e,
being desirous of throwing off that chilly feeling.

It turned out that Fred's calculations were correct "to a hair," as
Bristles triumphantly declared, when they burst upon the road just fifty
yards above the Belleville toll-gate.

"That's figuring some for you!" he exclaimed, as soon as they had sighted
the inclined pole that signified the presence of the barrier where every
vehicle had to halt and pay the regular tariff, according to the number
of wheels, or of the horses it took to draw the load.

They had hung on to the defunct dog in spite of all their hurrying, for
that plan to let the farmers of the community know they were rid of their
greatest pest still clung to the boys' minds.

Bristles was looking ahead as they advanced along the road, and about
this time was heard to give vent to an exclamation.

"Would you believe it?" he cried. "If there isn't the wagon at the
toll-gate belonging to that old farmer I heard telling about the dogs
that'd played havoc with his sheep! And I reckon now, he'll be right
glad to see the leader of the pack laid out as we've got him!"

CHAPTER X

BRISTLES' SURPRISE PARTY

"That's a queer coincidence, if you'd care to call it by that name,"
remarked Colon, who liked once in a while to make use of some long word.

"It simply shows that we had long heads when we made up our minds to lug
this old tramp dog all the way here, just to prove our story," Fred
observed.

"That was your scheme, Fred, all right," Bristles quickly asserted.

"No more than the rest of you," he was instantly told, for Fred never
liked to be given sole credit for anything unusual, when he had chums
along. "All the same, I guess the old farmer will be tickled half to
death to know the sheep-killing pack has been broken up for good."

"You think our knocking the leader out is going to do that, do you,
Fred?" asked Colon.

"In nine cases out of ten that's the way things go. There's a keystone
to every arch, and when you remove that, the whole thing tumbles down."

"My idea to a dot," asserted Bristles, doggedly. "Chances are the rest
of those curs have started on the run for their old homes before this;
and unless another leader springs up, which isn't likely, we've seen the
last of the sheep-killers. But hold on, fellows, perhaps we can have a
little fun with the old farmer."

"How?" asked Colon, not at all unwilling.

"He doesn't seem to be about his wagon just now, you notice?