Tom was all attention. He had caught the word "sparkler," and he
at once associated it with the occasion he had heard the men use
it before. He felt that he was on the track of solving the
mystery connected with his boat.
He looked at the men. They were the same four who had been
involved in the former theft--Appleson, Featherton, Morse and
Burke. Were there five of them? He recalled the man who had been
caught tampering with his boat--the man who had tried to bid on
the ARROW at the auction. Where was he?
"Boreck didn't get what he was after," resumed Happy Harry, "and
I'm going to spoil his game for him. Say, kid," he went on to
Tom, "look in the front part of your boat--where the gasoline
tank is."
Tom felt his heart beating fast. At last he felt that he would
solve the puzzle. He opened the forward compartment. To his
disappointment it seemed as usual. Morse and the others were
making a vain effort to silence Happy Harry.
"I don't see anything here," said Tom.
"No, because it's hidden in one of those blocks of wood you use
for a brace," continued the man. "Which one it is, Boreck didn't
know, so he pulled out two or three, only to be fooled each time.
You must have shifted them, kid, from the way they were when we
had the boat.
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