CHAPTER

I. A MONKEY TRICK

II. FINDING MONEY

III. TWO AND TWO

IV. UP THE RIVER

V. OUT OF THE RIVER

VI. THE ENEMY MAKES A RAID

VII. THE COLONEL

VIII. TALKING IT OVER

IX. THE PURSUIT

X. LOOKING FOR A CLUE

XI. FORMING THE PATROL

XII. ORGANIZED

XIII. A CHALLENGE

XIV. A DEFIANCE

XV. PEPPER TAKES A MESSAGE

XVI. WHERE WAS PEPPER?

XVII. THE MESSAGE

XVIII. IN THE JUDGE'S OFFICE

XIX. A NARROW ESCAPE

XX. A NIGHT ALARM

XXI. A SURPRISE

XXII. THE RACE

XXIII. CONCLUSION

CHAPTER I

A MONKEY TRICK

"I think—" began a tall, slenderly-built lad of sixteen, speaking in a somewhat indolent way; then suddenly he paused to look down through the trees to where the river gleamed below.

"What's on your mind now, Rand?" his companion queried, a boy of about the same age, nearly as tall, but more stoutly built, and as light in complexion as the other was dark. The two were standing at the top of the road that wound down the side of the mountain from the town of Creston, which was perched, like the nest of some great bird, in a hollow of the Palisades.

"I think—" repeated the first speaker, pausing again.

"That's right, Randolph," approved his companion briskly, "always think twice before you speak once."

"I always do, Donald Graeme," retorted Rand; "but what I was really going to say when you interrupted me with your irrelevant remark, was—"

"Hurrah!" broke in Donald, waving his cap in answer to the hail of another boy who was just then seen hurrying down the road toward them. "Here comes Pepper in a rush, as usual."

It was just after dawn of a June morning that the boys were assembling. It was still dark and gloomy, for it had rained during the night and the storm had not yet passed, but the boys having planned a fishing trip for this morning were not to be deterred by the fear of a wet jacket.

"Hello, fellows!" panted the newcomer, who was smaller and slighter than either of the others, but who made up in activity and energy what he lacked in size. His hair was a glowing red and with it went a temper so quick that the nickname, Pepper, that some chum had given him, was most appropriate. It is doubtful if any of his comrades really knew his Christian name. Certainly he was always "Pepper" to every one, even at home, although he was christened Philip.

"I say, I was afraid you'd be gone when I got here."

"Well, we would have been," drawled Randolph, "only we knew you'd be late, and we took our time."

"Now that isn't fair, Rand," laughed the other, "you know I'm not always late."

"Well, maybe not ALWAYS," conceded Rand; "but almost always. What was the matter this morning—breakfast late?"

"Now, you know I didn't wait for breakfast," protested Pepper, adding rather reluctantly, "though I did stop for a bite. But even if I am late I'm not last. Jack isn't here yet, and he left home first."

"Oh, he's out on the trail somewhere, I suppose," surmised Donald. "He's always chasing for news. He'll be coming along presently with a whole budget. I believe he thinks the paper couldn't go on if it weren't for him."

"'That reminds me,' as Dick Wilson says," interrupted Rand, taking a pamphlet from his pocket and holding it out to his companions, "speaking of trails, what do you think of that?"

"What is it?" asked Pepper, eying it suspiciously. "Looks as if the cat had been walking on it." goodness, I hope not. I thought you were always hungry, but if you are only beginning I foresee a famine ahead of us. And to think of all the good food that is wasted on you, Pepper," went on Donald reflectively. "Why, to look at you any one might think that you never had had enough to eat."

"That shows how deceiving looks are," replied Pepper. "Though I never did have enough," he added plaintively.

"Of course not," returned Donald, "there isn't as much as that anywhere."

"As much what?" asked Rand.

"Food, grub, provisions, victuals," replied Donald, setting off along the road at a pace that put a stop to any more talk.

They had gone perhaps about halfway down the hill toward the boathouse when a big bay horse, drawing a light wagon in which were three boys, came quickly around a turn in the road. It bore down on them so suddenly that only by a rapid scramble up the bank by the side of the road did Rand and Donald save themselves from being bowled over.

The newcomers would have driven on with a jeering laugh only that Pepper, angry at what obedience, neatness and order are Scout virtues. Endurance, self-reliance, self-control and an effort to help some one else are Scout objectives."

"Ah, cut it out!" protested Pepper. "As Alphonse says 'that makes me the ennui.' It sounds like a boarding school prospectus. Tell as what it's about."

