THE VANISHING CROOKS
The radio boys broke into a run, and soon reached their excited friend.
“What’s the matter, Larry?” asked Bob. “You look as though you had just seen a ghost. What’s the trouble?”
“I wish you’d gotten here a few minutes sooner!” panted Larry. “Confound this blamed crutch of mine. How can anybody hope to make any speed with one of these things?”
“He can’t,” said Bob. “But hurry up and tell us what’s eating you.”
“I just saw the fellows that were in that motor boat when it ran us down!” exclaimed Larry.
“You did?” cried the radio boys in chorus. “Did you try to stop them?”
“Of course I did,” replied Larry. “But they evidently recognized me, for they gave me one look, and then started off at top speed. I tried to run after them, but I’m too blamed crippled yet to do much speeding, and of course they got away 179 clean. If you fellows had come along three minutes sooner, we could have caught them, I think.”
“They can’t have got very far yet, then,” said Bob. “Which way did they go? It may not be too late to catch them even now.”
“They went around that corner,” answered Larry, pointing with his crutch. “I got there as soon as I could, but by the time I arrived there was no sign of them.”
“I’m afraid we haven’t much chance to catch them now, but we might as well try, anyway,” said Bob. “Judging from the direction they took, it looks as though they might have headed for the station. Suppose we each take a different street, and work down to the station, keeping our eyes open as we go along? Even if we don’t succeed in catching them, we may find somebody who knows them and can give us some information.”
“Sounds good to me,” agreed Joe, briefly, and the others also assented to Bob’s plan.
“I’ll go straight down High Street, then,” said Bob, decisively. “You take Jerome Avenue, Joe. You take Van Ness Avenue, Herb. And you take Southern Boulevard, Jimmy. They all run together near the station, and we can meet there. So-long, Larry. Whether we learn anything or not, we’ll come back to the hotel and let you know all about it.”
“All right, then, I’ll be waiting for you,” said 180 Larry, with a wave of his hand. “I only wish that I could help you, but I’m a lame horse yet. Good luck, anyway.”
The radio boys set out at top speed, each one hunting high and low along the street assigned to him, and asking questions of every one he met. But the strangers seemed to have vanished into thin air, for, hunt as they would, the boys could find no trace of them. At the railroad station they learned that a train had left for New York only a few minutes before, but the ticket agent said he did not remember selling tickets to any men such as the boys described.
“That doesn’t prove anything, though,” he said, as he noted their disappointment. “I sell so many tickets here during the day that I don’t notice who buys them much. The only time I’d be likely to notice anything would be if the parties were excited or nervous, and I don’t remember anything like that this afternoon.”
The boys thanked him, and left the station.
“That’s too bad,” said Bob. “I would have given a lot to have caught those fellows for Larry. People that are mean and selfish enough to upset a boat and then not even try to rescue the people in it, ought to get what’s coming to them.”
“I’d certainly have enjoyed taking a swift punch or two at them myself,” agreed Joe.
“Well, if we didn’t catch them, it wasn’t for 181 lack of trying,” said Herb. “People looked at me as though they thought I was crazy when I asked them questions about the fellows we were after. I didn’t even know enough about them to describe them.”
“My idea was that they’d probably keep on running even after they’d gotten away from Larry, and in that case somebody would have been sure to notice them,” explained Bob. “It looks as though they were wise enough to slow down as soon as they thought they were safely away, though.”
“No use crying over spilt milk,” said Jimmy philosophically. “Let’s go back to Larry and report ‘nothing doing.’”
“I suppose that’s about all we can do,” agreed Bob. “We’ll keep a sharp lookout on the way back, and we may find something, after all.”
But this hope was doomed to disappointment. There was no sign of the rascals they sought, and there was no help for it but to tell Larry of their lack of success.
The latter was naturally greatly disappointed, but he put a cheerful face on the matter.
“When they once got away from me, I gave up hope of catching them, for this time, anyway,” he said. “Clintonia is getting to be such a big town that it’s easy for people to lose themselves in it. The only thing to do is hope for better luck next 182 time. I’m mighty grateful to you fellows for trying so hard to find them, too.”
“Don’t thank us for doing nothing,” said Bob, a little ruefully. “If we had caught those rascals, it would have been different.”
“Oh, it was just hard luck that you fellows didn’t come along a few minutes sooner. We’d have got them then, sure. But I’ve got a hunch that we’ll run across them again.”
“I’ll bet you traveled faster with that stick of yours than you ever thought you could, didn’t you?” asked Herb, with a grin.
“I guess I did,” laughed Larry. “I must have looked funny hopping along there. But it won’t be long now before I’ll be traveling around on my own two feet again.”
“You’re certainly looking better every time I see you,” remarked Bob. “I guess you’ll be plenty strong enough to start in at steady work at the broadcasting station next week, won’t you?”
“Oh, sure,” responded Larry. “I could do it this week, as far as that goes.”
“Don’t get too ambitious,” said Joe. “A week’s rest here will do you all kinds of good.”
“Do you find the grub as good as we told you it would be?” asked Jimmy.
“It’s simply heavenly,” said Larry, solemnly.
“Say!” exclaimed Bob, suddenly, “have any of 183 you Indians happened to think what next Monday is?”
“Sure,” said Herb, flippantly. “It’s the day after next Sunday. Ask me something harder next time.”
“That’s right,” said Bob, giving him a withering glance. “As our friend Herbert says, it is the day after Sunday, but it also happens to be Columbus Day, and therefore a holiday. How did we ever come to forget that?”
“Hooray!” they shouted, and with one accord linked arms and executed an impromptu dance.
“That being so, let’s go with Larry when he reports for work,” proposed Joe. “Who’s game to do it?”
“I’m with you!” exclaimed Bob. “We can see that Larry gets there all right, and maybe Mr. Allard will show us over the station. We were in such a hurry when we were there before that we couldn’t see very much.”
“I’d like to go first rate,” said Herb. “But I’m so far behind on my French that I’m afraid I’ll have to stay at home and make up for lost time. I’m ’way back in math., too.”
“I won’t be able to go either, I’m afraid,” said Jimmy, dolefully. “Dad has just taken a big contract, and I’ve promised to help him all my spare time next week. I’d forgotten about Monday being a holiday, though,” he added, truthfully. 184
“Well, if you can’t, that’s all there is to it,” said Bob. “Maybe you’ll change your minds before then, though.”
“I don’t want you to come just on my account, fellows,” said Larry. “Of course, I’d love to have you come, but I don’t want you to think you’ve got to.”
“It isn’t that at all,” Bob assured him. “In the first place, it will be fun to take the trip, and then, if we get a chance to look around the station, we may get some good tips for our new set.”
“Well,” said Larry, doubtfully, “since you put it that way, it will be great to have you come with me. I guess I’ve got influence enough around there already to show you the inside works.”
“All right, then, we’ll consider that settled,” said Bob. “Joe and I will call for you early in the afternoon. By that time Mr. Brandon will be back, and maybe he’ll come, too.”
The radio inspector returned the next day, but he could not promise to accompany the little party, as he had to attend a meeting at headquarters the following Monday.