
+
+Bounding up the steps three at a time Larry rang the bell of the
+Potter residence. He thought the door would never be opened, and,
+when the stately butler did swing back the portal the young
+reporter, not waiting to ask for anyone, stepped into the hall.
+
+"No one at home," the servant remarked with a smile, for he had
+gotten to be on quite friendly terms with Larry.
+
+"No one home?"
+
+"No. Mrs. Potter and Miss Grace have gone to Lakewood, N.J., for a
+few days. Mrs. Potter was quite ill, and the doctor advised a change
+of air, so she suddenly decided to go."
+
+"When are they coming back?"
+
+"I can't rightly say. In a few days, I expect. I was told to tell
+you that if anything important occurred you could write to them.
+Here is the address," and the butler gave Larry a slip of paper.
+
+"I wonder whether I ought to telegraph?" thought Larry to himself.
+"I think this is very important, yet I am not sure enough of it
+myself. I can't see Retto until the day after to-morrow. I had
+better wait until then. If my suspicions are confirmed I will send a
+message, in case they are not back by that time."
+
+Larry was about to leave the house when he saw a man coming up the
+front steps. He recognized him as a member of the private detective
+agency which he and Grace had visited.
+
+"Is Mrs. Potter home?" asked the man of the butler, who was standing
+in the opened front door, while Larry remained in the shadow of the
+hall.
+
+"No, she has gone to Lakewood."
+
+"Lakewood! That's too bad!" exclaimed the man.
+
+"Is it anything important?" inquired the butler.
+
+"I think I have located Mr. Potter," was the answer. "I am a private
+detective, hired by Miss Grace Potter. I came to see if she or her
+mother would accompany me to try to identify a man I believe is the
+missing millionaire."
+
+"Where is he?" asked the butler.
+
+"In a hospital, quite badly hurt."
+
+"Mr. Potter in a hospital! Badly hurt!" cried the servant in alarm.
+"What shall I do? Can't they bring him home?"
+
+"We must be sure it is him," the detective went on. "The description
+answers pretty well, but it would take a member of the family to
+make sure. So there's no one home, eh? Well, that's too bad. I
+wanted to test my theory that the hospital patient is the missing
+millionaire."
+
+"You can telegraph to them," suggested the butler. "I have the
+address."
+
+"That's what I'll do," the detective replied. "I'll tell them what I
+have discovered. They can get here to-morrow and we'll see if he's
+the right man."
+
+The officer took the address the servant gave him and hurried away.
+
+"Did you hear that?" cried the butler to Larry. "Mr. Potter is
+found!"
+
+"I hope it proves true," the reporter replied. "That is just what I
+came about, but when I found Mrs. Potter gone I didn't know what to
+do. I had rather the detective would take the responsibility of
+telegraphing. Perhaps the man in the hospital is not Mr. Potter?"
+
+"Do you know him?" asked the butler.
+
+"I have met him several times," replied Larry, "but I did not know
+he was Mr. Potter. It just dawned on me that he might be."
+
+"Well, well, how strange it all is," murmured the butler. "Who would
+have thought it? Well, we can't do anything until to-morrow."
+
+"No, I guess not," answered Larry, as he went down the steps.
+
+His mind was in a tumult. More and more he was coming to believe
+that the mysterious man in the hospital was the missing millionaire.
+
+"That's what he meant when he said I was following him too close,"
+mused Larry. "And I never suspected it! How glad Grace will be! What
+a story I shall have! I wish I had discovered him myself, without
+any help from the detective agency, but it will make good reading,
+anyhow. I must arrange it so we can get a scoop out of it."
+
+His first act was to go to the office of the paper and tell Mr.
+Emberg what had occurred. The city editor was much excited by the
+news.
+
+"That will make a great yarn!" he exclaimed. "I hope your friend
+Grace soon comes back with her mother and makes the identification
+complete. We must do nothing to hasten matters or some other paper
+will get on to the game and spoil our story."
+
+"Even the hospital people don't suspect yet," said Larry. "They
+don't know who their patient is--not even his assumed name."
+
+"I guess things are coming our way. We'll clear up the Potter
+mystery and the Sullivan disappearance at the same time. I believe
+Sullivan is in with Mr. Potter on some deal. It begins to look
+suspicious. The friends of Reilly and Kilburn are all at sea. They'd
+give a thousand dollars to know which way Sullivan was going to
+jump."
+
+Larry paid an early visit to the hospital the next day to see how
+matters were progressing. His friend, the nurse, greeted him with a
+smile.
+
+"I guess you can have an interview with your mysterious
+acquaintance now," she said. "He is much better than we expected,
+and, for the first time since the operation, talks rationally. We
+have not questioned him yet. We are not as curious as you newspaper
+men are."
+
+"Well, we have to be," responded Larry. "Can I go up now? Has the
+man who was here yesterday been back?"
+
+"Yes to your first question, and no to the second. You can go up.
+The superintendent left word to that effect. He is quite friendly to
+you."
+
+Larry started for the ward where Retto was. His heart was beating
+strangely. He felt that he was on the verge of solving the secret of
+the millionaire's disappearance and restoring to Grace her father.
+
+As he approached the bed where Retto reclined he was motioned back
+by another nurse on duty there.
+
+"He has just fallen asleep," she said. "When he awakens again you
+may speak to him. He has been writing a letter."
