"I wish you were going along, Julie," said the girl Winifred, very much delighted. Then she said--"Mr. Parkins is taking us in his big four-passenger roadster--how many horse powers has it, father? It must be a lot--something like several hundred I would think from the noise it makes sometimes." "No, it's a ninety," corrected her father who seemed proud of his better knowledge. "What time do you leave for New York?" enquired the girl, Julie. "Mr. Parkins is to pick us up at the house at ten to-morrow morning. And then, away we go!--just whizzing along Merrick Road so we can see all of the beautiful homes along the Bay--and the Sound coming back! My, but he drives fearfully fast! I expect to be frozen with fright by the time we arrive in the city." Having fallen into all of the information he could have wished for, "Number 12" suddenly quit on his second wedge of pie and asked which was the best hotel nearby. "Roadside Inn" was pointed out just across the street, and rolling his motorcycle beside him he walked over and went inside. Once in his room "Number 12" got busy. Looking at his watch he concluded that Updyke would be at his hotel, but that was up to Central. "Updyke" was all he needed to say and in less than a minute he had his man. "All right, shoot," came the regular answer by which "the big boss" announced himself--"Number 12?" he queried. "Yep--got the whole works. Am at Patchogue, Roadside Inn, phone Patchogue--twenty. The father rather old and solemn, neither ever saw New York before, and never off of the island. Has a pie stand on the parkway--darn good pies too." "Soft enough, I'd say," replied Updyke. "Shall I run a man out to you to-night?" "Why not come out yourself--if it's an important case?" "No--if he gets away from you I'll nab him here. He's up to his regular tricks--the scoundrel!--now don't you fail to nail that fellow!" warned Updyke, to whom the whole situation was as plain as daylight from darkness. "Trail him and keep me posted on the route he has taken. No doubt he'll cross on the Queensborough bridge." Running true to form the Parkins roadster roared its way into Patchogue next morning, and the operative quietly registered on his tab--"one brandy and soda at Roadside Inn." Immediately afterward Parkins jumped into his car and ran slowly two streets west and turned north one block. The Updyke man did not have to leave his chair on the porch of the hotel in order to witness the movements of the big car. There was a hasty carrying out of two suitcases, and a hamper probably containing luncheon. Then the big car turned back to the south on the Merrick Road and proceeded west at a lively clip.