"Well, then," replied Rand, "in words adapted to your comprehension, it is about hunting, scouting, camping, tracking; and Colonel Snow is interested in the organization. He says that it is fine."

"Speaking of tracking," interjected Donald, "in my opinion it were no bad plan to be making tracks toward the boathouse if we are going to get anywhere the day. It is getting bright in the east and it looks like a clear day, after all. And I may also take occasion to remark that I haven't had my breakfast yet, and this Boy Scout business doesn't sound inviting on an empty stomach. We can discuss it with more comfort when we have had a bite."

"That's the talk!" approved Pepper. "That suits me down to the ground. I'm beginning to get hungry myself."

"Beginning!" exclaimed Donald. "My

"That isn't a bad guess," laughed Rand. "It is supposed to represent the track of a bear."

"What are you going to do, Rand?" questioned Donald, "hunt bears?"

"Not at present," answered Rand, "though I should like to well enough. This is a booklet about the Boy Scouts."

"The Boy Scouts!" demanded Pepper; "what's them?"

"Shades of Lindley Murray!" exclaimed Rand, "do I hear aright? What's them! And you a graduate of number one. Really, Pepper Blake, I don't believe we can let you in on this. What do you think about it, Don?"

"I have my doubts about it," replied Donald gravely.

"But what is it?" persisted Pepper. "It sounds good to me."

"That is better," drawled Rand. "It not only sounds good, but it is good, as you elegantly express it. IT, according to the pamphlet that I have here, is an organization for boys between the ages of twelve and eighteen to train them in self-reliance, manhood and good citizenship. The movement is not essentially military," went on Rand, "but the military virtues of discipline, looked like a deliberate attempt to run over them, sprang to the horse's head as it was passing, catching the bridle, and with a loud "whoa" he brought the outfit to a stop.

"What are you t-t-trying to do, Jim Rae!" he shouted to the youthful driver, "run over us?"

"Aw, g-g-go on, kiddie!" retorted Jim, a stout lad of about Rand's age, with a freckled face and a shock of aggressive red hair, mimicking Pepper, who, when excited, sometimes stuttered. "Aw, g-g-go on. Little boys shouldn't play in the road."

"If you can't d-drive without getting all over the road," went on Pepper, "why d-don't you let somebody d-drive that knows how—"

"Aw, g-g-go chase yourself," cried Jim. "You ought to bring youse mamma along to take care of youse. Get up, Bill!" with a flourish of the whip and a jerk on the lines.

The horse made a jump, but Pepper held firmly to the bridle and brought it to a stop.

"Let go that horse!" shouted Jim.

"Hit him with the whip, Jim," urged one of the boys in the wagon.

"D-d-don't you dare hit me with that whip," warned Pepper as Jim snapped the whip close to him, "or you will wish you hadn't."

"Aw, what would you do?" retorted Jim, tauntingly flourishing the lash dangerously close to Pepper's face. "You ain't big enough to scare me baby brother."

"You had better not try it, Jim Rae," asserted Pepper, "or I'll pull you out of there so quick that you will think a cyclone struck you."

"You mean a wind bag, don't you?" sneered Jim, aiming a blow at Pepper, who now loosened his hold upon the horse's bridle to jump toward the wagon, whereupon Jim changed his purpose and struck the horse with the whip. With a loud "giddap" they started with a bound, missing Pepper by a hair's breadth, and driving on down the road at a rattling pace.

"That's a regular m-monkey trick, Jim Rae, all right!" shouted Pepper. "but I'll get even with you yet!"

The only answer of the boys in the wagon was a taunting laugh as they drove away. Randolph and Donald had taken no part in the controversy, not exactly approving of Pepper's disputing with the enemy, but they had stood at hand ready for any emergency should one arise.

CHAPTER II

FINDING MONEY

The three boys stood for a moment looking after the rapidly disappearing wagon, then, stooping down, Rand picked up something from the road.

"It isn't worth trying, Rand," advised Donald. "You couldn't hit him if you wanted to, and you wouldn't want to if you could. You can get even with him some better way."

"Right as usual, Donald," laughed Rand, "but I wasn't looking for anything to throw at him. I just happened to see this lying on the ground and picked it up." Holding out a coin he had found, he added: "What do you make of it?"

"W-w-what is it?" stammered Pepper, all excitement. "It l-looks like an old-fashioned cent."

"You have got me," replied Donald. "I never saw any money like that."

"Let's have a close look at it," put in Pepper.

The boys studied over the coin, which was of the size of the early copper cent, for some time without being much the wiser.

"See, there is a representation of a ship under full sail," remarked Rand, "with the name Constitution on it. I wonder what it means?"

