“Nope, it must be Gates’,” grinned Terry.
“You know what I mean,” rejoined Don, impatiently. “We thought that the friend from Canada took the cup back with him. Well, we may have been wrong all along, and Gates probably put it in the safe deposit vault at the bank.”
“I guess that is what happened,” Jim agreed. “Gates figured that we would think it went to Canada and would give up the search for it. And all the time it was right here in the town!”
“I think we had better show this article to the colonel,” decided Don. “If the police ever do catch these men we may be able to see the cup before Gates gets it back.”
The colonel was of the same opinion. “It may be another cup, of course,” he warned. “Gates went to other schools and he may have won other cups. I hope more honestly than he won the 1933 cup. But if we get a chance we’ll surely take a look at the cup the bandits took.”
It was a foregone conclusion that it would take months to catch the bandits and no one had much faith in the Portville police. But with brilliant swiftness the local police caught the bandit trio. Working on the theory that the man had only pretended to flee in some nearby woods the local representatives of the law combed the thickets thoroughly, to run down their astonished quarry in less than a week. The three men were surprised in bed in a lonely cabin in the nearby hills, and the entire proceeds of the bank robbery were found with them.
It developed later that the three men planned to bury the plate and divide the money, hoping to split up and leave the region singly, but the prompt work of the town police effectively prevented that. They were swiftly brought to justice and the first inkling that the cadets had of the fact was when the morning newspaper arrived at the school.
“Well, what do you know about that!” murmured Terry, as they scanned the paper. “I didn’t know the local police force had it in them.”
“They surprised everyone, perhaps even themselves,” smiled Don.
Jim was reading the account closely. “All of the effects of the Gates family were recovered,” he announced. “The cup is mentioned here again, but there is no description of it. I certainly would like to know what cup it is.”