the wind was carrying along the walk on the bridge. The man
secured one of the papers, but two others were fast blowing beyond his
reach, when Nat rushed up and secured them just as they were on the
point of being carried into the river.

"Have--you--got them?" puffed the man, as Nat came towards him.

"Yes, sir. Here you are," and Nat held out the papers.

"Good! I was afraid they were lost to me!" And the stranger heaved a
heavy sigh of relief.

"Were they valuable?" asked our hero, curiously.

"Quite so. They are the legal documents in an important real estate case
now before the courts. It was very kind of you to pick them up for me."

"Oh, it wasn't so much to do," answered Nat.

"Nevertheless, I am much obliged," added the stout man, warmly. "I
shouldn't have come out on the bridge with them. But I love to get the
breeze. I think it does me good. Much obliged;" and then he passed on.

"I guess he's a lawyer, or a real estate dealer," thought Nat. "Well, he
ought to walk. It may take some of the fat off of him."

Nat walked half-way to Brooklyn, and then back again. Shortly after
eleven o'clock he presented himself at the proper window of the post
office.

"Has the eleven o'clock mail been sorted yet?" he asked.

"Certainly."

"Have you any letters for Samuel Barrows?"

The clerk looked through one of the boxes beside him.

"Nothing," he answered, briefly.

"Nothing at all?"

The post office clerk shook his head. Seeing this Nat walked away, and
started back for the office.

He did not suspect that his employer had sent him to the post office
merely to get him out of the office, yet such was the fact. Hamilton
Dart had no brother-in-law named Samuel Barrows.

As a matter of fact, Hamilton Dart--that was not his real name, but let
us use it for the present, nevertheless--was nothing but a swindler. He
was worth only a few hundred dollars, and his brokerage and commission
business was such in name only.

While Nat was on his post office errand, Hamilton Dart had two other
callers. The first was a bright young man, hailing from Newark, New
Jersey.

"I am sure you will suit me," said Hamilton Dart, after questioning the
young man. "I am very much pleased with your appearance."

"Thank you," was the brief answer.

"You may go to work to-morrow at twelve dollars per week. Will that
suit?"

"Yes, sir."

"You will, of course, put up one hundred dollars as security," added the
assumed broker