“Yes, I’d like to go there,” said Bob quietly. “There may be a mystery about who killed Hiram Beegle, but to my mind there’s a greater mystery in discovering how it is Chief Drayton knows the old man was killed, instead of, let us say, dying a natural death, if he can’t get in the room.”
“Who said he couldn’t get in the room?” asked Ned.
“Well, it stands to reason he can’t get in the room, if the only door to it is locked on the inside, if Hiram Beegle is dead inside; for I’ve been there and you can’t go down the chimney. How does the chief know Hiram is dead?”
“You got me there,” admitted Ned. “I didn’t get it directly from Chief Drayton. Tom Wilson was telling me—he heard it from some one else, I guess.”
“That’s the trouble,” remarked Bob as he guided the flivver around a corner and brought it to a stop in front of his uncle’s hardware store. “There’s too much second-hand talk.”
“Then let’s go over to Storm Mountain and get some first-hand information!” cried Ned.
“Yes—what do you say to that?” added Harry.
Bob considered for a moment.
“I guess I can go in about an hour if you fellows can,” he replied. “Uncle Joel will let me have some time off.”
“I think I can string dad so he’ll let me go,” remarked Ned.