CHAPTER VIIRIVALS IN ACTION
“Slavin?” exclaimed Professor Barrington, not understanding Frank’s remark. “Why, in New York City he told me his name was Taylor.”
“He was deceiving you,” declared Frank. “If that is the man who tried to worm your secrets out of you, all that has happened since we left New York is easily explained. He is a dangerous man. I am glad I now know who is at the bottom of all this mischief. We need not work in the dark any longer.”
“What do you mean, Durham?” inquired the professor, curiously.
“That he is a criminal,” replied Frank, “and if he troubles us any further I shall hand him over to the police.”
“Tell me—” began the professor, but Frank took his arm and moved along in the direction pursued by the two men in advance of them.
“I will explain all this to you later,” he toldhis companion rapidly. “I want to see where those men are bound. They must have just arrived in the city. I suspect where they are headed. Yes,” added Frank, “I thought so.”
“Thought what, Durham?” inquired the professor.
“They have turned towards our hotel. They must guess or know that you would put up there. They have gone inside. We will go in too, Professor Barrington, but please keep in the background as much as possible while I try to find out what they are up to.”
Without making himself at all conspicuous Frank soon found out what the precious pair were doing. He saw them go to the clerk’s desk. One of them looked over the register. He seemed to find what he was looking for in the list of guests and pointed it out to his companion. Then they left the hotel.
“We had better get up to our room, Professor,” suggested Frank, rejoining his friend. “There is a good deal to talk about.”
“I should say there was,” replied Professor Barrington, quite disturbed. “About that man who told me his name was Taylor—I want you to explain, Durham. Dear! Dear! The pitfalls of business that yawn for an innocent old fossil like myself!”
“His real name is Slavin,” explained Frank, as they seated themselves in their room. “He is a man who has been a sort of brigand and pest in the movies line for two years. The fellow has no standing with the good film exchanges and I fancied he had been forced out of the field months ago.”
“He fooled me completely,” declared the professor. “From what he told me I thought he was hand in glove with all the big movies men.”
“You were lucky to get out of his clutches as easily as you have,” said Frank, “for he is a crafty swindler. I knew him when we first started the Airdrome at Riverside Grove. He had a hold on a poor lad named Dave Sawyer, whom we rescued from his clutches and who is now looking after the Airdrome. Slavin got mad because we were first in securing a lease he was after. He annoyed us in a dozen mean ways, shunting a searchlight down into the Airdrome while an entertainment was going on, and finally trying to blow us up with dynamite. When we got the proofs of that he disappeared, leaving all kinds of unpaid bills behind him.”
“A regular rascal; eh?” observed the professor. “If he’s as bad as that, won’t he bother and harry us?”
“He won’t be permitted to do that,” repliedFrank, decidedly, “for I shall not allow it. There is no doubt to my way of thinking but that he is bound to find out how and where you are going to locate and try and get ahead of you. I think, too, he dislikes me, so he would be glad to injure me. Being fully advised of his probable intentions, I am forewarned. First and foremost, we must guard against those fellows discovering where we hope to locate.”
“They’ll spy on us and follow us,” said the professor.
“Then leave it to me to throw them off the trail,” returned Frank. “The great point in this plan of yours is the chance of finding a suitable stand on Boston Common. Can it be done? If it can, then I feel sure that my partners will think as I do that your educational film project is a first-class proposition and that we will be glad to go in with you.”
“That is good news,” declared the professor, his frank face betraying the pleasure and satisfaction he felt. “As to the location, I’m sorry you do not look with favor on the ones I had selected.”
“I don’t say that,” Frank hastened to explain. “I am only thinking that there may be a better one. I always look for the best, and it may pay us well to search more closely beforewe decide on something that only half satisfies us.”
“You forget, Durham,” responded the professor, earnestly, “that I have spent nearly a month seeking a location. I have visited nearly every building facing the Common, and have interviewed owners and agents. I would almost guarantee that there is not another lease existing or prospective that could be secured. It took a deal of inquiry and probing to find out about the two we have in view.”
“Well,” said Frank, “I would like to go over those two in a thorough way, and I suggest that I investigate them in detail later in the day.”
“That’s all right,” was the reply, “in fact the very thing,” and then the speaker went on to explain the condition of the two leases and the terms, with which Frank familiarized himself.
