“It’s as plain as daylight!” cried Tom.  “The thief didn’t have to open the safe door at all.  He simply came in here, removed that board, slid up the back section of the safe, and took out what he wanted.”

“And the fellow who did it——­” broke in Sam.

“Was either Pelter or Japson,” finished Dick.

“Then you think this letter came from——­” Tom started to say.

“That young fellow whose life you saved—­ Barton Pelter,” answered Dick.

“By the rudder to Noah’s Ark, I think you are right!” burst out Tom.  “Why, it’s as plain as the nose on your face!  Don’t you remember how worried Barton Pelter looked when we told him the bonds were missing, and how he asked us at the moving picture show if we had gotten them back yet?  More than likely he knew how this safe was fixed—­ he used to come here, you know, to see his uncle——­”

“I believe you’re right, Tom,” came from Sam, “because if he didn’t do it, who did?”

“I think I can make sure of this,” returned Tom.  “Let us go back to the offices.”

Tom had taken possession of one of the desks in the place, and in one of the pigeonholes he had placed a number of letters, including the one received while at college from Jesse Pelter’s nephew.  This he now brought forth, and compared the handwriting with that of the letter just received.

“It’s the same hand,” he affirmed.  And after an examination the brothers agreed with him.

“If Barton Pelter wrote that letter we ought to locate him without delay,” was Sam’s comment.  “He may know just where the missing bonds are.”

“Or else where we can locate his uncle and Japson.”

“Wait a minute!” cried Dick.  “You forget that Japson has been away from New York for some time.  The detective told me that, and said it was positive.  So that would seem to put the thing off on Pelter’s shoulders; and I think Pelter is just the man to do such a thing.  You’ll remember how bitter he was against us when we exposed him.”

“Then let us locate Jesse Pelter without delay,” broke in Tom.  “It ought to be easy, unless he is in hiding.”

“If he’s got our bonds he’ll certainly do his best to keep out of our way,” returned Dick, grimly.  “I think the best we can do first of all is to locate Barton Pelter and make him tell us all he knows.”

“He said he had a chance of a position as a traveling salesman.”

“Did he say for whom?”

“He mentioned ‘The Consolidated Cream Cracker Company,’ whatever that is.”

“Let us call them up and find out,” said Dick.

By consulting the telephone directory, the boys were soon in communication with the cracker company in question.  They were informed that Barton Pelter had been taken on as a salesman the day before, and had left that evening for a trip through the Middle West.  It was not known on what train he had departed.

“Nothing doing here,” said Tom.  “They don’t even seem to know what town he is going to stop at first.”