The argument waxed warmer, and a police officer arrived. Nancy edged closer.

“Excuse me,” she said. “I saw a young man who looks like this brown-haired one. He was running up the street and had on the same color suit.”

“There!” cried the alleged culprit triumphantly. “I’ve been mistaken for the real thief!”

“Which way did the fellow go?” the officer asked.

She directed him to the four-story apartment building, and he hurried off. Everyone followed.

Scarcely had the policeman entered the building when a figure appeared on a fire escape above an alley. Light as a cat, the man leaped to the ground and fled.

“That’s the one!” cried Nancy.

The heavy-set officer came back and ran after the thief, commanding him to halt. Instead, the young man squeezed through a gap between two buildings and vanished.

“Look!” Nancy cried. “He dropped the wallet!”

Had he deliberately thrown it away? the young detective wondered. A moment later the policeman returned.

“Sorry I couldn’t overtake that guy,” he said, handing the wallet to its owner. “I’ll make a report to headquarters. Name, please?”

“Francis Baum,” the other replied, checking the contents. “Never mind the report. I’m satisfied to get my stuff back.”

He examined the contents carefully. Nancy, who stood close beside him, saw part of a business card. Her photographic mind noted:

thson

ter St.

“My money is all here,” the owner assured the policeman. “Thanks for your trouble.”

Francis Baum and the man he had accused walked off, and the crowd dispersed. Bess and George would have gone on also, but Nancy held them back.

“Just a minute,” she said. “I want to search the ground between those two buildings.”

“Surely you don’t think the thief is still there!” George protested, following reluctantly.