he said importantly.

"The store!" exclaimed the boys. There was no need of specifying, as
there was only one store in Oldtown of any importance.

"How did it happen?" asked Fred.

"Did they get much?" questioned Teddy.

"They don't know yet," replied Jack to both questions. "A fellow came
past our house a little while ago, and he called to my dad, who was
working in the garden, that when Cy Briggs went to open up, he found
that the front door was already open and everything inside was all
scattered about. He can't tell yet just how much was stolen, but the
safe was broken into and everything in it was cleaned out. Cy is awful
excited about it, and they say he's running around like a hen with her
head cut off. Get a wiggle on now, and let's get down there."

The boys could not remember when anything like a robbery had happened
before in the sleepy little town, and they were all afire with
excitement.

The family was not up yet, but the boys did not wait for breakfast in
their eagerness to be on the scene of the robbery.

A hasty raid on Martha's pantry gave each of them enough for a cold
bite, and, eating as they went along, and running most of the way, they
were soon in front of the village store.

The news had traveled fast, and there was an eager crowd already
gathered. All sorts of rumors were about, and in the absence of any real
news as to the robbers, one guess was as good as another.

The only thing about which there was no doubt at all was that the
robbery had occurred. The open safe and tumbled goods were sufficient
proofs of that. Cy Briggs, who had run the store for forty years, and
had never had a robbery or fire or anything to disturb the regular order
of things, was so flustered that he had not yet been able to find out
the extent of his loss.

One or two of the cooler heads were going over the stock with him, while
the others clustered on the broad porch in front and waited for
developments, keeping up a constant buzz of questions and conjectures.

No one had heard any unusual noise the night before. The village
constable, who constituted the entire police force of Oldtown, had made
his usual round about ten o'clock, and, as a matter of form, had tried
the door. But it had been securely fastened as usual, and there had been
nothing to rouse his suspicion. Apart from two or three traveling men
who had come in with Jed Muggs, and were now staying at the one hotel,
nobody had seen any outsiders