“So I’ve been told,” went on Mr. Hardy. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have said evening, for it was past midnight when I got ready to lock up and go to bed, trade being dull. I was at the front door when I heard a racket over head like when there’s a sharp clap of thunder—you know, one of those close-by ones, that sound like whips snapping. I was quite surprised, for the stars were out, and there wasn’t a sign of a storm. The noise passed away in a second, but it gave me quite a start, and I stayed by the front door a matter of several minutes, but I couldn’t see anything.
“I was going on with my locking up, and was just ready to put out the last light, when I heard a knock on the door. That startled me too, for I hadn’t heard any rig drive up, nor any auto puffing, and this place is rather far out for people to walk to. I didn’t like the thing at all, but as I’m here to do business I went to the door. There stood two men——”
“Not a man and a young fellow?” interrupted Ned eagerly.
“No, two men, rather middle-aged men. They were dressed like autoists, and I was rather surprised at that, for I couldn’t see any car. They apologized for coming in so late, and they asked me if they could get a meal—anything cold—said they’d pay well for it.
“I didn’t like to bother at that time of night, as all my help had gone to bed, but I like to be accommodating, so I told ’em to come in. I asked ’em where their machine was, and they said they had a slight accident and had left it down the road. I asked ’em what kind of an auto it was, and how badly it was broken, for my son’s a machinist, and handy with tools. I thought I might get him some work, but they said they could fix it themselves, and one of ’em made a funny sort of remark.”
“What did he say?” asked Jerry.
“He said they had broken one of the guy wires on the warping wing tips,” replied Mr. Hardy. “That was the first auto I ever heard of having wings, and I didn’t ask any more questions for fear they were making game of me.
“To make a long story short I got ’em a meal, and they tossed me a twenty dollar gold piece when they were through. I gave ’em change and they hurried out into the darkness. I listened for some time, but I couldn’t hear any auto chugging off, so I went to bed. That’s how I got the gold piece, and I was so suspicious of it that I changed it the first chance I got. But I told the Newton hotel clerk about it, and I said if it turned out bad to let me know, and I’d make it right. I thought maybe that’s what you had come out here for.”
“No, it was a genuine gold piece all right,” answered the detective.
“But what made you suspicious of it?” asked Jerry.