nces!

CHAPTER X

BOB

By late afternoon of the following day the New York detectives arrived
and Wheeler drove their dusty and travel-stained car around to the
garage.

"Must have speeded up some!" commented he, on viewing the throbbing
machine. "Left New York at midnight," they said. "Some friends of the
master's likely, come to play golf."

Ever given to frankness it was on the tip of Walter's tongue to
declare the real identity of the strangers, but fortunately he
bethought him in time to halt the words.

"What did they look like?" inquired he, eager to know and yet anxious
not to appear inquisitive.

"Look like? Like any other dusty, muddy guys," grumbled Wheeler,
eyeing with disdain the grimy automobile which he knew he would be
expected to clean.

"Old or young?" persisted His Highness.

"Old enough to know better than to heat up an engine this way, but
young enough to do it," snapped Wheeler. "Shouldn't think their car
had seen water in years, it's that filthy. A rum job for me!"

Walter, however, did not reply. He was not in the least interested in
the mud-caked car. It was its occupants that aroused his curiosity. In
all his life he had never seen a genuine detective and he was all
impatience for a peep at persons allied with such an intriguing
profession. While his reason told him they must, of course, look
precisely like other men, nevertheless the hope would persist that
perhaps, after all, they didn't. And even if they did appear like
ordinary mortals were there not their myriad disguises? He hoped with
all his heart they would wear some of these, that the exigencies of
the case would compel it.

Very great, then, was his surprise and disappointment when on being
summoned to the big house soon after the arrival of these interesting
creatures he was presented to two commonplace beings who, although
charming gentlemen, were not in the least different from anybody else.
Mr. Dacie, the younger of the men, was a pleasant, blond-haired fellow
who instantly ingratiated himself in the boy's affections by asking
him if he collected stamps and bestowing on him two rare ones from
China. In fact he seemed to like everything a boy liked and appeared
to be almost a boy himself.

Mr. Lyman was older but he, too, when he was not being stern and
business-like, was very jolly. No one could possibly be afraid of
either one of them and then and there His Highness's faith in the
ultimate success of Mr