idence.
Why it was not answered the telegraph people did not know, of course.

During the afternoon the boys also met Chief Fobes. With his stick under
his arm, he leaned against a railing at the Bank building, eating
peanuts.

"Nothin' doin'," was his reply to their inquiry. "Ain't likely to be,"
he added, discouragingly. "It ain't our luck, somehow. It may be here or
any place around here that something will happen, but of course the
gentry don't stay in these smaller places, and it's always in the bigger
towns that they're nabbed if they don't get away altogether."

"Oh, yes, I see," said Billy Worth, but when he and Paul had walked on,
he remarked: "No, it is not Mr. Fobes' luck to catch anything. I reckon
he banks more on luck than he does on work, though."

"'From the standpoint of the law,'" grinned Jones. But then lest he and
Worth should fall into the same error, he said briskly, "But come on,
Bill, we'll have to hustle if we're going to find anything."

Meanwhile Dave and Phil were approaching Albany. On the train they
mapped out their general plan of work. Phil was to interview the police
officials while Dave made inquiries at the headquarters of the
automobile club. Then, together, they would visit the central garages.
The outlying establishments they would call up by telephone, they
decided. Surely, every automobile, stolen or otherwise, must have
gasoline. Somewhere, then, it might be reasonably expected, trace of the
Big Six would surely be discovered.

It seems likely, and probably is true, that the boys failed to
appreciate the great number of cars constantly going and coming through
all such large cities as Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland and the like. Living
in a much smaller place, where tourists from a distance, especially
those with licenses from other states, were quickly noticed, they did
not understand that machines from far and near are so numerous upon the
great motor thoroughfares that they attract scarcely passing notice.

Disappointment followed disappointment as Phil and Dave pursued their
task. The fact that the police department had a perfect description of
their car and the assurance of the lieutenant, with whom Phil talked,
that every patrolman had the number of the stolen machine, were the only
bits of encouragement they found.

"Didn't ye have insurance against theft?" asked a pleasant young fellow
at a new garage not far from the capitol. "Ought to have a fire and
theft insuranc