"
"That is so, lad. Perhaps they entered from this side."
"Will you hold the lantern here, John?" Cyril said.
The sailor held the lantern to the lock.
"There are no scratches nor signs of tools having been used here,"
Cyril said, examining both the lock and the door-post. "Whether the
thief came into the warehouse first, or not, he must have had a key."
The Captain nodded.
"Thieves generally carry a lot of keys with them, Cyril; and if one
does not quite fit they can file it until it does."
The shutters of the shop window and its fastenings, and those of the
door, were as secure as those of the warehouse, and, completely
puzzled, the party went upstairs again.
"There must be some way of getting in and out, although we can't find
it," Captain Dave said. "Things can't have gone off by themselves."
"It may be, Captain," John Wilkes said, "that some of the planks may
be loose."
"But we tried them all, John."
"Ay, they seem firm enough, but it may be that one of them is wedged
in, and that when the wedges are taken out it could be pulled off."
"I think you would have noticed it, John. If there was anything of
that sort it must be outside. However, we will take a good look round
the yard to-morrow. The warehouse is strongly built, and I don't
believe that any plank could be taken off and put back again, time
after time, without making a noise that would be heard in the house.
What do you think, Cyril?"
"I agree with you, Captain Dave.
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