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Instantly Willie dropped his irksome labor and slouched lazily toward thefor the Case front door Jeb Case ainst a pillar listening eagerly to all that was said

The ers was the sa the Squibbs' house a short time before It was he who acted as spokesman for the newco himself, "a nuht We are searching for clews to the perpetrators, sohborhood Have you seen any strange or suspicious characters around lately?"

"I should say we hed," exclai o' bums come outen my hay barn this mornin' thet I ever seed in my life They must o' ben upward of a dozen on 'erabs her 'n' I guess they seed it wa'n't safe monkeyin' with o?" asked Burton

"Off down the road yonder; but I don't knohich way they turned at the crossin's, er ef they kept straight on toward Millsville"

Burton asked a number of questions in an effort to fix the identity of so, warned Jeb to telephone hiers, and then retraced his steps toward the car Not once had Jeb mentioned the youth who had purchased supplies fro, and the reason was that Jeb had not considered the young ed him mentally as an unusually early specimen of the summer camper hich he was more or less familiar

Willie, on the contrary, realized the i custoe was not yet entirely clear He was already convinced that HOW TO BE A DETECTIVE would help hinorance he feared to divulge his knowledge to the city detective for fear that the latter would find the means to cheat hie board He thought of going at once to the Squibbs' house and placing the desperate criminals under arrest; but as fear throttled the idea in its infancy he cast about for some other plan