rocks it would be difficult to walk at all.

"This is an odd freak of nature," remarked Josie, gazing at the waste
with a puzzled expression. "It is easy to understand why Mr. Cragg
hasn't sold this lot, as he did all his other land. No one would buy
it."

"Haven't the stones a value, for building or something?" asked Mary
Louise.

"Not in this location, so far from a railway. In my judgment the tract
is absolutely worthless. I wonder that so economical a man as Mr. Cragg
pays taxes on it."

They went no farther than the edge of the rock-strewn field, for there
was nothing more to see. Up the slope of the hill, on the far side from
where they stood, were jumbled masses of huge slabs and boulders that
might be picturesque but were not especially interesting. The girls
turned and retraced their steps to the neglected lane and from thence
reached the main road again.

"I have now satisfied myself on two counts," was Josie's comment.
"First, that Mr. Cragg owns no property but this stone-yard and his
little home, and second, that within the last forty years he has at
different times disposed of seventy thousand dollars worth of land left
him by his father. The county records prove that. The last sale was
made about four years ago, so he has consistently turned all his real
estate into ready money."

"What can he have done with so much money?" exclaimed Mary Louise.

"Ah, that is part of the mystery, my dear. If he still has it, then the
man is a miser. If he has lost it, he is a gambler, which is just about
as bad. Either way, Hezekiah Cragg is not entitled to our admiration,
to say the least. Let us admit that in a big city a man might lose
seventy thousand dollars in business ventures without exciting adverse
criticism except for a lack of judgment; but Old Swallowtail has never
left Cragg's Crossing, according to all reports, and I'm sure there is
no way for him to squander a fortune here."

"I think he must be a miser," said Mary Louise with conviction. "Ingua
once told me of seeing lots of money pass between him and Mr. Joselyn.
And--tell me, Josie--what is all his voluminous correspondence about?"

"I'm going to investigate that presently," replied her friend. "It
isn't quite in line yet but will come pretty soon. To-morrow I shall
call upon Old Swallowtail at his office."

"Shall you, really? And may I go with, you, Josie?"

"Not this time. You'd spoil my excuse, you see, for you are going to
discharge