sidered so."

Janice flushed and her answer came sharply: "And how about the other
half of Polktown?"

"We may be evenly divided--fifty-fifty," and Bowman laughed grimly.
"But the ones who believe--or _say_ that they believe--Nelson Haley
guilty, will talk much louder than those who deny."

"Oh, Frank Bowman! you take all my hope away."

"I don't mean to. I want to point out to you--and myself, as
well--that to sit idle and wait for the matter to settle itself, is not
enough for us who believe Haley is guiltless. We've got to set about
disproving the accusation."

"I--I can see you are right," admitted the girl faintly.

"Yes; I am right. But being right doesn't end the matter. The
question is: How are we going about it to save Nelson?"

Janice was rather shocked by this conclusion. Frank had seemed so
clear up to this point. And then he slumped right down and practically
asked her: "What are _you_ going to do about it?"

"Oh, dear me!" cried Janice Day, faintly, "I don't know. I can't
think. We must find some way of tracing the real thief. Oh! how can I
think of that, when here poor 'Rill and Hopewell are in trouble?"

"Never mind! Never mind, Janice!" said Frank Bowman. "We'll soon get
Hopewell home. And I hope, too, that his wife will know enough to keep
him away from the hotel hereafter."

"But, suppose she can't," whispered Janice. "You know, his father was
given to drinking."

"No! Is that so?"

"Yes. Maybe it is hereditary----"

"Queer it didn't show itself before," said Bowman sensibly. "I am more
inclined to believe that Joe Bodley is playing tricks. Why! he's kept
bar in the city and I know he was telling some of the scatter-brained
young fools who hang around the Inn, that he's often seen 'peter' used
in men's drink to knock them out. 'Peter,' you know, is 'knock-out
drops!'"

"No, I don't know," said Janice, with disgust. "Or, I didn't till you
told me."

"Forgive me, Janice," the civil engineer said humbly. "I was only
explaining."

"Oh, I'm not blaming you at all," she said. "But I am angry to think
that my own mind--as well as everybody's mind in Polktown--is being
contaminated from this barroom. We are all learning saloon phrases. I
never heard so much slang from Marty and the other boys, as I have
caught the last few weeks. Having liquor sold in Polktown is giving us
a new language."

"Well," said Bowman, as the lights of the Inn came in sight, "I hadn't
t