And, besides that, Miss Ford's father had his pet thoroughbred
horse stolen."
"And one of the big stores in Deepdale was looted," Betty added. "Oh,
there was tremendous excitement there for a time."
"Hum," said the spokesman, stroking his beardless chin thoughtfully. "It
looks as if we might be able to trace a good many things." And he
continued to explore the contents of the bag to the very bottom.
The other one was treated in like manner but nothing familiar met the
watching eyes. Of course, all were disappointed, but Mr. Mendall, for
such was the sheriff's name, warned the young people that it was not yet
time to give up hope--there were plenty more bags where these had come
from.
"But we haven't time to go through all of them now," he stated. "I
simply wanted to assure myself that the things were valuable. Now that I
am satisfied on that score, the best thing to do is to get the loot away
as soon as possible and then set somebody to watch for those gypsies. I
never saw anything like them when it comes to nerve," he added, waxing
enthusiastic on the subject. "Why, I believe if you were crossing a
chasm with only a board between you and eternity, and they happened to
need that board for kindling wood they would pull it out from under you
without the slightest compunction.
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