ble was the chief of detectives.

"Hello! Holding a post-mortem over me?" asked Ted.

"It comes pretty near that," said Bud. "Dog-gone you, what do you mean
by goin' erway an' hidin' out on us that way? What in ther name o' Sam
Hill an' Billy Patterson hev yer picked up now?" Bud was looking
curiously at the bundle of rags in Ted's arms, for the boy still slept.

"This is a new pard," said Ted. "If it hadn't been for this kid you'd
probably never seen me again."

"Erlucerdate," demanded Bud.

"Not until some one goes out to the nearest restaurant and orders up a
stack of grub for Scrub and me. I haven't had anything to eat or drink
for thirty-six hours, and I'm almost all in, and this kid has been
living on apples and water for a couple of weeks. Now, hustle somebody
and let me put this kid on the bed---my back's nearly broke--or maybe
it's my stomach, they're so close together now I can't tell which it is
that hurts."

While Ted was laying the boy on the bed he woke up, and, finding himself
in a strange place, and a finer room than he had ever been in before,
surrounded by a lot of rather boisterous young men, he leaped to the
floor and started to the door. But Ted caught him by the arm and drew
him back.

"What's the matter with you, you young savage?" said Ted.

"Oh, I'm all right now," said the boy. "When I woke up I got rattled, I
guess, but as long as you're here it's all right."

The food came up now borne by two waiters and piloted by Kit. There were
oysters and steak and potatoes and biscuit and a lot of what Missouri
folk call "fixin's," and a big pot of coffee.

Scrub's eyes stood out like doorknobs as he viewed this wonderful array
of things to eat. The table was cleared, the waiters set out the food,
and the boys stood back to give Ted and the boy "room to swell," as Bud
expressed it. The way they tucked into the good things was a caution.

After their hunger was satisfied and the waiters had restored order to
the table, Ted began the story of his adventures since he had let Bud
out of the automobile. As he talked, Stella wooed the small boy to her
side, and listened to the story with her arm around his shoulder, and
long before it was done Scrub was her worshiper forever.

Chief Desmond listened with close attention, and when Ted finished and
exhibited the bill of the Green River Bank, which he examined carefully,
he said:

"Mr. Strong, you've beaten us all to it. I will go out to-morrow--I