alone, and was as follows:

"Wire best price you can get for skin, but do not sell until you hear
from me. Hal."

It was two weeks before Pat's reply was received. Hal was back at
school, but Mr. Harrison opened the message and smiled as he read it. It
was brief and to the point:

"Two thousand dollars. What's up? Pat."

Mr. Harrison rang for his private secretary. "Take this message and get
it off at once," he said crisply. "Pat Malone, Upper Chain: Will give
twenty-four hundred dollars for skin. Ship at once by express. My check
by next mail."

Then he dictated a letter to Hal telling him of the success of their
conspiracy, for the two had hatched the plan together. Hal's description
of the events in Smugglers' Hollow had so delighted Mr. Harrison that he
had at once exclaimed: "We've got to have that skin, my boy. As a piece
of fur it is worth as much to me as it is to any one else. For
sentimental reasons it is worth more to me than it is to any one else. I
don't believe in mixing sentiment with business, my boy, but there are
exceptions to all rules. This is one. Besides, I owe that young Irishman
up there in the woods more than money can repay for what he has done in
helping to make you what you are to-day. You have him wire the best
price he can get, and I'll go it one better. And by the way, you might
suggest to that youngster who shot the beast that when he gets his share
of the money I'll be glad to invest it for him where it will earn more
than it will in a bank."

And this is how it happened that Pat, Alec and Sparrer with eight
hundred dollars apiece experienced for the first time that sense of
independence, and power which comes with the possession of wealth, for
not even Mr. Harrison with his millions felt richer than they. To Alec
it meant the realization of a cherished dream which included the
ownership of a certain tiny farm. To Pat it meant the education he had
set his heart upon. While to Sparrer it meant a better home, a lifting
of some of the load from his mother's shoulders, and a further
stimulating of an already awakened ambition to gain for himself a share
in the higher and better things of life.

Of course when the story was told to the Blue Tortoise Patrol Sparrer
was more popular than ever. He was little short of a hero in the eyes of
his companions, the more so because Upton was at pains to point out that
the boy's good fortune was really due to his adherence to the Scout
principle