Part 20 (2/2)

Roy was satisfied that the only hope of learning anything was to visit the scene of Tom's suspicious, or at least unexplained, departure from the Temple house About this he knew no more than what the constable had said, but he firone, it had been for a purpose He did not believe that Tom had taken the pin, but he felt certain that if he _had_ been tempted to, he (Roy) would have seen him do so For a scout is not only loyal, he is watchful His confidence in Tom, no less than his confidence in himself, made him morally certain that his friend was innocent; and Tom's own demeanor at the time of his arrest made him doubly certain

A little before dark, Roy put on his Indian ood stock ofthere, he made sure the veranda was deserted (for which fact he had to thank the chill air) and found it easy to trace Toh the almost bare earth of the nen

In the little recess by the pantryhe felt ht quickly discovered the painty smear on the sill and he examined it closely, as Tom had recently done, but Roy'sto pick out footprints across the back lawn, he hurried across it, ran along to the end of the fence, and then back again, closely watching the upper rail by the aid of his light Sure enough, there was a faint smootch of paint and by this easy discovery he had saved hi Better still, his own suspicions and the servants' original story were confirone around the house, but _soh the pantry _

For a while Roy and his trusty ally, the pocket flashlight, had a pretty rough tussle of it with the secretive floor of pine-needles in the woods beyond the fence; but Tos helped hins of his own uide him For he now felt certain that Tom had passed here in the wake of so ti covered a distance of perhaps an eighth of ahad been, as he later said hi for a pin on a carpet in the dark He had been on his hands and kneesthe pine-needles carefully away from some fancied indentation, with almost a watch as it was the working out of a puzzle, but it brought hi which rendered further tracking unnecessary This was the flask which had lain beside Tom's father

And now Roy, with no hu lying near the flask which Tom had not seen This was a little scrap of pasteboard which had evidently been the corner of a ticket, and holding his flashlight to it he examined it carefully

There was the termination of a sentence, ”ers' Union,” and the last letters of a name, ”ade,” which had been written with ink on a printed line

Itently for ments of this card The breeze had been there before him and he had crept on hands and knees many feet in every direction before his search was rewarded by enough of these scattered scraps to enlighten hiht!

Using his u enough of the card to learn that it was ato one Williaht the whole truth and understood what had happened

CHAPTER XIV

ROY TO THE RESCUE

It was late when Roy reached ca he repaired to Five Oaks to ”beard the lion in his den” and have a personal intervieith Mr John Te about Mr Temple or his house which awed Roy in the least He had been reared in a home of wealth and that atmosphere which poor Tom could not overcome his fear of did not trouble Roy at all He was as much at ease in the presence of his elders as it is possible for a boy to be without disrespect, but he was now to be put to the test

He found Mr Te an after-breakfast solf sticks beside hi, Mr Temple,” said Roy

If one had to encounter Mr John Temple at all, this was undoubtedly the best ti, sir,” said he, brusquely but not unpleasantly

”I guess maybe you know me, Mr Temple; I'ainst the rubble-stone coping of the veranda

”Mr Te At first I was going to ask Mr Ellsworth to do it, then I decided I would do it ar over to the corner of hisat Roy curiously and not without a touch of amuse with a char to decide how to proceed in thisto John Te withal the inherent self-possession which bespeaks good breeding He was half sitting on the coping and half leaning against it, his browned,it on either side

Perhaps it was the incongruity of the encounter, or perhaps his recent breakfast and his good cigar, but he said not unpleasantly, ”Lift yourself up there and sit down if you want to What can I do for you?”

Roy lifted his from it and felt at home