"I don't think it'll be as bad as all that, Aunty," said Frank, winking at his brother.
"Wait and see, young man. Wait and see. I've lived in this world a good deal longer than you have—"
"Years longer," said Joe innocently.
This reference to her age drew a glare of wrath from over Aunt Gertrude's spectacles.
"I'm older than you are and I know the ways of the world. It seems you can't trust anybody nowadays."
However, in spite of Aunt Gertrude's doleful predictions, Fenton Hardy stood by his promise, and after lunch was over he went with the boys to the office of the District Attorney, where they put up bail to the amount of five thousand dollars for the release of Jack Dodd and his father, pending trial.
In a few minutes, father and son were free. When they learned the identity of their benefactors their gratitude was almost unbounded.
"We'd have been behind the bars right until the day of the trial," declared Mr. Dodd. "I don't know how to thank you. I give you my word you'll have no cause to regret it."
"We know that," Mr. Hardy assured him. "Don't worry."
"You're real chums!" declared Jack to the boys.