+
+Larry was disappointed. He looked at the man who had played such an
+important part in the disappearance of the millionaire, and who, he
+believed, was destined to assume a much more important role. The
+patient's beard and moustache had grown since the accident, and the
+smooth-shaven man was no more. Instead, Larry saw before him a
+person who, as he recalled the photographs of Mr. Potter, bore a
+remarkable resemblance to the millionaire.
+
+Of course, Mr. Potter had only a moustache and no beard, but aside
+from that Larry was positive that, lying on the bed in front of him,
+was Grace's father.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+A TERRIBLE MISTAKE
+
+
+How Larry wished the patient would awaken so he could question him!
+But the invalid showed no signs of it, and was in a deep slumber.
+
+"That will do him more good than medicine," said the nurse. "He will
+probably sleep for several hours."
+
+"Several hours," repeated Larry in dismay.
+
+"Yes, they often do."
+
+"Then there is no use in me waiting," he said. "I'll come back
+again. When I do I may bring his daughter with me."
+
+"I hope you do," the nurse replied. "I have felt so sorry for the
+poor man. He seemed to have no friends ever since he has been here.
+Who is he?"
+
+"I don't want to say for sure, until I get his daughter to identify
+him," Larry said, for he did not want the story to get out before
+the _Leader_ had a chance to print it.
+
+He decided he would go to the Potter house and see if Grace had
+returned yet in response to the telegram sent by the detective. He
+felt sure she would start immediately on receipt of the message.
+
+In this he was correct, for when he got to the millionaire's home
+Grace herself answered his ring.
+
+"Oh, Larry! Tell me quick!" she exclaimed. "Where is he? Is he badly
+hurt? What is the matter? Do you think it is really he?"
+
+"I hope so," Larry said. "Where is your mother?"
+
+"She stayed in Lakewood. I didn't tell her anything about it, for
+fear it would prove a disappointment. The telegram from the
+detective came to me and I made up my mind to come home alone and
+clear matters up before I told mother. She needs a rest, as she is
+very nervous.
+
+"But now I am here, you must take me to the hospital at once. The
+telegram said he was in a hospital. How did it happen? Is he badly
+hurt?"
+
+"I think he is almost well."
+
+"But how did they discover him? Who did it? How did it come about?"
+
+"It will take some time to answer all the questions," replied Larry
+with a smile. "I'll tell you all I can on the way to the hospital.
+My mysterious friend, Mah Retto, it seems, has turned out to be your
+father."
+
+"Then he was the one I saw in front of the house that night, and I
+thought it was father," said Grace. "His smooth-shaven face deceived
+me, but I was sure I could not mistake his figure."
+
+"There have been a good many surprises in this case," Larry
+admitted. "I've often been fooled myself."
+
+"Let's hurry to the hospital," suggested Grace. "I'd rather go with
+you than with that detective. He is to be here at eleven o'clock,
+and it's only ten now. Let's hurry away."
+
+Larry agreed, and they left the house. Grace explained that she had
+caught the first express out of Lakewood that morning and had been
+home only half an hour when Larry called.
+
+They were so busy talking over all the details of the queer case
+that they arrived at the hospital much quicker than they
+anticipated.
+
+"Here we are," said Larry, as he led the way up the broad stone
+steps of the institution.
+
+"I'm almost afraid to go in," remarked Grace, her voice showing a
+nervous dread. "It seems so strange. I'm quite frightened, Larry."
+
+"Don't think of anything but that you're going to see your father,"
+the reporter replied, reassuringly. "He'll be so glad to see you. I
+believe he would have been home long before this if it had not been
+for the accident."
+
+Larry entered the office of the institution. No sooner had he
+stepped inside than he was made aware that something unusual had
+occurred. Nurses and doctors, with anxious looks, were hastening
+here and there. Orderlies and messengers were hurrying to and fro,
+and there was a continuous ringing of signal and telephone bells.
+
+"Must have been an accident and a lot of patients bought in," said
+Larry, for he had seen such activity in hospitals before when a
+number of injured persons required treatment at once.
+
+"Oh, how terrible!" exclaimed Grace. "Do you suppose many are
+killed?"
+
+"I hope not. But it looks as if something very unusual had
+happened."
+
+Just then Larry saw the nurse who had been at the bedside of the
+patient whom he and Grace had come to see.
+
+"I've brought his daughter," he said to the uniformed attendant.
+"May we go up now?"
+
+The nurse seemed confused.
+
+"I don't know--I'll see!" she remarked. "Here is the superintendent.
+Perhaps you had better speak to him," and she whispered something to
+the official.
+
+"There's something wrong about Mr. Potter!" was Larry's first
+thought. "I wonder if he could have suddenly died?"
+
+Even Grace, unaccustomed as she was to hospital scenes, was aware
+that all was not as it should be.
+
+"Oh, Larry!" she exclaimed. "What is the matter? Have they taken him
+away?"
+
+"I don't know," the reporter answered in a low tone. "I'll soon find
+out."
+
+The superintendent approached them.
+
+"You wanted to see that patient who was brought in from the
+steamship pier?" he inquired. "We've never been able to obtain his
+name."
+
+"I can tell you what it is," answered Larry. "We have every reason
+to believe he is Hamden Potter, the missing millionaire, and this
+young lady's father. May we see him?"
+
+"Hamden Potter!" exclaimed the superintendent.
+
+"That's who he is," declared Larry. "He went by the name Mah Retto
+while he was away. May we go up now?"
+
+"I am sorry," said the superintendent slowly, "but that patient
+escaped from the ward about half an hour ago, and we have not been
+able to trace him!"
