answered, excited himself by this time. "I took special
notice of it because it was so odd and shabby."

"That trunk was worth five thousand dollars!" wailed Billie, thereby
causing another ripple of surprise among the onlookers. Then she turned
pleadingly to her father.

"Daddy, we must find the trunk, we must!" she cried. "Just think what it
means." She was on the verge of tears, and her father came suddenly to a
decision. He turned quickly to the guard.

"Is it possible to get a machine around here--a fast one?" he asked.

"I don't know. But here's the man who keeps the livery stable."

Suddenly a well-dressed man, who had been watching the proceedings with
lively interest, stepped forward and addressed Mr. Bradley courteously.

"I have my car here," he said, adding with a smile of pride: "And she's
guaranteed to overtake anything that runs on four wheels. She's at your
disposal, if you can run her. My man went on an errand."

"That's kind of you, sir," cried Mr. Bradley heartily. "If you will show
me----"

"I'll say so," said the stranger boyishly, and led the way around the
station to a car which, even in this minute of excitement, the boys eyed
delightedly.

"I'll drive," announced Teddy; and before any one could have interfered
if they had wanted to, he had jumped into the driver's seat and had
thrown in the clutch. Teddy was young, but he knew all about cars.

Mr. Bradley took the seat beside him and the two boys and Billie
scrambled into the tonneau. Mr. Bradley motioned to the owner of the
car.

"Will you come?" he asked, but the man shook his head.

"No, thanks," he answered, "I'd rather stay here and watch for some
other missing baggage. Good luck!" and he waved to them as the big car
glided forward under Teddy's touch and shot around a turn in the road.

The wind roared in Billie's ears and whipped little strands of hair
across her eyes, but she pushed them back impatiently and fixed her eyes
upon the flying ribbon of road ahead.

"Faster, Teddy, faster!" she kept urging until even that young
scatterbrain began to wonder at her.

"Can't be done, Billie!" he yelled back finally. "We're going about
sixty now, and if we meet anything on the road, we'll have a smash-up."

"Be careful, Teddy," cautioned Mr. Bradley. "We don't want an accident."

"Oh, but we've got to catch that thief!" wailed Billie, hoping each time
they rounded a bend in the road to see their quarry just ahead. "He may
hav