"Don't think he did, Stranger. I didn't see anybody, did you, Tom?"
"No," was the positive answer.
By the look on their faces Jack felt that the men were not telling the truth. Yet what he was to do he did not know.
"Maybe he went back to that garage," he suggested, pointing to a smaller building in the rear.
"Look around if you think anybody is there," said the first man who had spoken, and the boys hurried down to the garage, which stood open. As they did this one of the men sauntered into the shack.
"Say, what's the meaning of this?" he demanded of Gabe Werner, who stood hiding behind a door.
"I'll tell you as soon as they go away," was the answer of the former bully of Colby Hall. "Don't let them come in here and see me."
"All right, they sha'n't come in," was the man's laconic reply; and then he went outside again, to resume his smoking.
Having walked around the garage and peered inside, the four Rovers walked again to the shack. The man who had just come out of the building leered at them.
"Didn't find the fellow you were after, did you?" he queried.