"They will want to know more, Dick," said Jack. "You should not have given them a clue like that."

"I won't say any more, then. They are within hearing and they will understand, and you will see that they are careful how they talk about you to any one after this."

"Let them talk," laughed Jack.

For two or three days things went on as usual in the camp on the river, the boys doing a certain amount of study, drilling a little, exercising in the outdoor gymnasium, skimming along the river in their boats and otherwise occupying themselves, the time, on the whole, passing very pleasantly.

Then one day a messenger came from a boys' camp some miles down the river asking them to take part in a regatta, which was going to take place at the other camp in a day or so.

"We know you Hilltop boys," said the messenger, "and we would like to have some representatives of your Academy at our sports. Will you send a few of them?"

The messenger had met Percival and Jack, and Percival now answered:

"We shall be very glad to send any number. Do you intend to have any other besides aquatic sports? Any running, jumping, or anything of that sort? Our boys are good at all of them."

"Mostly water sports, but I suppose we could have some of the rest. There will be races for motor-boats, shells, canoes, a tub race, and a swimming match. We have a good stretch of river at our camp, and there is plenty of room."

"And the affair takes place the day after tomorrow?"

"Yes, beginning at two in the afternoon. That will give you time to get home after it is over, either by train or in your own boats."

"Very well. We will be on hand. I cannot tell you whom we will send, for the doctor will have something to say about that, but there will be some of us there beyond a doubt."

"You have a boy named Sheldon, who is a dandy at running a motor-boat, haven't you?" the other boy asked.

"Yes, and he can get speed out of a canal-boat," laughed Dick. "Do you want him?"

"We certainly do," said the other emphatically. "We have heard of him, and we certainly want him."

"Here he is now. You can ask him yourself." The other boy was a bit surprised at seeing the very boy he had been talking about, and said:

"But I thought you were bigger. They said you were strong and wiry, and I expected to see a giant. Why, you are no bigger than I am. And you can run a motor-boat?"

"Certainly he can," replied Dick. "Size does not count in a thing like that. Why, I am bigger than Jack, but he can beat me running a boat. Then there is little Jesse W. Smith, who is the smallest thing in the way of a boy in the Academy, and he has beaten boys twice his size."

"And you will be down?" to Jack himself.

"If I am chosen to represent the Hilltop boys, I will certainly be on hand," Jack replied. "I should like nothing better."

Other boys now came up, and Percival told them about the regatta to be held at the other camp on the next day, but one, all of them being greatly excited over it.

"Even if we don't take part I suppose we can go?" asked Billy Manners. "There ought to be a lot of fun in it."

"There will be if you race, Billy," said Percival. "There is going to be a tub race as one of the attractions."

"Good enough! I can win a tub race as well as anything else if I put my mind on it," laughed Billy. "I think I'll enter for it."

"Anything to make things lively," said the messenger, and then he shortly took his leave, while the Hilltop boys were greatly excited over the coming contest wherein they hoped to take more than one prize.



CHAPTER XII

THE OWNER OF THE WATCH FOUND

On the second day following, a number of the Hilltop boys went down to the other camp to take part in the athletic games appointed for that day, and to witness the sports, the greater part of them being present.

The doctor had selected Jack Sheldon to take part in the motor-boat races, Percival as a runner and also a boatman, Harry, Arthur, and young Smith in the second-class motor-boats, Herring and one or two others as swimmers, and Billy Manners and Seymour to take part in the tub race, besides a few others in other contests.

Dick Percival was not altogether pleased that Herring should have been chosen to represent the school in anything, but as the bully was really a fine swimmer, as well as runner and jumper, he swallowed his chagrin, and said nothing.

"They may like Pete's swimming," he said to himself, "but if they get an idea that the rest of the Hilltoppers are like him it will be pretty rough on the rest of us."

Jack, Dick, and a number of the boys went down in their boats, while Herring, Merritt, Holt, and quite a number more took the train.

The boys were well received and Jack, Dick, Herring and the rest who were to take part in the sports went to the dressing rooms back of the club house used by the other boys.

There were many residents of the neighborhood present, and a goodly showing from Riverton as well, the seats along the river and in the club house balconies being very well filled.

The sports opened with a footrace between three or four of the strangers, and the same number of the Hilltop boys, these being Percival, Harry and two others, being the first heat.

Percival and Harry and two of the others won the heat, and would run in the final later in the afternoon.

Then Jack Sheldon and another of the Hilltoppers represented the Academy against two of their opponents, Jack and the boy who had brought the message winning for the final.

"I don't think there is any doubt as to who will win it, Sheldon," said the Rocky Hill boy, "but I am going to try all the same. It is some fun to race with a boy like you. You are as straight as a house, and you make a fellow hustle, which is good for any one."

Then there was a tub race in which Billy Manners, young Smith, and two or three others, attired in bathing tights, as fitted the occasion, competed with as many of the Rocky Hill boys.

Each boy's craft was a big washtub, which he was required to propel a certain distance without sinking it, the one who went the farthest being adjudged the winner.

Billy had a bright red bathing suit and as he was rather fat and chubby, with a fair complexion and reddish hair, he was bound to attract a good deal of attention, which he increased by his remarks.

"Grand race of ocean liners for a purse of ten thousand dollars!" he shouted, as he entered his tub and started on the course.

Young Smith presently collided with him, and upset his own tub, and was obliged to swim for the bank, but Billy managed to avert disaster, and went on in great style.

"A life on the ocean wave is nothing to this!" he shouted, whereupon there was more laughter; still Billy went on, beginning to take in water, but keeping afloat, and avoiding collisions with the others.

Two or three had already been obliged to swim ashore besides Jesse W., some being Hilltop boys and some from the other camp.

Billy finally had to swim for it, his tub going under just as he got to the goal well ahead of every one else, and he was adjudged the winner amid considerable applause.

"Honest merit will assert itself whether it is in a tub or an ocean liner," he remarked, as he accepted the trophy, a miniature washtub decorated with ribbons, whereupon there was another laugh, and Billy retired to dress himself.

There were other contests between the Hilltop boys alone, and the Rocky Hills alone, as well as between teams made up of both camps, the winners being about evenly divided and the best of good feeling prevailing.

In the final motor-boat race Jack Sheldon won by several lengths, his opponent saying with a smile:

"Well, I did push you a bit, Sheldon, but you left me a long way behind for all that. I was scarcely second, you might say."

Herring had won a swimming match, but was beaten in running, Percival coming a long way ahead in the footrace, to the great delight of the boys from the Hilltop camp.

Jack had noticed Margaret and Mr. and Mrs. Van der Donk on the club house balcony, and heard with considerable pleasure her cheers of delight, and saw her wave the Hilltop colors frantically when he won the race with his boat, and could not help feeling a certain amount of pride.

Later when he and Percival and a number of the boys went up on the balcony to receive their prizes and accept the congratulations of their friends, Margaret, who was seated with some distinguished-looking strangers, said to the boy after congratulating him on his victory:

"Have you learned any more about the watch, Mr. Sheldon?"

"I have not found an owner yet," Jack replied, "and I don't know what to do with it. It is altogether too costly an article for me to wear, besides being a lady's watch, and my mother would feel that it was too much of a task to live up to it. However, I may find the owner yet."

One of the ladies with Margaret seemed greatly interested, and she now turned to Jack, and asked:

"What is the watch that you speak of? One that you found?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Jack, "and in a very strange manner. It was the night of the fire at Miss Van der Donk's. When I got back to the camp I found it in my pocket without knowing how it came there. It does not belong to Miss Margaret nor to any of the family, and they are as puzzled to know how I found it as I am myself. It was stolen I now know, but I do not know to whom it belongs."

"You know it was stolen?"

"Yes, I overheard a man tell the nurse at Miss Van der Donk's that he had stolen it. He gave it to her, in fact, and she lost it or threw it away, perhaps, fearing that it would make trouble."

"Why, you never told me that!" exclaimed Margaret in great astonishment. "When did you learn all this?"

"The day after the fire. Dick and I went to your house the night after to see if we could get anything out of the nurse, Gabrielle, but she had gone during that day. I did not have a chance to tell you, and then your father came in and——-"

"Talked genealogy till you fell asleep," laughed Margaret. "But, Mrs. Hamilton, why are you so interested in this matter?"

"I'll tell you in a moment. You say it was a lady's watch?" to Jack.

"Yes, and a very handsome one. It is a Jurgensen with a gold case set with diamonds. I understand these watches are very valuable."

"Do you know the number?"

"Yes, Madame, do you?" Jack returned. "Pardon me, but I have grown cautious. Several persons have claimed the watch who had no title to it whatever, and I have become cautions. Have you lost a watch of this sort?"

"Yes, and I know its number by heart. Is it this?" and the lady gave the exact number of the watch, which Jack himself remembered.

"Yes, that is right," he said.

"I will tell you something else about it, which, perhaps, you do not know, my boy," the lady continued. "The upper part of the case, the one with the diamonds on it, is double, and the top of it will unscrew, showing a small space beneath. In this is a photograph of a little girl, one I lost, and a small gold coin. When you return take off the top of the jeweled side of the case, and if you find it as I say then you will know that the watch is mine."

"I did not deny this, Madame," said Jack, coloring a little, "but you can readily understand that I would be cautious after so many persons have tried to get the watch away from me. By the way, did you employ a detective, a rather self-important person, to find it for you?"

"Higgins!" laughed the lady. "Yes, I did, and he told me that he had discovered the person who had it."

"This was since the fire?"

"No, the day before."

"And you have not seen him since?"

"No, nor heard from him."

