uched Billy's
sympathies deeply. He asked if Mr. Peek would not like to take a little
ride in the car to Ferndale. They were coming back at once. It would
take but a little while, he urged.

With something more like a smile than had been seen on his face for many
a year, the old man said he never had ridden in an automobile, and would
be glad to go. He climbed up to the front seat beside Paul. Billy told
him it was the more comfortable place to ride. And plainly Mr. Peek
enjoyed the trip. He was quite silent but his deep, pain-marked eyes
lighted up noticeably.

"It's a grand thing to be young," said he, at last.

Neither blacksmith nor storekeeper at Ferndale had heard the slightest
inquiry for the runaway automobile, which was not a runaway at all at
the time it passed through that village the previous Friday. Nor had
they heard anything which might cast light upon the theft of the Big
Six.

"You'll find that whoever had this Torpedo car is the same party that
hooked your machine," said the blacksmith. "Stands to reason. Wherever
could he have disappeared to, if it ain't so?"

"I'm afraid you're on the wrong track," smiled Billy, a little sadly.
"Chief Fobes, at Griffin, says positively that the two things--this lost
machine on the one hand, and the stealing of our car on the other--have
no connection with each other."

"Matter of opinion!" spoke the blacksmith warmly. And then as if he
scarcely endorsed Willie Creek's high opinion of Mr. Fobes' ability, he
added: "And I'll put my judgment against his'n any day."

Arranging with their friends to telephone them at the American House
immediately should there be any development at Ferndale concerning
either car, the two boys turned toward Griffin. They stopped at his
lonely, cheerless home to leave Mr. Peek. His thankful appreciation of
the ride made them glad of the little kindness they had been able to
show him. Neither lad thought to attach importance to the old man's
account of his being disturbed by prowlers. It was Phil who saw
significance in this story as, at dinner, Billy and Paul told all that
had taken place with them.

"It's a mighty mysterious business," declared Way. "Don't you see it?
Here's an automobile,--quite likely a stolen automobile, at
that--abandoned and left to run itself on a lonely road. No one can
discover what became of the driver of that car. He was certainly driving
when the machine left Ferndale. Three miles further on, and near