bery?" asked Tom Betts.

"It amounted to the same thing, I should say," replied Jud, "because
it was connected with the hoboes."

"Go on and tell us then," urged Bobolink.

"He says they're up in this part of the country," asserted the other.

"Wow! that begins to look as if we might be running across the ugly
pair after all!" exclaimed Tom Betts, his face lighting up with
eagerness. "Now wouldn't it be queer if we managed to capture the
yeggs and turn 'em over to the authorities? Paul, how about that
now?"

"Oh! you're getting too far ahead of the game, Tom," he was told. "We
must know a good deal more about this business before we could decide
to take such desperate chances."

"But if the opportunity came along, wouldn't it be our duty to cage
the rascals?" the persistent Tom demanded.

"Perhaps it might," Paul told him. "But Jud, did he explain to you how
he came to know the tramps were up here in the woods above Lake
Tokala?"

"Just what he did," replied the other, promptly. "It seems that Jud,
while he was out hunting, had a glimpse of one of the ugly pair the
day before this storm hit us. It gave him a chance to trail the man in
order to see what he was worth in that line. And, Paul, he did his
work so well that he followed the fellow all the way to where the two
of them had put up."

"And that was where, Jud?" demanded the leader of the troop.

"There's an old dilapidated cabin half-way between here and the lake,"
explained Jud. "Maybe Tolly Tip knows about it."

"Sure that I do!" responded the woodsman. "'Twas used years ago by
some charcoal burners, but has been goin' to decay this long time.
Mebbe now they've patched up the broken roof, and mane to stay there
awhile. It's in a snug spot, and mighty well protected from the wind
in winters."

"That's the place," Jud assured them. "The hoboes are hanging out
there, and seem to have plenty to eat, so Jud Mabley told me. If we
concluded to take a look in at 'em on our way home it could be done
easy enough, I'd think."

"We'll talk it over," decided Paul. "We must remember that in all
likelihood they're a desperate pair, and well armed. As a rule scouts
have no business to constitute themselves criminal catchers, though in
this case it's a bit different."

"Because we've been publicly accused by Mr. Briggs of being the
persons who set his old store on fire, just in spite!" declared
Bobolink, briskly enough. "And say! wouldn't it be a bully trick i