Jack laughed, and told how the detective had tried to get the watch from him, and how and why Dr. Wise had refused to give it up.

"Higgins always struck me as being a bit too zealous," said the lady. "I do not wonder that the doctor refused to deliver it after the man's poor account of you. You seem to be a great favorite both with the doctor and with the Hilltop boys."

"And deservedly so," echoed Percival. "We won't hear a word against Jack, and it has not spoiled him either."

"And you know about the watch, too?"

"Yes, being in the tent when it dropped out of Jack's pocket. I hoped he might keep it, but now——-"

"But now you think that I have a right to it?"

"To be sure, and I only meant that Jack should keep it in case he could find no owner for it:"

It was now time for the boys to return to the camp, and they took their leave, Jack promising to examine the watch when he got back, and to report if it was as the lady had said.

After supper Jack and Percival went to the doctor's, and Jack told what the lady had said, and asked to see the watch.

The top of the upper part of the case could be removed, just as she had said, and Jack found the photograph and the little coin under it.

"Well, that is all right," he said to Dick. "I am satisfied that the owner has now been found, for that thing has bothered me a good deal. I wonder what Higgins has been doing all this time, however, not to report his failure to get the watch?"

"A sudden rush of sense to the head may have affected him," laughed Dick, "and he was ashamed to say anything about it. If he had told that he had discovered the watch, and that you had it he would have been obliged to tell why it had not been given to him, and that would have been altogether too much for his vanity."

"I suppose so," said Jack with a smile.



CHAPTER XIII

THE PRIZE POEM

Jack sent the watch to the lady he had seen with Margaret the next day, Dr. Wise being satisfied that it belonged to her, and suggesting that it be forwarded to her by express without delay.

The next day he received a very pleasant letter from the lady, together with a handsome locket to wear at the end of his watch chain.

"I suppose I can take this, Dick?" he said to his chum. "It is really a reward for having found the watch, and I did not expect any. However, it is not money, which I could not have taken, but it cost money just the same."

"Keep it, Jack," said Dick. "The lady feels that you ought to have something for your trouble, and you cannot very well refuse her gift."

"No, I don't suppose I can, but I did not want it, nevertheless. My mother is fond of things like that, and I can give it to her."

"Well, the lady could hardly object to that, but I would wear it for a time. She might see you shortly, and she would miss it."

"Very good," said Jack carelessly. "I will do it."

Just now the doctor was offering a prize for a poem to be written by one of the boys, not to exceed a certain length, and to be written upon some historical event, preferably one connected with the Hudson.

The poem must be entirely original, but must be unsigned and accompanied by a sealed envelope containing the writer's name, this not to be opened until the prize had been awarded to the best poem, at which time the name of the winner would be made known.

"That makes it fair for everybody," declared Percival. "I am not much of a poet, Jack, but you might try for this."

"You have had as much training in this line as I have, Dick," replied Jack. "There are plenty of subjects to choose from, Arnold's treason, the capture of Stony Point by Wayne, the firing upon the Highland Forts, Montgomery and Clinton, the burning of Kingston and the hanging of the man with the silver bullet and a lot more. Let your imagination loose, Dick, and I think you can win."

"If it were a case of letting my temper loose," laughed Percival, "it would be a sure thing, but the imagination is different."

Jack knew that his mother would be pleased if he won the prize, and so he determined to try for it, and began setting himself to work on some verses having to do with the very location where the Academy was situated.

When Billy Manners heard of the contest he said to Arthur, Harry, young Smith, and a few others who were down on the shore fixing their boats:

"Oh, say, can you see by the dawn and so forth!" he exclaimed, "that is fine. Think of the inspiration we get from this historic river. Look at the mountains all around us, full of patriotic memories, and then say that you can't do anything. Why, the poetry fairly bubbles out of me."

"Give us a sample, William," chuckled Harry. "There was another poet named William once. Perhaps you inherit some of his genius. I never saw any suspicion of it on you, but it may be there all the same. Give us a sample, There's a good fellow."

"Why, certainly," Billy rejoined. "Historical subject, eh? And one that occurred on the Hudson? Why, that's easy. Listen to this:"

Then Billy threw up his arms, gazed straight up into the sky, and delivered himself of his poetic thoughts as follows:

"When Freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her banner to the skies, Not a creature was stirring, not——-"

"You've got things mixed, Billy," roared Harry. "Try again. Besides, that is not original. It must be original to pass."

"Oh, well, all poets are plagiarists more or less," said Billy, "but this time I will give you something of my own."

Then Billy struck a pensive attitude, and began again:

"'Twas midnight; in his guarded tent, Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note, By thy cold, gray stones, oh, sea! Once upon a midnight dreary, A gentle knight was pricking on——-"

"Worse and worse!" yelled Arthur. "Halleck, Poe, Tennyson, Spenser, and I don't know who else in a regular literary hash! That will do for you, my boy.' A little of that goes a long way."

"Didn't I tell you I was bubbling all over with poetry?"

"You're a bubble yourself," laughed Harry, "and you'll burst if you get too full of that sort of stuff."

"You wait till I really put my mind on it," said Billy with a droll look. "You'll be surprised, my boys."

"We don't doubt that in the least," said Harry. "Why, I never heard such poetry," chuckled young Smith.

"It actually makes me cry," said Arthur.

"You will be surprised when I take the prize," answered Billy, taking all this chaff good-naturedly.

"Yes, I think we will be," replied Seymour. "Surprised is no name for it. We will be actually thunderstruck."

"Oh, you boys are jealous," grinned Billy. "Shall I give you another sample?"

"Another piece of patchwork, you mean," grinned Harry. "No, please don't. I have not recovered from the other yet."

"You fellows do not appreciate real genius, and here is the river right at your feet to inspire you to noble thoughts. Come on, let's take a spin."

"You have set our brains to spinning already," said Arthur.

"No, one good turn deserves another," quoted Jesse W., with a broad grin. "Come on, boys, before Billy breaks out again."

"I may astonish you boys yet," laughed Billy, as he got into his boat and set off down stream.

Jack worked industriously on his poem, and Percival became serious and did some really good work on one that he had begun when he knew that Jack was at work, a number of the boys getting to work at the same time.

"I don't expect to do better than Jack," Percival said to Arthur, "but if he knows I am going in for this he will do all the better, and I want him to come out on top."

"He may anyhow, Dick," returned Arthur. "He has been doing something of this sort for the News in Riverton. They have not been signed, but I know that they were his from a line or two that I heard him repeating to himself in the tent when he did not know that any one was around. I recognized them afterwards in one of the poems published in the paper. Jack is a modest fellow and does not blow his own trumpet."

"Did any one else hear him, Art?"

"Yes, Harry. We did not say anything about it, but we know the pieces were his. Then you know that he has done something in that line for the Hilltop Gazette, of course?"

"To be sure I do. The Academy paper is doing fine since Jack took the editorship. It is some magazine now."

"I should say it was. Jack will write something good I know, and I want to see him win the prize."

"So do I, Art, as I told you before," replied Percival heartily.

Percival let it be known to Jack that he was trying for the prize and this, instead of making the boy feel envious, as some would have done, encouraged him and caused him to put forth his best efforts.

"I hear that you are going to compete for the poetic prize, Dick," he said to his friend. "That's fine. I hope you will get it. You used to do a lot of good things, and I don't see why you should not do them still. I'd like to see you get it, Dick."

Dick chuckled over this to Harry and Arthur and Billy, and said:

"Jack is putting his best foot forward, as I hoped he would. He thinks that I will beat him, and so he is doing his best. That's just what I wanted, and I hope he will win the pennant."

"H'm! you talk as if this was a baseball series," laughed Billy.

"Well, you know what I mean anyhow," returned Dick.

The boys put in their poems and the blank sealed envelopes containing their names and the titles of their productions, the envelopes not to be opened till after the prizes were given.

The doctor had all the manuscripts in his study, and was to go over them with the professors, the majority to decide which was the best.

On the night when the various manuscripts were in the doctor's study in the little cottage he occupied in the camp, Billy Manners was a bit restless, not from his literary efforts, but from having eaten something which greatly disagreed with him.

He occupied a tent with young Smith, and at a late hour awoke for the third or fourth time, and suddenly heard some one say in a whisper:

"It's all right, I've got it!"

Billy thought the voice was Herring's, but was not certain in his sleepy condition, and with pains gripping his bowels.

"Can you fix it?" somebody asked, and Billy thought this might be either Holt or Merritt, not being sure which it was, for the same reason that made him uncertain of the other.

"Fix it?" the first speaker retorted with a low chuckle, "of course I can fix it, and fix his winning the prize, too."

"There's some mischief going on," thought the young joker. "I wonder what it is?"

The voices he had heard had come from the next tent, but whether it was the next on the right or the left he could not tell, not knowing whether he may have turned in his sleep or not, having a habit of finding himself in all sorts of queer positions when he awoke.

While he was thinking the matter over, and trying to locate the tent from which the voices proceeded he fell asleep, his pain having left him for a time.

He did not know how long it was when he was awakened again, as well by the pain as by hearing voices.

"That will do first rate," he heard some one say, and then he thought he detected a light in the tent next to his.

Young Smith was fast asleep, and oblivious of everything, "and Billy did not think it worth while to arouse him.

"They won't notice the difference?" asked either Merritt or Holt, Billy was not certain which.

"No, and now to put it back."

"Put what back, I wonder?" said Billy to himself, as he sat up.

"And give the doctor a surprise."

"Huh! he won't be the only one surprised!" growled some one, and Billy thought it was Herring this time.

"That fellow is up to some mischief," he muttered, "and I must find out what it is."

