e off when the rent comes
due."

"So that's all right," said Bob, with manifest relief. "As for those
two scamps, who nearly choked me, well, let me get at them once."

Whirling his club he charged upon the pair who squealed in terror
and tore past Mr. Gordon, down the hall and out into the yard, Bob in
pursuit. Miss Hope and Miss Charity ran to the windows, and Betty and
her uncle watched from the porch (Betty was going to follow Bob as a
matter of course, but Mr. Gordon held her back) as the boy continued
the chase. Fluss and Blosser presented a ludicrous sight as they ran
heavily, their coats flapping in the wind and their hats jammed low
over their eyes. Bob did not try to catch up with them, but contented
himself with shouting loudly and swishing his heavy club through the
air, while he kept just close enough to their heels to warn them that
it was not safe to slacken speed. In a few minutes the watchers saw
him coming back, walking, a broad grin on his face.

"Good little Marathon, wasn't it?" he called from the road. "Did you
hear me yelling like an Indian? I chased them as far as the boundary
line, and when I saw them they were still running. Gee, Mr. Gordon, I
mean Uncle Dick, you got back from the oil fields just in time."

He came up on the steps and shook hands with Mr. Gordon, and
submitted to a hug from each aunt.

"Have you really bought the farm?" he asked curiously. "Or was that
just a blind?"

Miss Hope and Miss Charity looked anxiously at Mr. Gordon. They had
planned exactly what to do with that twenty thousand dollars.

"We haven't signed an agreement," admitted the successful bidder,
"but the farm is sold, all right. I'll give this check to Miss Hope
now--" he hastily filled out a blank slip from his book--"as an
evidence of good faith. Then I want to hear Bob's tale, and then I
must do a bit of telephoning. And to-morrow morning, good people, I
promise you the surprise of your lives."

Miss Hope glanced at the check he gave her, gasped, and opened her
mouth to speak.

"Sh!" warned Mr. Gordon. "Dear lady, I've set my heart on staging a
little climax; don't spoil it. To-morrow morning at eleven o'clock
we'll have all the explanations. Now, Bob, what happened to you? I
hear you nearly frightened your aunts into hysterics, to say nothing
of Betty, whom I found tearing around Flame City hunting for a
telephone."

Bob was in a fever of curiosity to know about the farm, whether Mr.
Gordon th