Although there would seem to be no purpose in spending an evening crouched in the locker of a parked roadster, the Hardy boys had laid definite plans. From the morning they had bought the car they had perfected the various details of their scheme to capture the auto thieves on the Shore Road.
"Most of the cars have been stolen while they were parked on the Shore Road," Frank had argued. "It stands to reason that the auto thieves are operating along there. Since the first few scares, not many people have been parking their cars along there, so the thieves have taken to stealing cars in town and to hold-ups. If we park the roadster, it's ten chances to one the thieves won't be able to resist the temptation."
"And we lose a perfectly good car," objected Joe.
"We won't lose it, because we'll be right in it all the time."
"The thieves won't be likely to steal it if we're in it."
"They won't see us. We'll be hiding in the locker."
Joe saw the merits of the plan at once.
"And they'll kidnap us without knowing it?" he chuckled.
"That's the idea. They'll drive the car to wherever they are in the habit of hiding the stolen autos, and then we can watch our chance to either round them up then and there or else steal away and come back with the police."
This, then, was the explanation of their mysterious behavior, and as they crouched in the locker they were agog with expectation.