Frank Merriwells Reward | Page 2

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 cab that had brought them thus far, and he and Merriwell went into the nearest restaurant.
"I understand you don't smoke, or I might be tempted to order cigars," he said, as a waiter came forward for their orders, after they had taken seats at a table in one of the small side rooms. "I wanted to have a talk with you about certain matters. Not about Agnew, but concerning Buck Badger!"
When the waiter had gone he continued:
"I