ent?"

"No, except that he started down the side street next to the bank,
which, as maybe you know, runs towards the river."

"All right, Nat. Thank you very much for what you've told me. I want
to locate that fellow if I possibly can. He is a swindler, and if you
clap eyes on him again have him arrested," added Dave; and this Nat
Poole promised to do.

The news over the wire excited Dave not a little. Of the men of the
household, only old Professor Potts was in, and he, of course, could
not assist in the matter. Dave at once sought out Mrs. Wadsworth and
told her of what he had heard.

"I think I'll drive to Clayton and see if I can locate Porton," he
added. "Roger says he will go with me."

"Do as you think best, Dave," answered the lady of the house. "But do
keep out of trouble! This Ward Porton may prove to be a dangerous
character if you attempt to corner him."

"I think Roger and I can manage him, if only we can find him,"
returned the youth.

Once more the black horse and the cutter were brought into service,
and the two youths made the best possible time on the snowy highway
that led through Coburntown to Clayton. Arriving there, they called
at the bank and interviewed Nat Poole.

"If what you say about Porton is true he certainly must be a bad
one--almost as bad as Merwell and Jasniff," was the comment of the
money lender's son. "I certainly hope you spot him and bring him to
book. That's the way he went the last I saw of him," he added,
pointing down the side street.

Dave and Roger drove down the street looking to the right and the left
for a possible sight of Ward Porton. But their search was doomed to
disappointment for the moving-picture actor was nowhere to be seen.

"It's a good deal like looking for a needle in a haystack," was the
comment of the senator's son, after a full hour had been spent in the
hunt.

They had left the sleigh and had walked around a number of mills and
tenement houses which were situated in that locality.

"I've got an idea," said Dave, as several children approached them.
"I'm going to ask the youngsters if they've seen a young man who looks
like me."

The first boys and girls to whom the subject was broached shook their
heads and declared they had seen nobody that resembled Dave. Then our
hero and his chum passed on to other children, and finally to some
men working around a newly-constructed tenement.

"Why sure! I saw a young feller wot looked like you," sai