Joe made an unsuccessful attempt to mount the running board, but failed. Then, criticizing himself for not arriving at the scene sooner, he watched the car turn up the road.
Impulsively, he jumped into Mr. Holton’s sedan, but found that the key was not there.
“We’re licked,” he moaned. “No use going after him. His car could run circles around Mr. Holton’s, anyway.”
He waited a little while for his father and friends to appear, but when they did not, he again went into the house.
“Joe! See anything of the fellow we’re after?” The speaker was Bob, who had appeared at the top of the basement stairs.
“Yeah, but it didn’t do me any good,” the other youth answered, and then told of his pursuing the escaped man.
“So he got away, did he?” said the policeman. “Well, we’ll fix him. There’s a telephone in that front room there. I’ll call up headquarters and tell them to stop him.”
“Maybe the wires have been cut,” suggested Mr. Lewis.
Somewhat to their surprise, the telephone was in working order.