"I'm afraid it does," came the reluctant reply.
"Tell me what he means by 'car, siding, track, mum,' and all that. Of course I can understand that he warns the fellow he's sending the message to to keep quiet. What car can he mean? Do you think they aim to steal some one's expensive car now—that they've gone and wrecked Percy's biplane, and must have another means for getting away?"
But Frank simply shook his head at that.
"Oh! you're away off your base there, Andy. He speaks of a car on a siding, and that can only refer to a railroad car. Now, I happen to know that they expect the pay-car to be along some time today or tonight, and it always lies there on that Jeffreys Siding, until they've passed out thousands of dollars to the men who call Bloomsbury their headquarters. Do you see now what it must mean, Andy?"
Andy gasped, and then exclaimed.
"Once more you've gone and seen through the riddle that knocked me silly, Frank. That's just what it must mean—the pay-car would offer fat pickings, all in cash; and they've held up their flight to Canada just to try and gobble it. Oh! what a slick game, with Todd giving false information, and perhaps just leading the police further and further away from Bloomsbury tonight, so as to leave the pay-car next to unprotected. Yes, and doesn't he go on like this, 'he says keep low, and trust to him'? That must mean Todd, don't you think?"
"I read it that way," replied his cousin tersely, as he rubbed his chin in a reflective fashion; for they were now grappling with a dangerous problem, and Frank was only too well aware of the fact that a slip might upset all calculations, as well as possibly endanger their lives; since they were dealing with reckless men, and no boyish rivals like Percy Carberry and Sandy Hollingshead.
"Do you think this was meant for the other one of the bank thieves?" Andy went on to ask.
"It could hardly have been for any one else, Andy. There must have been more to the letter, but the rest dried before he blotted it."
"And that fellow is in hiding somewhere, perhaps watching the biplane, and ready to fight before letting it be retaken, because they depend on it for their get-away to the great lakes and Canada;" Andy further observed.