Dick Hazelton was the last one to reach home. He lived about a mile north of the town. They had dragged the captive around for nearly an hour at this time. As Bob was bidding Dick good night, the prisoner sat down in the road and began crying.
"Oh, well, if it's the baby act, let him off," said Bob.
He was tired out himself after an active and exciting day. When he got home, however, he did not forget to tell his father about the two men he had heard talking in the hideout on the bluff.
Mr. Bouncer seemed to take the matter quite seriously. Bob did not tell about Miss Simmons and the letters, nor about thinking he saw the tramp at Silas Dolby's house. He only said that he had met the tramp several times during the day, before he saw him with the man with the green shade over his eye.
His father went at once to the telephone and called up the village marshal. The next morning Bob learned that the officer had not been able to find the two tramps. They had probably left town.
Bob, Frank and Sammy the next day went over the route they had taken when they went to the Dolby place. They found the dog chained up, and even made a new search in the miser's yard, but they did not find the lost store key.
That day, too, the story of Simple Mary was told about the school. Some Fairview ladies had gotten her a pleasant place to work on a farm. Miss Williams explained in open school about the broken ink bottle, and all Bob's friends were made happy to see him cleared from a false charge.
The wind-up of the big bonfire had made "The Blues" and "The Grays" more at war than ever. About all it led to, however, was closer rivalry in baseball and football games.
Things started in smoothly at school. The daily routine
