o know what to say to him? Wish Phil had been there," said
Billy earnestly, telling Paul all about the interview later.

"Gee whizz! We're getting warm, though, I'll bet!" cried Jones with
enthusiasm.

"If it wasn't just guesswork that Pickem or Smith--whatever his real
name is--knows something about this man in the lockup, who in turn knows
something about our car! Pickem certainly does know something about the
Torpedo, but he's gone. Even if he might help us, it's too late."

The boys spent the evening trying to realize, with Willie Creek's help,
some value from the day's developments. They were late getting to bed
and still sleeping soundly when Phil and Dave, the following morning,
were well on the road to Pittsfield. And now to return to the latter
pair of eager searchers, it may be briefly stated that their day's work
was without results. Except that they had made the theft of the Big Six
the more widely known, they felt their efforts in Pittsfield to have
been a total failure. At nine o'clock on Tuesday night they were on a
Pullman, their tickets reading "Syracuse."

There is in the city named, as everyone knows, an automobile club of
more than usual excellence. Whether it be in helping a pair of boys
toward the recovery of a lost car, or the more general work of erecting
road signs, mapping off the best detours around road construction work
and informing the public of the same, nothing is too small or too large
a task to receive intelligent attention. And it was a fortunate chance,
therefore, that Phil and Dave chose Syracuse to be the scene of their
next endeavors.

Very early Wednesday morning the two boys began their inquiries--began a
day of work and developments, following rapidly one upon another, and
more startling at their close than the strangest dreams may often be.

CHAPTER IV

DETECTIVE BOB RACK HAS SOMETHING TO SAY

To the police officials of Syracuse, Phil and Dave first directed their
steps in that city. The result was as usual. The department had a report
that such-and-such a car was stolen. The officers would be pretty likely
to discover it if the machine should appear in the town.

"But you better see the Automobile club. They are a big help in
everything where autos are concerned," advised the police captain.

At a centrally located garage the boys stopped to repeat the same
questions they had asked so many times before. The man in charge had
heard the story of a car mysteri