er he had looked sharply at it, inside and out, he nodded his head.

"I thought it might be like that," Fred remarked, mysteriously. This
manner of talking caused his comrades to stare, and Colon cried out:

"Now, whatever is there about that old tin to make you speak like that,
Fred? If you'd picked up a clue to some robbery, you couldn't look more
pleased.

"Perhaps we have," said Fred, meaningly. "Take another look at this tin
box, both of you. Notice how the heavy rubber band has been fastened
underneath, so it couldn't get lost. You never heard of such a thing
being done where there were just plain crackers in a tin, did you? Of
course not. Well, don't you see that this would make a splendid
receptacle for papers, or securities? And just before your match went
out, Bristles, I thought I could see a little scrap of paper sticking in
a corner. That would prove it had held such things."

Bristles could be heard uttering a series of exclamations, as he started
to get another match going.

"If this doesn't take the cake! Why, all of us ought to remember how old
Mr. Periwinkle complained that someone had entered his house and hooked a
sum of money, as well as some papers he kept in a tin box in his desk.
Why, this must be the same tin box, fellows! We ought to keep it, and
show it to him."

They examined the thing once more, while the match was burning.

"Guess you're right, Bristles, and this is the box old Periwinkle kept
his valuables in," Colon pursued, "but mighty little comfort it's going
to do him to set eyes on the same again. Would you care to have the
shells turned back to you, after somebody'd gone and gobbled up the fat
kernel of the nut?"

"It will settle the fact that the robber, whoever he could have been,
must have stayed in this cave lately," said Fred, seriously. "I don't
think these ashes are very old, perhaps not more than a couple of days,
at most. So you see that tells us the thief must be around here still."

"Watching out for a bigger haul, more'n likely!" Bristles declared,
somewhat excitedly. "I don't believe he got much at Periwinkle's place,
because the old man is poor as Job's turkey; leastways he makes out to
be, though some folks say he's a sort of miser. But there are farmers
that keep quite a sum of money around, and it might be this hobo is
waiting to get a chance at a big haul."

"How do we know but what he aims to clean out the Riverport bank some
fine night