The two young men were no strangers in the Nestor home, Tom especially; and soon the whole family was in conversation. Tom mentioned the fact that he and his chum had just called on Mr. Fawn but found that he had left for the West two days before. “Left for the West!” exclaimed Mr. Nestor. “That’s queer!” “Why so?” Tom asked. “Because I saw him in town yesterday morning. And he couldn’t have been going to Chicago.” “Are you sure?” inquired Ned. “Of course. I know the man as well as I know you. He was limping along, tossing his left elbow out every now and then as he has a habit of doing.” Ned and Tom glanced at one another. If this was the case it would explain matters. Fawn may have told his wife he was leaving for Chicago, and even have packed a bag to go. But he went to some other place and remained about Shopton long enough to take part in the robbery that night. Mr. Nestor’s mention of the peculiar gait of the man and his habit of tossing his left elbow away from his body while walking or talking was almost positive proof that there could be no mistake. But Tom was not yet ready to let it be known that Fawn was caught in a falsehood. There were many more points to be cleared up before the affair was on the way to be solved. So, passing the matter off as though it did not amount to much, murmuring that possibly he had misunderstood Mrs. Fawn, Tom turned the talk into other channels. The chums left the Nestor home near midnight, Mary expressing her indignation at the loss inflicted on Tom and asking if she could not do something to help. “I’ll let you know if you can,” Tom told her as he pressed her hands. For a few minutes Tom and Ned rode on in silence, each busy with his thoughts, and then Ned asked: “Well, Tom, what do you make of it?” “You mean about Fawn not going to Chicago at all?” “Yes.” “Well it means he’s a trickster surely, but more than that. He’s in the plot, of course. And I’m beginning to believe that it’s bigger than I thought. Fawn and Barsky—both in the same town, both probably working together against dad and me. It was a sorry day when I let that so-called Russian into my shop!” “It surely was,” agreed Ned. “But it’s too late to think of that now. What is the next move? I want to get my hands on Fawn, as well as on the others.” “We start scouting to-morrow morning!” decided the young inventor. “It oughtn’t to be hard to pick up the trail of this blue aeroplane. I had some inquiries made around Lake Carlopa, and she seems to have headed west. That, naturally, would be the best place for the robbers to go—plenty of open places to land, and with widely scattered cities and towns they wouldn’t run so much risk of being captured. We’ll start scouting in the morning.” Accordingly the _Blackbird_ was made ready. This craft was not as small nor as speedy as the _Hummer_, but she would carry three, and Tom decided to take Koku along to identify the robbers if possible.