"This is poor stuff and I'm making no apologies," he said as he laid the sheet and a half of copy on the copydesk. "She didn't have anything to say and I don't believe she could have said it if she had." "They're usually pretty poor copy," nodded Dan, "but you should kick on a few assignments like this after your thrilling flight of yesterday." "I guess you're right at that," nodded Tim. "I know what's the matter," said Dan. "You can't get thoughts of 'Mr. Seven' out of your head." "You'd better have a sign painted and start in the mind reading business," grinned Tim. "It didn't take a mind reader to figure that one out." Dan dialed the automatic telephone. "Ransom House? This is the _News_. Has 'Mr. Seven' returned?" "Not back yet," said Dan as he hung up the receiver. "Let's go out to lunch?" Tim agreed and they had their noonday meal at a nearby restaurant. "How far are the garages where 'Mr. Seven' might have rented a car?" asked Dan. "Only three or four blocks. The porter at the Ransom House recommended both Kelleys and Brackens." They paid their checks and Tim turned toward the _News_, but Dan stopped him. "Things are light today. We'll take a few extra minutes and see what we can learn at the garages." Kelleys, the first rent-a-car agency visited, could supply no information but at Brackens they found their visit more fruitful. The man in charge of the office consulted his records and informed them that on the Saturday night previous a "Mr. G. Seven" had rented one of their best cars, putting up a cash deposit of $100 since he intended to take the car outside the city limits. Tim described "Mr. Seven" in detail. "That's the man," said the garage employe firmly. "There's no mistake about it; he's got one of our cars. Is he in some kind of trouble?" "Not as far as we know," replied Tim. "Did you hear him say where he was going?" "No, but I saw him looking at the state map on the wall over there. He was a little different from the average run of our customers and I kept an eye on him. He was looking at the roads leading into the Cedar river country." "But there aren't any really good roads in that part of the state," said Tim. "That's one reason why I noticed him looking at that section of the map. He made a detailed study of it, but never asked a question of me nor any of the boys who serviced the car for him." There was no further information to be gained at the garage and Tim and the chief copyreader returned to the _News_ office. "Looks like you're on the trail of a real story," commented Dan. "What's going to be the next angle of attack?" "The files. I'm going to start with this month and go back into them day by day. Somewhere I'm sure there will be a picture that will give me the identity of 'Mr. Seven.'"