s hands,
for half an hour or more, and then the two boys were startled by a
warning hiss, which apparently came from one end of the barn.

"There must be snakes 'round here!" and Plums sprang to his feet, in
alarm. "Jim Flannigan says they always hiss like that before they bite."

"Take hold of this spade for a little while, an' they won't bite you. It
seems to me I'm doin' all the work, an' I know you ate more'n your share
of the supper an' breakfast."

The hissing noise was heard again, and, as the two gazed in the
direction from which it came, the head of Dan, the detective, appeared
from behind the barn.

"What are you doin' there, tryin' to frighten us?" Plums asked,
indignantly. "Why didn't you come right up like a man? There's nobody
'round here but aunt Dorcas, an' she wouldn't hurt a fly."

The amateur detective rose slowly to his feet, looking displeased.

"You two are the most careless fellers I ever saw. Here's all the cops
in New York City out on your trail, an' you hollerin' fit to scare a
horse."

"S'posin' we are?" and Master Plummer spoke boldly. "S'posin' the road
was full of perlicemen, how could they see us while we're behind this
barn?"

"It don't make any difference whether they could or not. You've got to
mind your eye, if you want to keep out of jail, an' yellin' to me ain't
the way to do it. If the folks 'round here should know I was on this
case, jest as likely as not some of 'em would send word to the city, an'
then your game would be up."

Plums had lost faith in Dan's detective ability, because of the fact
that the latter had failed to take advantage of the opportunity to spend
the night in aunt Dorcas's home, therefore he replied, boldly, to his
friend's reproof:

"We're jest as safe here as we could be anywhere, an' I tell you what it
is, Dan, you ought'er seen the layout we had last night an' this
mornin'! Why, we slept in a bed that would make the tears come into your
eyes, it was so soft; an' talk 'bout spreads! You couldn't get a
breakfast down to McGinnis's restaurant, no matter how much you paid,
that would come up to what we had!"

"Yes, you fellers are takin' all the chances, an' I'm pretty nigh
starved to death. I haven't had so much as a smell of anything since
yesterday noon."

"You ought'er seen the custard pie aunt Dorcas put out before us last
night; thick as that!" and Plums measured on his finger the length of
three inches or more. "An' a crust that went to