“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Perhaps something will turn up yet. Joe and I aren’t going to lie down on the job now. There isn’t much we can do, but we’ll have our eyes open for more clues⁠—if there are any.”

Perry Robinson shrugged his shoulders disspiritedly. “I guess there isn’t much use now,” he said. “But I appreciate it of you.”

When he went away, the Hardy boys watched him going down the front walk. His carefree stride was gone, and instead he walked mechanically, as though in a daze.

“What a fine pair of detectives we are!” exclaimed Frank, in sudden disgust. “If we had been any good at all we could have got those clues soon enough for Dad to have caught Jackley in time.”

“No use worrying about that now,” replied his brother. “It was just the way things happened.”

“Well, there’s one thing left. We must find that loot!”