+
+"Escaped!" cried Larry.
+
+"My father gone again!" gasped Grace.
+
+"Too bad, but that's what has happened," the superintendent
+repeated. "The nurse left him sleeping quietly, and went downstairs
+to get some medicine. When she came back he was gone."
+
+"But how could he go out without any clothing?" asked Larry.
+
+"He got some clothing," the head of the institution replied. "In the
+bed next to him was a patient who was to be discharged as cured
+to-day. That man's clothes were brought to him and laid out on a
+chair beside the bed. While he was in the bathroom Mr. Potter, as
+you call him, got possession of the clothes, put them on, and
+walked out. Several patients saw him go, but said nothing, as they
+thought it was all right. When the nurse got back she missed your
+friend and gave the alarm."
+
+"Can't you tell in what direction he went?" asked Larry.
+
+"So far we have been unsuccessful. We have made inquiries outside,
+but so many persons are passing in the street that it has been
+impossible to trace him."
+
+"Was he able to walk very far?" the reporter asked.
+
+"He was strong; much stronger than the usual run of patients who are
+recovering from such a wound as he had. He must have been more fully
+recovered than we thought. He had written a letter, the nurse tells
+me, and this is also gone. Probably he was temporarily out of his
+mind, and went out to mail the missive. It is a strange occurrence."
+
+"My poor father!" exclaimed Grace. "I thought I had found him, and
+now he is missing again."
+
+Larry did not know what to do. It was a curious state of affairs. He
+had been so sure of uniting Mr. Potter and Grace, but now all his
+plans had come to nothing. Then, too, there was the paper to be
+considered. Mr. Emberg would expect him to send in the story of the
+mysterious disappearance of the hospital patient. Yet Larry did not
+like to leave Grace while he went to telephone. He was in a curious
+predicament.
+
+"We will send out a general alarm if we do not find him soon," the
+superintendent went on. "Occasionally delirious patients wander from
+the wards while the nurses are temporarily absent, but they are
+always found hiding in some part of the hospital. We have not yet
+completed the search. Only once in a great while do they get outside
+the institution. Yet Mr. Potter may have."
+
+"Then we may never find him again," spoke Grace.
+
+"Don't worry," Larry advised, as cheerfully as he could. "He'll come
+back."
+
+"I'll never see him again!" and Grace was on the verge of tears.
+"Oh, this is terrible!"
+
+Just then there was heard a confusion of sounds in the corridor
+outside of the superintendent's office. The latter went to the door,
+and through the opened portal Grace and Larry heard some one
+exclaim:
+
+"He's come back!"
+
+"Maybe that's him!" cried the reporter.
+
+The superintendent returned to his office.
+
+"I have a pleasant surprise for you," he exclaimed. "The patient has
+come back. He says he went out to a telephone."
+
+"Is he--is he all right?" asked Grace.
+
+"Better than ever. The little trip seemed to do him good. Here he
+is."
+
+He threw open the door he had closed. There, standing in the
+corridor, was the man Larry had known as Mah Retto--the man he
+believed was Mr. Potter. The patient was smiling at the reporter.
+
+"There is your father, Grace," said Larry.
+
+The girl gave one look at the man confronting her. She seemed to
+sway forward, and became deathly pale----
+
+"That is not my father!" she cried, as she fell in a faint.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+IN HIS ENEMIES' POWER
+
+
+"Quick! Catch her!" cried the hospital superintendent, springing
+forward, but it was Larry who put out his arms and kept Grace from
+falling to the floor.
+
+"Here, nurse," called one of several physicians who had gathered in
+the corridor when the news spread that the missing patient had
+returned. "Look after her, please. Carry her into the receiving
+room."
+
+"Who is she?" asked the patient, who had caused such a stir, and to
+whom no one seemed to be paying any attention in the excitement
+caused by Grace's swoon. The man had not caught a good look at the
+girl.
+
+"She is Grace Potter," replied Larry, glancing curiously at Mah
+Retto.
+
+"Grace Potter? Hamden Potter's daughter?" The man seemed greatly
+excited.
+
+"Yes. She came here expecting, as I did, to meet her father. I
+thought you were Mr. Potter. She says you are not."
+
+"No, I am not," replied the man.
+
+"Then who are you? Where is her father? You know! I am sure of it!"
+Larry was upset over the mistake he and the detective had made.
+
+"I did know where Mr. Potter was," and as he made that answer Retto
+gave every evidence of being under a great strain. His hands shook
+with more than the weakness of his illness. He was paler than the
+white hue caused by his confinement in the hospital.
+
+"Why? Have you lost track of him?"
+
+"I am afraid so. Listen, young man, perhaps you can help me. Let us
+get to some place where we can talk. I have strange news for you."
+
+"Then you know me?" and the young reporter looked somewhat
+surprised.
+
+"I couldn't very well help it, with the way you have kept after me
+lately. But we have no time to lose. Something most unexpected has
+happened. Mr. Potter is in the hands of his enemies!"
+
+"Then he is found?"
+
+"Yes, in a way, but he might better be lost!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Come in here and I will tell you."
+
+Retto led the way to a small room off the main corridor.
+
+"What does this mean?" asked the hospital superintendent.
+
+"I will explain later," replied Retto. "Just now it is very
+necessary that I have a talk with this young man."
+
+The superintendent turned away and Retto closed the door. He sat
+down in a chair, and Larry could see that he was trembling from
+weakness.
