hem?"

By this time Ward on his motorcycle was abreast of the camp. He was not
putting up any great speed, for the road would not allow of it. On this
account the fellows on ordinary bicycles were able to hang closely to
his rear.

It was not in human nature to hold back that cheer which went up from
the camp of the Boy Scouts. Possibly there was considerable of irony in
it too, the kind that smarts with all lads. Those who were in full
flight seemed to consider that they were being held up to derision, for
they sent back answering cries of scorn, accompanied by not a few
gestures.

"Hurrah, I've got the whole kit!" shouted William, as he lowered his
camera, "Ward, Scissors, Bud Jones, Monkey Eggleston and Nat Green.
We've got all the evidence we want, to show they were up here. But I
missed that dandy header Scissors took! What wouldn't I give to get
that?"

"I might spare you a copy, if my exposure turns out all right, William,"
remarked Jack, smiling; "for I just happened to be pressing the button
when he showed us what an acrobat he had become."

"They're gone now," said Tom Betts, as the last of the group, being poor
Scissors himself, with one hand trying to staunch the blood that flowed
from his nose, wobbled among the stones that so plentifully strewed the
unused road.

Paul and Jack exchanged glances as they approached each other.

"What do you suppose has happened to give them that bad scare?" asked
the latter.

"I might give a guess, but perhaps we'll never know," replied Paul.

"I suppose," ventured his chum, "you're thinking of that man, the fellow
who stole our ham, and who came up here in that light rig?"

"Yes," said the patrol leader, seriously, "but when I was out on the
mountain this morning after breakfast I thought I'd take a chance to
follow that trail further. What do you think I found only a few hundred
feet away from our camp?"

"I really don't know, Paul."

"The tracks of two other men!" came the reply, in Paul's most impressive
manner.

"Oh! then the thief wasn't alone; he has friends up here!" ejaculated
Jack.

"That's a point I'm not decided on," Paul went on. "These tracks were
not made at the same time as his. They always cut across the long
footprint, marked by the patch on the shoe. That told me they were
_following_ the thief. Then I figured out that, as it was impossible to
do this in the night, they must have come across his trail early this
morning, and taken it up