Page:Harry Castlemon - The Steel Horse.djvu/51

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THE STRANGE WHEELMAN.
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a well-filled purse; whereupon all the boys instinctively thrust their hands into their pockets.

"If it wasn't so full I should think it was mine. No, it does not belong to me, although it looks enough like my purse to be its twin brother," said Joe, after he had made sure that his modest sum of pocket-money was safe.

"It doesn't belong to me, either," added Roy.

"And I am sure it isn't mine," chimed in Arthur. "Where did you find it?"

"Right down there, close to your feet," replied the stranger, indicating the exact spot. "It must belong to one of you, for I know it wasn't there when I stopped at this window not two minutes ago to look at those bicycle stockings. What shall I do with it? I've got to leave town on the first train."

"Give it to a policeman," suggested Roy. "He'll take care of it and find the owner, too."

" Well, you are a greeny, that's a fact," exclaimed the stranger, in tones that were very different from those he had thus far used in addressing the boys. "Can't you see that the