himself, as he
looked about, "That shows they came all prepared to take our ice cream.
So they must have known it was going to be here. Well, I'll see whose
coat has a button missing."

It took Bert some days to look carefully at the coats of the various
boys in school, who might have been guilty of taking the cream. For a
time he had no luck, and then, one afternoon, as he noticed Danny Rugg
wearing a coat he seldom had on, Bert walked slowly up to him, clasping
the button, with his hand, in his pocket.

His heart beat fast as he noticed that from the middle of Danny's coat
a button was gone.

And a glance at the others showed Bert that they were just like the one
found in the ice cream freezer.

"I see you've lost a button, Danny," said Bert, slowly.

"Hey?" exclaimed the bully, with a start.

"I see you've lost a button," repeated Bert.

"Yes, I guess it dropped off. Maybe it's home somewhere," said Danny.

"No, it isn't--it's here!" exclaimed Bert, suddenly holding the button
out to him.

CHAPTER XV

THANKSGIVING

FOR a moment Danny Rugg just stared at Bert. Then the bully swallowed
a sort of lump that came in his throat, and said:

"That isn't my button."

"Isn't it?" asked Bert, politely. "Why, it just matches the others on
your coat, and it's got a few threads in the holes, and there are some
threads in your coat, just where the button was pulled off. I guess
it's your button, all right, Danny."

Danny did not say anything. He looked from the button to Bert, and
then at the space on his coat where a button should have been, but
where one was missing.

"Well--well," he stammered. "Maybe it is off my coat, but--but how did
you get it, Bert Bobbsey?"

"I found it," was the answer. "Don't you want it back?"

He held it out to Danny, who took it slowly.

"Well," went on Bert, with a queer little smile at his enemy, "why
don't you ask me where I found it, Danny?"

"Huh! I don't care where you found it. I s'pose you picked it up
around the school yard, where I lost it, playing tag with the fellows."

"No, you didn't lose it there," went on Bert, still smiling. "You have
another guess coming, Danny."

"Pooh! I don't care where you found it," and Danny was about to turn
away.

"Wait a minute," said Bert. "Suppose I say that this button was found
in our freezer of ice cream, that you and some other boys took off our
stoop the night of Flossie's and Freddie's party, Danny? W