from the bottom of my heart."

"Notice what he incidentally says near the end," added Elmer. "'Better
leave me to my fate unless you can find a way to seal his lips.' That
seems to strengthen our theory, doesn't it?"

"All this mention of 'he' must stand for the unknown man who has got
Hen, of course?" ventured Mark.

"Couldn't be anybody else," the patrol leader made answer; "in fact,
Hen just now doesn't seem able to even think of any other person."

"The fellow is no common rascal, let me tell you, suh," Chatz declared.
"He must have been some sort of professor along the lines of magic,
perhaps a hypnotist who performed wonders on the stage before crowds,
and then dabbled in things that the law sat down on, which landed him
in the penitentiary finally."

"When the truth comes out, Chatz, I'm positive that your theory will be
found pretty near the exact facts," affirmed Elmer.

"But all the time we're jabbering away here," warned Lil Artha,
"remember that they're getting further and further away from us."

"As to that," the patrol leader assured him, "a few minutes don't make
so much difference, and it's always best to start right, so as to avoid
a loss of ten times as much later on by making mistakes. Then again,
I'm pretty sure that man is too smart to think of trying to leave
Sassafras Swamp before night comes, even if he plans to do it then."

Somehow, this intelligence comforted the more impetuous ones. They had
such unlimited faith in Elmer knowing what course was best to pursue
that his judgment was accepted on its face value every time--just as
the Treasury notes of the United States Government are relied upon to
be worth their face denomination in specie.

"About how long ago would you thay they had thkipped out of here?" Ted
asked, as they still lingered, looking to the right and to the left, as
though wanting to make certain nothing valuable in the way of a clue
could have escaped their scrutiny.

"Lil Artha, we're depending on you for that information," suggested
Elmer, although it could not be doubted that he himself was able to
give a pretty good answer, for he had observed certain signs as well as
the tall scout.

"Not more than two hours ago, I'd say, Elmer," Lil Artha ventured, with
considerable confidence manifested in his manner, as though if put to
it he was able to muster all the evidence necessary to establish his
veracity.

"Just about what I thought myself," added the scout-m