wizard.

"Oh, that ought to be easy, fellows," said the young scout master, as he
reached up and took down a worn letter his quick eye had noticed stuck
in a crack.

Every eye was immediately focused on the scout master. They knew his
reasoning powers of old, and expected that Elmer would quickly put them
on the right track now.

Indeed, hardly had the latter glanced at the well-worn letter he held
than he smiled.

"What is it?" asked Red, impatiently.

"Yes, tell us what you've found out, Elmer," said Lil Artha.

"Why, look here at the name. As near as I can make out it's Giuseppi
Caroni," replied the other.

"Wow, that is plain enough!" exclaimed Red.

"Sure Italiano," echoed the tall scout.

"Just as I thought," replied Elmer.

"But you can prove it," remarked Chatz.

"That's easy enough," added Dr. Ted, "the thtamp ought to be enough, you
thee."

"And if it isn't, fellows, here's the postmark as plain as
anything--Naples, Italy," continued Elmer.

"Naples, hey?" remarked Lil Artha. "Say, I was just reading about Naples
the other day, and it said that next to the island of Sicily we get more
of our Black Hand crowd from there than any other part of Garibaldi's
old land."

A gasp seemed to go the complete rounds of all the khaki-clad warriors
who thronged that mysterious little shack.

"Black Hand, you say, Lil Artha?" exclaimed Red.

"Yes, and anarchists, too; the kind that blow up the kings and queens of
the Old World. The kind that abduct people so as to make their rich
relatives whack up a big ransom."

"Oh!"

Some of the boys looked a little timid, and glanced around
apprehensively, as though they anticipated seeing a whole bunch of
fierce-looking dynamite users rise up around them.

Others shut their teeth together harder than ever, and these more
determined fellows, it might be noticed, tightened the grip they had
upon their sticks.

All eyes were turned again upon Elmer, who had listened to these remarks
with an amused smile.

"Hold on your horses, boys," he said, raising his hand just then to
still the rising dispute.

"Shut up, everybody; Elmer's got something more to tell us," Lil Artha
cried.

The hubbub died away, and an eagerness to listen took its place; for
every one of them was anxious to pick up points concerning the clever
way their leader figured things out.

It was an important part of a scout's duty to learn how to read signs,
not only when following a trail, bu