"Whater you doin' here?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Jet replied ruefully.

"Well say, what's crawlin' on you? Run away, eh?"

Jet was in that frame of mind when to confide in some one is a relief, and he told him the same story the purser of the steamer refused to believe.

His new acquaintance listened attentively, and when Jet had concluded, asked:

"What do you s'pose they wanted with a feller like you?"

"I don't know."

"Hadn't anybody's else money, eh?"

"Not a cent, an' I'm no richer now."

"What kind of lookin' duffers was they?"

"Dressed pretty well, the short one was."

"Did the other one wear green spectacles, an' was he tall?"

"Yes, have you seen 'em?"

"There was a couple of duffers hangin' round the other depot waitin'

for the train, an' I wouldn't wonder if they was the ones. The short feller bought two tickets for Cooperstown Junction."

"How did you happen to hear all that?"

"I went after some parlor car tickets for our boss."

"Has the train gone yet?"

"It oughter left at seven this mornin'."

"An' it's most night now, so they've got off."

"Was they runnin' away from somebody?"

Just for an instant Jet was on the point of telling this brother messenger the whole story, but he checked himself in time and replied:

"I should think they'd want to after playin' such a trick on me. Say, how am I goin' back to New York?"

"I dunno 'less you walk; I don't reckon you wanter stow away on the boat?"

"You bet I don't."

At this moment the Albany messenger remembered that he had been sent on an important errand, and said as he turned to go:

"I'll be through work at six o'clock. Come around by the office an'

we'll have another talk."

Food, not conversation, was what Jet most wanted just then, and as his new acquaintance departed in great haste he walked aimlessly along the streets wondering what could be done.

"The inspector thinks by this time that I lied to him, and---- By gracious, why can't I follow those fellows? That's jest what he told me to do!"

This seemed like a lucky thought, and without realizing that he had no means to prosecute even the shortest search, Jet went rapidly toward the depot.

CHAPTER IV

AN ENGAGEMENT

It was necessary for Jet to inquire the way to the depot spoken of by his new acquaintance, and after arriving there his helplessness seemed more apparent than before.

Pa.s.sengers coming and going paid no attention to the boy, save to push him out of their road, and he was even more alone in the hurrying throng than he had been on the street.

After wandering to and fro, trying to screw up courage enough to ask the conductor for a free ride, and failing in the effort because none of the train hands would give him an opportunity to speak with them, he sat down on a truck and mechanically plunged his hands in his pockets.

The paper purchased on the evening previous was the only thing which met his touch.

"I might as well find out about this murder," he said to himself, as he unfolded the printed sheet. "When a feller is readin' he kinder forgets how hungry he is, I reckon."

To give the printed account in all its details would require too much s.p.a.ce, since there were no less than five columns in Jet's paper.

The substance was to the effect that a well-known merchant, residing on East Twentieth Street, had been found on the floor of his library the previous morning, his skull crushed in as if with some heavy instrument like a crow-bar, or a burglar's jimmy, and the safe, which was known to have contained money and bonds to the amount of forty-six thousand dollars, was broken open and empty.

The theory of the detectives was that thieves had entered the dwelling for the purpose of robbery; but having been surprised by the owner, killed him in order to make good their escape.

A large tuft of hair in the dead man's hand told that he had grappled with his murderers, and the overturned furniture spoke of a long and desperate struggle.

Singular as it may seem none of the other occupants of the house had heard any unusual noise, although the uproar must have been great for some moments, nor was any shock perceived when the safe door had been blown off.

It was as the paper stated, the most mysterious of the many detective-baffling crimes which had been committed in New York city, because of the fact that such a deed could have been done without alarming any one in the vicinity.

Nothing was said regarding the men for whom Jet had carried the satchel, because at the time the article had been written the police were not in possession of this very valuable clew.

Jet had finished reading the article, and was studying the matter in his mind without being able to arrive at any definite conclusion regarding the course he should pursue, except that he was eager to follow the men who had treated him so roughly, when a stranger halted directly in front of him.

"You don't seem to be very busy."

"It kinder looks that way for a fact."

"Taking a vacation?"