"Well, tell me about that!" gasped McGlory, his voice between a growl and a chuckle. "Ping saw the robbery, and was keeping quiet about it just to let Carl get into a hard row of stumps. He's a heathen, and no mistake."
"But the point that interests me a lot," said Matt, "is the fact that Carter himself is mixed up in the robbery! He planned it with this rascally Hindoo, who joined the show this morning and has been doing his villainous work all day. Carter was trying to get the benefit of the robbery and, at the same time, shirk the responsibility and stay with the show."
"How's that for a double deal?" muttered McGlory, amazed at the audacity of the ticket seller as Matt put the case in cold words. "But then," he added, "Ping may not be telling the truth."
"I've lost a good deal of confidence in Ping," returned Matt, "but I believe he's giving the matter to us straight. One of the money bags, as Ping says, was put in Carl's pocket while he was lying dazed and unconscious from the blow dealt him by Dhondaram; and Ping also says that the snake was put in the other bag. That has all been proved to be the case."
"And Carter must have slashed himself on the cheek just to make it look to Burton as though he'd had a rough time during the robbery!"
"Exactly."
"All this fails to explain, though, why Dhondaram tried to destroy the aëroplane, and then fastened the bag with the snake to the lower wing of the machine."
"We're on the right track to discover all that. Let's hunt up Burton, and then we can all three of us have a talk with Andy Carter."
"That's the talk!" agreed McGlory. "You stay here, pard, and I'll hunt up some one to watch the Comet while we're gone. After what's happened to-day, I hate to leave the machine alone for a minute."
McGlory was not long in coming with a man to look after the aëroplane, and he and Matt left immediately to find Boss Burton.