by blaming him, but that he and his
father had made you stop talking about him."

"Well, if that doesn't take the cake!" exclaimed Phil. "Isn't that
Merwell to a T?"

"The shoe was on the other foot," explained Roger. "Merwell was the one
who was mixed up in the affair, and he and his father had to pay for a
lot of horses that--well, disappeared. We exposed him, and that is what
made him mad."

"Did Mr. Merwell steal some horses?" asked Vera, in alarm.

"Not exactly--according to his story," answered Dave. "He says he took
them in fun. Then the regular cattle thieves took them from him--and let
him have some money. He claimed that he was going to return the horses,
but didn't get the chance."

"And he and his father had to pay for the horses in the end?"

"Yes,--they paid Mr. Endicott, the owner of the ranch at which we were
stopping."

"Then I guess Link Merwell was guilty," said Mary. "And after this I
don't want him to even speak to me--he or that friend of his, Mr. Nick
Jasniff."

"You'll do well to steer clear of the pair," warned Roger.

"It is a shame that they are allowed to talk about you as they do," said
Vera. "If they keep on, they will give you a very bad name."

"I don't believe folks in Rockville will believe much of what Jasniff
says," said Phil. "They'll remember his evil-doings of the past."

"He and Merwell seem to have made themselves popular at the Academy,"
was Mary's reply. "How they have done it I don't know. But perhaps they
have money, or else----"

The girl did not finish, for just then an automobile swung around the
corner and came to a halt in front of a store near which the young
people had halted. The automobile contained Merwell, Jasniff, and two
other students of the Academy, all attired in the cadet uniforms of that
institution.

CHAPTER XIV

WHAT THE GIRLS HAD TO TELL

One of the strange cadets was driving the automobile, and hardly had it
come to a stop when Merwell and Jasniff bounded out on the sidewalk,
directly in front of Dave and his friends.

"Why--er--hello!" stammered Jasniff, and then, recognizing the girls, he
grinned broadly, and tipped his cap.

"How do you do?" said Merwell, to Mary and Vera, and at the same time
ignoring Dave and his chums.

The two girls stared in astonishment, for they had not expected to see
the very lads about whom they had been conversing. But they quickly
recovered and turned their backs on the newcomers.

"What'