er hurled himself against it.

It was a close call, and for a minute or two they lay there, panting and
unable to speak.

The hay scattered on the floor had deadened the sound of their
footsteps, as they piled in, and, in the silence of the big barn, the
only sound came from their own gaspings for breath.

"Oh!" Jim was beginning, when Fred lifted his hand and put his finger on
his lips as a signal to keep still.

"S-sh," he whispered. "I thought I heard some one speaking over there,"
and he pointed to a distant corner of the barn where fodder for the
cattle was stored.

"Who can it be?" whispered Teddy in return. "Do you think it can be Sam?
If it is, we're done for."

"No, it isn't Sam," was Fred's guarded reply. "If it were, he'd come to
see what Tiger's barking about. Let's creep over there and take a look."

As silently as Indians, the boys wormed their way across the floor. The
only light came from the cracks in the side of the barn, and they had to
use great care not to bump into anything that might betray their
presence.

Suddenly, Fred, who was leading, stopped.

"Wait," he breathed. "I just got a look at them. There are two of them
there, and they look to me like tramps. Stay here a minute."

They halted, while he crept on a little farther, until, through a small
opening in a stall, he could get a better view.

He glued his eye to the opening and studied more closely the two
strangers.

His first guess, that they were tramps, proved to be correct. Both had
all the marks of vagrants. Their clothes were ragged and dirty, their
hair long and uncombed, and their faces were covered with scraggy
beards.

One was tall and lank, and seemed to be the leader of the two. His eyes
were little and close together. He had no socks, and his toes showed
through his ragged shoes. His only other clothing was a torn shirt,
opened at the throat, and a pair of old trousers held up by one
suspender. Up near his temple was an ugly scar, that looked as though it
had been made by a knife.

His companion was shorter and stockier. His clothes were on a par with
those of his "pal," and he looked equally "down and out."

A partly emptied bottle stood on the floor beside them, and their
flushed faces and the glassy look of their eyes told what had become of
most of its contents.

"I tell you, I heard something," the shorter of the two was saying.

"You're woozy," answered the other. "It's only the dog a-barkin'. He's