who in authority would
believe the testimony of such a little boy as Tommy? The fact that Billy
had been at home, and in his bed, all the night of the burglary at
Stresch & Potter's store was established in the minds of Billy's friends
only.

The twins saw Chet Belding on the way home and heard some news, after
telling Billy's friend of what Tommy had said.

"Of course Billy hadn't any hand in that robbery," Chet declared. "But I
wish he hadn't run away. Father and Mr. Hargrew say they'd both go his
bail. I wish I knew where he was."

"Didn't you think he was hiding somewhere on Cavern Island?" asked Dora,
shrewdly.

"Yes, I did. I found his knife Saturday when we were in that cave,"
admitted Chet, frankly. "Don't you girls tell anybody. But Lance and I
were through all the caverns with a man who knows them like a book--that
was after the police searched. He couldn't be found.

"Oh, and I say! did you hear about Tony and his monkey?"

"We read that Tony had been fighting and was arrested," Dorothy said.

"Yep. And it was a near thing he didn't get sent to jail. The judge only
fined him. The other man the police drove out of Centerport altogether.
They thought he was the worse of the two. And Tony had paid for his
concession at the park, and promised to be good.

"But the joke of it is," continued Chet, laughing, "the police don't
want Tony to tell all he knows. You see, they shut him into the
calaboose at the park and when they went to take him across on the boat
to court, Tony wasn't there."

"He had escaped?" interrupted Dorothy.

"That's what," said Chet. "And how do you suppose he'd done it?"

"We couldn't guess," cried the girls.

"Why, the monkey unlocked the door of the cage and let his master out.
The jailer had left the key in the lock while he went to breakfast, and
the monkey did the rest. You know, that was one of the tricks we saw him
do," continued Chet.

"Tony didn't think he had to stay in jail if the door was unlocked, so
he walked down to his booth and got his own breakfast. And the police
found him there and took him along to court. But they were easy on Tony
for fear he would make the park police the laughing stock of the city.
Lance and I happened to be over there early--it was when we searched for
Billy in the caves--and we saw Tony rearrested."

"That Italian must be a bad one," Dora said. "How did he get off?"

"Tony said the man he was fighting with cheated him out of his share