"That paper stolen!" cried Billy. "That undoes all the work I accomplished in the East. Oh, if I could only lay hands on that slick twin brother of Sam Shackmiller!"
"Do you think he told the truth when he said he was a twin brother?" asked Andy.
"I don't know," replied the ranch boy. "But he surely looked enough like him to be Sam himself. Only the limp was different."
"He wasn't much different from him in character," declared Frank, "not if he stole that paper."
"And he did steal it as sure as guns!" exclaimed Billy. "We never should have trusted him. He was too slick for us."
"But his story sounded reasonable," put in Andy.
"Yes, so it did. Well, let's go down and talk to Uncle Richfield about it. I hope he'll let us join in the chase."
"So do I," chorused the Racer boys.
They found Mr. Thornton busily engaged in going over the papers in his desk, hoping against hope that he might have overlooked the most valuable one. But it was not there.
"What time did he skip out?" asked Billy. "When did you miss him—I mean Shackmiller?"