ed Tom. "I'd like to try it, anyway. And, if we had the
chance, and missed, four of us could make noise enough to bring a few
men to our aid."

"That part would be all right," Dick agreed. "If we see the rascal again
it will be our best move to capture him by yelling for a few men to come
up to where we are."

"Hullo, you!" was the greeting of Toby Ross, as that schoolboy stopped
and looked at the returned campers. "Have a good time?"

"Fine!" answered four voices at once.

"But," Toby continued, "I never thought there was that much stuff in Hen
Dutcher."

"What stuff? What kind of stuff!" demanded Tom.

"Why, Hen is back in Gridley," Toby answered, "and, from the tales he
has been telling, he was the whole life and safety of your crowd out in
the forest."

"Come to think of it," Tom replied soberly, "I believe he was."

"Then Hen's yarns are true?" asked Toby.

"They must be," Dick responded. "Who ever knew Hen to tell an untruth?"

"Say, stop your fooling, won't you?" begged Toby. "What did Hen actually
do out in the forest."

"Why, he ate at least his share," asserted Tom.

"And got his share of sleep," Darrin added.

"He also did his full share of housework," Hazelton supplied, with a
grin.

"We're glad he had such a good time," Dick went on politely.

"But did he really do any of the hero stunts that he's telling about?"
Toby persisted.

"Not knowing what he's telling about, I really can't say," Prescott
answered.

"What is Hen claiming to have done, anyway?" Darrin inquired.

"Oh, Hen says--but come along and hear him for yourselves," Toby
finished. "Hen is just a little way down the street, holding forth to a
lot of fellows."

"Come along, then," nodded Tom. "Perhaps we can slip in behind Hen
without his seeing us, and then we'll know all that he did while we were
snowbound."

Toby piloted them. A block and a half down Main Street a group of some
twenty Grammar School boys stood, gathered closely around a central
object. When Dick and his chums slipped up to the outer edge of the
crowd they discovered that central object to be Hen Dutcher, whose back
was turned to them.

Though Hen didn't know who was now near him, several of the other boys
did, and they passed the wink.

"Hen, tell us again just how it was that you cowed Mr. Fits when he
first showed up at the cabin," urged one of the juvenile bystanders.

"Huh! There wasn't much to cow," retorted Hen airily. "Dick Prescott and
hi