CHAPTER XXIII.
FRANKLIN MAKES A NEW FRIEND.
The whistle was now blowing for those in the factory to quit work, and, anxious to get away, the packers and stock clerks disappeared from the platform, leaving the young electrician and Macklin, the truckman, alone.
Franklin found Macklin quite a good fellow with whom to get along. The truckman showed him where to place the boxes that were taken from the overloaded truck. The task of lightening was soon accomplished, and then Macklin drove out of the yard on his truck, with the young electrician following on the turnout, which the shiftless Hank Bitters had heretofore driven.
"Affairs have shaped themselves rather quickly," thought Franklin, as they moved along. "Here I have not yet been a whole day in Chicago, and have secured a situation with the very firm I was sent on to watch. I trust my good luck continues."
They drove down one street, and up another, and inside of half an hour arrived at a dock, situated on the river, not far from the lake.
Here a small freight boat was lying, and Macklin said the boxes were to be transferred to the deck of this craft.
"And we'll have to hurry," he added. "For the boat sails at six o'clock."
"Where is the boat bound?" asked Franklin, with considerable curiosity.
"Up the shore to Milwaukee."
"And do the boxes go there?"
"I believe so. The captain of the freight boat has full charge of them, after they are delivered on board. He has a private arrangement with the firm."
"I see. Will we have to bring many truck loads down here?"
"Two truck loads a week regularly, that's all. The other boxes go to the freight depots, and to the regular warehouse."
The trucks were backed up on the dock, and the work of unloading at once began. Franklin took care to count all the boxes taken on board, and found that they numbered one hundred and forty. Not one of them was marked in any way, but by knocking loose the ends of several covers he saw that they contained batteries.
"Most likely these are the batteries upon which Mr. Brice fails to get his royalty," thought Franklin. "I would like very much to learn just where they are taken."
The young electrician, by keeping his ears open, heard the captain addressed as Cosgrove, and he also heard this individual remark that the last cargo had gone through all right.
"I would like to know what he means by going through all right," thought Franklin. "Does he mean that it was secreted somewhere, without any one being the wiser?"
As soon as the unloading was completed, Macklin led the way to the stables, and here he and Franklin took care of the teams. This was new work for the young electrician, but luckily he knew how to do it, and got through very well.
After leaving Macklin, Franklin brushed off his clothing as best he could, and then boarded a car for Mrs. Gould's boarding house. He was tired after his journey and his unexpected work, and thought himself entitled to the ride.
"I wouldn't care to be a truck driver all my life," he thought, while getting ready to go down to dinner. "It's too hard, and too rough work. It needs a fellow with more weight than I've got."
At the table, Franklin became fairly well acquainted with Walter Robinson, the young man he had met in the restaurant. The young electrician found Robinson bright and talkative, and after the meal was over, gladly accepted an invitation to spend the evening in the latter's room.
During the course of this time, Franklin told how he had struck a situation with the H. Y. Smith Co., and expected to remain there for some time. Of his private business, he said nothing, not that he fancied Walter Robinson would fail to keep his secret, but because such had been Belden Brice's orders, which the young electrician intended to carry out without deviation.
"I know something of that company," said Walter Robinson. "They manufacture their batteries under a patent which was granted to a distant relative of mine, Wilbur Bliss."
"Is that so?" exclaimed Franklin, for he remembered that this was the very patent in which Belden Brice was interested.
"Yes. Poor Wilbur went crazy sometime after the patent was granted. He sold it for a nice sum of money, and that got him in the idea that he could make any number of inventions and patent them. He spent all of his money in experimenting, and finally became a regular beggar and disappeared, no one knew where."
"They never found out what became of him?"
"No. Some said he went east, while others think he traveled west. I, being only a distant relative was not much interested. There was another feature about it, though, which made the case worse than ordinary."
"And what was that?"
"Wilbur was a widower and had one child, a little girl. When he drifted down in the world, he always kept this child with him, and when he disappeared, she disappeared also."
