With this parting shot, the officers drove away.
Stunned by the misfortune that had befallen them, Mr. Dodd and Jack were silent. Frank Hardy was the first to speak.
"I'm sure it'll turn out all right, Jack. There's been a big mistake somewhere."
"Of course there's been a mistake," returned the boy heavily. "But it looks mighty bad for us."
"I've been living on this farm for more than thirty years," said Henry Dodd, "and there's never been any one could say anything against my good name or the name of any one in my family. I've no more idea how that automobile got here, than—" He shrugged his shoulders, and moved slowly away toward the house.
"We've told the truth," declared Jack. "We never saw the car before. We didn't know it was here. And I told them the truth about my fishing rod. I lost it last week and I didn't see it until that detective took it out of the automobile. How it got there, I don't know."
The chums were sympathetic. They tried, to the best of their ability, to cheer up Jack Dodd, although in their hearts they knew that the evidence against the boy would weigh heavily in a court of law.
"If you had known anything about the car and if you had left your fishing rod there you wouldn't have identified it so readily," said Frank shrewdly. "That was what made me certain you were telling the truth."
"I was so surprised at seeing the rod I couldn't help it! I told them just what they wanted to know. I suppose if I had lied about it they wouldn't have been so sure."
"It's always best to tell the truth in the long run," declared Frank. "It looks rather black for you just now, but after all they haven't very much to go on. The main thing is to find out who did hide that car behind the barn."