"Say! that's an idea!" cried Randy, enthusiastically. "I'll go at it
right away!"

"And so will I!" declared his brother. "Maybe we'll be able to lay the
whole blame on that pair."

The twins talked it over with the others for a little while longer, and
then were let out of the guardroom by a servant, who locked the door
after them. As they came out into the main corridor of the Hall, they
saw that Elias Lacy was just leaving Colonel Colby's office.

"All right, then, I'll wait," the old farmer was saying. "But I'll be
back by to-morrow afternoon, an' if you can't prove by that time that
them Rover boys is innercent, I'm a-goin' to have 'em locked up."

"Very well, Mr. Lacy," the colonel replied, and bowed his visitor out
of the door.

"Well, anyway, the colonel has got old Lacy to wait another day,"
whispered Randy. "That will give us just so much more time to get on
the track of what Martell and Brown have been doing."

"All provided they are really guilty of playing this dirty trick,"
answered his brother.

In the upper hallway the twins ran across Ned Lowe, and immediately
took that cadet into their confidence, and asked him if he would not
try to find out for them where Brown and Martell had been the previous
afternoon.

"For, you see, we can't ask them ourselves," explained Randy. "If we
did that they would become suspicious at once."

"All right, I'll do what I can," answered Ned, and made off without
delay. He came back in less than fifteen minutes, looking much excited.

"How did you make out?" queried Randy, eagerly.

"Great! I want you two fellows to come upstairs at once while Brown and
Martell are out of their rooms. And I think you had better bring along
one of the teachers as a witness."

"Why, what have you learned, Ned?" questioned Andy.

"I saw them down near the gymnasium, and sneaked up behind them, and by
rare good luck heard them talking about two shotguns that belonged in
the gun rack. They were wondering how they could get them from their
rooms back into the gun rack without detection."

"Hurrah! I wager we have found 'em out!" ejaculated Randy, excitedly.
"Come on! let's get one of the teachers at once!"

The boys were fortunate enough to fall in with Professor Brice a minute
later, and in a rather excited fashion they told the teacher of what
they had learned and what they proposed to do.

"Why, certainly, I'll go with you," said Paul Brice, quickly. "I want
just as much