"And look here, fellows," said Tom, again, "If we forget to tell about the ghost, how shall we account for the extraordinary interest we have taken in the parties who live in the gorge? Answer me that, if you can."

"The manly way is the best way," observed Joe.

Tom and Bob knew that as well as Joe did. They were quite willing to tell Mr. Warren, when they gave the valise into his keeping, that the events of the day (all except the robbery of Joe's cabin, of course) had been brought about by their fondness for practical joking, but they could not make up their minds to do it, because they did not know how Joe would feel about it.

If Silas and Dan were their father and brother, they wouldn't care to have every one in the country for miles around know what fools they had made of themselves over the letter which the former found in his wood-pile.

"It isn't my fault that father and Dan believed the story that letter told them," continued the young game-warden, "and I don't see that I am under any obligation to keep their secret from my employer. I shall not ask him to keep it still, although I shall expect him to do so; but if the robbers are captured, as I hope they will be, the whole thing will come to light just as soon as the lawyers get hold of it."

"Have you any idea where the things in this grip-sack came from?" said Bob, looking in at the door. "Have you heard of a heavy robbery being committed in these parts lately? Seen any account of it in the papers, Tom?"

"No," replied the latter. "You have kept me so busy since you came up here that I haven't had a chance to look at a newspaper."

"Neither have I," said Joe, with a smile; "not because I have been too busy, but for the reason that we can't afford to take one. I have no show whatever to keep posted in matters that happen outside the Summerdale hills."

"Well, if you don't keep posted this winter, it will be your own fault," said Tom, banging the table with a package of illustrated papers which he had picked up from the floor. "Bob and I look to Uncle Hallet to keep us supplied with reading matter, and you are welcome to anything he gives us."

"Thank you," said Joe. "I have the promise of all the books I want from Mr. Warren's library, and I should judge by the looks of that package that he intends to provide me with papers, also. Have you seen anything in the shape of grub, Tom?"

"Nary thing," was the answer. "Have much of a supply?"

"Enough to last a week, I should think."

"It isn't here now," said Tom, looking around. "It has gone off to keep company with the shot-gun, most likely."

"I am afraid it has, and that I shall be obliged to pack up a fresh supply on my back."

"Coming up here again to-night?" asked Tom.

"Of course I am," exclaimed Joe, who seemed surprised at the question. "I belong here, don't I? Are you not coming back?"

"Certainly. But there are two of us, and only one of you; and, besides, you have no watch-dog to warn you of—oh, you needn't laugh! I know that Bugle acted the part of a coward to-day, but he is a good watch-dog for all that. He will be sure to awaken us if any one comes prowling around our cabin, and that is all we ask of him. There sir, your cot is all right again."

"It's a wonder to me that they didn't steal my blankets," said Joe. "But, after all, they've got a pretty good supply, and probably they don't want any more to carry about the country with them, when they find themselves obliged to break up housekeeping in the gulf, and strike for new quarters. Now, I think we might as well go on to Mr. Warren's. I haven't missed anything yet except my provisions and shooting rig."

Bob caught up the valise, Joe fastened the door by replacing the staple that had been pulled out of it, and the three boys struck through the evergreens toward the cow-path before spoken of, which ran from Silas Morgan's wood-pile to Mr. Warren's barn.

They were still much excited, and showed it plainly in their actions and speech.

Although they had no reason to believe that the robbers were anywhere near them, they did not forget to stop and listen now and then, and look along the path behind; and if a squirrel jumped from one tree to another, or the wind caused a sudden rustling among the neighboring bushes, they were prompt to drop their guns into the hollow of their arms and face in the direction from which the sound came.

"I declare I am as nervous as any old woman," said Bob, at length. "I act and feel as if I had been frightened half out of my wits, and yet I haven't seen a single thing."

"But you heard the robbers coming down the path, didn't you? And you know that they would be only too glad to have revenge on the parties who took their ill-gotten gains away from them," said Joe. "Now that I think of it, what right had we to touch this grip-sack?"

"We took it 'on general principles,' as the policemen say when they arrest a person against whom they have no evidence, but who they think is getting ready to do something he ought not," was Bob's answer. "If those men came honestly by the things that are in that valise, we are liable to get ourselves into a pretty pickle for laying hands on it; but I'll bet you anything you please that they'll not come down to Mr. Warren's house after their property. 'Cause why, they haven't a shadow of a right to it."

When the boys came within sight of the barn, they left the cow-path, crawled through a pair of bars, and turned into the wide carriage-way that ran around the house and past the front door.

Their vigorous pull at the bell brought out Mr. Warren himself.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, trying to look surprised and to bring a frown to his jolly, good-natured face. "Is this what you young gentlemen are paid for—to run about the country, while the market-shooters slip up to those wood-lots and shoot all the birds?"

"If market-shooters were the only things we had to look out for, we'd have a fine time this winter," replied Bob, as the gentleman shook hands with him. "Do you see this grip-sack? Well, there's a tale hanging to it."

Mr. Warren said he couldn't see any, and asked the boys to come in.

