"That might be dangerous, you know."
"Yes, sir," said Bob. "We wanted to solve the thing ourselves if we could though."
"I don't know about that," said Mr. Cook musingly. "I hate to think of you two boys fooling around out there with a lot of desperate men around."
"Don't do anything until this afternoon anyway," Bob pleaded.
Mr. Cook thought for a minute. "All right," he agreed. "Ill wait until after luncheon. Do you and Hugh expect to go out there this morning?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you got a gun?"
"No, we haven't."
"Well, there's an automatic pistol and two boxes of cartridges in the second drawer of my bureau. Go up and get them before you start, for I think you ought to be armed. And above all don't say anything about it to your mother."
"Certainly not," exclaimed Bob, much excited that his father was helping them.