Page:The Secret of the Old Mill.pdf/148

140 The Hardy boys looked at one another significantly.

Was the patent breakfast food enterprise legitimate or illegitimate?

From what the boy had said, there appeared to be grounds for suspicion. It did not seem that Uncle Dock was a scientist after all.

"I wish we were rich now," said Lester. "I'd like to go away from here and go to school. I wish Uncle Dock would move into Bayport so I could go to school with you fellows. But I guess there isn't much chance of that."

"Your uncle is pretty sure he's going to be rich?" said Frank.

"Oh, yes. He has told me often that we'd be rich some day and that I could have all the friends I wanted then."

"He must expect the breakfast food to be a success."

"I suppose so."

"Has he ever bought any grain from the farmers around here?" inquired Joe.

The boy shook his head.

"No. Some people tried to sell grain to him, but he wouldn't buy it."

"Then what is he making the breakfast food out of?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"I don't know," he answered vaguely. "I don't know much about it. He never tells me