"I guess you're right, Frank. This is a little too big for us to handle ourselves. But imagine finding that wig! What luck!"
"There's nothing else around, is there? Let's look."
Although the Hardy boys scoured the woods in that vicinity thoroughly, they found nothing more. But the wig, the hat and the coat gave promise of interesting developments. Frank hunted through all the pockets of the coat in the faint hope of finding something that would identify the previous wearer, but in this he was disappointed.
So they went back to the abandoned road and remounted their motorcycles, returning to Bayport with the articles they had found in the woods.
Their disappointment had turned to jubilation, for now they felt that they were definitely on the trail of the mysterious man in the red wig, and while ostensibly there was no connection between this fellow and the thief who had robbed Tower Mansion, Frank had, as he said, "a hunch" that the auto thief and the robber of the mansion were one and the same man.
"If we ever lay our hands on the man who stole Chet's roadster I'm sure we'll have gone a long way toward solving the Tower affair," said Frank to his brother. "I may be wrong, but I have an idea that the fellow was a professional crook who first set out to rob the steamboat office. Then, when he was frightened off, he hung around the city and waited his chance to rob Tower Mansion."
Mr. Hardy was still in the library when the boys returned home. The great detective was frankly surprised when his sons again entered the room, and he looked up with the suspicion of a twinkle in his eyes.
"What! More clues!" he exclaimed. "Surely not so soon."
"You bet we have more clues!" exclaimed Frank eagerly. "And real clues this time. We're going to turn them over to you."
"But I thought the two of you were working on this case in your own way. Remember, I'm the opposition."