ced Bobolink,
as he gave a huge yawn, and stretched his arms high above his head.

"What's the reason?" demanded Jud, quickly. "Are you happy because
we're going to break camp so much sooner than we expected, owing to
everything being snowed under up here in the woods?"

"Bobolink doesn't get enough to eat, I reckon," suggested Tom Betts.

"If he doesn't it's his own fault then," Jack went on to say, "because
he has more to do with the cooking end of the game than any of us."

"I guess I know what he means," hinted Spider Sexton, mysteriously.

"Then get a move on you, Spider, and enlighten the rest of us," coaxed
Sandy, as he cuddled a bit closer to the crackling fire, for the wind
had arisen again, and parts of the cabin were chilly, despite the
roaring blaze.

"Why, the fact of the matter is, Bobolink has a new girl to take to
barn dances and all that this winter," said Spider, boldly. "It's that
pretty Rose Dexter belonging to the new family in town. Oh! you
needn't grin at me that way, Bobolink. I own up I was doing my best to
cut in on you there, but you seemed to have the inside track of me and
I quit. But she is a peach if ever there was one!"

"Well, do you blame me then for feeling satisfied when we talk of
going home?" demanded the accused scout. "All the same you're all away
off in your guesses. I'm hoping to sleep soundly to-night just because
my mind is free from wondering who set that incendiary fire and tapped
Mr. Briggs' safe."

"Oh! so that's the reason, is it?" laughed Paul. "I've been watching
you more or less since we came up here, and I wondered if you hadn't
been trying to figure that mystery out. I'm glad for your sake, as
well as for some others' sakes, that we've been able to clear that
thing up."

"All I hope now is that on our way back home we can stop off and pay
the hoboes a little friendly visit," continued Bobolink.

"Same here," Jud added, quickly. "Even if our outing hasn't been
everything we hoped for, it would even things up some if we could
march into Stanhope and hand the guilty men over to the police."

Indeed, Bobolink was not the only scout who slept "like a rock" on
that night. Most of the boys were very tired after the exertions of
the day, and, besides, now that it had been decided to return home,
they really had a load removed from their minds.

Of course, all of them could have enjoyed a much longer stay at Deer
Head Lodge had the conditions been normal. That t