Then he jumped out of bed, put on his trousers and shoes, and crept softly outside.



CHAPTER XIV

BILLY'S NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE

It was dark in the camp, but Billy, as he stole out of the tent, could distinguish a dark form moving swiftly down the camp street, and followed without making any noise, taking care to keep as much as possible in the shadow.

Unless the person he was following should happen to look around, there was very little danger of his being seen, but he took all the precautions he could to avoid being detected.

"It is not a thief," he said to himself, "and it isn't any one who has designs on one of the boats. He left that tent, but who is he and what does he want?"

The silent figure, moving rapidly forward, presently left the line of tents, and made for the cottage occupied by the doctor.

"I wonder if it is the doctor walking in his sleep?" thought Billy. "That would be a great joke, wouldn't it?"

He thought he saw a flash of light for a moment, but was not sure of this, and hurried on after the midnight prowler, having just time to see him enter the window of the doctor's cottage.

"Can it be the doctor after all?" he muttered.

"That would be funny after all. I wish I had brought my light with me. That's just like me, though, thinking of things when it is too late." He stepped under the front window of the cottage, through which he had seen the figure disappear and listened:

"I don't hear anything," he muttered. "I wonder if it could have been the doctor? Burglars would have no good excuse for coming to the camp. Who is it anyhow?"

Listening intently, he fancied he could hear some one moving about in the cottage, and then the steps approached the window.

He was about to step back, but was a little too late in that, as he had been in thinking of his pocket light.

In another moment some one dropped out of the window, and he was upset most unceremoniously.

The person, whoever it was, had landed on his head and shoulders, and he was thrown down in an instant.

"Hello! who is that?" he exclaimed, as he felt himself lying on the bare and rather damp ground.

Some one was struggling to his feet with a startled exclamation, and Billy snatched quickly at him, and caught a leg or an arm, he could not be certain which.

"I've got you now!" he cried, "and you've got to give an account of yourself, my man!"

The stranger, whoever he was, certainly did give an account of himself, but not in the manner which Billy meant.

There was a sudden shooting out of a brawny fist, and Billy was taken between the eyes, and for a moment saw stars.

"Ouch!" he ejaculated, letting go of the person he had seized,

Then somebody rolled him over with a quick move of the foot, and by the time the unfortunate joker arose his nocturnal combatant was out of sight, as well as hearing.

"H'm! that's too bad!" sputtered Billy. "I don't know now whether it was a burglar, a nightmare, or what it was. I think I'd better go back to bed. Being out in the air may have done me a lot of good, but I guess I've had enough of it."

With this conclusion he set out upon his return, but when he reached the line of tents was not certain whether he was in the right one or not, and began studying the appearance of things as much as he could by the very uncertain light.

"I wonder if this is our street after all?" he asked himself. "Let me see, we are the sixth tent from the top. Or is it the seventh? Six one way and seven the other, I guess. Wait till I see."

Then he went on, counting the tents one by one till he came to the sixth from the start.

The flap was thrown back, and Billy made up his mind that he was at the right one and went in.

When he found his cot, however, he found some one on it.

"H'm! that's young J.W., and I must not awaken him," he muttered.

As a natural consequence his own cot must be just opposite Jesse W.'s, and he turned and went in that direction.

To his surprise he found the other cot occupied also.

"Hello, who is that?" asked Harry Dickson.

"It's me," said Billy. "I guess I must have got in the wrong tent. Have I been walking in my sleep?"

"How should I know?" laughed Harry. "You are in the wrong tent, that's all I do know. Arthur and I have this tent. Aren't you in with young Jesse W. Smith?"

"I thought I was," said Billy dolefully, "but I seem to have got twisted up a bit to-night. I've had the stomach ache."

"That will twist any one," chuckled Harry, "but really it is no laughing matter, my boy."

"No, I should say not. Well, I think I had better cut my call short. Would you kindly show me the way to my own tent?"

This was said in such a comical, and at the same time doleful tone, that Harry was forced to laugh.

"Why, certainly," he chuckled. "You've got on the wrong street, that is all. You can go through right here without having to go to the top or bottom and then down or up."

"Who is on the other side of the street?" asked Billy.

"Jones and Robinson."

"H'm! and they are right back of us. All right. I guess I can find the way now all right."

Then Billy started to go between two tents so as to reach his own on the next camp street.

"Look out for—-"

"Ouch! what's that?"

Harry was about to warn him to look out for the tent ropes, but Billy tumbled over them before he could be warned.

"I am having all sorts of fun to-night!" he said in a tone of disgust, as he picked himself up and made his way through to the other street.

Then he found his own tent and went in, but to make sure, even after he had found his bed unoccupied, got out his pocket light and turned it on.

"That's all right," he muttered, "but the next time I go wandering about the camp of a night without a light I'll stay at home!"

Either the light flashing in young J.W. Smith's face or Billy's mutterings awoke that young gentleman, and he sat up in bed, asking in a very drowsy tone:

"Is it time to get up, Billy? What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing, I've been a bit restless, that's all, but I feel better now, so go to sleep, J.W., and get a good night's rest."

At that moment a distant church clock struck twelve, and then a rooster crowed.

"H'm! guess it is time I got to sleep!" grunted Billy, as he tumbled into bed, put out his light and was soon fast asleep.

In the morning when he and young Smith arose, the latter said to him in some surprise:

"Why, Billy, what is the matter, what have you been doing? You have got the blackest eye I ever saw on a boy."

"Me?" cried Billy. "Are you sure? Isn't it dirt? Where should I have been to get a black eye?"

"I am sure I don't know, but that's what it is all right. Look at it yourself, Billy, and see if it is not."

There was a little looking glass in the tent, and Billy now surveyed himself in this, finding that young Smith was right, and that he did have one beautiful black eye, the other being only slightly discolored.

He knew where he had obtained it, but did not think it necessary to explain the matter to young Smith.

"I'll wait and see who has the most to say about it," he thought, "and then I will know who it was that I followed last night, who it was that gave me this lovely decoration."

When he met the boys, however, all of them had something to say, and Harry said with a laugh:

"You must have got that when you stumbled over the tent rope last night, Billy."

"Yes, I guess I did," said Billy, but to himself he remarked that now there was very little chance of learning the truth.



CHAPTER XV

FUN ON THE RIVER

That day a number of the boys from the camp down the river came up on the invitation of the Hilltop boys to pay them a visit, and to compete for various prizes offered by the doctor, and some of the people of the neighborhood who had gone to the other camp on the occasion of the regatta.

"Some of our boys took away prizes from you the other day," said Percival who received the visitors, "and it is only fair that we should give you a chance to capture something from us."

"We won't from you or Sheldon," replied one of the visitors, "but we will try to compete with the rest of your boys. There is no use trying to beat you, however."

"You won't if you don't try, at any rate," said Dick. "We are glad to see you, at any rate, and we will endeavor to make you enjoy yourselves."

Percival arranged a program, and at the suggestion of the leader of the visitors, although he would have liked not to do so, included Herring in an exhibition of swimming, and a match with four or five others, boys from both camps.

There was a three-legged race between Billy Manners and Seymour as one set of three legs, and two of the Rocky Hill boys as the other, which caused considerable amusement.

Billy's left leg was strapped to his partner's right so that they had really to run out of step in order to keep step, which seemed a paradox, but it was really the only way in which they could get along at all.

"When I put out my right leg do you put out your left," Billy cautioned his partner, "and put out the tied legs together. Keep out of step, in fact, and don't try to go too fast. This is the sort of race where you cannot be too quick if you want to win."

The efforts of the two teams, the funny mistakes they made, the many narrow escapes from tumbling, and the serious manner in which they took things, made a lot of laughter, and when finally Billy and his partner came in first there was a loud applause from every one.

"That makes a lot of fun for the rest of you," said Billy, in a lugubrious tone, as he rubbed the leg that had been bound to that of his partner, "but it is not so funny for the legs."

This remark made more laughter and then there was a flat race between teams from both camps, at least a dozen boys competing, which caused a good deal of excitement.

The race was won by Herring, Merritt, and two of the boys from the other camp, these four coming out in the lead and later the final was to be run, Herring expecting to win it.

In the meantime, he gave an exhibition of swimming, and a little later swam against two of the Rocky Hill boys.

As they were nearing the end of the course, Herring forging ahead and rapidly gaining on his opponents, intending to beat at the finish, one of the other boys was seen to throw up his hands and sink.

Herring would have kept on, claiming that this was only a trick of the boy to give his mate a chance to win the match, but a loud shout from the boys on the bank compelled him to stop.

Jack Sheldon happened to be at the shore in his boat, ready to start in the next event, when the shout arose.

In a moment he started his engine to going, and glided rapidly out upon the river toward where the boy had gone down.

He was confident that the boy would speedily rise, although not just where he went down, and he kept his eyes on the water so as to determine the spot at which he would come up.

He presently detected a certain motion of the water at a point a little to one side of his course, and in a moment steered his boat for that place, but not at too great speed.

He had calculated right, for when the boy came up Jack was within two feet of him and quickly made up the distance, reached out, caught him under the arms, and, by a dexterous move, lifted him into the boat.

The boy was nearly exhausted, but upon Jack's speaking cheerily to him, he revived sufficiently to assist his rescuer, and his getting into the boat was attended with no accident.

He collapsed when he was in, however, and Jack put for the shore at a rapid pace, a number of the boys being ready to take the fainting boy out as they came up the shelving beach.

"Why didn't you go to the boy's aid, Herring?" asked Percival, as the bully came in. "Couldn't you see that he had a cramp?"

"I have had that trick played on me before," retorted Herring in a surly tone. "How was I to know that it was real?"