"And it has the words 'Webster Credit Current' around it," added Pepper.

"And on the other side is shown the ship wrecked on some rocks. Something about wrecking the Constitution, I suppose," added Rand. "This side says, 'Van Buren Metallic Current,' with the date '1837'," put in Donald.

"I have it!" suddenly ejaculated Rand.

"Of course you have," admitted Donald, "but do you know what it is?"

"I see I must speak by the book, as Hamlet says," laughed Rand. "I mean I know what it is."

"What is it, then?" demanded Donald.

"It is some kind of a token, I think," replied Rand, "but I will ask Uncle Floyd about it. He will sure know."

"I w-w-wonder if there are any more of them," stammered Pepper, looking along the road. "Yes, here is another one."

"Is it like this?" asked Rand.

"It looks very similar," replied Pepper, still hunting about.

"Find any more?" called Donald.

"Not yet."

Nor were there any more found, although they looked long and carefully up and down the road for some time.

"What is the difference between them?" questioned Pepper, when they had finally given up the hunt and sat down by the side of the road to compare the two coins.

"Why, instead of a ship this one shows, on the one side, a man in a chest with a sword in one hand and a bag of money in the other, and around the edge are the words, 'I take the responsibility.' The other side has the wreck like the first one," concluded Rand after he had examined them.

"It's a very curious thing," he continued, handing the one coin back to Pepper.

"I don't see anything very curious about them," demurred Donald.

"I mean it is very curious how they got here," explained Rand.

"I don't see anything very curious about that, either," went on Donald. "Why shouldn't they be here as well as anywhere?"

"I don't know, I am sure," laughed Rand, "only I don't see why they should be here, or anywhere, for that matter."

"Oh, I don't know," replied Donald. "Somebody probably dropped them as they were going along."

"Undoubtedly," agreed Rand. "I don't believe that they grew here. But who dropped them and how did they happen along here?"

"Ask Jack," suggested Donald, "he'll make a whole story out of it."

"They certainly are not common," went on Rand, "and people don't usually carry them in their pockets. I'd like to know the history of these and how they came here, but I don't suppose I ever shall. But, speaking of curious things, what do you suppose Monkey Rae was doing with that horse and wagon?"

"Driving them," drawled Pepper. "What do you think he was doing with them, using them for an aeroplane?"

"No," returned Rand, "I thought maybe he was using them to dredge for clams. But, speaking of clams, which would you sooner do or go a-fishing?"

"Go a-fishing!" cried Donald and Pepper, starting off on a run down the hill to the boat-house.

"Well," began Pepper as soon as they were fairly inside the house, "didn't I hear somebody say breakfast?" at the same time starting to get out of the locker the various utensils that the boys kept at the house to cook with on their fishing trips.

"Hold on there, Pepper," remonstrated Donald, as Pepper continued to pull out one pan after another. "We don't need ail that stuff. What do you think you are going to do, get up a banquet? If you are going to use ail those pots and pans, son, you will have to wash them by your lonesome."

"Huh!" replied Pepper, "there wouldn't be any novelty about that. The dish-washing seems to gravitate my way anyhow."

"That's because you use so many more of them than the rest of us," explained Donald.

"Why, I don't use any more of them than you do," expostulated Pepper. "Well, maybe you don't use any more," admitted Don with a judicial air, "but you use them more."

Pepper was about to retort in kind when there was a quick step outside the door and an alert-looking, brown-haired, brown-eyed boy, with his cap perched upon the back of his head, dashed into the room.

"Hello, fellows!" he cried, "I thought I wasn't going to get here in time, but I see I struck it at the psychological moment. I am as hungry as a bull pup."

"Hello, Jack!" responded Rand, "we began to think you weren't coming. What's the latest in Creston?"

"Oh, there is something worth while to-day," replied Jack, drawing a box up to the plank that served as a table. "Pass me some of those biscuits, Pepper, if you don't mind sparing a few, so I can eat while I talk."

"Better not try it, Jack," cautioned Rand, "for if you eat as fast as you talk or talk as fast as you eat you will either starve yourself or choke."

"All right," laughed Jack, "if that is the case I'll eat first and talk afterwards," and this he would do, notwithstanding the pleadings of the others, anxious to share in any exciting news.

CHAPTER III

TWO AND TWO

While the boys are finishing their breakfast it may be well to introduce them to the reader. The four, who were known among their acquaintances as the "inseparables," had been classmates for several terms at School No. I, of Creston, from which they had graduated the previous year and were now students of the Hilltop Academy, where they were preparing for college.

