and you'll all enjoy it as much as Miss Lowthry
does."

"Then it's against her?" breathed Ben Alvord. "Good! great!"

"Now, you, Dave, stay here with me," Dick went on, disposing of his
forces with the air of a general. "The rest of you fellows scoot across
the lawn and hide in the bushes. Hide so that you can't be seen from the
street or from the front door of the cottage, either. Then just wait and
see what happens."

Tom Reade and Greg managed to get the crowd started. Then Dick called,
softly:

"Oh, say, Hoof! I'll hold the baby for you a while. You must be tired."

Hoof started, and glared suspiciously. But he knew that Dick was "always
on the square," and so, after swallowing hard, passed the tiny, bundled
youngster over to Prescott's waiting arms. "Say, be careful what you do
with him," pleaded Sadby. "He's a fine little fellow."

Then the crowd hid. How they watched and waited! Miss Lowthry's sitting
room was lighted, and the boys could see her, seated in a rocking chair,
reading a book.

It seemed ages ere Wrecker Lane returned. When he came he brought a
basket. Some soft fragments of blanket rested in the bottom of it.

"Just the thing," chuckled Dick softly, placing the baby in the basket.
"Now, skip over there, Wrecker, and hide with the fellows in the
bushes."

Dick waited until Wrecker Lane vanished.

"Now, come along, Dave," chuckled Prescott. "You ring the bell just as I
place the basket on the steps. Then we'll both hot-foot it to join the
fellows."

A few moments later Dick and Dave scurried to cover, snuggling down
among a lot of Grammar School boys who were holding their handkerchiefs
wedged in their mouths.

Then they heard the front door open, saw Miss Lowthry peer out, and then
heard her utter a shriek, followed with:

"Mercy me! Who has dared to leave a foundling on my step?"

And then, as she bent over and poked the pieces of blanket aside:

"Mercy! What a horridly homely brat!"

"It isn't!" exploded Hoof, in an undertone, as he snatched the
handkerchief from his mouth. "Gracious! Wouldn't I like to pinch her!"

But Miss Lowthry must have recognized her duty as a citizen, for she
picked up the basket and bore it into the house, slamming the door
behind her.

"Wow! Oh, dear! oh, dear!" laughed a lot of mischievous youngsters
hidden in the bushes.

"Look!" whispered Dave Darrin. "She has taken the basket into her
sitting room. She's placed it on a table. There she goes to