“Not yet,” answered the chief. “Have you heard anything, Ned?”
“Andy here seems to think he has a clue,” replied the son of the store proprietor. “Tell him about it, Andy.”
Andy blushed at the notice he was attracting from the head of the Cresville police force.
“It was this way,” began Andy, when they had all entered the store, which was deserted as far as customers went, since Mr. Slade had ordered it kept closed. “I was one of the first to arrive. In fact I was an early customer. I wanted to buy a new knife. So I was on hand when the head clerk discovered the safe had been robbed. As I’m going to be a detective, I decided I would look for clues. I couldn’t find any around the safe, so, when the clerk ran to the telephone to call for the police, I wandered through the store. No one noticed me, and I soon found myself on the top floor. If you’ll come with me there I’ll show you what I found,” and Andy started toward the elevator.
“Oh can’t you tell us without waiting all that while?” asked Ned who was growing impatient as it really seemed Andy had discovered something.
“I can, but I can do it better if I point out to you what I saw,” replied the boy. “Come on.”
They followed him. The elevator carried them to the top floor. No trade was done there, as it was only a loft used for storing stock or goods that were out of season. Andy led the way through the half darkness to the rear. He stopped in front of a window the sill of which was thick with dust.
“Look there!” he exclaimed, pointing to something in the soft and fluffy covering of the sill. It was the print of a man’s foot.
“The mark of the arrow!” exclaimed Ned as he bent over it. “The same man who stole our boat robbed the store!”
The party gathered around the window, the chief plainly excited at the unexpected clue. The window had a large iron shutter on it, and this was partly closed. The chief swung it open.