inbow!"

He was so funny about it that I didn't know how disappointed he really
was. He was kind of funny and serious at the same time. But I could see
they were all disappointed.

All of a sudden Harry Donnelle said, "What started you up to Elm Center
near Kingston, when our wandering warrior lived away up near Plattsburg?"

"Oh, yes," Brent said; "I forgot the best part of it. Quite some time after
we read that accursed article, little Willie here and I happened to drop in
at a movie show in Newburgh-ten cents counting the war tax. Cheap but
filling. There was a picture in the Pathe jigamerig of an aviator landing
in the village of Elm Center near Kingston, New York. I had never heard of
Elm Center before. But anyway, an aviator had to come down there and so Elm
Center got on the screen. There were a lot of people standing around
looking at the machine and little Willie wide-awake here, said to me,
'Do you see that soldier in the film? The one leaning against the fence
and kind of glancing this way? He's the fellow whose picture was in the
paper.' I took a good squint at him and, by jingoes, it was! It was
Horace E. Chandler. 'Caught at last,' I said."

"So here we are on our way home from Elm Center. It's a pretty little
village-post office, two stables, a hardware store where you can buy cake,
and a watering trough. One of the nicest watering troughs I ever saw.

"And Horace E. Chandler? Oh, they never saw him or heard of him. Maybe he
went up in the airplane, huh? If I only had a Curtis biplane, I'd search
the skies."

CHAPTER XXIV

THE LIGHT IN THE WOODS

Gaylong just rested his leg on his other knee and clasped his hands in back
of his head and kept looking up at the sky. He said, "So that's the story
of the adventurous Church Mice. The next time we go in for a hundred
dollars, we're going to get jobs in grocery stores. Hey, kids?" I could see
he thought an awful lot of those fellows.

All the while Harry Donnelle was whistling to himself, as if he didn't care
much. Pretty soon he said, "You had your turn; what more do you want?
What's a hundred dollars?"

"It's a good deal to _us_," Gaylong laughed.

"You said something about treasure hunting," Harry said; "you don't suppose
anybody ever goes treasure hunting on account of the treasure, do you?
They go on account of the adventure. So treasure hunting is _always_ a
success; even if you only find a tin spoon. You had your hike; you had your
fun; y