"I tell you that auctioneer uttered a prophecy when he said that some miser had hidden the secret of a gold-mine inside the lid of that box," said Julian. "He told me that when I got home and opened this thing I would bless my lucky stars that I had come to that office to buy myself rich."
"But there is one thing that you don't think of, Julian," replied Jack.
"What's that?"
"That we must make every effort to find this man Haberstro."
"Yes," said Julian, with a sigh, "I did think of that. But it seems hard to have so much money in our grasp, and then to have it all slip away."
"Of course it does. But that is the honest way of going at it."
"Here's the deeds for a block of buildings that cost this man twenty-five thousand dollars," said Julian, continuing to examine the papers in the box.
"Oh, put the box away," said Jack. "And he gives it all to this man Haberstro. We must find him, Julian, the first thing we do. Who's that coming upstairs, I wonder?"
The boys turned toward the door, which opened almost immediately, admitting Casper Nevins, the boy who had met Julian at the express office. There was something about the boy that Jack did not like. He could not have told what it was, but there are those we meet in every-day life who have certain traits of character that excite our suspicions. Jack had often warned Julian to keep away from him, and the latter did not cultivate his acquaintance any more that he could help; but, being employed in the same office that Casper was, of course he was thrown into his company oftener than he desired.
"Good-evening, boys," said Casper. "I was on my way home, and I thought I would drop in and see what Julian bought to-day at the express office. You promised to show me if I would come up," he added, turning to Julian.
"I did, and there it is," said Julian, passing over the letter. "Sit down in this chair. We are so poor just now that we have only one chair apiece, but when we get out to our gold-mine we shall have two chairs."
"Ah! You have a gold-mine, have you?" said Casper, with a smile. "When do you start?"
"Read the letter, and you will think we ought to start right away," said Julian, while Jack got up and proceeded with his supper. "We think of starting to-morrow morning."
"I would like to have my hand on your coat-tail about the time you get out there," said Casper. "Now, the question is, does the mine pay anything?"
"Read the letter, and you will understand as much as we do."
Casper began the letter, and he had not gone far with it before he broke out with "Jerusalem!" and "This beats me!" and "Fifty thousand dollars!" When he had got done with the letter, he folded it up and passed it back to Julian without saying a word.
"And that is not all of it," said the latter. "Do you see the rest of the papers there in that box? Well, they are deeds of property which amount to one hundred thousand dollars."
"Whew!" whistled Casper. "By gracious! You're lucky – are you not? When do you start?"
"Laying all jokes aside, we don't intend to start at all," said Jack.
"You don't?" exclaimed Casper. "Have you got something better on hand?"
"No, I don't know that we have; but our first hard work must be to find this man Haberstro. It would not be right for us to keep what is in that box without turning the city upside down in order to locate him."
"Why, the box was sold to you, was it not?" said Casper, turning to Julian.
"Of course it was. Didn't I pay thirty cents of my hard earnings for it?"
"Did you agree to hunt up this man Haberstro?"
"No, because the clerks did not know where he was."
"Then I say the box and everything in it belongs to you. Undoubtedly the man does not live here any more. He has gone somewhere else. I would not make a precious fool of myself, if I were you. Take the money and say nothing to nobody."
"And go out there and take possession of that property while there is another man waiting for it?" asked Jack, with some heat.
"Yes, sir; that's what I would do."
"Then, sir, you are not honest. I am glad you don't train in my crowd."
"I don't call it dishonest in holding fast to what you have. A hundred thousand dollars! You would not need to go mining at all."
"We are well aware of that; but we must find out where that man lives, if we can. After having exhausted every means to find out, then I would consider that the property belongs to us. Julian, we will have to see a lawyer about that."
"That's what I was thinking," said Julian.
"Well, of all the plumb dunces that ever I saw, you are the beat!" said Casper, getting up and putting on his hat. "I tell you that if that property was mine I would never let anyone know that I had it. I would throw up my position to-morrow, borrow money, go out there and take possession; and you are fools if you don't do it."
And Casper went out, slamming the door behind him.
CHAPTER III
JULIAN IS ASTONISHED
"Well, sir, what do you think of that?" asked Julian, when he heard the noise the telegraph boy made in running down the stairs. "He really acts as though he were mad about it."
"He is a dishonest fellow," said Jack, once more coming up to the table and throwing his leg over it. "You don't believe everything he said, do you?"
"Not much, I don't," replied Julian, emphatically. "I could not go out there and work the mine as he talks of doing. I should think it was haunted, sure enough."
"Well, put the papers away, and then let us have supper. While we are doing that, we will decide what we are going to do with the box."
"I say, don't let us do anything with it. We will put it up there on the mantel, and when we are through supper one of us will write an advertisement calling upon Mr. Haberstro to come up and show himself. I guess the Republican is as good a paper as any, isn't it?"
"But Haberstro may be a Democrat, instead of a Republican," said Jack.
"Well, then, put it in both papers. That will cost us two dollars – seventy-five cents for the first insertion and a quarter for the second."
It did not take the boys a long time to get their supper. They had nothing but bacon, baker's bread, tea, and a few cream cakes which Jack had purchased on his way home; but there was an abundance, they were hungry, and they did full justice to it. After supper came something that everybody hates – washing the dishes; but that was something the two friends never neglected. The dishes must be washed some time, and the sooner it was done the sooner it would be over with. Then one picked up the broom and went to sweeping, while the other lighted the lamp and brought out the writing materials.
"I have already made up my mind what I want to say," said Julian, who, being a better scribe than his companion, handled the pen. "Wait until I get the advertisement all written out, and then I will read it to you."
The pen moved slowly, and by the time that Jack had finished sweeping and seated himself in a chair ready to listen, Julian read the following:
"Information wanted regarding the whereabouts of S. W. Haberstro, formerly of St. Louis. If he will communicate with the undersigned he will hear of something greatly to his advantage. Any relative or friend of his who possesses the above information will confer a favor by writing to the name given below."
"There; how will that do?" said Julian. "By the way, whose name shall I sign to it – yours or mine?"
"Sign your own name, of course. Your place of business is much handier than mine."
"I tell you, Jack, it requires something besides a knowledge of penmanship to write out an advertisement for a newspaper. I have worried over this matter ever since we were at supper, and then I didn't know how you