The most active men in the affair were the reporters, and Dick, Tom and Sam had all they could do to keep out of the clutches of the news gatherers, who wished to get every slightest detail of the hold-up. As we know, the morning papers had made a spread of the story, and the afternoon journals followed.
“Well, we’re certainly getting a lot of notoriety,” said Dick, when he and his brothers were on their way that evening to their homes on Riverside Drive. “But it’s the kind of advertising I don’t like.”
“I’m afraid this hold-up is going to give The Rover Company a black eye,” muttered Tom. “Some folks will think we’re mighty careless in handling our securities and consequently they won’t want to do business with us. However, hold-ups are real fashionable just now, so we’re right in the swim,” he added, with a queer sort of grin.
When the three men arrived at home they found that the boys had just come in. The lads had telephoned from the Grand Central Terminal to the offices and then, finding that their fathers had left, had come directly in a taxicab to Riverside Drive.
“No news, Jack,” said Dick, in reply to a question from his son. “We’re at a standstill, and so are the authorities. Our securities are gone and they and the bandits who took them have vanished into thin air.”
“Do you mean to say no one saw them leave the offices or no one raised an alarm?” asked Randy.
“No one saw them leaving the building—or at least if they were seen, nobody paid any attention to them,” replied Tom Rover. “But that isn’t to be wondered at because our building has dozens of people coming and going all the time and there are any number of automobiles and taxicabs in the street.”
“Well, what of the fellows who were locked in the closet?” demanded Fred.
“They remained in the closet until everything became quiet in the offices. Then they knocked on the door for a minute or two, and as none of the bandits came to make them keep quiet they at last forced the door open. Then Mason ran for the telephone and notified the police while the other clerks ran out in the corridor and went down in an elevator to the street to see if they could catch sight of the rascals. But that must have been at least five to ten minutes after the bandits had taken their leave.”
“And how much of a loss will it be, Dad?” questioned Jack, with increasing interest.