er quickly rising.

"I see that there is no use in talking to you," said Hallo, looking as
if he felt more sorry than angry. "I regret very much that your mother
is not so well off as she was once, but it is not my fault, and I am
afraid that I am too busy to talk any more to you about this matter
until you are in a better frame of mind. How long shall you be in
Semlin?"

"You ought to know," said Dick. "How long can I hold out against your
pull? If that goes back on you, you've still got the answer. Because I'm
going to stay here until you either have me run out of town or come
through with a check for the money you stole--and a check that I can get
certified at the bank, too, before I take the train."

Hallo tried to look bewildered, and as if he did not understand what
Dick meant, but the attempt was a poor one. His anger was rapidly
passing all bounds.

"So long!" said Dick. "I'll see you again, Mike. I'll give you a tip,
too. You'd better not try any monkey business with me, because Uncle
Sam's right on the job. I'm not very important, you know, back in New
York, but I'm an American! And I guess they'd just as soon send a
gun-boat or two up that big river after me if there wasn't any other way
of fixing things."

And on that word Dick turned and left the office. He had accomplished as
much and as little as he had expected. He had forced a show-down, so
that now matters between him and Hallo had come to a crisis. He had
never expected Hallo to yield, of course, until he was forced to do so.
In fact, he had done even better than he had hoped. He had expected to
have some difficulty in getting speech with the man at all.

The boy who had let him into Hallo's office was waiting for him outside.

"Quick!" he whispered. "I am a friend. Tell me where you live. Perhaps I
shall be able to help you--and you will need help!"

CHAPTER III

THE POLICE RAID

The strange boy vanished before Dick could ask him what he meant, and he
went on, wondering. His whole manner had been friendly, but it was also
puzzling in the extreme. Instinctively Dick had told him where he was
staying in Semlin, and then the other had disappeared at once. Dick
could make nothing of it.

"Oh, well, it can't make any difference," he said to himself. "He didn't
want to know for Mike Hallo, because Mike must know all about where I'm
staying, and if he doesn't, he can find out--in a place where the police
get the names of everyone who t