“I guess it was because I twisted and squirmed so much. Anyway, finally, while I was almost frantic over the noises I could hear of their packing up my silver and loading it into a box and carrying it out, I managed to free myself from the gag, and then I started screaming as hard as I could.”
“But why scream, when you knew you were so far from neighbors?”
“You heard me, didn’t you? You heard me from the road and came. That’s why I screamed.”
“Yes, we heard you from out on the river. That’s how far your screams carried,” replied Frank, speaking softly so as to reassure her. “Now, let’s call the police and get them out here.”
“Yes, yes, call the police!” she cried, gaining strength and with it her composure. “Let’s look around and see what is gone, too.”
Lanky hurried to the telephone, being directed to its location by Mrs. Parsons, and sent in a call for the police headquarters in Columbia, reporting the robbery and asking for men to be sent at once. The night lieutenant replied that he would send two special men immediately. It may be added here that Frank’s old friend, Chief Hogg, was no longer at headquarters in Columbia. His health had given out and he was away on a long vacation and another man the boys did not know was now at the head of the police department.
In the meanwhile Mrs. Parsons and Frank started through the house. In the dining room they saw the sideboard drawers all pulled out, and linens strewn on the floor.
“All my silverware—gone!” she moaned, her hands to her face. “Thousands of dollars’ worth of the very finest sterling silver dishes and all my flat silver, too! There’s the plated ware on the sideboard—they did not want that. Oh, what shall I do. All my silver gone, gone!”
Frank surveyed the scene quietly, not knowing how much of the ware there might have been. Nor had he any idea of what amount it would take to make “thousands of dollars’ worth.”
“Let us not touch anything here, Mrs. Parsons,” Frank suggested, as Mrs. Parsons stooped to put one of the drawers in its place in the sideboard. “Let us leave things just as they are until the police get here.”