"If we only knew whether he was forced to translate the code message for the benefit of the man who robbed him," Sandy suggested, "there wouldn't be so much doubt as to what course we ought to take."
"The code message," Will argued, "may change the whole scheme."
"Yes," Sandy complained, "and we won't know what to do until Frank comes back with the duplicate."
"We won't know what to do then unless Will loosens up!" laughed George.
"Referring, of course," Sandy laughed, "to the prospective story of the mark of the human thumb. Will was about to tell us all about it when we saw the signals sent up by Frank."
"That's a fact," Will replied. "I didn't get any further than the mention of the human thumb, did I?"
"We're waiting to hear the rest of it now!" declared Sandy.
"Well," Will began, "there was a safe robbed in Chicago one night, and two men were accused of the crime. The accused men were in the employ of the manufacturing concern whose safe was entered. They admit that they were in the private office of the firm during the night, but they deny that they opened the safe."
"Of course!" laughed George.
"Now don't form any hasty conclusions," Will went on. "There was a third person in the office that night, according to the stories told by the two men who are accused, but this third person says he wasn't there!"