se my
father employs a lot of 'em, you see. Wouldn't be surprised one bit if
she sneaks back here to recover those beads. They mean a heap to her,
fellows."

Everybody stared to hear George talk like that, for as a rule he was
hard to convince; which fact, as has been stated before, had caused him
to be known as "Doubting George."

"Well, let's get busy," suggested Red, who, if he could not hold over to
assist Elmer, at least felt that the sooner he and the rest started on
the trail the better.

"That's the stuff," added Toby, also anxious to be doing something, he
cared little what.

"All right," remarked Elmer, "and, as a first move, suppose you fellows
begin to back out of here. Keep in a bunch outside. Mark, you and Lil
Artha watch for a chance to drop down in the bushes, and lie as quiet as
church mice till I give the signal, which will be a whistle.
Understand?"

"Sure," replied Lil Artha, pausing in the doorway to watch Elmer hang up
the beads again on the nail where he had found them; "but why ought we
be so particular about dropping out of sight, if you don't mind telling
us?"

"Well, it might be the woman has already returned, and is hiding
somewhere close by, waiting for the crowd to move."

"That's so," admitted Lil Artha.

"And of course if she even suspected that any of us hung out she
wouldn't try to enter the shack at all," Elmer pursued.

"Then we'll have to be mighty careful, Mark, how we do the great
vanishing act," the tall scout remarked.

"Wait till the boys happen to bunch around you, then just drop, and let
them go on. But Mark, as you will be the last one out, suppose you close
the door after you, just as if the shack were empty."

"Are you expecting to hide behind that box, Elmer?" demanded his chum,
pointing to the affair that had evidently served as a rude table.

"Just what I am," replied the other, promptly.

"Oh, I see."

And with one last look around, Mark advanced toward the exit, beyond
which the scouts could be seen talking and gesturing as Matty looked for
the trail left when the Italians fled in such haste.

Evidently it was Mark's idea to take a good mental impression of the
interior of the shack away with him. This would prove useful in case
there arose a sudden necessity for his presence, and that of Lil Artha,
on the scene of action.

When the last of his companions had gone, and the rough door of the
shack was swung shut, Elmer hastened to softly move the b