"I certainly do," retorted Mr. Crowninshield with emphasis. "I am going to recover my property, jail the thieves, and bring the people who received the stolen goods to justice."
"They have a week's start of us," Bob observed doubtfully.
"But we have not been idle all that time, man, Dacie and Lyman have been working; O'Connel has been using his eyes and ears—I hope; and we have this wireless set up."
"Yes, we have certainly accomplished something," admitted Bob.
"Accomplished something! I should say we had! Besides, this is not the sort of case one need hurry on. Nothing is going to be done suddenly," explained the financier. "Having got the dog the people on the yacht will move at their leisure. They do not fear that any one is at their heels chasing them up. Furthermore the sea offers unending concealment for their crime should they be pursued and trapped. It is the thieves themselves who are the scapegoats and the ones in danger, according to their reckoning."
"I suppose so," agreed Bob. "Still, I cannot help wishing we might have got after them without even these few days intervening."
"You forget, my son, that our wireless is going to cover space so quickly that hereafter we shall have our information very quickly and shall be exactly as well off as most detectives used to be in double the time."
"Yes, that is so."
"Once we are in touch with O'Connel we can know every thought they think aboard the Siren as soon as they have thought it."
The uncertainties that clouded the younger man's face vanished.