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_ dropped it,”
“Have you got the envelope?” Be
. stairway down.
not among the messenger boys?” said © Robson,
doggedly.
“No,: Will, there are some things that are: not
Won't
~ fair, and this is one of them.”
“What are you going to do about it?
you-take advantage of this information?”
“I don’t see how I can. I can’t use it without
paying you ten per cent. of the profits if it should
prove a winner, and the moment I did that I’d be-
.. come your accomplice in a mean action.”
“Are you treating me to a Sunday school lec-
“ture?” snorted Robson.
“No. I just want you. to understand how ‘T
stand in this matter. The tip is a first-class one.
I wish you’d got hold of it some other way.’
“Tt wasn’t my fault that Opdyke's: messenger
growled Will.
“Ve es,’
“Well, here’s the note. Seal it up again and
go. back-to-the place you found it. Maybe you'll
see the messenger looking around for it. If
you don’t take it to Mr: Bradley, at the address
on the envelope, and tell him you picked it up
on/the street. That’s about the only way vou can
square yourself in your ovm opinion.”
~’ “And in. yours, I suppose,” added Will, as he
took the note and proceeded to. do as Fred had
suggested,
While the two boys were standing there talk- -
tng, Mr. Pelham came out of his: office on the
floor above with a heavy satchel in his hands.
Instead of waiting for the elevator he took the
As Broker Pelham turned the
corner of the elevator enclosure. he saw the boys
below. One of them he recognized, in angry sur-
prise, as his own messenger, Fred Sparks,. whom
he had sent on an errand several minutes before.
The other lad he knew to be connected with the
office of a business enemy.. Being of a highly
-guspicious nature, he immediately jumped to the
conclusion that Fred was telling the other mes-
‘senger something that he had overheard in the
office.
He had just reached a position where un-
observed he’ could listen to what they were say-
ing, when something happened.. The broker
- .gtepped on a banana'‘peel that some thoughtless
~ down on his knees helping him.
person had dropped on the stairs. His feet slip-
ped from under him like a flash. and the satchel.
he carried, escaping from his grasp, opened and
deluged’ Fred with a golden shower.
Q
CHAPTER V.—Fred Loses His Job, but Makes_
ax Haul In Stocks.
Bumpity—bump — bump — bump! went Roger
Pelham down the steps, while the two boys were
stupefied with surprise. Fred. Sparks stood in
the center of a golden. circle of twenty-dollar
“Don't let any of that money get away, Will,”
said Fred, as Broker Pelham landed on ‘the
marble pavement with a thump that shook half
oo the breath out of his body.
Robson immediately got busy and began shov-
ing the coin toward the satchel. Fred was soon
The gathering
crowd looked on in wonder and not a‘little amuse-
ment,’ for when the discomfited broker struck
A GOLDEN SHOWER. SHR Sp OS
» ” “
cy : eg
aeere oe
=a oye
‘eo Pe .
nes set
the floor his legs pointed: up at an angle of |
forty-five degrees, and his head struck the last ~
Somebody -
_ step hard enough to bewilder him. |
. went to his assistance’and helped him on his feet. - :
He was frantic over his money and made a.dash -
for the half-emptied satchel.’
“Leave that money alone? How dare ‘you
touch it?”-he roared at Fred and Will. — -
“Mr. Pelham!” gasped Fred, recognizing him
now for the first. time.
The broker paid no attention to him till he ~
chad. shoveled the last coin in. sight~ into the
satchel, and then’ he turned on: the boy in a par-
oxysm of rage.
“What do you mean by loitering here when’ I
sent you .on an important errand ten minutes
ago? Go and deliver my letter at once, and. Vil
attend to you later.” ~
In his haste -he did not notice the unlucky
banana peel, which still. lay in his. path. Step- .
ping on the slippery object, he went-down on ~
his hands and knees and. slid half way back
down the’ stairs, splitting his trousers’ lez from
his knee up. Neither Fred nor Will witnessed
this: second mishap, for they were going out
at the main entrance as fast as they could go.
There they separted, neither understanding how
the accident to Mr. Pelham had happened. Fred,
however, hada suspicion that he hadn’t heard ~
the last of the «incident, and Will also guessed.
that his friend. was in for.a hot time when he
got back to the office later on. Fred tried to
make up for lost time by doing the rush act,
and he succeeded in recovering a portion of ‘the
minutes he had. accidentally wasted. on Will’s
account. When he got back to the office he found
Mr. Pelham was out. The cashier said that he
was in axtowering rage when he entered the office’:
with -his satehel and rushed into his room, where.
he remained twenty minutes, and then left with _
‘the rent in his pants pinned up... Fred was out
when he returned an hour and a half later, with |
The first thing he -.-
a new pair of trousers on.
did .was. to: inquire for the boy, and. being. told
_by the.cashier that he had’ sent him to a station- |
er’s he entered his private office looking as black
as a thunder gust. Soon after the young mes-
senger got back Mr. Pelham came to the door. |
of the reception-room, and seeing Fred, called
him inside.
“Now, I want to know why you were fooling
your. time away in the corridor downstairs when
I sent you on an errand,” demanded the broker,’
angrily. —
Fred excused. his unfortunate delinquency as:
- best he could, but Mr. Pelham>was not appeased.
“What were you talking to that boy about?”
he asked.
“A little private business of our own, sir,”
responded the boy.
“T don’t believe ‘it.
“earry the news to Mr. Osborn.”
No, sir, you are mistaken.”
“I won’t have a boy around my office that oa
can’t depend on. -Do you understand ?”
Fred said nothing. -
Why don’t you answer me?”
‘You were telling him about .
something you heard in this: office so he could .°
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~ 9 em nape nmap FT
|
4
“T have already answered’. you, but you owt |
seem inclined to accept my word.
“T want to know what you told that boy.”