"Well, I"d have to say it if it were," declared the practical Cora. "And the sooner we find out the better, in order to get the police after the thieves."
Wearily they trudged back to the tea room, which they had left so suddenly.
"Let"s have some more ice cream while we"re waiting," suggested Bess.
They had nearly finished their second plates when the honking of a horn warned them of the approach of some one. Eagerly they looked out to see Jack and Walter returning.
"We lost the trail!" Jack called. "I saw the tire marks, Cora, for a little way, then they disappeared. We"ll have to notify the police. Your car"s stolen all right."
"Oh, Jack!"
"Might as well realize it first as last, Sis! Where"s a telephone?" he asked the waitress.
CHAPTER III-TWO STRANGE MEN
"What are you going to do, Jack?" asked Cora.
"Notify the Chelton police, and also the authorities here. They will send out a general alarm better than we can. Now who saw these chaps, and how did they look?"
"Belle saw them."
"Then, Belle, I"ll have to call on your detective abilities. Describe these villainous characters."
"I wouldn"t call them particularly villainous looking," said the tall girl. "In fact we thought for a time it was you two, and--"
"I see," interrupted Walter. "Belle, I thank you for your good opinion."
"Come on, get down to business!" exclaimed Jack Kimball. "I want to know how these fellows looked so I can tell the police. Were they young or old?"
"Two young men," answered Belle. "They were about your age, Jack."
"But, unfortunately, they did not have his angelic disposition," mocked Walter. "Bouquets are coming your way fast, Jack."
"I"ll dispense with them. Come on now, Belle. Anything else except that they were young?"
Belle thought for a moment. She had had such a momentary glimpse of the two that, really, it was hard to describe them adequately for the purposes of police detection.
"Why not describe the car?" asked Cora. "No matter who is in my machine they haven"t a right to it, and they should be arrested on sight."
"Good idea!" agreed Jack. "I can describe the car right enough."
"And give the license numbers," said Bess.
"Of course. Good girl. Let me have them, Cora."
They were the only ones in the tea room at this time, and the excitement was only communicated to the help. The waitress showed Jack where the telephone booth was, and while Cora, Walter and the girls explained to the girl cashier at the desk what had happened, Jack got the Chelton police over the telephone and asked them to send out an alarm, and also to be on the lookout for the thieves.
The tea room was in Pepack, the township next to Chelton, and Jack also called up the town hall and notified the authorities there, who promised to do what they could.
"But they may have taken any of half a dozen roads leading out of here,"
Walter said. "They must have hurried away."
"And you didn"t have a glimpse of them?" asked Belle.
"Not a trace," answered Jack. "We managed to pick up the trail by means of that patch on the tire. Saw it in the dust several times. Then it was lost in the shuffle, as you might say, so we thought it better to come back. I wonder if the people here noticed anything of two strange men hanging about."
"We"ll ask the cashier," suggested Cora.
She knew, slightly, the girl who sat at the cash register, for Ye Olde Spinning Wheel was a popular resort for automobile parties.
"Yes, Miss Kimball," the girl said, "there were two young men in here this morning, though whether they were the ones who took your car I can"t say."
"How did they look?" asked Jack.
"Well, I don"t know that I can tell you. They were both of medium height, and were smooth shaven-I mean they had no beards or moustaches, though both of them would have been better for a visit to the barber"s."
"What did they do or say?" asked Walter.
"They came in and each had a plate of cream," went on the girl. "I didn"t exactly like their looks, for, though we try to run a place that will suit every one, we are a bit particular too. But they didn"t make any fuss, and even tipped the waitress."
"Then they must be "regular fellows,"" said Walter, jokingly.
""Scuse me," broke in the voice of the waitress-the same one who had waited on the girls-"but de dime tip dey gibbed me wasn"t any good."
"Why not?" asked Jack.
"It was plugged. Look!" and she exhibited it.
"So it is!" exclaimed Cora"s brother. "They weren"t so regular after all."
"I didn"t see it till after dey"d gone," the negress went on.
"Perhaps you can describe them for me," Jack suggested.
It developed that the waitress could give a better word-picture of the two young men than could the cashier, whose attention, naturally, was taken up with her duties at the desk.
Jack noted down the none too good distinguishing marks as described by the waitress, and went to telephone them to the police as an additional help in capturing those who had gone with Cora"s car.
There was nothing more that could be done just then, and Jack was about to suggest that, by means of a little crowding, he could take his sister and her chums back to Chelton in his car when the young woman who had charge of the tea room entered, it being her hour to go on duty.
"What"s the matter?" she asked, as she observed the group of excited young people about the cashier"s desk.
"Two strange young men went off with Miss Kimball"s auto," was the cashier"s answer, and the circ.u.mstances were related.
"Two young men!" exclaimed the manager. "Why I remember those two who had cream in here this morning. They spoke to me as they came out on the porch, and I bought tickets of them."