Page:The House On The Cliff.pdf/59

 "But how do you account for the tool boxes being robbed?"

"They just did that to make it a little more mysterious. Probably they will hand you back your tools at school on Monday, just to prove their story."

This aspect of the situation had not occurred to the boys. They began to look a bit sheepish. If it had been the work of practical jokers it was only natural that they would seek something definite whereby to prove the fact that they had been at the farmhouse.

"Gosh, we'll never hear the end of it, if that's the case," sighed Joe. "Oh, well, we'll just have to take it in good part. But we didn't tell you about what happened on the way home. Tell him about it, Frank."

"Another adventure?"

"A real one. No practical joke about this."

Frank thereupon told their father about the two motorboats in Barmet Bay, about the chase and the resulting explosion. He modestly underestimated their own part in the rescue of the victim of the wreck, but Fenton Hardy nodded his head in satisfaction as the story went on.

"Good work! Good work!" he muttered. "You saved the fellow's life, anyway. And it looks as though you've stumbled on a mysterious bit of business in that motorboat