was here. And I told them the truth about my fishing rod. I lost it last week and and I didn't see it until that detective took it out of the automobile. How it got there, I don't know."
The chums were sympathetic. They tried, to the best of their ability, to cheer up Jack Dodd, although in their hearts they knew that the evidence against the boy would weigh heavily in a court of law.
"If you had known anything about the car and if you had left your fishing rod there you wouldn't have identified it so readily," said Frank shrewdly. "That was what made me certain you were telling the truth."
"I was so surprised at seeing the rod I couldn't help it! I told them just what they wanted to know. I suppose if I had lied about it they wouldn't have been so sure."
"It's always best to tell the truth in the long run," declared Frank. "It looks rather black for you just now, but after all they haven't very much to go on. The main thing is to find out who did hide that car behind the barn."
"And who put the fishing rod in it," added Joe Hardy.
"I don't suppose you suspect any one?"
Jack Dodd was thoughtful.
"I hadn't thought of it before," he said
