ess again, I reckon," he
said.

"Was it a woman, Elmer?" demanded Lil Artha.

"Just what it was--an Italian woman, squatty like most of her race; and
I should say between fifty-five and sixty years of age," Elmer replied,
soberly.

CHAPTER IX.

SETTING A TRAP.

At that there arose new exclamations of wonder, as well as of disbelief.

"Oh, come off, now," remarked Red, quite forgetting in his amazement the
respect supposed to be shown for an acting scout master, even though in
the private walks of life he might only be a fellow playmate; "you can't
expect us to swallow that, now, Elmer."

"Do you mean about the woman's height, or her age?" asked the other,
calmly.

"Why--er--both I guess," faltered Red, weakening as he saw the positive
front of the other.

"Stop and think, did you ever see any other than a short, squatty woman
among the Italian laborers? And I reckon nobody else ever did. They
carry heavy burdens on their heads, and people say that's one reason
they're always dumpy," Elmer began.

"He's right, fellows," broke out Landy; "why, I've seen a dago woman
carrying a mattress, a stove and some chairs on her head all at the same
time. Gee, looked like a two-legged moving van:"

"But see here, you notice a shelf with a few things on it, some hairpins
among the lot. It was built unusually low, so _she_ could reach it. And
what's this you see here, fellows? A piece of broken looking glass
fastened to the wall. Notice how low down it is? No man ever used that
glass, you can depend on it; and the woman who did was surely small,
wasn't she now?"

"A regular sawed-off," assented Lil Artha, emphatically.

"Elmer's sure proved his point there, fellows," declared Red Huggins,
grinning.

"But what makes you think the woman is old, Elmer?" asked Landy,
curiously.

"That's so; how in the wide world could you know such a thing without
ever seeing her?" demanded Toby.

"Nothing could be easier, fellows; see here!"

As Elmer spoke he reached out his hand and took something off the low
shelf.

Those in the room crowded around, fairly wild to follow out the clever
deduction of their young leader.

"Why, it's a comb," cried one.

"Only an old broken comb," echoed another, with a shade of uncertainty
in his voice.

"What is there about that to tell you, Elmer?" queried Red, staring
first at the article in question, and then at the smiling scout master.

"I know," burst out Matty just then.