“Either that, Roger; or else the fellow purchased the cigarettes for himself.”
“Do you mean to insinuate that that chauffeur was Nick Jasniff?” exclaimed the senator’s son.
“Why not, Roger? It would be an easy matter for Jasniff to disguise himself. In fact, if he was in any such game as this, I think that is just what he would do. He could easily stain his skin with some walnut juice, or something like that, gotten from the gypsies, and then put on a wig and a false mustache.”
“I believe that’s just what he did!” exclaimed Roger. “I know one thing—he was a good hand at running automobiles. I have seen him do it.”
“The whole thing fits in pretty closely,” went on Dave. “First, Jasniff was angry at Mr. Wadsworth and the rest of us for placing him in prison. Next, he stole those letters and my money. The letters told him all about the gypsies and their troubles with our folks. He put two and two together, came on East, and fixed up the plan to kidnap the girls.”
“But how did they get the girls to leave the train at Crandall and then go from the hotel to where the automobile stood along the road?”
“That is something still to be explained. But that can wait. What we want to do just now is to find out where they took Jessie and Laura, and rescue them.”
“It certainly is a great search, Dave. What are you going to do next?”
“I think the best thing we can do is to work our way along to Frytown. That is quite a place, and it is barely possible that from there we can get into communication with Crumville on the long distance telephone. If we can do that, we can tell the folks at home all we have learned, and get them to send some first-class detectives out this way to assist us in the search.”
“Let’s run rather slow on the way to Frytown,” suggested the senator’s son. “We may be able to pick up more clues.”