undance of vegetables that year.

"Good morning, Stella; what is so interesting?" said Ted.

"It beats me," answered Stella. "I wonder if this is one of Ben's
witticisms. If it is, he ought to be spanked."

Ted was standing by her side, reading what had been printed on the
paper.

"H'm! this is good," said he, and read aloud, as if to himself, the
following warning:

"TED STRONG AND BRONCHO BOYS: You ought to know by this time that
you are not wanted in this part of the country. Advise you to sell
out and skip. If you stay your lives will be made a hell on earth,
and we have the stuff that will do it. This is no bluff, as you
will find out if you disregard this word of friendly warning. You
will be given a short time to sell your stock, then git. This means
business.

"THE FLYING DEMONS."

"That's a pretty good effort for a lot of kids," said Ted. "Wait, here's
a watermark in the paper. Let's see what it is?"

Ted took the paper from the wall and held it up to the light.

In the paper was the representation of the fabulous monster, the
griffin, and woven into the paper were the words "Griffin Bond."

"That's as easy as shooting fish in a tub," said Ted, as he folded the
paper and put it in his pocket.

"The fellow who put that warning up certainly left his footprints behind
him," said Stella, with a smile.

"He did, but even without that I should have known the authors of it."

"How?"

Ted then told Stella the substance of the conversation between the boys
the night before, and of his suspicions as to the guilt of Creviss and
his gang in the mysterious robberies that had occurred in the two towns.
"But," he concluded, "it is not up to me to get at the matter. It is
work for the sheriff. However, if those boys try any of their
foolishness with us, we'll turn in and send them to the reform school,
where they belong."

"They're certainly a bad lot. I was talking to a lady at the 'rent rag'
last night, and she was telling me what a horrid boy young Creviss is."

"I wish I knew at what time this notice was put up here. It must have
been done in daylight, for it was getting light in the east when we
turned in."

"Perhaps some one was so quiet as to put it there while you were all
inside talking."

"I hardly think so, for we were all sitting near the fireplace, and the
room was so warm that Kit opened the door, and it stood open until we
separated to go to bed."