ow?" Dick asked.

"I will be when the 8:50 gets in and the goods are checked up,"
replied Dave. "The train is a few minutes late tonight."

There being no one else at the office, except the night manager
and two clerks, Dick and Reade felt that they would not be in
the way if they waited for Dave.

Twenty minutes later the wagon drove up with the packages and
cases that had arrived on the 8:50 train.

"You two can give a hand, if you like," invited Dave, as the packages
were being passed up to the counter, checked and taken care of.

Prescott and Reade pitched in, working with a will.

"Here, don't shoot this box through as fast as you've done the
others," counseled Dick, as he picked up a small box, some eighteen
inches long and about a foot square at the end. "The label says,
'Extra fragile. Value two hundred and fifty dollars.'"

Dave reached out to receive it, as Dick laid it carefully on the
counter.

"Packages of that value have to be handled with caution," muttered
Dave. "When a fellow puts on a valuation like that, it means
that he intends to make claim for any damage whatever."

"Hold on," muttered Dick, eyeing the counter. "There's something
leaking from the box now."

Dave took his hands away, then bent over to have a look with Dick.

A very tiny puddle of some very thick, syrupy stuff was slowly
forming on the counter.

"I wonder if the contents _have_ been damaged?" muttered Dave,
uneasily. Then added, in a whisper:

"The night manager will blame us, and hold me responsible, if
there _is_ any damage."

Both boys carefully inspected the tiny puddle for a few moments.

"Say, don't touch the box again," counseled Prescott, uneasily.
"Do you know what that stuff looks to me like, Dave?"

"What?"

"Do you remember the thick stuff that Dr. Thornton showed us in
IV. Chemistry the other day?"

"Great Scott!" breathed Dave Darrin, anxiously. "You don't mean
nitroglycerine?"

"But I _do_!" Dick nodded, energetically.

"Wow! Don't stir from here. I'll call the night manager."

Night Manager Drowan came over at once, eyeing the box and the
tiny pool of thick stuff.

"I never saw nitroglycerine but once," remarked Mr. Drowan,
nervously. "I should say this stuff looks just like it. We
won't take any chances, anyway. Dave, you go to the telephone,
and notify the police. Your friends can stand guard over the
box so that no one gets a chance to go near it."

But, while Dave was a