"'They started after dark and Tucker said it wasn't long before he got drowsy. He thinks he must have fallen asleep for the next thing he knew he felt himself falling against something and then he seemed to fall right out of the car and whirl through the air. Next thing he knew he was in the water. The car had gone down and he knew that he'd go down too, not being able to swim. He paddled furiously with his hands and looking up on the bank he saw the Dean standing there looking down. Tucker was just about to call to him when a car drove up and Devlin got in it and was driven away. "'Evidently, the Dean was afraid that Tucker hadn't survived the accident and being himself confessedly nervous of the police (that being the reason for his generous interest in reform school boys) he thought it best to get away as quickly as possible by hailing the first car that came along.'" "Gee, an' what did poor Tucker do then, huh?" Skippy asked excitedly. Carlton Conne smiled. "Fortunately for him, he had been thrown clear of the car and into shallow water. Just when he had resigned himself to a watery grave, he thrust his legs out and found that his feet touched bottom. You can bet that he didn't lose any time in scrambling up the high embankment to safety." "An' did he let that Devlin know that, huh?" Carlton Conne studied the letter before him and shook his round head. "No, he couldn't. You see he had only seen the street and the house itself at night. After all, he had been imprisoned for a month and both the street and the house looked just like a hundred others in Chicago. Devlin had driven him to and from the house in such a hurry that he never had the chance to see where he had been living. He decided to get as far away from Chicago and the police as he could. But he was picked up in a place called Wheaton, anyway." "Boy, what luck!" was Skippy's sympathetic exclamation. "Seeing it from your point of view--yes. From my point of view, it's fortunate that Tucker lost out, for it has warmed up a trail that's been cold too long. Devlin has been under cover a couple of years now. O'Reilly, who is an inspector on the Chicago force, said they're anxious to find out where the other two kids are that the Dean helped to crash out of reform schools. Well, Dick Hallam knows that I'll be interested to know why, for I got some old scores to settle with the Dean and like a good detective he got the Dean's scent and has trailed him to New York. This morning he learned that our reverend-looking friend has applied for a permit to visit the Delafield Reform School next Friday. That's the reason, kid, that I want you to be there when he shows up." "Hot dog, Mr. Conne! I been dumb not to see what you meant before. Gee whiz, you want me there to trap him like, huh?"