Rand—Randolph in full, surname Peyton—who was slightly the eldest of the four, was the nephew of Mr. Scott, president of the Creston National Bank. He was a native of Virginia, having come to Creston after the death of his father some two years before this time, with his mother and sister. He was bright, but inclined to be indolent, except when aroused, when his energy knew no limit. He was slow in speech, having the soft Southern drawl with a tendency to slur his r's, and was a natural leader among his companions, both in their sports and their studies.

Donald Graeme, sometimes nicknamed Old Solomon, was the son of the chief engineer of the Creston Paper Mills, and one of a considerable family of boys and girls. He was of Scotch descent and inherited many of the characteristics of his ancestry as well as many of their superstitions. Something of the burr clung to his tongue, and he was given to the occasional use of a Scotch word or phrase. He had also the Scotch canniness and never committed himself by a positive opinion. Although not as quick as Rand, he was more persistent and usually carried out, to the end, anything that he entered upon.

Jack Blake was the oldest son of Mr. Blake, editor and publisher of the Crest, the newspaper of the town. Brought up in the newspaper atmosphere, Jack had early developed a nose for news and was the best reporter, although unofficial, on the paper. He was always on the lookout for items and always putting two and two together, sometimes with most surprising results.

Lastly, Pepper Blake, Jack's younger brother, who was of a quicker, more nervous, disposition than the others and given to stammering when excited. Impetuous and quick-tempered, he was always getting into difficulties, but always finding a way out. Romantic and imaginative, but with a streak of hard horse-sense beneath.

"Well," observed Rand, when Jack at last rose from his box with a sigh of satisfaction, "what is the exciting thing you have got to tell us this morning? Whose barn is being painted now?"

"Judge Taylor's office was robbed last night," replied Jack laconically.

"What's that!" cried Rand.

"Judge Taylor's office was robbed last night," repeated Jack, enjoying the sensation his news had made.

"W-w-what!" stammered Pepper. "Who did it?"

"That's what we all want to know," answered Jack.

"What did they get?" asked Donald.

"How did they get in?" went on Pepper.

"One at a time, boys," put in Rand. "Come, Jack, tell us the whole story."

"Well, all I know is, Officer Dugan found a window open this morning and the place all upside down. The judge hadn't come down yet, so they don't know what's missing. From the tracks around it looks as if some boys were mixed up in it."

"That's queer," commented Rand. "I wonder who it could have been, and what they were after?"

"Money, of course," said Pepper.

"I don't think so," returned Jack. "If it was money I think they would have picked out a more likely place. I guess it must have been papers, or something like that."

"Pooh!" criticized Donald, "what would anybody in their senses want to steal papers for?"

"There are more unlikely things than that," replied Jack. "I have read of such things."

"Pshaw!" retorted Donald, "that's nothing. I've read of robbers' caves and all that sort of thing, but I've never seen any."

"Which proves there never were any," retorted Jack sarcastically.

"Have you got any dues, Sherlock?" asked Rand laughingly.

"Not yet," replied Jack seriously, "but I am looking for them. They sometimes turn up in the most unexpected places."

"Huh!" sniffed Donald, "your turnips run mostly to tops."

While talking thus, the boys had been putting their supplies and tackle into the boat which they had run out into the river.

"Which way do you want to go?" asked Rand when they were ready to start.

"Up," said Pepper.

"Down," said Jack.

"What do you say, Don?" continued Rand. "Either way," replied Donald. "Let them toss up for it."

Taking the coin he had picked up in the road from his pocket Rand tossed it into the air. "What do you say, Jack?" he asked.

"Heads!" responded Jack.

"Tails it is," announced Rand as he picked it up. "Pepper wins. Up, we go."

"What have you got there, Rand?" asked Jack, who had been eying the coin Rand had tossed; "something new?"

"It's something that I found in the road this morning," replied Rand, handing the coin over to Jack. "Pepper found one, too."

"Found it in the road!" cried Jack, instantly on the alert. "That's serious. Tell me about it."

"There isn't much to tell," replied Rand. "Monkey Rae tried to run us down this morning and we had a near-fight and after he had gone we found them."

"Well?" questioned Jack.

"That's all," replied Rand.

"Now I wonder," mused Jack, when the story of the encounter with Monkey Rae and his companions had been gone over in detail for his benefit, "what Monkey Rae has to do with these things," jingling the coins in his hand.

"Not as much as you or I have," announced Donald. "I can no see any connection between the two."

"Of course you can't, old wisdom," returned Jack. "You lack imagination, but I think it is there just the same. Whose horse and wagon was it?"

"That's another strange part of it," replied Rand. "I never saw them before. I was wondering whose they were, and where he got them."