“I’ll promise,” said Andy eagerly. He was only too ready to do whatever the other boys wanted him to, as he had hopes of more rides in the Dartaway.
“That’s a bargain,” went on Jerry. “None of us will say nothing about the occurrence.”
The next few days the boys studied hard in readiness for examinations.
“Don’t you think it rather strange that the Cresville authorities should buy a motor boat?” asked Jerry of Ned, one evening as they were returning from a short run down the river.
“Queer; how do you mean?”
“Well, we’ve always got along without a craft like that before. There’s never been any river stealing to speak of. I wonder what’s in the wind.”
“Now that you speak of it, there is something out of the ordinary in it,” agreed Ned. “I never thought of it before. What do you think it means? Has Noddy anything to do with it?”
“I don’t believe he has; yet,” replied Jerry. “I’ll tell you something I heard the other day. There are some extra detectives in town.”
“Are you sure?”
“Andy Rush says so,” went on Jerry. “You know he’s always hanging around police headquarters. He wants to be a newspaper reporter some day.”