“He draws a wad of money, puts on his best clothes, and—fare thee well! He sneaks off without letting anybody know where he’s going. Why does he do that? Simple as A B C. If you or anybody else knew where he was or where he was even likely to be, you’d have him back here in no time, and all his trouble for nothing. He thought it all out beforehand. Knew exactly where he was going and how to get there without being headed off. And that’s where he is right now, leaving you to hold the bag. He’s had his own way. You’ve got to stay here until he gets good and ready to come back. See what I mean? Somebody’s got to be in charge of his affairs. The store and everything. There is a chance, of course, that he wandered out in the swamp, as most of these people think, but I don’t believe it. He wouldn’t draw out thirty-five hundred dollars if he had any preconceived notion of doing away with himself. And he wouldn’t come home and put on his best suit of clothes, either. It’s possible, to be sure, that he was slugged by somebody who knew he had all that money and his body chucked into the mire. It’s up to you, Mr. Baxter. If you want us to go ahead and rake the country for him, we’ll do it. I don’t say we’ll find him. We’re an honest concern. We don’t believe in robbing our clients. It will cost you a lot of money to find him, Mr. Baxter. Besides, there’s always the chance that he’ll lose his nerve and come back home. Or he may get sick and send for you. We’ve had hundreds of these mysterious disappearance cases and more than four-fifths of ’em don’t amount to anything.” “I want to find him,” said Oliver firmly. “You may be right in your surmise—I hope you are. But just the same I don’t intend to leave a stone unturned, Mr. O’Rourke. As long as I’ve got a cent of my own, I’ll keep up the search, and when my money runs out, I will use his. Good God, when I think that he may have wandered off only to fall into the hands of thieves and cutthroats, I—I—No, we must find him, do you understand? Find him!” “He’s all right as long as he don’t let some guy sell him the Field Museum or the Woolworth Building,” said the detective easily. “All right, sir. We’ll get on the job at once. Hold yourself in readiness in case we need you in a hurry. I suppose we can always get in touch with you here, Mr. Baxter?” Oliver nodded. “Yes. You can always find me here in Rumley.”