nd Gaff Caven
closed one eye suggestively.

"You bet they didn't! More than likely they didn't cost you fifty
dollars."

"What, such elegantly engraved stocks as those?"

"Pooh! I can buy a bushel-basket full of worthless stocks for a dollar,"
came from Pat Malone. "But that isn't here nor there. I go into the deal
if you give me my fair share of the earnings."

"I'll give you one-third, Pat, and that's a fair share, I think."

"Why not make it half?"

"Because I'll do the most of the work. It's no easy matter to find a
victim." And Gaff Caven laughed broadly. He had a good-appearing face,
but his eyes were small and not to be trusted.

"All right, I'll go in for a third then. But how soon is the excitement
to begin?"

"Oh, in a week or so. I've got the advertisements in the papers
already."

"Not in New York?"

"No, it's Philadelphia this time. Perhaps I'll land one of our Quaker
friends."

"Don't be so sure. The Quakers may be slow but they generally know what
they are doing."

More thunder interrupted the conversation at this point, and when it
was resumed the two men talked in such low tones that only an occasional
word could be caught by the two boys.

"They surely must be rascals," remarked Ned, in a whisper. "I'm half of
a mind to have them locked up."

"That's easier said than done," answered Joe. "Besides, we haven't any
positive proofs against them."

The wind was now rising, and it soon blew so furiously that the two boys
were forced to seek the shelter of the woodshed, since they did not
deem it wise to enter the lodge so long as the two men were inside. They
waited in the shed for fully half an hour, when, as suddenly as it had
begun, the storm let up and the sun began to peep forth from between the
scattering clouds.

"Now we can go home if we wish," said Joe. "But for my part, I'd like to
stay and see what those men do, and where they go to."

"Yes, let us stay by all means," answered the rich youth.

They waited a few minutes longer and then Ned suggested that they look
into the window of the lodge once more. The hermit's boy was willing,
and they approached the larger building with caution.

Much to their astonishment the two strangers had disappeared.

"Hullo! what do you make of that?" cried Ned, in amazement.

"Perhaps they are in one of the other rooms," suggested Joe.

At the risk of being caught, they entered the lodge and looked into one
room after another. Every apa