"

"Nothing much," said Teddy cheerfully. "So far, I've only had to go
without my supper. Didn't go altogether without it, though," and he
poured into Bob's sympathetic ears the story of the pie and the chicken.

"Bully for Martha," chuckled Bob. "She's the stuff!"

"You bet she is!" echoed Teddy heartily. "But let's hurry now, Bob," he
went on. "Fred and the other fellows are down at the bridge by this
time, and we've got a job before us."

The two boys broke into a run and soon overtook the three other boys,
who were looking carefully among the bushes on each side of the road as
they went along. This they did more as a matter of form than anything
else, for it was hardly likely that the papers had been dropped this
side of the bridge.

It was almost certain that they had left Aaron's pocket at the moment he
had made his flying leap into the stream. In that case, they would be
either in the bushes on the bank or in the water itself. It was barely
possible, too, that they had fallen in the coach, when the blow of the
ball had brought Aaron to his knees. If that were so, they might have
been jarred out of the coach on the further side of the road, when it
had smashed into the trees.

So when the boys reached the neighborhood of the bridge, the search
began in earnest. The boys scattered about under the direction of Fred,
who gave each one a certain section to search over.

"Now, fellows," he urged, himself setting the example, "go over every
foot with a fine-tooth comb. We've simply got to get those papers, or
home won't be a very healthy place for Teddy."

Apart from their liking for Teddy, the boys were excited by the idea of
competition. To be looking for papers that meant real money, as Fred had
carefully explained to them, seemed almost like a story or a play. Each
was eager to be the first to find them and stand out as the hero of the
occasion.

But, try as they might, nobody had any luck. They reached and burrowed
and bent, until their faces were red and their backs were lame. And at
last they felt absolutely sure that the papers were not on either side
of the stream.

There remained then only the river itself.

"Well, fellows," summed up Fred, finally, "it's no go on land. We've got
to try the water. Here goes."

And, stripping off his outer clothes, he dived in, to be followed a
moment later by Teddy.

"Gee, that water looks good," said Jim enviously. "I wish I'd thought to
bring my bathing suit