+
+"I must talk quickly," he said, "for I am still very ill. I made a
+desperate effort to go out in order to get in communication with Mr.
+Potter. I mailed him a letter and then called him up on the
+telephone----"
+
+"Then you know where he was!" burst out Larry.
+
+"I did, but I do not now. Listen, and don't ask too many questions
+yet. All will soon be explained, if it is not too late. I am Mr.
+Potter's friend. He took me into his confidence when he found it
+necessary, for very strong reasons, to disappear. I agreed to help
+him and do exactly as he wanted me to. He has been hiding across the
+Hudson River, outside of the legal jurisdiction of New York State. I
+was in touch with him by telephone and otherwise up to the time of
+my accident on the pier. Since then, of course, I have not been able
+to hold any communication with him. As soon as I had the chance,
+which came for the first time to-day, I got out and called him on
+the telephone. I was told by the man, with whom he had been staying,
+that, about an hour ago, some men came and took him away."
+
+"Some men took him away?"
+
+"Yes. Men whom I recognized, by the description, as his enemies--as
+men who have an interest in getting Mr. Potter into their power. He
+has been trying all this while to keep out of their way. Now they
+have him!"
+
+"But what's to be done?" asked the young reporter.
+
+"I don't know," replied Retto, hopelessly. "Everything was going on
+all right until those horses knocked me down."
+
+Larry was conscious of a strange sensation. It was partly due to his
+impetuosity he felt that Retto had been injured. Larry partly blamed
+himself for Mr. Potter's present plight, since through the
+reporter's instrumentality the millionaire's friend had not been
+able to keep in touch with him.
+
+"I'll find him!" exclaimed Larry. "Tell me what to do! I'll trace
+him!"
+
+"If I was only stronger!" said Retto. "I'm so weak that I couldn't
+walk another block. I'd like to get after those scoundrels who have
+Mr. Potter!"
+
+"I'll get after them!" cried the youthful newspaper man, thinking
+more of Grace just then than he did of his assignment. "Tell me
+where to go!"
+
+"I can only tell you where Mr. Potter was hiding," went on Retto.
+"That was in a little house just outside of Jersey City. The men
+must have gone there after him. Possibly you can trace them from the
+house."
+
+"Tell me how to get to the place!"
+
+Retto gave the necessary instructions.
+
+"I'm going over there!" exclaimed the young reporter.
+
+"What are you going to do with Grace?"
+
+"That's so! I forgot about her. I'll take her along!" and Larry
+sprang to his feet in his enthusiasm and started for the door.
+
+"Can she stand the trip?"
+
+"She's a brave girl! She'll be glad to go!"
+
+"Then you'd better hurry. Every minute is precious. Great things
+hang on this. If Mr. Potter's enemies force him to do certain
+things, which he has been trying to avoid doing, the consequences
+will be very bad for many persons. Hurry, Dexter!"
+
+"I'll start at once. I wonder if Grace is better?"
+
+The young reporter and Retto left the small room. Larry soon found
+that Grace had recovered from her swoon. Rapidly he told her of what
+he proposed doing. With her he would go to Jersey City and try to
+trace the missing millionaire.
+
+"And we'll find him!" he added, with vigor.
+
+He went downstairs to telephone to Mr. Emberg of the new and
+unexpected turn the case had taken.
+
+"Keep right after it, Larry!" said the city editor. "Find Mr. Potter
+and get the story!"
+
+As the _Leader_ reporter turned to go upstairs he saw, entering the
+hospital, a young man whom he recognized as Hans Fritsch, the German
+newspaper man he had met at the lonely tenement.
+
+"What are you doing here?" asked Larry, noting that his friend was
+attired in an automobile suit.
+
+"I comes to see how gets along a friend of mine. He is here sick. I
+have a day off from mine work and I comes in my new automobile.
+After dot I goes me for a nice ride. Come along!"
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Larry, a sudden idea coming into his
+head.
+
+"Ofer by New Jersey. Dere is goot automobiling roads."
+
+"Are you going to Jersey City?"
+
+"Sure. I goes by dot on der ferry. Den I skips out by der Plank
+Roat, und maybe I goes me out to der Oranges Mountains. I am just
+learning to run my car goot!"
+
+"I'll go with you!" cried Larry. "Have you room in your car for
+two?"
+
+"Surely! For four, if you likes to bring 'em. My mother, who is in
+Germany, und quite vell off, send me der car for a birthday present,
+odervise I should not haff him. Reporters here do not get monies
+enough to buy automobiles!"
+
+"I'll be with you in five minutes!" exclaimed Larry, hurrying off to
+tell Grace.
+
+"I am ready as soon as I see how my sick friend is," declared the
+German reporter. "Den we go quick like de wind, und haff a goot
+time!"
+
+"Yes, and maybe a hot pursuit!" said Larry under his breath, for he
+had determined on a bold plan. He would, in Fritsch's auto, give
+chase to the captors of Mr. Potter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+MR. POTTER IS FOUND--CONCLUSION
+
+
+There was a throbbing of the motor, a grinding and shrieking as the
+clutch was thrown in, a trembling to the car as Fritsch advanced the
+spark and opened the gasolene throttle still wider and the
+automobile, bearing the German reporter, Larry and Grace, was off.
+
+"Here are some goggles!" said Fritsch, handing back two pairs to his
+passengers. "You vill need dem when ve goes like de wind. If I had
+known I was to haff a lady I would get a dust coat."
+
+"It doesn't matter," replied Grace, her eyes shining with the
+excitement. "I want to find my father."