"Our boys do not resort to such tricks?" declared the leader of the visiting team warmly, "and I do not think that the Hilltop boys in general can be accused of doing so."

"I don't know what you fellows do," said the other in the same surly tone, "because I have seen very little of you, but I know that that trick has been worked on me before, and I was prepared for anything. That's why I did not go to help him. Why didn't his own chum do it?"

"You were nearer," said Dick, and then he went away to see how the other boy was coming along.

Fortunately, he was out of danger, and was doing very well so that it was not necessary to stop the games, but Herring did not again have anything to do and shortly left the camp, and went off into the woods with Holt, leaving Merritt to finish the final of the flat race, losing to the boys from the other camp.

Jack won the race for motor-boats against a considerable fleet, and was the most popular boy in camp, not only on this account, but because of his timely action at the moment of danger whereby a catastrophe was averted.

"That's only another time when Jack Sheldon has shown his nerve," declared Harry warmly. "Why, the very first time I met him he saved a mighty bad situation by his coolness, and he has been doing those things ever since. Talk about nerve! Why, he is full of it!"

"Somehow he never seems to lose his head when it is most required," added Percival, "although to look at him you would not suppose that he had such a command over himself. It's when you get to know him that you find these things out."

"Why, he would as soon jump into a flying machine as get in a motor-boat," said Billy, "provided there was something to be done. He is a bird as well as a fish, and just as good at either."

The sports were closed by a tub race, every one being desirous of seeing Billy Manners in another of these amusing contests.

There were a dozen or more boys in the race, all prepared for a spill in the water, which seemed to be the inevitable end of such affairs.

Billy had a bathing suit of the Hilltop colors, and said as he got into his tub:

"This is the great race of the submersibles. Mine is the I.O.U.—-99, the fastest tub on the river. If she were fast I couldn't go—-fast to the bank, I mean."

"She'll be fast on the bottom, at any rate, Billy," said Harry.

Jack, Percival, and a number of the boys who did not usually take part in such sports, went into this for the sake of making more fun, but the visitors were not asked to enter, as they had not brought their bathing suits, and could not very well get along without them.

The tubs started out, the boys propelling them rapidly with their hands, avoiding collisions when they could, and doing their best to keep afloat as long as possible.

"You are not going to win this race, Billy," laughed Percival, as he spun ahead. "You can't take all the prizes, my boy, and I am going to beat you this time."

"Maybe not!" chuckled Billy, using both hands and making the water fly. "This is a U.S., not a U-boat, and I'm bound to win."

Jack was full of the spirit of the thing, and pushed the acknowledged rivals hard, presently passing Percival, and shouting to Billy:

"Look out, my boy, I am coming after you! Don't take in too much water. It isn't good."

"Come on, Jack!" shouted Billy. "I am not going to the bottom yet, my——-"

Just then young Smith collided with him, and his tub filled in an instant, forcing him to swim for the shore in a hurry.

"You have a submarine now, at any rate!" laughed the younger boy, who went on a few feet farther, and then had to swim for it.

Jack and Percival were now in the lead, and the nearest to the goal, all the rest having had to swim for it by this time, and there was considerable excitement.

Both boys were great favorites and the fact of their entering such a novel contest just for the fun of it, and to please the boys and their visitors, was admired by everybody.

There was an even chance for each of the boys, but the odds were in favor of Jack, although Percival was no less liked by the Hilltop boys.

"Keep her up, Jack!" roared forty boys.

"Go ahead, Dick!" shouted as many more.

Percival had to take to the water a second or two ahead of Jack, who won the race, much to the delight of all the boys, Dick included.



CHAPTER XVI

THE PRIZES AWARDED

It was the day when the prizes were to be announced in the literary contest, and all the Hilltop boys were gathered in the pavilion eager to hear the result of the committee's consultation.

The doctor arose when all were present, and spoke of the contest, saying that it had brought out the best powers of a number of the boys and showed that they all had considerable ability when they put their minds on affair of this sort, and concluding by saying:

"I will now read the poem which I consider the best. In fact, it is the unanimous opinion of the committee that it is."

Thereupon the doctor began to read the opening lines of the poem, which were as follows:

"From the hills of the beautiful Hudson, Rendered sacred by patriot blood, Come to us most inspiring traditions, Swelling on in a glorious flood."

"The mighty achievements of Clinton, Of brave Putnam and—-"

Here Pete Herring suddenly jumped on his feet, and waving a paper in his hand, cried excitedly:

"That's plagiarism! That thing was not written by any of the Hilltop boys. It has been taken bodily from a paper published up the state, which I get every week, and was written by——-"

"Why, those verses were written by Jack Sheldon himself!" cried Percival, getting up excitedly.

"They were published in the Riverton News, but were unsigned. I know that Jack wrote them."

"Please be seated, Percival," said the doctor. "Sit down, Herring. I will give you an opportunity to speak presently. This poem purports to have been written by Sheldon. Is that so?"

"Yes, sir," said Jack, "or at least what you have read was written by me. I don't know if the rest was. I cannot tell till I hear it."

"And you say that the lines I have just read were not written by him?" Dr. Wise asked, turning to Herring.

"No, they were not, they were written by Miss Sadie May, and were published in a paper up the state. Here it is. I received it this morning, and was reading it as I came in."

"Will you kindly read the entire poem?" Herring had a good voice when he wanted to display it, and he now read the lines that the doctor had read, the poem being about twice as long as the portion already given.

"The poem I have here contains these lines," said the doctor, who had been following the manuscript in his hand, "but it is considerably longer."

"I did not put those verses in the poem that I submitted, sir," said Jack. "They had already been published in the News, and I would not think it right to submit any but entirely new matter. Will you read the rest of the poem? I can tell if it is mine, and I have a copy in my desk. If the rest is mine I do not see how these lines got in it, for I certainly did not put them in."

"The other poem is certainly Jack's," said Percival. "He showed it to me at the time he wrote it, and I have a copy of the paper containing it. I would not wonder if other boys had it also."

"I have!" spoke up five or six of the boys, Harry, Arthur and young Smith among the number.

"Will you kindly let me see the out-of-town paper you have, Herring?" asked the doctor.

"Certainly," said Herring, taking the paper to the desk.

"When was your poem published, Sheldon?"

"Two weeks ago."

"And this paper is a week old. You say you got it this morning?" to Herring, who was on his way to his seat.

"Yes, but they sometimes come late or two or three together. A friend sends them to me."

"Have you the paper containing the poem handy, Percival?" asked the doctor. "Would you kindly fetch it?"

"Certainly, sir," and Percival left the pavilion, returning in a few minutes with a copy of the Riverton paper in his hand.

The doctor compared the verses in both and found them to be identical, saying with a puzzled look:

"The one in the News is the same as this other, but it is not signed. The other is signed Sadie May. Do you use that as a nom de plume, Sheldon?"

"No, sir, I do not," said Jack with a smile.

"Then it strikes me that this other paper has been taking liberties with the News, not only taking things 'written especially for the News,' as printed over the poem, but declining to give any credit to the paper, and putting on the name of another besides the writer. Reputable newspapers are not supposed to do this."

Many of the boys smiled, and the doctor continued:

"Didn't you recognize this poem when you read it in the out-of-town paper, Herring?"

"I had never seen it before," Herring answered, and it was noticed by some of the boys that he seemed a bit restless.

"Then you do not read the Riverton paper?"

"No, sir, I do not."

"I seldom read it myself," the doctor remarked, "or I would have remembered these verses. They are very clever and breathe the true spirit of patriotism. They really fit admirably into the rest of the poem, which I will read. Will you get your copy of the verses, Sheldon, and let some one compare them?"

"Certainly, sir," and Jack arose and left the place, returning shortly and handing a copy of his poem to Percival.

Then the doctor read the poem, and Percival showed by his expression that it was identical with the one in his hand.

"It is the same, sir," he said, "but it does not contain the opening lines which you read before."

"I don't see how they got in there, Dick," said Jack. "I am sure that I did not put them in. How could I? It would have been a most astonishing piece of absent-mindedness. Besides, I have only the printed copy now."

"However, it happened that the opening lines belong to another poem," observed the doctor, "both by the same author, it does not alter the fact that both fit the subject admirably, and might easily be a part of one production. The metre is the same, and the subject as well. The first serves excellently as an introduction to the other."

"I can see that they do, sir,", replied Jack, "but I am certain that I did not submit both. By the way," with a sudden inspiration, "may I see the manuscript, sir?"

"If you will come to the desk I shall be pleased to show it to you."

Jack went forward, took the copy of the poem, looked it over carefully a few moments, and suddenly said:

"The opening lines are not in my handwriting, Doctor. It is similar, but not the same. These lines have been inserted by some one else. I never put them in. You may see that they are at the top of the page, which had a wide margin. All the other pages had, but this one now has not. The title has been erased and written in at the top. Some one has tampered with the manuscript. You can see for yourself, Doctor."

"Yes, but who would do this, Sheldon? You certainly do not accuse me of doing it? Or any of the professors?"

"Hardly, Doctor," with a smile, "but some one has done it."

"But why should they, Sheldon, especially as both poems are your own? What reason would any one have to do this? If the inserted lines belonged to another poem so that you might be accused of plagiarism, then there would be some color to this argument, but the whole thing is yours."

"It is strange," said Jack, going back to his seat, all the boys seeming to be greatly puzzled, and talking to each other about the matter in low and earnest tones.

"I will now read the poem which took second prize," said the doctor, and proceeded to read Percival's poem, very much to the latter's surprise and delight.

"Well, I came somewhere near you, at any rate, Jack," he said, "but I never expected to come in second."

