at the son, for whose appearance
he had grieved so bitterly, was still living in the person of this
street boy. Then there would be an end of his hopes of inheriting the
estate.

Only a few months more and the danger would be over, for he felt
convinced that his uncle's tenure of life would be brief. The one
essential thing, then, seemed to be to get Dodger out of the city.

The first step had already been taken; what the next was will soon
appear.

Scarcely had Dodger failed in his attempt to obtain outside assistance
when an unaccountable drowsiness overcame him, considerably to his
surprise.

"I don't know what's come to me," he said to himself. "It can't be
more than seven or eight o'clock, and yet I feel so sleepy I can
hardly keep my eyes open. I haven't worked any harder than usual
to-day, and I can't understand it."

Dodger had reason to be surprised, for he didn't usually retire till
eleven o'clock.

In a city like New York, where many of the streets are tolerably well
filled even at midnight, people get in the way of sitting up much
later than in the country, and Dodger was no exception to this rule.

Yet here he was ready to drop off to sleep before eight o'clock. To
him it was a mystery, for he did not know that the cup of tea which he
had drunk at supper had been drugged by direction of Curtis Waring,
with an ulterior purpose, which will soon appear.

"I may as well lie down, as there is nothing else to do," thought
Dodger. "There isn't much fun sitting in the dark. If I can sleep, so
much the better."

Five minutes had scarcely passed after his head struck the pillow,
when our hero was fast asleep.

At eleven o'clock a hack stopped in front of the house, and Curtis
Waring descended from it.

"Stay here," he said to the driver. "There will be another passenger.
If you are detained I will make it right when I come to pay you."

"All right, sir," said the hackman. "I don't care how long it is if I
am paid for my time."

Curtis opened the door with a pass-key, and found Julius dozing in a
chair in the hall.

"Wake up, you sleepy-head," he said. "Has anything happened since I
left here?"

"Yes, sir; the boy tried to get away."

"Did he? I don't see how he could do that. You kept the door bolted,
didn't you?"

"Yes, sir; but he throwed a piece of paper out'n de window, sayin' he
was kep' a prisoner here. A young man picked it up, and came to de
house to ax about it."

Curtis looked ala