Dick was nonplussed. Then he spoke to the operator again.
"Can you reach Farleytown?"
"Yes, but the line from Farleytown to Carwell is down, too," came over the wire. "Can you reach Deeming's Corners?"
"No. Can't get to Carwell in any way at all," was the decided answer, and Dick hung up the receiver much crestfallen.
"The storm has knocked the telephone service into a cocked hat," he explained to the others. "The only way for us to reach Carwell is to drive there."
"Then let us do that, and right away!" cried Tom, who had been talking to his aunt. "Uncle Randolph took those ten thousand dollars worth of traction company bonds with him, and Aunt Martha says the bonds were unregistered, so anybody could use them."
"Do you think somebody is going to steal the bonds?" asked the aunt.
"Two men are up to some game,—that is as much as we know," said Dick, thinking it unwise to keep his aunt in the dark any longer. "And we know the men are rascals," he added.
"Oh, will they—they attack your uncle?"
"I don't think they are that kind," said Sam. "I think they'll try to get the bonds away by some slick game."