There were other poems read, one receiving a prize and the best honorable mention, the boys being thoroughly satisfied with the awards, and cheering the winners loudly.

Jack was still puzzled about his poem, but he said nothing, having certain ideas about the matter, but not caring to make them known at the time, preferring to wait till he had more information.

After the exercises were over the boys went off in little groups of four or five in different directions.

Percival went with Jack on the river, taking young Smith along, and when they were out from shore Dick said:

"You have an idea who inserted the verses of your other poem in your new one, haven't you, Jack?"

"How did Herring happen to hit upon some other verses of mine which a paper up the state had stolen?" asked Jack.

"He might do that, of course, but how did they get into the poem you had submitted two days before if he got the paper only this morning?"

"The paper was a week old, Dick."

"Then you think that Herring may have been lying, Jack?" asked Dick pointedly.

"Other persons besides Herring may have seen the verses in the other paper, Dick. I cannot prove—-now—-that Herring wrote them in."

"But you may do so at some other time?"

"That's what he means," said young Smith, "but Jack never says anything against a fellow unless he is sure of it."

"That's right enough, J.W., and we agree with you."

"Do you remember a night or so ago when Billy Manners had the black eye?" asked the young fellow suddenly. "He said he must have got it tripping over a tent rope, and Harry said he got into their tent by mistake. I asked him what he was doing outside, and at first he would not tell me, but afterward he said there was some funny business going on the night before, and he thought that Herring and Merritt were in it, but he could not tell what it was."

"Well?" asked Percival.

"Then he told me that he had gone to the doctor's cottage, and that some one got out the window, fell over him and gave him a black eye. Herring, as he thinks, said that he would fix somebody and keep him from getting the prize. He told me not to say anything, but——-"

"That's all right, J.W., it's as well you did, for now I think we will get at the bottom of this affair," said Percival in decided tones.



CHAPTER XVII

A PUZZLING MATTER SETTLED

At the same time that Jack Sheldon, Dick Percival and young Smith were on the river together, Billy Manners, Arthur Warren and Harry Dickson were going up the road leading to the Van der Donk house, although they had no idea of going there.

When they were well away from the camp and there were no other boys in sight, Billy stopped short suddenly, and said:

"Funny thing about Herring's recognizing that girl's poem in Jack's verses, wasn't it?"

"Why, I saw those verses two weeks ago, and knew they were Jack's," replied Harry.

"Funny about my getting that black eye the other night, too, wasn't it?" Billy went on.

"Yes, but what has that got to do with——-"

"I'll tell you. That night I woke up and heard some one say in the next tent to ours: 'it's all right, I've got it,' and somebody else asked, 'can you fix 't?' and the first fellow answered, 'fix it? Of course I can fix it, and fix his winning the prize, too.' That's all I heard then."

"In the next tent?" said Arthur. "Who is in the next tent?"

"Herring and Merritt on one side and Seymour and Blaisdell on the other. It was not them I heard. It was Herring and Merritt. I was not sure of it at the time, being half asleep, but from what has happened since——-"

"Hello!" exclaimed Arthur. "This is getting interesting. Go on to how you got the black eye, Billy."

"Well, I knew that there was mischief of some sort going on, but I did not bear any more and fell asleep. Later I woke up again and heard one of the fellows say, 'That will do first rate,' and the other one asked, 'They, won't notice the difference?' and the first one, Herring I am sure, said: 'No, and now to put it back.' Then they said something about the doctor being surprised, and I knew that there was some mischief on foot and I jumped out of bed and went out."

"Well, and what then?" asked Arthur.

"I saw somebody hurrying along, and followed till I came to the doctor's cottage when I stood just under the open window. I could hear some one inside and finally came to the window. I was too late, and the first thing I knew somebody jumped out and upset me. I grabbed him by the leg, and he gave me a crack in the eye that made me see stars. Then he got away, and I found myself in your tent at last instead of my own, and later I fell over the tent rope and got another bump."

"And what do you make out the fellow was doing in the doctor's cottage?" asked Harry.

"Putting back the manuscript he had fixed up. He had written in the lines he thought were some one else's, and then he put it back. He must have just come from taking it away when I first heard him."

"Things fit in pretty well, Art," said Harry. "Pete Herring has always had it in for Jack since he first came here. Do you remember what Jack said to him? 'What was your father?' asked Pete in that nasty way he has, when Jack told him his father was dead. 'A gentleman,' said Jack and the emphasis he put on the word just hammered home the idea that he didn't think Pete was one. It was the neatest thing I ever heard. Do you remember it?"

"Yes, and I guess Pete hasn't forgotten it either."

"Well, he was pretty sure that Jack would take the prize, as he generally does, and he fixed up this plot, never supposing that he had got hold of one of Jack's own poems."

"He always makes some stupid break like that," said Billy, "that upsets him. It takes a smart fellow to be a rogue, and Pete isn't quite smart enough. Another time when he tried to get back on Jack he made some such blunder as this, and gave himself away."

"You didn't say anything this morning?" said Arthur.

"No, for I was thinking things over. When I got to talking about it with you fellows it all came out straight."

"Well, Jack got the prize anyhow," remarked Harry, "and I don't suppose there is any use in saying anything about it. If you didn't actually catch Pete in the act and recognize him, he could easily say that he was not out of his tent that night, and Merritt would back him up."

"Yes, of course, but if he knows that I and young Smith and a lot more of the boys know it he won't put on so many frills after this;"

"No, he won't, but we don't go with him anyhow, and he bullies his own set into doing just what he wants, so that he never wants for company. You can't send him to Coventry very well, so I don't know that it will do much good to let him know that we know all about it."

"It will take down his conceit, Hal," said Arthur, "and that is one of his biggest assets. A bit of ridicule of his fine plot will take the starch out of him, and that's what he needs."

"Yes, to be sure."

The boys were in sight of the Van der Donk house by this time, but as they had no intention of calling they turned around and went back to the camp where they met Jack and his two friends just coming ashore.

"I have just heard how you got your black eye the other night, Billy," laughed Jack. "J.W., here, said he was not to tell, but we excused him under the circumstances. We came to the conclusion that you got your black eye in trying to stop Herring when he was getting out of the window of the doctor's cottage after he had put back the manuscript he had been 'fixing,' as he called it."

"That's what we think," said Harry. "Billy has just been telling us about it. We laughed at him that night, but he was cute enough to keep the thing quiet until he found out more about it."

"Harry thinks it won't do any good to expose Herring," said Arthur, "but I think it will."

"There is no especial need of it," rejoined Jack quietly.. "He has only made a stupid mistake, and done me no harm whatever, and it is really not worth while to pay any more attention to it. I shall not, at any rate."

"I am sorry he is here, anyhow," said Arthur. "He is always making a lot of trouble. The fellows don't like him and after the other day when he claimed that he thought the Rocky Hill boys were playing a trick on him, and would not go to the aid of the one who had the cramp, not only our boys, but the other fellows are sore on him, and if there are any more meets they will look out that he is not asked."

"They probably won't have any," added Percival. "They are really bound to ask the whole Academy, and so they won't ask any one. That will put an end to these meets, for they won't come up here as long as they know they will meet Herring. For my part I think he ought to be exposed, but, of course, it should be as Jack thinks. He is the one most concerned."

"He may not stay here after this," said Jack.

"He did not care to stay here in the beginning, I understand, preferring to go to some more lively place, and it is likely that he will leave after this."

"We'll wait a little and see," answered Percival. "If he goes, that will settle the matter without any trouble. However, I want to see what Brooke will have to say about that paper using your poem without his consent, and putting it under another name."

The boys went to town in Jack's boat, and called at the office of the News, where they found the editor busy as usual.

Jack had the copy of the other paper with him, and showed it to the editor, asking him if he knew anything about it.

"I don't exchange with it," Brooke said, "but some one may have seen the poem in our paper and sent it to him. I'll call him up."

There was a long-distance telephone in the office, and the editor called up the other editor, and said:

"This is Brooke of the Riverton News. How about your printing a poem last week written especially for us, and putting another name to it? The poem was called 'The Message of the Hudson.' You remember it?"

"Yes. It was written by a young lady stopping at the hotel here, and given to me."

"Oh, no, it was not. It was written by a young gentleman of the Hilltop Academy, and written especially for us, and not signed. I have his original manuscript in the office, and he is here now."

"Well, I am very sorry, but the young lady told me she wrote it, and, as I thought it was very good, I published it."

"You were right enough there, for it is good, but I have a copyright, which the young lady should have seen and respected. Will you make a correction in your next issue?"

"I certainly will, Mr. Brooke, and be glad to. You don't think that I would have published the verses had I known the truth?"

"No, I hope not. You might call the young lady's attention to the fact, while you are about it."

"I would do so gladly, but she has left town. She is making a tour of the towns in the neighborhood."

"And getting up a reputation on other persons' literary efforts," laughed Brooke. "Well, send me the paper. Sorry you were fooled that way. Take the News and you won't be again. Goodbye."

"That is the cheekiest thing I ever heard," laughed Percival, "taking a thing bodily and claiming it as your own. I should call that stealing, if I were asked about it."

"That's what it is," replied Brooke, "but it is a very common practice with some papers. Why, I had an editor show me an article of my own, and ask me if I did not think it quite clever. One of his compositors had written it, he said. I said a few things myself."

"I imagine you did!" chuckled Dick. "Well, I am glad we have settled this matter. We might not have known anything about it only for a blunder made by a fellow who has not the sense to read the News every week."

The editor looked puzzled and Percival explained briefly, Brooke laughing and adding:

"That was very funny, accusing Sheldon of plagiarizing his own stuff. I never heard anything quite so queer."

