Barr, but an
unforeseen circumstance altered their determination. As Barr left
the room with Mr. Beasley, Lathrop turned on them with troubled
eyes.
"Will you do it, Frank?" he asked anxiously. "Please say yes."
"Why, Lathrop, whatever is the matter," asked Harry, noticing the
almost painful anxiety, with which the boy looked at Frank and hung
on his decision.
"It's just this," said the boy in a voice that shook, as he tried to
steady it, "if that ivory isn't found, we shall be ruined. My
father will be beggared."
"Beggared," exclaimed both the Boy Aviators who had regarded Mr.
Beasley--as indeed did his friends in general--as one of the "best
fixed" business men in New York.
"It's true,"' said Lathrop, despairingly. "He has been speculating
foolishly and entered into an agreement with this man Barr to borrow
money for still further stock deals. The only hope he has of paying
his debts is the realization of the profits he could have made on
the ivory. Its theft was a bitter blow to him, not so much for his
own sake, as for my mother and sisters. Myself I don't care, I can
get out and work, but it would break my heart to see them reduced to
poverty."
The situation was a difficult one for the Chester Boys. They had
taken a hearty dislike to the crafty old ivory merchant and had made
up their minds not to enter into any enterprise in which he was
interested.
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