"

"That's the talk. They shall be there," exclaimed the delighted
speculator.

"Only they won't," thought Clyde, from his perch in front of the window.

"Look here," said Mr. Ellis, nervously. "Since this thing has begun, I
am suspicious of everything. No one could have heard us, could they?"

"The door is shut, as you see," replied the lawyer, "and I don't think
anybody saw us come up here."

"The window is open," suggested Mr. Ellis.

He got up from his chair and walked to the door.

Clyde saw him open it and leave it open, then turn to the window as if
he meant to do the same thing with it.

The boy was in a trap. It would never do to be caught there. To think
with him was to act. He stepped over the balcony and hung from the floor
by his hands. There was no one on the sidewalk beneath, and, letting go,
he dropped lightly to the ground, just as his uncle stepped out upon the
balcony above.

He pulled himself into a shadow and stood motionless.

Mr. Ellis was apparently suspicions. Perhaps he had heard something. At
all events, he looked down and up and in all directions without becoming
any wiser for it.

The moment his head disappeared from sight, Clyde stole away. He was hot
with excitement and anger.

CHAPTER VI.

Clyde and Ray Prisoners.

James T. Leeds, broker, sat upon the veranda of the seaside hotel, with
his feet on the railing and his chair tilted back.

He was at peace with himself and with all the world. In fact, the world
had been treating him nicely of late. His "flyers" in Wall Street and in
the wheat market had been successful. He had been making money rapidly,
and this is why he smiled as he lighted his cigar.

Mr. Leeds liked the little seaside town, and was sure to drop in upon it
as soon as the warm weather set in.

It was so near New York that he could reach the city in a few minutes.
He had expected to get a good deal of enjoyment out of the yacht that he
had bought, but, as we have already seen, it had proved a dismal
failure.

He could not learn to manage it himself, and if the water was at all
rough the motion made him sick. So he had reluctantly come to the
conclusion that the water had no charms for him.

Mr. Leeds was in the midst of a calculation of his profits of the next
day, should Erie Railroad stock jump up a couple of points, as he
confidently expected that it would do, when a boy, panting and red in
the face, suddenly appear