"And all on account of his not reading your paper," rejoined Percival with a wink at Jack. "You should make an editorial of this, Mr. Brooke."

"Thank you, I think maybe I will," replied the editor, beginning to peck savagely at his typewriter, and the boys left the office.

When they returned to camp after doing a few errands they were met at the landing by Billy Manners, who said with a grin:

"Well, it is settled. Pete Herring and Merritt have gone to Saratoga, so we will not be bothered with them any longer."

"Just as I thought," said Jack.



CHAPTER XVIII

THE DEPARTURE OF THE BULLIES

Dr. Wise had had something to do with the going away of Herring and Merritt, although the two bullies had already decided that the camp on the river would not be a very pleasant place for them in view of what had occurred in the matter of the prize poem.

While the boys were out on the river and in the woods the doctor called Herring into his study, and looking at him fixedly through his big black-rimmed spectacles, said slowly:

"Don't you think there are some very peculiar circumstances connected with your discovery of Sheldon's supposed plagiarism, Herring? It strikes me that there are."

Herring said nothing, but looked very surly, and the doctor went on.

"Does it not strike you as peculiar that you should have a week old paper in your pocket at the very time we were to pronounce upon the poems submitted by the students? And also that you had not noticed these verses before when they were published in a town paper? You can imitate different hand writings, can't you?" the doctor suddenly broke off.

Herring flushed, but said nothing.

"You have never liked Sheldon," said the doctor, going on to another side of the subject, "and have tried to injure him in many ways. This is known to all the Hilltop boys. Would it not be natural, therefore, that you would try to throw discredit on him at this time?"

"It would not do me any good," muttered the other. "I did not compete for the prize."

"I know you did not, but your dislike of Sheldon might induce you to endeavor to injure his reputation. Don't you think you went very clumsily to work about it?"

"You are assuming that I did this thing," growled Herring. "What proof have you that I did? Suppose I should deny it?"

"Do you?" asked the doctor pointedly.

"There haven't been any direct charges brought against me as yet, only hints and innuendoes," growled the other. "Sheldon has not accused me of anything, and he is the one most interested. What is it to me if a woman up the state stole his poem? I didn't."

"No, you did not, but who inserted the lines claimed by another person in the manuscript submitted? Were you in the cottage the other night? Some one was, for my servant heard some one prowling about, and a little later there was some sort of fracas outside. How did Manners receive his black eye? Can you tell me that?"

"He got to wandering in his sleep and fell over a tent rope, I understand. That might give him a black eye."

"Didn't he seize you by the leg and shout that he had got you, and that you must give an account of yourself?" the doctor asked. "My servant heard some one say this."

"I was in my tent all night when Manners got his black eye," said Herring, who did not fancy having this evidence brought suddenly before him.

"With a light burning?" asked the doctor. "One of the guards saw a light at occasions shining from your tent. What were you doing with it?"

"Could it not have been Merritt?" asked Herring. "I do not occupy the tent alone."

"You were writing in those lines, were you not? Did you observe that the first page had more on it than the others? I suppose it would have taken too long to copy the entire poem, insertion and all?"

"I don't know anything about it," snarled Herring. "What evidence have you that I did these things that you charge me with doing?"

"I have not charged you with them, Herring. I am merely asking you a few questions. I have circumstantial evidence, however, that you did these things."

"Circumstantial evidence has hanged innocent men before now," said the bully. "Haven't you any corroborative evidence?"

He was beginning to grow defiant now, feeling that the doctor had no real evidence against him.

"Don't you think that a trip to some more lively spot for the rest of the summer would be advisable, Herring?" the doctor suddenly asked, looking quizzically at him. "Better for all concerned, perhaps? You don't altogether like this camp life, do you, Herring?"

"Oh, I am satisfied with it," said Herring, putting on an air of braggadocio, seeing that the doctor was giving him a loophole by which to get out. "I don't see that I need—-" but then he stopped, seeing a look in the doctor's face like a danger signal.

"You think on the whole that it might be as well to go somewhere else for a few weeks?"

The doctor got up, and Herring took the hint and went out, saying nothing further upon the subject.

By the time Percival and the others had returned he was packing up, and when Jack and Dick came back from Riverton he had gone, and Merritt and one or two others had gone with him.

Shortly after this Jack and Percival, while in Riverton one day, came across Gabrielle, the former nurse maid for Mrs. Van der Donk, and Percival, recognizing her said shortly:

"How do you do? Will you tell me how you happened to put that watch in my friend's pocket the night of the fire at your employer's house?"

"What you say?" asked the girl in the high key customary with her. "I do not know you, I have not meet you before."

"But you know me," said Jack. "You remember the watch with the diamonds on the case that your friend gave you? You were talking about it on the banks of the kill one afternoon and said you had lost it. You did not lose it, did you? Didn't you put it in my pocket?"

"Who are you?" asked the girl, making a move to pass the boys.

"I brought the baby down from the room in the extension, and you took him from me and thanked me very much. You remember this? You said you would lose your place if the baby had been burned."

"Ah, then you are the young gentleman so brave who save the babee from being burn? Ah, yes, that was very brave. The ladee give you the reward, yes? That was very good."

"Yes, but what about the watch? You need not be afraid. The owner has been found."

"An, yes, and you find the watch in your pocket? That is very droll!" and the girl began to laugh.

"Yes, it was very funny," said Jack, "but how did it get there?"

"I put it there, me, myself. I am afraid to carry so fine a watch and I wish to get rid of him. When you give me the baby and are tangle in the blanket I put him in your pocket."

"The baby?" laughed Percival.

"The babee?" said the girl with a look of scorn. "No, the watch. How I can put the babee in the boy pocket? That is stupid. It is easy to do when I am so close to the boy and he not know it. You have the watch then. You are be arrest, yes?"

"No, I was not arrested, and I found an owner for it. Your friend tried to get it, but I had heard him say that he had stolen it, and I would not give it up."

"An, and now he has go away and I do not see him. You want that you shall arrest him?"

"No, I don't care anything about him," said Jack, "but I did want to know how the watch got in my pocket without my knowing it."

"An, that is one easy thing to do," laughed the girl. "Then you do not mean to make me arrest?"

"No, certainly not," said Jack.

"I am very glad. Good morning, sir," said Gabrielle, and in a moment she had whisked past the boys, and when they turned to see where she had gone she had disappeared.

"Well, that thing is explained at any rate," said Percival. "We thought she might have done it, but I don't see now how she managed it."

"She is evidently very quick in her motions," suggested Jack, "and from what we know of the man she was with, she may have been just such a character herself, and have learned deftness of fingers from him. He was evidently a pickpocket, and perhaps she had practiced the trade herself. That is the only explanation I can give."

"No doubt it is the correct one, but it does not matter. It is really the only feasible explanation there is. She had had the watch, and she was the only one who was close enough to you that night to have done it."

"Well, we shall probably not see her again to find out just how she did it, and very likely she would not tell us, as that would be revealing one of the secrets of the trade, and, of course, she could not do that."



CHAPTER XIX

THE TROUBLES OF THE SURVEYING PARTY

Shortly after the meeting with Gabrielle the boys were greatly surprised by the doctor's announcing that he had received a proposition from the company which operated the mountain railroads in that section for the Hilltop boys to survey a new line and afterward build it.

"This will give those of you who are studying engineering and surveying some practical experience," the Doctor added. "Just the surveying for the branch road will be done at this time, and later, some time in the fall, before the regular term begins, you will do the building. If you are agreeable we will move our camp in a day or so and begin the work at once. Not all of you will care to go, of course, as all are not far advanced enough for the work."

Percival, Jack and a number of others were fit to go into the work, however, and they were delighted at the prospect of a change of scene and of doing other work, and the party was quickly made up.

Being settled in their new camp, the young surveyors set out, carrying their instruments, a number of the boys who were not engaged in the work following them out of curiosity to see them at work.

Percival and his gang went ahead, and shortly after they had started, Jack and his boys followed, Jack with a level over his shoulder and boys with flags, axes, chains and other things necessary in the work, accompanying him, all in high spirits.

Billy Manners had a magazine camera slung over his shoulder and as the boys set out at a brisk walk he ran ahead of the party, turned his camera upon them, and took a snap shot, saying with a laugh:

"There, that's the first exhibit. That shows us on our way to build a railroad."

"You did not get yourself in it, Billy," said Jack as they went on.

"There isn't room on the plate for him; he's too fat," remarked young Smith, who carried a pair of signal flags and a pole. "You would need a bigger lens to get Billy on the plate."

The boys went on at a good gait and at length were surprised by hearing a considerable noise ahead of them, loud and angry voices of men being the principal part of the disturbance.

"Hello! there is trouble ahead," cried Harry. "I wonder what it is all about?"

"We will find out in a few minutes," said Jack, hurrying forward, the others quickly following.

In a short time they came to a little station in the woods, not much more than a shack, by the way, and here they saw Percival and his gang opposed by a number of men of rough appearance, who were talking in loud and angry tones and with threatening gestures.

"Hello! I've got to get this!" exclaimed Billy, pointing his camera at the group and giving the bulb a squeeze. "This'll be the second exhibit, trouble on the line. I wonder what it is all about?"

The arrival of the other party was somewhat of a surprise to the men and they fell back a pace, Jack hurrying toward Percival and asking:

"What is the matter, Dick? What do these men want?"

"They say that we are going to ruin their farms by running a road through them," replied Percival. "I'd like to know where they are. I never heard of any farms through here, nor any one else."

