The first thing they did in the morning was to hunt up Hughie. They routed him out before breakfast. When they saw him they told him the whole story from beginning to end. They told him about Hal’s suspension for a week, and fixed it up with him for Hal to carry his cane and limp when anybody was around. Then Hans got excused from practice for a few days, also without any particular reason except the one to Hughie that he wanted to put in his spare time on a little detective work.
After breakfast they went to Mr. Williams’ house. It was still before hours, and after a little delay, Mr. Williams came downstairs. Hans told him about seeing the fellow with the blue glasses on the train, also that he had a hat and suit on that looked a good deal like Hal’s. Mr. Williams was deeply interested and gave them both permission to absent themselves from class for a few days, asking them to report to him each evening. He said, too, he would tell the detective whom they would employ that day so they could help run down the clew.
For three days they hunted the town over to find a merchant who might have sold a blue cloth hat like Hal’s, but without result. The same thing happened when they tried to find one who had sold a pair of blue glasses. They didn’t make a bit of progress. The station agent couldn’t recall anyone with a blue hat buying a ticket to Boston that day. He didn’t even remember that Hal had worn that kind of a hat or a gray suit, or even that he had bought a ticket.
The next morning passed also without result. At noon they went over to Springville, the next town, to investigate the stores there to see if they could find a clew.
As they were going into the town, the car stopped to give an automobile a chance to cross the track ahead of them. This called Hans’ attention to the automobile. There was no one in it but the driver, but he had on a blue cloth hat and wore blue glasses. Hans jumped up and leaned out to get a better view of the occupant, shouting to Hal: “[Get the number of that machine] quick.” Hal did so, but just then Hans said, in a disappointed tone, “Never mind the number, the driver’s colored and the man who wore the blue glasses was white.” So they went back to their seats more disappointed than ever. When they had gone a little farther, however, Hans burst out, “Do you remember that number yet?”
[“Get the number of that machine.”]
“Yes,” said Hal, “27,843, Mo. There was another smaller number underneath, but I couldn’t get that one.”
“Let’s go back,” said Hans. “I have a hunch that we ought to investigate that car.”