+
+"Your father?"
+
+Then Larry explained. He could safely do so since the German paper
+did not come out until the morning of the next day, and Fritsch
+could not "beat" him.
+
+Faster speeded the auto. They went over the Hudson River on a ferry
+boat, and, as soon as Jersey City was reached, the car was sent
+along as fast as the law allowed.
+
+"I wonder if I can get on their trail?" thought Larry, as he
+watched the houses skim by, and held himself in his seat, beside
+Grace, to avoid the jouncing and swaying caused by the uneven
+streets.
+
+"Do you think ve vill haff a race?" asked the German, as they neared
+the house where Mr. Potter had been hiding.
+
+"Maybe. I hope so, anyhow."
+
+"I don't."
+
+"Why? Don't you want to help find Mr. Potter?"
+
+"Yes, but I am of nervousness yet in my new car. I haff never raced,
+und I might do some damage."
+
+"Let me run her," suggested Larry. "I've had some experience with
+autos, and I guess I can manage yours. I ran one like this several
+times when I was out with Mr. Emberg."
+
+"Den take der vheel," went on Fritsch. "I comes back wid Miss Potter
+und you can race."
+
+"Oh, Larry! Can you do it?" and Grace looked a little alarmed.
+
+"Of course I can," and the young reporter spoke confidently.
+
+The car was stopped and the change made. Larry soon found he could
+manage the various levers all right, and that the car responded
+readily to his guiding hand.
+
+"This must be the place," he said, after they had ridden for half an
+hour at as high speed as they dared, considering the fact that
+there were policemen on every other block.
+
+He stopped the car in front of a house that seemed to be
+uninhabited. It answered the description Retto had given, and Larry
+knocked on the door. After several minutes the portal opened a
+crack, showing that it was held by a chain.
+
+"Is Mr. Potter here?" asked Larry, though he knew the missing
+millionaire was not. The man who had opened the door looked
+suspiciously at the inquirer. "It's all right," the young reporter
+went on. "I come from Mr. Retto. I want to aid Mr. Potter."
+
+"You're too late," was the answer. "They've got him into their
+clutches. They'll work their game before he knows that everything is
+all right, and that it is safe for him to show himself. If they had
+only waited half an hour all would have been well. I just got
+another telephone message from Retto, saying that all matters were
+satisfactorily adjusted, and that there was no further need for Mr.
+Potter to hide. But he doesn't know this. I have no way of telling
+him, and he'll sign the papers before those men will let him go."
+
+"Tell me in which direction they went and I'll go after them!" cried
+Larry. "They can't have gone far, and we can overtake them in the
+auto!"
+
+"They have a car, too," replied the man. "A fast one. They managed,
+by a trick, to get Mr. Potter into it. If I could only get word to
+him he could laugh at their efforts! If I could only send him a
+message!"
+
+"What is the message?" asked Larry.
+
+"It is this. 'The money is safe!'"
+
+"Is that all?"
+
+"That's all, but how can you get it to him?"
+
+"Didn't you hear anything that might give you a clue to where the
+men were going?"
+
+"Somewhere out toward the Orange Mountains. That's all I know. They
+are going to the home of some lawyer or judge, I believe. There is
+some legal matter involved."
+
+"Then that's where we'll go!" decided the young reporter, as he
+hurried back to the auto and told Grace and Fritsch what he had
+heard.
+
+"On to de mountains!" cried the German reporter. "My car is yours!
+It will climb de biggest hills on der high gear, und ve will catch
+de scoundrels!"
+
+Once more they were off. They took the Plank Road to Newark, and, on
+inquiring in the latter city, learned that a car, answering the
+description of the one Mr. Potter had been taken off in, had passed
+about half an hour before.
+
+"That's not so bad!" exclaimed Larry. "We can catch 'em, I guess!"
+
+"I hope so!" murmured Grace.
+
+"If my car doesn't beat de oder one I gives up riding," remarked
+Fritsch, with proper pride in his machine.
+
+They passed through Newark, and were soon on the road leading to
+Orange, at the foot of the mountains. The highway was conducive to
+speed, and Larry "let her out several notches," as he expressed it,
+at the same time keeping watch for policemen on motorcycles, who
+were alert to nab the unwary auto speeders.
+
+Every time they saw a car in front of them they were anxious until
+they saw it was not the one they wanted. They passed a number of
+machines, and when Orange was reached they had not been successful.
+
+"Now for a mountain climb!" exclaimed Larry, as he slowed down the
+engine to give the water a chance to cool off before attempting the
+ascent. "Will it do Eagle Rock hill, Fritsch?"
+
+"I think so," replied the German. "I never tried it, but de circular
+says it vill do it."
+
+Eagle Rock hill is known far and wide as one of the steepest ascents
+up which an automobile can be sent. Many cars have to take it on the
+low gear, or go as slowly as possible. Even then it is a strain.
+
+"Suppose we should overtake them there?" suggested Grace.
+
+"Ve'd catch 'em!" exclaimed the German, with a confidence born of
+admiration for his car.
+
+On and on they chugged. At the foot of the long, steep slope Larry
+set the levers on second gear, as he did not want to take any
+chances with the auto. Up and up they went, their eyes strained
+through the dust for the sight of a green car, for that was the
+color of the machine in which rode the men who had taken Mr. Potter
+away.
+
+"Hark!" exclaimed Grace, suddenly. "It sounds like an auto just
+ahead of us!"
