“You brought it on yourself, Flecker,” answered the young book agent, briefly¹.

 

“He owes me for two weeks’ board,” said Mrs. Larkspur, timidly.

 

“You shall not get a cent of it, madam,” snapped the swindler.

 

“It’s more than likely he hasn’t a dollar with which to pay,” put in Frank. He turned to Flecker: “I guess you’ll get free board for awhile, from now on.”

 

“Just wait!” hissed² the swindler, and grated his teeth.

 

Two policemen soon put in an appearance, and Frank explained matters, and then Mrs. Larkspur told her story.

 

“I guess the young man is right, Mrs. Larkspur,” said one of the officers. “I’ve heard of this fellow. There’s a reward out for him. He is an old offender³.”

 

Frank was asked to make a complaint, and Mrs. Larkspur said she would do the same. Then the policemen marched Gabe Flecker away.

 

“I must thank you for doing what you did, young man,” said the boarding house mistress to the young book agent. “Had you not been here, he would have swindled me most cleverly.”

 

“I’m glad I was here,” returned our hero. “I’d like first rate to get that reward.”

 

“Well, you certainly deserve it.”

 

Mrs. Larkspur did not wish any books, but told him of several parties who might buy, so in the end he made sales through her which profited him over five dollars.

 

The two policemen felt certain that Gabe Flecker could not get away from them, so they merely made him walk between them, without taking the trouble to handcuff him.

 

Now, Flecker did not intend to go to the station house if he could possibly avoid it. He knew that his record was a black one, and once before the bar of justice he would be sure to get a sentence of at least several years.

 

Goshen boasts of a race track at which each year a number of important horse races are run. The races were now on, and the town was filled with folks who had come in by train and in carriages.

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