"Now, boys," he began with insinuating address, "there is a very ugly situation here, and as I have always heretofore found you dependable, cannot I now depend upon you to help me clear this up?"
Henri shook his head, in denial for both. "Search us," he said.
Roque, whose remarkable judgment of human nature has before been noted, felt in an instant that the suggested search would develop nothing.
"Who took the papers then?" he fiercely demanded.
"We were not on guard duty." Billy was inclined to resent this bullying, and showed it by his answer.
"Strip them," urged the short airman, who thought he, as the loser, ought to have a word in the controversy.
Roque waved the man away, and then abruptly moved to where Spitznagle was sitting, a picture of despair.
"Who was in the house to-night besides those now present?" was the question fired at Mine Host.
"Nobody but Conrad," assured Spitznagle.
"Who the devil is Conrad?" Roque fairly jumped at this information.