Merritt Hughes went to the window and looked down. It was better than a hundred feet to the ground and the sharpness of the wind had not lessened. He shook his head. “I don’t think that happened,” he said. “It would have been too risky. Either that paper is still in this room or it was taken out by that fellow when he left.” “But the police haven’t found anything,” protested Bob. “Sometimes even the police slip up when they run into an especially clever crook and this man had to be clever to get in here in a guard’s uniform and stand night duty.” Their search of the room neared an end and Arthur Jacobs looked even more downcast. “I knew it was missing when I failed to find it in the file,” he groaned. “This is where I lose my reputation.” “Don’t worry about that. We’ve got to find this paper first,” said Merritt Hughes. “Go through the file once more.” With the federal agent on one side and Bob on the other, the filing chief examined every paper in the cabinet, but without success. Merritt Hughes turned on his nephew. “You’re sure that you were the only one in this office until this fellow got in?” he asked Bob. Bob hesitated, wondering whether he dared implicate Tully Ross by mentioning his name. But Tully had been there and the disappearance of the radio document was too important to let anything like that interfere, he decided. “Well, Tully Ross dropped in for a few minutes,” said Bob. “Why didn’t you tell me this in the first place?” asked the federal agent, and Bob felt the color in his cheeks mounting at the rebuke which was implied by his uncle’s words. Chapter X ON THE LEDGE ★ Arthur Jacobs wheeled around sharply, at the exchange between uncle and nephew. “What was Ross doing here at night?” demanded the filing chief. “I guess he just dropped in; saw the lights burning up here and wondered what was going on,” replied Bob. “Did he touch anything, work on anything?” There was a desperate note of anxiety in the filing chief’s voice and Bob knew that Jacobs was thinking only of the reputation of his department rather than linking Tully to the events of the night. “No, he only offered to help me, but I told him I was getting along all right,” said Bob. “Did he ask you about any of the papers you were filing?” pressed the federal agent. “Well, not exactly, but he did mention something about the radio secrets. That’s been more or less common knowledge in the department that something big was breaking and we have all been curious about it.” “Did Tully touch this file or go into it?” demanded the filing chief. Bob hesitated. Tully had looked into the file, but he hadn’t removed anything Bob was sure. “Well, did he touch anything?” pressed Jacobs. “He did open this file,” admitted Bob, “but I looked up just then and I am sure that he didn’t remove anything. In fact, I don’t think he touched anything inside the file.”