have gotten
on at Albany. The fellow Brassy had something to do with is tough enough,
but the other two men seem to be much worse. By their talk, they are
cattle men, and I shouldn't be surprised if they have been cowboys."

"And that isn't all!" added Andy. "They spoke about going to Arrow
Junction!"

"Arrow Junction!" repeated Fred. "Why, that's the town that Spouter said
was nearest to Big Horn Ranch!"

"What were they going to do at Arrow Junction?" questioned Jack.

"They've got some sort of a deal on for handling horses and cattle. We
couldn't make out exactly what it was," answered Randy. "But they
certainly are a tough bunch. It looks to me as if they might have been
drinking."

"Did you hear them mention Brassy?" asked Fred.

"No. But that fellow who met Brassy at Haven Point, the chap called Bud
Haddon, told the others he had struck a real snap in the East. And one of
the others answered that he had noticed that Bud was rather flush."

"It's certainly a mystery what that fellow had to do with Brassy,"
remarked Jack. And then of a sudden his face became a study.

A sudden thought had occurred to him, and it was such a horrible one that
he was inclined to force it from his mind. And yet it came bobbing up
time and again until Fred, who was sitting beside his cousin, noticed
that something was on his mind.

"What are you thinking of, Jack? Ruth?"

"No, Fred. I was thinking of that fellow who met Brassy Bangs in Haven
Point."

"You're wondering, I suppose, why Brassy let him have some money."

"Partly that and partly something else, Fred. But it's so horrible I hate
to think of it."

"Why, what do you mean, Jack?"

"Well, if you must know, it just happened to cross my mind that that Bud
Haddon was hanging around Haven Point and was seen around the school
several times just when Colby Hall was robbed."

As the young major uttered these words in a low tone of voice, Fred
stared at him in astonishment.

"My gracious, Jack, that's so!" he whispered. "Isn't it queer we didn't
think of it before? From what Andy and Randy tell of how that fellow
treated Brassy I wouldn't put it past him to be a bad one. But if he had
anything to do with the robbery at the school, do you think Brassy had,
too?"

"I don't know what to think, Fred. Brassy never struck me as that sort of
a fellow. He's loud-mouthed and he's got a big opinion of himself, and
all that, but I never put him down as being crooked."

"Neit