“He’s glad to do it,” said Mr. Newton. “You see, the thieves will try to pawn their booty, and by publishing a list of it, pawnbrokers will be on the lookout. It’s as much to his interest as it is to ours.” After getting all the facts possible, Mr. Newton and Larry waited until Jones came back from the watchman’s house. “Did you see him?” asked Mr. Newton, when Jones returned. “Yes, and I got a good story.” “Well, keep quiet about it. Maybe none of the others will think of sending down, and we’ll beat ’em.” It appeared from the story the watchman told Jones, that, early in the evening, a well-dressed man had approached the guardian, whose name was Henderson, and started a conversation with him. They talked for some time, and finally the stranger gave Henderson a cigar. The watchman said he preferred a pipe, and asked the stranger to wait until it could be brought from a rear room where the watchman kept it. “Henderson went back to get it,” said Jones, in telling the story, “and the stranger followed him. The watchman was about to object, saying no one was allowed in the place after dark. But the stranger was so pleasant that the watchman was not suspicious. He followed Henderson into a sort of office in the rear, and there, while Henderson was getting his pipe, the stranger suddenly attacked him. “He held a cloth with chloroform on, to his nose, and, though the watchman struggled and tried to cry out an alarm, the robber was too much for him. Henderson was soon left unconscious, and he thinks he must have been drugged, for he did not recover his senses for several hours. That’s all he knows. When he came to, the safe was blown open, and it was nearly morning.” “That slick stranger, after drugging Henderson, probably stayed in the store,” said Mr. Newton, “and when the time came he admitted his confederates. After that it was an easy job for the professionals.” “Well, I guess we’ve got everything,” continued Mr. Newton, as he prepared to go. “It will make a good story.” The three _Leader_ reporters had been standing near the rear window whence the robbers gained an entrance after their companion had, from within, forced the bars outward. “What’s this?” asked Larry, stooping over, and picking up a small piece of paper. It had some peculiar blue marks on it. “Looks as though someone had stuck their fingers in a bottle of ink, and then placed them on this paper,” said Jones. “Let me see it,” asked Mr. Newton. Larry handed it over. Mr. Newton took a long look. Then he smelled the paper. “Whew!” he whistled softly. “This may give us an important clew to the burglars!” CHAPTER X WORKING UP THE CLEW Mr. Newton placed the paper in his pocket. Then, as there seemed to be no further news of the robbery to get at the jewelry store, the three reporters hurried back to the _Leader_ office.