sked Ruth.

"Uh-huh. All about 'to be or not to be a bean--that is the question.' And
something about his having suffered from the slung shots and bow arrers of
outrageous fortune--whatever that might be. I guess he got it all out of
the Scriptures. Your uncle said he was bugs; but I reckoned he was a
preacher."

"Jimminy!" muttered Tom. "A derelict actor, I bet. Sounds like a
Shakespearean ham."

"Goodness!" said Ruth. "Between the two of you boys I get a very strange
idea of this person."

"Where did he go, Ben?" Tom asked.

"I didn't watch him. He only hung around a little while. I think he axed
your uncle for some money, or mebbe something to eat. You see, he didn't
know Mr. Potter."

"Not if he struck him for a hand-out," muttered the slangy Tom.

"Oh, Ben! don't you know whether he went toward Cheslow--or where?" cried
Ruth.

"Does it look probable to you," Tom asked, "that a derelict
actor---- Oh, Jimminy! Of course! _He_ would be just the person to
see the value of that play script at a glance!"

"Oh, Tom!"

"Have you no idea where he went, Ben?" Tom again demanded of the puzzled
mill hand.

"No, Mister Tom. I didn't watch him."

"I'll get out the car at once and hunt all about for him," Tom said
quickly. "You go in to Helen and Aunt Alvirah, Ruth. You'll be sick if
you let this get the best of you. I'll find that miserable thief of a ham
actor--if he's to be found." He added this last under his breath as he ran
for the shed where he had sheltered his automobile.

CHAPTER IV

THE CRYING NEED

Tom Cameron chased about the neighborhood for more than two hours in
his fast car hunting the trail of the man who he had decided must be a
wandering theatrical performer. Of course, this was a "long shot," Tom
said; but the trampish individual of whom Ben had told was much more
likely to be an actor than a preacher.

Tom, however, was able to find no trace of the fellow until he got to the
outskirts of Cheslow, the nearest town. Here he found a man who had seen a
long-haired fellow in a shabby frock coat and black hat riding toward the
railroad station beside one of the farmers who lived beyond the Red Mill.
This was following the tempest which had burst over the neighborhood at
mid-afternoon.

Trailing this information farther, Tom learned that the shabby man had
been seen about the railroad yards. Mr. Curtis, the railroad station
master, had observed him. But suddenly the tramp had disappe