“No. School called off for today?” Joe asked eagerly.
“I wish it were.” Callie sobered. “It’s about Mr. Robinson. He’s been arrested again!”
“No!” The Hardys stared at Callie, thunderstruck. “Why?” Frank demanded.
Iola took up the story, saying that she and Chet had heard the bad news on the radio that morning. They had stopped at the Robinsons’ home, when their father brought them to school, to find out more about what had happened.
“It seems that Chief Collig has an idea Mr. Robinson was in league with the thief Jackley, that man your father got the confession from. So he arrested him. Poor Mrs. Robinson! She doesn’t know what to do.”
“And Mr. Robinson had just managed to find another job,” Callie said sadly. “Oh, can’t you boys do something?”
“We’re working on the case as hard as we can,” Frank replied, and told the girls about their sleuthing the evening before and early that morning. At that moment the school bell rang and the young people had to separate.
Frank and Joe were deeply concerned by what they had just heard. At lunch they met Jerry, Phil, Tony, and Chet Morton and told them the news. “This is tough on Slim,” Phil remarked.
“Tough on the whole family,” Chet declared.
The boys discussed the situation from all angles and racked their brains for some way in which they could help the Robinsons. They concluded that only the actual discovery of the stolen jewels and bonds would clear Mr. Robinson of the suspicion which hung over him.