"My uncle didn't steal them. Your uncle put them in his hands to sell," went on Tad Sobber, with sudden boldness. "It is all a cooked-up story about his running away with them. And it's a cooked-up story about his having anything to do with those freight thieves. My uncle is an honest man." "I know all about the freight affair, for I overheard him talking to some of the other thieves," answered Tom. "Where is your uncle now?" "Do you think I'd be fool enough to tell you?" "Perhaps you might--if I had you locked up." "My uncle is a good long way from New York." "I heard you tell that man your uncle would be in the city to-morrow." "I didn't say any such thing!" burst out Sobber, but his manner showed that he was very much disturbed. "You did say it. Where are you stopping?" "Nowhere--I only got in a few hours ago." "Did you come here to meet Cuffer?" "What do you know about Cuffer?" "I know your uncle hired him and a man named Shelley to visit our farm and get some things belonging to my father." "Why, you're crazy! My uncle hardly knows Cuffer--and I never heard of a man named Shelley." "I am not crazy, and you know I am speaking the truth," answered Tom, calmly. "Now you tell me where your uncle is or I'll have you arrested." "You'll not arrest me!" exclaimed Tad Sobber, and with a sudden movement he twisted himself free from Tom's grasp. "You follow me and you'll get the worst of it!" he added, and darted across the park at top speed. [Illustration: HE TWISTED HIMSELF FREE FROM TOM'S GRASP AND RAN.] Tom made after the bully, but as luck would have it a nurse girl with a baby carriage got between them and before Tom could clear himself of the carriage Sobber was a good distance away. He turned to the eastward, down a side street where a large building was in the course of erection. He looked back and then skipped into the unfinished building. "He shan't catch me," he muttered to himself, and ran to the rear of the building, amid piles of bricks and concrete blocks. A number of workmen were present, but nobody noticed him. Reaching the building Tom peered inside, but saw nothing of the bully. He was about to go in when a warning cry reached him from overhead. "Get back there, unless you want to be hurt!" Tom looked up and saw a workman in the act of throwing down a mass of rubbish, broken bricks, sticks and old mortar. He leaped back and the stuff descended in front of him and raised a cloud of dust. "What do you want here, young man?" demanded the superintendent of the building as he came forward. "I am after a boy who just ran in here." "Nobody here that I saw." "He just came in." "We don't allow skylarking around here. You make yourself scarce," and the superintendent waved Tom away. "I want to have that fellow arrested--that is why he ran away from me." "Oh, that's a different thing. Go find him, if you can."