We are of the opinion that there is no sufficient evidence of the crime charged to be submitted to a jury and that the *566defendant’s motion to dismiss as of nonsuit should have been allowed. There is no evidence that the defendant was in possession of the truck at the time the pipe was found loaded thereon or on the preceding night except such constructive possession as arises from the fact that he was the owner of the car. S. v. Simms, 208 N. C., 459, 181 S. E., 269. The presumption that arises from the possession of stolen property does not exist against the defendant.
That the defendant owned the truck and that he waited several days after discovering that the police had it in their possession without claiming it and without reporting its loss, which he admits he discovered during the day the pipe was found, and the further fact that he could not be found at home for several days after his truck had been seized by the officers, may raise in the mind *of the average person a strong suspicion that the defendant is the offending party. This, however, is not sufficient. The evidence is wholly circumstantial. To convict upon this type of evidence all the circumstances proved must be consistent with each other, consistent with the hypothesis that accused is guilty, and at the same time inconsistent with the hypothesis that he is innocent and with every other rational hypothesis except that of guilt. Only when the evidence considered in the light most favorable to the State excludes any reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt and the circumstances are inexplicable on the theory of innocence is a conviction warranted. S. v. Madden, 212 N. C., 56, 192 S. E., 859, and cases there cited. "When the circumstances taken together are as compatible with innocence as with guilt there arises a reasonable doubt and it is the duty of the jury to adopt the hypothesis of innocence even though that of guilt is the more probable. S. v. Madden, supra.
The circumstantial evidence offered against the defendant, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, is insufficient to support his conviction. The motion to dismiss should have been allowed.
Reversed.