"Well, they is!" snarled one of the men, a big, rough-looking fellow with a shaggy beard and long hair which seemed not to have been combed in a month. "They is farms here and they's trout brooks an' pasters an' we ain't goin' to have 'em ruined by no railroad."

"You will have to see the company," answered Jack quietly. "We are not going to build immediately anyhow. We are only surveying now. The company has given us the right to do this, and if they were going to ruin any farms they would not do it. Where are the farms? I am pretty well acquainted with this section and I don't know of any farms worth mentioning in all of it. We have authority from the railroad to make our surveys and you had better see some of the officers before you make trouble. Dr. Wise also will give you all the information you require. He is with the rest of the boys, about half a mile back."

"Well, we was told you was going to ruin our farms, and we won't stand fer that. You talk all right, but the fust thing we know we'll be druv out o' house an' home an' all our crops sp'iled."

"You should have them in by this time. Who told you that your farms would be ruined?"

"Well, we was told, anyhow, an' we warn ye that if any damage is done to our farms or crops ye'll have ter suffer fer it. We ain't goin' to be ground under by no graspin' mono'ly, we ain't, an' yer' goin' to know it fust as last."

"There is no grasping monopoly in it," said Percival impatiently. "We have a right from the railroad to make our surveys and we are going to make 'em. I don't believe there is a farm within ten miles and you don't look like farmers."

"Send some one back for the doctor, Dick," said Jack, who saw that his friend's words had angered the men. "Who told you that we were going to ruin your farms?" he added, turning directly to the big man.

"I don't have to tell ye!" blustered the other. "I know what railroads is an' we ain't goin' to have none on 'em rootin' up our land, an' if ye sot up any o' them machines here we're goin' ter—-Hi! don't shoot!"

Billy Manners had suddenly turned his camera upon the follow, considering him a good subject for a picture, and was just about to squeeze the bulb when the man caught sight of him and sprang back.

"Ah! keep still," cried Billy in disgust. "You've spoiled the picture. It would've been a fine one if you'd kept quiet."

"I don't want my picter took!" growled the big man, falling back among the others. "Ye want ter use it ag'in me, that's what. I know you fellers. An' ye ain't goin' to run no railroad, nuther!"

Jack looked around and quickly discovered that young Smith was missing, and at once came to the conclusion that he had gone off to get the doctor so as to settle the dispute about the surveying.

"If you will wait till we can send for Dr. Wise," he said to the men, "he will assure you that we have every right to make the survey, as well as to build the road. Will you send some one, Dick?"

"I will go," said Kenneth Blaisdell, who was one of Percival's party.

"All right, Ken, go ahead," and the boy set off through the woods, Jack noticing at the same time that two of the men slipped away with the evident intention of waylaying him and preventing him from delivering the message to the doctor.

"I suspected as much," he thought. "Well, they don't know that young J.W. has already started. He will get through all right, for although he's little, he can be depended upon."

Then Jack gave Percival a wink and stepped back a little.



CHAPTER XX

GETTING AT THE BOTTOM OF THINGS

"What is it, Jack?" asked Percival as he joined Jack a short distance from the group of men now standing idly about.

"They have sent some one to intercept Blaisdell. I have already sent young Smith, or at least he has taken the hint and gone off himself. He will get there, but I think we had better send some one to help Ken."

"You are sure, Jack?"

"Yes, I saw the man slip away. Here are Art and Harry. They will go."

Harry Dickson and Arthur Warren now came up, and Jack quickly told them what he expected and asked them to follow Blaisdell and assist him if necessary, both the boys slipping away without being noticed by the party of men collected at the little station house and now talking among themselves and paying no attention to the boys.

Percival got all the boys together, including those who were not of the surveying party but had merely come along to see the work started, and said to them:

"It is my opinion that these men have been influenced by some one who has been telling them a lot of lies, and maybe for the purpose of getting money out of us. They don't any of them look over intelligent, and I don't believe there is a regular farmer among them. They are squatters, I believe, and don't own half an acre of land among them. We don't want to have a fight with them, and I believe the doctor will settle the whole affair without any trouble as soon as he comes back with Blaisdell."

Meantime Harry and Arthur had hurried on along the path through the woods and it was not long before they heard the sound of voices ahead of them, and hastened on, expecting that Blaisdell was in trouble.

In a short time they came upon the boy, with his back against a tree and a defiant look in his face, saying at that moment:

"If you fellows attempt to touch me you will get hurt. You have no business to detain me and you will get the worst of it."

"What are you doing to that boy?" cried Arthur, hurrying forward. "If you want this matter settled, why don't you let him alone and allow him to go and get the doctor and have this matter arranged satisfactorily?"

The arrival of two extra boys where they had expected to deal with only one rather surprised the men, and one of them said with a growl:

"How do you know we was goin' to do anything to him? We've got traps an' snares here, an' we thought he was goin' to meddle with 'em. We gotter look arter our property."

"It is not the time for setting snares," said Arthur. "We know what you are up to. Get ahead, Ken. We'll keep these fellows from following you. They are a bad lot, but we will take care of them."

The two boys had picked up stout sticks, and they now advanced upon the men so as to give Blaisdell a chance to get away.

The men fell back, being natural cowards, and one of them now said to the boys in sullen tones:

"What you makin' such a fuss about, anyhow? We was only foolin' with the boy. We wasn't goin' to hurt him none."

"Well, I don't think you will," replied Harry as Blaisdell set off toward the camp of the Hilltop boys, knowing that the two would be able to take care of the men.

"How did you men get the idea that your farms were going to be injured?" asked Arthur. "Who gave you that notion?"

"Bill said so," replied one.

"Who is Bill? Is he the big man that did the most of the talking just now? He does not look as if he knew very much."

"Yes, Bill's a big feller."

"Well, Bill had better study up a bit before he goes to making trouble for people. Where is his farm, anyhow? Has he got one?"

"Ah, you talk too much!" growled the man as he walked toward the station,

Shortly after the return of Harry and Arthur Blaisdell, a dozen boys came running in, the former saying:

"Here we are, boys. The doctor is coming as fast as he can. You have not had any fight since I went away? Young Smith got there ahead of me and some of the boys had already started before I got there, so I did not go all the way, but came back with them to see the fun."

Dr. Wise, all in black and wearing big spectacles came up soon and asked Percival and Jack who were the men who had made the trouble at the branch.

Jack pointed out the big man and the doctor said to him:

"What is the matter, my man? Why do you wish to oppose this work? We do not intend any harm to you or to any one. The railroad company has given me full authority to make a survey and to build a branch road. What is your objection?"

"It'll hurt our farms," growled Big Bill.

"Who told you that?"

"Phil Watts, that feller yonder."

"How did you learn this, Watts?" asked the doctor.

"Jim Jenkins told me."

"Well, well, this seems to be all hearsay information," muttered the doctor. "Where is Jenkins? We must learn where he got his information. Who is Jenkins?"

"That's me," said one of the men who had hung back.

"And who told you that we were going to hurt your farms by building the branch road? I do not know of any farms in this section, and if there were any it would help rather than injure them by giving you a chance to get your produce to market sooner. Who told you that it would injure them, Jenkins? I want to get at the bottom of this affair."

"Well, I wasn't the only one what was told it," growled Jenkins, glaring around at his companions, "though it's been put up to me as if I started it. Bill Calthorpe heard it as well as me, an' so did Phil Watts. We was all told it together."

The big man did not seem to like this admission and moved uneasily, first on one foot and then on the other.

"Yes, yes, but who was the person who told you?" asked the doctor a little impatiently. "We want to get at the first person who gave this information. Was it one of yourselves or a stranger? Do you actually know the person who told you this?"

"No, I don't," growled Jenkins, "but I can tell you this, and that is that he was a big young feller and had a uniform under his coat which come open while he was talkin', so's I could see it plain; an' if it wasn't the same identical uniform them boys wear, I'll eat my hat!"

"Do you see him now?" asked the doctor.

Jenkins looked around and Bill Calthorpe and the other squatters did the same, the first speaker's admission not being denied by any of them.

"No, he ain't here now," said Jenkins.

"Was he here at all to-day?" suddenly asked Billy Manners in a tone that brought attention upon him in an instant.

"Yes, he was!" said Jenkins doggedly, and all the boys gave a gasp.



CHAPTER XXI

WHAT APPEARED ON BILLY'S PLATES

The statement of Jim Jenkins that a boy wearing the uniform of the Hilltop boys had told him and others that the building of the branch line would injure them had already caused considerable excitement among the young students, and Jim's second statement to the effect that the boy had been there that very day only served to increase it.

The doctor did not seem to care about pressing this point, however, and said somewhat impatiently:

"Well, whoever it was who gave you this information, it was false, and I will prove to you that we have every authority for going on with this work and that it will not injure you in the least."

Dr. Wise then produced maps, letters and other documents and proceeded to enforce his point.

The men seemed little interested, however, and several of them went away while the doctor was stating his case, the big man at length saying in a surly tone as he turned away:

"That's all right, go on with yer old road, but I'd just like——-" and he went away muttering, followed by the greater part of the men still remaining, some having already left.

"Ha! very strange, quite incomprehensible, yes, yes," said the doctor. "Well, well! I really can't—-well, never mind. Go on with your work, young gentlemen. I do not think it will again be interfered with."

Percival had not waited for the word to go ahead, but had already set up his theodolite while the doctor was explaining matters to the men, and had taken a number of sights, set his first bench mark and was getting his boys to work, Jack being ready to follow behind with his levelers as soon as the work ahead was far enough advanced.

The greater part of the men went away with Calthorpe, but a few of them remained behind to watch the boys at work, showing considerable interest.

