ed, but this struck me, at first, as one of the funniest
letters I ever saw. So the lawyer has collected his half of the
twenty and regards the collection of your half as exceedingly
doubtful!"

"Shouldn't Lawyer Stark give me half of the ten he got from Bill
Peterson?" asked the peddler anxiously.

"Undoubtedly he should," Tom assented, "and just as undoubtedly
he hasn't any idea of doing so."

"What do you say, young man?" inquired the peddler, turning to
young Prescott.

"Why, sir, if you are asking about your legal chance of getting
half of that ten dollars from the lawyer," Dick answered, "then
I'm afraid you stand a poor show. If the lawyer won't pay you
the money, then you would have to sue him. Even if you won the
suit, the fight would cost you a good deal more than the amount
you would recover. And the lawyer might beat you, even if you
sued him."

"Then---what's the answer?" demanded the peddler slowly.

"I know the answer," said Tom confidently, "but it would be a
shame to tell you, sir."

"Just the same, I wish you would," replied the peddler coaxingly.

"The answer," replied Reade, "is that you have been cheated."

"But it looks to me like a mean trick," Dick went on.

"What am I going to do about it?" asked the peddler wonderingly.

"I don't believe you can do anything about it, sir," Prescott
answered, "unless you are willing to sue the lawyer, or can make
him agree to fair play. But I certainly would drop in to see
him and tell him that you expect just half of what he has so far
collected."

"I believe I'll do that," replied Peddler Hinman, judging from
the address on the letter, that was his name. "I don't like
to be made a fool of by any man---especially when I need money
as badly as any other man on my route."

Dick took a sweeping glance at the peddler's shabby attire. While,
of course, the size of a man's bank account cannot be judged from
his wardrobe, Mr. Hinman had the appearance of needing money as
much as he declared. The horse, too, looked as though a generous
feed of oats would do him good.

"And to think of all the things I know about Squire Stark, too,"
murmured Mr. Hinman, apparently speaking to himself and not realizing
that his words carried to the boys' ears. "If he had a little
more judgment, Silas Stark would treat me with more fairness."

"I'm very sorry if I seemed too much amused," Tom apologized earnestly,
"but that letter, apart from its meaning to