an' arrest the bunch?"

"'Necessity knows no law,'" quoted the county official. "Just the same,
young man, don't you land us head up in a ditch!" he added, to Dick.

The boys were on the watch, and presently saw the field from which they
had come and steered into it. Then they ran into the woods and brought
the car to a standstill just where it had been before.

"Now, I think you had better be as quiet as possible," said Dick.

"Right you are," returned the sheriff, and gave orders to his men to
that effect.

As silently as so many ghosts the posse and Dick and Sam hurried along
the woodland trail in the direction of the old stone mansion. Soon they
came in sight of the place. As they did so Tom came to meet them.

"Anything new?" questioned Dick, in a whisper.

"The men folks are in the sitting room of the place," answered Tom.

"In the sitting room? As late as this? Wouldn't you think they'd
retire," said Sam.

"They are quarrelling," went on Tom, and now he was chuckling.

"Quarrelling? Over what?"

"Over the way they are going to divide the money they squeeze out of dad
and Mrs. Stanhope and Mrs. Laning. They've got it all cut and dried that
they are going to get forty or fifty thousand dollars before they send
Nellie and Dora back to school, and Crabtree and Sobber want the lion's
share, while Koswell and Larkspur and that other chap, the doctor,--if
he is one--want just as much. They are at it hot and heavy."

"What of the girls?"

"They must still be in the upper room, and the woman is either with
them or next door to them."

Tom was glad to see the sheriff and his men, and in a very few words the
county official outlined his plan for capturing the evildoers in the old
stone mansion.

"We'll let them believe that I brought about a dozen men with me," said
Sheriff Fells. "That will most likely take the starch right out of them.
Then, before they can think of resisting, I'll clap the irons on them.
You, Thompson, can stay out in front, and you, Rapp, can walk around to
the rear. If they run, plug them in the legs," added the sheriff grimly.
It had been a long time since he had had such an important case to deal
with and he intended to make the best showing possible.

"We can go in with you, can't we?" asked Dick.

"Certainly, and don't hesitate to show your guns, boys. But don't use
them unless they show fight and try to get away."

"They are not going to get away!" cried Tom, sturdily. "This