Young Auctioneers Part 18

"And I'm glad you made them pay up on the spot," he said. "For if those circus people had been allowed to leave town I would never have gotten a cent."

And to show his grat.i.tude, he bought a razor and strop for himself, and a pair of scissors for his wife.

"There will not be much doing now until evening," said Andy to Matt.

"So we will have dinner and then one of us can deliver those articles that lady bought."

"I'll deliver the stuff, Andy. I fancy the walk will brace me up more than anything else would."

"Well, go on then," said Andy, and so, after he had had dinner, Matt set out with the bundle of goods under his arm.

The way to the lady's house led past the circus, and with a natural curiosity to see what was going on, Matt pushed his way through the crowd to where a number of banners were stretched containing vivid pictures of the many wonderful sights which the ticket seller said could be seen within.

The boy was much interested in the slick way of speaking which the ticket seller had, and to "gain points," as he called it, for the auction business, he remained almost an hour listening to all that was said.

He was about to leave the crowd when a well-dressed man who was standing beside him pushed him a bit to one side, and then stooped to pick something from the ground at Matt's feet.

It was a large pocket-book, and apparently well filled.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CONFIDENCE MAN.

"By Jove! look at that!" cried the man, in a low tone, as he picked up the pocket-book and surveyed it. "That's a find, isn't it?"

"It is, indeed," returned Matt. "How much is there in it?"

"Come with me and I'll see," said the man, and without waiting for Matt to offer a reply, he caught the boy by the arm, and forced him through the crowd to an open spot behind a large tree.

"I would like to know who lost this," went on the man, as he opened the flap of the pocket-book, and gazed inside at the contents. "By Jove! look at that pile of bills!" he went on, as he turned the pocket-book around so that Matt might catch sight of what certainly did look like twenty-five or thirty bank bills tucked away in one of the pockets. "Must be a hundred dollars or more in it."

"The owner of that pocket-book will miss it," returned Matt. "You ought to make an effort to find him."

"Of course! of course!" a.s.sented the man heartily. "I don't want to keep anybody's money--not if I know it is theirs. Let me see if there is a card in it."

He turned the pocket-book around and put his fingers first in one pocket and then another.

"Not a blessed thing but that pile of bills," he went on. "Now, isn't that strange?"

Then he suddenly drew from his vest pocket a gold watch and looked at it.

"Quarter to three!" he exclaimed in a startled tone. "And I must catch the three o'clock train for Baltimore! I haven't time to look up the owner of this pocket-book, valuable as it is."

"You might take a later train," suggested Matt.

The man shook his head.

"No, I have an engagement in Baltimore immediately upon the arrival of this train which I would not miss for a dozen such pocket-books."

"Then you'll have to take the money with you."

"I wouldn't feel just right about doing that," returned the man with a bland smile. "I would feel like a thief. I'll tell you what I will do," he went on smoothly and earnestly. "Give me twenty dollars, and you take the pocket-book. Perhaps you won't be able to find an owner, and then the money will all be yours, and if you do find an owner, he will certainly offer more of a reward than twenty dollars."

"I take the pocket-book?" said Matt, considerably surprised by the offer.

"Yes; I really can't wait, and I do not feel satisfied to take that money with me."

"But, supposing I do not find the owner, do you not want part of the money?"

"No; you can keep it all."

This certainly seemed a very liberal offer, and had Matt had less experience of the world at large, he might have accepted on the spot.

But the apparent open-heartedness of the stranger only served to make him more cautious.

"Let us count the money and see how much there is in the pocket-book,"

he remarked, hardly knowing what else to say.

"No, I haven't time to do that," said the stranger hastily. "As it is, I have now barely ten minutes in which to get to the depot. If you want to accept my offer, give me the twenty dollars, and I'll run for the depot."

And the man moved around as if in the greatest hurry of his life.

"I haven't twenty dollars with me."

"Indeed! I thought you looked like a well-to-do young man----"

"I have twelve dollars----"

"Well--let that do, but be quick!"

And the stranger held out his hand for the amount.

"Never mind," remarked Matt, struck with an idea which he resolved to carry out if he went into the scheme at all. "I'll take the money from the pocket-book, and if I find the owner I will tell him how I came to do it."

"No; don't you touch the contents of the pocket-book!" exclaimed the stranger, hastily s.n.a.t.c.hing the article in question from Matt's hand.

"That would not be right!"

"Yes, but I will make it right with the owner, if I----"

"I can't wait any longer for that train!" cried the stranger, and without another word he placed the pocket-book into his coat-pocket and disappeared into the crowd.

For the instant Matt stared after him, and then a light burst upon the boy's mind.

"He is a confidence man and was trying to swindle me!" he murmured to himself. "If that pocket-book contained much it was a single dollar bill on a pile of green paper! How lucky I was not to jump at his offer when he first made it!"

As soon as he had reached this conclusion, Matt made after the man.