e policy," he declared, "then you let someone else do the
worrying."

"Too late to think of it now, I'm afraid," said Phil with a forlorn
smile.

"That's true enough," said the other, "but I was just thinking how lucky
a fellow considers himself when he does have insurance in a case of this
kind. There was an illustration of it up state just this spring. Man had
a new car. Used it just a little, over winter. In April it was stolen
and it never was found. He got a check for pretty nearly all he paid for
it because he had insurance. He didn't have to lose any sleep, you see."

"Also, you may be able to sell him another car, because he has the money
to pay for one," suggested Dave, his eyes twinkling.

"Now you're trying to jolly me," returned the young man good-humoredly.
"But I didn't mean it that way. Fact is, the man was away up at
Harkville--'way out of our territory for Torpedoes."

"Hello, now!" exclaimed Way, eagerly. "Was there a Torpedo stolen in
Harkville, recently?"

"Not lately. Two months ago," the other answered.

"Who lost it?" And again Way glanced sharply at Dave. The latter was
listening to every word but taking care to betray no unusual interest.

"H--m--m--Hull, Kull--why, that's it! Kull was his name. But _your_ car
was not a Torpedo, was it?"

If the young man thought that in this question he guessed the reason for
Phil's wish to know more of the incident mentioned, he guessed wrong, of
course. But unwilling to tell just why he was interested, until he
should have had time to think, Phil gave him no enlightenment.

"No," answered Way, "the Torpedo people don't build a six-cylinder car,
do they?"

"That's right, yours was a six," said the other. "Makes you so much the
greater loser, with no insurance."

"What luck did the Harkville man have finding his car? Someone must have
looked for it even if he did have insurance."

"Guess they _did_ look for it," said the garage man forcibly. "First
Kull and the police, then the insurance people and detectives, and
believe _me_, insurance companies don't care how much it costs to find a
stolen car if they've had to pay for it. They do get stung though, and
last I heard, Kull had his money, for his car was never found, high or
low. Strange case! Never a clue to go by. A padlock pried off Kull's
little garage and the machine gone and--there you are."

"Strange!" muttered Phil, but he was thinking too, that, though this was
exceedingly interesting