“When my satchel arrives,” the professor added, “I want you to see what a splendid programme I have laid out. Nobody will get ahead of us as to that, Durham, for it has taken months to arrange my connections and get up the material to start with films that are simply wonderful.”
From the later talk of the professor, Frank was satisfied that the operating end of the proposition was no dream. The rarity, nature and variety ofsome of the films his companion described quite enthralled the young leader of the motion picture chums.
He was neither uneasy nor alarmed as to the enmity and plotting of Slavin and his cohorts. Every inch of the way in his former progress in the movies line Frank had been called upon to fight for his rights. Keen wit and straightforward action had heretofore scored success for him. He was now ready for a new battle, if occasion demanded it.
Frank had every reason for believing that his enemies would be on the alert to spy on their movements. They had been baffled in getting hold of the precious satchel; but a knowledge of the ideas of Professor Barrington was theirs. Outwitting a business rival by getting ahead of him in securing some desirable lease was a favorite line of tactics for Slavin. He was notorious for this kind of scheming, generally seeking to block the plans of the people he was after, relying on their paying a big bonus to buy him out.
Frank was about his business shortly after luncheon. The satchel had not arrived, and the professor was so anxious about it that he decided to remain at the hotel until it came. Frank was glad of this. He had been put in possessionof all the facts about the leases by his new friend and had calculated the risk of Slavin or his emissaries shadowing them. Alone, he knew he could more easily evade his rivals than if the slow-going, blundering professor were in his company.
“I’ll give the big double store fair play,” Frank decided; “but it isn’t exactly what we want.” As he approached the place and looked it over from the outside and took in its entire environment, he was less in favor of the location than ever.
However, he entered the place and inquired for a Mr. Page. This was the person with whom the professor had been negotiating. Frank introduced himself.
“I had not heard from Professor Barrington as I expected, and I began to think he had given up considering us,” said Mr. Page. “In fact, I felt warranted in looking out for a new tenant. I have not definitely found one, but several business firms are figuring on the lease. You know that the verbal option I gave to the professor expired yesterday.”
“I did not know it,” replied Frank, in some surprise. “The professor must have got confused in his dates, for he supposes the choice is open for him for some days to come.”
“Well, it must be a free chance for everybody if you do not decide quickly,” announced Mr. Page in a business-like way. “Will you look around the place?”
This Frank did and his inspection was a thorough one. His past experience was a great guide to him. A good deal was at stake, Frank realized. He was able to picture just how the place would look when transformed. He was also able to calculate the cost, the opportunities for improvement, and the conveniences as to light, heat, ventilation, exits and seating capacity.
Frank devoted nearly an hour to his investigation. At the end of that time he informed Mr. Page that he would see the professor and decide upon what they would do at once. He came out upon the street to again look critically over the exterior. He was thoughtful and serious as he stood on the edge of the sidewalk taking in the surroundings.
“Now for the other place,” soliloquized Frank, and he passed down the square until he came to the old stationery store. All the time he had kept a sharp lookout for Slavin and his friend. As he entered the store, however, Frank was satisfied that no one had been following him.
The interior of the stationery store certainly was not very inviting, but Frank was not inclinedto form a decision from a superficial inspection. The store was indeed narrow, as he had observed in the morning, but Frank had in view the old warehouse at the rear that the professor had told him about.
The proprietor of the place directed him to this. The present rental was less than half what the people at the other location asked. Frank’s eyes took on a speculative expression as, after crossing a few feet of yard space, he looked into the building that covered waste room at the rear of the store.
“Why, this is simply great!” he told himself a minute later. “This old building is as big as a theatre. What a palace paint and gilt could make of it!”
Frank had entered the stationery store rather cool in his views of the location. He came out of it with some new ideas in his mind. His face was bright and he walked quickly. As he passed the first store he had visited he chanced to glance through its windows.
“Hello!” he ejaculated. “Slavin and his friend were earlier birds than I thought.”
He hurried his steps in the direction of the hotel, but not until he had fully recognized the two men inside the store. They were talking with Mr. Page, its proprietor.
“They must have seen me go in; they must have been watching me clear from the hotel,” mused Frank. “They are after that lease. Perhaps they are now closing their negotiations.”
A queer smile crossed Frank’s face. It was as though some pleasing thought occupied his mind. Then he said, with satisfaction:
“Well, I’m going to fool them!”