Frank Merriwells Reward | Page 2

to turn over! I believe I'm not hurt."
"The motorman is, though! He has been carried into the drug-store."

Frank looked toward the drug-store, and saw an ambulance dash up to
convey the injured man to the hospital.
"Glad you're all right!" turning again to the baseball-captain. "These
things are cranky at times. I've had some experience with one."
A policeman pushed forward to take possession of the automobile until
the company could send another motorman.
The ambulance dashed away, and Browning, Diamond, and Rattleton
came across the street hurriedly from the apothecary's. Bink and Danny,
Gamp and Dismal--other friends of his--were already crowding round
Merriwell. Back of them was a pushing, excited throng.
"Which way did that carriage go?" Kirk demanded.
"Which carriage?"
"The one that was just ahead of us. I was chasing it in the automobile?"
"With a driver in a green livery and a bay horse?" asked the newsboy,
who had pushed into the inner circle.
"Yes. Which way did it go?"
"Turned de first corner."
"Let's get a cab!" said Kirk. "Come, I want you to go with me!"
He caught Merriwell by the arm. A cab had drawn up near the curbing,
and toward this they moved, Merriwell reserving his questions until
later.
Dunstan hurriedly gave instructions to the driver, and climbed in after
Merriwell.
"Now, what does this mean?" Frank demanded, as the cab started with
a lurch. "What sort of a wild-goose chase are you on?"

"What made that auto-carriage do that way?"
"There was something the matter with it, I suppose."
"It struck me that the motorman may have been in the pay of the fellow
I was chasing."
He lowered his voice, even though the rattling of hoofs and wheels and
the noises of the street rendered it wholly improbable that the driver or
any one else could hear what was spoken inside.
"Frankly, Merriwell, the chap I was chasing looked like Morton Agnew!
I was in Mason & Fettig's, five or six blocks above, when some one
came into the other room and passed a counterfeit ten-dollar bill on the
proprietor. He discovered it while the fellow was going through the
door, and gave a call. I ran to the door and saw the rascal--not well, you
know, but a side glance--not much more than a flash--and I thought he
was Agnew. Of course, I couldn't swear to it. I may have been mistaken.
But to satisfy myself, I jumped into that automobile and gave chase. He
saw I was pursuing him and he sprang into a cab. I was determined to
overhaul the scamp and satisfy myself on that one point. Perhaps I
ought not to mention the name, as I am so uncertain, and I shall not
mention it to any one else."
Dunstan Kirk, the athletic and capable captain of the baseball-team, had
come to admire and trust Frank Merriwell. He had seen enough to
know that Frank could be trusted in any way and in any place.
"What do you think of it?" he asked.
"That there is no chance now of discovering whether your suspicions
were true or false. Unless"--hesitatingly--"you should cause Agnew's
arrest, and have him taken before the man who was cheated. Or you
might tell the man your suspicions, and let him act in the matter."
"I am not certain enough!" said Kirk. "It's too bad he got away! The
motorman couldn't have been in his pay?"

"If so, he has received his pay!" said Merry meaningly. "He went out of
that seat on his head and struck hard. I think the motorman simply
found the hansom unmanageable, for some reason. Those carriages take
freaks at times."
"And your opinion about Agnew?"
"He isn't too good to do such a thing, and I have had reason to believe
lately that he is hard up. He used to hold himself up by his winnings at
cards, but he has cheated so outrageously and boldly that the students
fight pretty shy of him."
"We're just wasting our time, I'm afraid!" Kirk grumbled, as the cab
rattled on down the street.
"Hold on!" said Merriwell, looking through the window. "There is your
green-liveried driver and your bay horse!"
Though the cab in question was standing by a curbing, Frank saw at a
glance that the horse was sweaty and showed other signs of recent fast
driving.
"Empty, and the bird has flown!" he observed, as the cab they were in
stopped and they got out. "Whoever he was--Agnew, or another
man--he has had time to escape!"
The green-liveried driver was questioned, but no information of value
was obtained, and when it was seen that there was no chance of settling
the question which had moved Dunstan Kirk to the pursuit, Kirk settled
with the driver of the