Percival took his sights, fixed his direction and went ahead rapidly, setting his stakes and running his line roughly, Jack coming on later and settling the level.

After supper, when it was quite dark and the boys were sitting around the camp fires, enjoying the warmth fully as much as the light, Billy Manners came quietly to Jack, who was sitting with Percival, the latter playing softly on a guitar, and whispered in his ear:

"Come with me, Jack. I've got something to show you that will give you a surprise and set you to thinking."

"What is it, Billy?" asked Jack.

"Come and see!" was the mysterious answer, and Jack arose and followed Billy to a little tent in a bit of thick woods outside the camp.

"What is it, Billy?" asked Jack as Billy opened the flap of his little tent where the light of a small red lantern shone upon a bench where there were hard rubber trays, a few big bottles and a pail of water.

"I have been developing," said Billy. "I can take out the plates I have already exposed and leave the others in the camera. It's a magazine, you understand."

"Yes, I know all about them. Well, what are you going to show me?"

"There are developments which we did not expect," laughed Billy.

"Never mind your puns, Billy, but get to business. I know you have developments, but what are they?"

"Here is one," said the other, holding up a developed plate between his friend and the light of the ruby lamp. "What do you see on it?"

Jack examined the plate a few moments, and said:

"It is the station in the woods. Some one has just jumped aside. You can see a bit of a blur on the edge like a man's arm and hand."

"Yes, and what do you see behind where the man was?"

"Two persons talking. Why, one of them is Herring."

"That's all right. Now look at this one," and Billy held up another plate which was still wet.

Jack took it in his fingers and held it to the light.

"This is in the woods," he said.

"Yes. It was the first one I took when we came up and found that the men were making trouble for Percival. What do you see on it, Jack?"

"I see some men making a disturbance, gesticulating and talking excitedly to Dick and his boys."

"Yes, that's all right. What else?"

"Ah, here are two persons, almost out of focus and talking very interestedly together at one side. They are down in front at one side and their figures are larger than—-why, Billy, they are Jenkins and Herring."

"Exactly!" said Billy with a deal of satisfaction. "I thought you'd see them if I said nothing and I'm glad you found them yourself. I am going to have a print of that plate as soon as it gets dry enough. I can dry it by a little stove I have and then take a bromide print of it in soft grays. That will fetch it up all right."

"But, Billy, what are Herring and Jim Jenkins doing together and what are they so interested about?"

"Didn't Jenkins say that a boy wearing the uniform of the Hilltops had told him and the rest that running the branch would hurt them?"

"This picture shows that Herring had something to do with Jenkins and yet everybody supposed he was in Saratoga."

"That's Herring all right and that's Jenkins," said Billy. "I'll dry the plate and take a print of it. It won't hurt anything to have a light now as I have no undeveloped plates about."

Billy then raised the red glass of the lantern to the top and shoved a plain one under it, and then, lighting a little oil stove, proceeded to carefully dry his plates, presently standing them up not too near the stove and getting out his printing frames and a package of photographic paper done up in a thick sheet of heavy black paper which excluded the light.

The little tent was lined with tar paper which had no glaze and was of an intense black, expelling all white rays which might be injurious to his exposed plates, the red rays not doing this.

When his plates were dry Billy put one of them in his frame, which contained a sheet of plain glass, and slipped one of his sensitized sheets under it, closing the frame with a cleat under the back.

Passing this in front of the lamp for a few moments, he removed the paper and placed it in a tray containing a developing fluid, when at once the print began to show very plain.

When it was dark enough he removed it from the tray and put it in another which contained a fixing fluid which prevented further development, and presently washed it thoroughly in clear water.

"What do you think of that?" he asked Jack, with a tone of triumph. "It is convincing, isn't it?"

"It shows Herring talking to Jenkins, but you cannot tell what he says," remarked Jack with a smile.

"No, I have not got to taking talking pictures yet," laughed Billy, "but the very fact that he was with Jenkins at all means something."



CHAPTER XXII

EVERYTHING IS SETTLED

The boys left the little developing room after putting out the lights and seeing that all was safe and that there was no chance of fire, and made their way to the middle of the camp, where there was an open space in which a number of the boys had gathered to amuse themselves.

There were several good singers among the boys and a number of them had musical instruments, banjos, guitars and mandolins, so that it was an easy matter to get up a concert at any time, the boys whiling away many an hour in this fashion.

Some of the musicians had already begun to play when the three boys arrived, their absence not having been noticed, and now Arthur, who played the banjo, called upon a number of the boys to join in a plantation melody and later a number of the old and new college songs.

Blaisdell had a good voice and he started the songs, the others quickly joining him, till there were a dozen or more and fifty for the chorus, the woods fairly ringing with the melody, which could be heard a mile away by the men who had tried to stop the boys from surveying.

"Huh! they're singin' up there!" growled the big man. "We hain't got nothin' yet, an' that young feller said he was goin' to pay us."

"We orter got pay afore we done anythin', that's the trouble," growled Jenkins. "He was a sneak. Arter promisin' to pay us for makin' trouble, he run away an' left us." "Mebby if we tell the ingineers who he is they'll pay us," suggested one of the men. "We gotter get something out o' this."

"That's true enough," echoed Calthorpe. "We can't do things for nothing. We gotter make something."

"I guess if we tell the young feller that we know who it was what sot us ag'in' him he'll pay us something," added Jenkins. "It don't make no difference to me where I get money, so long as I get it."

"O' course not," said a number of the men in a breath. "One feller's money is as good as another feller's."

"Let's go down there and see 'em," suggested Calthorpe. "If the feller what hired us won't pay up, we'll get it from some other feller. That's all right enough, I guess."

Half an hour later Bucephalus called Percival to the edge of the camp, telling him that he was wanted, Jack and Billy going with Dick.

"Did you want to see me?" he asked, seeing Jenkins and Calthorpe.

"Yes, I guess so," stammered Jenkins. "You're at the head of the ingineers, ain't ye?"

"I am with them," Percival replied. "You are one of the men who tried to stop us, aren't you? You are Jenkins, I believe?"

"Yes, that's me. What I wanted to say is this. I know who the feller was what told us we'd be hurt ef the road went through, and mebby you'd like to know who he is. I kin tell ye, for I know his name an' he's one of——-"

"We know who he is," broke in Jack, "and you can tell us nothing."

Jenkins seemed a good deal put back by this speech and stammered not a little as he replied:

"Huh! yer didn't know who he was this afternoon, 'cause ye asked me if I had saw him. Guess ye're only bluffin' an' don't know——-"

"Look at this!" said Jack, suddenly shoving the print he had received from Billy that very evening under the man's nose, there being light enough for him to see it. "Do you recognize any one there?"

"By Jinks!" exclaimed Jenkins, who recognized his own portrait first of all. "You've been takin' our picters to use ag 'in' us. Gimme that!"

Jenkins tried to snatch the picture as Jack drew it back, but Percival, by a quick movement, threw his hand up and said sharply:

"No, you don't, my man! We want to keep that picture for evidence. Besides, even if you got it, we can print a hundred more of them."

"Ain't you goin' to give us anything for telling you who it was?" Jenkins asked in a tone of disappointment.

"No, for you have not told us."

"But I told you it was one of your fellers this afternoon. You wouldn't ha' known anything about it if I hadn't."

"Oh, yes we would," laughed Billy. "That picture was already taken when you mentioned the matter, and the minute we saw it we would have known that something was wrong, even if you hadn't said a word."

"And we ain't goin' to get nothing?"

"No!" said Jack in a tone of decision.

"You may get what you don't want, though I won't say but that you deserve it all right," laughed Percival "I mean a term in jail."

"And so this was what you sent to us for?" said Jack. "You might have known you would get nothing. Come, Dick. Come, Billy. There is no use wasting any more time on these fellows."

"You look out that we don't go on our own hook and stop your workin' the branch," snarled Calthorpe. "We can make trouble for you and we——-"

"Herring cannot have paid them anything for what they did," remarked Percival as they walked back toward the middle of the camp. "That is like him, to promise them something for a service and then forget all about it. I don't believe he ever intended to pay them."

"That's nothing new for Pete," said Billy. "The man or boy who relies on that fellow keeping his word is going to get left."

The work was resumed the next morning and progressed rapidly, many of the boys from the camp who were not of the surveying party coming to see how things were getting on.

Then, greatly to the disgust of the Hilltoppers, Peter Herring and some of his cronies came along and stopped to watch the surveyors.

"I thought we would see him before long, Dick," said Jack in a low tone to Percival. "He could not stay away."

"Huh! surveying, are you?" sneered Herring. "Much you know about such things! Fine old railroad you fellows could build."

"I wouldn't want to ride on it, would you, Pete?" asked Merritt. "The only time it would go smooth would be when the cars was off the track."

"I thought you were at Saratoga," said Percival.

"So I was, but it was too slow there."

"So you thought you'd come here and make trouble for us?"

"Huh! I only got here just now. Me and a friend was motoring and heard that there were some surveyors around, and we came to watch them."

"Then you were not talking to Jenkins and Calthorpe and the other squatters and telling them that we wanted to ruin their farms?"

"Don't know what you're talking about!" blustered Herring, but Jack saw him turn color and knew that he had been taken by surprise. "Who are Jenkins and Calthorpe?"

"And you have not been anywhere near this place till just now?" asked Jack quietly.

"No, of course I haven't! I told you I just came."

"Then how about this?" and the boy suddenly thrust the print Billy had taken right under the bully's nose. "What were you saying to Jenkins when Billy snapped this? Jenkins said a boy who answered to your description told them that we would ruin their farms."

THE END