s!"

CHAPTER XIII

ONE MORE HUNGRY BOY

"We may as well turn on the lights!" Will said. "If any one comes in
here to steal Tommy's necktie," he added with a wink at his chum, "we
want to see what he looks like."

"Why didn't you stay here and watch, then?" demanded Tommy. "Why did you
go off and leave the camp all alone? I heard people moving around, and I
thought it was you."

Will and George sat down on the edge of their cots and laughed.

"Yes, you thought it was me!" Will said directly. "You never heard a
thing! You'd better look and see if the midnight visitors didn't steal
your pajamas. Or they might have taken your pillow."

Tommy threw a shoe at his tormentor and turned on the electric light.

"Now that I'm awake," he said with a sly grin, "I think that I'll get
myself something to eat. Seems to me I'm always hungry."

While the boy rattled among canned goods and candled eggs to see if they
were fit for a four-minute boil, Sandy turned to George.

"What did you find in the mine?" he asked.

"We found that bum detective nosing around. We've got his number now,
all right," the boy went on, "and there's something in the mine that he
wants to find and he doesn't know where to look for it. He isn't looking
for Jimmie and Dick any more than we're looking for a pot of gold at the
end of a rainbow. I don't believe he was ever sent here to make a search
for the missing boys!"

"What was he doing when you saw him?" asked Sandy.

"Poking around in worked-out chambers with a pick!"

"Did he see you?"

"You bet he didn't! Do you think we're going to walk six miles in from
the country in order to dodge the detective, and then let him run across
us in the mine?"

"Yes, but what's he looking for?" insisted Sandy.

"That, me son," George replied with a wink, "is locked in the bosom of
the future! We may be able to find out what he's doing here when we find
out who struck Billy Patterson."

"Don't get gay now!" grinned Sandy.

"Well, if you insist upon it," George continued with a smile, "Ventner
was digging in refuse heaps for something which he didn't find!"

"Did you meet the boys who stole our provisions?" was the next question.
"I wish you'd got hold of them!"

"We are certain that one of them passed us while we were returning,"
George answered.

"The nerve of him!" shouted Sandy.

"The idea of his coming here and swiping our provisions!" Tommy cut in.
"If I ever get hold of that gink, I