"Just so. Go on, I shan't say a word. What a remarkable boy! But it must be the military training that does it."
As well as possible Dick told all that had happened during the night. Chief Burger interrupted him a score of times, but at last the tale was finished. At the conclusion the chief closed one eye suggestively.
"And don't you know where this Josiah Crabtree is now?" he asked.
"If I did I'd go after him hot-footed," returned Dick.
"He must be in hiding in the woods near the cottage."
"Perhaps, but he had eight hours in which to get away."
"Just so. I will send out an alarm to all of my force, and then
Detective Trigger and I will make a personal hunt for the rascal."
"When you hunt for him you had better hunt for Dan Baxter, too," said Dick, and he told of the happening on the stage ride.
"I will keep an eye open for Baxter, too," said the chief.
From the police station Dick rode to the post office, and here wrote and mailed a long letter to his father, relating what had happened and repeating the wording of the letter that had been found. He requested that Alexander Pop be sent up without delay.