just now, at any rate, Ted," the other told him. "We might aim
to do something of the kind in the morning. But even here it looks as
if they headed for the swamp. That's a point to remember, boys."

Perhaps several of the scouts were just as well satisfied. The idea of
starting out on a trail that might soon take them into a dismal swamp,
and at midnight in the bargain, with a cloudy sky overhead, did not
appeal very strongly to Landy, Toby and Chatz.

Accordingly, they turned back, heading for the friendly barn,
attracted, doubtless, by fond memories of those comfortable beds in the
sweet hay.

"How about the bulldog, Johnny?" asked Elmer, as they reached the barn
entrance.

"I'm meanin' tuh git Mose up yonder, and tie him tuh the tree," replied
the boy. "Them turks hes gut tuh be looked arter, if I hes tuh stay up
all night tuh do the trick. An' lemme tell yuh, Elmer, I kin make up
another trap jest as cunnin' as any ole fox. I'll git 'em yit if so be
they keep hangin' 'raound these parts."

"I believe you would, Johnny," assented the other, who realized that
the bound boy was displaying several good traits that would carry him
along through the world once his time of bondage with the farmer was up.

There being no reason why they should keep away from their sleeping
quarters any longer, the seven scouts entered the barn.

"Wow! but it's plumb dark in here, though!" protested Lil Artha, after
he had knocked his shins twice against some projection, and even
slammed into a post that chanced to be directly in his way.

"We'd better stand still for a little while, so as to let our eyes get
used to the gloom," suggested Elmer; "it's always that way when you
step into one of the moving-picture places, you remember; but a few
minutes later you can see all around you. Better waste a little time
than a lot of cuticle."

"Just so," grunted Lil Artha; "already half an inch of skin has been
barked off my shin, and my nose is swelling where I banged the same
against that awful post."

"Well," remarked Toby, whose ankles had not been bruised and who
consequently could even think to joke about the matter, "it's probably
the first time then Lil Artha was ever left at the post. But I can see
a heap better already."

All of them found that their eyesight soon became accustomed to the
gloom; and that it was not so very bad after all. They had just
managed to reach the place where their traps were left, and started