h you when you go. It has already given
me one bad scare, and I do not feel able to stand another, with all
the troubles I already stagger under."

"But what is this I heard you say about having these boys arrested,
Uncle?" continued Gilbert. "Surely you must believe them when they
protest their innocence? I have been up at the house, and was told
about the cup's disappearance; also that you had come down here with
the constable, meaning to have some one taken up for the crime. But I
hope you will not think of doing such a thing now."

"I consider it a sacred duty I owe to the community, Nephew," urged
the stubborn old hermit. "All the circumstances point to one of these
boys as the culprit, and he should by all means be punished. Why
should you interfere with my designs, Gilbert?"

"Let me tell you, Uncle," burst out Gilbert, eagerly. "I owe my life,
it may be, to these same boys."

"How is this?" asked his uncle, looking somewhat bewildered. "They did
say they had met you while on the way here, but in what fashion could
they have done you a favor?"

"In my hurry to catch the train after the vehicle broke down,"
explained Gilbert, "I stumbled in a very dangerous place on the road,
lost my footing, and fell over the edge of a precipice. I managed to
clutch hold a dozen feet down, but must in the end have let go and
fallen to the bottom only for the coming of these boys, who rescued
me in a remarkably clever and very unusual way."

Bluff gave a satisfied grunt. After all Gilbert was a pretty decent
sort of fellow, he made up his mind; though at the time of the
adventure Bluff had thought him rather ungrateful to hurry away so
fast, and not half thank them for all the trouble they had taken.

Mr. Dennison apparently had reason to believe anything his nephew
said. That was evident from the change that came over his manner. He
looked at Frank and his three chums again, shrugged his shoulders, and
then went on to remark:

"Of course if that is the case, Nephew, and you are indebted to these
boys for helping you out of a bad fix, I have nothing more to say.
Because of that they can go free, for all of me; though I may live to
repent my kindness; because no matter how they protest, the fact
remains that the cup was found under this floor, and I still firmly
believe they secreted it there."

The kind-hearted constable was grinning as he winked at Bluff. It was
very evident that the new conditions pleased Mr. Jeems; s