Our hero's blood was up and he was determined that Cross should not escape him again. He, too, leaped for the doorway, and as the sharper gained the piazza Robert put out his foot to trip him up. The movement was far more successful than anticipated. Down went Andy Cross on his knees, and before he could recover he went down the steps, bump! bump! bump! to the sidewalk. The wind was knocked completely out of him, and he was sadly bruised about the head, while the blood spurted from his nose in a stream. "Oh! oh! I'm killed!" he moaned, as he sat up. "If you were, you wouldn't be able to groan over it," answered Robert. "Stay where you are, if you know when you are well off." "Don't have me arrested," pleaded the sharper. The unexpected fall had taken all his self-possession from him. At that moment a policeman showed himself at the corner, and Robert called to him to come up. "What's the trouble?" demanded the officer of the law. Seeing to it that Andy Cross did not get away, Robert told his story. "Yes, I have the report of the robbery," said the policeman. "You were lucky to fall in with him." In vain the sharper protested that he was innocent. The policeman marched him off to the nearest station house. Here he was examined and searched, and fifty dollars of Robert's money was found in the envelope which our hero had obtained at the post-office. "What of the rest of the money and the watch?" asked Robert. Seeing there was no help for it, Andy Cross made a confession. He stated that Jim Huskin had kept both the timepiece and the rest of the money, and left Chicago the night before. "And where did he go?" asked Robert. "He took a steamer for Muskegon, Michigan," answered Andy Cross. "Muskegon!" cried our hero. And then he said no more. But he was filled with interest, for he had thought to journey to Timberville by way of a steamer to the town named and then by railroad for the balance of the journey. "We will look this matter up and telegraph to the authorities at Muskegon," said the officer who was examining Cross. "If we learn anything we will let you know." This ended the matter for the time being, and Andy Cross was locked up. Robert returned to his boarding house, feeling lighter in both heart and mind than he had a couple of hours before. CHAPTER XXIII. PALMER'S UNFORTUNATE DEBUT. It had made James Talbot feel very bitter to think that should his wife die the Frost fortune would go entirely to his step-son. "He doesn't deserve a cent of it--with his impudence to me and his running away from home," he said to himself. "The money ought to come to me." The more he thought over the matter the more bitter did he become. He tried to think of some way by which he could alter the conditions of Mr. Frost's will, but nothing came to his mind that was satisfactory. Of course he did not dare show his wife his real feelings. She was still angry over the lost letter, and he was afraid of causing an open rupture.