“Maybe Cora and Walter will have better luck,” suggested Jack hopefully.  “We won’t hear from them for some time, though.  Did you ’phone to the bank in New City?”

“Yes.  I told them I couldn’t get any trace of the wallet here, and, as you know, I have already notified the Chelton police.  They have been making a quiet search about town, but I fear it will be hopeless.”

“The bank people didn’t say it had been turned in there, by any chance, did they?”

“No such good fortune,” and Ed laughed uneasily.  “Well, I’m going home now to get a list of the bonds and their numbers, as well as the numbers of the big bills.  The; police say they will want them when they send out a general alarm.”

“But I thought you said you didn’t want it generally known.”

“I don’t, until I have made a thorough search at home.  It is barely possible that I took up the wrong wallet by mistake when I rushed out this morning.  I have two that look exactly alike.  I may have picked up the empty one, shoved it into my pocket, and lost that one.  The one containing the bonds and cash may still be at my house.  I am hurrying there to see.  If I don’t find it, the police are to send out a general alarm.”

“I hope you find it.”

“So do I. It means a big loss to me—­almost my entire fortune gone.  I don’t know what I am going to do.”

“Let’s hope for the best,” spoke Jack as cheerfully as possible, but there was a dubious look on his face as he watched Ed turn in the direction of his home.

But Ed found that he had made no mistake in the wallets.  The empty one was safely in his room, but the one containing the twenty thousand dollars was—­as he had feared—­lost.  He communicated this fact to the police, and soon the chief had ordered some handbills printed, describing the pocketbook and the contents, and offering a reward of five hundred dollars for the cash and bonds, Ed having agreed to pay this amount and ask no questions.

“Ha!” exclaimed Lem Gildy that night as one of the hastily printed bills came into his possession, “so this is the wallet they are lookin’ for, eh?  Twenty thousand dollars!  But I knowed it all the while.  As if Jack Kimball an’ his sister could fool me!  But I’ll bleed him—­that’s what I’ll do.  I’ll make him whack up—­or—­or I’lltell!” and Lem chuckled to himself, while there was a dangerous look on his mean face.

The search conducted by Cora and Walter was, as might be guessed, as unsuccessful as the one undertaken by Jack and Lem.  Cora and Walter looked carefully over the whole length of the road to New City, but saw nothing of the wallet, and came back disconsolate in the auto.

“Poor Ed!” remarked Walter.  “It’s tough luck!”

“Yes, I wish we could have found it for him,” agreed Cora as she skillfully drove the car through the Chelton streets at dusk.  “I’m beginning to believe that it was stolen.”