"Boys, I've got an idea!" cried Dave. "Mrs. Fairchild said the man she saw was rather tall. Don't you remember the tall man we saw last night?"
"To be sure, and the short fellow with him," exclaimed Roger. "They may be the very rascals!"
"Let us tell the doctor of this," said Shadow, and forthwith they went to Dr. Clay, who listened to their story with interest.
"I will notify the authorities," he said. "How did the men look in the face?"
"I didn't see their faces," answered Roger.
"One had a beard, I think," ventured Shadow.
"Both had reddish beards," answered Dave, "and they had reddish mustaches, too."
This was as much as the boys could tell. Later it was learned that the tall and the short man had been seen before and it was pretty clearly established that they had had something to do with all of the robberies throughout that district. But the men were missing, and what had become of them nobody could tell. The local papers came out with a full account of the robbery and not only mentioned the money that had been taken but also the names on the checks, and the lists of stolen railroad tickets. These accounts Dave and his chums read with interest.
"Say, I saw a funny thing just now," said Ben, coming to Dave and Sam Day a little later, while both were doing some sums in algebra. "I was in the library and so were a lot of fellows, including Plum and Poole. Plum has been on the sick list to-day and wasn't downstairs when the news came in about that Rockville affair. He took up one of the papers and began to read about the robbery, and all at once he staggered back. I thought he was fainting. He grabbed the paper with all his might and his eyes almost started out of his head. He would have gone over, only Poole caught him and led him to a chair. Then he said his head hurt him and he went to his dormitory."