"Perhaps not, sir," continued Frank, "but I explained to you just how it happened. And I assure you positively that none of us so much as put a finger inside your grounds yesterday."
"You give us your solemn affidavy on that, do you, young feller?" asked the village constable, eagerly, as though seizing on the first pretext to make peace.
"No matter what he says!" cried the owner of Cabin Point. "I tell you their being in that vicinity just when my treasure was taken so mysteriously looks suspicious. I firmly believe they know something about the gold cup, and I shall not leave this spot until I make certain of their guilt or innocence."
"Gold cup!" muttered Jerry; "now, what do you think of that? Since when have the honorable Outdoor Chums taken to cracksmen's ways, I'd like to know? Wow!"
"Please let me understand this thing better," pleaded Frank, determined to win the angry old man over if he could do so. "You say something you think very highly of has disappeared, Mr. Dennison?"
"I told you it was a gold cup!" snapped the other. "My nephew, who is one of the most famous amateur golf players in the country, won it as a prize in a great competition last summer. He is very proud of it, and I have cherished that magnificent cup as the apple of my eye. To have it mysteriously disappear, and feel that in all probability it may be melted down just for the gold there is in it, almost breaks my heart."
"I can easily understand your feelings, Mr. Dennison," said Frank, quietly. "We happened to meet your nephew while on the way here, though it never struck any of us before that Gilbert was a Dennison, for we didn't wholly catch his last name. And, sir, if we can do anything to help you find the lost cup we'd be only too glad to lend a hand in the search."
"Now that's what I calls reasonable, Mr. Dennison," spoke up the friendly constable, who evidently did not mean to be urged into extreme measures, if diplomacy and soft words could avoid such a thing.
The old man eyed Frank keenly. He looked just as suspicious as ever, and as though he were trying to understand what the boy might have secreted back of his words.
For years Mr. Dennison had been hiding something from the world, and during that time it was only natural he should be growing more and more suspicious of every one about him.