ed, and they quickly bade her
an embarrassed good night.

Now that they had removed the weight of obligation that had rested upon
them, the Wags became more neighborly. Llewellyn and the Scrap Iron Kid
called to explain that the Dummy and Thomasville had broken all rules of
friendship by "hogging the spotlight" and to express their own regret at
having been absent during the attempted hold-up.

June was eating her midnight lunch when they came, and after they had
left Llewellyn said:

"She didn't have any butter, Kid. Notice it?"

"Sure. Butter's peluk. Rothstein cornered the supply, and he's holding
it for a raise."

"Where does he keep it?"

"In that big tent back of his store, along with his other stuff."

Now, the Wag-boys did nothing by halves. About dusk the following day
the Rothstein watchman was accosted by a stranger who had just muched in
from the creek. The two gossiped for a moment. Then, as the stranger
made off, he slipped and fell, injuring himself so painfully that the
watchman was forced to help him down to Kelly's drug-store. Upon
returning from this labor of charity the watchman discovered, to his
amazement and horror, that during his absence two men had entered the
tent by means of a six-foot slit in the rear wall. They had brought a
sled with them, moreover, and had made off with about five hundred
dollars' worth of Rothstein's heart's blood, labeled "Cold Brook
Creamery, Extra Fine."

The next morning when June returned to her cabin she found a case of
butter.

A few days later the Dummy discovered a string of ptarmigan hanging
beside the rear door of a restaurant, and, desiring to offer June some
delicate little attention, he returned after dark and removed them. As
ptarmigan were selling at five dollars a brace, he was careful to
protect the girl; he sat on the back steps of the restaurant and picked
the birds thoroughly, scattering the feathers with a careless hand.

Scarcely a day passed that June did not receive something from the Wags,
but of course she never dreamed that her gifts had been stolen. As for
her admirers, it was the highest mark of their esteem thus to lay at her
feet the choicest fruits of their precarious labors, and, although they
were common thieves--nay, worse than that--they stole rather from love
of excitement than for hope of gain, and the more fantastic the
adventure the more it tickled their distorted fancies.

They were most amusing, and June grew to li