Chapter VII
Gus Montrose
Detective Smuff walked back as far as the road with the boys, and then clambered into his car, where another detective on the Bayport force was waiting for him.
"You're just wastin' your time hunting through the woods," he told the boys heavily. "A car couldn't get down there, anyway, and we've hunted through there pretty thoroughly in the second place."
"It'll give us something to do," Frank said cheerfully.
"Keep you out of mischief, I guess," agreed Smuff, as though this were some consolation at any rate. He nodded to the boys and the car sped off toward Bayport.
"Dumb but good-hearted," said Chet.
"He isn't a bad sort," Joe remarked, "He's no great shakes as a detective, that's sure, but there are lots worse."
The boys crossed the road and struck off down a narrow trail that led through the un-
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