you were
acting."

"Well, I wasn't scared," Hen asserted vehemently. "And I'd like to see
any one dare to say that I was."

"How did you come to get invited with Dick's crowd, anyway?" asked Hoof
Sadby.

"I wasn't--just exactly--invited," hesitated Hen Dutcher. "But I was
going through the forest when the big snowstorm came up, and----"

"And you made Prescott's crowd invite you into the cabin?" pressed Spoff
Henderson.

"Ye-es," claimed Hen reluctantly.

"What have you got to say about all this yarn, Dick Prescott?" called
Wrecker Lane.

"Why, from all we've heard," Dick answered dryly, "I don't see any need
of adding anything to Hen's story of events. He seems capable of telling
all about it himself."

"And Hen really was brave when Mr. Fits was around?"

"He says so, doesn't he?" inquired Dick.

Several laughs answered this question, and Hen began to fidget.

"I wonder what has become of Fits, anyway?" suggested Ned Allen.

"We saw him here in Gridley, not ten minutes ago," broke in Dave Darrin.
"We notified the police, too."

"Is that right?" demanded a dozen boys at once.

"Yes," nodded Dick.

"And Fits knocked Dick down," said Harry Hazelton, "but," continued he,
"maybe it was that Dutcher boy that he was really looking for."

Hen's face became very pallid and his jaw dropped. He didn't look the
hero that he had been claiming to be a minute before. Most of the boys
in the crowd began to laugh.

"I've a good mind to tell the crowd that Hen really came out to the
forest to help Fred Ripley's crew against us," whispered Harry in
Prescott's ear.

"Don't you do it," Dick warned him sternly. "We don't have to blab. Give
Hen Dutcher a little time and he'll let it all out himself, without
meaning to do it."

"Sa-ay, weren't--weren't you stringing me about--Mr. Fits?" Hen
questioned.

"Say, you fellows--hustle!" breathed Greg excitedly, as he joined the
crowd. "There's Mr. Fits over at the corner opposite. There--he's
turning and running down Abbott Street!"

Like a shot the crowd of boys wheeled and was off in chase. But Hen
didn't go with them. Toby Ross, who brought up the rear, saw young
Dutcher turn and speed homeward as fast as his legs would carry him.

CHAPTER XXIII

"THIS TIME IS AS GOOD AS ANY OTHER"

"There he is!" breathed Greg, who ran with the foremost rank of pursuing
boys, as they turned into Abbott Street.

A policeman saw the commotion and ran fast after the cro