“No more a second-story one than you are,” retorted another detective who stood near, making some notes in a book. “It’s an inside job.” “Anyhow, the stuff’s gone I s’pose,” remarked Mr. Newton with a smile. “Sure thing,” replied the fat man. “What’s a second-story job?” asked Larry of his friend. “The police call it that when the thief climbs up on the porch, or, in some way, enters the second-story windows.” “And what’s an inside one?” “That’s where some of the servants in the house either take the valuables or help the thieves by letting them in, or by leaving a window conveniently open. But come on, we’ll take a look for ourselves. It’s all right, Patsy, I s’pose,” went on Mr. Newton, speaking to the short detective. “Sure, go ahead, investigate as much as you like,” was the answer. CHAPTER XXVI THE MEN IN THE LOT “Come ahead, Larry,” said Mr. Newton. “Will the people in the house let us?” asked the boy, to whom the idea of anyone going through a private residence in this free and easy fashion seemed strange. “I guess they won’t mind,” replied the reporter. “You see we newspaper men have to go ahead and do things. If we waited every time for someone to give us permission we’d never get any stories.” “But maybe they’ll stop us,” objected Larry. “You leave that to me,” spoke Mr. Newton. “I’ll make it all right if anyone objects.” With Larry following, he started upstairs, where, as one of the detectives had informed him, the thieves had made an entrance. As they were going up they were met by a well-dressed man. “Here! Where are you going?” he asked. “I’m a reporter from the _Leader_,” said Mr. Newton. “I want to get a correct account of this robbery.” “We don’t want any reporters in here,” said the man sharply. “We don’t want this thing in the papers at all. You have no right in here. I order you out!” Larry was beginning to get frightened. He had yet to see how a seasoned reporter meets a rebuff of this kind. “I’m very sorry,” began Mr. Newton in a smooth tone. “I’m sure the _Leader_ doesn’t want to annoy anyone. We are just as sorry as you are about this robbery, but we are only doing you a service.” “How doing us a service?” replied the man. “If you call blazing a lot of untruths about the matter all over, why I suppose it is.” “Pardon me,” interposed Mr. Newton, “but the _Leader_ is not a yellow journal. It does not publish fakes. It always tries to get at the truth. Sometimes, as in a case of this sort, where we are refused information, we have to get it from the next best source. Sometimes, I admit, we may be given the wrong information. “But I’ll tell you how we can help you. You want to recover the jewelry, of course?” “Seeing that we are going to offer a reward for it you might guess so,” replied the man sarcastically. “So much the better,” resumed Mr. Newton. “Now if we publish an account of the robbery in the paper, and give a description of the jewelry, it will aid you in recovering it.”