+
+"It is," declared Larry, whose quick ear had caught the chug-chug of
+a motor.
+
+An instant later they had rounded a turn. There, in front of them,
+climbing the steep hill, was a green car. In it could be seen four
+men.
+
+"That's them!" cried Larry.
+
+"Open her up! Throw in the high gear!" yelled Fritsch, who was now
+as enthusiastic and as interested in the chase as were either of his
+companions. "Let her rip!"
+
+"Will she stand it?" asked Larry, shouting the words over his
+shoulder to Grace and Fritsch in the tonneau.
+
+"Sure!"
+
+There was a grinding noise as Larry threw in the high-speed gear.
+The auto hung back for an instant because of the sudden change. The
+motor seemed to groan at the unexpected load thrown on it. Then,
+like a gallant horse responding to the call of its rider, the car
+leaped ahead.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Larry. "She'll do it! We'll catch 'em!"
+
+The distance between the two cars was lessening. Those in the green
+machine seemed unaware of the approach of their pursuers.
+
+"Can you see your father?" asked the German of Grace.
+
+"I'm not sure. It looks like him!"
+
+She stood up in the tonneau, holding to the back of the seat in
+front of her to steady herself against the swaying of the car.
+
+Just then Larry blew a blast on the horn. As the deep tone responded
+to his pressure on the big rubber bulb the men in the green machine
+looked back. At the sight of one of the faces Grace cried.
+
+"It's father! It's father!"
+
+Above the noise made by the two autos the millionaire heard his
+daughter's voice. He stood up and, leaning over the back of the
+seat, waved his hand to her. Then one of the men sitting beside him
+forcibly drew the millionaire down.
+
+"Oh! We must get to him!" cried Grace. "They may do him some harm!
+Hurry, Larry!"
+
+"Shove her over a few more notches!" cried Fritsch. "She'll take
+more gasolene!"
+
+Larry obeyed the instructions of the German reporter. The car seemed
+to feel new life and leaped ahead. The distance from the other car
+was steadily growing less. Fritsch's confidence in his machine was
+not misplaced. But the men in the green car were making efforts to
+escape. The chauffeur had advanced his spark, and the car was taking
+the steep grade almost as well as was that of the pursuers.
+
+"Can't we catch them?" cried Grace, in an agony of doubt and fear.
+
+Larry narrowly watched the green car. He saw that in spite of the
+efforts of the driver it was losing speed.
+
+"We'll do it," he said, quietly.
+
+Then Larry tried a trick which had come into his mind almost at the
+last moment. Keeping his car going as fast as possible he steered it
+so as to pass the other auto. He knew he had speed enough to do it,
+and realized that he must act quickly, as they were almost at the
+summit of the hill.
+
+Closer and closer the two cars came together, that driven by the
+young reporter gaining. Now the front wheels overlapped the rear
+ones of the green machine--now they were at the side door of the
+tonneau--now the two tonneaus were even! This was what Larry wanted.
+
+Slowing down his engine the least bit, so as to keep in pace with
+the other machine and not pass it, he called across to Mr. Potter,
+as the two autos raced side by side:
+
+"Mr. Potter, I bring you a message from your friends!"
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"It is this! 'The money is safe!'"
+
+"Good!" cried the millionaire. "Now I don't care what these
+scoundrels do!"
+
+"Father! Father!" cried Grace.
+
+"Stop that machine!" yelled Larry to the chauffeur of the green
+car.
+
+"You can't make me!" retorted the man.
+
+"Jump into our car!" cried Fritsch to Mr. Potter. "You can do it!"
+
+The two machines were close together, and so evenly were they
+running that they seemed to be standing still, side by side. The
+millionaire arose and endeavored to get out of the tonneau, and into
+that of the auto in which sat his daughter.
+
+"No, you don't!" exclaimed one of the men beside him, and he took
+hold of Mr. Potter.
+
+"Let me go!" called the rich man. "I'm not afraid of you now.
+There's no longer any reason for me to remain in hiding!"
+
+"You can't go until you sign those papers!" cried another of the
+men.
+
+"Stop that car!" shouted Larry again.
+
+"Let's see you make me!" was the impudent retort of the man at the
+wheel.
+
+"I'll make you!" declared the young reporter.
+
+He gave a quick motion to the steering wheel. Then he shoved the
+levers over, and pressed down the pedal that cut out the muffler and
+slightly relieved the strain on the motor. Fritsch's car shot ahead.
+Larry steered it directly in front of the green machine, and kept
+just far enough in advance to avoid a collision.
+
+"Get out of the way!" shouted the driver of the emerald car.
+
+"Now I guess you'll stop!" retorted the young reporter.
+
+The road suddenly narrowed. Larry gradually slowed up his car. There
+was no room to pass, and the other machine had to slacken up also.
+
+Larry suddenly shut off his power and put on the brakes. His machine
+came to a gradual stop. There was a bump behind and the other had
+collided with it, but not enough to cause any damage.
+
+"There! I guess you'll stop now!" exclaimed Larry, as he leaped from
+his seat and hurried back to the green car.
+
+But the men did not await his coming. With a shout to his companions
+the chauffeur of the rear auto leaped out. The others followed his
+example, leaving Mr. Potter alone in the automobile.
+
+"Father! Father!" cried Grace.
+
+"Is this really you, Mr. Potter?" asked the reporter, hardly able to
+believe that he had found the missing millionaire.
+
+"That's who I am!" exclaimed the man whom Larry had sought so long.
