ghtfully.

"Put on your thinking cap, then, Mother Wit, and catch her," said Bobby,
in a whisper. "You did it before, you know."

The parents of some of the girls were intensely interested in the
outcome of the races on the Big Day, too; and somebody with influence
had induced the Chief of Police to put detectives on the trail of the
lost shell. This, however, beside a search of the lake shore by the
police launch, as already reported, did nothing toward uncovering the
hiding place of the shell, or the identity of the thieves.

It seemed ridiculous to suppose that one girl--no matter how spiteful
she might feel--could have accomplished the crime of stealing the
eight-oared shell alone. Yet Bobby Hargrew's insistence had impressed
Laura Belding.

Perhaps, too, the fact that the other girls of Central High expected
something brilliant in the way of detective work from Mother Wit spurred
the jeweler's daughter to attempt to find the lost shell.

Instead, she attempted to make the guilty person return the new boat in
time for the boat race. And to do this she tried a scheme that might
have been fruitless had the culprit not been an amateur in deceit and
wrongdoing. No real thief would have fallen into Laura Belding's trap.

She caused to be printed and posted upon the bulletin boards all over
the Hill section of Centerport a quarter-sheet handbill which read in
part that the person having caused the disappearance of the new
eight-oared shell belonging to the Girls' Branch Athletic League of
Central High was known, and that person would be publicly exposed if the
shell was not returned, or the place of its hiding revealed, in season
for the races. And she signed the bill with Professor Dimp's name, he
having agreed to lend it for the occasion.

This was not many hours before the dawning of the day of the races; but
Laura saw to it that the way to and from school for the person suspected
was fairly plastered with those notices! Printed in their black type,
they could not fail to be seen by the right eyes.

"What do you expect will come of _that_?" demanded Chet, rather inclined
to scoff at his sister's plan.

"I hope it will cause a change of heart on the part of the person guilty
of the outrage," declared Laura, laughing.

"Huh! If I knew who it was that stole the shell I'd go to 'em with a
policeman."

"And then it would be denied, and we'd never get our shell back in time.
We don't know where it is," said Laur