“Well, I suppose we might as well go to the grounds, and see the others making their final preparations,” said Ned, the morning of the day before the race. “We’re not in it, though, after all our work. I suppose Noddy is laughing at us, if he knows what a mean trick Hoswell played on us.”
“Oh, you can depend upon it he knows about it,” said Jerry. “If I catch him I’ll punch his face good and proper.”
“That won’t find the lever,” spoke Ned with a sigh.
“Say, why didn’t we try some of the freight offices?” asked Bob suddenly. “Maybe Hoswell shipped the lever by freight, so as to fool us.”
“Freight!” exclaimed Mr. Glassford.
“Freight!” cried Jerry. “That’s it! Maybe he has. I wonder we didn’t think of that before. Bob, you’re all to the ice-cream cone!”
“We’ll visit the freight offices at once,” said Mr. Glassford. “There are only three of them, and it won’t take long.”
“We three fellows will attend to the searching part of it,” proposed Jerry. “You stay at the hotel, Mr. Glassford, and whoever locates the lever will telephone to you. Then you can have the lawyer take whatever action is necessary to get it back.”
“That’s a good suggestion. Go ahead. I’ll wait here for you.”
It was Bob’s luck to locate the lever at the very depot of the railroad over which the Comet had been shipped to Park Haven. The agent told Bob that a man answering Hoswell’s description had left the lever for shipment the night of the day on which the injunction was vacated. It had been held at the depot because there was so much other freight to go out ahead of it.