+Mr. Potter entered the other machine and clasped Grace into his
+arms. "I'm back from my enforced exile," he went on. "Now you can
+send the story to your paper."
+
+"I must get to a telephone!" cried Larry, his newspaper instincts to
+the fore again, now that he had successfully covered his special
+assignment.
+
+"Get back into my car," suggested Fritsch. "Dere is a telephone at
+de top of der hill. I'll drive you now so long as de race is ofer!"
+
+"And we won!" cried Grace. "Oh, father! How glad I am to have you
+back!"
+
+"How glad I am to get back!" replied Mr. Potter.
+
+Larry sat beside the German reporter, who took his place at the
+steering wheel. The other car was left where the men had abandoned
+it. They had disappeared into the woods on either side of the road,
+and never troubled Mr. Potter again.
+
+"Why did you disappear, Mr. Potter?" asked Larry, who had to have
+some facts to telephone in, as it was near first edition-time.
+
+"It's a long story to tell, young man," replied the millionaire,
+"and quite complicated. Briefly, I had to disappear in order to save
+a number of widows and orphans from losing what little money they
+depended on for a living. As you have probably guessed, I am
+interested in many financial matters. One was the building of an
+extension of the subway. Hundreds of widows, and guardians of
+orphans, had bought stock in this enterprise, as it was sold by
+popular subscription.
+
+"While abroad I learned there was a scheme on foot to involve me in
+certain legal difficulties, and it might even cause my arrest in
+order to get me to do certain things that would force the price of
+the subway stock down, and so bankrupt many innocent persons. To
+prevent this I determined to disappear, without even the knowledge
+of my family. How I managed it I will tell you later. Matters were
+going along all right until Retto, whose real name, you might as
+well know, is Simonson, suddenly disappeared. I did not know what to
+do, nor how matters, with which I had entrusted him, were
+progressing. But it wasn't his fault. I wonder what happened to
+him?"
+
+Larry explained about Mr. Simonson's accident, of which Mr. Potter
+was ignorant.
+
+"When these men, my enemies, unexpectedly appeared to-day at the
+house where I had been hiding ever since I disappeared, asked me to
+appear in a New Jersey court, I had to go with them," went on Mr.
+Potter. "It was in the nature of an arrest, and I did not dare
+disobey. They wanted to take me before a Supreme Court Justice in
+his home on the mountain and make me sign certain papers.
+
+"But you came along in the nick of time. When you gave me that
+message to the effect that the money was all right, I knew that the
+affairs of the subway had been so arranged that the stock would not
+go down and the widows and orphans would not suffer. I was willing
+then to appear in court, as the schemes of the scoundrels, who had
+practically kidnapped me, could amount to nothing. But it seems
+they didn't wait to see what the outcome would be. I'm much obliged
+to you, Larry."
+
+"So am I," added Grace, with a smile.
+
+"I'd do it all over again for the sake of getting such a good
+story--and--er--of course, finding you and helping your daughter,"
+Larry finished. "Now to telephone this in."
+
+Mr. Emberg could hardly believe the news that Larry fairly shouted
+over the wire.
+
+"Found him, you say! Good for you, Larry. It'll be a great beat!
+Wait a minute! I'll let Harvey take the story. Talk fast. Give us
+enough for the first edition, and then, for the second, get the
+whole story from Mr. Potter. This is a corker!"
+
+What a scene there was in the _Leader_ office then! Mr. Newton
+grabbed up paper and pencil and rushed to the telephone booth to
+which Larry's wire had been switched so that the story could be
+taken with fewer interruptions. Page after page of notes did Mr.
+Newton scribble down, as Larry dictated the dramatic finding of the
+missing millionaire during the automobile chase.
+
+"That'll do, Larry!" cried Mr. Newton, when he had the first half of
+the story. "I'll get one of the other boys to take the rest while I
+grind this out on the machine."
+
+So the young reporter dictated the remainder of the account to
+another person in the _Leader_ office, while Mr. Newton was
+pounding away on the typewriter at his section.
+
+Thus it went on in relays. The first part of the story was in type
+before Larry had finished his end of it. Then, as there was no more
+time to get anything further in for the first edition, Larry went
+back to where he had left Mr. Potter, Grace and Fritsch in the
+automobile. Mr. Potter gave the young reporter some additional
+particulars.
+
+He explained that he had learned, while in Europe, of a mix-up in
+New York politics that involved his company, which was building the
+new subway line. Sullivan, Kilburn and Reilly were factors in the
+game, and the control of the assembly district would go to whoever
+could bring about the opening of the new subway route through it.
+
+Mr. Potter repeated, more at detail, how there was likely to be a
+big law-suit over the matter, which would tie up operations for a
+year, and which would force down the price of the stock so that many
+small investors would lose all they owned.
+
+"I had promised Sullivan to do as he wanted, in case he supported
+Reilly," Mr. Potter went on. "Later I found I could not do as I had
+agreed without getting tangled up in the legal conflict. They wanted
+to serve certain papers on me, and get me into the jurisdiction of
+the law courts, so I decided, in order to protect those who were
+unable to protect themselves, to disappear. I was aware that a
+wrong construction might be placed on it, that it would subject me
+to much criticism, that it would be hard and that it would cause
+distress to my family and friends. But there was no other way in
+which I could aid the helpless, so I decided to do it."
