sight.

"Did those rascally tramps follow us and watch their chance?"
demanded Dave Darrin hotly.

"I don't believe the tramps did it," spoke Prescott, in a very
quiet voice, though an angry flush rose to his face. "I believe
that we must look in a different direction for the offenders."

"The rah-rah hoodlums?" gasped Greg Holmes.

"Yes," Dick nodded.

CHAPTER XIV

DICK & CO. MAKE AN APPLE "PIE"

"Then I wish we had 'em here!" sputtered Tom Reade vengefully.
"I could eat two of them at this moment, and without salt!"

"They need salting badly!" growled Dave Darrin angrily.

The tent was not only down. Each guy rope had been cut in the
middle, so that the cordage could not be used again.

"I never saw anything more sneaking!" cried Reade in rage and
disgust.

"Unless it will be the way that we shall sneak up behind the rah-rah
crowd and square matters!" remarked Darry meaningly.

"First of all, we must be sure of their guilt," warned Dick.
"It won't do to try to even up a score that's based only on suspicion.
Wait until I get a lantern out of the wreck, and then we'll explore
the ground to see if we can discover any real proof against the
rascals."

"Let's get into our working clothes first," proposed Reade. "We
might want to wear these white clothes again before we get home."

So Tom and Dave held up a part of the canvas while Dick slipped
in under the folds of the tent to find the box in which they had
left their hike clothing.

"The box isn't here," Dick called. "Neither can I see any of
the bedding."

"Get hold here, fellows, and lift up more of the canvas," Reade
called.

"There isn't anything in the tent. All the stuff has been cleaned
out." Prescott announced in a voice of disgust.

"It was the tramps, then," Dave declared. "The rah-rah boys wouldn't
take the risk of stealing anything."

"Hold on! I've found a lantern," called Prescott. "I'll come
out with that."

He appeared a moment later, lighting the lantern.

"Now, let's see what we can find," he urged. Not far away the
high school boys came upon the prints of sharp-toed shoes.

"The tramps didn't wear shoes that would make these prints," declared
Dick. "Neither do any of our crowd. Fellows, we owe our surprise
to the rah-rah humorists."

"Then we'll pay 'em back in good measure," cried Darry in exasperation.

After some searching Dick & Co. came upon their clothes chest,
at a distance of some hundred yar