"That's because the tale is in our heads," replied Bob, seating himself in the chair that was pointed out to him. "Will you be kind enough to dump the things out of this valise and tell us what you think of them.

"What's in it?" inquired Mr. Warren, who looked puzzled.

Bob, by way of response, waved his hand toward Tom, who said, in answer to the gentleman's inquiring glance:

"I didn't have time to make a very thorough examination of its contents, for the robbers didn't stay away long enough; but—"

"The robbers!" exclaimed Mr. Warren.

"Yes; the men who are camping in the gorge. But I can't make you understand it, unless I go at it right," said Tom, who then went on to tell his story, to which Mr. Warren listened with the closest attention.

When Tom ceased speaking, he said:

"And so you knew that there was something in the gorge before you took possession of your cabin, did you? Well, your Uncle Hallet suspected it."

"I don't know what right he had to suspect anything," said Tom. "We never told him of our experience in the gorge."

"I know you didn't, and the reason was because you were afraid he would laugh at you. But he knew very well that you were keeping something from him. When the idea of playing game-wardens first took hold of you, you were very enthusiastic over it; but when you returned from your trip down the gorge, and learned that Mr. Emerson had given Bob permission to stay in the woods with you during the winter, you didn't dance about and go into ecstasies, as you ought to have done. That's why your Uncle suspects something; but, I declare, he didn't look for anything like this," exclaimed Mr. Warren, gazing in surprise at the contents of the valise, which he had turned out upon the carpet. "You have done a good piece of detective work, for these things were stolen, beyond a doubt, and if they came from the place I think they did, you are entitled to a reward of ten thousand dollars."

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Tom and Bob, while Joe Morgan fairly gasped for breath, and his mind suddenly became so confused that he could not calculate how much his share of that reward would amount to. But he had a dim idea that it would be something over three thousand dollars; and wouldn't that place his mother above want for a good many years to come?

The young game-warden never once thought of himself, until his father's scowling visage and Dan's arose before his mental vision, and then he wondered what tactics they would resort to, and what new system of persecution they would adopt, in order to squeeze the last cent of those three thousand dollars out of him.

While he was thinking about it, he sat down on the floor beside Tom and Bob, who were kneeling in front of Mr. Warren. When the latter laid one of the watches aside, with the remark that it was a valuable timepiece, and no doubt the rightful owner would be glad to get it back, Bob picked it up and opened it. An inscription on the inside of the back part of the case caught his eye, and he read it aloud as follows:

"Geo. Y. Seely, Esq. With the regards of his grateful friend, Joel Burnett."

"What's that?" cried Mr. Warren. "Read that again, please."

Bob complied, and then handed over the watch, so that Joe's employer could read it for himself.

"I know both those men," said the latter, at length. "I went to school with them in the old academy at Bellville, and so did your father and uncle," nodding at Tom and Bob. "Seely helped Burnett out of a tight place, when his business was about to go to ruin, and Burnett gave him this watch to show his gratitude."

"Then those things must have some from Hammondsport," exclaimed Tom. "Say, Bob, don't you remember reading an account of the disappearance of a lot of securities from the county treasurer's office in Hammondsport, on the same night that several burglaries were committed there?"

"I believe I do," replied Bob, after thinking a moment. "If my memory serves me, the treasurer himself was suspected of having a hand in it—that is, in the loss of the bonds; but they couldn't prove anything against him."

"Of course, they couldn't," said Mr. Warren, indignantly. "The missing papers are right here. I never did believe in his guilt, for I have known him for years, and I never saw the least thing wrong with him. He is under a cloud now, but it will break away as soon as your exploit becomes known through the country. You have rendered him a most important service, if you did but know it."

"I am glad that we have been of some use in the world," said Bob.

"Well, that was what you were put here for, wasn't it? How much do you think these things are worth?" said Mr. Warren, as he put the various packages back into the valise.

The boys couldn't tell; but they remembered now that the thieves had taken a good deal of property out of Hammondsport on the night of their raid, and Tom and Bob thought that perhaps they had secured as much as forty or fifty thousand dollars' worth.

"You boys don't know much," replied Mr. Warren. "That valise, just as it stands, couldn't be bought for a cent less than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The bonds and securities are worth a pile of money, I tell you; and there must be two or three thousands in greenbacks in there, to say nothing of the watches. Boys, you have done something to be proud of; and it's a lucky thing for Tom and Bob that they did not try to find out where the howls that frightened them came from. The robbers were at home then, and if they had not succeeded in driving you away, they would have shot you down without ceremony."

"Then we had a perfect right to take that grip-sack, didn't we, Mr. Warren?" said Joe, whose mind was not quite easy on that score.

"I should say you had," replied Mr. Warren, with a laugh. "You have made yourselves wealthy, too, for you are fairly entitled to the reward."

"Well, what are we going to do about arresting those thieves?" said Tom.

When all the packages had been put back into the valise, he and his two companions had got upon their feet and shouldered their guns, supposing, of course, that Mr. Warren would bestir himself as if he meant to do something; but, instead of that, he settled back into his chair and put his hands into his pockets.