Franklin was now more interested than ever. He could not help but think of what Belden Brice had said concerning the inventor, and he also remembered that the speculator's little girl was not his own.
"That was too bad," remarked Franklin, trying hard to appear not too much concerned. "What was the little girl's name?"
"He called her Cora, I believe. But she was nothing but a baby when he left Chicago."
Franklin drew a long breath. Was it possible then that little Cora, the sweet little girl that lived with Belden Brice, was really the daughter of the inventor who had disappeared? It certainly looked so.
"Had Mr. Wilbur Bliss any close relations?" he asked, after a pause, during which Walter Robinson brought out a checkerboard and some checkers he had mentioned at the dinner table.
"He had a sister, an old maid, who lived in Milwaukee. I heard she was much affected by his disappearance, and tried hard to find him."
At this moment the conversation was interrupted by another boarder, a naval cadet, who came in to play dominoes, and Franklin made no attempt to bring it back to the subject. The three played three games of dominoes, Franklin winning one, and then it was time to retire.
Before he went to bed, however, Franklin wrote a letter to Belden Brice, in which he told how he had secured work with the H. Y. Smith Co., and mentioned the boxes which had been taken to the freight boat. He did not mention having met a relative of Wilbur Bliss.
Franklin was on hand bright and early on the following morning, and presented himself at the office of the Thermo-Galvanic Battery Co. long before either of the partners put in an appearance. The only one in charge was a sleepy-looking clerk, who ordered him to sit dovm and wait.
Franklin did as requested, and almost an hour later Montague Smith put in his appearance. He was more loudly-dressed thanever, and in his cravat sparkled an immense diamond.
"Oh, yes, I told you to come around to the office this morning, I believe," he said, carelessly. "How did you make out on the truck yesterday?"
"All right, sir," returned the young electrician, and he related a few particulars.
"Well, you may keep on the truck for the balance of the week, and then we will see what turns up," said Montague Smith, as he sat down in an easy chair and took up a morning paper, and considering that he was dismissed, Franklin thanked him and left the office.
Wishing to show that he meant to do his duty, the young electrician hurried off to the stable to get his turnout.
On the way he saw a truck coming down the street. On the seat sat Macklin.
"I was waiting for you," remarked the truckman, as he drove up. What kept you so long?"
"I had to report at the office first," returned Franklin. "I am after the truck now. Can I get it?"
"Here is the key to the stable. After this whoever leaves the stable last locks up, and puts the key on a nail in the feed store next door. The feed man will tell you the place."
"Thank you. I'll remember that," returned Franklin.
He took the key, and continued on his way. Five minutes more brought him to the stable. Unlocking the door, he hurried inside, and was soon busy harnessing the horses, which Macklin had fed.
While the young electrician was at work, he heard a footstep outside, and a moment later, the figure of a burly man darkened the doorway. He looked up and saw that his visitor was Hank Bitters.
On the moment Franklin realized that there was trouble ahead. The discharged truckman had threatened to get square with him, and he would most likely try to keep his word.
As Hank Bitters, therefore, stepped into the stable, Franklin retreated a few steps. Near at hand lay a heavy whip, and this he took up and prepared to defend himself.
"So we meet again, hey?" said Hank Bitters, harshly, by way of an opening.
"What do you want here?" demanded Franklin, coming at once to the point. He saw that Bitters was a fellow who must be handled without undue consideration.
"You know well enough what I came for, young fellow!"
"Perhaps I do," returned Franklin, calmly. "And let me advise you that the best thing you can do is to leave quietly and at once."
"I'll leave when I feel like it, mind that!" stormed the discharged truckman. "You ain't going to take the bread out of a poor man's mouth, and not get touched for it."
"It was your own fault that you were discharged."
"Say, do you know what I'm going to do?" growled Bitters, savagely. "I'm going to make you feel sick all over, and I'm going to do it right now!"