“Hello! this Bloomsbury?” Frank asked first of all in a cautious way.

“Yes,” came the reply, distinctly enough.

“And is this Police Headquarters?”

“Yes.”

“This is Frank Bird speaking and we are over in Rockford; get that?” Frank continued.

“Yes,” again came the reply from the party at the other end.

“Chief Waller asked us before we left Bloomsbury to keep in touch with Headquarters, and that you would supply us with any new information that might come to hand while we scoured the country overhead, looking for signs of the men who robbed the Bloomsbury bank last night, and escaped in Percy Carberry’s biplane.  Who is this I am talking to, please?”

“Officer Green, Frank.”

“Oh! is that you, Joe; I didn’t recognize your voice over the wire,” Frank went on to say.  “You heard what the Chief said about giving us the latest news, didn’t you, Joe?”

“I certain did, Frank,” answered the man at the other end of the wire.

“We’ve covered quite a large territory up to now, and think we’ve run across a clue; but we want to make sure before putting the bloodhounds of the law on the scent.  Get that?”

Frank was wise to the fact that Officer Green took himself and his position on the local police force very seriously.  True, he had never done anything very great, to distinguish himself, beyond once stopping a runaway horse that some people said was too decrepit to have gone twenty paces further; and rescuing a little pet dog that had fallen into the lake from a wharf; but then he believed in himself; and read up all the thrilling stories of police achievements that were published in the New York papers, satisfied that sooner or later the day was bound to come when he would be able to prove himself a grand hero.

And that was just why artful Frank used that phrase “bloodhounds of the law,” for he knew that it would cause Joe Green to puff up with pride, and feel more kindly disposed than ever toward the speaker.

He gauged matters exactly right, too, it seemed; for when the police officer spoke again it was with additional eagerness.

“Good for you, Frank; all Bloomsbury expects the Bird boys to do the old town proud again.  Many the time have you done it in the past, we all know.  And when you feel dead sure that you’ve got track of the desprit villains who looted our town bank, all you have to do is to give the police the signal, and they’ll throw a drag-net around the hang-out of the yeggs.  That’s what we’re here for; that’s what we draw our salaries for; to protect the citizens of Bloomsbury against danger by fire, flood, robbers and the like.”

Frank knew only too well how Officer Green liked to talk, especially when once started on the subject of his exalted office; and accordingly he thought it time to cut him short, before he could get launched on the sea of police duties.