+
+The millionaire explained how he had sailed from Italy under an
+assumed name, after arranging there with his friend, Mr. Simonson,
+to precede him to New York, do certain work, and keep him informed
+of how matters went. Simonson took the name Mah Retto, which had a
+foreign sound, and could be depended upon to deceive Mr. Potter's
+enemies. Mr. Simonson was of dark complexion and looked like an East
+Indian. The name was formed from some of the letters making up the
+millionaire's name. Retto's handwriting was very similar to that of
+Mr. Potter's, and easily passed for it, even under the scrutiny of
+Grace and her mother. The man himself bore a remarkable resemblance
+to the millionaire and nearly deceived Grace once.
+
+Most unexpectedly, some of Mr. Potter's enemies got on the trail of
+Retto, and he learned they would be waiting for him when he landed
+in New York. He decided to elude them.
+
+He was aboard the _Olivia_ when the ship struck on the bar, and
+resolved to take a desperate chance and come ashore on a life-raft.
+He did, and Larry and Bailey rescued him. Then followed his shaving
+off of his moustache in the fisherman's hut to make a good disguise,
+and Larry's subsequent chase after him. Once Larry had been close on
+Mr. Potter's trail. The millionaire was in Retto's room the night
+Larry called on the mysterious man in the Jackson tenement, and this
+explained the reference in the letter to the young reporter being so
+"close" after Mr. Potter.
+
+Sullivan, it was explained, had an idea that Grace or her mother
+knew where Mr. Potter was hiding, and was much disappointed because
+the rich man could not carry out the original plan of political
+action.
+
+"I think Sullivan will show himself, now that he knows I have been
+found," said Grace's father. "He has been looking for me on his own
+responsibility, I understand. I have straightened matters out so
+that he can support Reilly as he promised to do, Larry, in that
+interview he gave you. I think that was all he wanted me to come
+back for.
+
+"Sullivan used to go up and watch my house," Mr. Potter went on. "He
+thought I was there, I suppose. Retto also watched it, but for a
+different purpose. I sent him up to catch glimpses of my wife and
+daughter, to see if they were all right, as I did not dare venture
+into that neighborhood for fear of being recognized. I had their
+miniatures, however. The night I reached New York I went to the
+house and got them. I remained in the suburbs of Jersey City most of
+the time, as, until to-day, the scoundrels did not have matters so
+arranged that they could legally serve papers on me in New Jersey.
+They must have taken a last desperate chance this morning, but,
+thanks to you, Larry, they were foiled."
+
+In Fritsch's auto, after Larry had finished telephoning in the
+story, the little party returned to New York. They took Mr.
+Simonson, or Retto, from the hospital to Mr. Potter's house. There
+he explained his part in aiding the millionaire. Larry gave him back
+the papers he had secured from Captain Tantrella, and the curious
+gold coin Mr. Simonson had lost from his watch chain in the
+fisherman's hut.
+
+Mr. Simonson told his employer how he had tried to run away from
+Larry that day on the pier, as matters were then not yet ripe for a
+disclosure, and how he had fallen under the horses' feet.
+
+"When you came to see me in the hospital," he went on to Larry, "I
+was about to send for Mr. Potter, for I felt I was in bad shape and
+that the mystery might now come to an end. Then I became
+unconscious, was delirious for three weeks, and the next I knew was
+when the nurse told me this morning that the day after to-morrow you
+were coming to see me. I decided I must communicate with Mr. Potter.
+But when I called him up, I was startled when I was told by the man
+in whose house he was hiding that his enemies had him."
+
+"But Larry got me away from them," went on Mr. Potter, with a happy
+laugh. "This ends the mystery of my disappearance."
+
+"I must telegraph mother the good news," said Grace. "She is in
+Lakewood. I had also better notify the private detective that he
+need no longer work on the case."
+
+"We'll go to Lakewood and surprise your mother," said her father. "I
+need a rest after my hard work in keeping away from Larry Dexter.
+I'll telephone the detective agency. I suppose the manager will be
+disappointed that a newspaper man beat him," which was exactly how
+the manager felt.
+
+The young reporter, bidding Grace and her father good-bye, returned
+to the office of the _Leader_, going down in Fritsch's auto.
+
+"Well, you have given us some news!" exclaimed Mr. Emberg. "Look at
+that!"
+
+He held up the paper, the front page of which was almost all taken
+up with the story of the missing millionaire.
+
+"I suppose that ends my special assignment, then."
+
+"This one is finished," spoke the city editor, "but I may have
+another for you."
+
+"What kind?"
+
+"I'll tell you later."
+
+Those of my readers who want to know what Larry's next assignment
+was may learn by reading the fourth volume of this series, to be
+called: "Larry Dexter and the Bank Mystery, or, A Young Reporter in
+Wall Street." In that story we shall follow the young reporter
+through adventures which were exciting in the extreme.
+
+The _Leader_ beat every other paper in New York on the Potter story,
+and Larry was the hero of the occasion. The next day he located
+Sullivan and cleared up that end of the case.
+
+"I suppose you'd like to take a short rest?" said Mr. Emberg to the
+young reporter a few days later. "You had quite a strenuous time of
+it in that automobile race."
+
+"I guess I could stand a little vacation."
+
+"Then you shall have it."
+
+Larry wondered where he would spend the vacation, but the matter was
+settled for him. When he got home that night he found a telegram
+awaiting him. It was from Grace Potter, and read:
+
+"Can't you come down to Lakewood for a few days? Mother and father
+would be glad to see you. So would I."
+
+Larry went.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LARRY DEXTER'S GREAT SEARCH***
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