.

"So do I!" cried Dorothy, but in a low tone. "My! what frightful
whiskers."

"He looks just like a pirate," declared her sister.

"He _is_ a pirate--or a robber--I wager," returned Dorothy.

"Maybe he's one of those horrid men who robbed Stresch & Potter Tuesday
night."

"Oh, Dora! Let's hurry by."

Both girls redoubled their efforts at the paddles and the canoe shot
past the little cove which lay at the foot of the eminence known as
Boulder Head. The black hair and ferocious whiskers of the person upon
whom they made these comments dipped down behind a big rock on the shore
and disappeared.

"There! he's gone," sighed Dora, with relief.

"I'm glad. _Do_ you suppose he had anything to do with the robbery at
Stresch & Potter's department store? They say the thieves got more than
ten thousand dollars."

"I don't know whether the lone pirate is one of them or not," laughed
Dora; "but _somebody_ must have committed the robbery--and why not he?"

"That's heartless," sniffed Dorothy. "They say that a small boy helped
the robbers, too. They had to push a boy through the wire screen they
cut out, and he opened a cellar door to let the robbers in."

"Don't I know that? And don't I know who is suspected, too?" returned
Dora.

"Oh, Dora! Don't say it!" protested Dorothy, in horror.

"I don't say I believe it. But you know very well that Billy is up to
all sorts of mischief."

"But Billy Long is one of our own boys."

"I know he goes to Central High. But all the boys who go to our school
are not angelic."

"Far from it," sighed her sister, pensively.

"And 'Short and Long' is a regular little _snipe_, sometimes!" said
Dora, with emphasis.

"But to rob a store!" gasped her twin sister.

"He was seen around there the afternoon before. Why, I know that a
policeman has been to his house looking for him, and nobody has seen
Short and Long since Thursday night."

"But the robbery was committed some time Tuesday night."

"He wasn't suspected at first. Perhaps he thought nobody had noticed him
helping the men in the afternoon."

"If they were the men--those surveyors."

"Of course they were!" cried Dora. "The city engineer's office sent no
men to run that street line. Those fellows were taking measurements
right back of Stresch & Potter's building--and Short and Long was
helping them. And, now, when the hue and cry is raised, he's gone."

"Oh, Dora! It would be dreadful," sighed Dorothy. "One of our Centr