e no
difficulty in proving that I knew nothing whatever about the
transportation of the glycerine."

"And I believe that you will not, Mr. Harnett," replied the officer.
"Since it is uncertain as to whether the case will be heard on the day
set, you need not take the trouble to come here until I send you word.
But I should like to see Mr. Hubbard once in a while, for he is so apt
to fly off from one point to another that I shall never feel really
certain of him until he appears."

"Now, see what it is to have a bad name," said Bob, with a grimace. "I
ought to be trusted as entirely as George is, and yet I am not. Don't
worry, Mr. Constable; I will be here in time for the examination, and I
will also call upon you whenever I am in town."

Then Bob drove on toward the Simpson place, Jim and Dick having preceded
the others, for they had no desire to meet a constable even in a
friendly way.

Mr. Simpson was at home when the boys arrived at his farm, and the
reception which both he and his wife gave Ralph and George was something
to be remembered with pleasure by them for many a day.

Had he been allowed to do so, he would have placed everything he owned
at the disposal of the two who had so generously aided him to keep the
home he loved so well; but George stopped the show of gratitude, which
was really becoming embarrassing, by saying:

"You will please us more, Mr. Simpson, by saying nothing about what we
did, for we are likely to be repaid in a very substantial way; and if we
are, you will get more for your wood-lot than you ever dreamed of."

"Is it something in regard to those two men who just left here?" asked
Mr. Simpson, not in the least surprised by what George had said.

"What men do you mean?"

"There were two here when you first came in sight, but they left at once
on account of some business, as I understood. They told me that they
wanted to buy my wood-lot, and when I said that I had already sold it,
they offered to show good signs of oil if they could be paid for the
prospecting they had done."

George, Ralph and Bob looked at each other in surprise. It seemed
certain that Mr. Simpson's visitors must have been the men who had
stolen the team, and yet it was hardly reasonable to suppose that they
would venture back there so soon after having committed the crime.

"Can you describe them, Mr. Simpson?" asked George, feeling ill at ease
because of the coming of these strangers, and yet not understand