# Ned Wilding's Disappearance/Chapter 15

CHAPTER XV
IN TROUBLE
By inquiring from a policeman Ned found which elevated road to take in order to get to his uncle's residence. As he found the station was close to the office of the oil company, he decided he would go direct to Mr. Kenfield's home and arrange later to have his trunk sent up. He knew his uncle had a telephone, and thought the baggage could be sent for by an order over the wire. This would save him a long trip back to the station.
When Ned reached the address on West Forty-fourth street he was admitted by a maid, who asked him whom he wished to see.
"Is my uncle in?" asked Ned.
"Oh, so you're the little lad from Darewell," the girl exclaimed, with a smile, though Ned did not think he quite came under the category of "little." The maid asked him to come in and, as soon as he entered the hall, he saw that the place was in confusion. Several trunks stood about, some half full, others empty, while on chairs ​and sofas in the reception hall and parlor were piles of clothing.
"Is anything the matter?" asked Ned.
"Mr. Kenfield has suddenly been called to Europe," the girl said. "He has to go aboard the steamer to-night, and he must pack up at once. He has gone down town on a matter of business but he'll soon be back. Your aunt is expecting you. She's upstairs. I'll show you."
The girl led Ned to Mrs. Kenfield's room.
"Oh, Ned, I had forgotten all about you!" his aunt exclaimed. "I'm so glad to see you, but I'm sorry we're so upset. However, it will be over in a few hours, and when your uncle is off on the steamer you and I can sit down and talk. I want you to tell me all about Darewell and how your father is. I haven't seen him in so long! My! but you're the perfect image of him. How are you?"
"Very well, aunt," Ned replied. "Can I do anything to help you? '
"No, we are almost packed, or, rather your uncle is. He has to take quite a lot of things, as he doesn't know how long he may have to stay. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll see about another trunk."
Mr. Kenfield returned to the house in about an ​hour and warmly welcomed his nephew. He expressed regret at the necessity which so unexpectedly called him abroad, and said his trip could not be postponed.
"But you will have a good time with your aunt," he added with a smile. "She knows as much about New York as I do, and will have more opportunities to take you around."
"Perhaps I had better telegraph the other boys not to come," suggested Ned. "It may inconvenience you."
"No, no; let them come and welcome!' exclaimed Mrs. Kenfield. "I love boys. We'll have a fine time. I have lots of room, and I want you and your chums to enjoy this visit to New York."
That night Mr. Kenfield, bidding his wife and nephew good-bye, went aboard the vessel which was to sail early in the morning to take advantage of the tide.
"Well, I suppose your uncle is well out on the ocean by this time," remarked Mrs. Kenfield, after a somewhat late breakfast which she and Ned ate alone in the handsome dining room. "Now, Ned, will you excuse me for a few hours? I have some shopping to do, and I know you wouldn't want to be going through the stores while ​I stop at the bargain counters," and she laughed. "Try and make yourself at home here. Mary will get lunch for you, in case I am not back in time. To-morrow your chums will be here, and we must plan to entertain them."
Ned said he would be glad to take a rest during the morning, and, after his aunt had left he went to the library to read. He could not get interested in books, however, with the big city of New York at hand.
"I think I'll go out and get a paper, and see how my oil stock is getting along," he said. "Maybe it's advanced some more."
Telling Mary, the maid, where he was going, and remarking that he would soon be back, Ned went out into the street. It was rather cold, but the sun was shining brightly and most of the snow had been cleared away. Ned got a paper and turned to the financial page. There, sure enough was the name, Mt. Olive Oil, and it was quoted at one dollar a share. Ned did not notice that it was in the column of "unlisted securities," together with other stock of corporations, some selling as low as ten cents a share.
"I'm getting rich," Ned murmured to himself. "Guess I'll take another look at that certificate."
He pulled it from his pocket, and, as he stood ​in the street reading it over he suddenly exclaimed:
"They've made a mistake. It's only for one hundred shares instead of two hundred. I must go right down to the office and have it straightened out. It's probably a clerical error."
Though he said this to himself, it was with a vague feeling of uneasiness that Ned boarded a car to go to the offices of Skem & Skim. It must be an error, he repeated to himself, over and over again. Still he remembered what his father had said about "fake" companies. But this one had seemed substantial, and their offices certainly indicated that they did a big business. Ned was deposited by the elevator in the corridor opposite the glittering offices of Skem & Skim. He observed a number of persons standing before the entrance door.
"I tell you I will go in!" Ned heard one excited man exclaim. "They've got a thousand dollars of my money and I want it back."
"Yes, and they've got five hundred of mine," another man chimed in.
"I am sorry, gentlemen," replied a third voice. "But the offices are closed. No one can go in until after an investigation."
"By whose orders are they closed?" asked the man who had mentioned the thousand dollars.
​"By the orders of the United States postal authorities," was the answer. "A fraud order has been issued against Skem & Skim, and there is a warrant for their arrest on a charge of using the mails to swindle. They skipped out just before we got here this morning."
"Can't we get our money?" inquired half a dozen anxious ones.
"I'm afraid not," was the reply from a small but determined looking man who stood before the door. "My assistant and I have charge of the offices. As soon as we can learn anything definite we will let you know."
"Did they both get away?' asked some one of the postoffice inspector, for such the man in charge was.
"Yes, both Skem and Skim."
"Their names ought to be Scheme and Skin," said a man in a corner. "They skinned me out of three hundred dollars."
"Any chance of getting 'em?" was the next inquiry of the inspector.
"We hope so. We are also looking for a young fellow who is supposed to hold two hundred shares of this wild-cat oil stock in the Mt. Olive well. As far as we can learn he is the only stockholder outside of Skem & Skim, and of course he's ​liable if there's any money in the concern. He may have a lot of the cash, which the firm got on other deals, salted away somewhere He's the one we want as badly as we do the other two. A young chap too, but as slick as they make 'em I'm told, even if he is a stranger here."
Ned listened in wonder. He thought of his two hundred shares, and of the certificate in his pocket. He wondered if, by any possibility, he could be the one wanted.
"Who is this young fellow?" some one in the crowd asked.
"That's what we'd like to find out," the inspector replied. "He only got into New York yesterday, so one of my detectives informs me. Came from up state, or out west I hear. He's the one I want, for he can tell a lot about this business. If I can lay hands on him I'll clap him into a cell quicker than he can say Jack Robinson."
"I wonder if he can mean me?" Ned thought, and his heart beat rapidly. "I came from up state yesterday. I got into New York yesterday, and I have two hundred shares of the Mt. Olive stock—at least I paid for 'em. But I don't know any more about this business than the man in the moon. Still they may not believe me. I wonder ​if they would arrest me? Maybe it was against the law to buy the stock of a fraudulent concern. I wonder what I'd better do?"
"Yes, sir," the inspector went on, speaking to the angry and defrauded investors, "once let me get my hands on this young fellow who has those two hundred shares and I'll clear up some of this mystery. He and Skem & Skim worked the trick among themselves and now you gentlemen can whistle for your money."
"I'd like to get one chance at that young fellow!" exclaimed the man who had lost the thousand dollars.
"So would I!" chimed in the others.
"They wouldn't even give me an opportunity to explain," thought Ned. "They'd lock me up at once, though I'm entirely innocent. I'm going to get away from here!"
Then, while the angry men were still talking to the postal inspector, Ned turned and hurried off. He was afraid to go down in the elevator lest the attendant might recognize him as the youth who was at the offices the day before, so he walked down the ten flights of stairs.
"I must hurry and tell my aunt all about it," Ned thought. "She will know what I ought to do."