“Father——”
“Has gone down town in urgent haste. Mr. Saxton is at the bottom of it all.”
“How—explain, mother.”
“It was directly after you went away this morning. Two constables appeared with what they called writs of some kind. It seems that Mr. Saxton claimed that a great deal of valuable automobile parts have been missing from the plant for over a year. The officers searched the work shed.”
“The villain!” fired up Ben hotly. “Did he dare to accuse father of stealing?”
“It seems so,” sighed Mrs. Hardy. “The astonishing thing is that in a corner of the shed behind that barrel in which you keep odds and ends, they found nearly a bushel of carburetor parts.”
“Then they put them there!” cried Ben. “Ah, I understand now. The man you saw with the bag is in the conspiracy to disgrace father. His errand was to place its contents where they would incriminate us. He dumped them out and escaped before I got into the yard.”
“The men then proceeded to take the metal parts from the airship,” resumed Mrs. Hardy.
“Why, those never came from the Saxton plant!” exclaimed Ben. “Father made them right here in the work shed.”
“Your father protested, but the officers claimed they were acting under sanction of the law. They told him he had his redress, and could replevin them, I think it was, if he could prove ownership.”