Everyone believed that the frightened rich men had combined to offer the reward. Many wondered that the offered reward was not larger.
All of the student body at the High School were busy talking about the affair in the big assembly room before the session opened.
"I see where my parents have made a great mistake," sighed Frank
Thompson.
"How?" demanded Ben Badger.
"Instead of wasting my time at the High School they should have apprenticed me to a good journeyman detective," grumbled Thomp.
"Oh, but couldn't I use that five hundred, if only my training had fitted me for such deeds as running down a nitroglycerine peddler!"
"It isn't anything to joke about," shuddered one of the girls. "It's awful! Would four pounds of the dreadful stuff destroy the town of Gridley?"
"No," Badger informed her; "but it would be enough to blow up several wood-piles and destroy a lot of clean Monday wash."
"There you go joking again," protested the girl, and turned away.
"Oh, well," declared Fred Ripley, "we must possess ourselves with patience. We shall soon know the whole truth."