ch of remorse, for he certainly does love
that poor mother of his a heap. I can understand just how he must be
having a terrible struggle in his mind as to what is the right course
for him to pursue."

At that Toby gave a snort that plainly told how he was beginning to
doubt certain things in which he had hitherto fully believed.

"Now, looky here, Jack," he started to say good-humoredly, "don't you
reckon that you might have been mistaken in thinking poor Fred was
dickering with some of those men to throw the game, so they could make
big money out of if? Why, after all, perhaps his looking so dismal comes
from his feeling so bad about his mother. We ought to give him the
benefit of the doubt, I say."

"I sometimes feel that way myself, Toby, don't you know?" acknowledged
Jack in his usual frank fashion. "And yet when I consider the
conditions, and remember how suspiciously Fred acted with that
sporty-looking gentleman, I find myself owning up that it looks bad for
the boy. But at any rate he succeeded in fighting his own battle, and
winning a victory over his temptation."

"But, Jack, I'm afraid he's bound to have to go through the whole
business again," interposed Steve.

"Do you know I more than half suspected you had got wind of something
new in the affair, Steve," Jack told him. "I could see how your eyes
glistened as you listened to what Toby here was saying; and once or
twice you opened your mouth to interrupt him, but thought better of it.
Now tell us what it means, Steve."

"For one thing, that man has been at Fred again," asserted the other,
positively.

"Do you know this for a certainty?" Jack asked.

"Why, I saw them talking, I tell you," explained Steve, persistently.
"This is how it came about. You see, yesterday, as Toby here couldn't go
fishing with me I started off alone, taking my bait pail and rod along,
and bent on getting a mess of perch at a favorite old fishin' hole I
knew along the shore of the lake about a mile or so from town."

"Meaning that same place you showed me, near where the road comes down
close to the shore of the water?" suggested Toby, quickly.

"Right you are, son," continued Steve, nodding his head as he spoke.
"Well, I had pretty fair luck for a while, and then the perch quit
taking hold, so I sat down to wait till they got hungry again. And while
I squatted there on the log that runs out over the water at my favorite
hole, I heard the mutter of voices as some people