The storekeeper gazed at Dave for a moment in silence, and then pursed up his lips and shook his head decidedly. "That is too much of a fish story for me to swallow," he said harshly. "You'll either have to bring that young man here and prove that he got the goods, or else you'll have to pay for them yourself." CHAPTER VI MORE TROUBLE Dave and Roger spent the best part of half an hour in Asa Dickley's store, and during that time our hero and his chum gave the particulars of how they had become acquainted with Ward Porton, and how the young moving-picture actor had tried to pass himself off as the real Dave Porter, and how he had been exposed and had disappeared. "Well, if what you say is true I've been swindled," declared the storekeeper finally. "I'd like to get my hands on that young man." "You wouldn't like it any better than I would," returned Dave, grimly. "You see, I don't know how far this thing extends. Mr. Wecks has been after me to pay for some shoes that I never got." "Say, that moving-picture actor must be a lulu!" declared the storekeeper's clerk, slangily. "If you don't watch out, Porter, he'll get you into all kinds of hot water." "I think the best you can do, Dave, is to notify the storekeepers you do business with to be on the lookout for Porton," suggested Roger. "Then, if he shows up again, they can have him held until you arrive." "I'll certainly have to do something," answered Dave. "Then I suppose you don't want to settle that bill?" came from Asa Dickley, wistfully. "No, sir. And I don't think you ought to expect it." "Well, I don't know. The fellow who got those goods said he was Dave Porter," vouchsafed the storekeeper doggedly. From Asa Dickley's establishment Dave, accompanied by his chum, drove around to the store kept by Mr. Wecks. He found the curtains still down, but the shoe-dealer had just come in, and was at his desk writing letters. "And you mean to say you didn't get those shoes?" questioned Mr. Wecks with interest, after Dave had explained the situation. "That's mighty curious. I never had a thing like that happen before." He knew our hero well, and trusted Dave implicitly. "I shouldn't have sent that letter only I had a chance to sell a pair of shoes that size, and I thought if you had made your selection I could sell the pair you didn't want to the other fellow." Once again the two boys had to tell all about Ward Porton and what that young rascal was supposed to be doing. As they proceeded Mr. Wecks's face took on a look of added intelligence. "Exactly! Exactly! That fits in with what I thought when that fellow went off with the shoes," he declared finally. "I said to myself, 'Somehow Dave Porter looks different to-day. He must have had a spell of sickness or something.' That other chap was a bit thinner and paler than you are." "He's a regular cigarette fiend, and that is, I think, what makes him look pale," put in Roger. And then he added quickly: "Do you remember--was he smoking?"