"I'll do it. But please remember one thing," went on the oldest Rover boy, turning to the janitor and his family and also the office boy.

"We want to keep this as quiet as possible for the present, so please don't say anything about it." And all of them promised to keep silent.

It did not take long for d.i.c.k to get into communication with the authorities, and after a short talk over the telephone, he was told that a couple of detectives would be sent down to his once without delay.

"Have you told Mr. Powell?" questioned Tom, suddenly.

"No, but I will call him up now," answered his older brother.

Of course the lawyer was astonished at the news, and asked what steps had been taken to apprehend the thief. When told that the authorities had been asked to take charge of the case, he wanted to know if he could be of any a.s.sistance.

"I don't see how you can help us, Mr. Powell," answered d.i.c.k, over the wire. "I suppose we will have to put the whole matter in the hands of the police."

"Well, if I can do anything at all, let me know," answered Songbird's uncle. "I am rather busy now, but as soon as I am at leisure, I will call and talk the matter over with you."

Inside of half an hour the two detectives from headquarters arrived.

They were bright, sharp-eyed individuals, and they got down to business without delay. They asked d.i.c.k innumerable questions, and looked carefully at the safe, trying the combination several times, and then inspected the offices and the hallway. After that they subjected Kittie Donovan to a close examination, getting the girl to tell everything she could possibly think of regarding the strange man she had seen on the evening when the robbery had occurred.

"I think I know who did this job," said one of the detectives to the other.

"Looks like the work of one of three men to me," returned the other sleuth. "Baldy Jackson, Slim Martin, or Hank the Bluffer."

"You may be right, Joe, but I think it was Hank. If I've got the dope right, those other two fellows you mention are not near New York just now."

"Well, if Baldy and Slim can prove that they weren't around New York at the time, then I'll agree with you that it was Hank who lifted that box," returned the other detective.

"Who is this Hank the Bluffer?" questioned d.i.c.k, curiously.

"Oh, he's an old one at this sort of game," returned one of the detectives. "He is a wonder at opening safes. Somebody told me once that he made the a.s.sertion he could open any ordinary office safe inside of fifteen minutes. He's got it all in his finger ends. They are so sensitive that when he turns the safe k.n.o.b, he can feel every movement of the tumblers inside."

"And he is at liberty now?" asked Sam.

"He was the last I heard of him. He got out of a Ma.s.sachusetts prison about three months ago. Somebody told me he was in New York. I haven't seen him, but if he is here I think we can round him up sooner or later."

"Well, what we want are those bonds," declared d.i.c.k.

"Oh, sure! That's what we'll go after," declared the detective. "Even if we locate our man, we won't arrest him until we can get him with the goods."

Following this conversation, the detectives made a memorandum of all the bonds that had been taken, along with the numbers thereon.

"If the thief is an old one at the game, it's not likely that he'll try to use those registered bonds," said one of the detectives, "but he'll find plenty of places where he can use the others, if he knows the game."

"I'm inclined to agree with you on one point," said d.i.c.k. "And that is that no ordinary person could have worked the combination of that safe. It must have been some professional."

"You are right, Mr. Rover--unless somebody got the figures of the combination on the sly," answered the sleuth; and a few minutes later he and his fellow-officer left, promising to make a report as soon as anything worth while was brought to light.

Having gotten rid of the detectives and also of the janitor and his family, the Rover boys shut themselves in the inner office to discuss the situation. They had requested the authorities to keep the whole matter quiet for the present, and this the detectives had agreed to do.

"Now, first of all, d.i.c.k, tell us: Will this loss affect any of our other investments?" asked Tom.

"Not for the present, Tom, but how we shall stand later on if the securities are not recovered, I am not prepared to say." d.i.c.k's face clouded. "You see, it is this way: We have our investments in the West as well as those we went into in Boston some time ago. We--that is, dad--was going to take a loan on that mining proposition. That would involve our putting up some of those bonds--say forty or fifty thousand dollars' worth--as collateral security with the banks. Now, if we don't get the bonds back, dad will either have to cancel that loan or, otherwise, put up something else as security--and what else we can put up just now, I don't know. It's a bad state of affairs."

"Oh, we've just got to get those bonds back!" cried Sam, impulsively.

"We've just got to!"

"Easy enough to say, Sam, but wishing them back isn't going to bring them back," came from Tom, grimly.

"If we only had a little more of a clew to work on, we, ourselves, might try to get those bonds back instead of relying on the detectives," said d.i.c.k. "But when you haven't any clews, how are you going to strike out?"

"We might try to find that strange man, whoever he is," suggested Tom.

"Although looking for him would be a good deal like looking for the proverbial pin in the haystack. I would rather dig up the whole of the Atlantic seacoast looking for Captain Kidd's treasure;" and he smiled grimly.

CHAPTER XX

BARTON PELTER AGAIN

"Well, d.i.c.k, any news?"

"No, Tom. It's the same old story."

"Haven't the detectives been able to locate that fellow they thought might be guilty?" put in Sam.

"No, Sam. They told me up at headquarters that all of the three former criminals one of the detectives mentioned, were nowhere near New York, so far as they could learn."

"Then if they haven't been near this city, that supposition of theirs falls through," was Tom's comment. "What do they propose to do next?"

"I don't think they know. Anyway, they didn't give me any satisfaction;" and, hanging up his hat, d.i.c.k sank into an office chair, looking much downcast.

Several days had pa.s.sed, and during that time the Rover boys had done their best to get further clews concerning the robbery. From an old man who kept an apple stand near the entrance of the building, they had learned that the strange fellow who had been seen by Kittie Donovan was a man of perhaps forty years of age, with a clean-shaven face. But more than that the street merchant was unable to say.

"And there are thousands of men in New York City who are about that age and who have clean-shaven faces," had been Sam's comment on learning this. "That clew won't get us anywhere. Now, if the fellow had limped, or had a crooked nose----"

"Sure! And a false tooth with two spots of gold and a diamond in it, and all that sort of thing," Tom had broken in. "Say, Sam, what do you want, some clews made to order?" and he had laughed grimly.

"I must confess, I am at my wits' end," said d.i.c.k.

"What did Mr. Powell have to say about it?" questioned Tom, for he and Sam had been out hunting for clews when the lawyer had called.

"What could he say? He wasn't here when the bonds were taken. He asked me about our other investments; and he said if we got into any financial difficulties through this loss, he would aid us all he could."

"Bully for Songbird's uncle!" cried Sam. "He's as generous as Songbird himself."

"What's bothering me is this," continued the oldest Rover boy. "Sooner or later, if we don't recover those bonds, we have got to let dad know about the loss; and how he is going to take it, I don't know."

"Oh, let us keep it from him just as long as possible," broke in Sam, entreatingly. "Why, d.i.c.k, you haven't any idea how run down he is, and how nervous!"